Isn’t It About Time That The Flyers Acquire Another Generational Talent?

It was 29 years ago that the Philadelphia Flyers decided to take a huge risk and “sold the farm” for draft prospect Eric Lindros, who was nicknamed “The Next One.” Coming off of a monumental Jr career playing for the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, Lindros was drafted #1 overall by the Quebec Nordiques- but refused to play for them. Seeing this, then Flyers General Manager Bob Clarke jumped at the opportunity to acquire this generational talent. Lindros, as we all know, dominated the NHL for quite some time playing on arguably one of the best lines ever put together; known best as “The Legion of Doom.” Sadly, his battles with concussions caused Eric to miss a lot of time and force him to retire before he would have liked. Even so, Lindros still managed to amass numbers worthy enough to have his number retired in Philadelphia- along with gaining acceptance into the NHL Hall of Fame in 2016. 

Since then, the Flyers have gone through periods of time where they spend many years and hundreds of millions of dollars trying to acquire a Stanley Cup by way of bringing in future Hall of Famers who were well into their 30’s (and well past their prime). Although, it was great to see these once phenomenal talents in orange and black, it proved to be vastly ineffective- often leaving the team in a salary cap hell. 

Ever since Lindros and the organization’s ugly divorce, the only Flyers player that has even come close to a number-raising banner-type career would be current Flyers Captain Claude Giroux. Giroux is now 32-years-old, and although consistent throughout his career, it would still be a far stretch to call him a generational talent. With Claude aging closer to retirement, who will take his place as the face of the franchise? Who can you trust to draw up a play during a time out with just seconds left on the clock, a play that you are certain will net a goal if you get the puck on his stick? Travis Konecny? Travis’s play is improving all the time, but he is not the elite sniper whom this team has been lacking for quite some time. 

The Flyers have had some bad luck obtaining that one-in-a-million player, though it wasn’t for lack of trying. Even when twice selecting #2 overall in the draft, the plan has gone sour.  In 2007, the Flyers drafted James Van Riemsdyk, who has had 30 goal seasons, but struggled at times throughout his career- as recently as this year. Gifted with the opportunity again in 2017 (thanks to the draft lottery) the Flyers selected the talented Nolan Patrick, who has unfortunately not been able to stay healthy enough to remain in the lineup- let alone light the league on fire. 

Through all this, the Flyers (for the most part) have managed to be a playoff team year in and year out. Although, the team has recently taken the steps to solidify the goaltending position and create a talented young defensive core (who will be there for some time to come), the Flyers still lack that one player whose jersey flies off the racks every home game. Fans today want to see action. They are no longer satisfied with a hard fought 1-0 win. Attendance at the Wells Fargo Center in recent years is proof of this, seeing numbers reaching an all-time low.  If you have attended a game in recent years you have probably seen the empty seats all around the arena.   

Now I know all of you have heard that one so called “fan” that always has the answer to all of the Flyers problems; That says the Flyers General Manager (GM) Chuck Fletcher should just go ahead and trade half the team for Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers), 

David Pastrnak (Boston Bruins), or Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs). (Just enter in your favorite players name here ___________.) But, those type players are few and far between, and no GM that would like to keep his job is going to agree to such a deal that would switch our nondesirables, to gain their teams star, whose face would then be on the banner to be draped down the front of our arena. 

So then where might Fletcher find one of these elite level snipers that could turn into the face of our franchise? Someone that a team might be willing to part with, you may be asking.  How about the Winnipeg Jets Patrik Laine? This 22-year-old 6’5″ 206-lb player was drafted # 2 overall by the Jets in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft. In just his fourth year in the league, Laine already has totaled 138 career goals! Pretty impressive seeing that Giroux only has 257 goals in 13 seasons played!   

Why might such a young player with an unbelievable talent for torching the back of the net be available? Well to start, Laine was a restricted free agent holdout this season. With contract negotiations with the Jets going nowhere, Patrik decided to fly to Switzerland and train with the SC Bern (one of the Swiss National league teams). During this time, Laine made numerous comments, and let his frustrations be known regarding his inadequate playing time and the caliber of the players he is forced to play with on a nightly basis. Some people in Winnipeg thought those comments were harsh and were meant to be shots at the organization. That may have been true, but Laine is forced to play on the second line only managing to be 4th on the team in total ice time. As far as the comments about fellow teammates, Laine was in contract negations and saw that Auston Matthews (who was drafted # 1 overall by the Maple Leafs in 2016- only one pick ahead of Laine) had just received a 5-year-deal worth $11.6 Million annually, while Patrik himself was eventually forced to sign just a 2-year bridge deal worth $6.75 Million average annual salary: This  just seemed vastly unfair. This was all occurring when Matthews only had a handful of points more than Laine at the current time, and had guys like William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Kasperi Kapanen, and John Tavares (to name a few) playing on a line with him. It hardly seemed like the Jets organization was comparing apples to apples. Think about it: can you name five players on the Jets roster? You’d better not say Dustin Byfuglien because he is no longer on the team. Byfuglien told the Jets that he simply didn’t want to play with them anymore before this season started. The Jets and Byfuglien’s situation got ugly, eventually coming to an agreement where the two decided to just part ways and resulting in Dustin walking away from $14 Million dollars. How bad would you have to hate your boss or place of employment to walk away from a $14 Million dollar salary?  With Laine and Winnipeg only being able to agree to a two year term for a 22 year-old super star talent- when other players of his age and caliber are getting 5, 7, or 10 year deals- this should tell you that there is some definite bad blood between the two sides.

Remember Winnipeg lost a team once to the city of Phoenix, Arizona of all places. The province of Manitoba was without a team for some time until the Atlanta Thrashers decided to move their organization to the great white north. However, before they could make that move the Thrashers (who are now the Jets) were forced to trade their biggest star, Ilya Kovalchuk- for a fraction of his worth. Once again, Winnipeg is now left with the decision of whether to trade their talented young forward in an effort to regain as many assets as possible, or try to reconcile with this generational talent in the hopes of not losing him in a year or two to free agency for nothing. 

When you consider all of this, might we just see Winnipeg lose another Teemu Selanne, like they did to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks back in 1996- this time being in the form of winger Patrik Laine. And, if they do, wouldn’t you want Chuck Fletcher to be the guy pulling off a steal like the Ducks then-General Manger Jack Ferreira’s did for Selanne? Question is: Does Chuck Fletcher have what it takes to not take no for answer? Instead, would he risk his job to trade away whomever or whatever is necessary (current roster players, star prospects and/or upcoming future draft picks) in order to obtain this potential future NHL Hall of Famer?