If interviewing Emilie Castonguay for an executive position, likely President of Hockey Operations, was considered by many to be an outside-the box and progressive move by the Flyers, then one has to wonder what the reaction will be when the second interview is a former Flyer.

Sources have indicated that the team will meet with Scott Mellanby as soon as today (Thursday) as their latest candidate for the position. Mellanby’s name was one of the first rumored to be on the Flyers’ list almost immediately after former President and GM Chuck Fletcher was fired on March 10th.

Before fans freak out because Mellanby once played here, and this would be wrongly considered by many as the Flyers looking to rekindle the past, or that he is part of the God ‘Ol Boy network, he hasn’t been involved with the Flyers since he was a player more than 30 years ago and has been identified more with other teams since leaving the Flyers in 1991.

After finally retiring from hockey in 2007 as captain of the Atlanta Thrashers (now Winnipeg Jets part deux), Mellanby was hired by the Vancouver Canucks as a special consultant to GM Mike Gillis.

Mellanby, 56, then moved into coaching, serving as the St. Louis Blues assistant coach for two seasons beginning in 2010 before jumping to Montreal in 2012 to become the Canadiens’ Director of Player Personnel. Two years later, he was promoted to assistant GM, a role he kept for a little more than seven years before resigning on his own in November, 2021.

Since then, Mellanby has worked as a senior advisor to St. Louis Blues GM Doug Armstrong.

Mellanby was drafted by the Flyers in 1984 and played five seasons here before being traded to Edmonton in 1991. He was an integral part of the late-80s teams that reached two Stanley Cup Finals and a third Eastern Conference Final.

In the middle of his Flyers tenure, Mellanby suffered a severe injury to his left arm in a bar brawl in Canada that nearly ended his career and almost cost him his arm.

Coming to the aid of a friend who was in the fight,  Mellanby’s left arm was slashed by a broken beer bottle. The assailant sliced four tendons, a nerve and an artery during the assault. Through emergency surgery, doctors were able to save Mellanby’s arm, and he was able to resume his career.

After two years with Edmonton, Mellanby played parts of eight seasons with the Florida Panthers, four seasons with the Blues and his last two seasons with the Thrashers.

In a long and storied hockey career, Mellanby is probably most remembered as a player for this:

The Panthers went on an unexpected run to the Stanley Cup Final that season (1995-96), upsetting the heavily-favored Flyers in the second round, and the fans in Florida became known for chucking plastic rats on the ice after Panthers goals.

For those of you who don’t remember this era, this is not a joke. Here’s a great short documentary about Mellanby and the rats:

Back to the Flyers President search…

Sources have indicated the current plan is to interview between 5-7 candidates for the position, although there are a couple of other possibilities that could be added to the list.

One source suggested that Doug Wilson, the longtime GM of the San Joe Sharks who retired in 2022 for health-related reasons, is likely to be among the candidates interviewed.

[the_ad id=”103880″]