Quick Hits: September 30, 2020
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1) On Tuesday, Chuck Fletcher and Brent Flahr conducted a 30-minute remote media availability session to discuss the 2020 NHL Draft, RFA and UFA free agency season, incoming rookies for 2020-21 and more. A synopsis article of the four biggest takeaways from their session
is available on PhiladelphiaFlyers.com.
If you prefer to read the full session transcript, courtesy of the Flyers, the text follows in the second section of today's blog.
2) USA Hockey has released its list of invitees for Evaluation Camp for World Junior Championship roster hopefuls. As expected, Flyers 2019 first-round pick Cam York (University of Michigan) and second-round selection Bobby Brink (Denver) are on the list. Both are returning players from last year's squad, and both are virtual shoo-ins for spots this year. York will be the lone returning defenseman from last year (he was the lone 18-year-old blueliner on the 2019-20 roster). The difference this time around is that York should see considerably more playing time than he did last year. Both Brink and York are likely to see power play time.
3) Today in Flyers History: Sept. 30 edition
* 1967: Selected in the 1967 Expansion Draft respectively from the Chicago Black Hawks and Boston Bruins, defensemen Ed van Impe and Joe Watson were unhappy with the lowball contract offers they received from general manager Bud Poile. Realizing there was strength in numbers, the two players agreed to leave camp and hold out together.
Poile tried to strong-arm them. Figuring they'd come to their senses and cave out of fear of ending up with no contracts at all, he instructed the two to take a drive and then call him when they got to their destination. The two drove together to Erie, PA.
Watson then bought a plane ticket to British Columbia to visit his girlfriend. As Poile requested, Watson telephoned when he arrived.
“You’re where?!” Poile thundered, upon hearing Watson announce his whereabouts.
The Flyers GM blew a gasket. He yelled into the receiver. Watson, for once, could not get in a word edgewise.
“Holy smokes, was he mad!” Watson recalled years later, chuckling heartily at the memory.
Van Impe did not return home to Saskatchewan but received a similar harangue from the hot-tempered Poile.
Finally, the GM coaxed the players back for for the final week of training camp. Van Impe signed a contract on Sept 30. Watson signed on Oct 3. The Flyers departed for a season-opening California road trip the following week.
* 1996: The Flyers hoped to enter the 1996-97 season with veteran center Bob Corkum and veteran winger Rob DiMaio on their NHL roster but were unable to protect either depth player from the 1996 Waiver Draft or work out a trade involving either player by the time the protection list deadline arrived on Sept. 27.
Three days later, the San Jose Sharks claimed DiMaio with the first pick of the waiver draft. The Flyers lost Corkum to a Phoenix Coyotes claim with the fourth overall pick. Another unprotected player whom the Flyers feared losing, right winger Trent Klatt, made it through the waiver draft unclaimed. Klatt went on to have a career-best 24-goal season for the Flyers in 1996-97.
The following year, the Flyers lost enforcer Scott Daniels to a claim by New Jersey. The NHL abolished the waiver draft in the Collective Bargaining Agreement created after the 2004-05 lockout. Mike Siklenka (2003 waiver draft claim by the New York Rangers) held the dubious distinction of being the final Flyers player lost to the NHL Waiver Draft.
During its lengthy life span, the NHL Waiver Draft was unpopular both with the Players Association and by the general managers of the deeper teams in the league. The better clubs were inevitably the most vulnerable to losing role players who were in their the NHL roster plan for the upcoming season but fell victim to the numbers game on the protected list. For unprotected players, a claim meant being suddenly uprooted. It was also not uncommon for players to be claimed by one club and then flipped to a third team via trade. That made no practical difference to players when it happened immediately but the subsequent deal sometimes didn't go down until the eve of the season, forcing the claimed/traded player to report to the team that claimed him and then depart again to report to a third club.
Even today, teams sometimes lose to preseason waiver claims players they'd rather keep. The difference now, though, is these are NHL roster cuts who must pass through waivers before they can be assigned to the AHL farm team (whether temporarily or for the season). Under the old system, clubs could lose unprotected players who otherwise would have been part of their opening night NHL roster.
In the current-day Expansion Draft, teams lose one -- and only one -- player to the newest team entering the league. The Draft also takes place at the beginning of the offseason rather than the final week of the preseason. By comparison, in the old waiver draft days, teams could lose more than one player. Back in 1996, the Flyers had Corkum slated as their fourth-line center, with DiMaio as their 12th or 13th forward.
The losses of Corkum and DiMaio to the Waiver Draft helped cement NHL roster spots for center Daniel Lacroix and left winger Dan Kordic (a converted former defenseman). Along with new arrival Daniels, the trio of tough guys formed a new fourth line for the Flyers in the 1996-97 season, dubbed "the Dan Line."
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FLETCHER AND FLAHR TRANSCRIPT
In regards to your first round pick in this Draft, would you consider trading that pick if you can include it in a package deal for a big time scorer?
Chuck Fletcher (CF): That’s pretty hypothetical. Obviously you will consider moving anything if the trade makes sense. Certainly this year, and Brent can probably speak to it later on, it’s a pretty good first round. We should have the ability to draft a pretty talented player with that pick. I think we’re going in with the mindset that we are using the pick, but obviously when you talk to teams, if there’s something that we can do that would make our team better that would make sense, we’ll look at that.
What do you think the trade market is going to be like since the draft is being held virtually and you aren’t able to walk the draft floor?
CF: I’m not sure the set-up will make a big difference. Things have sort of changed. I remember in the 90’s when I first started, there seemed to be more in-person communication, even more phone calls, than what there are now. It’s changed a little bit more. Guys are as likely to communicate by phone or even by text as they are by walking across the draft floor. I don’t think it will impact anything.
Teams have been talking for a couple weeks. They will continue to talk for the next week for so. Usually when you go onto the draft floor, you have a pretty good idea about what may or may not be out there, what teams may want to move back or move up. Usually you do your homework in advance and once the draft begins, you generally have a good idea of what’s around. I don’t think it will impact it. It’s certainly different circumstances. Again, the communication has been pretty frequent so far.
Do you foresee any of your older first-year pros coming in this season -- Linus Sandin, Wade Allison, and Tanner Laczynski specifically -- to compete for a NHL job this upcoming season? All through are physically mature and 23- or 24-years old.
Brent Flahr (BF): First of all, Laczynski and Allison like you said, and Sandin, they’re older players. They’re physically more mature than typically players that are coming out of junior that are 19, 20 years old. Their mindset coming to camp is to make the team. Whether they’re ready for that, it’s up to them and their performance. At the same time, we expect them to help and challenge the internal competition. In reality I would say, I would assume that each of them are going to play games this year. Hopefully one of them grabs it and makes the best of their opportunity.
If you could categorize the draft, especially the first round, is it good, fair, excellent? How much tougher has it been for you and the scouts with no combine and no playoffs for prospects? Has it made it difficult to figure out who the top prospects are?
BF: As far as the draft, I think it has been well-publicized. It’s a good draft in the first round. I think the 10, 11 names are pretty similar on most teams’ list, probably different order, which should create some interest in the draft just how it falls. After that, I think there’s some depth through the first round. Lots of different types of players. Again, it’s going to be real interesting after a certain point to see where these players go and see who’s left when we’re picking at 23.
In regards to prep for the draft, it’s been a very unique year, obviously with what happened worldwide and the shutdown. At the same time, we’ve went all in. Our guys stayed busy, watching video. We’ve met every week online, virtually. We did our list back in June in preparation for a potential June draft. Since then, certain leagues have started up again. We’ve had some fresh views. We’ve done our research, seen what players have been doing, where they’re at physically. Without the combine, there’s certainly information that you just aren’t able to get. All the teams are in the same position. That’s just the reality of it. We’ll have to deal with it.
Is this the kind of draft where it might be beneficial to go up and give up assets/trade up to get a guy? Or is it the type of draft where it’s deep enough where you might consider trading back to pick up more picks because there is a big enough pile that you can benefit there?
CF: That’s a fair question. It’s really going to depend on how our list shapes up. You sort of look at it. There’s different groupings of players, even more so in how you number them. If you have a chance to move up into a higher group, you’ve got to look at it. Having said that, based on our preliminary thoughts at 23, we think there’s going to be somebody we fall to us that we like.
There may be several players that fall to us that we like, in which case we can entertain moving back. I don’t want to handicap it, but you’re more likely to move back than you are to move up, just based on how we feel the draft will break with respect to our list. It only takes one or two players to still be there that you thought might go in the top 12 or 15 and then you are looking for ways to get up. It’s a deep enough draft where I anticipate we’re going to be pretty happy with some of the players that are on the board.
Do you anticipate a sort-of fast and furious offseason given the compressed events to get things done? Are you expecting to see teams and maybe yourself to go about things differently given the short time frame and the uncertain start to the season?
CF: When I’ve been calling around to other managers, we’re all trying to figure that out. We’ve already seen some trades and I’m sure there will be more trades between now and the draft. I expect on October 9th, there will be some players getting signed pretty quickly. I can also foresee there will be players into late October, November still looking for opportunities. There will be teams looking to shed some salary well after October 9th. I guess I could see a little bit of both. There’s going to be some quick moves here and some teams trying to take care of business right away. There might be other teams and players that might have to a little more patient for the right fit. October 9th, 10th, 11th, there might be quite a lot of free agent activity and then you might have a lull there for two months. I’m kind of expecting that, but it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
How concerned are you about the AHL and the ECHL and also, about the players possibly losing a year of development?
CF: I think it’s the whole industry, even the European leagues. The KHL is playing, but having frequent issues. Other leagues that talked about playing and they may or may not even start. We don’t know about juniors, junior hockey, college hockey, American League and even the NHL. It’s certainly a year where it’s going to be tough to predict how it’s going to play out. I certainly think there’s going to be fewer games played this year everywhere. It appears there’s certainly a later start. There’s certainly going to be some question on how best to develop players if we’re not able to get them regular game action. That’s something we talk about and something we’re going to have to deal with down the road.
If everything is equal this year, would you opt going for a forward this year since you seem well-stocked on defense in the system?
BF: It all depends. If players are equal, we may look for different positions, different needs. At the same time, I think we have to go with best player going forward. We’ll look at a number of different scenarios and what falls to us. In reality, we’ll go with best player at 23.
How do you evaluate a player that has a family tie to the organization like Ridly Greig? His dad is one of the scouts. Also, if he checks off a lot of the boxes for you, how much do you weigh in what kind of pressure there is for a player like that?
BF: It is a unique situation obviously with Greiger [scout Mark Greig] and Ridly. Ridly is a kid our whole staff knows well. He was a runner at the draft table a few years ago before Chuck and I were here. We obviously have a lot of internal knowledge of the kid, his character and all the details of him as a player. We’ve had a number of conversations with Mark. He was really uncomfortable with us scouting him this year, worrying about the backlash from you guys as far as nepotism. We have lots of viewings of him. He played with Braden Schneider on his team. At the end of the day, if he’s the best player for the Flyers, that’s a conversation we have to have. We’ll deal with it and that’s the reality. We’ve talked with Greiger and he’s obviously nervous. His son was a Flyers fan growing up. Claude Giroux’s his favorite player. If we draft him, I’m sure we can figure it out.
CF: I’ll just add to that. Every decision we make is going to be in the best interest of the Flyers. There’s not going to be any favoritism or drafting a player because of his last name. If there’s a player that’s clearly the best player on the board, we are doing a disservice to our organization by not selecting him. We’ll do what we have to do to protect the Flyers and take the best player available. Period.
How important was it to get Robert Hägg’s deal done before October 9th and to get him locked in?
CF: Not just with Robert, but with every player. You are trying to resolve it as quickly as you can if there’s a deal to be made. In this case, both sides are looking at a two year term. The comparables that we brought up were the comparables that they brought up, so we were able to get to common ground very quickly. His representation, Newport Sports, is very experienced agents and know the market. One thing I found with them is if you’re straight-forward with how you proceed, they will reciprocate. We were able to get a deal done in two calls. I think it’s a market value contract. It’s a fair contract. He’s a kid that earned that contract and deserved that contract. We felt comfortable there. Not every deal is that straight-forward.
Sometimes the market can be more complicated to decipher. Obviously teams are going to use comps that benefit them and the player will use certain comps that will benefit their case. Sometimes it takes a little longer to get there. Ideally, the sooner we sign these guys, the better we understand our own cap situation, not just this year but going forward. That’s the goal. You obviously have to get the right deal to do that.
Your organization depth is pretty solid at each position. Does that allow you to maybe take a bigger swing on a higher risk prospect, especially in the first round or does that not really play into your thinking?
BF: All the little things that we take into account when we’re making our lists. There are certainly players that are more risky when taking them. Some maybe have skating issues, or character issues or whatever. When we do our lists, when we put it in order, we take all those things into account when we get going. Obviously if there’s tremendous upside of a player and we feel confident that we can help this player to get where he needs to be, then we will draft him. The concerns are so significant that our scouts and staff don’t feel comfortable with it, then we fold. In reality, that’s how we make our list every year and I don’t think it changes this year.
Is there a position that you can replenish more in your organization in the later rounds?
BF: I think every year, the first round you typically go with the best player. After that, sometimes you go with maybe more positional needs if the players are equal. Obviously with our depth chart, you can take a look at it. In left defense, we have some players coming. In right-shot defense, we’re getting a little thinner. We can maybe address that if it makes sense.
Sometimes there’s just not players available when you are picking. Obviously up front, whether it’s scoring, would be something you want to address and it’s something you like to address every year. I don’t think it changes much. We’ll see how it plays out. We have guys targeted at each tier of the draft. We’ll try to do the best we can based on that.
In regards to Nolan Patrick, are both sides looking for a one-year deal? And in regards to UFAs, are there any UFAs on the team that you would like to sign?
CF: With respect to the first question, I generally don’t comment on contract negotiations until they are finished. Our focus with Nolan for the most part is making sure we’re all doing our best to get him healthy. He continues to feel better and better. I continue to feel optimistic that he will be a player for us next season. We’ll get to all the other issues at the right time.
I’ve had preliminary conversations with the all the agents for the UFAs on our team. What I’ve kind of indicated to all of them is that I wanted to speak to every team in the league at the end of the season. I wanted to get a sense where our RFAs, what the market will be for them in terms how much of a cost for us to re-sign them. I wanted to give our staff a couple weeks to decompress before we got into our players. We’re still going through the process.
It’s been a real busy few weeks here. Starting to get a feel for what’s available in the market in terms of trades. Starting to get a feel for what RFAs are looking for. Over the next week, we’ll start to address our own UFAs and see if there’s a fit. We’ve had some preliminary conversations with the agents. More importantly with this stage of the offseason, we’ve been doing a lot of due diligence and a lot of homework to assess what we really need to do.
Are you guys going to potentially prioritize your stylistic needs, not positional? You’ve said that you would love to add another goal scorer. Would you prioritize a kind of like a shoot-first sniper-type because of the perceived stylistic need in the organization?
CF: We’ve talked about that every year wherever I’ve been. I guess my philosophy in the first round is the first round is your best opportunity to get a high-skilled player. Skilled can mean different things. Sometimes it’s shooters, hockey-sense, defensemen that can play the power play or move the puck, playmakers, or right-shot centermen. There’s different skillsets that are not always easy to require. The player you draft with your first pick, you like to think has a chance to be a Top 6 forward or a Top 4 D, let’s put it that way. You want to get as much skill as you can get.
You have to go with the best player available off your list. You work so hard on your list. I’ve always told our scouts that I like to pick the first twenty picks in order for sure. I hate when there’s debate at the table in the first round. We should be prepared. We have all year to prepare.
Let’s get our draft together. Let’s spend weeks and weeks beating it up and getting that list. We should know exactly what we are looking at when our pick comes and that allows me to know whether we need to move up or move back. We’ll stick to that philosophy this year. There’s a lot of skilled players available. I’m confident we’ll get a player with a high-level skill with our pick whenever that pick is.
Can you comment on what you saw from Shayne Gostisbehere in this organization and moving forward?
CF: I think it’s pretty well documented and I think Shayne spoke to this at the end of year, I don’t think he felt right for a lot for the year physically. He took the time to correct an issue he had, a lower-body issue that he had. I think when he came back into the bubble, he was skating better than he had all season. He had pop back in his skating stride. He was able to, I thought, cut quicker, turn quicker. He had a little bit more explosiveness, which for Shayne, is critical to his game. I think it was a frustrating season and I don’t think physically he was at the level he wanted to be at until the end.
Shayne’s 27 years old. There’s not many 27 year olds that’s been in the league that have had 60 point seasons. Obviously he hasn’t been at that level for a couple of seasons. I know physically he feels this is the best he’s been in a couple of years. I know he’s looking forward to showing everybody he can get back to the player he was a few seasons ago.
How much of your focus has to be on the RFAs and the potential of them to be poached away from another team by an offer sheet? Is it really just trying to do your due diligence and making sure you’re giving a player a fair enough value?
CF: Offer sheets have always been there. An offer sheet is usually difficult to do. You often have to overpay in terms of dollars or term to get the player. Particularly in a flat cap era, it’s something where you not only have to look at your space for this year, but going forward for several years and what type of precedent does that set on your own team if you are going to go out and give somebody else’s player a big offer. What about your own players that you’ve drafted and developed? It can be difficult in a cap system to run a team that way.
Having said that, there have been some over the years. I’m sure there’s always circumstances where they make sense to consider. Generally speaking, we don’t run our team out of fear. I think we try to do a good job at being fair with our players, recognizing the market and making the appropriate offer. That’s all you can do. You can’t live in fear of what other teams may do. You just have to do what’s right for your team and make the best offer. Hopefully you have a good enough relationship with the player and the agent that you can stay ahead of things like that.
What are your thoughts on Bobby Ryan? Is he someone that you guys might consider? Do you think he will land somewhere next season?
CF: That’s hard to say right now in terms of where he’ll land. What I can tell you that I was in Anaheim when we drafted Bobby. I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a tremendous person. He’s been a very good hockey player in this league. I think his recent battles have been well-documented and clearly he’s worked hard to get himself to a better place. He deserves a tremendous amount of credit for that. He’s a wonderful person. Certainly wish him nothing but the best. It’s hard to say right now what will transpire here over the next week. The season just ended last night for the last two teams.
I must also mention congratulations to Tampa Bay. Tremendous team. Tremendous season. It’s a real credit to them to be able to win to the Cup in that environment after losing in the first round the year before. This is the first day every team is in the offseason. Again, my expectations are there will be lots of dialogue in the next week or two. It should be a fascinating couple weeks for everybody in the industry, players, management, fans. It’s going to be a different offseason than what we are used to. We’re excited about it.
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