How the Philadelphia Flyers Failed to Build a Future
After their brutal 6-3 loss to the Detroit Red Wings at the Wells Fargo Center, fans have been calling for serious changes to be made in Philadelphia before the NHL’s trade deadline on March 21st. Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher, who replaced former GM Ron Hextall back in December of 2018, has only dug deeper into the hole that Hextall had started before him. Now that Flyers legend Daniel Briere has officially been named the club’s assistant to the general manager, Fletcher could be relieved of his duties sooner than expected, much like his predecessor.
So what can the Philadelphia Flyers do to change the course of the club? Well, they could begin with their constant misuse of the NHL Entry Draft and their prospects– but more specifically, their first-round draft picks over the years. Hextall started his first NHL Drafts fairly well. He selected defenseman Travis Sanheim in the first round of the 2014 Draft. In the 2015 NHL Draft, Hextall used his two first-round selections to draft Ivan Provorov seventh overall, followed by Travis Konecny with the 24th overall pick. All three players are still crucial to the team’s core, but it begins to snowball from there.
Between the 2016 and 2017 NHL Entry Drafts, Hextall had a total of three first-round selections to work with. In 2016, he drafted Russian center German Rubtsov with the 22nd overall pick. In 2017, Hextall made the odd choice of drafting two more centers with the second and 27th overall picks that year: Nolan Patrick and Morgan Frost. All three forwards remain off the main roster. Patrick received the most playing time in the NHL out of the three before being traded in a three-team deal that brought defenseman Ryan Ellis to Philadelphia: a trade that is yet to pay off for any of the teams involved.
It’s astonishing how Hextall drafted Patrick when Cale Makar was still available on the board. Now, Patrick isn’t even a Flyer and Makar is using the 2021-22 season to establish himself as the Norris Trophy favorite.
Ron Hextall’s final draft for Philadelphia took place in 2018, where the Flyers had two first-round draft picks, once again. They selected winger Joel Farabee 14th overall, and another center in Jay O’Brien with their 19th overall pick. Over the years of his rookie contract, Farabee has solidified himself as a core piece in the team’s rebuild. O’Brien, on the other hand, is currently still playing NCAA men’s ice hockey for Boston University and hasn’t made a single appearance for any team affiliated with the Flyers organization.
Despite the fact that Chuck Fletcher has served as Flyers GM for three different NHL Entry Drafts now, he’s only used two first-round draft picks and traded the other. Fletcher and the Flyers selected defenseman Cam York in 2019 and forward Tyson Foerster in 2020. Selected 14th overall, York only played a total of three games for the Flyers during the 2020-21 NHL season before finally get a chance to shine this season due to Philadelphia’s injuries and poor play at the blue line.
Even though the rookie has been better than about half of the Flyers’ other defensemen, York–along with Morgan Frost–were sent back down to the AHL during the NHL’s All-Star break. No updates have been released on whether either player will returning to the NHL anytime soon. York has earned a spot as a top six defender in Philadelphia right now and Frost absolutely deserves a spot as a winger somewhere in the middle six of the offensive depth chart.
Foerster has yet to receive a call-up to the NHL, though he is unlikely to return after shoulder surgery. Two other players in Lehigh Valley who should be playing on the Flyers by now, especially when considering the level of injuries that Philadelphia has had to deal with, are defenseman Egor Zamula and winger Linus Sandin. Both are undrafted European players having quality seasons in the AHL. Zamula, a Russian listed at 6’3” and 177 pounds, has three goals and 12 assists to combine for 15 points in 33 games played. Sandin, a 6’1” Swedish player who weighs in at 209 pounds, has scored six goals and seven assists in his 20 games played for the Phantoms this year.
It is also worth mentioning that Fletcher traded away the Flyers’ 2021 14th overall pick, Robert Hagg, and a second-round pick to receive Rasmus Ristolainen in return. Ristolainen is a physical big-bodied, shot-blocking defenseman whose contract expires at the end of the season. He has not given even the slightest impression that he wishes to remain in Philadelphia.
Oh, and in case you forgot, Fletcher also gave fan-favorite defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to the Arizona Coyotes along with 2022 second-round and seventh-round picks. Fletcher claims the deal needed to be done to avoid cap trouble, but the Flyers still find themselves struggling with cap space this season anyway. Philadelphia is certainly missing Gostisbehere’s presence on the blue line and the team’s power play unit. He’s recorded eight goals and 20 assists through 47 games played in Arizona thus far.
The Philadelphia Flyers are ignoring their best young players and their deepest issues within the club’s ownership and front office. Hopefully, Briere’s position is a sign of the culture changing here on Broad Street. For now, owner(s) Comcast Spectacor expect fans to be happy with the fact that most of the team’s season ticket packages won’t have price increases next season while we, as fans, still have to suffer through all of the mess created by Ron Hextall and Chuck Fletcher.
At least we still have Gritty.