First, the Flyers will play with the core they have. Fletcher and Scott have the players they want, it would be fair to give them a chance to play together and hope for a season of relative health. This approach would require that the Flyers can’t trade for veterans to enhance this core. The team can’t withstand another trade where they lose two players and four draft picks for players like Rasmus Ristolainen.
The team will sink or swim with the mix of veterans and youth they have now. Though more of an imperative than a choice it would seem fair to give Fletcher’s team another chance with healthy players. Moving players with these wretched contracts under Fletcher’s watch may leave the draft pick cupboard completely empty.
The Flyers will need to keep Couturier, Ellis, Ristolainen and Hayes for the next three seasons. It would make little sense to make a deal similar to the Gostisbehere trade to clear cap space, not that his deal made any sense. Fine tuning will not make the difference on this team, the franchise must adopt a long-term view like Hextall had.
Selling the head coaching job for the Flyers will not be easy, since there will be little help coming in the way of better players. Further, there will need to be an understanding with the new coach that this team will be given a brief window to prove they can compete. This evaluation needs to be done quickly, if the Flyers are floundering, out of a playoff spot, by December it would be time to shift focus from winning this year to rebuilding as quickly as possible. That will require a change in the coaching staffs’ approach.
The top priority then becomes making expiring assets as attractive as possible to other teams. This means JVR and Sanheim will need to get heavy minutes and a lot of PP1 time, even though it will not necessarily translate to wins. It is a beauty pageant for assets you hope to unload at the trade deadline. The new head coach needs to understand this and buy into program, which is much easier said than done. Once the fire sale is complete, the team must focus on developing its’ youngsters, which means the kids will need ice time.
Speaking of the trade deadline, someone else needs to negotiate the trades. Maybe Briere, perhaps another unknown person, just not Chuck Fletcher. He is constantly getting the short end of the stick in trades and the team must stop hemorrhaging assets, immediately. The Flyers must start maximizing value of all their assets. They need to take the best deals they can, even if it is in the division or if it means helping a mortal enemy.
Focusing on the future is probably the best the team can do over this next season and while it does not get the team out of the hole, it takes away the front offices’ shovel and should prevent them from digging it any deeper. The following offseason, the Flyers will have $11 million in cap space cleared minus the Sanheim and JVR contracts. This gives the team a chance to reload, or continue the rebuild by taking unwanted contracts for prospects or picks.
It is pretty clear that this team will struggle to be competitive for a few seasons, and the fans will not be happy. This time, perhaps, the Flyers and their fans will learn that some things can’t be rushed.