Keith Jones to be the ‘big picture’ guy in Flyers’ new hockey operations triumvirate

From radio to television over the last two decades, longtime broadcaster and former Flyer Keith Jones has been paid to talk. But for the last several weeks, he hasn’t uttered a word about the prospective next chapter of his career, not even to his closest friends in hockey.

Jones finally started making those calls Thursday when he was officially announced as the Flyers’ president of hockey operations. At the same time, the Flyers removed the interim tag from general manager Danny Brière. One of those calls was to London Knights president and head coach Dale Hunter, who was Jones’ teammate with the Washington Capitals. Hunter offered both insight into his job and assurance to Jones.

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“He said he knows that you can drop Keith Jones in anywhere and he’s going to figure it out quick,” Jones said. “So I think that will come into play with this as well.”

The business side of hockey is uncharted territory for Jones, who played nine seasons in the NHL (1992-2000) and spent the last 20 in broadcasting, both locally and nationally. He has not held a previous role in an NHL front office, let alone a management position of any kind.

At the same time, the Flyers are in uncharted territory, too, with a new structure for their recently finalized leadership team comprising Jones, Brière, head coach John Tortorella, president and CEO of Spectacor Sports and Entertainment Valerie Camillo, and Comcast Spectacor chairman/Flyers governor Dan Hilferty. The hierarchy starts with Hilferty at the top, followed by Camillo at the helm of the business operations side and Jones as her counterpart on the hockey operations side.

Jones will lead the “big picture” of hockey operations, according to Hilferty, who spoke on Friday at the introductory news conference for Jones and Brière. His responsibilities include implementing the organizational vision and plan alongside the leadership team, collaborating with hockey operations (Tortorella and Brière), business operations (Camillo), and the league when necessary, and connecting with business leaders, corporate partners, and other teams, and fans.

Hilferty likened part of Jones’ role to that of a spokesperson, leveraging his ability to communicate with a wide audience thanks to his broadcasting career.

Hilferty also emphasized how important it is that Jones and Camillo are “tethered” in their roles. If the Flyers are going to be successful, Hilferty said, then hockey and business need to move in lockstep.

Jones is technically in charge of Brière and Tortorella, and Hilferty acknowledged that Jones has hiring and firing power within his silo. Brière will oversee all hockey decisions, including signings, trades, and the draft, as well as heading up scouting and player development.

Hilferty said that Brière will use both analytics and Tortorella’s feedback via the “eye test” to make roster decisions. Jones said that he will share his opinions with Brière regarding player personnel, but ultimately, Brière has the final say.

“He’s going to be on the phone a lot,” Jones said. “He’s going to be busy. There is no doubt. But I will be there for him at all times. That will be my role.”

Tortorella will, of course, continue to serve as the Flyers’ bench boss. The trio forms a triangle on the hockey operations side, each with his own roles and responsibilities. But while Jones is technically at the top of that triangle within the larger corporate hierarchy, each member of the Flyers’ leadership group emphasized the importance of collaboration among them.

That’s why Hilferty’s priority during the president of hockey operations search was to find someone with the right personality to complement Brière and Tortorella, not just someone with the right leadership skills. He even added that it wasn’t necessarily a priority to find someone with general manager experience to preside over rookie general manager Brière.

Instead, the goal was to find the best president of hockey operations candidate who would be “comfortable” with Tortorella (the team’s “spiritual leader,” per Hilferty) and Brière. During the interview process, Hilferty found that some of the candidates had a “hard-and-fast way” of “‘this is the way I do it,’” claiming that they would see if Brière and Tortorella met their standard if given the job.

But the Flyers already felt they had the best coach and general manager in place to guide them through their rebuild. Hilferty said that Tortorella, who came to the team with more than 20 years of NHL heading coaching experience, was the first person to tell him that he has to be patient with the development of the team. .

Camillo insisted that Brière “knows what it takes to build a Stanley Cup contender,” regardless of his lack of NHL GM experience. As a player, Brière said he observed how each general manager built their respective teams, from Paul Holmgren with the Flyers to Marc Bergevin with the Montreal Canadiens to Joe Sakic with the Colorado Avalanche.

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So, Jones emerged as the right person for the role who believed in the direction the Flyers are heading in with Brière and Tortorella. Even though Jones doesn’t have front-office experience, Tortorella underscored his value as someone who has followed the league for years, maintaining relationships with coaches and general managers while understanding players and systems.

Jones may be in uncharted territory, dropped into a new role at the helm of the Flyers’ hockey operations department. But the Flyers are confident enough in his hockey expertise and connections around the league to saddle him, alongside Brière and Tortorella, with the task of rebuilding the Flyers back into the prominent organization they once were.