It’s happening. Dave Scott is going golfing forevermore.

Scott’s off-season is about to be the rest of time. He’s done with this whole hockey business.

Dave Scott Retires

In simpler terms, Dave Scott is retiring. And I genuinely wish him a good retirement. I also think he made the right decision. I was never quite convinced that he wanted to be a part of what happens next.

For some time now, the possibility of Dave Scott’s retirement being part of this “front office overhaul” was being speculated upon. After all, if changes really were going to be made at the top–why not go all the way? Dave Scott isn’t a traditional hockey guy. He has little love lost for the sport, much less for the Flyers organization.

Why should he want to stick around and oversee the remaking of a franchise? For me, I started speculation on this all the way back when his now replacement–Dan Hilferty–was hired as a mysterious “partner.”

My reasoning for speculation was simple: Dan Hilferty, in the statement, was dressing for the job he wanted. And not the job he was being given.

The initial reports said Hilferty would have nothing to do with hockey operations, and instead was just someone to work with business ops. That made sense. Except, why did Hilferty feel the need to regale us with how he’s always been a “tenacious Flyers fan?”

If he’s a guy working on business operations, his actual affinity for the Flyers means very little. If he’s in the decision making process for hockey moves, though? Him being a fan of the team–and the sport–matters very much.

As it turned out, it did indeed matter very much.

At the time, I was cynical and tried to argue against my own point. At the end of the day, I didn’t think it was possible that this much movement would occur in this short of a timeframe.

I was wrong. The Flyers are much more willing to take action than I initially thought they would be, and they deserve some level of commendation for that. It isn’t every day that a GM and owner gets ousted within a month of each other, after all.

And this level of aggressive maneuvering suggests that the “senior advisers” of the team are about to be frozen out. I’m not sure yet if they’ll be stripped of titles, or simply removed from the decision making process. Either way is quite okay with me.

But beyond this little spell of aggressive mov es in the right direction, the Flyers–as an organization–have done very little to engender trust in the fanbase. So I might well be alone in being willing to give them something resembling the benefit of the doubt.

If they actually want to lend a fully fleshed out olive branch to the fans, it might be time to lend people like Bob Clarke and Paul Holmgren–at the very minimum–a new title. Might I suggest something like: “Flyers Emeritus?”

Something to suggest that, while they’re here much like Gritty, they don’t really do anything. I think that would be another step in the process of rebuilt trust.

But it should go without saying: this, itself, is another step in the organization’s process of endearing itself to his own fans (once again). It should be recognized that way.

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Mandatory Credit: NHL.com