State Of The Flyers

What to do? What to do? What to do? These thoughts have to be going through General Manager of the Flyers Chuck Fletcher’s mind night after night these past few months. Moreover, I’m pretty certain every Flyers fan and their mother is thinking the same thing now. The season is officially over. Chuck Fletcher and the Flyers are really building something special here, and the hope is a parade down Broad Street in the coming years.

The Flyers have to keep their game simple next season. They have to get off to faster starts, and it’s a must for a successful season. Yes, coming back from the pandemic was tough, and everyone knew it wasn’t going to be easy, however, every team was faced with the same situation. The Flyers need more muscle, sort of like what the Tampa Bay Lightning did last offseason, where they added bigger bodies to compete with the rest of the league.

Inconsistent

One thing that we have learned this past season is that the Flyers have remained an inconsistent hockey team in the playoffs. Some nights they started out great, and other times not so much. If it wasn’t for stellar Goaltending from Carter Hart and Brian Elliott I can only fathom how bad the Flyers would have been in the playoffs, especially to start games. It’s mind-boggling that year after year for the past eight seasons or so this very topic has to be discussed. How do the Flyers get off to faster starts? Why are they ill prepared to start the games? Who knows, right? However, the Flyers were 8-3 when they scored the first goal in the playoffs.

The Flyers scored 14 first period goals in 16 playoff games played, as compared to only allowing five first period goals. Great right? Not so much, the Flyers were bailed out on numerous occasions by Hart and Elliott until the Flyers were able to get their feet underneath them. Yes, this is what Goaltenders are supposed to do, but as a team goes deeper in the playoffs things begin to unravel a little more quickly, and that is what happened in the series against the Islanders.

For the last four to five years, maybe longer, the Flyers notoriously have come out flat, and behind the 8-ball in a lot of games. It appears they lack the urgency, and they play uninspired hockey for a period or two. This has resulted in them fighting for their playoff lives towards the tail end of the playoffs. Something has to give to fix the problem. The Flyers can ill afford being gassed at the end of the year next season. They are supposed to take the next step next season, so getting off to a fast start early in the year is critical for this young team.

Power Play

What more needs to be written about the inconsistencies with the man advantage. The Flyers cycle the puck well at times, but other times not so much. That is when the Power Play becomes predictable, especially with a Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier, Jake Voracek top unit. More often than not passes are going through Giroux or Voracek.

Teams are sensing the extra pass, thus picking off the pass and clearing the puck out of the zone with no problem. The Flyers Power Play finished the playoffs 4-52 with the man advantage good enough for a 7.6% success rate. This is simply not good enough, and it is an area of concern as General Manager said yesterday at exit interview day, “The power play showed the ability to score at times and obviously at times it didn’t,” Fletcher said, “It’s inconsistent. For these exact reasons, we’ll have to dive into that. I know we’ve made adjustments. We’ve made tactical adjustments. We moved people around. We switched sides that we operated off of, and we weren’t able to find a way to score in the playoffs. Obviously a lot of time and effort was put in. You also have to be careful, it’s a small sample size. It’s obviously a critical sample size. We really could have used some power play goals. Then again, you go back certain times this year, you can find ten, fifteen games, where we were clicking. Why that is? That’ll be one of the questions we have to answer and certainly we’ll look hard at.”

As the playoffs wear on it becomes tougher to score goals, so they had to take advantage of these Golden opportunities to score, and they did not thus the early playoff exit. There were many flaws with the PP to include zone entries, providing a net front presence, and the lack of movement behind the opposing netminders net. This has to improve next season.

Proposal

Fletcher proved last season that he is willing to trade a pick for exclusive negotiating rights. In this case Fletcher could trade a pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for rights to an RFA in Josh Anderson. Anderson is 26-years-old, and stands at 6’3 weighing 220 pounds. He would be a perfect player to provide a net front presence, shielding a Goaltenders eyes. James Van Riemsdyk was inconsistent in this area, so why not give Anderson a shot, or even Max Domi, we will get to that a bit later.

Top 6

The top 6 just didn’t produce as good as they should have on the stat sheet. Travis Konecny finished the playoffs with a goose egg for goals. He will tell you he had to play better, as he finished with just seven assists. Moreover, Giroux finished with eight points (1g,7a 16GP), Voracek nine points (4g,5a 16GP), Sean Couturier nine points (2g,7a 15GP), and Kevin Hayes 13 points (4g,9a).

There was production, but not enough. It was streaky and inconsistent. At times it appeared the top 6 didn’t touch the puck, as the Flyers struggled mightily against the New York Islanders with puck possession.

Alain Vigneault had to call out Hayes, Giroux, JvR, Couturier and Konecny at times throughout the playoffs even telling them at a press conference to put their “Big boy pants on.” It’s never good to get called out by your coach, but it appeared to boost them to a win the following game.

Nolan Patrick Update From Fletcher

“Nolan’s feeling better. He’s skating. He’s working out. He’s golfing. He’s living mostly a normal life. I think he’s made a lot of progress since March. Until we get him back and get him into a contact situation, it’s probably going to be hard to know exactly when he’ll be ready to go. He continues to improve. Yes, I’m counting on him playing at some point in 20-21. We don’t even know when we’re going to start the 20-21 season. Time is certainly on his side in that regard. He continues to make progress and I continue to be optimistic.”

To me this means that he is uncertain when Patrick will return, although he believes he will return for the 2020-21 season at some point. This DOES NOT mean he won’t be ready for Game 1, but with Patrick not being able to be cleared for contact from the Flyers yet, there may be some uncertainty if he will be ready for Game 1.

Proposal/Top Priorities This Offseason

According to Fletcher, there are four main priorities this offseason to include the Power Play, re-signing Brian Elliott, shoring up the bottom six, and adding a depth defenseman.

Fletcher indicated that he would start calling General Manager’s for trades and re-signing their current RFA’s (Philippe Myers, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Robert Hagg, and Nolan Patrick) next week. He said he would use the trade route to make improve this team, “I think we feel we can be cap compliant and bring back the players we want to bring back. But as I mentioned earlier, we’re going to be looking for opportunities too in the trade market if we can.” Assuming all the RFA’s re-sign Fletcher will only have approximately $1-2 million of cap space left to re-sign Elliott and possibly Tyler Pitlick.

NAK- $850,000-$900,000

Patrick- $925,000 for one year

Myers- 4-years $3.5 million per year

Hagg- $1.5-$2 million per year

There are two players that are likely to be dangled this off-season by Fletcher in Shayne Gostisbehere and James van Riemsdyk. He may be able to pull off a trade for one, and not the other. Ghost is the likeliest of the two to be moved. The problem herein lies the flat cap for the next few years. In order to trade JvR, Fletcher is likely to receive a player with the same salary in return. The good news is that player could be an offseason need as Fletcher indicated above with his blue print to the offseason. Here’s how Fletcher could move JvR:

Bobby Ryan- $7.25 million cap hit, and his contract runs until the end of 2021-22. Ryan also has a NMC so he would have to be protected in the upcoming expansion draft. His contract would also expire one year before JvR’s expires, and it could very well be like an RJ Umberger/Scott Hartnell type deal. Maybe Ryan could be dealt for JvR and a prospect/pick, as Ryan has a NMC.

Matt Dumba- $6.0 million cap hit, and his contract runs until the end of 2022-23. His NMC does not kick in until after the expansion draft, and Fletcher obviously has rich ties to Minnesota. Trade JvR, a prospect or two, possibly a pick (Sweetener for lesser salary) for Dumba.

Derek Stepan- $6.5 million contract that runs until the 2020-21. This deal could make sense if Fletcher throws in a sweetener or two for taking on JvR’s contract for two years after Stepan’s. This deal would have to include a high end prospect like Bobby Brink (In my opinion) for ridding JvR’s contract for two years. This would also solve a need at 3C for the Flyers until Patrick is ready to return (In case).

Kyle Connor- $7.14 million cap hit that runs through the 2025-26 season. Connor is young just 23-years-old, and plays for the Winnipeg Jets. This deal could make sense if a trade involves a high end prospect like Morgan Frost or Bobby Brink, multiple picks possibly. The hope is Connor would be able to help the struggling PP, as well.

These are just four possible options to move JvR, but Fletcher will have trouble to move him. The contract will likely have to be salary for salary, due to the flat cap for the next few years, and Fletcher has to keep in mind NMC’s or NTC’s with the upcoming expansion draft that will take place following the 2020-21 season.

Moving Ghost will be a lot easier for Fletcher. There are many teams on the NHL that are looking for a top four Defencemen, to which, Ghost could fill that role for a team in need. Teams like the Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Arizona Coyotes, Colorado Avalanche.

Ghost could be moved to Montreal for Max Domi and his rights, as Domi is an RFA ($3.25 million cap hit). Of course, Domi will look for a raise possibly in and around four million. Ghost’s cap hit is $4.5 million, so this trade makes sense. Domi would provide physicality, and fill a need at 3C until Patrick returns. Fletcher I’m sure would like to have a contract in place or a verbal agreement before the trade transpires, but this is a possibility.

Another player that Fletcher could target is Tyler Bozak from the St. Louis Blues. Is he rumored to be out no, but his $5 million cap hit makes him trade worthy. Many teams could be looking for defensive help so he may become an option.

Of course, the Maple Leafs have a plethora of Forwards that Fletcher could pluck from them in exchange for Ghost, and the Coyotes have young Forwards that could help the Flyers like Lawson Crouse or Clayton Keller. Are these players off limits? Possibly, but it’s worth a phone call.

The easiest move to make is Fletcher calling Dustin Byfuglien’s agent to see if he wants to play hockey. He would provide physicality, and give Fletcher the defensive depth he is looking for this offseason.

Yariv Wolok and I explained this on our podcast last night. You can check it out below if you so choose:

Hope For The Future In Carter Hart

Carter Hart entered the 2019-20 season with some unknowns. Some questions were how would this young netminder handle the rigors of a full NHL season, or would he get rattled enough to just give up during a game if the wheels start falling off the bus? Valid questions, but it turns out Carter had a great season at just the ripe age of 21 and 22-years-old.

Hart had some downs, however, his season was mainly filled with ups. He was able to rid of some bad habits with cutting down angles, and making himself bigger in the net after working tirelessly with Kim Dillabaugh. Hart was just spectacular for the most part in just his first full season for the Flyers. He posted a 24-13-3 record, with a 2.42 GAA (8th best in the league), and a .914 Save Percentage. What more could one expect from a then 21-year-old in just his first full season in the NHL. At home he was lights out accumulating a 20-3-2 record, 1.63 GAA, and a .943 Save Percentage. Simply put, Hart proved he was the franchise Goaltender the Flyers have needed since President Reagan was in office, and the proof is in the pudding. 

“Carter’s a very good young goaltender and he performed really well in the playoffs,” Fletcher said yesterday, “He performed well all year. I think at the beginning of the year, he struggled a little bit on the road, which I think is more of a fluke. Do I think there will be regression next year? No. He’ll probably have a more normal record on the road. He’s always played really well on the road at every level. If you look at what he’s been able to do, it’s a tough league for young players, never mind young goaltenders. He showed the ability to win games. He showed the ability to bounce back after tough performances, which you’re always looking for. Everybody is going to have tough nights from time to time. His ability to turn the page very quickly was impressive. Carter’s going to be a big part of it, as are a lot of our other young players. I think on the whole, you look back.”

This season was a successful one Flyers fans. Do not look for a major splash in free agency. There will be some minor tweaks, but do not look for a major change to the top 6 in particular.