Last week, TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger reported that the Flyers were meeting with ex-Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher. It was, according to Dreger, Fletcher’s “job to lose.”

Today Sam Carchidi over at the Inquirer is reporting that Fletcher will indeed be named the 8th GM in Flyers history.

Writes Carchidi:

A high-ranking club official said Fletcher will replace Ron Hextall, who was stunningly fired Nov. 26 while in his fifth season as GM. Bill Zito, a Columbus assistant general manager, was believed to be the runner-up to Fletcher.

Every general manager has his own take “on how it should be run,” the Flyers executive said. “For me, and I think Chuck has done the same, I think it’s how you treat your people, so everybody is included as to what’s going on. The people who work for you have to know you trust them and want their opinions and care about them — and it will be returned every time. Chuck will have that.”

Anthony can confirm this report from an organizational source.

This is also interesting, from Carchidi’s write-up:

Fletcher’s family has ties to the recently fired Joel Quenneville, who coached Chicago to three Stanley Cups and is a candidate to replace Dave Hakstol if the new GM changes his coach. Cliff Fletcher hired Quenneville as an AHL assistant coach for St. John’s (Toronto’s affiliate) in 1991. As a GM, Cliff Fletcher acquired eight players in deals who became Hall of Famers. He made several blockbuster trades and became known as the “Silver Fox” and “Trader Cliff” – much like former Flyers GM Keith Allen was known as “Keith the Thief.”

I’m interested to see how Hakstol does without Ron Hextall apparently lording over him, but I’d empty my bank account, throw what little cash I have in my Nissan Frontier, and drive it to Chicago if it meant bringing Q to Philadelphia.

I wrote a bit about Fletcher last week, who made the killer free agent signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, but his teams struggled to advance beyond the 1st round of the playoffs. He spent nine years in his GM role with Minnesota.