After a strong start to their season, the Philadelphia Flyers have gone 4-8-1 in the month of March, including one of the most embarrassing losses in recent memory, a 9-0 drubbing at the hands of the New York Rangers. As the season began circling the drain, the one person who had remained incommunicado was the architect of the team whose only consistency has been inconsistency: President and General Manager Chuck Fletcher.

After back-to-back losses against the New York Islanders and a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the New Jersey Devils that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score indicated, Fletcher faced the music on Wednesday afternoon. Amid his insistence that people shouldn’t over-analyze the result this season, there were some other interesting nuggets.

Buyers or Sellers?

The first question of the availability pertained to whether Fletcher believed his team would be buyers or sellers. While he claimed the team is, “certainly not looking at selling right now,” he stated that he had made far more calls to other GMs than he had received. This part stood out:

I’ve been much more aggressive, I think, than a lot of people just looking at different options. There doesn’t seem to be many teams out there willing to take on dollars or term at this point in time.

That’s a notable line in that it would appear to allude to conversations around players with years remaining on their deal at a relatively high cap hit. Two guys who could fit the bill include James van Riemsdyk, who’s had a standout season and whose stock might never be this high again. He’s also on the books for two seasons beyond this one at $7m per. The other player who might make sense is Shayne Gostisbehere, who also has two seasons remaining on his deal with a $4.5m cap hit. One has to assume, however, that his recent benching has done little to help his trade value.

Coaching

When asked if there’s concern with the coaching staff and the team’s regression in multiple areas this season, Fletcher said that it starts with him, but it’s also on everyone:

I’m responsible for the overall direction of the team from hiring the coaches to bringing in the players. At this point in time, everyone’s accountable.

The issue with this response is it came just before he started noting how the team is pushing to get into the playoffs, while saying that the team had played two of their best games in the last week. When Charlie O’Connor of The Athletic pushed back on that line of thinking, asking how fans are supposed to be confident if those are the “best” games, Fletcher said:

The Islanders are a pretty good team. I think you just look at the scoring chances that we gave up in both, even in the third period of that game last Thursday, we really didn’t give up much. They scored on their first shot halfway through the period and got a scrambly [goal] at the end after they tied it. We weren’t giving up a lot of grade-A chances. We really didn’t give up much against the Islanders on Monday. It’s more than just process. Process is part of it, but it’s just the raw number of chances that you are giving up. It’s the raw number of off-man rushes that you are giving up. It’s giving yourself the chance to play the game the right way and having the puck a little bit. We did that well in both games.

In other words, the team has been a dumpster fire on ice, but at least chance prevention was limited. Not great.

Carter Hart’s Struggles

Fletcher was asked about young netminder Carter Hart’s play this season. “Confidence is a funny thing,” Fletcher said. “It’s a results business. Sometimes you are not getting the results, it’s hard to feel you are on top of your game. Carter is a young guy. He had some success last year. This year, he hasn’t played at the same level. There’s no question that he’s struggled, particularly this month. I think our goals against and our goaltending for the first two months was pretty good and they’ve won us some games.”

He didn’t put sole blame on Hart, however, saying:

This month, both goaltenders have struggled in my opinion. You look back at a young Carey Price at the age of 22, Connor Hellebuyck, Marc-Andre Fleury, just going through some names. All of those great goaltenders had some ups and downs early in their career and had some tough seasons. It’s a hard position. I believe in Carter. I believe in his talent and I believe he will be a very good goalie for this franchise for a very long time. Clearly right now, he’s not on top of his game.

One interesting exchange that seemed to imply Hart’s struggles, as well of other young teammates, were mental, possibly due to the COVID-impacted season:

I think there is a massive mental and emotional challenge this year. In life, probably even among all of us, some people have handled it better than others. Some people have faced different challenges. There are certainly some players that are not at the level they need to be at and are not in a good place in some different ways. There’s probably a little bit more to their play than what everyone realizes.

Goal Prevention

Anyone who has watched this team with any regularity could point out that the team’s goaltending has struggled this month, but the team’s defensive corps as been nothing short of a hodgepodge of misfit toys. When asked if the team’s goal prevention had dropped off so drastically because of Matt Niskanen’s absence, Fletcher acknowledged the veteran’s strong play a season ago, but noted that this season’s goals against has been, “a pretty massive variance.”

The Failure to Replace Niskanen

Fletcher was asked a bit later if he regretted not addressing the team’s top four defensemen issue in free agency or via the trade market, Fletcher offered what were at best a number of excuses:

Well, we aggressively looked at a lot of options this offseason. Certainly our cap situation was not helpful for adding significant dollars without moving significant dollars.  We looked at a lot of different things, and this is what we ended up with. I think I said to somebody earlier, I don’t think I ever spent more time on the phone than I did this offseason. For various reasons, things didn’t break our way, the way we had hoped. It’s a flat-cap era, and most teams are not looking to take on any money or any term right now. To add a player with dollars, you have to subtract the same amount. Those types of trades are a little more difficult to make.

The emphasized lines are my own doing. There are a number of issues with this statement. The cap situation wasn’t great in a flat-cap year, no doubt. However, that didn’t stop Fletcher from handing out a $3m deal to Erik Gustafsson, whose redundant skillset never made sense with Shayne Gostisbehere on the roster. In fact, when asked about it back when the signing was made, Fletcher was adamant that not only could the two offensive-minded defensemen make it into the same lineup, but perhaps be paired together.

From a few people I’ve spoken with, the team was interested in Alex Pietrangelo who, like many other free agents since the Hextall regime, had no interest in donning the Orange & Black. Ditto Zdeno Chara. Torey Krug was available, but the Flyers’ interest or lack thereof is unknown due to the biggest issue of them all.

For those who might have missed the signs, it’s abundantly clear that Fletcher had tied his wagon to the hope that Matt Niskanen would either change his mind before the season or come out of retirement at some point during the regular season. It’s why they left the door open to him coming back to the remaining one year on his deal. Unfortunately for Fletcher and the Flyers, Niskanen appears resolute in his desire to stay away from the game.

When it comes to the notion that no teams are willing to make trades, it’s hard to fathom that a team who prides itself on touting its prospects, promising young roster players, and draft assets couldn’t put together a package enticing enough to solidify their defensive core.

Ultimately, therein lies the problem: Fletcher painted himself into this corner by not addressing the problem in the offseason. By waiting at the altar for Niskanen. By not upping the ante to make a deal, even if the public perception would claim such a deal an overpay. The problem is, even if Fletcher’s activity on the phones bears fruit, it’s likely too little too late.

[the_ad id=”103880″]