Flyers chairman Snider to miss home opener vs. Panthers

The Philadelphia Flyers will be without a familiar face when they play their home-opening contest against the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Chairman Ed Snider will remain at his home in California where he is "resting and recharging after recent medical therapy", a team spokesman told NJ.com. The 82-year-old Snider battled an unspecified cancer in 2014.

"I talked to him (Sunday) and Friday and as far as I know he is doing well, was in a good mood," general manager Ron Hextall told reporters on Monday. "He's excited about the team. He was excited after our first game. I said, 'I never heard you happy after a loss.'"

Aside from the Wirtz family in Chicago, Snider is the league's longest-tenured owner and serves as chairman of Comcast Spectacor, a Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company that owns the Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center, the regional sports network Comcast SportsNet and Global Spectrum.

Snider brought NHL hockey to the City of Brotherly Love in preparation for the Flyers' first season in 1967. Elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, Snider received the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce's William Penn Award and was named the Philanthropist of the Year in April 2015 by the Philadelphia Business Journal.

(h/t NJ.com)