The Ended Flyers Thread

[Squire]

And I was wrong.....the Flyers are trading the picks to Arizona. Not the other way around.

[bkeich]

Yea, sadly that seemed like a crazy good return.

Shame to see how this ended, as a rookie it really seemed like we had a future cornerstone player, but his defense never developed.

[zambonir]

Haha, I almost said, surely the Flyers are including a pick to balance it out. Ah well.

Arizona forfeited its first-rounder this year at #11 so I guess good job of Fletcher to find that sweet spot. The trade is for the cap space so now he has to use it well.

[phillychuck]

They barely have enough cap space to field a team. Their 2nd and third D-pairings are scary (for the Flyers).

They have really managed the cap poorly, and are not developing young players quickly enough, or in enough numbers, given how successful their drafts have looked over the last 5 years (at least at the time).

[zambonir]

I mean, I don't think it's that bad. But they desperately need a few break-out seasons from younger guys, as well as serious bounce-back from Hart. And they can't get the small moves (assuming they don't offload one of the high-$ forwards, small moves being it) wrong.

[phillychuck]

Vorachek and JVR are good enough players if you have enough younger, lower-salaried, productive guys on the roster in other places. They seriously need Frost or Allinson or York (especially) or Zamula to develop this season as NHL players. With how shallow the defense is, York and Zamula are crucial.

[Squire]

Flyers Trade D Robert Hagg, their 1st round pick tonight and their 2nd round pick in 2023 next year for D Rasmus Ristolainen.

I really miss Ron Hextall. Like a lot.

[zambonir]

I don't know - Hextall shouldn't have been fired and and the people running the franchise (basically combination of Comcast suits and the same old Holmgren/Clarke) remain terrible, but isn't the team's current conundrum ultimately due to contracts Hextall gave out, and Hextall picks who haven't worked out?

Ghost and Patrick wound up being like the Flyers' Kingery and Moniak.

[xogfog]

Ristolainen is an upgrade from Hagg and is a right hand shot to pair with Sanheim, Ellis is an upgrade from Myers and York will be an upgrade from Ghost if not from the start of the season, surely later in the season. I think more trades are coming. They have 8.4 million and have to give Hart and Sanheim new contracts. I still think Voracek will be moved and maybe Braun will be bought out or traded too.

[zambonir]

The two trades this week taken together are still pretty terrible though. An extremely high price to pay because of both the cap mess and Hagg/Myers/Ghost not being good enough. What will they have to give away to move Voracek, next year's first?

[bigegypt0417]

Seems the flyers are paying for the sins of the past...we have to hope they change the way they operate going forward.

[xogfog]

I'm still hoping a straight up trade for Tarasenko, my problem for your problem trade.

[flyers19rw]

They still need a goalie to go with Hart. No cap room so another deal is still out there.

[xogfog]

They still have Lyon, who would be cheap to retain, I've seen enough of Moose, would love Bernier if they could fit him under the cap. They also still have Sandstrom in the pipeline.

[zambonir]

I mean, the cap hits are close but Tarasenko is 29 with only two years left, Jake is 32 with three years left. Flyers would have to sweeten.

Cheap veteran back-up goalie I expect.

[bkeich]

Are the Flyers even going to act in the draft? Do we have any picks left?

These are some awful trades.

I could see trading away youth and draft picks to get over the top, but we aren’t even a playoff team. Is this the Phillies management running the team? Trying at all cost to build a .500 team

[flyers19rw]

I think that there are more moves coming, which concerns me. Fletcher just as much said that he was going to do a roster makeover during the summer. It looks as if that is so. If I were Voracek or JVR, I wouldn't take any long term leases in the Philly area.

[zambonir]

I could see trading away youth and draft picks to get over the top, but we aren’t even a playoff team. Is this the Phillies management running the team? Trying at all cost to build a .500 team

Well, a little different than the Phillies. They were a legit Cup contender in 2019-2020 (and a team not much better than the Flyers made the Final this year). Losing Niskanen and Hart's drop-off really hurt.

Similar to the Phillies in that the youth hasn't stepped up quite as hoped and it's kind of all-or-nothing with the current core. They could have gone another way and traded Giroux and Couturier, just like the Phillies could have not-resigned JT, or traded Wheeler or Nola.

[xogfog]

They were a playoff team the year before, last year was terrible after Niskanen retired, the defense was terrible and that affected Hart's play. I expect with the improved defense, Hart will be better. I expect Lindblom to build his strength back and return to a plus player. Frost should be on the team this year as either a 3c or 4c. Allison showed promise in a small sample size last year.

I think the Flyers have most of their picks left for this draft, they have traded away their 2022 2nd and 7th and their 2021 1st and their 2023 2nd.

[xogfog]

Well the guys at The Atlantic are killing the Flyers trade with F- and J grades, and they are down on Ristolainen as a player, but he was the Sabres top line defenseman playing 24 minutes a game on an absolute awful team. As a 2nd pairing guy playing less minutes on a better team, I believe his play will be above average. I think it's still an slight overpay, but there are no sure fire prospects where the Flyers would have drafted where they would have drafted with the picks they traded in the deal and received a 26 year old, legit NHL right hand shooting defenseman, I think the grades given where reactionary without much thought put into it.