Flyers Nuggets: Chuck Fletcher on the Trade Deadline
The Flyers dumped a handful of guys at the trade deadline, guys who were unrestricted free agents and were going to walk anyway. One happened to be the team captain and a franchise legend, which sucked.
HOWEVER –
You can’t be disappointed with the return, because the option was receive something or receive nothing. Which would you choose? Would you choose something, or nothing? Easy choice there, made easier by Giroux only waiving his no-trade clause to go to sunny Sunrise, Florida.
Here’s the final trade deadline tally:
- outgoing: Claude Giroux, Justin Braun, Derick Brassard, Connor Bunnaman, German Rubtsov, 2024 5th round pick
- incoming: Owen Tippett, 2023 3rd round pick (2x), 2023 4th round pick, top-ten protected 2024 1st round pick
If that Florida 2024 pick lands in the top-ten, it will instead convey as a 2025 unprotected first rounder instead.
Chuck Fletcher spoke about the trade deadline when the dust settled, as a press conference separate from the Giroux availability. Anthony reported on most of this already, but I chopped up some relevant nuggets that maybe he didn’t totally dive into:
Q. Both picks you got were in 2023, was that intentional?
“That was (assistant GM Brent Flahr’s) preference, to get picks in ’23. In both cases, the teams we made trades with (Rangers and Oilers) I don’t believe had their picks in ‘22. I believe that’s accurate. I believe both Rangers and Edmonton had already traded their picks in ‘22, but if we had a choice, our preference was ‘23.”
Q. Was there interest in Martin Jones and were you thinking of moving him? What was the thought process in keeping him?
“There were some other conversations on a few of the other guys, but nothing really materialized. To be honest with you, Ersson is out for the season. Ustimenko is still battling injuries. Sandström is healthy now but has been battling injuries. We wanted to be a little bit careful here when we have 20 games to go and Lehigh Valley is battling for a playoff spot. If there was something meaningful, we would’ve looked at it. Nothing really materialized.”
Q: Did the day go as planned for you?
“I think it went exactly as we expected. We had been receiving a lot of calls for Justin Braun, so we expected that we would be able to move him. Derick Brassard, a very versatile veteran forward who has played an awful lot of playoff games, I expected we would move him as well. At this point we’re carrying 18 and 2 so I think we were happy moving those two players and picking up a third and fourth round pick. We have 20 games left to play so I think we’re in a good spot.”
Q: What were your expectations for the market given the amount of buyers and sellers?
“I think it’s sort of what we expected. I wasn’t sure on Brassard, to be honest, just because he’s been injured a bit. He’s been playing well and he’s healthy now. I wasn’t sure what to expect there, but I knew there would be interest in Justin Braun. I think things went as expected.”
Q. You were really high on Gerry Mayhew; can you talk about the decision to put him on waivers?
“Sure, Owen Tippett.”
Q. You didn’t think he had a future here?
“Gerry’s 29 years old. On the right side we have Konecny, we have Atkinson, we just picked up Tippett, we have MacEwan, we have Bobby Brink coming, and we have Wade Allison coming. To be honest with you, going forward we have some young players that we’re focused on right now. I was pretty confident somebody would claim him. I thought this might give Gerry an opportunity to stay in the NHL for the rest of the year and hopefully get some meaningful minutes for his career.”
Gerry Mayhew gives up the body and robs a sure fire goal with a beautiful torso stop! What a way to make an impact in your first game with a new team!#FlyTogether pic.twitter.com/ibqZqlWAhT
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) March 22, 2022