Philadelphia Flyers
FANS SPEAK: Flyers’ Management Team Named Worst in NHL
The Flyers’ management team is at the bottom of the 32-team NHL.
The Athletic on Thursday ranked fans’ confidence levels in the front office; the Flyers were last, based on input from fans.
Philly had the fourth-highest entries (1,000), showing that its fans wanted to be heard.
The Flyers, with GM Chuck Fletcher running the show, were plagued by injuries as they had the second-worst record in franchise history last season.
Other than this, things are GREAT pic.twitter.com/dPPmeOJVZd
— Tyrone Johnson (@TyJohnsonNews) August 18, 2022
And then came the team’s summer of discontent — after management had promised an “aggressive retool” months earlier.
No Johnny Gaudreau, a gifted free agent who wanted to play here. No trade for Alex DeBrincat, the left winger who would have been the ideal player to build around.
No significant moves to clear cap space and change a faceless team.
So fans vented in the Athletic poll.
“I’ve never seen a front office be so delusional about the current state of the roster,” one fan wrote. “There’s no clear direction, and I don’t see a way out anytime soon.”
Front offices were graded in several categories: roster building, cap management, drafting and developing, trading, free agency, and vision.
The Flyers’ management teams received a D-minus in each category.
Philly fans ranked the Flyers last in every category except drafting and developing, where they placed the front office second-worst in the NHL.
Interestingly, Fletcher, a Harvard graduate, vowed to be aggressive when he first took the Philadelphia Flyers job. He said he was influenced by his dad, Cliff, a Hall of Fame general manager back in the day.
“He was a guy who wasn’t afraid to make moves,” Chuck Fletcher told me in 2018. “Again, not every move you make works out, but he certainly was never afraid to pull the trigger. He taught me to make your best judgement, make your best decision, and hopefully it works out. If it doesn’t, you have to go back and make another one.”
The younger Fletcher, however, has been gun-shy in making big moves for the Flyers.
Flyers prospects Emil Andrae, Tyson Foerster Lead Teams into Friday’s WJC semis
I wouldn’t say he’s gun-shy about making moves; he’s made a lot of incredibly stupid ones.
Some fans are upset that the Flyers didn’t package the 2023 first-rounder with JVR to get space space to sign Gaudreau. Fletcher put himself in that situation because he…
-Traded 2021 first round pick for Risto, plus this year’s third round pick, and next year’s second round pick. Plus Hagg. Who was just as good as Risto but 4 million cheaper. (Other than that, a great trade.)
-Traded next year’s 3rd rounder and a 2024 second rounder for DeAngelo.
By overpaying on moving/receiving blueliners, if the Flyers made the push for Gaudreau, it would have cost them their first pick in 2023 (and only pick in the top 75) in a draft being compared to 2015. They’d be tapped out at the cap with no incoming cheap talent until 2024. You only do that if you’re a top 5 team and in win-now mode. Flyers are a bottom 5 team and…gah. Fletcher is a problem.
No where to go, but wait till the end of the season and start over. Hopefully, without current management.
And Calgary just signed Kadi. So they got an older Tckuck with a Cup ring, plus got younger and more skilled than Johnny hockey up front AND on the blue line. And signed guys right away. They should rocket up to the top 5 IMO. They will challenge Colorado this year.
Is the Ownership going to sit-up and take notice?
Anyone from Minnesota would tell you that Fletch is a horrible GM, the Wild will be in trouble for years yet because of him!
Chuck Fletcher is by far one of the worst manager’s in the history of the Flyers. He has made stupid trades, Gave Claude Giroux the door, did not do good with he draft, got more young whipper-snappers instead of some seasoned Veterans to shore up the Flyers. The list of mistakes goes on and on…
Sam, I don’t see in the Athletic “which teams” got more votes…were they for great teams or terrible teams? If we’re 4th most with participants, I’d like to know which other fan bases had that much passion.
The current state of the roster and moves or lack thereof, mismanagement of assets is truly disappointing. I’ve never been more disappointed in an upcoming Flyers season in 35 years. The rest of league clearly has zero respect for him as a GM and treats him as such. The “aggressive retool” phrase is something he wishes he could have back since there has been nothing to convince the fanbase that anything has changed. Torts will make the team compete, that’s only thing they can hang their hat on at the moment. He can be pissed off that people are ripping the GM but that’s a lot of coach speak from someone who was just hired. Prove the fanbase wrong.
It’s clear, there are too many hands in the pot. From Dave Scott to Bob Clarke to Paul Holmgren, I’ll even throw in Danny Briere.
Not making excuses for Chuck, he still blows.
Clearly the 1970’s mentality lingers in this franchise and it is showing in every failing category.
Thanks to the inept management of the entire Flyers organization I gave my season tickets after 43 years and bought a condo in Florida. It has turned out that I’m saving money! I bought 11 years ago and just made &150,000. It was a no brainer decision!
I believe that the sooner they get rid of ALL upper management then they can start a complete rebuild!
A Havard graduate running a Philly team? This didn’t set off any alarm bells for people? The guys from Enron (who the front office reminds me of) were at least better organized – and you know where they landed.
WOW. Look at all of those D Grades given out. I seroously think the Fans were being too generous to Fletcher & Co. What Fletcher has done in Reality is chain the entire Organization to a Cap Hell thats going to stay with the Flyers for the next 5 – 7 Seasons. They ARE the proverbial dog chasing its own tail. When Fletcher signed with the Flyers; i read one blog from a Fan in Minnesota that said get ready for a Decade of Mediocrity. He was kinda right. In our case the Flyers will be WORSE than Mediocre as long as Fletcher is here. Hope he’s gone by this time next year; cause its going to be ALOT of Fun watching the Flyers cough; wheeze; and out breath gassed trying to stay with the Tampa Bays and Colorado’s of RTU he NHL World.
I participated in that poll. Not sure if Fs were allowed. D- was the lowest grade any team received on anything. Looking back, no Fs. Meaning the Flyers got the lowest marks possible across the board.
This isn’t just angry armchair fantasy fans; this is knowledgeable, educated, experienced, and, yes, passionate fans and pollsters. They recognize Fletcher and Scott’s management of this organization is an absolute disaster that deservedly ranks it as the worst in the league—below even the Coyotes and Sabres.
I want to go back to something. The Risto deal marks all the problems in Fletcher’s thinking and decision-making. He rationalized what was a bad trade by saying other teams were also offering a lot. His problem is he was incapable of walking away. He wanted to make the trade no matter how bad it was, and he tried to justify his actions. Then he doubled-down by offering a big contract.
Here’s another way of looking at it: if they Flyers don’t make the moves for Risto and DeAngelo, they could have afforded Gaudreau and also had all their first, second, and third round picks from 2021-2024. Well, except the second rounder they used to move Ghost. Another bad trade.
Of course Fletcher and company are the worst management team in the NHL. They probably are the worst in all of sports. Harvard grad? Ha. How does that qualify him for anything in sports. Makes Klentak, another Ivy league egg head, look like Einstein.