Recapping a Doozy of a Flyers Press Conference
Dave Scott and Chuck Fletcher spoke on Wednesday morning, the day after the Flyers extended their winless streak to 13 games.
Go figure, the Eagles scheduled Brandon Brooks’ retirement press conference at the same damn time, which always seems to happen. We do how many of these press conferences per year, three or four? How many times do the GM and governor speak to the media? Of course it ends up taking place when the Birds are doing something, but if you missed it, the entire thing is right here:
Flyers Governor Dave Scott and General Manager Chuck Fletcher meet with the media from the @FlyersTCenter. https://t.co/o8anHQfDWH
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) January 26, 2022
Some key notes/points (Anthony will do a proper deep dive later) –
- In an opening statement, Scott said everybody is “angry” and “sick of losing,” which was nice to hear. We all know this, but it was nice to hear him be blunt about that and tell the fans that he’s “sorry” for how this season is going.
- Chuck Fletcher congratulated Keith Yandle for breaking the consecutive games record during his opening statement, which is great, but that’s not what this press conference was about. Just came off a little weird.
- #1 challenge for the Flyers, according to Scott, is injuries. Fletcher says they’ll evaluate the medical department at the end of the year.
- Fletcher says they’re going to “aggressively retool.”
- Scott said the Flyers have a good core, and named three guys on IR as part of that group: Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes, Joel Farabee, and Ryan Ellis. Carter Hart not part of that? Provy? Huh? That was kind of a weird quote from him. “The core is good, we just gotta get healthy.. my job is to make sure Chuck has all of the resources he needs… everything is on the table.“
- Scott doesn’t think this is a 3-5 year rebuild. He thinks they can be competitive next season.
- Scott thinks COVID rule stuff has had something to do with low attendance, but if we had to go out on a limb here, perhaps it’s because the team stinks. Sixers ain’t having attendance problems.
- Scott backed Chuck Fletcher: “Right now, Chuck’s my guy. I feel like I’m personally surrounded by good hockey people.”
- Comcast isn’t selling the team.
- New assistant coach John Torchetti is in COVID protocol. “You can’t make this stuff up,” Fletcher said.
- They’re going to have conversations with Claude Giroux RE: a trade, but G would have to waive his no-trade clause and decide he wants to be moved.
- Sounds like we’re not gonna see Coots or Ellis on the ice anytime soon. They may require surgery at the end of the year.
- They’re trying to re-sign Risto, who is set to become a free agent. They gave up Robert Hagg and draft picks to get him.
- Moving forward, Danny Briere is going to play a bigger role in hockey operations.
That’s the CliffsNote version right there. Anthony will dive in when he gets a chance.