And just like that another Flyers season is in the books. Unfortunately, the orange and black finished with a 25-23-8 record, thus missing the playoffs. Without further delay, here are our answers to your questions.
The Flyers will expose James van Riemsdyk, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Shayne Gostisbehere, and Jake Voracek. I think the Seattle Kraken will select JvR, as they will be looking to add a goal scorer. Yes, JvR is streaky, most goal scorers are throughout the course of the season, but he pots around 20-25 goals a season typically. This year he finished with 17 goals in a weird season, which isn’t too shabby considering he finished tied for the team in points with 43. These aren’t eye popping numbers by any means, but they can become enticing for a new team that will try to hit the ground running when the new season begins.
JvR wants to remain a Flyer as he stated yesterday, but Fletcher could sweeten this selection with retaining salary or offering draft compensation for this selection. It is a must for Fletcher to rid this organization of a big priced contract like Voracek, JvR, or Ghost.
Out of camp, I could see Tyson Foerster making the team. Call me crazy, but this is kid is electric. No one expected Travis Konecny to make the team out of camp in 2016, and not many people would think Foerster would either considering the Flyers have Morgan Frost and Tanner Laczynski ahead of Foerster. However, Foerster has a shoot first mentality, and quite frankly is skating solidly in the AHL. Foerster is exactly the player the Flyers need right now with the big club. Also, Frost missed the majority of the season, so it may take time for him to get back up to speed again.
I have a great article highlighting a big trade that could happen with the Arizona Coyotes and the Flyers this Friday. Brent Flahr scouted the Coyotes for about a week about one month before the trade deadline commenced. With that being said, there could be some groundwork laid there for a trade. Moreover, Chuck Fletcher could also have groundwork laid for a trade with the Nashville Predators as Nashville was scouting the Flyers farm system heavily at different parts of the AHL season.
Think back to right after the deadline ended. Fletcher stated to us (Media) that there were some teams that groundwork was laid for a trade. He said that he knows what they want, and they know what “We” want. Those two teams could very well be the Predators and Coyotes.
Personally, I do not think Fletcher would send his Assistant General Manager in Flahr to Arizona without the possibility of being trading partners with them, whether that was at the deadline or not. The truth of the matter is Arizona might have trouble paying their bills again due to Covid restrictions that prohibited fans from attending games and whatnot, thus forcing them to move players they would not otherwise like to part with. Those players could be Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Darcy Kuemper, or Niklas Hjalmarsson.
Some will say why do I mention Hjalmarsson in a trade when he is a free agent at year’s end. Well, Fletcher has a history of trading for the rights of players, hence trading a 5th round pick for Kevin Hayes to the Winnipeg Jets, so a trade for Hjalmarsson makes sense as he is 33-years-old, and could play at least middle pairing-top pairing minutes. In addition, Ekman-Larsson was on the trade block last season, and with Fletcher absolutely knowing he has to shore up the backend. I’m confident he would pay for this type of defense in Ekman-Larsson that eats 20:58 minutes a night.
To recap there are three targets for a trade and they are Ryan Ellis (Predators), Hjalmarsson, and Ekman-Larsson.
Free Agent Targets (If they hit the market):
Defense:
David Savard
Dougie Hamilton
Alec Martinez
Adam Larsson
Jamie Oleksiak
Cody Ceci
Goaltending:
Linus Ullmark
Jaroslav Halak
Philip Grubauer
Antii Raanta
The Flyers underachieved, no excuses, they simply underachieved. No one thought that the Flyers would miss the playoffs at the very least, regardless of how far they were going to go, No One thought the Flyers would miss the playoffs. Why did this happen? Defense and goaltending first. The defense was very inconsistent for the majority of the year, and things seem to stabilize themselves on the back end when it was too late. No one thought that Carter would struggle the way he did, but he did and it hurt.
No one thought that Brian Elliott would have to carry the load for the last month and a half of the season, and play an even bigger role this season. No one thought that the youth would struggle the way they did, many younger players did with the exception for Joel Farabee.
Farabee hit a wall there, but he overcame it, whereas, some youth never overcame it. It appeared that they were stuck, and it’s all season is the only way they can get an adequate reset as to why this happened. Does the roster need changes? Absolutely, and they will get it done.
At the end of the day this team will go down as the most talented team not to make the playoffs. When Justin Braun is one of your best defenseman you know you have a big problem during the season. I’m not taking anything away from Justin, but the youth should have exceeded.
When only one young offensive player Joel Farabee is playing as good or producing like the vets in Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jakub Voracek, and James van Riemsdyk…then you know you have a problem. The Flyers thought some players would take over some roles, for instance, Nicolas Aube-Kubel taking over Tyler Pitlick’s role, but it never happened.
This was your 2020-21 Flyers team this season. It was a season of missed opportunities, and underachieving. Hopefully things become more clearer in 2021-22 with an addition or two on the backend, and shoring up the goaltending position. This becomes the blueprint for Fletcher and the Flyers this offseason. Is this easy…no…by no means but it is a must. The good thing is I personally believe Carter Hart will rebound and put forth a good 2021-22 season.
One thing Chuck Fletcher or Dave Scott did not address yesterday was special teams, as their special teams was anything but special this season. I would have loved to have their thoughts on what will change for next season in this area. Both the PP and PK were dreadful this past season and killed their chances at sniffing the playoffs.
The keys for next season are everyone coming to camp in great shape, and ready to rock and roll. Hopefully, the younger players like Hart, Konecny, NAK, Laughton, Patrick, Lindblom, Sanheim, and Myers rebound next season. There will be a lot of pressure on this group to exceed from the start of the season, so they better get used to it now.
Chuck Fletcher should be in the running for a UFA like Jaroslav Halak, Linus Ullmark, Philip Grubauer, or Antti Raanta. I do believe Brian Elliott will leave for free agency, and I got that vibe from yesterday’s exit interviews with the way Fletcher was speaking about the Goaltending position. Fletcher’s blueprint for the offseason is Defense, Goaltending, and the younger players coming to camp in great shape. Adding a shoot first type of player would be nice, but the defense and Goaltending should be shored up first.
If you would like to see your questions submitted in our weekly mailbag. Just submit your question on our Twitter page @flyersknitty using #Flyersmail, or @JameyBaskow. Thanks to all the fans for another great mailbag, and Let’s go Flyers.
