The end-of-season press conference from Philadelphia Flyers general manger Chuck Fletcher took place on Tuesday, and it was exactly what you were expecting to hear from the head of a front office that is hellbent on making drastic changes. The terms “aggressive-retool” and “blank cheque” have been mentioned ad-nauseam since they were first iterated to the fan base in January. They were reiterated today but it changed just a tiny bit. The re-tool is apparently underway, but now Fletcher is also calling it an aggressive rebuild. Not sure how one undergoes an aggressive rebuild, but the Flyers believe the pieces are there and they just need add a little more to push them over the cusp; the cusp they only missed by 40 points.
The first bit of news that came out of the press conference was Chuck Fletcher announcing that the Flyers would not be bringing Mike Yeo back as head coach. He alluded to the fact that Yeo was dealt a tough hand with injuries being the primary issue, but he did make progress in the developmental area in regards to their youth and young talent. Fletcher said that Yeo is a “good hockey man, has a lot of good ideas, and a lot of experience” and that they will continue to talk over the next 4-6 weeks and potentially keep him in the organization but under a different role.
Chuck Fletcher also mentioned how former first round pick and defenseman-turned-forward, Sam Morin is retiring from the game of hockey after battling knee issues for the majority of his abbreviated career. Fletcher said that due to all the knee complications, he could no longer further pursue his career in hockey as a player but that he will be sitting down with Morin in the near future to discuss his future within the organization in a different role.
Now for the nitty-gritty stuff that everyone was nervous and anxious to hear about. Fletcher made sure to point out the difference between his aggressive re-tool compared to what everyone else was thinking. To him, an aggressive re-tool is being aggressive in all areas, whether that be trades, free agency, drafting, thinking about the future while also thinking about the present, and making sure to have the most competitive team on the ice. It’s a nice thought and definitely the “right” thing to say but it’s also going to be very tough when you’re up against the cap, don’t have a cupboard of draft picks or future assets to move for big pieces, nor do you have players currently on your roster that you’re willing to trade that have trade value.
Fletcher also alluded to the 2019-20 season when the Flyers last had success and explained how things have inexplicably gone south since. He loved the way the team played, battled, possessed the puck a lot, the process and the results were good and positive, and in general it was a success. He said that for a variety of reasons they failed to get back to that moniker of success, but that the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons were disappointing for very different reasons. His plan is to have an off-season that is very similar to the summer of 2019, where he traded up and down in the draft, prioritized youth while also prioritizing the main roster as he made trades for Matt Niskanen, traded and then signed for Kevin Hayes, and then added Justin Braun for veteran leadership and depth.
His biggest concern from this season was based on how little they possessed the puck and how often the opposition possessed the puck, fired more shots, troubled the defense and goaltending, and how the Flyers couldn’t execute simple defensive zone exits. He believes that with Ryan Ellis back in the fold, Cam York getting more reps and starting the season, as well as having Ivan Provorov and Travis Sanheim, that those same issues won’t be rearing their ugly heads next year due to their puck-handling abilities.
Fletcher was also very adamant about mentioning his 4-6 week window where he’s going to sit down with the hockey operations crew and evaluate the issues from the top to bottom and it’s his belief that things will change for the better. Due to the success he witnessed in 2019-20, he believes that making the same types of moves and focusing on how he changed the team back then will translate in 2022-23.
For him, this season was different because when the injuries hit, they didn’t possess the depth that was needed to bridge the gap until their return. Unfortunately some of those players couldn’t return so it made things even harder. Youth depth was also mentioned, which was kind of the first time I’ve ever heard of that term being thrown around. The Flyers didn’t possess enough of it due to injuries to players like Morgan Frost, Cam York, Wade Allison, and Tanner Laczynski. Due to that mishap, Fletcher had to sign or claim veterans like Derick Brassard, Keith Yandle, Zack MacEwen, Patrick Brown, and Nate Thompson. Truth be told, I don’t think many of us envisioned any of the youth to really make their way onto the roster at the beginning of the season outside of Frost and Allison.
The Flyers are very excited and positive about the prognosis of Ryan Ellis and his return for next season. It is now being diagnosed as a pelvic injury, which was something that he re-aggravated upon his 1-game return to the lineup against Dallas on the 13th of November. As well as the return of Sean Couturier, the Flyers liken them as off-season acquisitions because they are the best players at their position currently on the team, they missed most of the season, they are difference-makers, and he believes their cap-hits are very manageable and tough to find on the open market. With his aggressive-retool reportedly already in motion, he said it started when the Flyers traded Claude Giroux to the Florida Panthers for a first round pick, a third round pick, and Owen Tippett. The Flyers also traded Brassard and Braun for draft picks and he believes that allowing the young guys to play meaningful hockey was a good experience heading into a very important 2022-23 campaign.
On the bright side, for those hoping that the Flyers would fully embrace the youth movement, Fletcher did make a point in saying that the young players will have a big role to play next year. He was very encouraged by how Frost, Tippett, York, Noah Cates, Ronnie Attard, and Bobby Brink transitioned to the NHL, and that this year was very instrumental for all the young players as they were given a lot of hard minutes. He is looking forward to seeing Allison and Laczynski battling for spots in training camp and for all intents and purposes the bottom part of the lineup sounds like it’s going to be very youthful.
The salary cap is his largest hurdle as the Flyers only have a little over $8 million in open cap space. They still have to sign a slew of RFAs that include Frost, Tippett, Allison, and MacEwen as well as shoring up the defense and potentially finding a backup goalie. Fletcher said that Martin Jones could still be a possibility, but that signing Ivan Fedotov out of the KHL is his top priority in goal. The 6 foot 8 netminder was 14-10–2 in the regular season with a 2.00 GAA and a .919 save percentage. However, he really turned it on in the playoffs as he posted a 16-6-0 record with a 1.85 GAA and a sparkling .937 save percentage to backstop CSKA Moscow to the KHL championship. That still doesn’t help the salary cap equation all that much and now all signs are going to be pointed towards the larger contracts and tough-to-trade contracts. Obviously Fletcher couldn’t divulge those details but it’s also not the best kept secret either.
All in all, most of what was said has been mentioned to death over the last 3-4 months. With the re-tool apparently already in motion with the Giroux trade, it seems the next 4-6 weeks are going to be paramount in terms of the future of the organization as well as their trajectory heading into the 2022-23 season. We all thought the summer of 2019 was the biggest and grandest, then we thought the summer of 2021 was even more grand than 2019, and now we’re heading into another off-season that is supposed to top it’s predecessors. Bringing Fedotov over to North America is going to be a huge boost, letting the kids run free is only to going to help this franchise in the long run, and finding the best coach that fits the mold of what this team is going to be might be the most important fixture. The Flyers have the fourth-best odds in the upcoming draft lottery for the first overall pick but even if they don’t win they’re primed for a good prospect, hopefully this time it pans out better than the last time they almost won the lottery. The salary cap has been the biggest hurdle for the Flyers since its inception, and it’s the one thing stopping Fletcher and company from fulfilling their inane aggressive re-tool.
