Disappointment, emptiness, and Embarrassment continue for the Flyers and their fans, after they botch the trade deadline

Disappointment, frustrated, angry these are some of the words that are used when Flyers fans describe the team for the past few seasons. It was important for the Flyers to nail the 2023 trade deadline, while selling off what appeared to be assets at the time. However, the 2023 trade deadline will go down as one of the biggest botches in Flyers trade deadline history.

Chuck Fletcher, while sitting at the podium in Voorhees, NJ explained to us (Media) that he could not find a suitor for a player that has netted more than 300 goals in his career, “I didn’t have any offers at all until about 1:40. I got a call from a team, and they had a concept that if they were able to move a forward off of their team, then they had interest in in acquiring JVR,” Chuck Fletcher said. “We talked about the parameters of what the deal would look like. It made sense from that standpoint, but all along, it was conditional on the other trade going through. Eventually the other deal fell through.”

“It was probably about 25 minutes before the deadline when I found out that the deal fell through. It was interesting. Interesting market. We’ve been working the phones hard for three weeks on most of our players on expiring contracts. The one offer that I did get on JVR happened at 1:40 this afternoon and it was a conditional offer. I didn’t know what the market would be, but I thought there would at least be some offers that we would have to consider or not consider. So, it’s the nature of the business, I guess,” Fletcher continued.

I know what’s going through every Flyers fan mind. Why would a person of his stature hold out on a conditional deal? Why didn’t he continue to find a suitor after he found out it was a conditional deal from the Detroit Red Wings? What’s unbeknown to the media is did he reject other teams from trying to acquire JvR after this “Conditional” deal with said team, thus burning the bridges with other teams after the deal fell through? How and why he put all his eggs in a basket for a conditional trade with the Red Wings is very puzzling, and they was still one hour and 20 minutes to consult with other teams about the services of JvR. On the surface it sounds like Fletcher try to play hardball and lost.

“It is what it is,” Fletcher said. “We would probably rather have a good pick and allow JVR the opportunity to play in the playoffs, but the market spoke, and it wasn’t to be. He’s a true professional. He is a good hockey player for us, and he’ll be a good mentor down the stretch.”

Fletcher continued, “50% (Is what Fletcher said to teams that the Flyers would retain for JvR’s services). We made everybody aware that we could even take back a contract if that helped a little bit more on the cap or the cash. We talked about a different range and different ways of getting there – prospects, a pick, multiple picks, whatever it would be, conditional pick. We talked about all kinds of different scenarios. But ultimately, again, I can only control my half, and there has to be a willing buyer. Until 1:40 today, we never had any type of offer and the offer we got was conditional.”

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The question that is puzzling for most Flyers fans is how do they continue to trust this franchise, when they were told prior to the trade deadline that the team was in a selling mode, “We are selling,” Fletcher said on Wednesday. It’s hard for fans to believe the team was in a selling mode when the team only offloaded Patrick Brown and Zack MacEwen. So once again the Flyers failed to instill confidence and trust with their proud faithful, so why should they believe anything else that anyone says within this organization. That is how they are feeling, and it should be understandable:

“Look, I understand our fans are really disappointed,” Fletcher said. “The last two, three years, there’s no question we’ve been trying to be a competitive team. We’ve been trying to be a team – in particular two years ago, going back to the Summer of ‘21 – trying to be a team to maximize the last year of Giroux on his contract, to be a team that could compete and make a playoff spot. Clearly, I haven’t done that. I haven’t done that job. There’s no doubt. Last year we had a couple devastating injuries, absolutely, with Couturier and Ellis, and even Hayesy. This year with Couturier and Atkinson has been very difficult. But that’s not the only reason. We need more talent and that’s on me. So, I get it. Last Summer I think we were a little tepid. We didn’t want to be overly aggressive, in pursuit of talent because we did have some concerns about Couturier in particular, then Farabee had been hurt and we didn’t know what we exactly were going to have going into the year. So, we put some kids on the team, we gave them that opportunity. As we go forward, we recognize we have to get more talent and we are going to build it. I’m not worried about my job – whatever happens with me will happen with me. That’s up to Dave Scott.”

This was one last opportunity for Fletcher to instill confidence in the Flyers fan base, that rightfully have questioned the path and direction of this team. This could be called Fletcher’s last stand, if you will. My opinion is the trade deadline was an utter failure. From an “Aggressive Retool” to “Rebuild on the fly” to “We are selling” to “I didn’t have an offer (JvR) till 1:40” to “I haven’t done that job. There’s no doubt.” I just don’t know how much more the front office can take, for Flyers fans for that matter. This made his seat warmer, and I just don’t see how he makes it out of this unscathed.