Flyers family mourns Snider's passing

Even in his failing days as he battled bladder cancer, Ed Snider had the urge to let general manager Ron Hextall know how much a Stanley Cup playoff run would mean to him - and to subtly suggest that maybe, just maybe, it might be a good idea to make a deal.

Snider, who died at his California home Monday at 83, was known for being impatient and signing high-priced free agents during many of his years as the Flyer chairman. However, after Hextall became the GM two years ago, Snider was on board with his plans to rebuild the team through the draft.

"When I first took over, we sat and talked, and he was terrific," Hextall said at a news conference at the team's Voorhees practice facility on Monday. "I said, 'Mr. Snider, we have to be patient here. We have to build. We've got some really good pieces, but we have to build.' "

Snider agreed.

"And he said to me, 'You know what, we won the first Stanley Cup because I was patient, and then I don't know what happened.' He was totally on board," Hextall said.

Fast forward to this year's 3 p.m. trade deadline on Feb. 29. An hour before the deadline, Hextall looked at his phone. The incoming call was from Snider.

"It was the damndest thing. I was like, 'OK [here we go],' " Hextall said with a grin.

Snider was direct. He wanted to know if Hextall was going to make a trade to improve the team. Snider knew his health was failing and probably knew he didn't have much time left, knew this could be his last chance to bring a Stanley Cup to Philadelphia for the first time since 1975.

"Are we getting better?" Snider asked.

Hextall swallowed hard.

" 'No, we're not," Hextall replied. " 'As a matter of fact, if we're going to do one thing, it's going to be the other way, but we're probably not going to do it.' And he was good."

Hextall smiled fondly.

"It was kind of like his competitiveness [was coming out]. That's what you love about him; his passion his competitiveness. It all came out an hour before the trade deadline," Hextall said. "It was great. I think he sort of knew. Well, I know he knew [what Hextall's answer would be], but he couldn't help himself."

Hextall said when he first saw the call was from Snider, "I kind of went, 'Oh-oh,' because I knew he was going to ask what was going on. But I sort of thought, maybe, if there's one time it's going to happen, this was the time [he would suggest a deal]. It was great."

The news of Snider's death was met with deep sadness from those associated with the Flyers' co-founder, and they remembered him as a man who put others first.

Paul Holmgren, the Flyers' president, said Snider "first and foremost" thought of the fans, whether it was about ticket prices, parking or the weather effects.

According to Holmgren, Snider would say, "Can our fans get to the game if we've got bad weather? What can we do to help out? Can we change the time of the game? Should we cancel the game? He's always thinking about our fans,and how we're going to make sure they're comfortable getting to the game, enjoy the experience of being at the game, and obviously winning as many times as we can."

Holmgren said Snider would get involved with the staff that ran the team, "but he let the hockey guys do their thing. He'll question you. He might disagree with you. He might ask you some real tough questions. 'What do you mean by that? What do you mean so-and-so is not doing this or we can't do that? Why not?' Then you get in a big debate with him about this."

It was all healthy for the organization, Holmgren said.

Holmgren wrote a letter to Flyers fans, saying, "It's important for you to know that his team was every thing to him, and he believed that you are a central part to everything the team is and stands for to this day."

Former Flyers president Peter Luukko, now executive chairman of the Florida Panthers, called Snider a "great coach, mentor, business partner, and most importantly, special friend. For those of us who knew and worked with Ed, we are better people because of him. I know going to a hockey game will never be the same for me."

Holmgren, who has been in the Flyers organization in various jobs for more than four decades, said Snider taught him "how to be a better friend, a better loyal friend, who good times and bad times, you're there for people because there's none better than him. When it came to good times and bad times for a lot of us that have been involved in the organization, he's been there for all of us."

Holmgren called Snider "the face of the Flyers. He is, he was, he always will be. He took a risk. Who can take a bigger risk than that, what he had to do just to get the team here, get the Spectrum built? That story is incredible. . . . Look where we're at now. We're one of the most recognizable brands in the world, in the world of sport."

Dave Scott, president and chief executive officer of the Flyers' parent company, Comcast-Spectacor, said Snider had a "practical, no-nonsense approach. Always forward looking, never looking back, really looking to the next kind of great thing. But what always comes across is just his passion for winning. Whether in business, sitting in a conference room, doing deals with people."

Scott said Snider "was always like, 'If you don't take a risk you won't make mistakes and you'll never learn.' "

Snider always has a positive outlook, Scott said.

"You might knock him down but he [would] get right back up," Scott said, adding that Snider was a "a scraper, a fighter" and someone who had an "entrepreneurial spirit" and was "fun to be around."

Phil Weinberg, executive vice president and general counsel of Comcast-Spectacor, said, "Ed was always one of us. He always wanted to be one of the group, one of the team. He was Ed. Every time somebody would call him Mr. Snider he would say, 'Call me Ed,' or, 'I hate that.' "

Weinberg said Snider "wore his heart and soul on his sleeve and people here loved that about him."

"It's a very emotional day," said Shawn Tilger, the Flyers' chief operating officer of business operations. "Mr. Snider has been a true leader; his passion and his grit were contagious to all of us. We will take pride in being stewards of the culture he created."

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