Comments on: A Year Into Chuck Fletcher’s Reign

By: trashbag40

trashbag40 — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 22:54:45 +0000

“The whole concept is to make a real push in a year or two”

So why did they fire Hextall?

You sure you don’t get perks from Comcast or something?

Somebody give Gregg Lorenz a keyboard and a desk already. Well said, Sir.

By: Lance Green

Lance Green — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 19:04:21 +0000

Gregg Lorenz, thanks for the read, but you have to look at the total picture. Fletcher was brought into immediately turn this team around. Flyers brass was tired of rebuilding and Flecther was told to get this team back into the Playoffs NOW! If you look into the stands there’s a lot of empty seats still. Empty seats don’t pay bills!
Wayne Simmonds wanted more money then he was currently worth. He currently has 4 goals this yr. and is a -10. A far cry from what he once was. Simmonds is getting paid 5 Million by the Devils this year Pitlick is getting paid 1 Million and gets the same production. Pitlick is done after this year thus leaving room for the potential of the next Farabee or Frost that is ready to come up at seasons end
Niskanen and Braun were brought here to mentor our young star defenseman. So in two years time Provy, Sanheim and Myers can then mentor the rest of Hextalls group of young guys that he drafted on how to be Pros. Without them this year most guys on the D -line would have been or under 22 years old and lack direction.
Hayes was brought in because Patrick’s health is in question. Nolan may never return the same. Without Hayes the Flyers would have nothing down the middle once you got past Couturier. They want G to play wing now. He’s not 25 anymore.
Elliott is a stop gap for the team and a mentor for Carter Hart. The team has 4 or 5 goalies in the pipeline behind Hart.
The whole concept is to make a real push in a year or two. When Frost, Farabee, TK, hopefully Patrick, Provy, Sanheim, Myers, Hart all have had a chance to get a few years of experience under their belts. The contracts given out by Hextall to Voracek, JVR, and Ghost are killers. The only thing different then Hextalls approach is Chuck is giving the young guys that are ready a chance to gain experience and to put a better team out on the Ice currently while we wait for others to develop, instead of tanking with scrubs and roster fillers until they are ready.

By: Gregg Lorenz

Gregg Lorenz — Thu, 19 Dec 2019 14:19:39 +0000

Lance, I like your optimistic take here, but you need to take off the rose colored lenses and look at reality. Chuck Fletcher has not made any great moves. He gave up Wayne Simmonds and after the dust settled, wound up with Pitlick. Pitlick is ok, but he’s 28 yrs old. Getting Niskanen was a good move, but he is only going to be here for one more year after this season ends. Justin Braun cost the Flyers two high draft picks for a player who will be gone after this season because the Flyers can’t afford to sign him due to cap restraints and needing to sign young players coming off of ELC’s. Kevin Hayes is a good player, but he makes $3M more than Sean Couturier in a year. He is no Sean Couturier. As for Cam York, did you seen this kid at the development camp last June? York is small for a defenseman, very small. He even looks small playing for Michigan. He’s smaller than Shayne Gostisbehere was when he was drafted. If you don’t believe me, check him out at the next Flyer development camp in June 2020.

Yes, Brian Elliott is playing great and so is Carter Hart. If there is a reason why the Flyers are better this year, it’s having two HEALTHY goaltenders, not EIGHT injured goaltenders. Carter Hart and Elliott have both been excellent. Add to that that the kids Ron Hextall drafted (Konecny, Provorov, Sanheim, Frost, Lindblom, Farabee and of course Hart) are all maturing and playing with confidence. As I see it, the Flyers biggest problem will be signing the kids because Fletcher has wiped out all the cap space Hextall created just so he could sign all these great kids and those who will need to be signed in the future. Fletcher. I believe the jury is still out on Fletcher.