It was Ed Snider's roster all along? Or the usual "reporting" by Carchidi?

[canoli]

"In the past club chairman Ed Snider was the person who gave final approval on trades or signings."

 

So says Carchidi in his story posted today on philly.com. You can read it here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20160428_Flyers_get_started_on_busy_offseason.html

 

This is astounding. I don't mean the substance of it - many of us suspected it all along - but that a "reporter" states that Ed Snider had final say on the roster. It goes against everything Snider ever said about who skated for the O&B.

 

Carchidi doesn't cite any source or claim any firsthand knowledge he merely states it like it's something everyone knows. Except that Ed Snider repeatedly and explicitly denied making roster decisions. He said time and again how he always deferred to his GM, that the GM and HC were responsible for trades and signings, for the roster.

 

Is it really common knowledge that Snider had final approval on the roster? I don't think so. I think Carchidi is full of crap.

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

I think for big trades & FA signings he probably was involved.  I would think most owners are.

[The Quigster]

Has anybody considered the possibility of the Snider family selling Ed's 25% interest in the Flyers? 

[canoli]

8 hours ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

I think for big trades & FA signings he probably was involved.  I would think most owners are.

 

Sure for the big trades but the way Carchidi states it he was involved in them all - "final approval."

 

I don't know maybe it's a Big Nothing but I was surprised by it.

[DaGreatGazoo]

Didn't Clarke or Homer state they always took big deals to Snider to let him know what was happening??  Whether that is considered final approval or not, who knows.  

[murraycraven]

i really dont think there is much to this honestly.   He was brought in on anything that was large in terms of dollars - just like every other owner in professional sports.   

[radoran]

38 minutes ago, DaGreatGazoo said:

Didn't Clarke or Homer state they always took big deals to Snider to let him know what was happening??  Whether that is considered final approval or not, who knows.  

 

This.

 

Everything I've seen, read and heard about Snider has said that he was "involved" in decisions - but primarily to the extent that his "hockey people" make the decisions, bring them to him and he would ask "so, is this really what you want to do?" and then he would take the advice of the professionals that he hired to do the jobs.

 

I do think that, for example, in 2010 he said something to the extent of "we need a legit starting goalie" which led Homer to identify Bryzgalov as the guy to go after. I don't for a moment believe that Ed Snider woke up the day after Leighton let the goal in and said "we need Bryzgalov." Now, when Homer brought him Bryzgalov's name, I'll wager he said "so, is this the guy you really think is the best fit" and Homer said "yes." So they pulled the trigger.

 

He wasn't a Dan Snyder pushing buttons in Washington or Jerry Jones being the GM in Dallas. But the Flyers were his team - he had the idea, he founded them, he led them for 50 years. But he hired hockey people to run it and respected the people that he put in those positions.

[canoli]

Makes perfect sense Rad but don't you remember him denying any involvement in roster decisions? Particularly with bryz I *think* I remember him saying he was totally hands off, that it was always Homer's decision. And then the board went a little crazy with speculation that it was all Ed all the time.

[Bertmega]

In all honesty Mr. Snider has probably been removed from the team on a personnel or operations level since the 90's. I suspected that he had his hands on the Bryzgalov deal since he sent Ed Force One out to get him, but the more I look at it, I think that is all on Holmgren. However, I think he was instrumental in the Lindros deal. Not that there is anything wrong with that.   

[radoran]

1 minute ago, canoli said:

Makes perfect sense Rad but don't you remember him denying any involvement in roster decisions? Particularly with bryz I *think* I remember him saying he was totally hands off, that it was always Homer's decision. And then the board went a little crazy with speculation that it was all Ed all the time.

 

Well, I do think it is how one chooses to interpret.

 

I gotta believe that "taking Bryzgalov" (the specific player) was Homer's decision. I do think that Snider said they need to address the goalie issue.

 

Now, who made the "decision"?

 

On a more macro level, imagine the CEO of Comcast. He says "we need to improve our video on demand service" - does he particularly care how it is done? Probably not. His VOD people then go out and plan changes and improvements, come back to him and present it. He says "will this make our VOD better?" His VOD people say "yes." He says "make it so."

 

Is he "involved in the decision"? Sure. Is it still "his cable company"? Absolutely. Did he "do it"? No.

 

Will people still say "Comcast sucks?" Oh you betcha!

[RJ8812]

7 hours ago, The Quigster said:

Has anybody considered the possibility of the Snider family selling Ed's 25% interest in the Flyers? 

From what I read, Ed's will said that Comcast would get his 37%

[King Knut]

13 hours ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

I think for big trades & FA signings he probably was involved.  I would think most owners are.

 

This is the thing, right?

 

High draft picks, big signings, blockbuster trades and big contracts.

Especially in the pre-Cap era.  He was the purse strings.  he'd have to approve it.  

 

I can imagine Snider remained a bit more involved than your typical owner (your typical owner doesn't necessarily know so much about hockey).

 

I think most of us assumed this, especially in the later years with things like trading Richie and Carter THEN signing Bryz.  These seem like knee jerk emotional moves rather than thoughtful analytical moves.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[canoli]

This wasn't supposed to be about whether Snider had "final approval" of the roster - according to Carchidi he did. It was supposed to be about how Carchidi's statement is exactly opposite of what Snider always claimed, that he was a hands-off owner who never involved himself in trades or acquisitions. Frankly I expected this board to howl with pleasure at being vindicated, if only by a Philly hack reporter.