In 2014, when Ron Hextall took over the GM position of the Philadelphia Flyers, most Philadelphia fans believed the Flyers were about to be really good. My most optimistic belief was that the Flyers would be the next dynasty, three cups in the next five years, led back to the promised land by one of our most legendary figures. That five-year window is about to close and the Flyers haven’t even made it past the first round of the playoffs, let alone three Stanley Cup runs.
The regime that was supposed to lead us to a Cup, made us the most frustratingly average team possible, and now they’re gone. So, what are we left with?
We have the league’s most underrated superstar in Claude Giroux. We have a legitimate Selke contender on a team-friendly deal in Sean Couturier, a young offensive threat in Travis Konecny, and Carter Hart is only at the beginning of what looks to be a promising career.
So how did the Flyers, with a new front office and a new organizational attitude, move on from Hextall’s “patient” tenure?
We have the most experienced coaching staff in the league right now (for better or worse, we’ll see). Chuck Fletcher’s approach to the team seems to be getting as much winning experience into the organization as possible, and that starts with the coaches. Alain Vigneault is a former Jack Adams award winner and has lead two teams to appearances in the Stanley Cup Finals. To supplement the head coach, Fletcher brought in a few more head coaches, former St. Louis Blues coach Mike Yeo and former Montreal Canadiens coach Michel Therrien. Both come with concerns and winning records (And Therrien led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2008).
Fletcher hasn’t been shy about improving the roster either, adding top-four defensemen in Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun. The additions of defensive players from teams who have a recent history of regular, deep playoff runs showed Fletcher’s desire to add veteran players who can add more than just a likable locker room presence. These are skilled defensemen who have been well-liked parts of winning teams who can lead the young crop of defenders much better than players like Andrew MacDonald could.
Fletcher also added much-needed center depth by acquiring Kevin Hayes from the Winnipeg Jets. Especially with the Flyers pre-season injuries to Nolan Patrick and Morgan Frost, the addition of Hayes may be the most important move made this summer.
It’s hard to look at the Flyers improvements on their own though, The Metro division became a thunder dome and other teams made just as many big moves as we did, if not more. Analysts looked at our additions and laughed. Panarin went to the Rangers (fuck). The Devils called on Taylor Hall’s lottery ball magic to grab Jack Hughes 1st overall, added P.K. Subban and Wayne Simmonds (double fuck). And the Penguins still exist with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
We got shafted on the pre-season power rankings, being left out of the “super 16” by all but 2 writers (those 2 had us at 15 and 16) because people aren’t ready to believe everything will come together for us this season. We’ve had too many years being completely mediocre and people (and fans) need time to get used to a successful Flyers team. So far, not a lot has gone right. The pre-season went bad, we lost a few players to injury and the cap situation forced us to cut some promising prospects to start the season. We’re the underdogs, and that’s where Philly fans love to be, counted out. But don’t sleep on the 2019-20 Flyers, they’ll bite you in the ass.
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