Are Snider and Hextall on the same page with Flyers?

LAST WEEK I ran into Ed Snider at the Philly Ad Club's annual Movers and Shakers luncheon for the first time since our late-March chat created back-page headlines and apparently some uneasiness inside the Oar-ganization.

I smiled, he smiled - we even hugged - and then he said this:

"I'm never talking to you again."

He said it with a smile, and it followed this question, asked rhetorically, "You don't write the headlines, do you?" The man who helped launch WIP might not know everything there is to know about the media, but I'm pretty sure after 82 years on this earth and 47 years as the owner of our beloved hockey team, he knows very well that I do not, never have, and never will write the headlines.

He also knew and conceded that everything went fairly that day. There was no misinterpretation of what he said, no quotes cut off at the wrong part. At a Flyers game a day later, Ike Richman, his longtime public-relations man, even relayed that his boss approved of how it came out.

What happened since then is easy to figure out. The column took on a life of its own. Some of his words seemed to be in direct conflict with the philosophy extolled by his general manager, Ron Hextall - about holding on to "our young players" and the abundance of draft picks he has accumulated even if it interferes with making the team better in the short run. At one point, I asked Snider if he believed you could do that and compete for a Stanley Cup next season and he said, "Sure, we can do both. We don't have to rely on kids to come in and make us a good team."

That wasn't the question, and it's at the heart of what some see as a contradiction. Good teams make the playoffs. Elite teams win Stanley Cups. The Devils of the last decade, the Red Wings during that similar stretch, the Avalanche, the Blackhawks now - these are Hextall's models. It's an upset if they aren't among the few teams at the end. And they all built from within.

That's where the disconnect is. And it's putting the GM in a public-relations bind. Snider cited the Flyers' run to the finals in 2010 as evidence that you can do both, but that Flyers team had no long-term strategy - it was built for the here and now.

And so there was Hextall, intending to offer clarity on the Flyers' website earlier this week, telling Jay Greenberg that "Mr. Snider's been great. Like we're on the same page in terms of he wants us to keep our young players. He wants us to keep our draft picks. And quite frankly, there's no other option there. It's just not going to happen. Nothing else is going to happen."

Except that, in the very next breath, Hextall threw in a "Now, on the other hand," and went on to describe what else could happen: that, if he feels an opportunity is there to make the team better "without giving up the young assets, we're going to do everything we can," he will jump all over it.

Which begs this question: What is a young asset and what isn't?

More precisely, who is a young asset and who isn't?

Is Zac Rinaldo, age 24, considered untouchable? I sure hope not. Matt Read? He's 28. Brayden Schenn (23)? Sean Couturier? He's only 22, but don't you at least have to listen to what is being offered for him? Just in case his perceived stunted development isn't a matter of bad hands and not bad coaching?

Earlier in the video's 5-plus minutes of targeted pitch to a waning fan base, Hextall also said this: "We're going to keep our draft picks, for the most part."

The most part? So some are expendable?

Hextall also said: "We owe it to our players and our fans and this organization to be as good as we can be in October. And that's the goal right now is to keep our young players and picks around and to be as good as we can be in October."

Here's what really is happening, folks. Hextall is doing the hockey hot foot. Most of us are on board with his long view of building from within. We just may not pay to watch the climb. As anyone in the Phillies' ticket office can tell you these days, season tickets are not sold with an approach of "Buy now, we're gonna be great in 3 years."

And as anyone who has gotten to know Snider - still one of the most hopeful and emotional fans this town will ever know - you don't get him to buy in without at least a sliver of Stanley Cup hope mixed in.

So this is what you say, to the question of being misinterpreted, after vowing to keep your young players and picks: "Our goal this summer is to look around and try to get better for next year," said the GM. "If there are moves to make, we're going to make them. We owe it to our fans and we owe to our organization to be the best we can every year."

If that didn't clear things up for you, well, get in line.

Right behind the owner.

On Twitter: @samdonnellon

Columns: ph.ly/Donnellon