MELTZER'S MUSINGS: JUNE 15, 2015
1) According to the latest 30 Thoughts by Elliotte Friedman, Flyers general manager Ron Hextall would like to interview Los Angeles Kings goaltending development coach Kim Dillabaugh for the Flyers' vacant goaltender coach position at the NHL level. The two have worked together in the past during Hextall's tenure in Los Angeles.
Toronto also has interest in interviewing Dillabaugh, according to Friedman. However, last year, the Carolina Hurricanes asked the Kings for permission to interview Dillabaugh and were denied by Kings general manager Dean Lombardi. Despite Lombardi's close relationship with Hextall and past ties to the Flyers organization, it is not a slam-dunk that the Kings would give Dillabaugh permission to seek an NHL goalie coaching opportunity this summer.
Friedman also speculated that Hextall may have interest in interviewing Bill Ranford, who has been the Kings' goaltending coach at the NHL level for the last eight years. Doing so, of course, would also require permission from Lombardi.
With Dave Hakstol aboard as the Flyers new head head, another possible candidate could be Karl Goehring, the goaltending coach at the University of North Dakota and one of the more highly regarded young goaltending coaches on the scene. Goehring has pedigree both as a longtime former pro (mostly AHL) goaltender who spent a year as an AHL goalie coach with the Syracuse Crunch before returning to alma mater UND. His most recent UND charge, Boston Bruins prospect Zane McIntyre, won the Mike Richter Award as the top netminder in NCAA college hockey in 2014-15.
2) McIntyre, who will turn 23 in August, has already decided to forego his senior year and turn pro for the 2014-15 season. He is currently negotiating with Boston on an entry-level contract. With Boston backup Niklas Svedberg deciding to leave North America to sign in the KHL next season, there is a spot for McIntyre to compete with Malcolm Subban. In the meantime, it will be interesting to see how UND fills the void in net.
UND incoming freshman, Slovakian netminder Matej Tomek, is expected to be selected withing the first three or four rounds of the 2015 NHL Draft. While far from a certainty, it would not be surprising if the Flyers -- who pick four times between the 60th and 99th pick -- select at least one goaltender within Tomek's projected selection range.
The tall and lanky (6-foot-3, 180 pound) Tomek is already familiar with the North American game, having spent the last season in the NAHL with Topeka. He is ranked fifth among goalies on Central Scouting's North American list and 82nd overall on Bob McKenzie's list for TSN. Tomek started for Slovakia at the Under-18 Worlds last year and played senior-level hockey in his homeland at the minor league level as a member of the junior national team.
3) Apart from Hextall's past role as the general manager of the AHL's Manchester Monarchs, there were other Flyers connections to the now-completed 2015 Calder Cup Finals between champion Manchester and the runner-up Utica Comets.
Monarchs head coach, Mike Stothers, who won the AHL's Coach of the Year award, was a longtime member of the Flyers organization. The 53-year-old former defenseman was both a player and assistant coach -- often as the right-hand man to Bill Barber -- for the Flyers and its AHL affiliates but has now been out of the organization for 13 years. This has given Stothers the opportunity to collect head coaching experience at both the junior (OHL. WHL) and AHL levels.
On the other side, former Flyers goaltender Robert Esche is the club president, general manager and part of the ownership group that leases the operation of the Utica Comets from the Vancouver Canucks. Esche admits that his management style is very much influenced by what he observed from general managers Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren as well as chairman Ed Snider during his years in Philadelphia.
4) Twenty-one years ago today, on June 15, 1994, the Flyers and Florida Panthers completed an agreement that allowed Panthers' general manager Bob Clarke to leave his post and rejoin the Flyers as their general manager. In exchange for releasing Clarke from his contract, the Panthers received a 1994 second-round draft pick (Ryan Johnson) from the Flyers. For the interim, outgoing Flyers GM Russ Farwell remained with the organization to assist with NHL Draft preparation.
5) Current Flyers Zac Rinaldo (1990) and Petr Straka (1992) share June 15th birthdays, as do Alumni forwards Sandy McCarthy (1972) and Dean McAmmond (1973). For other notable June 15th events in Flyers franchise history, visit the Flyers Alumni Association official website.