Want a Flyers rebuild? I can’t blame you

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I have to admit that I’m a little tired of talking about tanking. Every win is seen as a disaster, a referendum on a franchise that has no idea what it’s doing. It’s taken as proof that this team hasn’t been relevant and won’t be, at least any time soon. Who has the energy to be so apoplectic about a midweek game in January?

The problem is that these people are right.

The Flyers are built to win now.

Go ahead, clean your pin remove your phone or computer. There is some truth in that. The team is actively capped. Only three teams have more committed money in their 2023-24 rosters. He improves to seven and eight the next two seasons, respectively. They really need a hockey messiah on an entry-level contract for any of these *gestures at CapFriendly* to make sense. Oh, and it looks like a hockey messiah might be available after this season in Connor Bedard.

But let’s get back to what we have and not what we want. Even if we assume that Ryan Ellis will never play again and the salary cap is gradually increasing, there just isn’t a whole lot of flexibility here. It’s going to take a long time to significantly change this list. We can admit there are downsides to large scale rebuilds and maybe there could be alternatives to building a competitor (I mean, those alternatives probably got us here, but I digress) , but this team doesn’t have the resources to accomplish any short-term turnaround. There are simply too many bad contracts on the books.

Let’s look at some of them. Here is a list of players Chuck Fletcher has signed or acquired with deals that have passed this season. I exclude contracts that only cover the RFA years. If the league offered unlimited amnesty buyouts, how many contracts would you want to keep?

Cam Atkinson Two Years Left, $5.875 Million AAV Gone

This one is tough. I don’t think he got that deal on the open market. Hes 33 and is out for the season with a neck injury. That said, he was productive last year and could be a leader in a rebuilding team.

Sean Couturier Seven Years Left, $7.75M AAV Gone

It’s sad to say, but the deal with Sean Couturier already looks like a disaster. Since signing that deal, Couturier has had two back surgeries, turned 30, and played 29 games. In all honesty, this is the worst scenario since the signing of the contract. That said, what was the rush? Is this a good deal? This deal was signed ahead of the 2021-22 campaign. The team was awful the previous season. If he hasn’t bounced back, do you really want to commit a lot of money to a player after bounty if that team doesn’t look close? Compare that to how Steve Yzerman is handling Dylan Larkin right now. Or what Vancouver thinks of the JT Miller deal. This is the first year of the Couturiers contract and it looks like it will be a long time before this team is good. The Flyers’ only recourse is to hope he recovers well and stays effective longer than most players.

Anthony DeAngelo One Year Left, $5 Million AAV Gone

Beyond the fact that DeAngelos’ presence is uncomfortable for part of the fanbase, he was brought in to revive Ivan Provorov and a moribund power play. Provorov now plays with Ristolainen and the team had the 30th-best power play before last night.

Nic Deslauriers Three years left, VA of $1.75M gone

The no-trade clause is killing me. Fletcher refuses to come up with plan B. Even if you want tenacity, there’s no reason to spend so many years on a replaceable skill set.

Ryan Ellis Four Years Left, $6.25 Million AAV Gone

At this point, the Flyers might be better off knowing that Ellis will just be on LTIR rather than freeing up space to accommodate him.

Joel Farabee Five Years Left, $5 Million AAV Keep

I want to have patience after the disc replacement surgery that Farabee had over the summer. After all, Jack Eichel wasn’t even JACK EICHEL last season. That said, it looks like the 22-year-old has hit a plateau. After scoring 20 goals in 55 games during the pandemic year, he has only eight to 39 this season. He shot 16.4% in that breakthrough year. Have the Flyers been duped? Anyway, he is young and there are advantages. They should bank on the former first-round pick to develop.

Kevin Hayes Three Years Left, $7.14 Million AAV Gone

The All-Star Flyers. While scoring at the best pace of his career, he’s been in John Tortorella’s niche and there are rumors of a real takeover this summer.

Travis Konecny ​​Two Years, $5.5 Million AAV Keep

Finally a good deal. He turns 26 in March and is having a career year with 40 points in 33 games. There could be a real conversation about what happens after this contract expires, but that’s for another day.

Scott Laughton Three years left, $3 million AAV Keep

The only player wearing a letter on his jersey. Laughton has been a consistent performer over the past few seasons and this deal is hardly holding the team back.

Ivan Provorov Two years left, $6.75 million AAV Keep

He never became the No. 1 defenseman the Flyers expected or paid for, but he’s a solid role player without a ton of warrants.

Rasmus Ristolainen Four Years Left, $5.1 Million AAV Gone

It seems pretty safe to say that after this season, Ristolainen will never have played in a team that finished better than sixth in their division in their 10-year career. I won’t even go into fancy statistics.

Travis Sanheim Eight Years Left, $6.25 Million AAV Gone

An offensive defender rarely used on the power play, Sanheim has been a good driver of five-on-five play on some pedestrian teams. That said, Sanheim was given the contract as a first-pair defender before getting the responsibilities. He could have been a crown jewel at the deadline this year if the Flyers had really committed to a long-term plan.

Nick Seeler One year remaining, $775,000 AAV Keep

I mean, sure, but did the team need two Justin Brauns this year? The Flyers really had no confidence they could find another Nick Seeler-level defenseman after Braun left this year? Hell, Seeler would probably be available.

I think I’m in the mood for Friday with grades because I only feel good with Konecny’s deal. What a nightmare. I can’t imagine teams would be willing to throw a life raft at the Flyers on many of these trades without withholding serious pay. Even so, the Flyers can only keep their salary on three contracts per season.

Sure, this is retrospective and perhaps somewhat unfair, but how many of those deals were signed or acquired after the nightmarish 2021 season? All except Hayes, Konecny ​​and Provorov. There was an argument that this team could reclaim the promise of the 2019-20 season, even though it was just as likely that the coin would land on the other side and, well, it did. Here we are, crowned with a bad list. Oh, and Carter Hart is due for an extension in 2024.

Of course, I am enthusiastic about Cutter Gauthier. But while he provided some validation to an easily questionable fifth pick, he’s still not being touted as a franchise savior. The Flyers didn’t even have a 2021 first-round pick. Tyson Foerster, the 2020 first-round pick, barely knocks the door in Lehigh Valley with 19 points in 30 games. There’s more to the prospect pool, but depth helps good teams stay good. The Flyers need the kind of talent that changes the direction of the franchise. It doesn’t exist here, or at least that’s what it seems right now.

The Flyers don’t have a particularly exciting core of young players coming up or the flexibility to add top guys from other teams. So what is the way out?

Game after game, summer after summer, it’s exhausting to hear about tanking. But I’m not making this speech against anyone but Chuck Fletcher. With this situation, how can we find another source of hope?

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