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Flyers owner: 'Patience isn't great with the team we have on the ice'

Mitchell Leff / Getty Images Sport / Getty

Ed Snider has no interest in backing a rebuilding team.

The Philadelphia Flyers owner, who's on the verge of seeing his club miss the playoffs after falling to the New York Rangers in a seven-game series a year ago, is calling on general manager Ron Hextall to draft and develop young talent while also using the current building blocks to craft a winner.

Given the players already on the roster, Snider isn't about to wait a few years for a return to the postseason, as he told Sam Donnellon of Philly.com:

You don't say when you've got (Claude) Giroux, and you've got (Jakub) Voracek, and you've got (Steve) Mason and you've got the kind of pieces like (Wayne) Simmonds that we have, that, 'Hey, you've got to be patient, we might make the playoffs in 2 or 3 years.' 

(Bleep) that.

Snider admitted Hextall has a busy summer of retooling ahead of him, and is intent on moving the team forward as quickly as possible.

We've got to make sure our message gets through properly. Patience is great with the kids. But patience isn't great with the team we have on the ice ... I mean, for us to give up now and say we're not a playoff team and we've got to be patient and all that kind of thing, sends the wrong message, I think. To the guys who are here, to our fans, to everybody.

The Flyers are five years removed from a trip to the Stanley Cup Final, with no small amount of roster tinkering along the way.

Snider hasn't been afraid to sign off on a bold move or two, meaning the Flyers could be one of the more active teams this offseason, should the right opportunities present themselves.

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