You already know what happened during the Flyers trade deadline, but for the sake of relevance, let’s break it down a little and say some stuff some people probably don’t agree with.
Before we begin, understand that, yes a lot of the thoughts I put down seem like a stretch. They probably seem like I’m blowing a lot of stuff out of proportion, which I am, but also, am I really? You can go blue in the face telling me you don’t care about the details I’m about to say I hate, and that’s fine. I’m not trying to get you to care about this or get mad at something else. I’m here to nitpick and be insane.
Alright, so what the hell happened at the trade deadline (Flyers specific)? Well we were afraid of some stuff that looked like it was gonna happen. Then that stuff happened, and the thing we knew was gonna happen happened, but also it sucked a lot worse. Got it?
I’m not gonna drive myself insane trying to format the details and make ’em look pretty, there it is. Lost in the sauce of these trade announcements is also a 50% salary retention on Giroux’s contract.
This trade is … not great. and honestly no one expected it to be amazing, there were plenty of factors limiting Flyers General Manager Chuck Fletcher and everyone was prepared to be disappointed, I think.
What REALLY sucked was the absolute slow burn that this trade took over the day. Every half an hour to 40 minutes we would get another shred of information. It was the worst form of torture possible, the timeline was going feral, Broad Street Hockey’s live reactions were depressing and hit in waves, every NHL pundit stopped talking about the Giroux trade to talk about other shit. Kevin Weekes told us all that, despite the trade being done, the deal was still evolving? I thought when a deal was done it was done.
It was a weird day. It took forever. Let’s talk about why it sucks.
The Draft Picks:
Part of what Fletcher was looking for in return for Giroux was a first round pick. So Chuck technically checked that box. 2024 is not right now, that draft pick is a few years away and could be farther if the Panthers manage to suck really bad next season and their pick goes to Montreal. I’m just now realizing there is no second round pick there and we just go straight to the 2023 3rd round which Chuck seems to be a fan of.
One of the possible strategies here is piling up picks to move up in the 2023 draft, which is supposedly really deep. Is it three or four rounds deep? Probably not. It feels like every other draft is talked about as “really deep” so I’m not sure what makes 2023 different. There are also two issues with the Flyers trying to be smart around the draft. First off, they’re not and they draft like shit. The teams that end up being successful are the ones who have excellent scouting and can pick up talent even in the middle is rounds that can develop well and contribute to the future of the depth of the organization. Not only can the Flyers not draft, they can’t develop the players they’ve drafted to save their jobs.
The second issue is Fletcher assuming he’s gonna be around to use that pick. Maybe that 2024/2025 1st can entice another GM to help Fletcher move up in the 2023 draft, but those aren’t the deep drafts of 2023 (that I know of), so how many GMs with a higher pick are gonna want that? And if Fletcher’s quick 2nd retool doesn’t make the Flyers watchable, I don’t think he’s gonna be around another season to retool a third time.
This is already longer than I thought it was gonna be, I complain a lot I guess.
The Included Players:
I don’t understand why Chuck Fletcher felt the need to throw in two of the Flyers own prospects in this deal. I’ve seen the arguments, you don’t need to repeat them. The Flyers are done with these projects, they’ve thrown their hands in the air and said “Geez, I have no idea how to get the most out of these players!” Yeah, we fuckin know already, but you as an organization probably shouldn’t be shouting that all over to other teams.
They wanted to clear some roster spots. For what? Other AHL players who will never impact the NHL lineup, but are 10 years older? That ends up being a lateral move at best, and at worst an admission that they still don’t fucking understand why the team has sucked for 10 years.
Here’s where I overthink and say some shit people don’t agree with.
Chuck Fletcher is garbage at asset management. What might seem like a willingness to move on from mistakes and failed projects is an open call to the rest of the NHL that the Flyers will give you anything for free if you just wait and pretend you don’t want it. It says to the rest of the NHL, Chuck Fletcher will tell you to your face that he sees no value in pieces of the organization and he will give up all leverage to tell you that.
Throwing in not one but two extra bodies to sweeten the deal of the best available rental player seems a touch stupid. If you needed both of those guys to add that third round pick, maybe just leave it?
50% Retained Salary:
Claude Giroux is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. That’s probably one more factor in the negotiation that worked against Chuck Fletcher. Do the Panthers even plan on trying to keep Giroux around after the season ends? Who knows, they’re not gonna show their hand to their negotiating partner. It would be dumb to tell the other side compromising details like say that you are the only team that the player you’re trying to trade will go to. Stuff like that.
The retained salary was the move that annoyed me the most about this trade. For some reason it signaled weakness, just another unnecessary sweetener to an already dumb deal. But the thing about writing for longer than a tweet is that I have to look at things like Giroux’s actual cap hit. A little over 4million is a lot. I could definitely see Panthers GM Bill Zito telling Fletcher that that extra space will help them get pieces that will improve the Panthers, and by extension Giroux’s, Stanley Cup chances.
It’s just for the end of the season. Whatever,
Whatever:
The Flyers owe Claude Giroux the best chance at the cup they can give him. The trade, sucks, but the Flyers have sucked for the last decade so maybe this is just karma. I won’t address any weird rumors that went around because there were just so many things that were said to have handcuffed Chuck Fletcher. Ambiguous possibilities that create nice excuses for backlash.
I don’t know how trade negotiations work. I don’t know if telling the Panthers that Giroux would only go there was standard, a courtesy, or a strategic move to make sure no one walked away. It was dumb as hell though.
Walking back some of my initial complaints doesn’t mean I think Chuck did a good job. I think he did the worst job he possibly could have, in fact I think the other small move at the deadline where Chuck wasn’t handcuffed by a hyperspecific trade destination kind of reinforces the negatives of the Giroux deal, but I don’t feel like rearguing with myself or circling the same point.
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