The Flyers announced on Wednesday morning that they’ve promoted scouting director Chris Pryor to the position of assistant general manager and director of player personnel.
Pryor has been director of scouting for the Flyers for the last three seasons, overseeing drafts that have brought German Rubtsov, Ivan Provorov, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim in as first round picks.
As director of hockey operations, a job he held from 2006 until after the 2013 draft Pryor was responsible in some way for basically anything that touches the ice in the organization. It’s an overarching job that varies a bit from team to team depending on the individual who serves the role. (For example, the Flyers don’t even have a director of hockey ops right now.) Pryor still had a heavy hand in scouting during his time in this role.
Before he took that position, Pryor was an amateur scout focusing on the United States from 1999 to 2006. Perhaps the best-known player drafted from an American amateur squad in that time was Patrick Sharp, who played at the University of Vermont for two seasons before he was drafted by the Flyers in 2003.
Pryor has been a key member of the scouting department since he first showed up in Philadelphia 17 years ago, and it’s evident that he and Ron Hextall have a strong working relationship, hence today’s promotion. As director of player personnel, it’s expected he will continue to oversee the scouting operation while also taking on a wider role as an advisor to Hextall.
The Flyers now have two assistant general managers as Pryor joins Barry Hanrahan, who primarily serves as the team’s salary cap guy, with that title.
Here’s the full press release from the team:
The Philadelphia Flyers have promoted Chris Pryor to the position of Assistant General Manager, Director of Player Personnel, according to general manager Ron Hextall.
Pryor is entering his 17th season with the Flyers. He served the previous three seasons as the club’s director of scouting, overseeing all Flyers scouting activities at the professional and amateur levels, both in North America and overseas, with assistance from Dave Brown on the professional side and Dennis Patterson in the amateur ranks.
Pryor joined the Flyers in the summer of 1999 as a US amateur scout and served in that capacity until being promoted to the position of director of hockey operations in November of 2006. He was named director of scouting in July of 2013.
Prior to joining the Flyers, Pryor worked for the New York Islanders from 1992-1999 in various capacities, including minor league coach (1992-94), scout (1994-99) and director of player development (1994-98). After retiring as a player early in the 1992- 93 season with the Capital District Islanders (AHL), he stayed with Capital District as a full time assistant coach for the remainder of the season and then served as an assistant coach with the Salt Lake Golden Eagles (IHL) for the 1993-94 season.
Pryor played parts of six seasons in the NHL with the Minnesota North Stars and New York Islanders (1984-90). He also played for Salt Lake during the 1983-84 season and Capital District from 1990-92, where he won a Calder Cup in 1990. Prior to his professional playing career, Pryor played four seasons at the University of New Hampshire.
Chris and his wife Joannie reside in South Jersey. They have three children, Mike, Jena and Nick, and two grandchildren, Leighton and Jax.
