One of the things that continues to haunt fans of the Philadelphia Flyers is Ron Hextall’s half-rebuild. Wherever you stand with Hextall is irrelevant to the fact that at the end of the day, his tenure was marred with wasted playoff runs, tons of wasted draft capital, and perpetual mediocrity that ironically preceded and succeeded him.
We were never fully ushered into a rebuild with Hextall, primarily because he refused to use the “R” word and Flyers upper management was vehemently against the notion to begin with. It was a mix and match of disastrous proportions because it pushed us further away from our objective. Somehow even 5 years after his final day working within the confines of the Wells Fargo Center, the Flyers were never able to take that much needed step forward.
Chuck Fletcher wasn’t any better and his plan pushed the Flyers so far back that they finally conceded to a rebuild. 2019-20 was a fun year, unfortunately that was the last time we enjoyed Flyers hockey in Philadelphia and although that was just 4 years ago, it feel like it’s been 2 decades. Fletcher was never able to capitalize on that run and sitting back during the subsequent off-season was probably his biggest mistake – since it led to the slide that we are in today.
In comes Daniel Brière, from Special Assistant to the GM to Interim GM to full-time GM, waving the white flag immediately, understanding the problems at hand. He also understood what was needed not just for the organization but for a fan base that was losing their minds on a yearly basis. Low attendance, having the Wells Fargo Center invaded by the opposition, brown paper bags, and finally booing the executives mercilessly to their faces. We had enough and apparently Brière noticed.
It was mentioned a few times from Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek that the Flyers would be trying to mimic the blueprint of success from the Colorado Avalanche and Boston Bruins with their front office makeup. One guy dealing with the on-ice and player personnel and the other guy dealing with the business side of things, while also having knowledge and some input for the on-ice product.
So far, so good, but how about the rebuild? It was discussed once again by the aforementioned duo that the Flyers are looking at New Jersey and Colorado for their rebuild. Two teams who built through the draft, hit home runs on their picks, but also had high selections in the first place. The Flyers will be taking bits and pieces from their blueprint while also adding a dash of their own spices, like not tanking right off the hop.
Not all rebuilds are built the same, nor do they give out the same results. Prime examples of rebuilds gone wrong might be Arizona and Buffalo who have – or at least had – been rebuilding for years on end. Both teams have lengthy playoff droughts, have had high picks in successive drafts, technically have one of the best pipelines, but for whatever reason it’s taken well over decade to right the ship.
Arizona
The Coyotes haven’t qualified for the postseason since their Western Conference Finals trip back in 2011-12. They did make it to the qualifying round in the playoff bubble but 24 teams were invited to the dance. Since 2012-13, the Coyotes have finished:
Division
2012-13: 4th of 5
2013-14: 4th of 7
2014-15: 7th of 7
2015-16: 4th of 7
2016-17: 6th of 7
2017-18: 8th of 8
2018-19: 4th of 8
2019-20: 5th of 8
2020-21: 5th of 8
2021-22: 8th of 8
2022-23: 7th of 8
Conference and Overall Standings
2012-13: 10th in the West/19th in the league
2013-14: 9th in the West/18th in the league
2014-15: last in the West/2nd last in the league
2015-16: 10th in the West/24th in the league
2016-17: 12th in the West/3rd last in the league
2017-18: last in the West/3rd last in the league
2018-19: 9th in the West/18th in the league
2019-20: 11th in the West/22nd in the league
2020-21: *Divisional re-alignment*/22nd in the league
2021-22: last in the West/2nd last in the league
2022-23: 13th in the West/27th in the league
1st Round Draft Pick(s)
2013 Draft: Max Domi, 12th overall
2014 Draft: Brendan Perlini, 12th overall
2015 Draft: Dylan Strome, 3rd overall/Nick Merkley 30th overall
2016 Draft: Clayton Keller, 7th overall/Jakob Chychrun, 16th overall
2017 Draft: Pierre-Olivier Joseph, 23rd overall
2018 Draft: Barrett Hayton, 5th overall
2019 Draft: Victor Soderstrom, 11th overall
2020 Draft: No selection
2021 Draft: Dylan Guenther, 9th overall
2022 Draft: Logan Cooley, 3rd overall/Conor Geekie, 11th overall/Maveric Lamoureux, 29th overall
2023 Draft: Dmitry Simashev, 6th overall/Daniil But, 12th overall
Of the first round selections they made between 2013 and 2020 – excluding the recent years because it’s highly unlikely you trade top prospects when you’re rebuilding – the Coyotes have Keller, Hayton, and Soderstrom still on the club in various junctures of their careers.
Keller has been phenomenal over the last 2 seasons with 65 goals and 149 points, including 86 points this season. Hayton broke past the 40-point barrier for the first time this past season and scored 19 goals, while Soderstrom got his first real taste of NHL hockey with 30 games in 2022-23.
Domi, Perlini, and Strome played in parts of 3 seasons for the club but were essentially labelled as busts at that point in their career, Chychrun was just recently traded at this year’s deadline, Joseph never played for the club, and Merkley was around for part of one season.
As of today, Cooley is one the best prospects in all of hockey, Guenther is a top-ranked prospect as well and even chipped in with 15 points last season in limited time, while Geekie and Lamoreux are good prospects for the future. They drafted 2 good prospects this year but reached at their respective spots because both Simashev and But were expected to be around in the latter half of the first round, maybe even closer to the end.
The Coyotes are infamously known for their trades however as they like to help cap-strapped teams unload their expensive contracts alongside draft compensation. Over the years they’ve taken on the contracts Andrew Ladd, Shayne Gostisbehere, Anton Stralman, Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel, but in exchange received 1 first-round pick, 5 second-round picks between 2021-2024, 1 third-round pick, and 2 seventh-round picks.
They have also taken on and subsequently buried the contracts of Pavel Datsyuk, Marian Hossa, Chris Pronger, Shea Weber, Bryan Little, and Jakub Voracek.
In regards to tanking and rebuilding, they’ve done all the right things with acquiring and stock-piling draft capital and taking on bad contracts for draft compensation but they’ve rarely struck gold on their selections.
On the bright side, they are on the up-and-up with players like Cooley and Guenther, Soderstrom should be a dependable top-4 defenseman, Simashev and But – albeit reaches – are still going to be good players, and Keller will continue to be the focal point on the offense.
Unfortunately – or maybe fortunately, depending on their motives – they will continue to be basement dwellers for at least one more season as their current roster will be made up of a lot of young guys, prospects, and inexperienced players. Arizona also has all 3 of their upcoming first round picks, have 3 second round picks in 2024 and 2026 and 4 in 2025, and they have 3 third round picks in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 2 in 2026. That’s all on a top of $42+ million in cap space next summer but not a single rostered defenseman signed through.
Buffalo
Buffalo was a little different than Arizona because their market was far more of a hotbed compared to Arizona, and the ownership group was more staunch about turning things around. They tried with big moves like acquiring Ryan O’Reilly and Taylor Hall but nothing ever seemed to work in their favour, on top of the fact that they really tried with their top prospects but for one reason or another they could not deliver in Buffalo. Sam Reinhart has been far more consistent in Florida and Jack Eichel played a key role in Vegas’ Stanley Cup run.
Division
2011-12: 3rd of 5
2012-13: 5th of 5
2013-14: 8th of 8
2014-15: 8th of 8
2015-16: 7th of 8
2016-17: 8th of 8
2017-18: 8th of 8
2018-19: 6th of 8
2019-20: 6th of 8
2020-21: 8th of 8
2021-22: 5th of 8
2022-23: 5th of 8
Conference and Overall Standings
2011-12: 9th in the East/19th in the league
2012-13: 12th in the East/23rd in the league
2013-14: last in the East/last in the league
2014-15: last in the East/last in the league
2015-16: 14th in the East/23rd in the league
2016-17: 2nd last in the East/26th in the league
2017-18: last in the East/last in the league
2018-19: 13th in the East/27th in the league
2019-20: 13th in the East/25th in the league
2020-21: *Divisional re-alignment*/last in the league
2021-22: 11th in the East/24th in the league
2022-23: 10th in the East/20th in the league
1st Round Draft Pick(s)
2012 Draft: Mikhail Grigorenko, 12th overall/Zemgus Girgensons, 14th overall
2013 Draft: Rasmus Ristolainen, 8th overall/Nikita Zadorov, 16th overall
2014 Draft: Sam Reinhart, 2nd overall
2015 Draft: Jack Eichel, 2nd overall
2016 Draft: Alexander Nylander, 8th overall
2017 Draft: Casey Mittelstadt, 8th overall
2018 Draft: Rasmus Dahlin, 1st overall
2019 Draft: Dylan Cozens, 7th overall/Ryan Johnson, 31st overall
2020 Draft: Jack Quinn, 8th overall
2021 Draft: Owen Power, 1st overall/Isak Rosen, 14th overall
2022 Draft: Matthew Savoie, 9th overall/Noah Ostlund, 16th overall/Jiri Kulich, 28th overall
2023 Draft: Zach Benson, 13th overall
From 2012-2019, the Sabres still have Girgensons, Mittelstadt, Dahlin, Cozens, and Johnson in their organization. Girgensons has stuck around after all these years and is a veteran of 9 seasons with 625 games under his belt and 81 goals and 174 points to his name.
It took Mittelstadt parts of 5 seasons to finally hit his stride but he is coming off a season in which he scored 15 goals and 59 points, Cozens has gone from 13 points in 41 games to 38 points in 79 games to 68 points in 81 games, and Dahlin has been as advertised since his rookie season with 233 points in just 355 games, including 73 in 78 games this past season.
Grigorenko and Zadorov played in parts of 3 and 2 seasons with the Sabres, respectively, before being a part of a trade package for Ryan O’Reilly, Ristolainen spent 8 years in Buffalo before being traded to the Flyers, Reinhart was a Sabre for 7 years before being traded to Florida, Eichel was around for 6 seasons before being traded to Vegas, and Nylander played in just 19 games across 3 seasons.
Entering 2023-24, Buffalo has one of the best pipelines – if not the best – and it is filled from top to bottom with legitimate prospects. Rosen, Savoie, and Kulich had great 2022-23 campaigns in their respective leagues and should make the leap to the NHL in the near future, Quinn had a respectable rookie season with 37 points, Power had a fantastic first full NHL season, and Benson turned out to be a steal with the 13th overall selection as many had him going within the top-10.
Buffalo also took a massive leap this past season and were within reach of the final Wild Card spot up until the final week of the season. Tage Thompson, Jeff Skinner, and Alex Tuch formed a formidable trio combining for 118 goals and 255 points, Dahlin had 73 points, Cozens and Mittelstadt took big strides with 68 and 59 points respectively, and Victor Olofsson scored 28 goals. Goaltending always seems to be an achilles heel for the club but they have high hopes in Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Devon Levi moving forward.
Arizona and Buffalo have been struggling to make headway for well over a decade now and while they tanked and rebuilt over that time, it’s still taken a lot longer than both had anticipated and hoped for. Arizona pivoted for a few years by acquiring undesirable contracts and stockpiling draft capital but still remain a few years out.
After 2022-23, Buffalo should be in line for competing for a Wild Card spot as the Eastern Conference is wide open. Toronto, Tampa Bay, and one could only assume Florida should be in line for the top-3 spots in the Atlantic, while Carolina, New Jersey and the New York Rangers should reprise their top-3 finishes from last year.
After that, Pittsburgh, Washington, the New York Islanders, Columbus, Boston, Detroit, Ottawa, and Buffalo will be competing for the final 2 spots. They’ve all made moves to improve this summer – with the exception of the Islanders – and the only two teams you can count out are the Montreal Canadiens and the Flyers.
Pivoting to the 2 teams that Brière is looking towards, the Devils and Avalanche are currently 2 of the better teams in the NHL today. The Devils have a young core oozing with star talent that includes Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec, while the Avalanche boast some of the best players in the NHL with Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar.
The Devils were just as bad as the Coyotes and Sabres and for almost the same amount of time, while the Avalanche had their hiccups at the beginning of the 2010-decade but righted the ship quicker than the other 3.
New Jersey
Division
2012-13: 5th of 5
2013-14: 6th of 8
2014-15: 7th of 8
2015-16: 7th of 8
2016-17: 8th of 8
2017-18: 4th of 8
2018-19: 8th of 8
2019-20: 8th of 8
2020-21: 7th of 8
2021-22: 7th of 8
Conference and Overall Standings
2012-13: 11th in the East/22nd in the league
2013-14: 10th in the East/20th in the league
2014-15: 13th in the East/25th in the league
2015-16: 12th in the East/20th in the league
2016-17: last in the East/4th last in the league
2017-18: 8th in the East/15th in the league
2018-19: 2nd last in the East/3rd last in the league
2019-20: 3rd last in the East/26th in the league
2020-21: *Divisional re-alignment*/3rd last in the league
2021-22: 3rd last in the East/28th in the league
1st Round Draft Pick(s)
2013 Draft: No selection
2014 Draft: John Quenneville, 30th overall
2015 Draft: Pavel Zacha, 6th overall
2016 Draft: Michael McLeod, 12th overall
2017 Draft: Nico Hischier, 1st overall
2018 Draft: Ty Smith, 17th overall
2019 Draft: Jack Hughes, 1st overall
2020 Draft: Alexander Holtz, 7th overall/Dawson Mercer, 18th overall/Shakir Mukhamadullin, 20th overall
2021 Draft: Luke Hughes, 4th overall/Chase Stillman, 29th overall
2022 Draft: Simon Nemec, 2nd overall
Colorado
Division
2010-11: 4th of 5
2011-12: 3rd of 5
2012-13: 5th of 5
2013-14: 1st of 7
2014-15: 7th of 7
2015-16: 6th of 7
2016-17: 7th of 7
2017-18: 4th of 7
Conference and Overall Standings
2010-11: 2nd last in the West/2nd last in the league
2011-12: 11th in the West/20th in the league
2012-13: last in the West/2nd last in the league
2013-14: 2nd in the West/3rd in the league
2014-15: 11th in the West/21st in the league
2015-16: 9th in the West/21st in the league
2016-17: last in the West/last in the league
2017-18: 8th in the West/17th in the league
1st Round Draft Pick(s)
2011 Draft: Gabriel Landeskog, 2nd overall/Duncan Siemens, 11th overall
2012 Draft: No selection
2013 Draft: Nathan MacKinnon, 1st overall
2014 Draft: Conner Bleackley, 23rd overall
2015 Draft: Mikko Rantanen, 10th overall
2016 Draft: Tyson Jost, 10th overall
2017 Draft: Cale Makar, 4th overall
2018 Draft: Martin Kaut, 16th overall
Throughout their trying times, both teams managed to qualify for the postseason – the bolded years – at least once with Colorado finding their way in the middle and almost immediately after Makar’s selection.
Although Colorado lost the draft lottery in 2017, they ended up picking 4th overall and they ran away with arguably the best player from that draft in Makar. Ironically, New Jersey won the lottery that year and took Hischier over Nolan Patrick with Miro Heiskanen going third to Dallas.
Colorado drafted their future captain with the 2nd overall pick in 2012, jumped one spot after the draft lottery in 2013 and hit it out of the park with MacKinnon, drafted Rantanen in the loaded 2015 draft at 10, and grabbed Makar 4th overall when they lost the lottery.
As for New Jersey’s lottery luck, they jumped from 5th to 1st in 2017 and drafted Hischier, jumped from 3rd to 1st in 2019 to draft Jack Hughes, and then jumped from 5th to 2nd in 2022 and landed Nemec. They were able to strike in their previous years with Luke Hughes and Alexander Holtz, while finding late gems in Jesper Bratt, and got their hands on the still-young Timo Meier from San Jose for a package involving their third selection in the first round from 2020.
They are seemingly similar to the Sabres as they both rebuilt for a very long time, received the coveted first overall pick twice over, and finished near the bottom successively, however New Jersey stuck to their guns hit on a lot more of their prospects than Buffalo, and have a lot of homegrown talent that NHL-ready and firing on all cylinders.
The Flyers have a wide array of blueprints to look at in terms of their rebuild but are already off on the right path with their 2023 draft essentially being a home run in totality. Being able to select Matvei Michkov at 7 was more than enough to crown them with an “A” but then they added in Oliver Bonk, Carson Bjarnason, and Denver Barkey among others. All that, while they still had Cutter Gauthier, Tyson Foerster, Bobby Brink, Elliot Desnoyers, Emil Andrae, Alexei Kolosov, and Samuel Ersson in the wings, giving the Flyers a pretty solid pipeline – some would say top-10.
The Flyers have a long way to go into becoming true contenders but they also don’t plan on having an extended rebuild. Keith Jones and Daniel Brière are hoping that it will take them into 2026 – which coincides with Michkov’s leap to North America – and in saying that, the clock is ticking on their rebuild. They have 3 years to achieve their goals, which should be plenty of time when it comes to gutting undesirable contracts, stock piling draft picks and prospects, and developing the top ones in their system. The Flyers had a pretty good start this summer but it needs to continue and only get better from here on out.
Arizona, Buffalo, and New Jersey showed that it takes a lot longer than most expect or anticipate a rebuild to take, but they entered their years on the high of a playoff run, especially Arizona and New Jersey. The Flyers have already gone through those trying first few years under Chuck Fletcher where they’ve missed the playoffs in three straight seasons for the first time since the early 1990s and the second time in franchise history. They’ve got good young players already developed in Joel Farabee, Owen Tippett, Morgan Frost, and Cam York, but need game-breaking talent to add to the fray – fortunately they have Gauthier and Michkov at the top.
The Flyers can very well have a successful rebuild within the next 3 years but they need to be apt, agile, and ready to make bold moves concerning their veteran players.
Having so much information at their fingertips, Brière and company are ready to lead the Flyers out of the abyss and finally usher them into a rebuild that has been required for years on end.
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