The trade deadline has come and gone once again. This was Fletcher’s fifth trade deadline as the Flyers General Manager. While he has completely changed the roster and core from what it was when he first got here, it hasn’t changed the way this team has played.
It does take some time to recreate a roster for it to become a successful one and we can see the ground work he laid out for the current Minnesota Wild team. If Fletcher can recreate here what he did there, then this team will be able to compete and contend for the cup for a long time.
While this season hasn’t exactly gone the way anybody from the top of the organization to the guy selling beer in the stands thought it would go, it happens. This team at one point had 10 NHL injuries alongside 18 AHL injuries. The prospects we were meant to see and the big guns we were supposed to have go off for bounce back years just didn’t get that chance.
Chuck Fletcher overall wants to bring a cup to Philly and is doing things the fan base aren’t fans of, but that isn’t quite a bad thing. The Flyers have been on the cusp of mediocrity for years under Hextall because of the rebuild hidden behind the one and off first round exits in the playoffs.
The biggest telling sign to me that Chuck Fletcher is taking full control over this roster and doing things the right way was by letting Gerry Mayhew get picked up on waivers. While Mayhew played hard, he is a 29 year old AHL journeyman. There is a reason he wasn’t in the NHL and it will possibly rear its ugly head in Anaheim.
Moving Justin Braun for a third rounder was a no brainer. While Braun has been one of best and most under rated defenseman on this roster, it is time to get younger and time to let Cam York get his playing time as a top pairing guy. Especially with the rumors of St. Louis being interested in Provorov and different stories coming out about how he has been in the locker room, I wouldn’t be surprised if Fletcher listens to calls when the season ends and could potentially move Provorov for a top end scorer.
Derick Brassard has been a player who has been brought in when a team was going to make a cup run usually. He has been a great depth guy in his career and played some really solid hockey here in Philly. Age catches up to us all eventually and the way he plays the game at 34 will cause injuries and he was just another casualty of the injury bug biting everyone in the Flyers rocker room. Moving him a for fourth round pick just adds more draft capital for this team to package for some talent in the offseason.
I think Chuck Fletcher has done what no other GM has been willing to do here in Philadelphia in a long time. Move pieces to get pieces. Hextall was attempting to rebuild this roster while being able to compete night in and night out, but he was unwilling to move any talent to get talent and to sign talent. His biggest signing has been JVR and we all know how that experiment has been going since he came back. Unless someone will take a 33-year-old making 7M a season, we will most likely have to deal with his lazy style of play for one more season.