http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=181589&hubname=

Off to their worst start in 15 years, the Philadelphia Flyers cleaned house on Sunday, firing head coach Ken Hitchcock and letting general manager Bob Clarke resign.

Hitchcock told TSN he learned of his fate early Sunday morning and expects assistant coach John Stevens will be promoted, while Paul Holmgren will take over Clarke's managing duties.

The Flyers have just one win in their first seven games this season. They lost to the Florida Panthers on Friday night for their fifth straight loss. The Flyers had not lost five in a row since 2002.

"These ones hurt, they hurt a lot," Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock said after the loss to the Panthers. "We are 1-6-1 and we played seven hard games. It's tough on everybody right now."

On Tuesday, the Flyers were blasted 9-1 by the Buffalo Sabres. The Flyers sent Petr Nedved and Niko Dimitrakos to the AHL the next day, and owner Ed Snider promised more changes.



"We have a lot more to do," team chairman Ed Snider told the Philadelphia Daily News on Wednesday.

"I've got to evaluate and analyze the entire situation. This is just a start. I need a complete understanding of exactly what's going on. I have no idea what's going to happen next and I don't want to speculate as to what I'm going to do. But this is a start. I've got to evaluate this. I have ideas and theories, but I'm going to straighten this out. We started right after the game (Tuesday) night in determining what we have to do and waiving these three players, but this is only a minimal start."

Clarke, in his second stint with Philadelphia, has been the team's GM for a total 13 seasons. He has come under fire for failing to deal well with the new NHL. He has signed big, slow players like Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje, while other teams - like the Sabres - have blossomed in the new NHL with smaller, faster players.

In 10 season as an NHL head coach with Dallas and Philadelphia, Hitchcock has posted a record of 408-249-100. He is 66-51 in playoff games and won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999.

Hitchcock has been the Flyers coach for four seasons and signed a new three-year deal in training camp. At the time, Clarke said re-signing his coach was "final piece of stability" the Flyers needed heading into the season.

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Jeez. Loosen up the censorship rules on the site.

ChompBoard.com - San Jose Sharks Fan Forums & Message Boards & more

lol yeah, they just got me for saying mike babcock. anyway, im surprised to hear this because ken had just signed an extension. i hope they dump hatcher next. the season is only a few weeks old but right now his +/- stands at -10!

So they are saying that Clarke resigned and his leaving caught Snider off gaurd. I don't believe that. it's good to get rid of those guys and I'm a little surprised that there is no interim-coach tag on Stevens although I don't know too much about him. Well I hope that this can give the Flyers some jump, a new coach usually does. Maybe Holmgren will have an easier time making trades, I doubt he is disliked as much as Clarke by other GMs.

Did I call it or what? I posted that something would happen on these days off for the Flyers.

John

Everyone called it lol. Numerous news sources have been saying this week that the flyers had a couple more games to right things or something big would be happening.

Yea I saw this coming. But I thought it would be a bit later in the season.

With a season start as brutal as what the Philadephia Flyers was experiencing, I think it was a good move to fire Ken Hitchcock AND Bobby Clarke. I'm sure both of them will find a new job before the end of the season (especially Hitchcock) or at least during the summer.

*On a side note, the word cock as been removed for the censor due to some pressure by Ken; he didn't like to see his name censure. We hope all of you will keep it clean though.*

I could see Hitch getting a new job by the end of the year or by the start of next season for sure. I doubt Clarke will be looking for anything in the near future. It wouldn't surprise me if he comes back to the Flyers in some other role. Maybe he could be the mascot or something like that.

If Clarke really is burned out then he probably won't be looking for another gm position for quite some time.