On June, 1, 2020, the Flyers (89 Points) the Regular Season is now complete according to the NHL and NHLPA, and the Flyers happened to finish one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division to the Washington Capitals (90 Points). Unbelievable right!!! Don’t panic folks, the greatest sport on Earth plans to reconvene at some point.
Thanks to former General Manager Ron Hextall and the current General Manager Chuck Fletcher the Flyers are finally a Cup contender!!! Yup, I said that right (Definitely not a typo) a Cup contender. The drafting guru in Hextall, Head Scout Chris Pryor, and the rest of his scouting staff did a phenomenal job in putting a successful stamp on the Flyers current roster throughout the course of the season. This young orange and black team is littered with “Hextall” prospects up and down this roster (To include undrafted free agents) like Nolan Patrick, Oskar Lindblom, Joel Farabee, Travis Konecny, NAK, Philippe Myers, Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, and Carter Hart. Moreover, Mark Friedman, Morgan Frost, Alex Lyon, Connor Bunnaman, Mikhail Vorobyev, Carsen Twarynski, and David Kase all spent time with the big club this season, at some point or another.
This young Flyers team and farm system is being built for the long haul, and both Hextall and Fletcher have made their imprints. Just take a look at “Hextall’s” Lehigh Valley Phantoms and Reading Royals teams with the likes of Wyatte Wylie, Wade Allison, Tanner Laczynski, Matthew Strome, Felix Sandstrom, Kirill Ustimenko, Alex Lyon, Isaac Ratcliffe, Pascal Laberge, Maksim Sushko, Twarynski, Frost, Friedman, and Kase. Not mentioned are some pretty solid prospects who will be joining the Phantoms in the future, such as, Linus Hogberg, Yegor Zamula, Jay O’Brien, Olle Lycksell, Noah Cates, David Bernhardt (Hopefully), Adam Ginning, Ivan Fedotov, Samuel Ersson, and Wyatt Kalynuk.
Before we head to Fletcher, let’s look at how Hextall was able to receive a draft grade of an “A++++” for the 2016 NHL Draft. Eight out of ten picks Hextall selected in 2016 have signed ELC’s (Entry-Level Contracts, Professional Contracts) with the Flyers: German Rubtsov, Pascal Laberge, Tanner Laczynski, Wade Allison, Linus Hogberg, Carsen Twarynski, Connor Bunnaman, and lastly Carter Hart. This is a thing of beauty right here Hextall selected a franchise Goaltender, Physical Forwards, and a puck moving defenseman who rarely makes mistakes (Like Mark Friedman).
Fletcher picked up where Hextall left off by adding young talent from this past draft, with the likes of Cam York, Bobby Brink, Mason Millman, Roddy Ross, Yegor Serdyuk, and Bryce Brodzinski. He also added some key parts to this Flyers team this past off-season, and this simply has elevated this club from a pretender, to a contender this season. For starters, signing Head Coach Alain Vigneault was brilliant. Bringing in an experienced coach to coach this young Flyers team couldn’t have worked any better. Moreover, the additions of Kevin Hayes, Justin Braun, Matt Niskanen, Tyler Pitlick, Derek Grant (Trade Deadline), Nate Thompson (Trade Deadline), and re-signing Brian Elliott have done wonders for this club.
The neat thing about Fletcher is he is not afraid to pull the trigger, and the right trigger for that matter. Every single one of his additions this past off-season, and the trade deadline have worked out thus far. Each player, to include Thompson (PK skills), have played an integral part (At one time or another) to the overall success of this team.
Together Hextall and Fletcher have and will continue to build a contender from the ground up with drafting, drafting, drafting young talent. To the fans of Philadelphia, you will see multiple Stanley Cup Championships here in the future, as Fletcher will continue to add the right pieces. It’s time to believe in this team, and the time starts now.
GM Chuck Fletcher did not have a good draft last year. He did his best, but his first two picks as a Flyer’s GM went to obtain a duo of small players. Even though the NHL has gotten away from big players who aren’t great skaters, both Cam York and Bobby Brink are much to small for the NHL. Don’t get me wrong, they are both smart on the ice, but too small to play their game against bigger NHL types. York will never be able to retrieve pucks in his own end with his scrawny build. He looks like an injury about to happen in a league that pressures small defensemen. As for Brink, he looks like a he’s no more than 5’7’ max in height and he’s not the fastest player either. He will find his style of play in the Mhl impossible to play. He is smart also, but will he be able to take the physical punishment? I don’t think so.