Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Chuck Fletcher is looking ahead to next season and beyond as he and his expanding staff prepare for the National Hockey League's trade deadline on March 21.
Opportunity was a keyword that is being used regarding this season. Danny Briere, the recently appointed Special Assistant to the General Manager, referenced during his introductory presser earlier this month.
Only injury would likely prevent the trade of captain Claude Giroux, with that specific, anticipated transaction representing the end of an era in this franchise's history.
A change in the team's roster should include the addition of NHL-ready younger players arriving via trades, a handful of off-season free agent acquisitions, with cap space allowing one or possibly two larger contracts, and the hope for a score of solid draft choices this summer (with the event being held on July 7 and 8 in Montreal at Centre Bell), with those prospects providing hope for the future.
Recent presser comments from Fletcher (Feb 11) and Briere (Feb 9) provide a glimpse of current organizational perspective regarding the near-term and beyond. Courtesy of the Flyers media department...
Philadelphia Flyers President of Hockey Operations & General Manager Chuck Fletcher
Was Coots’ back surgery something you expected as you saw it progress or did it come as a surprise?
Well, this wasn't an issue that was bothering him coming into this year. I think he started having issues in the fall. Tried to battle through. We tried to treat things non-surgically. Couple epidurals to be exact and trying to resolve the issue that was there. Ultimately, you try to do your best to avoid back surgery if you can, but ultimately the doctor and Sean felt confident that the best way to resolve this going forward would be to have this surgical intervention. It was successful today. It’s about a three-month return to play, which will take him out of this season. Fortunately for him and for us, it will give him the chance to have a normal summer of training and come back healthy for the ‘22-‘23 season.
Do you expect him to be 100% at training camp?
Yeah. Doctor’s confident on that.
Do you have an update on Ryan Ellis? Is he looking like he needs surgery or can you guys avoid that?
Yeah, that’s what we’ve been trying to do, again. If Ryan does have surgery, whether it was two months ago or now, it’ll knock him out for the season. We’ve been trying to avoid surgery and look at different ways of rehabbing and treatment to allow him to play. We’re starting to get to a point in the year though where obviously his health is first and foremost and the second issue would be making sure he’s ready for next year. We’re getting close to that point. I just spoke with Ryan about twenty minutes ago and he’s worked hard. He’s done everything he can. We’ll see where we’re at, but in the next few weeks, we’ll have to make a decision.
We see Kevin Hayes skating, is there a level of concern though in bringing Kevin Hayes back too soon?
I don’t know about bringing him back too soon. It’s certainly a lot going on in that area for him. The core muscle, the groins, everything. I think with Kevin, it’s 50/50 that he can come back and play. He also may need some additional work done to get ready for next year. We’re doing what we can. He’s seen different specialists. We feel we have a good grasp on where we’re at. We’re just going to have to see how he responds to the treatment and the skating that he’s doing now. Again, the focus for all these guys is what’s in their best long-term interests in terms of their health and can we get them ready for the 22-23 season.
You say Hayes may need something else, do you mean surgery?
Yeah.
We’ve seen Tyson Foerster here, what’s the update on where he’s at?
With the shoulder surgery that he had, I don’t think he’d be a candidate to play this year. The good news is, as you’ve seen, he’s skating every day. Rehab’s going well. Everything’s trending the right way. I don’t know that we’ll be in a position to get him to play games this year, but again, he’s working on skating right now. Going to be able to work on his lower body strength and then when his shoulder begins to progress, he’ll be able to work on the upper body. We’re very confident he’ll be good to go for next year. We’re just trying to take advantage of the time that we have to work on some areas that a lot of young players need to work on.
Do you expect to Ryan Fitzgerald to play this year after giving him an NHL contract in the offseason?
We’re hopeful. I don’t know if I want to speak out of turn, but Tanner Laczynski, I believe, will be able to return to play a week from today and another week is the goal. It could be off a day or two. Ryan would be another week or two after that. They’ve both made tremendous progress. Laczynski’s skating every day. Skating hard. Working on conditioning. Ryan is a couple weeks behind him, but we expect both to be able to play. They’ve put a lot of time and effort in, so I’m excited for both of them to get playing as well as Lappy.
Morgan Frost and Cam York were sent to the Phantoms during the All-Star break and Isaac Ratcliffe is back up here. What are you looking for to get them back up with the Flyers?
The idea isn’t to rush to get them back up here. It’s just allow them to continue to play. Play in all situations and develop. If that’s up here, it’s fine, but if it’s down there, right now it’s just about development with them. These guys are very important parts of our future. Ice time, roles, opportunity to get puck touches. We feel that Lehigh Valley is the best place for them to achieve that.
How would you rate their development while they were here?
Tough league to develop in. I thought Morgan was getting better. Showing signs. I thought with Cam, he played well. There’s times he played a top four role and there’s times he played a third pair role. Once his minutes dropped a bit, that sort of I guess pushed me a little bit to consider the Lehigh Valley option. For me, it’s just about playing and getting a lot of reps. We’re not in a rush. He’s 21 years old, Cam. He’s a really good player. He showed everybody what he can do in terms of retrievals, puck movement and his ability to play on the power play. He’s not the biggest body, but he defends well, particularly for his size. I think he has all the attributes to be a long-term NHL player. I just think there’s a lot of times we rush these kids and we don’t give them a chance to fully develop.
With Couturier being ready for next year, do the doctors believe that this injury might linger into his later years of his career?
Not at all. That’s why the surgery. Again, there were things we looked at, non-surgically, that may have helped short-term, but there were some concerns about long-term. The procedure he had today, to the best of everybody’s knowledge at this point, should resolve the issue.
Getting back to Bill’s question about Cam and Morgan. Does there come a point where you say you have to start taking a more serious look at some of the young guys coming up?
We have been. Right now, we’re only carrying twelve healthy forwards. Isaac’s here, and Max Willman, Bunnaman, and Mayhew. Other players have had a look at various times. Out of necessity, a lot of players have had that opportunity. I think the most important thing is to the extent that you have enough bodies, just to do what’s right for them for their long-term development. I think you’ll see various players get some games up here, to have that opportunity. Playing in Lehigh Valley, Lappy and that team had a tough start. Didn't win a lot of games the first two months. I think from December and on, we’ve had very few regulation losses. They’re playing hard. They’re playing the right way. It’s just a great learning and winning environment right now, which I think is really beneficial for these kids long-term.
Can you talk about Danny Briere and what would be his most important role?
I’m very excited about Danny. Danny’s been involved with us since the ‘19-‘20 season. With that 2020 Draft, he spent a lot of time with Brent, watching a lot of videos on the top kids. The year we took Tyson Foerster, I think. He’s been in every meeting we’ve had since that season, whether it’s free agency, trade deadline, draft, end of the season strategic meetings. He’s been involved in every meeting. He’s been involved with our player development staff, even spent a few games on the bench with Lappy in Lehigh this year when we lost some coaches to COVID. Danny’s been really involved. In terms of the timing, I think it’s worked out really well for Danny. He’s obviously the President and Governor in Maine. Up until last summer I believe, he was taking an executive business program at Wharton. I think the timing really worked out really well for him to transition into a full-time role with us. I think interviewing with the Canadiens really showed him that this is something he really wants to pursue and jump into. I think the timing is great for him and for us. I know speaking with Brent, Brent’s already got him scheduled out. He was on the road last weekend. He is on the road this weekend. He’ll be focusing probably on the pro side through the trade deadline. After the trade deadline, he’ll focus on the first round of the draft and he’ll sit in on all of the meetings. Going forward, we’ll get him more involved in everything that we do. Brent and I had this experience with Andrew Brunette in Minnesota at the end of his career. We brought him in and Andrew did player development, spent time with the farm team. He did pro scouting. He ended up coaching a little bit with Mike Yeo as he determined his career path and what he wanted to pursue. Now, he’s head coach in Florida. I kind of see a similar type of path for Danny. He’s going to have a bright future in this game. He has to see what areas he likes, but he’s got a tremendous knowledge of the game. He knows players. I think this is a great opportunity for us and for him.
Back to Ryan Ellis for a second, can you sense how frustrated he is with only being able to play 4 games this year?
Yeah, it’s been terrible for him. We go on the road and he stays behind. He comes in early to get his rehab done, so you don’t even feel like you’re part of the team. I know there’s been a lot of frustration from Ryan. What's ailing him this year hasn’t ailed him before, so it’s hard to know how these things happen. He’s dealing with it the best he can. Again, at this point really our focus is on next year, trying to do what’s best for him and for our club going forward.
When it comes to Kevin Hayes, is the situation like Couturier’s where you will go non-surgical as much as possible?
I think that’s what the doctors and Kevin are speaking about. If he can come back, play, feel good and not do any further damage, that’s great. If it’s not healing to the extent we need it to be and to the level we need it to be, then we’ll have to look at additional surgery. It’s still a little bit up in the air, but I think everyone’s realistic about the situation.
How does the outlook of the team change with Couturier and Ellis not being able to return this year?
Again, Ryan only played 4 games for us. I thought three of those four games, he and Provorov played really well. Provorov’s game without him has been okay, but it looked like they had the ability to have good chemistry. He’s an all-situation player. He plays power play and penalty kill, plays late in a game when you’re up a goal, late in a game when you’re down a goal. He’s an impactful player when he’s healthy and playing to his ability. We’ll have to use the limits we have. If he and Provy guide us to what we think they can bring next year, it makes it a little bit more challenging. Obviously, we’re a bit more familiar with Coots and Kevin Hayes. I don’t think it changes things too much. Right now, it’s been an extremely difficult season but there’s opportunities for the players that are here to show what they can do. I think there’s a great opportunity for our organization to look at ways to improve, whether it’s the trade deadline or this summer. Going into next year, we have to take advantage of these opportunities, where it’s the players that are getting them or the management, coaching staff, looking at ways to get better for next year. It’s all looking forward now. How do we get better? There’s going to be opportunities for not just the players, but for our group to do that as well.
Can you talk about the expansion to the analytics department? Can you talk about the two people that you added?
It’s really exciting. Ian Anderson heads up our analytics side. Ian and Jake have been here a long time while we added Matt a couple seasons ago on the analyst side. They’ve been doing great work, but we’re now getting this massive data dump from the NHL. There’s going to be incredible opportunities for teams to try to figure out how to manipulate and best utilize the data that we’re going to have. We’re trying to get ahead of it. Katie and Cole are two tremendous hires. Ian did a great job going through the process. We had hundreds of applications. These two young people, we’re very fortunate to hire them. Both Katie and Cole are technically very skilled, but they also have experience within the hockey industry. Katie’s been part of the UMass program that just won the National Championship. She’s getting her second masters. She’s worked for the Boston Bruins and she’s a young woman. Her work ethic is off the charts and talk about multi-tasking. She’s got all these things going on. She comes very highly recommended from Greg Carvel at UMass as well as from the Boston Bruins. We’re excited to get her in here in the spring after UMass’ season is done. Cole, a former goalie, played junior hockey. Played at Amherst college. He’s done a lot of work in the public domain, in terms of goaltending and tracking and projects of that nature. We’re very excited to bring him in. He works in the tech industry now and has that very good technical skill set, and again a love of the game of hockey. To find these people with a high level of technical expertise combined with knowledge of hockey and working with coaches, in Cole’s case playing the game, I think this is tremendous. They’re great hires. I know Ian is still looking to add to our staff and our goal is to be best in class, to be top. No different from our player development program we’ve worked on, our strength program, added Danny Briere to our management staff, and adding Alyn McCauley and promoting Tom Minton, now with the addition of Katie and Cole. I think we’re very fortunate. Dave Scott, at times I feel like he’s given me an unlimited budget and I’m trying to go by, trying to exceed it. We’ve been able to have some great people. We have a great staff. We have opportunities here to get better, but the people we have, I feel very confident that we’ll find some good solutions.
Are you confident in getting several of the prospects signed this year once their season ends?
I hope so. They’re playing, so out of respect to their collegiate programs, I don’t know that I want to stir the pot, muddy the waters too much. Look, we’re having a tough season. This is the land of opportunity right now. We’re looking for talent. We’re looking for high-end skill. A young man like Bobby Brink’s top scorer in the NCAA. Ronnie Attard, one of the top defensemen in the NCAA. Noah Cates scored a goal in the Olympics yesterday. Fedotov, the Russian goalie, has had back-to-back shutouts. Desnoyers had four goals the other night. All these kids are knocking on the door and are more than ready to start their professional experience with the Flyers. We’re looking forward to that infusion of talent as well as what we hope to add in the next few months.
When do you start the permanent coaching search and who will be involved in that?
We’ll get to the end of the season. I’ve been working with Mike and the coaching staff now. Certainly, think about this all the time, but at the end of the season, we’ll sit down and look at every department and look to make the changes we want to make when we have more time. Right now, there’s still a lot of hockey to be played. A lot of issues that we’ll have to deal with in the next few months, whether it’s injuries, whether it’s the trade deadline, whether it’s signing some of our top prospects, whether it’s college free agency, whether it’s preparing for the draft. There’s a lot of things, and certainly at the right time, that will become a priority.
With the trade deadline, when does the conversations start to pick up?
It started really about the last week. Teams typically have their pro scouting meetings either late January through to mid-February. For example, our pro scouts are coming in next week. We’re going to have five days of meetings to get organized for the next couple months. Some teams have just finished; some teams are just starting. Usually coming out of those meetings, the level of communication increases, and that’s what we’re starting to see.
Philadelphia Flyers Special Assistant to the General Manager Daniel Briere
Do you know what your duties are going to be?
I think it’s going to be scouting, evaluating, maybe some player development. I know the organization pretty deeply from all my time and years here. It’s probably over the years, or the next few years going to increase. I’m not sure yet at this point how deep it’s going to go, but from what I was told, I expect to be more and more involved as time goes on.
Does that include the NHL draft as well?
That’s the plan. For us with the situation we’re in and unfortunately with the way the season has gone, the focus coming up will be what we decide to do the trade deadline. That will be the first focus coming up shortly. A re-shift maybe towards the amateur draft coming and the position we’re in. Again, it’s unfortunate right now but it might be an opportunity that we have to take advantage of. We have to be prepared for that. That will probably be the next step after the trade deadline.
[Inaudible question]
I would say that probably forced me to have a better vision of the way I see things. Building an organization from all aspects, but at the same time, the situation that I’m coming in here with the people that are already in place that I’ll be working closely with. When I think of, obviously Dave Scott and Chuck Fletcher, but also Brent Flahr and Barry Hanrahan, who have been in those positions for years. They have a lot of experience. It’s a pretty cool situation for someone who’s starting in the business. I feel very, very fortunate to have people that have that experience all around me.
What did you gain from that experience?
I think more and more we're seeing that the business side and the hockey side collapse more and more moving forward. That’s just the reality of how it is in today’s game. It’s important. You look at how the players now, like all the revenues are tied to the player’s contracts. It’s more important. It’s more critical. I think it’s going to keep expanding and growing so for my own development and my own understanding. I remember when I stepped off the ice, I had no idea all that it entailed on the business side. I had no clue at the time, seven years ago, all the work that was done on the business side. It opened my eyes. I think it was great experience and I have the chance to practice it. Not just learn it but really experience it with the Mariners and oversee it, making tough decisions at the time on the business side. That experience alone was good for my development.
[Inaudible question]
There’s a lot of people. It started with Paul Holmgren bringing me aboard, along with Shawn Tilger. Valerie believing in me to keep doing that. Mike Shane has been great in teaching me the last few years. I had a lot of help from Adam Goldberg in Maine, and that’s one thing I want to say. Our staff in Maine, this last season has grown in revenues, our season ticket base by up to 25, maybe even more percent. Our staff there has been tremendous in making me look good, so I definitely want to give a shout out to them in all that they’ve done.
Why would you want to stay in Philadelphia?
I played here. I had a lot of success with the Flyers. Along with Buffalo, they were probably the two teams I spent the most time. When I retired this became home. The family, the kids, love it here. We made it our home. I was very fortunate I was able get involved here with this organization. I got to know a lot of people from the business side and the hockey side. A lot of people from the players, from juniors to the ECHL, American league, and to the NHL. I know from top down the people in an organization. It makes it a lot easier. I don’t have to move. I’m staying home. I keep working for an organization that I love and where I had a lot of success. It couldn’t be a better set up honestly.
When do you see a turnaround happening?
That’s a good question, and it’s tough to tell how long it could take for that turnaround. Obviously, we would love to see the turnaround starting tonight. Being realistic, it might be next year or the following year. Who knows? I think there's a lot that comes into play. Let’s say we don’t make a push here to make the playoffs and we become sellers. Well, it becomes who’s available to sell at the deadline, and it also depends on what's available on the other side of the table. When you get a draft pick, it might take a little longer. If you get guys who are coming to the lineup right away to help you out, that might rush it a little bit more. It’s tough to tell at this point. One thing I know is there’s a lot of good players and I don’t think we’re a team that’s as bad as what the standings are showing at this point. You just look at the beginning of the year. We were supposed to have Couturier, Hayes, Brassard and Brown as our number 1 through 4 centermen, but how many games have these guys played? I mean we pretty much lost our top four centermen to start the year. That puts us in a tough position. That’s where I believe we’re definitely not as bad as what it’s showing on paper.
What do you think are the biggest needs?
I agree with Chuck when he said high end talent. Difference makers that can on a nightly basis come in. Obviously, Coots not being there really hurts. G has pulled more than his weight. He’s been awesome, but they’ll need support.
About drafting and developing players…
That’s another key, the development of those guys. Tyson Foerster, I believe he eventually could be a great player for us, but there’s a lot of guys that you’re waiting to see how they develop. That’s going to be critical for the Flyers’ future. Bobby Brink is having a great season. Samu Tuomaala, that we drafted last year, showed some great promise about being a kid that can make a difference. Zayde Wisdom. Morgan Frost, we’ve seen him here. He’s going in the right direction but he’s got to keep doing it. And on defense, we’re seeing Cam York playing more and more minutes. I think he’s going to get better. At the end of the day, it’s the development of all those young kids that are going to make it or not for the future of the Flyers.
How much of it is injuries and how much of it is relying on young players?
Yeah, they’re going in the right direction. We have to help them take the next step and become difference makers. That's definitely an area that I believe we can do a better job and we’ll have to do a better job to get the Flyers where they belong.
Do you see some parallels between this team and the one you signed with?
I certainly hope so. I remember when I signed the year, I think the Flyers were last the previous season. It looked pretty bleak. Sometimes you got to look a little deeper and find the positive. At the time, I believed in what Paul Holmgren was doing. I believed in the players that were in the system coming up. I thought it was a team that was being built for the future, not just for a year or two. That’s why I was so interested in joining the Flyers back then. Hopefully we can have that same kind of turnaround. I said it earlier, sometimes you have a bad season, well you’ve got to take advantage of it. There’s other opportunities that show up in front of you, you’ve got to jump on that.
