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Chuck Fletcher has revamped the Flyers, has had a remarkable offseason. I would have to give him a grade of an A+, and here is why:
From Ryan Ellis to now Joel Farabee getting an extension, it’s really nice to see how much he’s tackled since July 17th. He’s addressed everything he possibly could in just one off season. Fletcher is now attacking the 2022-23 offseason with Sean Couturier and Farabee recently extended, and both of whom would have been restricted free agents next off season. If the Flyers are playing well halfway through the year then does Claude Giroux re-sign? We’ll see. I think Giroux remains a Flyer. Moreover, if they are playing well I think he re-signs by the Olympic Break or possibly sooner.
I personally don’t see any reason why Giroux wouldn’t re-sign. He’s a great player, and a good leader on the ice. Giroux hasn’t had much complimentary help besides Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, and Jaromir Jagr, but that’s a different article for a different day.
Giroux may still fetch an AAV of $5.5-6 million on his next deal, but Joe Pavelski got 3-years at $7 million back in the 2019 off-season with the Dallas Stars at the age of 35. In my opinion Giroux is better and younger, as Pavelski is now 37 and is a unrestricted free agent after the 2021-22 season. Looking ahead even further the Flyers have approximately $15.5 Million to sign Giroux, Derick Brassard, Nic Aube-Kubel, Nate Thompson, Morgan Frost, Rasmus Ristolainen, Justin Braun, Keith Yandle, Sam Morin, and Martin Jones.
Obviously not all of these players will demand much, as five out of the ten players mentioned are on one-year deals. Morgan Frost’s contract won’t be much as he hadn’t played consistently enough in the NHL to start his young career. Giroux & Ristolainen will demand the most money out of these players. We’ll have to see if those players on one-year deals will re-sign or go in a different direction, but the season will give us answers to that question. I don’t think many come back, but this is all early season speculation.
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Now, looking into this season, this would be my ideal lineup for Opening Night:
Giroux – Couturier – Atkinson
Farabee – Hayes – Konecny
JvR – Brassard – Lindblom
Allison – Thompson – Laughton
Provorov – Ellis
Sanheim – Ristolainen
Yandle – Braun
Hart/Jones
I think both Cam York and Morgan Frost start the season with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. A lot of these lines are interchangeable, Konecny/Atkinson, JvR/Farabee, Allison/Lindblom, etc. There is a log jam at the wing position and this is a good issue for the Flyers to have. This adds more internal competition at Training Camp, which is a good thing to push the youth.
One thing is certain, the Flyers look a lot better on paper, hopefully that translates to the ice coming up here soon.
