Report: Ron Francis, Chuck Fletcher being considered as Flyers next GM.

Flyers have a short list of candidates already.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Report: Ron Francis, Chuck Fletcher being considered as Flyers next GM.
Chris Seward/Raleigh News & Observer

The Philadelphia Flyers may have already started their search for a new general manager, and may in fact may be well along in that process.

According to a report from TSN National Hockey League insider Darren Dreger there are already two names being considered by the Flyers organization at this time. Dreger reports that those names are Chuck Fletcher, the former long time general manager of the Minnesota Wild organization, and Ron Francis, the recently deposed general manager of the Carolina Hurricanes organization. Both men obviously come with a great deal of experience although it is largely experience of a very different kind.

Fletcher is a career executive that has always made his mark while working in the front office of hockey organization dating as far back as 1990 when he worked as a sales and merchandising coordinator for Hockey Canada. Following that job Fletcher tried his hand as a player agent before hoping over to the other side of the negotiating table when he became general manager of the Florida Panthers expansion team in 1993. Fletcher would hold that position until 2002 and it was not until 2009 that he once again returned to the general managers chair for the Minnesota Wild organization. Flecther would remain in that role until he was replaced by Paul Fenton in April of 2018.

Francis on the other hand is relatively inexperienced as an executive when you compare him to Fletcher, but does bring his own brand of experience to the table as well. In 2012 Francis became a minority owner in the Carolina Hurricanes franchise as part of the Playmakers Management group and two years following that move he was appointed as the organization's general manager and remained there until being ousted in April of 2018. Francis has considerably less experience in an NHL front office but considerably more from a players perspective on the ice. 

During his career as a player Francis appeared in a ridiculous 1731 career games and maintained an absurd production pace throughout his entire NHL career. Francis retired with 549 goals and 1249 assists for a total of 1798 points to his name before eventually moving on to the front office role he would latwer take with the Hurricanes.

What's interesting about Dreger's report is that it now appears that Francis is divesting himself of his ownership stake in Carolina, likely in preparation for joining another NHL front office. There would be an obvious conflict of interest if he remained an owner but that would appear to indicate that he is confident in the fact that he will be getting another job sooner rather than later.

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