On Thursday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live," hosts Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed the big news coming out of Philadelphia of Keith Jones’s hiring as president of hockey operations. The duo discussed the merits of the Jones hire and whether he and newly minted GM Danny Briere can end a long drought of meaningful hockey in Philadelphia.
Frank Seravalli: We reported yesterday that Keith Jones and Eddie Olczyk, two Turner Sports analysts, were the finalists for the Flyers. The team announced that it is indeed official on Thursday. Keith Jones is the new president while Danny Briere sheds his interim title and is now the permanent GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. They will hold a press conference on Friday to discuss what they are already calling a New Era of Orange. What do you make of the hire? Of Keith Jones, longtime broadcaster in the Philadelphia market with NBC and now nationally with TNT, being elevated to the role of president?
Mike McKenna: Well I’m excited about it because I really like Keith Jones. He’s somebody who was really gracious to me when I started in broadcasting, and he’s like that with everybody. That’s a quality you have to look for in management.
We have seen broadcasters make the jump to management before. John Davidson went from broadcasting to the front office. Dale Tallon did it with Chicago as well. On-air analysts tend to know the league as well as anyone, not just their own team.
Keith Jones is very passionate about the Philadelphia Flyers and the Philadelphia entire area; that matters. The organization is making hires without a lot of experience, though. Danny Briere was an understudy for two years but has never been a GM. This will be Jonsey’s first time in hockey ops. I’m cautiously optimistic because I think you’ve got two really smart guys, two guys who are hungry for this job and are passionate about Philadelphia. On Jones’s side, you’ve got someone who knows the league inside and out from the coaches to the players that he sees from the press box.
Frank, I’ll just say I’m cautiously optimistic, and I do like that they went outside the box here.
Frank Seravalli: To your point, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say a bad thing about Keith Jones. He’s highly respected and someone that I think is going to be a really strong communicator, which is essential in this position.
The Flyers need relevance. They don’t have any in this market. This is the first time in my lifetime as a Philadelphian that they don’t have any, and it’s going to be a long road back to that. I think everyone recognizes that, Danny Briere especially. He was just on "Frankly Speaking" with me a couple weeks ago saying “there’s no shortcuts here.” There’s no chance for a one-year reboot to return to the consistent excellence the Flyers have had for much of their history.
You can watch the entire episode here…
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