In my playoff pool I will be picking the flyers to go all the way for the first time in 8 years.

Have loved reading a lot of the comments in here and the great remembrances of Ed Snider all day. He truly was a monumental figure in Philly sports history. Outside of the time he brought in a certain "hockey - mom", I've always very much appreciated what he has given to Flyers fans and Flyers players. We've been spoiled!

Obviously his loss leaves a massive hole in the sports and community fabric of Philly. His shoes won't be filled anytime soon, if ever. As Wayne Simmonds said a few days ago "Mr. Snider is the Philadelphia Flyers".

Mr Snider, Whereever you are on the great pond of the beyond, I hope the spirit zamboni has put a smooth sheet of ice down for your travels! Thanks for all the great years of Flyers hockey. Here is hoping the next 50 years (and beyond) of Flyers hockey can live up to your legacy. RIP.

Let's get a cup this year for Mr snider

I share your tears today fellow Flyer fans. Of course, I'm not super shocked that Ed has passed, because, you kind of knew that if he was too ill to attend those recent important games, that his condition must have been pretty dire.

Now that he's actually gone, I do feel kind of...stunned. Stunned, in a way that feels not that unlike when Eric Lindros got blindsided in the jaw by Scott Stevens or when I heard on the car radio, that Pelle Lindbergh had died in a car wreck. Something that just hits that hits you so deep as a Flyer fan. Tears. That pit in your stomach...ughh... I think part of the reason something like this can feel like that, is because you're suddenly faced with the stark reality that your team will be materially altered without this person around. While losing top performing players may have a more immediate and tangible impact on a team, losing an owner/chairman like Ed Snider is, in a sense, just like losing a top player in its potential impact to the organization. There's no replacing him. You can't just go out and find another Ed Snider. The team and the game and the city of Philadelphia lost a good one.

Ed Snider was everything you'd want in an owner and more. He genuinely LOVED the team he founded (and, why not?) and money was NO OBJECT when it came to the Flyers. You want top free agents? Make the deal, Ed will bankroll it. Want to buy out Briere and Bryz?..Ed says "do it!" If he thought it would help the team win or get back to winning, Ed would write the check. He put his faith in his staff to make the hockey decisions and stood steadfast and prepared to do whatever needed to be done.

Beyond that, Ed Snider genuinely cared about the players and fans, as people, as families that he considered an extension of his own. Some guys talk it, but this guy walked it. Doing whatever it takes to win and caring about people...those are two of the hallmarks of Ed Snider's tenure as owner of the Flyers...and because of that, these things are also an integral part of the Flyers culture and why they are among the leagues very best in terms of playoff appearances since their inception in 1968 and why they are seen around the league as a premier, first-class organization and why there's a "once a Flyer, always Flyer" mentality that has persisted from the early days, the same one that, for good or ill, allows many Flyers to join the staff and continue to add value to the team well after their playing days have ended. As a Flyer fan, this "promote from within" strategy can, at times, seem insular, myopic and compromising (ahem, Berube..cough...) but having people like Bobby Clarke and Holmgren and Hexy running the team represents a winning tradition and illustrates a deep pride and reverence for the colors and those who have worn them in the past. That all flowed from Ed Snider.

No, there will never be another Ed Snider, but we can have hope that anyone who may come to be in a position to play some of the roles that Ed played with the Flyers, follows very much within the winning path that he blazed.

R.I.P Ed.





P.S. It was a blessing Ed got to see them get into the post season. I'd like to see this team go out and fight for him! You know if there's a way, he's watching! LET'S GO FLYERS!

I share your tears today fellow Flyer fans. Of course, I'm not super shocked that Ed has passed, because, you kind of knew that if he was too ill to attend those recent important games, that his condition must have been pretty dire.

Now that he's actually gone, I do feel kind of...stunned. Stunned, in a way that feels not that unlike when Eric Lindros got blindsided in the jaw by Scott Stevens or when I heard on the car radio, that Pelle Lindbergh had died in a car wreck. Something that just hits that hits you so deep as a Flyer fan. Tears. That pit in your stomach...ughh... I think part of the reason something like this can feel like that, is because you're suddenly faced with the stark reality that your team will be materially altered without this person around. While losing top performing players may have a more immediate and tangible impact on a team, losing an owner/chairman like Ed Snider is, in a sense, just like losing a top player in its potential impact to the organization. There's no replacing him. You can't just go out and find another Ed Snider. The team and the game and the city of Philadelphia lost a good one.

Ed Snider was everything you'd want in an owner and more. He genuinely LOVED the team he founded (and, why not?) and money was NO OBJECT when it came to the Flyers. You want top free agents? Make the deal, Ed will bankroll it. Want to buy out Briere and Bryz?..Ed says "do it!" If he thought it would help the team win or get back to winning, Ed would write the check. He put his faith in his staff to make the hockey decisions and stood steadfast and prepared to do whatever needed to be done.

Beyond that, Ed Snider genuinely cared about the players and fans, as people, as families that he considered an extension of his own. Some guys talk it, but this guy walked it. Doing whatever it takes to win and caring about people...those are two of the hallmarks of Ed Snider's tenure as owner of the Flyers...and because of that, these things are also an integral part of the Flyers culture and why they are among the leagues very best in terms of playoff appearances since their inception in 1968 and why they are seen around the league as a premier, first-class organization and why there's a "once a Flyer, always Flyer" mentality that has persisted from the early days, the same one that, for good or ill, allows many Flyers to join the staff and continue to add value to the team well after their playing days have ended. As a Flyer fan, this "promote from within" strategy can, at times, seem insular, myopic and compromising (ahem, Berube..cough...) but having people like Bobby Clarke and Holmgren and Hexy running the team represents a winning tradition and illustrates a deep pride and reverence for the colors and those who have worn them in the past. That all flowed from Ed Snider.

No, there will never be another Ed Snider, but we can have hope that anyone who may come to be in a position to play some of the roles that Ed played with the Flyers, follows very much within the winning path that he blazed.

R.I.P Ed.





P.S. It was a blessing Ed got to see them get into the post season. I'd like to see this team go out and fight for him! You know if there's a way, he's watching! LET'S GO FLYERS!
- exlund

Well said!