Nolan Patrick’s return date is uncertain, and with Oskar Lindblom starting his fight against cancer they have created two big holes in the Flyers lineup. Not to mention Travis Konecny, Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl, and now Justin Braun have all missed games this year at one point or another due to injury. With these injuries, the Flyers’ Alain Vigneault has been forced to use current fourth-line players to fill in holes on the second and third lines: Although those players have played well, their replacements for the third and fourth lines have not.
These replacements, who have been called up from the teams AHL affiliate the Lehigh Valley Phantoms at various times when needed, have stats as follows.
| Position | Player | Games Played | Goals | Assists | Total Points | +/- |
| Center | Mikhail Vorobyov | 19 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -5 |
| Center | Morgan Frost | 18 | 2 | 5 | 7 | -4 |
| Wing | Carsen Twarynski | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -2 |
| Wing | Andy Andreoff | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | -2 |
| Wing | Nicholas Aube’-Kubel | 10 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -2 |
| Wing | David Kase | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 |
| Center | Connor Bunnaman | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Center | German Rubtsov | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 |
As you can see they are not really helping the team, with the exception of Morgan Frost- who will be something great in the future, but for right now just needs a little more time in the AHL to regain his confidence and develop his play further (which he should get from playing in the AHL All-Star Game for which he was selected this year). NAK is a good bottom 9 or 12 player, he’s just not the sniper the Flyers desperately need right now. The rest have reached their limits, and unfortunately calling up the next man in line is not working anymore. The Flyers have a noticeable gap in their prospect development. Guys like Carter Hart, Oskar Lindblom, Joel Farabee, Samuel Morin, Philippe Myers, Robert Hagg, and Travis Sanheim all have recently fought their way up from the AHL ranks to demand a spot on the NHL roster. Don’t fear though- the team is stacked at a few positions with prospect depth, mostly Defense and Goaltending. These young men are all coming up fast- some you may see on the Flyers’ or Phantoms’ roster as soon as next year.
| Defensemen | Goalies |
| Yegor Zamula | Kirill Ustimenko |
| Wyatte Wylie | Ivan Fedotov |
| Wyatt Kalynuk | Samuel Ersson |
| Cameron York | Alex Lyon |
| Adam Ginning | Felix Sandstrom |
| Ronald Attard | Roddy Ross |
| Mason Millman | Matej Tomek |
| John St. Ivany |
With that being said, If the Flyers really want to compete this year and maintain their chances to make the Stanley Cup playoffs like they say they want to, they must act fast to stop the leak in the dam. The team can ill afford to keep losing game after game on the road against teams that they are above in the standings. Now, does this mean I think that Chuck Fletcher should trade away every prospect, draft pick, and potential NHL level player (like former Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren did) to another teams General Manger for a player that is 30+, so they can have him for the rest of this year, and maybe next before he starts to lose his abilities and skill level? Only to have to do the same thing again next year? No, I don’t. What Fletcher should try to do is search the AHL ranks for players that could be a better call- up option or a potential replacement for Oskar Lindblom this year. A sure thing, if you will. Players that, for whatever reason, haven’t been called up yet to their NHL-level clubs to play on a consistent basis. The Flyers need something that they don’t have in their system: A SNIPER! A true threat to get his team a point every time he touches the ice. This would mean trading away a player from a position of extreme depth to acquire something the team doesn’t have in either Lehigh Valley, or in Philadelphia.
Owen Tippett of the Springfield Thunderbirds (the AHL affiliate to the Florida Panthers) is just that. A phenomenal talent, Tippett was drafted in the first round back in 2017 at 10th overall. At 6’1″ 216 pounds, Tippett has the size, and a shot most players in the NHL could only dream of having (A wrist shot that blows by goalies like it has been shot from a gun). In 38 games played in the AHL this year, Tippett has 14 Goals and 16 assists, for 30 points- all while being a +10 on the year. Tippett, a pure shooter, is buried by depth on the offensive first minded Panthers- a team that could benefit from a guy like Shayne Gostisbehere (a Floridian himself). Seeing that the team doesn’t have a lot past the first pairing of defense, the Panthers could use a Flyers defensive prospect as well. Someone who might bring defensive help in the future to their ten-million-dollar goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, seeing that the Panthers lack big name defensive prospects too. Tippett only gets paid 863K through the 2021-2022 season, so Fletcher may need to take back some dead salary player to make up the difference if an NHL player is dealt, but Tippett would be worth it.
Another player stuck in the AHL would be Nashville’s Eeli Tolvanen a first rounder from the 2017 draft, as well. Tolvanen is yet another player with an extremely quick release, while being deadly accurate too. Tolvanen too is a sniper that has yet to crack Nashville’s roster on a regular basis. Playing for the Predators in just three games in 2017-2018 and four games in 2018-2019, this young Finnish prodigy would be sure to net some much-needed goals in Philadelphia. Making just 894K through the 2020-2021 season, he would be a steal if we could entice Nashville’s GM to take from our stockpile of young talent.
Lastly, Dallas Stars prospect Jason Robertson would add some much-needed tallies to Flyers score sheet. With his elite level offense abilities, it’s tough to see why the Stars haven’t called him up from their AHL farm team. At 6’2″ 201 pounds, this young 20-year-old has NHL level size to pair with his offensive talents, and making just 795k until the end of the 2021-2022 the Flyers could easily fit him into the lineup. The Stars could use youth, and Robertson is not going to just be enough for the Stars. With names like Ben Bishop, Anton Khudobin, Roman Polak, Andrej Sekera, Alexander Radulov, Corey Perry, Joe Pavelski, and Jamie Benn all over the age of 30; These stars need youth, and they need it fast. They would benefit from a goaltending prospect/ defensive prospect or two, maybe even a draft pick to tie into the package.
Riddled with injuries and unexpected illnesses, the Flyers roster has taken some mighty big hits this year, and they won’t be able to sustain their current ranking with their available roster as the competition heats up closer to the playoffs. The help they have received from the Phantoms is not enough: A spark plug and much-needed offensive threat is necessary. These are some ideas for Fletcher to process moving forward. Whatever his decisions may be, the fact remains: If the Flyers want to compete this year they must act now before it is too late.
Photo Credit: Jose Moreno Photographer of the Philadelphia Inquirer
I agree, but I also think bringing up Frost, Strome and Radcliffe would be something that would spark this team as well. What do you have to lose?
Also, show some freaking passion from the bench when the team starts daydreaming during a game… Come on. Pathetic.
The other elephant in the room is the TEAM’s POOR PATHETIC Defensive strategy. It’s like they want the other team to take shots and cycle the puck.. WHY?
Deal Gostisbehere, fire the Defensive coach, and call up some TOUGH defense prospects from the Phantoms. If you watch the Hurricanes, THAT is the type of grit I expect from the Flyers… Brind’Amor pushes his players… Not treat them
with massages between games. Sadly, this team looks slow and weak.
Any arguing this point would only prove a typical “solving the symptom” and not the problem. Sick of this crap.
If this coach and GM do NOTHING after this horrible performance, then it’s clear they have no clue. The FLYERS upper management is to completely blame for this crap. Show us you care. Start yelling and demanding performance. If the players start acting up, trade them. This is YOUR team and they have the pleasure of working for an organization that WANTS to win!
Do we Flyer fans actually want Chuck Fletcher making ANY trades? NO! Look at Fletcher’s trade and drafting history in just the last year and it makes you wonder who or what picks he’ll give up next for a quick, temporary fix. Wayne Simmonds is a good example. Simmonds was a real bargaining chip, easily worth at least a low first round, or high second round draft pick. Fletcher go Ryan Hartman and a 4th. Hartman is gone, Then we have Justin Braun. Fletcher gave up two high draft pick for Braun, a 2nd and a 3rd. Braun is a free agent at the end of this year. Since Fletcher has already squandered all of the cap space Ron Hextall had created by spending it last summer, Braun will walk. The Flyers can’t afford him. The Flyers have as many as ten players coming up for new contracts at the end of this year and 2021 that need to be signed (Phil Myers, Travis Sanheim, Scott Laughton, Michael Raffl, Carter Hart, Nicholas Aube Kubel, Tyler Pitlick, Robert Hagg, Nolan Patrick, Mikhail Vorobeyev, and even Brian Elliott as a reasonably priced backup to Hart.). The reason why Ron Hextall created so much cap space in the first place, was to be able to draft great young players and KEEP them, not let them walk when their contracts were up. You can bet Fletcher now knows he blew the cap and has only one option. Start trading these prospects for aging, unwanted veterans. That would be a disaster.
The time to act is indeed NOW. Watching the Flyers’ games with a critical eye, I have identified what I think management should do:
1. Fire the defense coach, or threaten him with firing if he does not adopt a defense
that is not aggressive. Goal tending cannot cure a POOR defense.
2. Call up Defense players from the Phantoms. Whether or not they are
“Perfectly” ready is not how you improve. Just do it. At this point, what is there
to lose.
3. Call up Frost, Strome, and Radcliffe. Once again, they may not be perfectly
ready, but this team is SO Slow. I know the argument will be based on metrics,
but they don’t always point to ROOT cause. The veterans on this team are too
old.
4. Demote vorobyov.
5. Fire coach if these moves are not done. The way this team has played shows me
that it’s not Road VS Home, but lack of control of the team. No more days off
until the teamEARNS it. This, by the way is THEIR job. If they can’t do it, then it’s
time to cut bait – no more appeasement or worry that it may be too hard on
them – WAAAAA.. Look at the Hurricanes and how aggressive they are on
Defense. THat’s how teams beat the Flyers. This team does not have any
answer for the box in they get when they play teams that can defend. It’s time
for drastic change. I don’t want to squeak into the playoffs. I want the Flyers to
win the CUP (with confidence)! Anything else is a waste of time.
I posted a reply this morning. Do you ost replies?
Gregg,
I do, but I had to help my mom who broke her leg in July. She broke it in six spots I’m sorry about that
I am starting to think Gregg Lorenz is the only person here, who really understands some hockey, because i tend to think our team from GM”s point of view! And Lorenz is the only one who get”s it, because if i am critical in my comments, it”s just because i love our hockey team, and want to improve aspects, which are in my mind doable better! Because others just go to defensive mode, and start to criticize me from talking bad from our hockey team, and do not get that i love the Flyers, and that”s why i am critical! I just want some conversation, which has some deeper meaning, and not thous shallow comments back in which people is angry of me, because even if we are leading the league, i will still find things that we or our GM must do better!