Philadelphia Flyers
Flyers Trade Struggling Left Winger to Nashville Predators
The Philadelphia Flyers sent a big left winger to the Nashville Predators late Sunday night.
No, it wasn’t James van Riemsdyk, though he is probably the next player general manager Chuck Fletcher will deal.
The left winger Fletcher dealt was enigmatic minor-leaguer Isaac Ratcliffe. He was dealt to the Predators for future considerations.
Ratcliffe, 24, showed promise when the Flyers recalled him last season, collecting four points (goal, three assists) and playing with physicality in his 10-game stint.
“Ratty embraced that physical, big-boy game when he got called up,” Phantoms coach Ian Laperriere said before this season. “He’s got the right mindset. He got a little taste of the NHL and he wants to make sure he’s giving himself the best chance to make it to the next level — and stay there.”
Struggling season
This season, however, Ratcliffe regressed with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and was frequently a healthy scratch. He went unclaimed as he passed through waivers to be sent to Lehigh Valley during training camp.
In 26 games with the Phantoms this season, the 6-foot-6, 225-pound Ratcliffe had just four points (two goals, two assists).
He spent most of the 2021-22 season with the Phantoms and had 28 points in 59 games.
In 2017, Ratcliffe was drafted in the second round (No. 35 overall) by then-general manager Ron Hextall. He was chosen four picks ahead of left winger Jason Robertson, who has become a scoring machine with the Dallas Stars. He has 35 goals this season.
Hextall traded up nine spots with Arizona and gave up second-, third- and fourth-round picks to get Ratcliffe.
As for Fletcher, he is expected to have a busy week. The Flyers have fallen out of the playoff race and are in sell mode. The trade deadline is Friday at 3 p.m.
The Philadelphia Flyers figure to get a second- or third-round pick for van Riemsdyk, 33, who is rated as one of the top forwards available on TSN’s trade board.
PHN: Is JVR on the Move as Trade Deadline Approaches?
Thanks Hextall
Our previous GM’s horrific draft performance has set this franchise back for a decade.
Patrick, Rubstov, Ratcliffe, (at some who have not yet progressed as quickly as they had hoped- also see Frost (TBD).
We need to start over with professionals who have a fantastic draft record- our current GM Fletcher has not hit any home runs thus far either with the draft (see York, Brink, Foerster and Farabee to some extent) and has committed to older players with questionable health issues (see Ellis, Atkinson, Couturier) and over priced contracts (Ristolinen, Hayes)…
Start over with someone who will build through the draft and onload all of this dead weight- painful but necessary IMO.
“Hextall traded up nine spots with Arizona and gave up second-, third- and fourth-round picks to get Ratcliffe.” — Oy vey!!!! The Flyers need to reassess their Scouting, and development program in LHV. Their high draft picks over the last several years have been grossly underwhelming – Nolan Patrick, Jay O’Brien, German Rubstov, Pascal LaBerge,…
Other than Giroux, the majority of their picks either flop, fail to develop here, or go on to success elsewhere.
Another bust unloaded.
Yet another player that this organization could not develop. It’s too easy to say that the GM made bad picks, but if you followed the drafting over the past decade, most experts believed that the Flyers were picking players with excellent potential and for several years the Flyers were graded out as being at or near the top of the NHL for prospects based on these picks.
But what we’ve seen is a near-constant string of picks who either fizzled or never came close to what was believed to be their developmental potential.
Ratcliffe is just the latest example of how prospects in the Flyers organization simply don’t develop. And we see others, drafted in this same period, who have become regulars on this team that so many fans feel are still nothing special and not what was expected (Provorov, Sanheim, Farabee, Frost, York).
So a serious question will always be about who selects the picks, but perhaps the far more serious question is: “Who the hell is responsible for developing these picks into quality, productive NHL players?”
Because the Flyers are failing miserably on both fronts. But especially on the developmental aspect.
You make good points. I’ve written about their lack of development in the past, and it definitely rings true with a some of the players you mentioned.
Sam, it does ask the question: Who is responsible for developing players? In MLB, we know there is an established minor league system and often we know some of the managers and coaches involved, but with the NHL, outside of The Phantoms and the direct hiring done there, does every NHL team draft players from their respective Canadian Junior League and other foreign nation leagues and then leave it to the mercy of whatever quality of coaching and development each of these leagues and individual teams has? How involved are NHL teams directly with each draftee on a respective team? Given than any particular team could have a dozen or more players, each drafted by a different NHL team, that having each of these NHL teams chiming in on their particular draftee would be a very burdensome issue for the team, so do NHL teams have to leave it all up to the Junior-level organizations?
We often see players drafted, given a quick draft-class developmental camp in the summer, and then they get sent back to their Canadian Junior or related draft-day team. If players are coming out of leagues and teams that lack in the developmental aspect, can this be changed? The presumption seems to be that if a kid is drafted at 18, then gets sent back for another year or two of eligibility in that league, that the now 19-year old is expected to mature and progress naturally and the attention of the team gets redirected to the next 17-year old who becomes the next draft-class target, and thus the prime consideration. Not every player is ready for what comes after they’re drafted, maturity happens between the ears, as much as between the pads, and I question how well this is being done, especially from the Flyers Organization. It simply seems that our team has had far too many prospects fail, beyond everyone’s expectations, both fans and rival teams alike.