When i put the news out there yesterday that Jones would be President of Hockey Ops, I immediately called is a “great decision.…
Many questioned that, and I get it. Jones is best known as a TV color commentator/ morning radio show host, but having spend some time with Keith I can tell you he’s a great hockey guy. Also he’s one of the few people I’ve met, along with Briere, who gives me that “win at all costs… feeling I got my many years ago hanging around at Ed Snider. That feeling has been missing for years now. It is the lack of “Flyers hockey… coming down from the top, that has made the fans of this once steady organization very unsteady. The big bad Bruins are still the big bad Bruins. But the Broad Street bullies are dead.
Course I’m not saying that the Flyeres need to just beat up everyone.. The Big Bad Bruins can do it with skill and intimidate… That’s not what Flyers hockey is really about anymore…and if you are a fan…you know this.. Flyers hockey WAS about never giving up and comebacks and players stepping up at the right time. Anyone who remembers Danny Briere in the playoffs… That’s what flyers hockey is about.
Anyone from Philadelphia knows a couple things about Keith Jones. First I remember that he saved Eric Lindros’ life and Nashville when he realized that Lindross was in trouble in a hotel room after an injury. But most people around here know him as the hard-working guy who just never stops going. He’ll travel to any place you ask him to travel to do a hockey game, and as long as he can physically do it he’ll be back to do a morning shift on a sports talk radio station at five in the morning. Jones is work ethic. Plain and simple. He never stops…NEITHER did Ed.
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— Michael Augello (@MikeInBuffalo) January 5, 2021
To look at Briere in street clothes you never would guess that he was once a mega point player who came Incredibly close to leading two franchises to Stanley Cups. He honestly looks more like he should be playing Paul McCartney in the latest Beatlemania down at the hard rock Atlantic City. His talents and humility are really staggering. And I’m really happy to say that I can call this guy a friend. Where was the first player I interviewed for my show on Comcast called “Flyers Buzz TV.… The day he signed in Philly.
For that same show I hired a guy to do a segment, “Ask Jonesy…. Keith Jones doesn’t not appear like a TV personality. In the least. Since we kind of started in the “biz… side around the same time, he and I always joke when we see each other at a rink for the Stanley Cup Finals..The running joke after 15+ years being……They are still paying you to do this?…
So yes, I may be biased, but I also feel I have some insight to the kind of people these guys are. And maybe more importantly I feel inspired that people above at Comcast get that. I think both will be the first to admit that this is a challenge, and they both know what they don’t know….if you know what I mean… I have no question that they will surround themselves with quality hockey people, but more than that I’ve talk to both of them about players over the past and they both have incredible insight into the kind of minor details that only truly intelligent Hockey people see. I always trust people who don’t give you quick answers when they aren’t sure, but instead tell you they will find out and then immediately do so. This by the way was how Paul Holmgren was as a GM…
Other GM’s and agents would often share stories of Homer and how he was so likable they just couldn’t not trust him. But if you remember Paul as a player… He could get a little bit angry. I think Jonesey will be very similar and not let anything go that is in any way bad for the once iconic logo…and not accept apathy…
Finally, it’s important to remember that hockey ops and general managers are only the beginning of turning a franchise back to what it once was. It will require coaching and players who once again act like they bleed orange….. Make the mistake about it, Jones and Briere already do.