Ed Snider ripped the Olympic selection process and NHL participation on Thursday night following the Flyers 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. (Photo Courtesy of Philadelphia Sports Writers Association)
It's usually a rarity to see Chairman Ed Snider in the Flyers locker room following a regular-season game. On Thursday, Snider spoke to the media.
It started like most would have expected. Snider talked about his friend and the memory of Keith Allen, a subject that he had addressed for days. But the conversation quickly turned to the play on the ice.
With the Olympic break just days away, one of the storylines surrounding the Flyers once again involved Claude Giroux's absence from Team Canada's roster. Snider did not hesitate to voice his displeasure of the Olympic break and the Olympic roster selection process.
"It's a farce," Snider said. "He's one of the best players in the league. It's ridiculous. He's better than half the guys on that team.
"We don't pick them, but anyone who thinks Claude Giroux doesn't belong on the Canadian team, they don't know anything about hockey as far as I'm concerned."
Giroux was not on the original team announced in early January. On Thursday, Team Canada announced a replacement for the injured Steven Stamkos. Team Canada GM Steve Yzerman selected Martin St. Louis, a teammate of Stamkos on his own team, the Tampa Bay Lightning, to be a part of the Canadian Olympic team.
"It's politics to a certain degree," Snider said. "He had to pick his own guy, and his own guy is good, but Claude is better."
In addition to Giroux's second snub from the Olympics, Snider was also asked about his team going into the Olympic break. Again, Snider didn't hesitate to fire a shot at the Olympics and the NHL's participation in the games.
"I haven't taken a poll, but how can anyone be happy breaking up your season?" Snider said. "No other league does it, why should we?
"There's no benefit to it whatsoever. If anything, I only see negatives. The players want to play and the players' association has a lot to say about it. As an owner, I think it's ridiculous.
"It's not good for our fans. It's not good for our league. It changes the momentum. Everything about it's wrong."
A change of momentum would certainly be of concern to the Flyers. They have won three straight games including Thursday night's 3-1 win over the Avalanche and four of their last five games. With the exception of the Detroit Red Wings, newcomers to the Eastern Conference, all of the Flyers recent games have been against Western Conference teams. Snider is cautiously optimistic about his team moving forward.
"I love where we are right now," Snider said. "I think we're playing extremely well. I'm excited about the team. I think our goaltending is outstanding. I think the way we're playing and the system Craig Berube has instituted is outstanding and I've got my fingers crossed.
"We're going to play a lot of tough teams after the Olympic break in March, but we're home a lot of the time and I've got my fingers crossed that we'll do a good job."
The Flyers have one more game on Saturday afternoon before the Olympic break. Five players are going to Sochi as part of the Olympics: Kimmo Timonen for Finland, Jake Voracek for Czech Republic, Michael Raffl for Austria, Andrej Meszaros for Slovakia and Mark Streit for Switzerland.
"There's a lot of good players to pick from, and I'm proud of the five guys that are on the Olympic teams," Snider said. "They may not be great teams, but they're great players and they belong in the Olympics."
Video of Snider's post-game remarks is below courtesy of the Flyers website.
Kevin Durso is the lead beat writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow him on twitter @KDursoPhilsNet.
