Organizational Analysis: The Philadelphia Flyers
It was November 2018. The Philadelphia Flyers parted ways with team legend, Ron Hextall. His main problem? Sitting on his hands, being *too* patient. It can be tough to see how an abundance of patience is a weakness, but that was an easy task for the Flyers' front office. They wanted a man of action; they wanted a man to get the organization moving!
Well, the Flyers have certainly been moving lately...just not anywhere one could describe as "positively." The Flyers have been one of the worst teams in the NHL recently, but who's responsible? Well, it is probably the same guy who was in charge of the Minnesota Wild during their spell as "most boring club in the NHL." You guessed it, Chuck Fletcher.
During Fletcher's time as Flyers GM, he has made an abundance of unforced errors, lopsided trades (on the losing side), & bad organizational decisions that ultimately led to the departure of long-time star, captain, & fan favorite Claude Giroux. Just how bad has he performed?
Here's just some of the players/draft picks he traded away:
Cam Talbot
Ryan Hartman
Radko Gudas
Nic Aube-Kubel
Nolan Patrick
Robert Hagg
Anthony Stolarz
2021 1st Rd Pick (#14)
2022 2nd Rd Pick
And what came in return:
Matt Niskanen (retired)
Tyler Pitlick (in MTL)
Rasmus Ristonlainen (ext. 5y/$25.5M)
Yikes. Now this list is far from fully descriptive, but it ought to be enough to paint a clear picture: Fletcher is a huge part of why the Flyers stink right now. Ever wonder why Claude Giroux stated he'd only authorize a trade to one team? Simple really. Take the GMs leverage, force him to make a bad trade, ultimately ending in the GM being canned.
Now, I don't know for a fact that this was Giroux's line of thinking. But it is almost certainly what will follow.
The future is dim in Philly; what should the Flyers do?
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||