Bizarre news broke out of Adirondack this morning that the Flyers have dismissed their best forward prospect Pat Maroon from the Phantoms. No explanation was given by the organization as to the reason why. According to Tim McManus of the Post-Star, Phantoms head coach Greg Gilbert only told him that Maroon would be reassigned, which means that either they will release him from his contract, trade him, or loan him to another team.
McManus does have an interesting quote from captain Dan Jancevski- “It’s just an internal matter and it’s going to stay that way, stay what happened in the dressing room.”
So what happened in the dressing room that would cause Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren to fly up to Adirondack last night? The Phantoms are currently dead last in the East Division and are showing no signs of improvement any time soon. I can’t imagine that the team is in high spirits right now, and the loss to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back for Maroon, who led the team with 5 goals and 3 assists in the first 9 games.
Without speculating too wildly, there had to have been a blatantly unprofessional action on Maroon’s part that caused this series of events. He’s too valuable of a player to lose for nothing, and revealing to the public that there has been a split reduces any trade value he may have had for the organization. It’s disappointing that one of the top prospects in the organization never played a single minute with the Flyers.
What concerns me the most about this story is whether or not this is an isolated incident. If Maroon blew up in front of the coach on his own, forcing the organization to remove him, then that’s where this story ends. I’m concerned if whether or not this is just the surface of more serious underlying problems with the leadership of this team, the coaching staff, and the players’ belief in the organization.
The development of talent at the AHL level is crucial for the long-term success of any team and if there are further problems with the players, Holmgren will need to make some serious changes.
