Agree.

Imo what hurts the most is the jvr contract and the lack of prospect depth. Two years ago seemed like we had a great pool. Well that pool isn’t what we thought or the hype sold.
- Peter Richards

They've all run into major injury. Flyers couldn't catch a break, so many prospects' development derailed.

When you have a good number of older and aging players who have term, in the current NHL environment. You can't just blow it up. For most of those players you're going to have to take back salary or retain salary or give up high level assets to move them. That sets a team back years. It's probably the best thing to do but if they do that, it makes firing Hextall even more asinine than it already was. Most likely, they'll continue to tweak and retool. Burying the team even further. Like I've often said. Anyone who was expecting Chuck Fletcher to wheel and deal this team to true contender status was kidding themselves.
- MJL

Since you got everyone talking hextall yet again....you can absolutely blow it up. You trade whatever you can for young or picks. Whoever is left that you cant move, you keep them and ride them out as we all know how long it takes for picks to develop. Another 3-4 years, unless its ronnies picks as some of those are taking 5+ years to make a contribution. But it should be able to be done in 3-4 years. Blowing it up doesnt mean changing every single player. Some guys we will have to keep and some we might want to keep.

At the end of it, we could totally rebuild in 3-4 years and still be done before Hextalls plan wouldve been complete.

Ex Selke has to be the lamest negative nicknames I've ever seen. I bet you were one of the Couturier-is-a-3C-at-best clowns five years ago.
- Feanor

Ex selke rules. I have no doubt you were one who envisioned him being the player he has been the last 3/4 years.

None of that changes the fact he should have been traded. 4.5 for one year would have got you a very very ice package.

I would not be surprised if he's playing hurt to keep the streak going. He looked good for two weeks and then all of a sudden he can't skate, or make basic plays with the puck a lot of the time.
- Feanor

more he must be hurt BS

Phuck draft picks. They need NHL players who fit in the timeline of the other young players. If you want picks do it right like Arizona is trying to do. Trade almost anyone.
- hello it's me 2050

BUt wait, think about this for a moment. What timeline? Couts is signed for 8 years. Ellis for 6 more years. Farabee for 6 years. Hayes 5 more years. Anyone you draft now if they are good will be playing at the NHL within 3 years and if they are really good (i.e. you hit on your high picks) will be ready to go in year 1. You still have time to draft and develop a good team within 3 years, and you can augment with good trades and signings because will all the young players playing you have more cap space.

Maybe I am wrong, but Couturier is the one player on this roster I think is not the problem and also can help moving forward with answers. You seem to love to bring him up like he is the problem with this team.
- J35Bacher

Like CC he isn't the problem. He also isn't part of the solution going forward.

Never once said or insinuated he was problem in any way.

Nah, Chuck's MO was always to go after the perfect 200-ft players too. You can see it in who he signed and drafted in MIN. Hayes, Ellis, Risto all fit that mold to some degree.

A GM in 2021 needs to go (frank) it, we're gonna go after dudes like Panarin and Hamilton even tho they aren't complete players. Maybe they aren't even the best teammates or people. But they can flat out (frank)ing play. We're gonna give them the most money, and then fill in the rest of the roster with data-driven value/dollar and some character/experience.

Not... wow, look at this team of 18 Bobby Clarke facsimeles but they're all missing the most important ingredient: elite talent.
- Tomahawk

And Work ethic. Clarke had that hands down. Total team players and a worker. If someone made a shot one one of our players, clarke would be in there like a dirty shirt. We miss that. However it is much better than last year.

BUt wait, think about this for a moment. What timeline? Couts is signed for 8 years. Ellis for 6 more years. Farabee for 6 years. Hayes 5 more years. Anyone you draft now if they are good will be playing at the NHL within 3 years and if they are really good (i.e. you hit on your high picks) will be ready to go in year 1. You still have time to draft and develop a good team within 3 years, and you can augment with good trades and signings because will all the young players playing you have more cap space.
- jd250

When this team is ever good again, Ex selke hayes and Ellis will be fading vets who are overpaid. You may disagree.

imagine thinking an aging ex selke and hayes as your one 2 punch down the middle will be good enough to win a cup in x amount of years.

Since you got everyone talking hextall yet again....you can absolutely blow it up. You trade whatever you can for young or picks. Whoever is left that you cant move, you keep them and ride them out as we all know how long it takes for picks to develop. Another 3-4 years, unless its ronnies picks as some of those are taking 5+ years to make a contribution. But it should be able to be done in 3-4 years. Blowing it up doesnt mean changing every single player. Some guys we will have to keep and some we might want to keep.

At the end of it, we could totally rebuild in 3-4 years and still be done before Hextalls plan wouldve been complete.
- bradster

My suspicious speculation is that Hextall was not allowed to do the full rebuild. There was pressure on him to modify the rebuild by staying competitive at the same time.

In the two decades plus I have followed this team closely, he is the only Flyer's GM who had some semblance of foresight and rationality. The rest were from the... "well, this is not working, so lets try that" mold.

Would his plan have succeeded if I am right and he was allowed to run a worse team and therefore draft higher? Would it have succeeded if was allowed to run out the Jake+Giroux+JVR contracts and hit FA in 2022-23 with 3/4 more top level prospects and 25+ mil to spend?

Gee, I dunno. But I feel we would have been in a far better position than we are in now.

It was a complete overcorrection on his part. You have to ask why Nashville trades a legit top pairing RH defenseman and the best return they can get is Myers and Patrick? Why is that? It's because other teams weren't willing to beat that deal for a 30is injury prone player with 6 years left on his deal.

I'd have rather kept Gostisbehere than trade for Ristolainen.

If a GM Is trading a 1st, 2nd and roster player to swing for the fences. That GM is an idiot. Ristolainen has always been a mediocre player and he continues to be that. If you had a really strong defense, you may be able to hide him and get decent minutes. He is also not the right defenseman for the Flyers needs and for what wins in the NHL. You need defenseman who can defend certainly and win puck battles but you need skating passing and puck moving. The transition game is of utmost importance in today's NHL. With the makeup of the Flyers defense, even with Ellis, Ristolainen is the wrong kind of player. This was a major blunder by the GM.

Atkinson is a player that needs a high level playmaker to play with to score at a high rate. Even with that, his best goal scoring days may be over. He's a better all around player but in this setting, other than some early hot shooting and some plays on the PK. He has not been effective. The Flyers first and foremost miss Voracek's playmaking and puck transition skills. If you make a deal to fill a hole but create a hole. You haven't made a good deal unless you make another deal that fills that. The gamble on Yandle has not paid off.

Brassard is looking to be a decent deal as hopefully he can help the 4th line.
- MJL

To say Atkinson has not been effective and that we are missing Voracek out there is an absolute joke. You’re funny!!

My suspicious speculation is that Hextall was not allowed to do the full rebuild. There was pressure on him to modify the rebuild by staying competitive at the same time.

In the two decades plus I have followed this team closely, he is the only Flyer's GM who had some semblance of foresight and rationality. The rest were from the... "well, this is not working, so lets try that" mold.

Would his plan have succeeded if I am right and he was allowed to run a worse team and therefore draft higher? Would it have succeeded if was allowed to run out the Jake+Giroux+JVR contracts and hit FA in 2022-23 with 3/4 more top level prospects and 25+ mil to spend?

Gee, I dunno. But I feel we would have been in a far better position than we are in now.
- PT21

My speculation is upper management got frustrated by his half baked rebuild. Wanting to draft and develop and the signing of JVR, while trading schenn, but not wanting to be bad enough for good picks. it was a wishy washy rebuild. Youre either all in or you arent. And throw in his management style which went against everything that Snider stood for, the writing was on the wall.

My speculation is upper management got frustrated by his half baked rebuild. Wanting to draft and develop and the signing of JVR, while trading schenn, but not wanting to be bad enough for good picks. it was a wishy washy rebuild. Youre either all in or you arent. And throw in his management style which went against everything that Snider stood for, the writing was on the wall.
- bradster

I wonder if he was tyrant when Snider was alive? When did become jerkoff and have spies?

My suspicious speculation is that Hextall was not allowed to do the full rebuild. There was pressure on him to modify the rebuild by staying competitive at the same time.

In the two decades plus I have followed this team closely, he is the only Flyer's GM who had some semblance of foresight and rationality. The rest were from the... "well, this is not working, so lets try that" mold.

Would his plan have succeeded if I am right and he was allowed to run a worse team and therefore draft higher? Would it have succeeded if was allowed to run out the Jake+Giroux+JVR contracts and hit FA in 2022-23 with 3/4 more top level prospects and 25+ mil to spend?

Gee, I dunno. But I feel we would have been in a far better position than we are in now.
- PT21

I think a contributing issue was that no one wanted to admit to losing. That was not the Flyers way and the founder had just past...win one for the gipper type mentality. Ron knew what he had to do and he wasn't allowed to. So he was secretive because no one believed in the tank he needed and he was soo close to getting it, then he had to "bias for action" and signed JVR and I think that was the beginning of the end for him...

I am not sure how fast Malkin will be gone, but you know Ron learned from this and he will start shedding as soon as he can

I wonder if he was tyrant when Snider was alive? When did become jerkoff and have spies?
- hello it's me 2050

It was the whole time he was here from what i understand. Snider may not have been around, but the flyers definitely wanted to keep that family culture

I think a contributing issue was that no one wanted to admit to losing. That was not the Flyers way and the founder had just past...win one for the gipper type mentality. Ron knew what he had to do and he wasn't allowed to. So he was secretive because no one believed in the tank he needed and he was soo close to getting it, then he had to "bias for action" and signed JVR and I think that was the beginning of the end for him...

I am not sure how fast Malkin will be gone, but you know Ron learned from this and he will start shedding as soon as he can
- JW98FlyerFan

Itll be interesting what they do with malkin and letang. Pretty sure their contracts are up. Cant trade them if you want to make noise in the playoffs.

I think a contributing issue was that no one wanted to admit to losing. That was not the Flyers way and the founder had just past...win one for the gipper type mentality. Ron knew what he had to do and he wasn't allowed to. So he was secretive because no one believed in the tank he needed and he was soo close to getting it, then he had to "bias for action" and signed JVR and I think that was the beginning of the end for him...

I am not sure how fast Malkin will be gone, but you know Ron learned from this and he will start shedding as soon as he can
- JW98FlyerFan

Saint Ronnie will need permission to move Malkin or letang. No way he moves them without Burke and Whineo on board.

My speculation is upper management got frustrated by his half baked rebuild. Wanting to draft and develop and the signing of JVR, while trading schenn, but not wanting to be bad enough for good picks. it was a wishy washy rebuild. Youre either all in or you arent. And throw in his management style which went against everything that Snider stood for, the writing was on the wall.
- bradster

You may well be right. But who imposed the half-baked part of it? From what I read, he (Hexy) was heavily influenced by the way the King's put their team together. And the King's drafted high before they started their period of contention.

I wonder why he thought he could draft mid-round and be successful when no one ever has been successful with that strategy. Was it hubris? Or was it him realizing the Flyers organization would never give him more rope, and he was just trying to string them along and hope to get a few more years of drafting out of them than he did?

When this team is ever good again, Ex selke hayes and Ellis will be fading vets who are overpaid. You may disagree.

imagine thinking an aging ex selke and hayes as your one 2 punch down the middle will be good enough to win a cup in x amount of years.
- hello it's me 2050

Right now I know it does not look good, Hayes is coming back from two core surgeries and Couts is not playing well. But back in 2019 when Hayes first joined the team, these guys were an awesome 1 - 2 punch down the middle. If they can get back to that level (which I am confident they will if healthy) I think we can win in the future if we augment them with the right skill set and speed.

You may well be right. But who imposed the half-baked part of it? From what I read, he (Hexy) was heavily influenced by the way the King's put their team together. And the King's drafted high before they started their period of contention.

I wonder why he thought he could draft mid-round and be successful when no one ever has been successful with that strategy. Was it hubris? Or was it him realizing the Flyers organization would never give him more rope, and he was just trying to string them along and hope to get a few more years of drafting out of them than he did?
- PT21

that is easy, he thought he was the smartest guy in the room.

Right now I know it does not look good, Hayes is coming back from two core surgeries and Couts is not playing well. But back in 2019 when Hayes first joined the team, these guys were an awesome 1 - 2 punch down the middle. If they can get back to that level (which I am confident they will if healthy) I think we can win in the future if we augment them with the right skill set and speed.
- jd250

This is where we completely disagree.

You may well be right. But who imposed the half-baked part of it? From what I read, he (Hexy) was heavily influenced by the way the King's put their team together. And the King's drafted high before they started their period of contention.

I wonder why he thought he could draft mid-round and be successful when no one ever has been successful with that strategy. Was it hubris? Or was it him realizing the Flyers organization would never give him more rope, and he was just trying to string them along and hope to get a few more years of drafting out of them than he did?
- PT21

Or he just thought he could successful doing that. Thought his picks wouldve been better than they turned out also.

Saint Ronnie will need permission to move Malkin or letang. No way he moves them without Burke and Whineo on board.
- hello it's me 2050

Cant see those guys letting him move them, then you let them walk for nothing? Tough spot. Maybe bring them back for less money and try and trade at the deadline next year?? I have no idea

Cant see those guys letting him move them, then you let them walk for nothing? Tough spot. Maybe bring them back for less money and try and trade at the deadline next year?? I have no idea
- bradster

If anything, you trade their rights. The key will be how close or far from a playoff spot are they? There is no reason you need to resign either of them. That would be a Flyers move and completely handcuff them.

They've all run into major injury. Flyers couldn't catch a break, so many prospects' development derailed.
- Tomahawk

This is really true, Patrick, Laberge, Allison, Laczynski, Frost, now Foerster to name a few. Just really bad luck!

If anything, you trade their rights. The key will be how close or far from a playoff spot are they? There is no reason you need to resign either of them. That would be a Flyers move and completely handcuff them.
- JW98FlyerFan

I agree, but cant see syd wanting them to pack it in. He is more likely to want them to sign someone.......Risto lol?