Bad Scouting And Lack Of Player Development: The Real Reasons For The Flyers’ Failures Over The Years

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Even though the Flyers may have been able to finally bring an end to their extended losing streak with a win over the Las Vegas Golden Knights last night, the team once again finds themselves in an oh too familiar situation which, of course as we all know by now has resulted in the team firing two of their coaches. 

This repeated act has become a nasty habit over the years for the team: When things get rough the coaches get going! But this pattern has seen the Flyers lose a Stanley Cup winning coach in Peter Laviolette and Craig Berube- who immediately went to St. Louis and won a Stanley Cup in 2019 after receiving his walking papers from the Flyers. Now, add to that list Jack Adams Award winner Alain Vigneault and most fans should start to see the head coach isn’t the real problem here. Instead, might it be worth reevaluating both the scouting department and player development? These are the guys that help to select and build the team’s youth (and to be honest, they haven’t been able to produce an elite star for the Flyers since selecting Claude Giroux some sixteen years ago). 

We all know that not every draft pick is going to turn out but selecting the right players may help their success rate! I know it’s easy to play couch cushion general manager and point out the team’s blatant misses when they are four to five years removed from the draft (like when Ron Hextall took German Rubtsov in 2016 in the first round followed up by Pascal Laberge who he took with the 36^th selection that same year). This is especially true after the kind of success Chicago has had with Alex DeBrincat who was taken 39^th overall that same year but it goes beyond that.

Chuck Fletcher has yet to draft a player in the early rounds who has been able to make the jump to the NHL. To his credit, it would appear that he can find talent in the later rounds with selections like Zayde Wisdom in the 4^th back in 2020, Elliot Desnoyers in the 5^th, and Connor McClennon in the 6^th– both in the same year. But these players may still be a couple of years away from being ready for a full-time role in the NHL. 

To prove this theory, I urge you to look at Chuck’s 2021 2nd round pick Samu Tuomaala who was taken 46th overall this past draft. After spending just two games with the Phantoms this year (where he was held scoreless) Tuomaala was sent back to Finland to play in the Liiga. Once back in his home country he has only been able to score just one goal in seven games played. While some scouting reports had Tuomaala as being a late first round talent that seemingly fell to the Flyers, this writer suggested (back in July) that they should instead keep an eye out for his Finnish National teammate Ville Koivunen. Instead, the Hurricanes ended up selecting him 51^st overall. This season Ville has 9 goals and 9 assists for 18 points in 28 games played in his first season in the Liiga.  

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Additionally, how about the 6’2 center Aatu Raty who the Islanders took with the 52^nd pick? Raty was once thought to be a legitimate threat to be taken first overall heading into his draft year because he was extremely talented in both ends of the ice but struggled that season after Karpat called him up to the Liiga (possibly too early). The Flyers must not have done their homework because Aatu was/is projected to develop into a first line center. This season, Raty has been on quite the tear since being loaned to Jukurit of the Liiga. He’s scored six goals and seven assists for 13 points in 11 games. Both would have been better options but scouting reports or poor judgement by Fletcher caused the team potentially another miss. 

Require more proof? Remember when the Flyers selected the diminutive left handed shot (LHS) defenseman Emil Andrae back in the 2020 draft in the second round? He couldn’t handle playing in Sweden’s top league last year (the Swedish Hockey League (SHL)) so he has been sent back down to their version of the AHL, the Hockey Allsvenskan. Why the team chose to draft a 5’9 LHS defenseman this high when the team’s prospect pool is already loaded with them is beyond me, but they could have taken winger Tristen Robins who the San Jose Sharks selected just two picks later. This season in the Western Hockey League (WHL) Robins has 31 points in 23 games for the Saskatoon Blades. That’s a 1.34 point-per-game average. Also, still on the board that year was the hard hitting, 6’4 209 pound power forward Will Cuylle who has proven to be a gifted shooter as well. The New York Rangers snatched him up with the 60^th selection that same year. This sniper (who this writer suggested the Flyers take with their second round pick in my mock draft that year) has 25 points in 22 games played for the Windsor Spitfires this year in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). 18 of those points are goals! 

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These are just a few of the examples from the most recent drafts that the Flyers scouting department have missed on. But this problem has been going on long before Fletcher, or even Hextall, was ever serving as the team’s GM. 

Sadly, poor scouting isn’t the only deep-rooted problem that has plagued Philadelphia for some time now. Player development- or lack thereof- is arguably the Flyers’ greatest downfall. Think about it: These players have been able to jump from juniors or the college ranks straight to the NHL in less than a season’s time: Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, and Joel Farabee. Other than them, what Flyers prospect in recent memory has been able to come through the team’s minor league affiliates- the Reading Royals or the Lehigh Valley Phantoms- and had true, long-term success in the NHL? Don’t say Carter Hart because, while he may have built up a four years tenure in the NHL, he has only averaged an unimpressive 0.465 win percentage. 

In fact, if you look at the numbers there’s been numerous Flyers prospects that have decided to sign the entry level deals or simply aged out of the juniors or the collegiate ranks which has forced them to turn pro. This created a situation such that when they left, they were the cream of the crop only to sign with the Flyers’ organization and see their development come to a grinding halt or even regress. 2020 1^st round pick Tyson Foerster, who has possessed an NHL caliber shot for years now, and scored 36 goals in his last season with the Barrie Colts of the OHL. In nine games played this year with the Phantoms, he has only managed to score just two goals and one assist for three points. That means he’s currently scoring at a rate of just 0.33 PPG. Overall, this is a regression from last year (his first as a pro) where he managed to score 17 points in 24 games with the Phantoms a 0.70 PPG pace. 

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How about 2019’s 1^st round pick Cameron York? He was over a point per game defenseman for the United States Development Program where he scored 65 points in 63 games played the year he was drafted by the Flyers. After he was done there, he attended the University of Michigan for two seasons where he continued to excel to the point that he was then chosen to represent team USA in the 2021 World Junior Championships (WJC). There, he even served as their captain and led the Red, White, and Blue to a gold medal by scoring six points in seven games. Following the conclusion of his sophomore season for the Big Blue, York then turned pro. Last season, after just eight games played with the Phantoms, he had accrued five points: This 0.625 PPG average saw him get called up to the Flyers for a three game try out. Like Foerster, York’s point production has plummeted since then. He has only scored just one goal and five assists for six points in 16 games this season: A .375 PPG average. Again, a regression. 

Think that these two prospects might just be in a sophomore slump? Then how do you explain the Flyers’ 2017’s 1st round pick Morgan Frost? He was a back-to-back 100+ point scorer in the OHL. Frost was thought to be the team’s top prospect for some time now but even five years after being drafted he has only played a total of 30 games in the NHL where he is profoundly underperforming: totaling just three goals over parts of three seasons. A player that averages one goal per season is hardly the savior, or player who should be looked at as the successor to Giroux when his days are over in Philly. 

Lastly, can anyone tell me what happened to Isaac Ratcliffe? This 6’6 201 pound giant was taken by the Flyers back in the 2^nd round of the same draft that gave them Frost. This physical anomaly scored 50 goals and 32 assists for 105 points for the Guelph Storm back in his last year of juniors before turning pro. He was yet another prospect who looked destined to join the Flyers’ ranks quickly. But now (in his 4^th year with the Phantoms) Isaac has only managed to tally a combined 11 career goals. 

So, I ask you: when is the finger going to be pointed at the teams’ developmental coaches? The role of these coaches is supposed to be to help players continue to progress after being drafted, checking in with them throughout the season wherever they might be playing, and giving them pointers on potential problems they see in their game etc. All of this is an effort to get them to the point that they will eventually be offered an entry-level contract. Once signed, they should then be expected to help the prospect make an easier transition to the pro level by giving them advice on anything they think might create an easier transition. Which, given the Flyers’ numerous star prospect regressions and/or stalled developments (as stated above) the Flyers must begin to put more emphasis on this. The only time the Flyers prospects should see or hear from Chris Stewart, John Riley, Daniel Briere, Kjell Samuelsson, or Nick Schultz (the Flyers’ developmental coaches) should not begin and end at the teams Developmental Camp! Not saying that this may be the case entirely, but clearly this group of individuals isn’t cutting the mustard. While other teams’ pipelines continue to produce NHL-ready prospects quick, fast, and in a hurry. The Flyers’ inability to develop their youth has left the organization with a log jam of players. For example, why is German Rubtsov, a 1^st round selection, now six years removed from being drafted, still taking up space on the Phantoms’ roster? Especially when you have players like Jay O’Brien (another one of the team’s former 1^st round selections)- who scored at a rate of a point-per-game last year in the NCAA while playing for Boston University- not being given an opportunity to prove himself at the pro level yet. These failed or underdeveloped prospects are holding up others’ progress. When is enough going to be enough? 

In order to put an end to this drought the Flyers should stop just firing the upper echelon NHL head coaches and instead hand out pink slips all around. The only way to really fix this problem is going to be by introducing a full-on rebuild from the foundation on up! If Philadelphia doesn’t implement this type of change this will just continue to be a reoccurring problem.