Five Issues the Flyers New Leadership Must Address

The Flyers have officially ended the Chuck Fletcher era by naming former Flyers winger Keith Jones as team president and cementing Danny Briere’s role, removing the interim tag from his General Manager title. It has been reported that Jones was vying with Eddie Olczyk for the position of team president.

The selection of Jones over Olczyk would seem to be a nod towards the franchise’s past identity of a hard-nosed hockey team, which will restore hope to Flyers fans who saw the team becoming less of a sports team and more of a click bait marketing campaign for the spirit of the age which would be more in line with the media hungry Olczyk.

With the leadership team now in place, they should be free to address issues that have plagued the organization during Fletcher’s rule.

The Flyers Must Be Honest with Themselves

The Flyers, like the rest of us, are operating in a post truth environment.  Be it “two weeks to stop the spread”, “inflation is transitory”,  “it is safe and effective” or “the banking system is stable”, consumers of information are lied to on a daily basis. While sad, society has adjusted for the most part and count on being lied to.  It is already factored into the equation. The Flyers were no different, insisting that a very flawed team was on the cusp of cup contention. History has shown that view to be far from accurate. While not quite on the level of Russian disinformation, Comcast wants maximum interest in the team, and it is not shocking that they might say anything to mislead us. The real question is were they misleading themselves?

Under the Scott/Fletcher regime, I believe Dave Scott truly thought that the Flyers were close to a contender. Be it words from Hextall, the state of the prospect pipeline, Scott was optimistic. Scott was a comcast corporate man, but also had a deep loyalty to Mr. Ed Snider. I believe Scott was looking to get one last cup for the departed Snider. It is hard to fault him, this was some one following his heart to the point that maybe it clouded his judgement.

I also believe that Chuck Fletcher did nothing to dispel that notion, and likely reinforced Scott’s belief in order to get the job. Fletcher made bad, wild gambles, mortgaging the future to make them.  Fletcher knew that the team was not close to contention, as evident by the panicked, illogical,  shoot the moon style bets he made. He went along with the lie, promoted it to make sure his paycheck kept coming.

The Flyers era of self-deception must end. There are several challenges the Flyers must address, but the organization has to admit that the challenges exist.  Jones and Briere have to understand and accept that the team is no where close to contending, and won’t be until there are solutions for structural roster problems, some of which have long contracts.  It will take a sustained dose of  sober truth to get this team back on the right track.

While Briere has been wise not to put a timeline on a rebuild, the team is undoubtedly in need of one.  There must be a cohesive plan, which will have a time line as a byproduct, but it all must start with an honest assessment of the team. Without that, it is just a waste of time and resources.

The Flyers have dedicated 28 million dollars of cap space to six defensemen, five of whom may actually suit up. By contrast the Bruins spent 30 million on eight defensemen and their unit gave up the fewest amount of goals this past season. The Panthers (with Radko Gudas) spent 20 million, the Hurricanes (with Ghost) spent 27 million. The Flyers have built a terrible defense and it must be addressed if the team is to vastly improve. But it does not appear they can perform major surgery any time soon.

The Tony DeAngelo trade and signing has not proved to be very fruitful, but he is in the last year of his contract and could fetch something at the 2024 trade deadline, if not sooner. This chapter could be closed in the near future with few negative long term ramifications.

Ryan Ellis, and his contract are an issue.  It is unlikely Ellis is going to return to the ice.  It is amazing to think that Nolan Patrick has played more games since the trade than Ellis.  Ellis is unlikely to retire, but his insured contract is an asset for teams that are trying to save money. Teams near the minimum may be willing to take Ellis and his contract to stay above the cap floor, while recouping some of the money via insurance. I would be calling Arizona and Buffalo to try to offload Ellis with the Flyers grabbing some picks in return. The cap saving for the Flyers would allow them to act as dumping ground for bad contracts.

There will not be much support from the youngsters like Ronnie Attard or Emil Andrae. While Cam York fared well statistically this season when on the top pairing with Provorov, he was a -9 in goal differential. Most players in the league struggle against the league’s stars, and York is no different, but it reinforces the view that York, as of now, is average at best and not likely to carry the defensive corps to elite status by himself.

The heart of the issue is the Ristolainen/Sanheim pairing and contracts. To be fair, Risto and Sanheim did not have terrible statistical seasons, in fact Ristolainen had one of his better seasons in 2023, but the numbers were middling at best. Sanheim and Ristolainen are not a shut down pairing or any kind of offensive threat from the blue line. They are below average second pairing that will consistently concede goals to their opponent’s top line.

Winning NHL teams do not utilize 11 million in cap space for that kind of performance. The Flyers do not get contract relief until 2027 when Ristolainen’s deal ends. Sanheim is signed until 2031. The length of the contracts have made a long term, structural roster problem, destroying the Flyers ability to move these players. Barring some drastic change, the Flyers are going to have a tough time until 2027.  While the team may want to avoid announcing it publicly, 2027 looks like a good place for the unofficial end of the rebuild.

If there is any kind of time line for the rebuild, the Flyers need to evaluate how their current roster fits into that future. For example, had the Flyers opted to rebuild at the 2021 trade deadline, it would have likely led to the departure of Laughton, Couturier, Giroux, Sanheim and taken the Ellis, Ristolainen, Gostisbehere and Voracek trades off the table.

In this alternate future the Flyers would be a lot closer to contending than they are now, especially if the Flyers looked to grab picks and prospects in return for the assets traded away. The Flyers will face a similar crossroads over the next few seasons, and they will have to be honest with themselves and make wiser decisions.

Under Fletcher’s leadership the Flyers went all in and opted to extend players like Laughton, Couturier and Sanheim, when they were at their peak value, rather than trade for assets that could be used to rebuild. These deals have been fiascos, really limiting the Flyers ability to significantly reshape the roster. On the team’s current trajectory, it would be madness to repeat the errors of the Fletcher era.

If 2027 is the end of the rebuild timeline, the organization will have to make decisions on Provorov, Konecny, Delauriers and Laughton. Each of these players have skills that team’s looking to make a cup run covet.  Would the Maple Leafs like a Provorov on the blueline? Could the Devils benefited from Delauriers’ grind and grind on their fourth line?  Would TK’s spirit and scoring have made the difference on a loaded Bruins team?  If Scott Laughton was playing in Colorado or Tampa, would either of those teams adavanced to the next round?  Each of these questions should be selling points for Briere over the next few seasons to move these players.

The Flyers should be listening to offers for players whose contracts expire in the next three seasons in order to jump start the rebuild. This will require the team to really work the market to pit teams against each other to increase what the Flyers can bring back in return. It will be a real test of Briere’s gamesmanship and will be vital to the team’s retooling. Further it will call for Briere to take a stategic long view at the hockey ecosystem. Are there teams that will be more deparate at different times? When acquiring assets like draft picks, are their drafts that are more favorable to the Flyers than other, or put another way does it make sense to stock picks for a weak draft?

Briere must be the architect of the plan, set the expectations, and then make contingency plans for when things fall off track. Not everyone can be like the Eagles on draft day, and with the dark clouds that have hovered over the Flyers for the last 30 years, it will be best to include a plan for when things go wrong.

Giroux wasted his prime in Philadelphia, and so will players like TK and Provorov. It is better for all parties if the Flyers trade these players, giving them a chance to play meaningful hockey and to extract value for the team .

Hart will be a restricted free agent after next season.  As of today, the Flyers’ have a decent goalie situation. Sandstrom, to me, looks every part of an NHL starter, and Ersson looks to be a capable back up. Hart is a couple years younger than Sandstrom, and is a proven NHL starter whose numbers have probably been hurt by playing for a bad team.  Extending Hart seems to be a no brainer given his relative youth and in todays game we see goalies can still be very effective and physically capable well into their thirties. But it is fair to ask what Hart will look like mentally after four seasons of  what is sure to be rocky rebuilding hockey?

If Hart is better for it, he could be the reliable backstop for an ascending Flyers team, like Connor Hellebuyck was in Winnipeg before the Laine trade.  Alternately, Hart could be completely shell shocked by that point, nothing more than an average goalie, whose psyche and confidence is permanently damaged from years of constant pressure. If Hart is permanently damaged from the rebuild, it would have made more sense to move him for peak value.

Unfortunately nothing is that easy when it comes to the Flyers and their goalies. Hart is the team’s first true number one keeper in over a decade. To make matters worse, if Hart was traded to a better situation (which is almost anywhere) he will likely record better numbers, which will make it appear the Flyers “gave up” on him too quickly.  Even if trading him was the “right” move it likely won’t look like it.

The Kraken look like a good fit for the young goalie, as Seattle is just south of Everett where Hart played his junior hockey. Would two firsts and a second-round pick be enough if Hart goes out west and has a Bobrovsky like career? To Flyers fans, probably not, but sacrificing Hart may give rocket fuel to the rebuild.

Fortunately for the new Flyers brain trust, none of the other questions are as difficult and historically loaded as what to do with Carter Hart. Even so, the Flyers will have to make difficult decisions to build contender. Only time will tell if Jones and company are up to the challenge.