With not much “good” to report in regards to the 2021-22 season, it’s a sad state of affairs when you have to consider the youth movement as a positive for the Philadelphia Flyers. Part one had to do with the all the things that went wrong but it omitted the worst part of the season, which was Chuck Fletcher and Dave Scott’s inane push for an aggressive re-tool.
The fans of Philadelphia want a rebuild, the media outlets have been pushing for a rebuild, and even the national media is questioning why a re-tool is in the cards. When the national media starts questioning the tactics of the Flyers when playoff hockey is around the corner, you know you’re doing something wrong.
The Good
Unlike part one, where there were different headers in relation to all the bad that went down this season, the “good” just has one header. You can be an optimist or a glass-half-full kind of person, but the Flyers have shown us nothing in the past 10-12 years to make us think any other way anymore. Yes, the youth movement was a positive step for an albatross franchise that has had issues developing young talent in the last few years. With players like Claude Giroux, Derick Brassard, and Justin Braun being dealt at the trade deadline, coupled with injuries to Sean Couturier, Ryan Ellis, Kevin Hayes, and Nate Thompson, it opened the door for young talent within the Flyers pipeline.
Players like Ronnie Attard, Noah Cates, Bobby Brink, Hayden Hodgson, Linus Hogberg, Yegor Zamula, Felix Sandstrom, and Cam York either made their debuts, got more reps, or all of the above. Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett were thrusted into larger roles and have shown flashes of what they can bring to the table.
Even though some of the names mentioned might not crack the team next year, it was an important step to get them on the ice and face off against legitimate NHL talent. They can now hone their skills and talent in the AHL next year and will surely be chomping at the bit for a recall after getting a taste of NHL Hockey.
Travis Sanheim’s ascension after the dismissal of Alain Vigneault was quite honestly the best part of the season. Sanheim has shown flashes of what he can do on the offensive side of the puck here and there in that past, but he never fully rose to the occasion. The beginning of the 2021-22 campaign was no different as he had only 3 assists in the first 22 games. Fast forward to the season finale and the smooth-skating defenseman has 7 goals and 28 points in his last 58 games, which would put him at a 40-point pace in a full 82-game season. All this with a lack of power play time as well.
It was a night and day difference for Sanheim after Mike Yeo was named interim head coach. It looked like Yeo allowed Sanheim to play the game that he was comfortable with and in doing so he was a lot more aggressive, joined in on the odd-man rushes, and made simple plays like getting the puck out of the defensive zone which has been a lacking trait for a lot of Flyers defensemen.
Sanheim wasn’t alone as Travis Konecny and Oskar Lindblom had Jekyll and Hyde seasons as well. Lindblom recorded 1 assist in 21 games under Vigneault but then added 12 goals and 25 points in his next 58 games, while Konecny had 12 points in his first 23 games and has since added 11 goals and 40 points in his last 55 games. Not exactly earth-shattering numbers, but Lindblom had been dealing with a lot of maintenance issues according to Yeo, and Konecny ended up leading the team in points.
That essentially covers the good of the 2021-22 season, and there wasn’t much else to really cling onto or bring into the 2022-23 season. It was nice to see some players turn their seasons around under Mike Yeo, it was nice to see the youth movement come to life, and it was nice to celebrate Claude Giroux’s 1000th game as a Philadelphia Flyer. Even though these minor moments aren’t necessarily great, it was the best the season had to offer.
The “Even Worse”
With the season coming to an end and the off-season essentially about to begin for all the non-playoff teams, it’s important to mention this one final time; the aggressive re-tool is not the way to fix the sorry state the Flyers find themselves in. Chuck Fletcher has to hit a home run on every single move he makes this summer and the odds of that are very low, not only for him but for any general manager in the NHL. The Flyers have so many holes, so many issues, and not much money or high-trade value-players to patch them up. It has to be the most exquisite and pristine re-tool ever constructed for Dave Scott’s “contender” vision to come to fruition next season.
If the Flyers want to see it through then the first thing they have to do is attach a draft pick to James van Riemsdyk’s final year of his contract. We’ve seen this type of deal in the past, the Detroit Red Wings acquired the final year of Marc Staal’s contract for a second round pick. The Arizona Coyotes are the masters of these types of deals as they have acquired Andrew Ladd for two seconds and a third, Shayne Gostisbehere, a second, and a seventh for nothing, and they traded Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland for three expiring contracts, a first round pick, a second round pick, and a seventh round pick.
van Riemsdyk scored 20+ goals again even though he went through some disastrous stretches but even so, with his $7 million AAV, the Flyers are going to have to attach a pretty good draft pick to off-load his cap hit. He only makes $4 million in real dollars after his signing bonus, so that’s a positive for the Flyers, but without a second round pick for the next two years they might have to dangle the Florida first in 2024, which essentially looks like an early second round pick the way the Panthers are set up. Is that too much? Yes, but if the Flyers need every penny, that contract has to go. Is it the right move? No, absolutely not, but this franchise believes in the re-tool.
The rumours surrounding Ryan Ellis might have actually be a good thing for the Flyers in the sense that it might have stopped them dead in their tracks in regards to the re-tool. Should Ellis not be ready for training camp or the start of the regular season, on top of the fact that he was rumored to may have been unhappy with the team, the trade, and the medical staff, that could have made Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim less and less expendable by the day, though Ellis’ press conference at Break Up Day yesterday suggests otherwise from the rumours and he should be back and ready next season.
The Flyers extended Rasmus Ristolainen, partially because Fletcher didn’t want to lose out on his expensive summer adventure, but also because a safety net was required in the event that Ellis couldn’t play next year. He’s also the only RHD signed through next year aside from Ellis that is a lock for the NHL.
Elliotte Friedman alluded to the fact that Ristolainen was the first domino to fall in the “re-modelling” of the Flyers defense, but that included a healthy Ellis. With Ristolainen penciled in for next season, trading Provorov would be fool-hardy without a backup plan. Currently with only a shade over $8 million in cap space with a slew of RFAs to sign, the Flyers would be looking to make real hockey trades to complete their re-tool. I don’t see many teams swapping defensemen, let alone valuable ones in and around the draft and free agency. Sanheim’s ascension almost makes him a virtual lock next season as the Flyers also really like the pairing between him and Ristolainen.
So now you’re only really left with Travis Konecny as a player with real trade value. Sean Couturier, Joel Farabee, Kevin Hayes, RasmusnRistolainen, Travis Sanheim, and Carter Hart are locks to remain on the team for 2022-23. All you’re left with after that is a bunch of players with little trade value, players walking into free agency, or players that are too young or unproven. The only player left with trade value, one that could actually get you a decent return is Konecny. We already know that Fletcher was close to trading him last year and we also know the Flyers are extremely impatient, so when you add two and two together, it really doesn’t paint a pretty picture. Change is necessary, but not for the sake of making change. It has to make sense and everything the Flyers could be planning on doing makes absolutely no sense.
The Flyers will have a very high first round pick, so that’s a positive. If they manage to trade van Riemsdyk’s final year they will have over $15 million in cap space, which is another positive. If they try to dump Oskar Lindblom’s $3 million, that becomes $18 million and you can move from there, and if Ellis remains out of the lineup to begin next year, then you can move his contract to LTIR and free up his $6.25 million, which would then give them close to $25 million. NHL teams are allowed to go over 10% of the salary cap over the summer, which would be an additional $8.25 million if they choose to go that route as well. That would really open things up if they wanted to make several splashes but they’ll have to find willing and able dance partners that want to come to Philadelphia in the first place.
Johnny Gaudreau would be the biggest fish in the free agency waters, he was a Flyers fan growing up, he grew up near the Philadelphia area, and he has voiced his desire to become a Flyer in the past. After his explosive season though, one has to wonder if becoming a Flyer is a reality or not. The Flames have $28 million in cap space but need to sign Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau, and Andrew Mangiapane among others. One would have to assume that the Flames will try their hardest to bring back the NHL’s joint second-leading point scorer on a long-term deal.
A rebuild would be so much easier to commit to when you have such a high first round pick, not many high-valued trade chips, and a not-so-full draft cupboard. It’s one of those situations where you want to be wrong, where somehow the Flyers actually realize the error in their ways and try to rebuild and fix their issues the right way, but nothing they’ve done and nothing they’ve said over the last few months has me thinking that way. Fletcher essentially has one last kick of the can with Dave Scott’s “blank cheque” statement, and for all our sakes, I hope he hits a grand slam on everything he attempts, otherwise we’re going into another futile 82-game-season.
