Photo Credit: The Athletic
By now, most Philadelphia Flyers’ fans have concluded that this season is a lost cause. The only thing to look forward to now is the draft, seeing that no free agent is going to want to sign a deal with the likes of this troubled franchise, right? Well, not exactly. There are quite a few impressive players who are on the Flyers’ radar who could help this franchise as early as next year. Those players are known to this team because the Flyers drafted them already but have yet to sign them to an NHL entry level contract. That doesn’t mean that after signing these players they will all be immediately sent the team’s American Hockey League affiliate the Lehigh Valley Phantoms either. Most of the players highlighted in this article are not the stereotypical “baby-faced youth” coming to the team fresh out of the Canadian Junior leagues. These players are young men who have either battled their way through the physically demanding American collegiate ranks of the NCAA or have spent the past few seasons playing in other countries’ top professional leagues around the world. So, the learning curve (if any) for these players will be far less than that of some pimple-faced youth who are used to playing against 16 year old kids.
Ivan Fedotov
With that being said, let’s take a look at some of these aforementioned prospects who we could very well see as early as next season at the Wells Fargo Center. First up: Let’s start from the crease on out with a name that- after his recent showing at the Olympic Games- is now darn near a household name in the tri-state area. But if you have been reading my articles (or watching any of my pod cast (The Hockey Writers Ink)) for any length of time you’ll know that I’ve been telling you about his potential worth for YEARS now. That player is none other than then the 25-year-old 6’8 203 pound Russian netminder Ivan Fedotov, who the Flyers drafted with their seventh round pick (188th overall) way back in 2015. Since being drafted, Fedotov- like so many of the great NHL Russian netminders of today did before him, has been developing his skill set while playing in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). Ivan has spent parts of the past six seasons playing in the KHL and has been a dominant starter in the league for the last three seasons. This season has been no different; In 26 games played so far this season for the CSKA Moskva he has averaged a 2.00 goals against average (G.A.A.) and a .919 save percentage (SV%) and he has gone 14-10-2 with two shutouts thus far. Where some may have doubted or overlooked this gargantuan goalie’s stats before, they will no longer now that he just carried the Russian Olympic Committee team to a silver medal at this year’s winter Olympic Games. The ROC went 4-2-0 through six games played and Fedotov had a very impressive G.A.A. of 1.61 and an SV% of .943 largely due to his two shutout performances. Currently, Ivan possesses an expiring KHL contract at this season’s end and very well could prove to be an upgrade over the Flyers’ impending free agent goaltender Martin Jones. Yes, he is that good. All the Flyers have to do is offer him an enticing-enough contract that he will be willing to leave his home country for. Which, in his case, the standard entry-level contract of three years and $925,000 won’t be enough. He is already over the maximum age you can extend that kind of offer to, so the Flyers will need to offer him something in the same range that former KHL star (and fellow 2015 draft pick) netminder Ilya Samsonov of Washington gets paid ($2,000,000).
Doing this would instantly vault the Flyers’ goaltending tandem into conversations with some of the best in the league. All they would then need to do is build around them.
Ronnie Attard
…and what better way to do that than adding some defensive help in the form of the Flyers’ unsigned 2019 3rd round pick defenseman Ronnie Attard. This 22-year-old right-hand-shot blueliner who stands at 6’4 and weighs in at 209 pounds could potentially be one of the Flyers’ cheapest- yet most vital- signings of the off season. The reason for that is the Flyers defense, both in the NHL and in the minor leagues, has no real up incoming prospects on the right side. Cam York and Egor Zamula are nice pieces, but both play the left side. This gives Ronnie an excellent opportunity to come in on day one and make the big club given the fact that the team’s only two right-hand-shot defenders (Justin Braun and Rasmus Ristolainen) are both impending free agents and have each been rumored to possibly be moved come the trade deadline. What’s to like about Ronnie’s game? Well, he is a big-bodied defenseman who refuses to back down or retreat from the blueline, both in the offensive and defensive zones. A dual threat: Attard, who broke the all-time USHL scoring records by a defenseman for the Tri-City Storm before being drafted by the Flyers, has now spent the last few years developing his defensive game as well playing in the NCAA for the Western Michigan Broncos. There, he has managed a +32 average and totaled 25 goals and 40 assists for 65 points in 84 total games played there. This year alone he has been able to maintain a +14 average and accumulate 11 goals, 18 assists, and 30 points in 29 games played. Think about it: a defenseman who can not only score at a rate of over one point per game (P.P.G.) but also loves nothing more than to muscle the opposition off the puck with a nice board-rattling hit. Seems too good to be true, right? Well, I swear to you this is no mirage that some punch-drunk Flyers fans may be forced to fantasize about after this dreadful season their team is currently forcing them to endure. All Philadelphia has to do is convince Attard to forgo his senior year and become a professional by signing an entry-level contract.
Jay O’Brien
Moving on to the forward positions now: the Flyers currently have quite the promising young center prospect who needs a contract. His name is Jay O’Brien, a 6’0 185 pound center who the Flyers drafted back in 2018 with their second selection of the first round that year (the other being Joel Farabee). O’Brien, who is now 22-years-old, has been on a roll the past couple of years. Initially, he had a rocky start to his collegiate career with Providence College, where acquiring multiple injuries during his time there was the least of his worries. Since then, he has bulked up and managed to not only rediscover his game while playing for the British Columbia Hockey League’s (BCHL) Penticton Vee’s back in the ‘19- ‘20 season but add to it. He scored at a rate of 1.43 P.P.G. on the season netting 25 goals and 41 assists for 66 points in just 46 games played. After finding his game up there he returned home to Massachusetts to play for Boston University, where over the last two seasons he has been able to average over a point per game for the Terriers. Recently, he even helped to solidify BU’s hometown dominance by winning the coveted Beanpot (an annual tournament between the four major Boston area colleges- BU, Boston College, Harvard, and Northeastern). Signing Jay to an entry-level deal would not only alleviate the pressure of the struggling Morgan Frost but could offer the Flyers an inexpensive option to replace the aging, impending free agents Derick Brassard and Nate Thompson. O’Brien could prove to fight for a spot on the Flyers’ roster out of camp if signed and even if he didn’t make it could prove to be a valuable call-up option from the Phantoms when injuries occur.
Bobby Brink
After finding a potential center to sign in the off season, we now look to find some help on the wing. What better way to do that than inking the NCAA’s current point leader Bobby Brink? Brink was drafted by the Flyers in 2019 in the 2nd round with the 34th overall selection. He now is 20 years old and has developed into quite the sneaky point producer. While he may be a setup man by trade (as made evident by him also being the NCAA’s top assist leader), don’t think that he can’t score. This diminutive forward- who stands at just 5’9- can somehow disappear when he does not have the puck on his stick only to reappear later in the play somehow behind the other team’s defense right by the mouth of the goal for an easy tip in. Brink and his 1.63 P.P.G. average has nothing else to prove at the collegiate level with him scoring 13 goals and 36 assists for 49 points in 30 games played this year, and his game would only continue to grow if he does decide to sign a contract and turn pro. Brink being a right winger could make an immediate impact by adding back in the offense lost when the often-injured Wade Allison is out of the lineup. Getting that taste of the NHL would drive Bobby to work even harder if he is sent back down to the Phantoms at times next season and he should prove to be one of the first players called back up whenever the next set of injuries arise.
All of these above-mentioned players stand a real shot at not only making the Flyers’ opening night roster if signed but being key contributors to their success moving forward. The Flyers must get out of the stone age and realize that if they want to compete, they have to stop signing the dinosaurs of the league and fill their roster with youthful, talented players who can win puck battles and make the plays necessary to help win games once they do. The best teams in the league are constructed largely from their own draft picks and the Flyers should be no different. While they are not always able to hit with their early round draft picks, they have had better results in the later rounds. The only difference is they, unlike other successful teams, won’t give their promising youth a real chance. Signing these above-mentioned prospects to help fill out the roster would not help to avoid taking up as much cap space as a veteran depth signing who is well past his prime might. But it would leave the team with more cap space to go out and secure one of the more talented players available this summer to better the top six. A win-win all around.
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