Holmgren refused to comment on Maroon's status yesterday but told the Glens Falls Post-Star in New York that there was "probably a pattern" of incidents that led to Maroon's demise.
Holmgren spent the weekend in Glens Falls, reportedly watching the Phantoms in the Glens Falls Civic Center simultaneously with the Flyers' back-to-back games against Pittsburgh and the Islanders via a laptop placed at his feet.
"I'm not going to get into the whys and the how comes," Holmgren told the Post-Star. "From time to time you have to do things that are not nice in the interest of the team, the organization and the hockey team. And this is a decision that ultimately I made on Wednesday.
"If you give up a player of his offensive abilities it makes it a little bit more difficult, but we thought it was in the best interest of the team and the organization."
Maroon, still only 22, said he was stunned by the call. Two summers ago, Maroon was a player many thought might crack the Flyers' opening-night lineup before an injury derailed him in training camp. He politely declined to discuss specifics.
"I was definitely surprised," Maroon told the Daily News yesterday. "I had no idea this was coming. It's pretty strange when a team calls you and says you can no longer play hockey. There was nothing I could do about it."
An organizational source told the Daily News over the weekend that Holmgren and the coaching staff felt Maroon was "setting a bad example" for some of the younger players on the team.
Holmgren apparently didn't want that to affect talented rookies Erik Gustafsson, Mike Testwuide, Ben Holmstrom and Luke Pither.
