As fans, we need to stop accepting mediocrity and start expecting nothing less than a winning product. I am tired of the “will they or won’t they” narrative year in and year out. This team has talent, but it has always lacked one piece to the puzzle. It has always felt like the Flyers can never have a complete team From scoring to defense and having a franchise goalie all being tied together with a great coach just hasn’t happened.
This offseason gives you the chance to get the coach to bring it all together. After the coach, you can begin to get the talent and the pieces to complete this team and overall change the course of this franchise. If it all goes wrong, then they will continue to experience mediocrity year in and year out.
PLAYERS TO MOVE ON FROM
There are a few names that the Flyers need to part ways with this offseason whether it’s a trade or straight up not re-signing them. The names on the list will mainly be focused on those on the Flyers roster and not the Phantoms.
Keith Yandle
Talk about a player who stole money to basically be a pylon on the ice. Keith Yandle was brought in here to replace Shayne Gostisbehere as the offensive defenseman and power play quarterback for the second unit. Obviously, that was not the case. There was maybe five good games from Yandle this season and that was early on when he was partnered up with Justin Braun. Everyone expected this great player and didn’t realize just how much Yandle had declined.
While at the time it looked like a good deal because of how cheap they were able to sign Yandle for, it just didn’t work. His last good year was 2018-2019 where he had nine goals and 53 assists for 62 points. He was still a -17 that season.
From there, Yandle dropped from 45 points to 27 to this year’s atrocious 19. Scoring one goal and recording 18 assists for a guy who was known to be a better than average offensive defenseman in his career is a joke. With a -47 also, it just tells you all you need to know.
While this most likely was a player that Alain Vigneault wanted, it was another head scratcher alongside the Nate Thompson signing. The Flyers average age for the team jumped so significantly that it was a retirement home. They went from being one of the youngest teams in the NHL to one of the oldest and it was because of AV and his lack of trust in young talent.
With Yandle also having an Iron man streak, everyone knew the Flyers weren’t going to scratch him until he hit the record. Everyone also knew that he wouldn’t have kept that record for more than a season with Phil Kessel right on his tail. Everyone was up in arms and wanted him scratched early on and then flipped when they did. Keith Yandle will most likely retire because there is likely not a team looking to sign him.
The Flyers need to get younger and playing a Ronnie Attard, Cam York or Egor Zamula in his place this season would have been more beneficial to this team and the development of these young players. Granted Attard came at the end of the season, but there were other options in the farm system for a defenseman.
James van Riemsdyk
We were all really excited to have New Jersey native James van Riemsdyk back on the Flyers after his departure to the Maple Leafs all those years ago. We thought we were getting a 30 goal scorer. Turns out we may have been wrong. While many of us have our reservations regarding JVR, he was somewhat helpful to this team. Hextall clearly made this move to show he was trying, but it just was not the right fit for the Flyers or for JVR.
A guy like JVR is really only needed on the power play. During 5 on 5 play, if you aren’t consistently looking to get the puck in front or on net from the point, then really, he is useless. How can I put this in a nice way? Okay, a cone sitting in front of a defenseman in your own defensive zone would do more movement then JVR.
There have been rumors of Arizona looking and salivating over his contract. An expiring contract that helps keep them at a certain point for salary cap is nice. I would move JVR for pretty much anything at this point. Moving on from him opens up a big contract slot as well for cap space.
Nate Thompson
This was such a big question mark coming into the season. Of all the veteran players to grab, why Nate Thompson? The answer is simple, AV. This is one of AV’s favorite type of players who could not produce. While Thompson is great in the faceoff circle, the rest of his game has been very bad.
While the fourth line would win faceoffs when needed when he was on the ice, he completely took the wheels off of the wagon in the offensive zone and killed any energy the Flyers had going for them. If it wasn’t enough watching AV play him against the Habs in the bubble, it was worse when it was simply just his line and his fault for goals given up at crucial times.
It wasn’t enough that they had a ton of young talent who should have been given chances to make this team, but AV played him over guys like Morgan Frost, which should have been given more of chance.
At this point, if I never have to see him play in the Orange and Black ever again, it would be a beautiful start to this rebuild.
Morgan Frost
With being tossed between the Phantoms and Flyers so many times, you would think that Frosty the goalman would stick, but he never really did. When Hextall traded Brayden Schenn for Frost, he most likely believed that Frost could be a either a first or second line center. That clearly has not been the case.
While Frost has shown flashes of being an everyday NHLer, he has been too inconsistent and just never seems to be able to bring the same energy game in and game out. Regardless of who his linemates have been, Frost has been average at best.
I always had high hopes for Morgan Frost but in 77 games, he has only tallied seven goals and 16 assists. 5 of those goals and 11 assists came from this last season in 55 games. From what I have seen, the Flyers have other young talent who are ready to take a step.
Unless you are content with Frost being a fourth liner, it is just time to move on and get some capitol back for him. There are more than likely at least a few teams who would take Frost right now.
Ivan Provorov
This one really hurts to write. I have been Ivan Provorov’s biggest fan, alongside Travis Konecny, since they both came into the league. I personally have a signed jersey and puck. But when it is time to admit the truth, it hurts, but admitting it will set you free.
Ivan Provorov is nothing more than a mirror player. Provorov never really found footing on his own as a number one defensemen and it showed. Provorov played his best hockey when he was partnered up with Matt Niskanen. In the 19-20 season, Provorov played 69 games, scoring 13 goals and notching 23 assists with a +/- of 11. The year without a true number one partner, Provorov played 56 games, scoring seven goals and picking up 19 helpers with a +/- of 4.
This season, he got a really good partner in Ryan Ellis, but only for a few games before a nagging injury sidelined him most of the year. In 79 games, Provorov scored 9 goals and recorded 22 assists but had a career worst +/- of -20. The possession metrics are not in his favor either.
Now there have also been rumors that he has not been the greatest teammate this season. This all started after a media press conference where Provorov began to throw some teammates under the bus. Rumors began to swirl around the 25-year-old Russian native and none of the rumors were good.
The reports, never confirmed, suggested that Provorov was not understanding why people were writing negative comments about him. It was said that he felt as though he was playing like a number one man in the NHL and everyone else was slacking. It also rumored that he sought out negative comments on social media.
Whether this is true or not, the rumors also began to circle around him being on the trade block and that his most likely landing spot would be in St. Louis. After the deadline, when asked, Chuck Fletcher said that a lot of these trade dialogues were concluded due to team’s cap issues among other typical flat cap problems but expected the talks to resume at the start of the offseason.
If Provorov can get you an elite scoring winger, you need to make the move. It feels like a crossroads is coming at some point and the question will be who your guy is: Cam York or Ivan Provorov?