Flyers Daily: Mystifying Summer; D-man Emil Andrae Shines Again

Several months ago, Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher acknowledged that his team needs more high-end players.

And then he was mostly quiet this summer.

No Johnny Gaudreau. No Alex DeBrincat. No deal to get a higher draft pick and nab Juraj Slafkovsky or Logan Cooley.

So Sean Couturier is the the only Flyer who could be classified as “high end,” but even he is now a question mark because he is coming off back surgery.

Call it a mystifying summer.

For what it’s worth, the Flyers have just three players among ESPN’s top-200 in its fantasy rankings: Couturier at 65, Ivan Provorov at 81, and Tony DeAngelo at 117.

By comparison, the Metro-favorite New York Rangers have six players in the top 68.

Yep, the Blueshirts — who were lousy a few years ago — know how to rebuild.

Granted, fantasy ratings don’t equate to players’ all-around value in “real” play, but they certainly show that the Philadelphia Flyers have a long way to go before they will become factors in the Metropolitan race.

Even New Jersey, which had just two more points than the last-place Flyers (61) last season, has six players ranked in the top 200.

Andrae shines

When Philadelphia Flyers prospect Emil Andrae collected three points in Sweden’s 6-0 win Friday over Austria, some downplayed his performance in the World Junior Championship. The competition in that game, some said, was weak.

And then Andrae, a 5-foot-9, 181-pound defenseman, was dominating Sunday in Sweden’s 3-2 loss to powerful Team USA, collecting a goal and an assist. Sweden is now 2-0-0-1. The Swedes need to win their final preliminary-round game Monday (10 p.m., NHL Network) against Germany to finish second in Group B, behind the United States.

The U.S. (4-0), which got two goals from Calgary Flames prospect Matt Coronato, clinched first place in B with the win over Sweden.

Canada will play Finland at 6 p.m. Monday on the NHL Network. Flyers prospects Tyson Foerster and Elliot Desnoyers are on Canada. Foerster had a goal in Canada’s 5-1 win Saturday over Czechia.

Breakaways

On Monday, I’ll be talking about all things Flyers on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Dave McCarthy at 2:30 p.m. Join us! … It appears former Flyers center Nolan Patrick, now with Vegas, will start the season on the LTIR. … The Flyers will report to training camp Sept. 21, but on-ice sessions won’t start until Sept. 22 in Voorhees. Camp is open to the public and free.