Reviewing The 2021-22 Flyers Offseason – How Did Chuck Fletcher Do?

Photo Credit: Zack Hill, Philadelphia Flyers | NBC.com

Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers organization had themselves a very busy offseason. After the major disappointment that was the 2021 Flyers season the goal was to make sure the team was competitive and pushing for a Stanley Cup as they were in the 2019-20 season. Here I’ll be going over every move that was made and analyzing what the Flyers got in return. For a few of the new acquisitions I was able to find some full games on YouTube to try and get a better sense of what the Flyers got to help my analysis.

Ryan Ellis Trade

What the Flyers gave up: forward Nolan Patrick and defenseman Phil Myers.

With Patrick and Myers being 2 of my favorite players on the team it was tough to see them go but this trade was absolutely worth it. I still believe Patrick is going to be a great player in this league but he wasn’t going to get the chance here. And with Myers, though he has sky high potential the consistency was never there from him. A loss of 2 young players that you could’ve developed, but the Flyers are in win now mode and wanted a top defenseman which was much needed on this team.

Stats (over the last 3 seasons), all with Nashville

• 166 games played
• 3,167 minutes played at even strength, 19:04 per game
• 53.64 even strength expected goals % – 0.84 expected goals for per game – 0.77 expected goals against per game – 52.4 offensive zone start % – Nashville team average expected goals % 49.21
• 14 even strength goals – 5 power play goals – 1 short handed goal – 13.13 individual expected goals at even strength – 5.66 power play expected goals
• 64 even strength assists (33 primary – 31 secondary) – 13 power play assists (8 primary – 5 secondary)
• 22 penalties taken – 34 penalties drawn

Statistically Ellis is amazing. Consistently played 2nd pair minutes usually with Ekholm. 53.64 expected goals % over 3 years is very good. Nearly a point per every other game player just at even strength. His penalty taken to drawn ratio is impeccable for a defenseman. There are no flaws in his game stat wise.

Tracked stats from my 5 watched games ranging from 2014-16, sadly there is no more recent games available so this was the best I could get

• 15 short pass breakouts (1 power play) – 2 breakouts along the boards
• 10 long pass breakouts – 8 skate outs
• 14 defensive zone pucks lost (2 penalty kill) – 3 offensive zone pucks lost
• 69.81 breakout percentage (above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 4 defensive zone stick checks (1 penalty kill)
• 3 defensive zone turnovers forced (1 penalty kill) – 7 offensive zone turnovers forced (above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 8 defensive zone effective hits (above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 3 pinches
• 3 jumps
• 8 puck battles won – 7 puck battles lost

• Contract – 6 years remaining at 6.250 AAV – takes Ellis to 36

The Flyers have Ellis under a great long term contract that really helps them out in the short team.

Ellis is likely a top 20 defenseman in the league and is going to help the Flyers defense tremendously. Ellis is a two way defenseman but is definitely more offensive I’d say. He is a great puck mover and in my 5 tracked games had a 69.81 breakout percentage which would’ve finished 2nd on the Flyers in the 2021 Flyers season behind Gostisbehere at 78%. He has the ability to either pass or skate the puck out with ease. A big thing I noticed while watching Ellis play is his phenomenal play at the point. It felt like almost every time he was out there he was either creating a rebound, shooting for a deflection, making smart passes, pinching at the right times, whatever you want Ellis to do in the offensive zone he can get it done. On top of that Ellis can pot some goals himself. He has an incredible slap shot and knows just the right time to jump up into the play and help his forwards out. I find only 1 flaw in Ellis’ game defensively but he still does a lot of things really well. My issue with Ellis, and more specifically a Provorov-Ellis top pair is that I don’t think either of them are great at using their stick. A major problem I had with Provorov in the 2021 season was I thought he lacked aggressiveness and ability to make a play in 1 on 1 situations. With what I’ve seen from Ellis he doesn’t lack aggressiveness at all but at 5’10 he’s very capable at getting beat on zone entries and his aggressiveness on players doesn’t always turn out as a win on his side. But what the Flyers are getting in a Provorov-Ellis top pair is 2 guys who are extremely smart positionally and 2 guys who think the game extremely well. Ellis can cover any part of the defensive zone and does a great job of getting in passing lanes. He does a great job at stopping players behind the net and pinning them along the boards. He has a really good shot blocking ability. Ellis is capable of playing all situations and is going to help the Flyers power play and penalty kill greatly. I’m extremely happy to have Ryan Ellis on the Flyers for years to come.

Shayne Gostisbehere Trade

What the Flyers have up: defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere, a 2nd and 7th round picks. 

It was really sad to see that the Flyers couldn’t get anything in return after I thought Gostisbehere had a really good year in 2021. Cap space is an extremely valuable asset at the moment in the NHL and the Flyers definitely paid a price for it I think. 

Rasmus Ristolainen Trade

What the Flyers gave up: 2021 13th overall pick and defenseman Robert Hagg. As of right now this trade seems like a definite overpay. I’m personally not a fan of this trade not necessarily for what we gave up, but I’m more upset that I think we likely could’ve gotten someone better. Hagg didn’t have a great 2021 season and it was for the better of the defense that the team moved on from him. I was all in on the idea of trading the 13th overall pick to improve the roster. The Flyers have a fair amount of young talent in the organization, are looking to contend this year, and are trying to improve the team. I think a much better player in this role to go for would’ve been Jake McCabe. McCabe was an unrestricted free agent this year and signed a 4 year 4 million AAV deal with the Blackhawks. McCabe also played on the Sabers this year, was much better in any advanced stat you look at, and from what I saw in the few Flyers Sabres games in the 2021 season that he played in, plays a similar physical style but can do it more effectively. He’s played 2nd pair minutes for multiple years now and would’ve fit in perfectly with Sanheim in my opinion. This also could’ve saved the Flyers around 1 million dollars in cap space this year assuming they might’ve had to give McCabe more money then the Blackhawks did. The Flyers made the Ristolainen trade before free agency, but I think everyone could’ve assumed that McCabe wasn’t staying in Buffalo, or even could’ve given Buffalo a late round pick to sign him and had the 13th pick for other use. Regardless of my preferred player in McCabe I’m sure there were probably better defenseman out there for what we gave up, I don’t know what the market was at the time so I could be wrong but I don’t think this was the ideal move for the Flyers. 

Stats (over the last 3 seasons) all with Buffalo

• 196 games played
• 3,663:16 minutes played at even strength, 18:41 per game
• 46.03 even strength expected goals % – 0.72 expected goals for per game – 0.85 expected goals against per game – 43.07offensive zone start % – Buffalo team average expected goals % 47.31
• 11 even strength goals – 4 power play goals – 1 short handed goal – 13.05 individual expected goals at even strength – 7.21 power play expected goals
• 49 even strength assists (28 primary – 21secondary) – 29 power play assists (19 primary – 10secondary)
• 55 penalties taken – 20penalties drawn

Outside of Ristolainen’s solid point production there isn’t too much to be excited about here. Playing on Buffalo certainly doesn’t help Ristolainen here though. I decided to not show my tracked stats for Ristolainen because I could only find 3 full Sabres games and Ristolainen was much younger at the time playing a lot more minutes then he should’ve been and it all just felt very inaccurate.

• Contract – 1 year remaining at 5.400 AAV – takes Ristolainen to 27

A big downside to this trade is they could possibly lose Ristolainen after just 1 year if things don’t work out with the Flyers.

In the 3 games there wasn’t really much I saw from Ristolainen, wasn’t very physical or aggressive, had a decent amount of breakout opportunities and was nothing great there, and didn’t seem to make the smartest decisions on when to pinch and jump into the play. But like I said this was an old 3 game sample so it’s not very reliable, luckily the Flyers and Sabers played each other 8 times over the last year and from what I remember Ristolainen was much more physically active, and even though he strikes me as the type of player who chases checks his physical presence is something that will benefit the Flyers. I think that his defensive game is probably overblown by the fact that he does get a lot of hits, defenseman that hit a lot usually tend to take themselves out of position because they’re too focused on playing the body as well as more hits and blocks = the other team likely having the puck more. I do think it’s a valuable tool that he has that with the right coaching can benefit the Flyers. Ristolainen has put up some decent point totals, many of them being assists on the power play. As for the rest of his play I think we’re all going to have to wait and see. An obvious wrinkle to this situation is that he’s been playing more minutes than he should’ve been and playing on the Sabers for years now and that doesn’t help any player. As I mentioned before with what can be better coaching with the Flyers for Ristolainen and a better environment for him to grow in he can improve his play, but it doesn’t seem like a guarantee to me. 

Cam Atkinson Trade

What the Flyers have up: forward Jake Voracek. This one was definitely a tough one to see, Voracek spent an entire decade with the Flyers and aside from Giroux he was the Flyers best player. I also believe we’re going to miss Voracek on the ice as well. The main reason Voracek was traded was because of his cap hit but he was still an extremely effective player and the Flyers definitely lost something here with his amazing passing ability.

Stats (over the last 3 seasons) all with Columbus

• 180 games played
• 2,675:15minutes played at even strength, 14:52per game
• 48:58even strength expected goals % – 0.68 expected goals for per game – 0.68 expected goals against per game – 67.67 offensive zone start % – Columbus team average expected goals % 50.6
• 47even strength goals – 12 power play goals – 7short handed goals – 40.48 individual expected goals at even strength – 11.31 power play expected goals
• 42 even strength assists (22 primary – 20 secondary) – 19 power play assists (9 primary – 10 secondary)
• 15 penalties taken – 22 penalties drawn

I went back over the last 3 seasons and categorized all of Atkinson’s non empty net goals, here’s what came of that:

• 10 rush wrist shot goals – 8 net front tap in goals – 7 breakaway goals – 6 rush tap in goals – 5 slot wrist shot goals – 5 net front deflection goals – 4 power play slot one timer goals – 3 power play angle wrist shot goals – 2 penalty kill rush wrist shot goals – 2 power play slot wrist shot goals – 2 power play net front tap in goals – 2 net front backhand goals – 1 slot one timer goal – 1 rush slap shot goal – 1 penalty kill breakaway goal – 1 penalty kill wrist shot goal – 1 penalty kill rush slap shot goal – Atkinson clearly is going to help the Flyers transition and rush game tremendously, Atkinson’s speed is a killer.

Tracked stats from my 5 watched games ranging from 2015-16

(passes, shots, and other are not total passes, shots, and other plays only ones that are effective in my judgment)

• 4 slot passes – 4 slot shots (2 power play) – 2 slot other plays (total slot plays above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 5 non slot passes (2 power play non slot passes) – 1 non slot shot – 4 non slot other plays (2 power play non slot other plays) (total non slot plays above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 4 offensive zone pucks lost – 3 defensive zone pucks lost
• 8 good forechecks (1 penalty kill) (above Flyers 2021 season average)
• 4 defensive zone stick checks (2 penalty kill) – 3 offensive zone stick checks
• 1 defensive zone turnover forced – 1 offensive zone turnover forced (1 power play and penalty kill)
• 0 effective hits
• 11 entries (1 power play)
• 7 puck battles won – 8 puck battles lost

• Contract – 4 years remaining at 5.875 AAV – takes Atkinson to 36

Since being traded Atkinson has shown that he’s thrilled to be with the Flyers and I think he can improve the locker room greatly as well as become a fan favorite here. Though I do believe the Flyers lost a lot getting rid of Voracek, the Flyers are definitely getting a good player in return here in this trade. I loved what I saw in my few games of film that I watched. Was well above the average Flyers forward offensively with my stats in the 2021 season and his forecheck game was amazing. In the 18-19 season Atkinson scored 41 goals in 80 games followed up by 12 in 44 games and 15 in 56 games. I think we’re going to see Atkinson rebound from his past 2 seasons and Atkinson’s move to the Flyers will improve his game greatly. Atkinson is definitely a scorer and even though he does have a good shot it’s not his strength. All of his game comes from his speed and smarts. He’s a great player off the rush and knows how to avoid coverage well to get open for great scoring chances. His speed also allows for him to be a good penalty kill threat offensively and defensively. If Hayes can find his penalty killing groove that he had 2 years ago we could see the Flyers scoring some shorties this year. I also think Hayes would be a good player for Atkinson to play with. With Hayes’ puck protection, patience, and ability to get the puck in front and behind the net with Atkinsons ability to get open and score it could work out well. Atkinson’s speed is something the Flyers have been lacking for a while now and I think he’s a crafty player that can work out really good here. 

Keith Yandle Signing

Stats (over the last 3 seasons) all with Florida

• 207 games played
• 3,322:16 minutes played at even strength, 18:41 per game
• 46.27 even strength expected goals % – 0.67 expected goals for per game – 0.78 expected goals against per game – 62.39 offensive zone start % – Florida team average expected goals % 51.27
• 7 even strength goals – 10 power play goals – 10.3 individual expected goals at even strength – 8.29 power play expected goals
• 49 even strength assists (27 primary – 22 secondary) – 68 power play assists (44 primary – 24 secondary)
• 47 penalties taken – 20 penalties drawn
• Contract – 1 year at 900K – Yandle is 35

I think the Yandle signing was a great move to sure up the defensive depth. The move doesn’t force or rush York to immediately have to step into the NHL even though I do think York is capable of playing right now. Yandle is very familiar with Vigneault and Hayes and said that played a big part of his decision to play for the Flyers. This was also another great move for the locker room as a lot of the moves this year were, he is widely regarded as a good locker room presence and has lots of experience. Yandle is an extremely good puck mover and power play quarterback. His Defensive game is certainly not as good as his offensive game is but I’m not expecting him to play 82 games this season and the games he does play I’m sure he’ll be getting 3rd pair minutes. I liked this move.

Martin Jones Signing

Stats (over the last 3 seasons) all with San Jose

I ranked Jones’ numbers against goalies who played at least 2,000 minutes being 61 goalies.

• 137 starts – 8th most out of 61
• 2.33 even strength expected goals against per 60 – 26th most out of 61
• 2.96 even strength goals against average – 3rd worst out of 61
• 28.61 even strength shots against per 60 – 5th least out of 61
• .897 save % – 2nd worst among 61
• Contract – 1 year at 2.000 – Jones is 31

Jones has put up an .896 save percentage in 3 straight seasons. The first year the Sharks were still a good team and in the last 2 he’s had to play behind some not so great defense. I think the rationale here has to be hoping for a bounce back. Jones was much better in his early years with the Sharks and maybe coming to the Flyers and getting a lighter workload will bring some of that game back. 

Nate Thompson Signing

Stats (over the last season) only with Winnipeg

• 44 games played
• 362:04 minutes played at even strength, 8:13 per game
• 50.21 even strength expected goals % – 0.27 expected goals for per game – 0.26 expected goals against per game – 34.74 offensive zone start % – Winnipeg team average expected goals % 46.13
• 2 even strength goals – 1.77 individual expected goals at even strength
• 2 even strength assists (1 primary – 1 secondary)
• 2 penalties taken – 1 penalties drawn

• Contract – 1 year at 800K – Thompson is 36

I wasn’t really a big fan of Thompson when he had his short stint with the Flyers in 2020, but his 50.21 expected goals % with a 34.74 offensive zone start % is solid in a 4th line role. He likes to play physical and from what I saw can’t really do much besides that. Thompson will definitely not be playing in all 82 games and likely won’t see too much time when he does play, just a signing to secure depth.

Derick Brassard Signing

Stats (over the last season) only with Arizona

• 53 games played
• 652:34 minutes played at even strength, 12:18 per game
• 47.03 even strength expected goals % – 0.41 expected goals for per game – 0.47 expected goals against per game – 54.91 offensive zone start % – Arizona team average expected goals % 47.34
• 4 even strength goals – 4 short handed goal – 5.31 individual expected goals at even strength
• 10 even strength assists (4 primary – 6 secondary) – 2 penalty kill assists (1 primary – 1 secondary)
• 6 penalties taken – 8 penalties drawn

• Contract – 1 year at 825K – Brassard is 33

  I liked this move a lot more than the Thompson signing. I actually wanted the Flyers to get Brassard last offseason to help out the bottom 6 depth. I think Brassard is a more defensively reliable, smarter, and overall just a better 4th line center than Thompson is. Brassard has bounced around a few teams over the years but had a good 3rd line role with the Islanders 2 years ago and was still solid on the Coyotes in the 2021 season. I think this was a good signing.

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Flyers Re-signs

Sam Morin – 1 year, 750K

An ideal depth defenseman to me, happy to see Morin staying in the organization.

Carter Hart – 3 year, 3.979M

This is a fair deal for both sides, The Flyers are likely going to get great value out of this contract and Hart is going to get a big pay day after those 3 years.

Connor Bunnaman – 2 year, 750K (first year two-way, second year one-way)

Good AHLer, could play for the Flyers in a pinch.

Travis Sanheim – 2 year, 4.675M

This deal actually ended up being a little bit more money than I thought it would’ve been but 2 years was what I was expecting for Sanheim. He’s still extremely capable of being a 3rd defenseman on a lot of teams and this can serve the Flyers well for the next 2 years.

Sean Couturier – 8 year, 7.750M

I was happy to see this move get done now instead of waiting till the end of the season to get it done. Couturier wanted to stay, the Flyers wanted to keep Couturier, no point in waiting around to make a deal. Couturier is still going to provide terrific value for what he is for a majority of this contract I’d say. 7.750 at age 36 and 37 might be tough but I’d say it’s a good deal for the Flyers and I hope we see Couturier as a Flyer for his entire career.

Overall I think this was a successful offseason for the Flyers. Added the much needed number 1 defenseman, bottom 6 depth is much improved from last year, and the Atkinson deal can improve the scoring and added speed up front. Now we just have to wait and see how it all works out on the ice.

As always the stats I use come from https://www.naturalstattrick.com