Ken Hitchcock is the Flyers’ HC until 2009

I was beginning to doubt what GM Bobby Clarke and head guy Ed Snider were saying about “taking care of” Head Coach Ken Hitchcock. He’s a good coach and he’s outlasted several others when the ownership used to blame the coach whenever the Flyers failed to make it to the Stanley Cup after 1997. When they brought ‘Hitch’ aboard, they (Snider and Clarke) made it clear to the players that any further failures will rest clearly on the shoulders of the team and trades will happen before Hitchcock would be fired. Now he has received a new three-year contract which is awesome. He will be able to continue grooming the promising young talent (Umberger, Richards, Carter, Meyer, Eager, Picard, etc.) into a real Cup contender in the near future because it isn’t going to happen this season. Meanwhile, it will keep the more disagreeable players from being uncooperative (Hatcher, Rathje, Forsberg, Nedved and sadly, Gagne now that he was a 47-goal scorer) since a coach with an uncertain future is easier to can than trading away or buying out a player’s $5 million/season contract. From what I’ve read he’s demanding and tough in private, so many of the more famous players would rather not play under his guidance; it was rumored to be one reason why John LeClair wouldn’t go to Dallas back in the Nineties and there’s no love lost from Brett Hull. I have to side with this coach. Ken Hitchcock may only have one Stanley Cup, but he is one of the few coaches to have 300+ wins in such a brief time. He does it by getting results too. He’ll need a miracle with the horrible defensemen Clarke got him though.