Isn’t It Time To Rip Off The Band-Aid, Flyers Fans? 

Photo Credit: Stephenmcalpine.com

The Philadelphia Flyers last won a Stanley Cup in 1975. That’s 46 years ago!!! The days of the Broad Street Bullies are sadly long gone and the ownership’s passion to produce a team that could be considered a true contender year in and year out died with Ed Snider back in 2016. His passing left fans not only disheartened but now stuck with a corporate figure head in Dave Scott (the CEO of Comcast Spectacor now running the franchise). Which with no real passion or knowledge of the sport, Dave is currently running the team like a business. Which means that, as long as the team stays in the black (making a profit), he couldn’t care less about where they finish in the grand scheme of things. To prove this, think about it: Mr. Scott has taken a hands-off approach. The only time you do see him is at the end of the year press conferences when he steps in front of the camera for a couple of minutes to say we tried hard and we’re going to get them next year.

To be quite frank, the Flyers have no real driving force now to burst into the locker room fuming mad during intermission like Mr. Snider would commonly do when the team had been playing like they have lately to demand that they get their act together- or else! The team has fallen from grace over the years and has gone from a perennial playoff contender to an outsider with no real sense of direction or purpose. Example being its fan base, which has been left to get excited about their team requiring overtime Saturday night to beat a Senators team that is currently the third worst team statistically in the entire league with only 20 points on the season. This comes after a game in which the Flyers lost in a shootout to the second worst team in the league the- Montreal Canadiens- who have only managed to record 17 points on the season thus far. 

Furthermore, this team has shown a recent history of not being able to develop talent once they turn pro and are assigned to either their East Coast Hockey League or American Hockey League affiliates. This results in a very much delayed prospect pool to come up through the system to try and help the club at the National Hockey League level. With no elite talent coming out of the ranks since the now 15 year veteran Claude Giroux did back in the 2007-2008 season, the team’s future looks very bleak. 

Claude Giroux is now 33-years-old and his contract is set to expire, leaving him to become an unrestricted free agent at this season’s end. There’s no denying that he has carried this team over the years, seeing that he is now in a tie with Bill Barber for the franchise’s second all-time leading scorer (which he now only trails the great Bobby Clarke). But with management deciding to rely so heavily on his play over the years, they failed to give him the pieces he needed to win a Stanley Cup during his reign here on South Broad Street.

So, with no elite talent on the way, an aging super star (who they could potentially lose for nothing at the season’s end), and the team destined to get an early start on their golf game yet again this season, isn’t it about time this team rips of the band-aid that is Claude Giroux?  Officially asking him to waive his no trade clause so they could try and send him to a true contender to give him a real opportunity to win the Stanley Cup could bring back a wealth of young, NHL ready talent from a desperate team who views themselves as a mere player away from raising the cup. 

Re-signing Giroux before the end of this season (or in the off season, for that matter) would just delay the inevitable and would essentially make this team mediocre again at best. Trading him at the deadline would help expedite a rebuild; potentially giving the team proven prospects who are ready to play in the NHL as early as next season (since they cannot seem to develop any of their own). 

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To do this, the Flyers most likely will have to be willing to retain a big chunk of Claude’s salary this season seeing that no team in the league is anticipated to be able to just abruptly take on $8.275 million in cap at the deadline. But, since his contract is expiring, this shouldn’t be an issue- especially if Philadelphia were to get a bevy of talented young prospects in return. 

So, with that in mind, let’s try to look at one potential playoff team from each division that could use his services. Starting in the Eastern Conference, we’ll first look at the Atlantic Division. Out of the current top-four teams (if I were the Flyers’ General Manager (GM), I would look to Detroit. Until recently, the Red Wings have been a shell of their former selves stemming back to 2016 when Pavel Datsyuk decided to leave Detroit and return home to Russia to play his final years in the KHL. Since that time, the team has been able to utilize their highly-coveted draft selections to add some pretty impressive players to their roster. With names like ‘20 1^st rd. pick, winger Lucas Raymond; defenseman Mortiz Seider- who they took with their 1^st selection back in 2019; and 2018’s 1^st rd. pick, center Joe Veleno now solidifying their spots on the Red Wings roster, they have once again become a playoff contender and just might be willing to add to their success this season. 

Luckily for the Flyers, these players listed above are not the only prospects that Detroit has been able to hit on. Now, if the Flyers’ GM Chuck Fletcher could talk Giroux into waiving his no-trade clause, he could ask for some of the Red Wings’ top prospects like 6’5 defenseman Simon Edvinsson, goaltender Sebastian Cossa, or defender William Wallinder in return for Giroux. Unfortunately, he most likely will receive an immediate NO! Instead, he might be better off asking for players like forward Red Savage, high scoring defenseman Alex Cotton, and/or winger Cross Hanas. All these players are amazing prospects in their own right, but maybe not deemed quite as valuable as the previously- stated untouchables. Out of that bunch, the player this writer would like to see coming back the Flyers’ way the most would be Alex Cotton. This 20 year old 6’2 190-pound blue liner is both as talented and physical as they come. Alex is capable of using his hands to both score some of the most impressive goals you will see from a defenseman and at the same time he has been known to use them to reduce his opponents’ time spent on brushing their teeth. A very well-rounded, skilled defender (to say the least) who, this season while playing in the Western Hockey League (WHL), has been able to score a very impressive 25 points in 23 games played (GP). Oh, and I forgot to tell you: this 1.08 point-per-game (PPG) defender shoots from the right side! This is something the Flyers still so desperately need to obtain for not just the NHL level, but depth within the system as well. 

If the Flyers were brave enough to trade Giroux within the Metropolitan Division then they should look to contact the Carolina Hurricanes, who currently sit in 3^rd place. In this writer’s opinion, the Hurricanes are one of the best-drafting teams in the league. Their pro and amateur scouting departments may be second to none. Even though they have managed to be a playoff team they somehow manage to acquire amazing prospects that other teams have passed over and make them work. Under the watchful eye of head coach Rod Brind’Amour, somehow Carolina’s amazingly fast and potent offense- along with their solid, defensively-responsible core of blueliners- have been able to sustain their status in the East after suffering some severe losses on the back end this past off season. Those losses included their number one defender Dougie Hamilton who chose to head to New Jersey in free agency, and their star goaltending prospect Alex Nedeljkovic who they gave up in a trade with Detroit. Through this, even though the team has been drafting later in the draft these past couple of years, they have still been able to successfully select a stockade of rapidly developing young prospects. Again, while the Flyers would hope to bring back names such as Seth Jarvis or Ryan Suzuki in a trade for Giroux, they might just get laughed at if they suggested it. So instead, the team should look to obtain any of the following players from the Hurricanes: defenseman Anttoni Honka, sharpshooter Noel Gunler, or wingers Ville Koivunen, Patrik Puistola, or Robert Orr. A combination of any of these players would be considered quite the haul to bring back to Philadelphia and would help to beef up the Flyers’ prospect pool immensely. But if I had to pick just one player to be included in the deal over the others it would be the Hurricanes ‘20 2^nd round pick Noel Gunler. This Swedish sniper not only already possesses the kind of shot and release most NHL players can only dream of having, but he also already has an NHL frame as well. At 6’2 Gunler can do anything he wants with the puck on his stick, but don’t plan on him keeping it there for long. He loves to shoot the puck! These traits make him a perfect candidate to receive in return for Giroux because Philadelphia simply does not have many players like that on their roster or in their system right now. 

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Now onto the Western Conference. More specifically, the Central Division. If this writer would have to pick just one team from the mid-west contenders from which to trade in search of young talent, it would be the Minnesota Wild for one player, and one player only: Matt Boldy. This American-born 20-year-old was the Wild’s 2019 1^st round pick and he would come with a pretty impressive resume seeing that he has been playing at a point-per-game level for the Iowa Wild of the AHL for the past two seasons now, and before that was a standout star for both Boston College and Team USA at the World Junior Championships (where he helped them to win a gold medal last season). Standing at 6’2 and over 200 pounds, this highly-skilled power forward possesses a shot that can be deadly from anywhere on the ice. What he lacks in speed he makes up for with a keen hockey sense and elite ability to see everything that is going on while out on the ice. If Matt were to be the player coming back from Fletcher’s old stomping grounds in a trade for Giroux it would give the Flyers a player that could possibly step in as early as this season and grow to be a force along with Farabee for many years to come. 

Lastly, the Pacific Division where, if I were a betting man, Chuck Fletcher would be full of zeal if he could obtain any number of the first place Anaheim Ducks prospects in exchange for his captain. To say that the Ducks have had great success in recent drafts would be an understatement. With young talented players like Sam Steel, Trevor Zegras, and Mason McTavish already being major contributors to the team’s success at the NHL level, there’s no reason to think that their other top-tier prospects like Jacob Perreault and Sasha Pastujov won’t follow suit shortly. But these type of guys will not likely be made available, so the Flyers then must look to obtain players like forwards Sam Colangelo and Sean Tschigerl, defenseman Olen Zellweger, or goalie Lukas Dostal. My pick as a must-have from this plethora of talented players would be the grossly-underrated Sean Tschigerl, who the Ducks were able to steal with their 5^th round pick in this past draft. Sean is a pure goal scorer who plays for the Calgary Hitman of the WHL where he currently has 15 goals and 14 assists, for 29 points in just 26 games played this season. 

I know that, with the way the Flyers have been able to pick up a few wins here and there as of late, you may be saying why would you still wish to trade Giroux? Let me remind you: the teams the Flyers have been able to win against lately are nothing more than fellow bottom dwellers. The true test if they can hang with the big boys is coming against teams like the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team must, at some point, think of the future seeing that they currently have none.        

The only thing that stands in the way is Giroux’s no movement clause. Fletcher would then ask for a list of teams that Giroux would like to be moved to. If Fletcher is able to persuade Giroux to be moved to a contender, then most of these teams should fit the bill. It might take a little more convincing to be moved to the Red Wings, but nonetheless it shall remain a possibility.