Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher Cutting Deadweight

With the Dale Weise trade on Saturday, GM Chuck Fletcher has continued to cut the deadweight from the Flyers roster. That’s led to some much better prospects getting into the lineup.

When the Philadelphia Flyers promoted Ron Hextall to general manager in May of 2014, it was expected that the former Flyers netminder would navigate the club out of a salary cap abyss while retooling the team to a younger roster. All-in-all, it’s easy to say that Hextall did a good job with the first part.

He was able to find a suiter for Vincent Lecavalier, offloaded Chris Pronger’s contract and figured out a defensive jamb rank as some of the biggest jobs Hextall was successful with. But while the now-fired GM was able to move on from players that were largely brought in before his command, he consistently held on to players that he brought to Philadelphia.

When current GM Chuck Fletcher took over the team, the roster was filled with players like Dale Weise and Jori Lehtera. Just over two months later, those two are gone and more are out the door as Fletcher moves on from the mistakes of the former regime.

Weise, who was signed by Hextall to a four-year deal, was traded on Saturday, after a demotion to the Phantoms, for a player who better fits into the team’s plan. Before James van Riemsdyk, Weise was Hextall’s biggest free agent signing. Unfortunately for all parties involved, the now-Canadien seemed lackadaisical most times on the ice before this season when he had a small resurgence.

Hextall did waive Weise before the 2018-19 season but did not demote him. Like most GMs in the league, it appeared that Hextall was afraid to admit his error and instead kept Weise as a 13th forward.

Also included in the Weise trade was Christian Folin, a serviceable defenseman who never fit into the long-term plans. But Fletcher wasn’t done there, also waiving Corban Knight Saturday, who made the team out of training camp this past September.

But the biggest holdover from the Hextall era that is finally gone is Lehtera. Although the Flyers acquired him as a salary dump to help acquire two first-round picks in the deal that sent Brayden Schenn to the St. Louis Blues, Hextall, and former coach Dave Hakstol treated the veteran like an integral part of the team.

Over 89 regular season games with the Flyers, Lehtera scored just 11 points and looked like the speed of the NHL game had long past him. Despite the lack of on-ice production in the Finn’s first season, Lehtera easily found himself on the roster this year.

And while it’s nice to be rid of the deadweight and salary that hasn’t brought much to the table, it’s even better to see the players that are getting shots with the veterans gone.

Phil Varone, a 28-year-old who was shaping up to be a career AHLer, has played 25 games this year, replacing and improving the fourth-line center spot that Lehtera held for so long. Defenseman Philippe Myers and winger Justin Bailey (acquired by Fletcher) were just recalled Saturday and Sunday, respectively — about a week after prospect Mikhail Vorobyev. And of course, Carter Hart has won over the starting job in net and ignited hope for the future.

Hextall did a great job of acquiring and developing most of that talent, but there was always the question of when he would hand the reins over to them. Two months after his dismissal, it’s probably fair to imagine that the players Fletcher has moved would still be here — and more importantly — the players that have joined the team wouldn’t.