The Philadelphia Flyers are starting to venture into uncharted territory. For so long, the Flyers were a Playoff team who were always signing or trading for veteran players that could help the team try and win NOW. Management saw that this was no longer working because the league was progressively getting younger and younger. Finally, the Flyers decided to follow suit and, in 2014, opted to hire the former Flyers’ Great Ron Hextall as their new General Manager to help them do just that. Over the years, through Great-Scouting-Hextall and his staff were able to draft and sign undrafted free agents that not only rebuilt the Flyers’ then-barren farm system, but left the Flyers with an abundance of talented young prospects in every position. Ron was eventually let go because of the teams’ ownership’s over-zealousness to return to greatness, and the helm was turned over to Chuck Fletcher. Fletcher was gifted a team with immense upside- an NHL lineup that was already beginning to fill with the fruits of Hextall’s labor. Names like Carter Hart, Travis Konecny, Ivan Provorov, Travis Sanheim, Joel Farabee, Philippe Myers, Nolan Patrick, and Oskar Lindblom (all of which are 25 or younger) will be hard typed into the NHL lineup on a nightly basis for some time. The only problem that the team has now (one that every other team in the NHL would love to have) is there are TOO MANY talented prospects in the system! With the above-mentioned players’ success, it leaves little hope for the team’s up-and-coming prospects to be able to make the jump to play at the highest level.
This is most evident by the Flyers’ 2017 seventh-round-draft-pick defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk’s (the former Wisconsin Badgers Captain) recent decision to NOT sign an entry-level contract (ELC) with Philadelphia. He instead decided to hit the open market with the hopes he could sign with a team where he might have an easier route to the NHL. Once a free agent, Wyatt quickly signed with the Chicago Blackhawks- a team that is rebuilding and could use a talented defenseman like himself as early as next season.
Kalynuk was not the only casualty to the Flyers farm system though. Swedish defenseman David Bernhardt (the Flyers 2016 seventh round pick) was not signed to an entry-level contract because the Flyers have extremely limited contracts to offer right now and they had high hopes on securing the services of Kalynuk over Bernhardt. Unfortunately, now they have neither.
Although, the Flyers are lucky to have such a problem, it is still a dilemma that needs to be addressed. If this issue is not resolved sooner rather than later this regrettable trend may continue.
To add to that impressive list of players who have already made the jump to the NHL is a ton of prospects who are already signed and competing to make it to the big time. These are the players who the teams’ unsigned prospects will need to out-play as well if they wish to one day play for the Flyers. Players like:
| C-Morgan Frost | C-Connor Bunnaman | C-Pascal Laberge | C- Tanner Laczynski | C- Nathan Noel |
| W- Linus Sandin | W- Carsen Twarynski | W- Isaac Ratcliffe | W- Matthew Strome | W- David Kase |
| W-Maxim Sushko | W-Kurtis Gabriel | W-Wade Allsion | D- Samuel Morin | D- Mark Freidman |
| D- Yegor Zamula | D- Wyatte Wylie | D- Linus Hogberg | G-Kirill Ustimenko | G-Felix Sandstrom |
With so much depth already signed and in the Flyers system, it is quite possible that more unsigned prospects will walk when it is time to decide to sign with the Flyers or become a free agent.
So how can Chuck Fletcher stop this from happening and still manage to better the team?
How about pairing some of these unsigned prospects already in the system with some signed players that aren’t quite living up to their potential, in a trade with the team’s 2020 1st round pick, in order to move up in the draft and secure a player who could possibly make the Flyers’ roster as early as next season? Doing so would not only better the team next season, but also free up some space for other prospects to be signed in the future.
To this end, the Flyers should try and look to do business with teams who have multiple picks in the first round. Ottawa has three first round picks in this year’s draft: The third, the fifth, and the projected twenty-first. The fifth would probably the one the Flyers would like to obtain. Such a pick could possibly land Philadelphia a player such as Tim Stutzle (from Germany), Lucas Raymond (from Sweden), or Canadian Cole Perfetti, all of whom are elite level talents who could be NHL players as early as next year.
Such a trade might look like this:
Flyers receive:
2020 5th overall pick (Tim Stutzle, Lucas Raymond, or Cole Perfetti)
Goaltender Prospect: Mads Soggard (19’ 2nd round pick)
Senators receive:
The Flyers 2020 1st round pick
The Flyers 2021 2rd round pick
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere (Flyers retain $ One Million of his salary for just next season)
Center Prospect: Jay O’Brien (18’ 1st round pick with a 1.43 Point Per Game Avg. last season in the BCHL)
Goaltender prospect: Kirill Ustimenko
Unsigned Wing Prospect: Noah Cates (NCAA National Champion)
Seems like a lot right? But that is what it would take for the Senators to even consider such a trade. Analyzing the trade further, you can see it is not as much as it seems. The Flyers would be switching their 1st round pick for a better one and giving up a second-round pick in the following draft. The Flyers would rid themselves of defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and only be on the hook for one million dollars of his salary for just one season. Losing a gifted center like Jay O’Brien doesn’t hurt that much because the team has Morgan Frost, Connor Bunnaman, and Tanner Laczynski all ahead of him on the depth chart anyway. Having to offer up goalie Kirill Ustimenko stings a little, but the Flyers would be getting a better prospect back in 6’7 Mads Soggard of the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers. The Senators are in desperate need of a goalie since their starting netminder Craig Anderson will turn 40 years old next season! This immediate need is why the Senators might be willing to switch Soogard for Ustimenko seeing that Ustimenko is a talented goalie who dominated in his first season state-side and should be ready sooner then Soggard. The departure of Noah Cates would not be a terrible loss because his unwillingness to sign an ELC with the Flyers to date seems to have him following in the footsteps of prospect Wyatt Kalynuk.
Another team that could be potential trade partners would be the New Jersey Devils who have the 7th and 10th overall picks in this year’s draft. If the Flyers could persuade the Devils into giving up the 10th overall pick, the Flyers could acquire possibly the best pure goal scorer in the draft: Ottawa 67’s forward Jack Quinn who scored 52 goals in the Ontario Hockey League this season.
Such trade might look like this:
Philadelphia receives:
2020 10th overall pick (Jack Quinn)
New Jersey receives:
Flyers 2020 1st round pick
Flyers 2021 3rd round pick
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere
Goaltender Prospect Samuel Ersson or Felix Sandstrom
Prospect Winger Wade Allsion or Bobby Brink
Most people outside of Northern New Jersey have no clue who any of the defenseman for the Devils are outside of P K Subban; Gostisbehere would go from sitting in the press box in Philly to possibly playing a Top 4 role in Jersey. Most likely even seeing major playing time on the Power Play unit for the Devils. The choice of the Flyers’ two prospect goalies was thrown in because of the downfall of the Devils’ Corey Schneider, and the extended uncertainty behind Devils’ goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood.
These are just two examples of trades that would help improve the Flyers’ roster immediately. Chuck Fletcher should be willing to roll the dice here and not think twice about calling any number of teams on Draft Day to make a similar deal. The Flyers currently have extreme depth in ALL positions in their farm system; Why not try to downsize that depth to a manageable amount, while simultaneously increasing the quality of those prospects? Doing this would most certainly help to stop any future departure of talent due to the lack of space for them to play, and help the Flyers be the last team standing at the end of the season.
