The Philadelphia Flyers General Manager met with the media Tuesday morning to discuss a wide variety of topics.
We’re already 46 games into the 2019-20 regular season and the Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in a decent spot just over half of the way into the year. At the time this was written, the Orange and Black possess the second Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference and are just two points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the first WC slot and four behind the New York Islanders for third in the Metropolitan Division. Philly’s lead in the WC race isn’t a substantial one, though, with teams like the Florida Panthers and Columbus Blue Jackets hot on their trail.
With the midway point of the year passed us and the 2020 All-Star festivities fast approaching, General Manager Chuck Fletcher decided to meet with the media to discuss his thoughts on the current state of the team. He touched on a couple of other subjects, too, saying some interesting things during the half-hour presser, which you can watch in its entirety here.
Kicking things off with the essential piece of information, Fletcher gave an update on centerman Nolan Patrick, stating that he still expects the young forward to play this season. The Flyers Team President did say that he was purely speculating here but said Patty’s skating harder during non-contact practices and progressing in his battle with a migraine disorder. There is still no timetable for his return, though. This is good news, in my opinion, as it’s nice to hear Patrick is at the very least making progress. However, the lack of a time frame is still concerning, especially with just 36 games left in the season.
Fletcher also talked about potential trades with the deadline coming next month and stated that he doesn’t think the Flyers are in a position to pursue an expensive rental on the market, which shouldn’t be surprising given the current cap situation. Be that as it may, Fletch did go on to say that he will look into other potential deals where he thinks the team can add a player who can help bolster the roster. If Patrick doesn’t return, I wouldn’t be surprised to see that player be a Bottom-6 center who boats two-way upside to aid the Flyers in scoring depth.
Lastly, Fletcher briefly touched on the currently injured Justin Braun and Shayne Gostisbehere, saying that Braun is ahead of schedule and could be back as early as Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings or Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ghost, on the other hand, had surgery today (Tuesday) and is still on the same three-week timetable. Getting Braun back early would be tremendous news for the Flyers, as they could use his defensive prowess to help tighten up in their own end.
Outside of what I mentioned above, it was a pretty run-of-the-mill conference from Fletcher. He believes Philadelphia is trending in the right direction, saying they’ve come a long way from where they were at this point last season. The longtime NHL GM also said the Flyers are far from perfect and that they’re in no way a finished product, all of which I agree with.