 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Yesterday Snider showed that he meant what he said and signed Paul Holmgren to a 3-year contract extension that will keep him as the head of the Flyers through the 2011-12 season.
"I am very proud of the job that Paul has done," Snider said. "He totally revamped our team and brought us back to respectability.
"I am positive he will continue to improve our team and to make sure that we are in contention for the Stanley Cup. He clearly was the general manager of the year this past season. He is truly deserving of this contract extension."
For Holmgren the extension, in a way, marks the end of the turnaround that started on Oct. 22, 2006, the day Bob Clarke resigned as GM and head coach Ken Hitchcock was fired.
Holmgren was given the job on an interim basis and then was extended through last season. At the time, the Flyers said they were not convinced he was right for the job and wanted to see how he would perform.
Holmgren never blinked at the challenge, but started to rebuild the Flyers, bringing them from last in the league to the Eastern Conference final in 1 year.
"I was very close to [Clarke] over the last number of years when he was the general manager," Holmgren said.
"I felt like I was close to a lot of the decisions that he made and I knew what was going on. To come in 2 years ago when Bob decided to step down, obviously it was a crappy time, but I came in with the idea under the interim basis that I was just going to do my best.
"I was always brought up that if you do your best good things happen. That is one of the things my father always preached to me. It turned out good through that crappy year and we were able to bounce back and have some modest success last year and now we are looking forward to doing more."
Now he gets to see the job through and bring management stability to the Flyers.
"I'm just looking forward to trying to win a Stanley Cup here," Holmgren said. "It's an honor to be part of the Flyers' organization. I've been here a long time and I'm looking forward to the next few years, working with this group of young players that we have along with some of the older guys we've brought in over the last year and a half. It's exciting and I can't wait to get going."
Since taking over from Clarke, Holmgren has never slowed down. And he didn't miss a beat on the day of his promotion. He wasn't even through answering questions about his extension when he announced that he had just signed free agent Arron Asham to a 2-year deal.
Asham, who will add more muscle to the team along with Riley Cote, was signed to a deal that will pay him $640,000 a year.
"Arron is a hard-nosed aggressive winger that can play a lot of different roles for our hockey team," Holmgren said. "He can skate and he brings a hard-nosed competitive edge to our team. We're looking forward to having him."
Asham may be able to skate but his job is to fight. He played 77 games with the New Jersey Devils last season and had six goals, four assists and 84 penalty minutes. Do an Internet search with his name and what comes up are lots of video clips of him slugging it out with other players, including Cote last season.
According to a Web site that tracks hockey fights, Asham brawled eight times during the regular season last year compared to Cote's 24.
In 498 career NHL games, the 30-year-old, 5-11, 205-pound winger has scored 64 goals and 71 assists and logged 537 penalty minutes.
"I think it's great," said Asham. "I've always wanted to play with the Flyers. I think their style of game suits my game to a T. It's definitely going to be exciting to come here and wear the Orange and Black." *
|
|
|
|
|
|
REGIONAL SCOREBOARD
Latest Sports Blogs
TOP STORIES
Green
today's poll
email this
print this
reprint or license this
Buy tickets online
