Any chance Comcast hired Hilferty to take an objective look at this mess and he’ll be the one deciding if Scott and Fletcher remain in their positions?

MJL, buddy, bro, brosef... I saw some of your responses in the previous blog and I wanted to address them. Partially because they were in response to things I have said.

He scored at a near 30 goal 70 point level for four straight seasons before his injury. The injury is what caused the decline.

1. "On pace" doesn't mean anything to anyone in hockey.
2. I don't know what seasons you're looking at, is it the 14 goals in 66 games? (the year right before he hit 31) Are you looking at 2020 shortened season of 69 games due to covid and he scored 22? In both of these if we prorate him he would about 17 goals and 26.3 goals respectively. He is not a scorer and this "on pace" would be incorrect. You're wrong about the facts of "four straight seasons". Oh and he wouldn't have hit 70 points in the 14 goal season as you've also suggested. He had 34 in 66 games.

Fans can't read the tea leaves. The market dried up. There were too many other better players available. JVR was at the bottom of the list for offensive forward rentals. The entire league is cap strapped. Cap capital was used up. Teams weren't willing to maneuver to add JVR or the Flyers had to take a bad contract back. Which is Fletcher vetoed that, I'm in agreement with him.

You're kind of backtracking here. A few days ago I suggested that CF had overplayed his hand and you rightfully told me the deadline hadn't come yet and that JVR would be a guy teams would go for once others came off the board. You've also claimed there was no market for him in previous posts but in this one you tell me "it dried up". How can there be no market but also have one enough to dry up?

CF screwed the pooch on this one and you've been wrong about it. JVR had value. CF overplayed his hand holding out for a better deal and he was left with no dance partner because of it. The writing was on the wall that GMs wanted to get their work done early this year and he likely could have moved him for something. You tell me how valuable "Gustav Rydahl" is to the Avalanche or "Scott Reedy" to Dallas.

Every outlet, every media member speaking about the flyers think he misplayed this. There's no getting around it and I am positive JVR has value in the league. A GM missing the playoffs can't afford to let assets goto free agency for nothing, even if it's an 8th round pick as Bruce Boudreau said. See that? A bonafide head coach in the NHL thinks ANYTHING is of more value than letting a UFA walk for nothing.

It’s not just the GM that needs to be on the hot seat, but all the management including Holmgren and Scott. The dysfunction of the last decade, but particularly in the last 5 years is systemic and transcends multiple coaches and GMs at this point. Time to clean house.

Bill,

I think it’s fair to say the fans and STHs simply view the JVR failure yesterday as the final straw in a series of missteps, bad trades, failed prospect development, and essentially reinforcing the idea that the Flyers are now irrelevant. What’s your sense from the organization and the people heavily involved with the Flyers (IE alumni, the beat writers, players) as far as whether there is any real confidence in the Dave Scott and Chuck Fletcher, and by extension guys like Danny Briere? Thanks.
- mikeyo27

There is frustration in many directions, is how I would put it.

There is frustration in many directions, is how I would put it.
- bmeltzer

They have a couple months to sort it out until the draft. Hopefully they do!

Bill Meltzer: Quick Hits: Flyers Unable to Move JVR at Trade Deadline
- bmeltzer

Bill red the wings had the cap space to take on JVR. I ddnt look so do not know if true. If so that really doesn't jive from a cap perspective.

Bottom line to m e s in the last 10 days he had a chance to deal JVR 100%. He held out overplayed his hand then got caught holding the bag.

Wonder ho JVR feeslsabout his GM saying no on wanted him....

How (frank)ing dare anyone out there make fun of Chuck Fletcher after all he has been through.!

He lost Ellis, Atkinson and Couturier because of injuries, he went through an expansion draft, he was forced to trade MacEwen because of his conservative podcast.

His coach turned out to be anti technology , an abuser, and now he's going through a custody battle. All you people care about is... readers and making money off of him.

HE'S A HUMAN! (ah! ooh!) What you don't realize is that Chuck made the Flyers the 5th most improved team and all you do is write a bunch of crap about him.

He hasn't performed on ice in years. His song is called "Give Me More" for a reason because all you people want is MORE! MORE-MORE, MORE: MORE!.

LEAVE HIM ALONE! You are lucky he even signed Ristolainen for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE CHUCK ALONE!...Please.

There is frustration in many directions, is how I would put it.
- bmeltzer

Being frustrated with the situation doesn’t imply that they understand how bad the situation is for them.

They have a couple months to sort it out until the draft. Hopefully they do!
- Aaron_85

Bless your heart

There is frustration in many directions, is how I would put it.
- bmeltzer

Thanks Bill

Bless your heart
- Shrike

Hey man gotta be positive. If Bill is saying there's a lot of frustration then my random guess is CF not making any deals for the UFA's for ANYTHING really ticked off a lot of people.

How (frank)ing dare anyone out there make fun of Chuck Fletcher after all he has been through.!

He lost Ellis, Atkinson and Couturier because of injuries, he went through an expansion draft, he was forced to trade MacEwen because of his conservative podcast.

His coach turned out to be anti technology , an abuser, and now he's going through a custody battle. All you people care about is... readers and making money off of him.

HE'S A HUMAN! (ah! ooh!) What you don't realize is that Chuck made the Flyers the 5th most improved team and all you do is write a bunch of crap about him.

He hasn't performed on ice in years. His song is called "Give Me More" for a reason because all you people want is MORE! MORE-MORE, MORE: MORE!.

LEAVE HIM ALONE! You are lucky he even signed Ristolainen for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE CHUCK ALONE!...Please.
- Streit2ThePoint

This must be Chuck's burner account on HB.

Chuck will be back 100% for another year as things stand today. Then he will hand it off to Danny boy.

Being frustrated with the situation doesn’t imply that they understand how bad the situation is for them.
- Shrike

The reality is Bill, as a reporter needs to be careful and protective of off the record convos. He cannot betray any sources and his response was enough to get the message through. It’s logical that we can infer a high degree of frustration with those on the inside.

How (frank)ing dare anyone out there make fun of Chuck Fletcher after all he has been through.!

He lost Ellis, Atkinson and Couturier because of injuries, he went through an expansion draft, he was forced to trade MacEwen because of his conservative podcast.

His coach turned out to be anti technology , an abuser, and now he's going through a custody battle. All you people care about is... readers and making money off of him.

HE'S A HUMAN! (ah! ooh!) What you don't realize is that Chuck made the Flyers the 5th most improved team and all you do is write a bunch of crap about him.

He hasn't performed on ice in years. His song is called "Give Me More" for a reason because all you people want is MORE! MORE-MORE, MORE: MORE!.

LEAVE HIM ALONE! You are lucky he even signed Ristolainen for you BASTARDS!
LEAVE CHUCK ALONE!...Please.
- Streit2ThePoint

???

That's ok keep JVR for the playoff push.

Hey man gotta be positive. If Bill is saying there's a lot of frustration then my random guess is CF not making any deals for the UFA's for ANYTHING really ticked off a lot of people.
- Aaron_85

Good luck with that

In a deep, deep draft filled with first round players well into the second round our rebuilding team only has one draft pick. Just one.
This was the draft to try to turn things around and the feltch traded away our second rounder... and for what?
Holy poop this is pathetic
During no season before this one have I not tuned in to watch a flyers game.
Its hard to even be a fan when you watch this thing burn to the ground before our eyes

IMO the calling card of this organization’s struggles over the past decade or so has been always having too many “bad contracts” on the roster at the same time. A bad contract being any one where the player’s overall contribution to the team doesn’t match their paycheck. I realize that every team has bad contracts. But in the flyers case, this issue is compounded by the fact that their bad contracts have often been their largest contracts in terms of AAV. If a guy with a $3M or $4M AAV is a bad contract, that impact can be more easily absorbed than say a $7M bad contract. A team constantly having high-priced under performing players severely hamstrings their ability to improve.
My point of this post is not to revisit the bad contracts of the past. What’s done is done. But looking at next season, I believe the flyers roster as it currently stands has the potential to be an all-time bad contract squad.
Couts $7.75M
Hayes $7.143M
Cam $5.875M
Travis $6.25M
Risto $5.1M
Tony D $5M

That’s over $37M in those 6 players. I don’t understand how Scott or any other executive could look that and not realize that major changes are needed.

Yeah, no one was in a rush to hire Hextall and he already has one foot out the door in Pittsburgh. If it was up to their blogger he would already be gone. This is why the Flyers suck so bad. Their last three GM's have essentially sucked (the end of Homer's tenure included).
- Phillywhiteout

You seem to place a lot of value on what the Pens blogger says. He's not a smart hockey guy.

You seem to place a lot of value on what the Pens blogger says. He's not a smart hockey guy.
- MJL

Cant talk bad about the Saint. What do you disagree with in his critique of Saint Ronnie?

How would you grade Ronalds performance for the pens at this deadline?

Would you hire the Saint back as a senior advisor once he is fired in a few months?

Lets discuss what teams made moves that shouldn't have, according to you.

[quote=PLindbergh31]So let's analyze what Fletcher accomplished after announcing the Flyers were sellers.

Did he acquire future draft picks to improve the team?
Did he acquire young players to build a core?
Was he able to move contracts?
Was he able to gain cap space?
Was he able to trade the chip he had on an expiring contract?

So the retool was an abject failure. The rebuild is off to a rousing start.

Fletcher is an incompetent used car salesman. Ownership are clueless laughing stocks. There isn't a team in the NHL with less direction than this pathetic franchise.


This is 100% all correct. The fact that they didn’t use those avenues to improve this team going forward, is totally pathetic. Putting all the eggs in the basket of the draft lottery is just bad management. As I feel at this point, with the hefty contracts dolled out recently, it will be very hard to obtain younger talent this summer.
Having said that, I want no part of Fletcher, Clarke, Homer, Scott or whoever is left up there, guiding this team into the summer and certainly no part of the draft decisions.
Please someone, step in and clean this house out or just sell the team.

I’m not sticking up for Chuck, not at all, but my god, it’s not like we were trying to trade lindros all over again to the rangers!!! It’s JVR!!! He’s a rental player that would have gotten a third round pick at best!! Keep perspective here. He’s gone after the season and it frees up a good chunk of money. Yes, the pick would have been an asset but honestly, I really don’t want Chuck making any more deals, not one! Let the next GM make those decisions.

There is frustration in many directions, is how I would put it.
- bmeltzer

Bill, you are leaving a lot of nuance just hanging there.
Well done sir

Bill any potential flyers deals that were discussed that obviously didn't happen that you can share?

Fyers show any interest in any player that they may revisit?