Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher speaks during the end of the season press conference at the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees Township, N.J. on Tuesday, May 3, 2022. The Flyers, 25-46-11 overall, finished last in the Metropolitan division and missed out on the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
Photo Credit: Zack Hill
Chuck Fletcher was the easiest move to make in terms of firing. He accumulated a record of 141-144-52 as General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, when he began his tenure on December 3, 2018. It’s just not good enough for a General Manager that was marred by tons of injuries, Covid, just being unlucky, and not being creative enough to add high-end talent. In the same token, he wasn’t creative enough with trades to acquire top-end talent, rather he used cheaper Band-Aids to stop the bleeding.
Flyers fans deserved better, and they can be thanked for the ousting of Fletcher earlier than expected. As I stated in a previous article earlier in the week, it was very unlikely Fletcher was going to make it unscathed after a dismal trade deadline. This move comes earlier than expected, and that is mainly due to not only the lackluster trade deadline, but persistent Flyers fans being very unhappy and expressing their thoughts at the Town Hall last weekend, to include a protest that is scheduled for today in terms of “Firing Fletcher and Selling the team.”
Dave Scott wants to know that they are listening, thus this led to the ousting of Fletcher 17 games before the season ends, “Over the past several seasons, our team simply has not lived up to that standard, so today, we will begin to chart a new path forward under a new leadership structure for Hockey Operations,” Flyers governor Dave Scott said in a statement yesterday. “This morning, we released Chuck Fletcher from his President and General Manager responsibilities. We are grateful for his hard work and dedication to this organization, and we wish him nothing but the best moving forward.”
“In the coming days, we will begin the process of re-structuring our Hockey Operations Department by separating the President and General Manager positions,” Scott continued to say. “We view this as a critical opportunity to not only re-establish the standard of excellence that our fans expect, but also to bring new energy, accountability, and strategic vision to our organization.”
Now part of that statement indicates there will be more changes for the Hockey Operations Department, which will finally separate the President and General Manager roles. Danny Briere was tabbed as the Interim General Manager, and he could very well be an option for either of these positions.
The Flyers think very highly of Briere, and will continue to groom him. Under the General Manager role one continues to serve as the immediate supervisor and decision maker for player personnel, whereas the President serves as more of an advisory role that entails crunching numbers, on the road scouting, and lastly to be in front of the media to sell a message. Briere served as the General Manager of the Maine Mariners in the ECHL, and then he became President of the Mariners before being promoted to Philadelphia. The Mariners are owned by Comcast Spectacor, but became officially affiliated with the Boston Bruins in 2021. It only makes sense that he might be involved with either or of these positions, and if he doesn’t get either of these jobs then he will definitely be moved into another role in the executive department.
“Flyers fans deserve a better team than what they’ve seen on the ice over the past few seasons, and a clear plan to return this team to Stanley Cup contention. We know that this will be a multi-year process, and we are committed to doing it right, because we want to put this franchise on a path toward winning the Stanley Cup, period.” – Dave Scott
The statement above is Scott finally admitting that the Flyers are in some sort of a rebuild. Yes, the exact wording wasn’t there, but the words or verbiages are there indicating such.
More Dominoes Fall
The buck won’t just stop there. There are four senior advisors for the Flyers: Dean Lombardi, Bobby Clarke, Paul Holmgren, and Bill Barber. It’s been widely reported, and I have been told that Fletcher would consult with these advisors before making some decisions. There are just “Too many hands in the cookie jar.” Unfortunately, as in life, the more people you involve or take advice in situations, the worse it can be in most cases. It appears Fletcher became somewhat of a yes man, and unfortunately he was a puppet for the trade deadline, the town hall meeting, and taking heat throughout the fallout of the trade deadline. What this did was buy him time to continue being the President and General Manager of this Hockey club. He did everything he was told to do. Unfortunately, this limited his creativityness, and ultimately he was giving his final fate. I received credible information that he was supposed to be dismissed in December, thus I wrote that in my mail bags in December, but the team started to win and things changed from there.
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On Friday March 3, 2023, while being present for Chuck Fletcher’s trade deadline presser, Barber was seen leaving the Flyers Training Center in Voorhees, NJ shortly there after 3:00 pm. Immediately, I knew the Flyers did not have a trade in the works, with a pending trade call to the league. I do not know who is the final shot caller, or even if that was Fletcher in most cases, but Fletcher would indeed meet with these voices for advice on how to proceed forward. The trade deadline would have been no different as all advisors presumably were present in the “War” Room.” If one can remember former General Manager Ron Hextall took heat for barring some of the Aumni from being directly around his team in such a way, and one can ponder if this is one of those reasons why.
I can confirm that more changes will come within the Flyers Hockey Operations Department. The Flyers appear to be restructuring that with no timeline. It will not happen today, it may not happen tomorrow, but it will happen sooner rather than later.
There are rumors of Eric Lindros, Chris Pronger, and Eddie Olscyzk taking over a role in the Hockey Ops Department. They could just be senior advisors to the President, or maybe possible candidates for even the General Manager position.
Other candidates for the General Manager position could be Ray Shero, Ray Whitney, Eric Tulsky (Carolina Hurricanes org.), Jason Karmanos (Buffalo Sabres org.), and John Ferguson Jr. Maybe Kyle Dubas will factor into the equation if the Toronto Maple Leafs sustain a short-lived post season.
What the Flyers need is experience, and that is why I’m hesitant in terms of leaning towards Danny Briere to be the 10th General Manager for the Flyers. This organization has no clear path or light at the end of the tunnel as we speak. The team is flooded with long-term contracts, and this is no task for an inexperienced General Manager in my opinion.
What would be wild for this organization would be the tab Dean Lombardi as the next President of the Flyers. Dave Scott indicated above that he wants the team to get back into Stanley Cup contention, and eventually win the Stanley Cup. Lombardi would bring a winning pedigree with being a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings, and to me Scott was speaking directly to him during his press release. Obviously, Lombardi would have to want the position, but I was always curious as to why he wanted to come to the Flyers organization when he was initially tabbed as a senior advisor.
Other possible President candidates could be Lombardi, Laurence Gilman, Chris Pronger (Who was a senior advisor to the President for the Florida Panthers), Danny Briere. Maybe the Flyers could pry away Jim Rutherford from the Vancouver Canucks given their situation or Lou Lamiorello from the New York Islanders if they don’t have an extended playoff run. Who knows maybe Martin Brodeur wants to be given shot as President, as he currently serves as the vice president for the New Jersey Devils. Other names that could be included for this position could be not only the rumored means stronger, but Eddie Olscyk and Eric Lindros.
It has become clear that Scott will lead the hiring of the Hockey Operations Department, but as it has been widely reported by a good reporter Anthony SanFilippo of Crossing Broad, I’m hearing the same thing as him that Scott is likely to retire at the end of the season or shortly thereafter. So this remains to be seen.
Whatever the case may be the Flyers will certainly be busy between now and the end of the season, but the firing of truck Fletcher offers the Flyers a month and a half before the season ends to get a step up on other organizations who may dismiss their GM’S and/or President’s when the season concludes.
I want to give a personal shout out to Anthony DiMarco of the Fourth Period, you did a great job in reporting on the Flyers influx in the front office.
