Hiring Danny Brière and Keith Jones likely gives ‘spiritual leader’ John Tortorella free rein with the Flyers

In their attempt to salvage their decrepit organization ruined by an insistence on hiring former players with little experience or little success, the Flyers have hired two former players with almost no experience and zero success.

New general manager Danny Brière has never been an assistant GM, or even a scout, at the NHL level. New president of hockey operations Keith Jones has never presided over anything more significant than a bachelor party, and he spent the last two decades as a hockey analyst by night who spent his mornings making jokes on sports talk radio, many of which dealt with flatulence; mostly, his own.

But Danny’s diligent, and Jonesy’s clever, and they’re both very, very smart, and I wish them the best in their near futures as … John Tortorella’s errand boys?

As for curb-kicked advisers Bob Clarke, Paul Holmgren, and Bill Barber: Thank you for your service.

I adore Brière, and I loved him as a player. I like Jones, and I believe he’s brilliant behind a microphone. Pretty much everyone feels this way about them, but feelings cannot factor in when the fate of a franchise is at stake. Brière is affable and courtly, and Jones is affable and witty, but affability makes you good in the barroom, not the draft room.

The last time a Philadelphia team hired an underqualified GM to direct a rebuild, Sam Hinkie set the Sixers on a 10-year cruise to nowhere. They remain on that same course.

The parallels — both hiring alumni and hiring inexperienced execs — are eerie. Unfair, perhaps, but remarkable, at least.

Briere and Jones introduced themselves to hockey executive-ship Tuesday when they made a bold, popular move: trading the expensive Ivan Provorov for prospects and picks. Provorov, 26, is the sort of dependable, dynamic defenseman who bolsters rosters ready to win. This signified, at least, that the Flyers know they’re not ready to win. Brière said as much the day he lost the “interim” tag, but saying and doing, as Flyers fans know, are two very different things.

» READ MORE: Trade grades: How did new Flyers GM Danny Brière make out in the Ivan Provorov deal?

So, good job moving Provy, fellas, but let’s just call this Brière and Jones move what it is: a PR play.

Which makes sense. New Comcast CEO and Flyers governor Dan Hilferty, the recently retired CEO of Independence Blue Cross, has been putting brave faces on bad situations all his life. Hilferty spins like Steven Stamkos. He’s going to need to keep spinning. Even the Flyers’ subservient fan base mocks the team now, which is like having disaffected Scientologists compose dirty limericks about L. Ron Hubbard.

Like many Philadelphia natives, Hilferty operates under the misperception that the Flyers spent decades as a destination franchise. He promised to “restore” their greatness as “the envy of the entire NHL.” The Flyers have long been a good team to play for, a team bent on winning immediately, but they have never been the envy of the entire NHL.

At any rate, replacing underqualified, old warhorses from a failed army with underqualified, younger warhorses from the same army is an odd way to sell a reboot, but far be it from us to question a franchise only 48 years removed from its last title.

Then again, maybe they just needed two guys John Tortorella could walk all over.

The most chilling statement made in this past month of madness came from the active lips of Hilferty, who said this:

“Make no mistake about it: John Tortorella is our spiritual leader.” Because Jim Bakker wasn’t available?

Hilferty initially said Brière will be in charge of “all hockey decisions,” then sketched a management hierarchy in which Brière and Torts will sort of co-manage the roster, especially as it comes to finalization and in-season machinations. He asks us to believe that Tortorella, who has 704 wins and a Stanley Cup, will defer to Brière, a front-office virgin who was 9 years old when Torts started coaching pros.

There’s more.

Hilferty said Jones’ role as president will be to “moderate” any contentious interactions between the two. Yeah, I spit out my coffee, too. “Moderating” a riled-up John Tortorella is like moderating Godzilla.

Hilferty also said Jones will be in charge of hiring and firing. Firing whom? Tortorella? Brière? The equipment guys?

For his part, Jones relished that the process of interviewing him for the job was kept under wraps for so long. Jones also vowed to keep all Flyers plans similarly secret, unless he tells former teammate Chris Therien, who broke the news on Twitter, then apologized.

It was just the latest in a series of hilarious bungles by the Orange and Black, and the perfect way to launch what they’re calling “a new era of orange,” which calls into question where the “black” went, but whatever.

Brière has been involved with the Flyers as either a minor-league executive or a GM in training for eight years, which means he’s familiar with the organization. But he also was part of the problem, however tangential.

» READ MORE: The Flyers have options with the No. 7 pick, but why not swing big for a potential star?

Jones is funny, tireless, and extremely well-connected — Avalanche president Joe Sakic is a good buddy, as is Rangers president and GM Chris Drury — and he is a spectacular listener, having spent years crafting witty comebacks with retired WIP-FM morning host Angelo Cataldi. I can tell you firsthand, if that doesn’t prepare you for a war room, nothing will.

In Brière’s two-month audition as interim GM, Hilferty was blown away by Brière’s organizational skills and recall. Jones impressed Hilferty as a superior communicator and innovator. Godspeed, fellas.

It’s all so crazy that it just might work.

Just like last time.