by Kelly Monteith

Created on: May 14, 2008

Philadelphia Flyers fans could not wait to forget the 2006/2007 hockey season, finishing 30th in the league cried changes had to be made, but may take the next several years to accomplish.

It simply started soon after the season began, with the firing of head coach, Ken Hitchcock, soon followed by the resignation of general manager, Bob Clarke.Their replacements were coach John Steven, who had coached the Flyers American League team, the Philadelphia Phantoms, and Paul Holmgren was named the general manager.Although team owner, Ed Snider did not know what to expect, he decided to give the title of interim to both gentlemen.

With the up coming trade deadline approaching, player changes had to be made.There were already in place some good young talent with the likes of Forwards Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, but still they needed to free up some money so they could go to the next level.Goaltending had always been an issue with the Flyers, they had not seen the likes of Bernie Parent and Ron Hextall in quite some time, so the first move was to obtain Goalie Martin Biron from the Buffalo Sabres.Next on the list, to trade Forward Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for Forward Scottie Upshall.Another trade, this time with the Atlanta Thrashers, sending Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik to the Thrashers for youngster Braydon Coburn.Holmgren then went back to Nashville and acquired Defenseman Kimmo Timonen and Forward Scott Hartnell.

When Paul Holmgren took the job of interim general manager, he told owner Ed Snider they would have rebuild the team from the bottom up, with a few veterans added here and there.Mr. Snider liked what he saw and soon removed the interim tag from Holmgren's name and also decided to remove the interim tag from John Stevens.With the summer coming up and the number of free agents players on the horizon, the Flyers had enough money to go after whom ever they wanted.Forwards Chris Drury, Scott Gomez and Daniel Briere all were available, with many other teams wanting their services.Before the July 1st deadline had approached the Flyers had signed Daniel Briere and the team was slowly coming around to form.

During the summer, the Flyers managed a trade with the Edmonton Oilers, bringing Defenseman Jason Smith and Forward Joffery Lupul and Paul Holmgren felt he had the beginnings of a strong team which could rebound from the disaster of a year ago.

No one, however, expected the turn around that lay ahead for the Philadelphia Flyers.They enjoyed a time

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