On Wednesday, July 13, 2022, the period in the NHL where teams can start to sign players whose current contracts have expired begins. In layman’s terms, NHL free agency starts. We here in the Delaware Valley with our Hockey club, this period has been long in coming. The Flyers will go into Free agency with very muddy intentions. The team currently has very little cap room to make a splash without jettisoning some current players. Immediate free agency impact will be hard to imagine for the Flyers. Let the fun begin.
What is Chuck Fletcher’s Current Mindset?
We are entering his 4th summer as the Flyers GM and if things continue to trend the way things have been trending his last. To be entirely fair he has been aggressive during the previous three summers. The problem is that none of the moves he has made have worked out. His first summer was 2019 and it was mired with a coaching search and the thoughts that the bounty of previous draft picks would still work out. Post-COVID was really the fall of 2020 was mired in the sudden retirement of Matt Niskanen, the uncertain future of playing in the COVID world, and dealing with the lost revenue of COVID.
Past Mistakes
Fletcher was aggressive in making moves in the summer of 2021. The Flyers acquired Cam Atkinson, Ryan Ellis, and Risto, to name a few. Highlighted by moving off of players who had worn out their welcome.
The summer of 2021 was viewed as a positive one for the Flyers. In the 2021-22 season, it was not the case. A coach that had lost the room. Ryan Ellis’s mysterious injury that limited him to four games and continues to make his future somewhat cloudy. The continued underdeveloped or just not that good bounty of previous draft picks, the trading of the team’s captain, and the long-term injuries of Coots, and Kevin Hayes. All these things and more lead to a disastrous season for the Orange and Black. Let the fun begin.
Moving into this summer with yet another new head coach and another new direction. He must be feeling the heat. I mean he can’t make it through to his 5th summer unless this team turns things around drastically, right? Let the fun begin.
The Clock is Ticking
Wednesday, July 13, 2022, marks the beginning of free agency but it also marks the beginning of Chuck Fletcher’s 5th season as the GM of the Philadelphia Flyers. To date four seasons and one playoff berth, four seasons 4 different head coaches, four seasons and now a different captain, four seasons and the same questions, four seasons and more teams passing the Flyers, four seasons and still no salary cap relief, four seasons and no face of the franchise, four seasons and an empty building, four seasons and a lack of faith and hope. Let the fun begin.
Matt Bednarczyk is your host of Talking Philly Sports With Matty B. He is a proud retired US Army Sergeant First Class, he is also a combat veteran with over 80 months served in Afganistan, and Iraq . Huge Hockey Fan. Matt is a lifelong 4 for 4 Philly sports fan. Born and raised on the Mayfair and Tacony neighborhood lines of Northeast Philly. He brings over 40 years of Philadelphia Sports passion and provides a realistic look at our Major Sports Teams and the most passionate sports fans on the planet. Look for his show live on Edge of Philly Sports.
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