In a move that came at least a year later, the Philadelphia Flyers finally removed Chuck Fletcher as general manager. Now it’s up to Daniel Brier and possibly a redesigned Flyers front office to transform that lineup and farm system into something that feels like a real contender.
Will they have the patience to be shoved into a few more lockers before they turn back into Broad Street hooligans? Maybe they’ve taken too many history lectures to learn from past mistakes?
Let’s take up the books and think about what lies ahead for the Flyers.
The Flyers’ current roster has a few figures, but there’s little to no star power.
At this point, it’s downright funny to see NHL grandmasters tremble when using the word “recovery” instead resorting to euphemisms. e.g. “reset”. So give Brière credit for actually uttering the word even though he applied the expected caveats.
Brière was hesitant to buy players aged 24 and under, although he also acknowledged that there were no truly untouchables.
If you are not looking at this list Through orange glasses, you’ll agree that untouchable superstars don’t exist. In any case, the Flyers could indeed be wise to move their two best pieces. Swapping Carter Hart and Travis Konecny might be nasty, but consider why such moves make sense for Philadelphia’s schedule.
Carter Hart: A sober review would probably place the 24-year-old closer to “solid” than impressive. The real key factor is that he signed for just under $4 million for one more season, which means he’ll be an RFA with arbitration rights by the summer of 2024. Hart can easily become expensive years before the Flyers become relevant.
If the Flyers just can’t accept the idea, they can gain some price certainty by signing Hart to an extension as early as this offseason.
[Free bracket contests for both tourneys | Printable Men’s | Women’s]
Travis Konechny: To be honest, it’s a relief and a surprise that Konechny is one of those rare attacking stars who actually escaped the wrath of John Tortorella (at least for now). Virtually any measureThe End played at a level above his $5.5 million AAV. However, he turned 26 on 11 March and his team contract only runs until 2024–25. Essentially, echo Hart’s thesis: He’ll be older and likely to be a lot more expensive by the time the Flyers (ideally) get back up to date.
Linking with players like Hart and TC could increase the Flyers’ chances of getting into puck purgatory: they’re too good to get premium picks, too weak to seriously challenge for a playoff spot. So you can add up long-term benefits if you bite the bullet and move one or both while their value is high.
Is Torts really the right coach for a makeover?
Speaking of the forces that could move the Flyers into the soft middle: is John Tortorella really the best choice for the “years of pain”? Of course, it’s great that he’s at least willing to write some nice letters about it.
However, Torts seems dubious for a number of reasons. First, he is 64 years old and has twenty years of head coaching experience in the NHL, so you can’t blame Tortorella if he gets nervous about rebuilding. Players, too, can be nervous about a hot-tempered coach who craves healthy top players. like Christopher Walken needs a bigger bell. These antics are annoying even at the best of times, but what about the doomed season routine? Given his irascible nature and apparent fixation on defense, it’s fair to wonder if he has stopped some prospects from developing.
Even if the worst fears are exaggerated, Tortorella chase those sweet, sweet loser glasses can thwart the tank’s attempts. Would the Flyers have had a better chance of winning Connor Bedard without the desperate hiring of Torts? Probably not, although you can bet the Blue Jackets didn’t plan on spending that much money to possibly end up with the best odds.
This is reported by The Athletic correspondent Charlie O’Connor. that the Flyers would like to keep Tortorella amid changes in headquarters, but it might be better for everyone if they left.
Promising Pool and Picks: Needs Further Repairs
If you want to paint a picture of the Flyers’ tendency to rebuild with one foot and not with the other, you could do worse than look at their mixed set of future picks (via Cap Friendly).
The situation with the Flyers could have been worse, but it’s annoying that they missed chances in the second round due to unforced errors, such as trading for the rights of Tony DeAngelo. (This is where you might be tempted to grumble about the sunk cost of staying around for too long.)
As for Philadelphia’s current pool of prospects, there’s good news and bad news. Good: The system doesn’t seem completely sterile, with The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler. placing the Flyers in a respectable 14th place In the NHL at the end of January. The bad news is that there is there can’t be any stars in the waybringing its system closer to the principle of “quantity over quality”.
Let me tell you right now: it could have been worse. It just seems like Brier or another CEO would need to unearth stellar talent instead of surrounding an elite core with a stellar supporting cast.
No doubt the Flyers have a lot of bad contracts.
Scroll through the Friendly Flyer Caps pageand you will be forgiven for being gloomy.
Their defense might as well be called Fletcher’s Folly. For several years, the beleaguered GM burned down awesome set of resources bringing in Tony DeAngelo and Rasmus Ristolainen during Shane Gostisbeher’s shuffling outside.
Getting Travis Sunheim out of Tortorella’s dog kennel is very important; Frightening Sunheim $50 million expansion (!) hasn’t even fired up yet. Even those who share the policy of Ivan Provorov admit that he does not meet all the requirements of the No. 1 defender.
As with Sunheim, it’s hard to allay fears that the Torts will face an expensive young player like Joel Farabi ($5M AAV through 2027-28).
As it stands, the Flyers’ pay structure is filled with problematic contracts, potentially limiting how much the new regime can actually make a difference.
Why there is hope if the Flyers are smart (and lucky)
Just squint and you can imagine some silver linings – at least if their next GM knows how to work with phones.
For all of Chuck Fletcher’s misadventures, he didn’t burden this team with many no-trade clauses. Now you could definitely joke that the contracts themselves are no-trade provisions, but recent NHL history states that a sucker can almost always be found. (Sometimes that sucker was Chuck Fletcher, and sometimes someone actually gave the Coyotes valuable assets to take on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s contract headache.)
To reinforce the idea that just about any contract can be traded, remember that Kevin Hayes – one of the few fliers with real trade protection – has appeared in some rumbles. If you can get through that brutal deal with Hayes (over $7 million per season through 2025-26), then you can trade anyone. Let’s be honest: there are almost always at least a few GMs who will talk themselves into trading Ristolainen because he’s tall. (See: Fletcher, Chuck.)
Not every problem in the Flyers’ books boils down to pure incompetence—there have been failures, too. Ryan Ellis and Sean Couturier were both fantastic players until their health took a turn for the worse.
Of course, even such situations point to opportunities for change, or at least for adjusting the process. For example: while the extent of Ellis’ problems may surprise you, the end of his run with the Predators was accompanied by injuries. Looking back at that situation, Airmen may decide they need to increase their medical staff or make other changes.
Whether they could have avoided certain risks or not, the Flyers are stuck with these contracts… sort of. Just think back to Chris Pronger’s contract path and you’ll realize that once the team is faced with the bummer of a player actually retiring, that contract might seem close to being “written off”. Ideally, insurance covers most of the actual money, while going over the limit migrates to LTIR or a salary cap desert like Arizona.
Is it a bummer? Of course, even at 30 it’s too early to assume that Sean Couturier committed suicide. But the point is that teams can maneuver around such issues.
Ultimately, the Flyers found themselves in a quandary, and it will take time (plus luck) to get out of this situation. If they truly learn from their past failures and embrace a brighter vision, they may become relevant again.
Source: sports.yahoo.com
