We clamoured for years that the Philadelphia Flyers finally embark on a much needed rebuild but with Chuck Fletcher and Dave Scott at the helm, the odds were astronomically low. Fletcher tried to pull the wool over our eyes with buzz words like “aggressive rebuild” but ultimately we knew he failed to achieve his main objectives so he had to swerve elsewhere.
The Flyers relieved Fletcher of his duties as President of Hockey Operations and as General Manager, Dave Scott was set to retire at the end of the season, and Valerie Camillo stepped away to put an end to a miserable half-decade of Flyers hockey.
In their stead stepped in Daniel Brière as General Manager, Keith Jones as President of Hockey Operations, and Dan Hilferty as the new CEO. They ushered us into a “New Era of Orange” – ironically with Camillo originally present – and promised a new and improved Flyers team with the sole caveat that we remain patient with the upcoming rebuild.
With John Tortorella having strong input as well, the Flyers set off on their adventure and step one was cutting the perceived dead weight on the roster and in the locker room. It came as no surprise that the Flyers traded Ivan Provorov, Kevin Hayes, and ultimately bought out Tony DeAngelo, yet some of those moves weren’t met with applause from several factions.
On the outside looking in, it looks particularly odd that an offensively starved team and one that lacks good-to-elite defensemen would get rid of their second-leading point scorer, point-leader on the backend and power play specialist, and a minute munching top-pair defenseman. That’s not even factoring that the Flyers retained half of Hayes’ salary for the next 3 years, bought out DeAngelo with dead cap next year, and don’t have a replacement for Provorov.
However,
Kevin Hayes
1) quite obvious that player and head coach relationship was broken after the one healthy scratch mid-season, which is important considering the head coach isn’t going anywhere and you don’t want that negative vibe in a young locker room
2) would’ve served as a road block for better and younger players
3) he might’ve been 2nd in points but he finished the final 32 games with 9 points, which wasn’t even close to even being top-5
4) they ultimately saved $3.571 million in the process
Tony DeAngelo
1) similarly to Hayes, DeAngelo’s relationship with Tortorella fell apart after the healthy scratches
2) his defensive game became a liability and couldn’t be masked like his one season in Carolina
3) his offensive numbers were good but it didn’t push the needle for the Flyers
4) he would also serve as a road block with the prospects who are trying to make the roster
5) his intangibles and offensive game doesn’t fit the Flyers scheme or roster make-up and going back to Carolina will revitalize his career yet again
6) not trading him didn’t cost us a retained salary slot, on top of the fact that it looked like Carolina wasn’t interested in a deal as long as Erik Karlsson was still available
Ivan Provorov
1) His relationship with the Flyers had been fractured for quite some after 2-3 straight years of trade rumours
2) with his contract expiring in 2 years, tough to envision that both sides come to an agreement on a long term deal
3) freed up $6.75 million for the next 2 years as well as acquiring draft capital
4) similarly to Hayes and DeAngelo, it had more to do with getting rid of negative energy and veterans than anything else
The next step was drafting and the Flyers hit it out of the park with a lot of their selection, not just with Matvei Michkov. They drafted a very reliable, responsible, and dependable two-way defenseman in Oliver Bonk with their 2nd first rounder, traded into the second to draft top-ranked North American goaltender Carson Bjarnason, added another goaltender the following round in Egor Zavragin, and found value picks the rest of the way in Denver Barkey, Cole Knuble, and Alex Čiernik.
They addressed their goaltending depth, added 3 right-hand shooting defenseman, spark plug wingers, and of course their super prospect in Michkov. Barkey, Čiernik, Knuble, and Carter Sotheran were all drafted at least one round later than projected, which further pushes the narrative that the Flyers hit a home run this summer.
The third and final step had to do with the usually unpopular veteran and depth signings during the free agent frenzy. The Flyers dipped their toes heavily this summer, more than most expected, as they signed Marc Staal, Ryan Poehling, Garnet Hathaway, and Victor Mete to short term deals. It brought about some outrage because many believed the Flyers were making way and making room for their prospects.
Daniel Brière and John Tortorella have been staunch on their stance of tanking and throwing 5-6-7 rookies on the ice at once isn’t the way they’re going to be handling this rebuild. You still need veterans, you still need time to marinate as prospects, and if guys like Ronnie Attard or Egor Zamula can’t beat out players like Mete or Sean Walker for a roster spot then they’re clearly not ready.
The same logic applies to not having traded players like Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, and Carter Hart. Hart is in a different predicament with the investigation of the 2018 Team Canada WJC squad still ongoing, but the Flyers had legitimate offers on the table for the aforementioned forwards that they balked on. They don’t want to empty the tank just yet but at the same time their trade values won’t be affected in the meantime. They can still make those moves this season, at the trade deadline, or next summer.
Short term deals won’t hurt the team, having players start with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms won’t hurt their progress either, and the Flyers will be better off with playing things patiently as they are only a few months into what should be a 3-4 year process.
What the Flyers have heading into 2023-24 is a good mix of old and young with the impending returns of Sean Couturier and Cam Atkinson acting as a spark for the offense. They essentially replace the departed Kevin Hayes and James van Riemsdyk but present better options both on and off the puck. Then you have the young in Morgan Frost, Owen Tippett, Joel Farabee, Cam York, and most likely Tyson Foerster and Samuel Ersson among a few others.
It’s hard to project how this team will fare and where they will end up in the standings but with a lot of teams improving this off-season, it’s most likely going to be a similar year to 2022-23 – which is exactly where they want to be to draft another exceptional prospect.
Chicago, San Jose, Anaheim, Montreal, and perhaps Arizona will once again be near the bottom with Columbus being the only team from 2022-23 to make the leap over the Flyers. Nevertheless, the Flyers have done a relatively good job in starting their rebuild, here’s to hoping it continues into 2024-2025-and beyond.
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