Speculation: Do you believe In Chuck?

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

GMs get all the praise and blame, but really they're just one cog in the wheel. The Flyers as an organization hasn't fundamentally changed in decades. Like, who the **** is Barry Hanrahan? I don't know, but he's been the Assistant GM since 2005. Paul Holmgren was team president up until last season and he and Bobby Clarke still have Dave Scott's ear as senior advisors. Goaltending has been a disaster for years, but Kim Dillabaugh isn't held accountable. The list goes on.

It's more than fair to judge Cuck on his hirings, however. AV obviously sucks, but who else? I notice he hired Nick Schultz and Chris Stewart as development coaches despite them having no experience in that role. What are their qualifications? They played for the Wild. So yeah... **** that.

loyalty above all else. Been that way ever since I can remember. It’s why this organization will always be a step behind

 

[Rodu58]

so far his draft looks to have been decent, but meh I'm not to keen on him

 

[deadhead]

I think being a GM is like being a doctor: "First, do no harm."
Fans are biased toward action, because it's exciting, but it often leads to bad mistakes.
A good GM should be boring, waiting for the right move instead of falling prey to "don't just stand there, do something."

 

[renberg]

DH makes some good points in his post above. So far Fletcher has not moved out any of the young talent that is on the club. He may have to do that if he wants a top defenseman to pair with Provorov. So that could get ugly depending on who he acquires. Additionally he has not done anything that would hurt the team going forward concerning the ED. Acquiring Ekholm, Ellis or an equivalent at this time would make a mess for the ED. Best to go 7-3-1 and protect Provorov, Sanheim and Myers.
My greatest concern with Fletcher at this point is figuring out who is the dominant factor in the GM/HC pairing. Right now, vis a vis the Gostisbehere situation, it looks too much as if AV has too much influence. Fletcher needs to flex his control here. AV's history of working with young players is not the best. With the regression of the under 25 year old bunch, this season has shown that his old school methods with the young guys has not been successful. If Vigneault can't work with young players, he needs to be out from behind the bench. Fletcher has to lay down the law on this. No trading away young talent to acquire mediocre vets in order to save AV's job.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Yep. Gudas for Niskanen in his first offseason as Flyers GM wasn’t shrewd at all. Neither was the trade down his first Flyers draft to nab York & Brink.

Legit, I don't think Gudas for Niskanen can be seen as a brilliant move. It certainly worked out better than we had expected, but he may have been saved by Niskanen retiring (ironic since he was left out to dry to to that happening).

At the time, I think many thought Gudas for Niskanen was a bad move considering the increase in salary and Gudas had similar output (and 1 less year on their deal). Niskanen certainly outperformed Gudas by a lot last year, but then died like a died like a sad fish in the playoffs. If he came back all fish-like again, it'd be hard to call it a win...but we'll never know I suppose. Certainly not a long-term help.

Braun he probably overpaid for.

And I'm not going to hype up draft picks until they start playing. It seemed like a good deal at the time, but if they're mediocre and a dude like Caufield ends up being able to score in the NHL - then it wasn't a great trade.

Basically, the jury is out on Fletch but I don't like the job he's done yet. He could win me over yet.

 

[Henry Miller]

I wasn’t happy with him sitting on his hands the past offseason but I understood it.With the expansion draft looming he was hoping Sanheim or Myers would step in place of Niskanen.He definitely has his work cut out this offseason

 

[deadhead]

When you hire someone with AV's resume, with that contract, he's going to have a lot of pull, same with Trotz, Q, Torts, Lavi, etc.
That's the price to pay when you hire an established HC.
It's not in Fletcher's power to fire AV, that's Scott's decision, because it's a financial (eat $15M) as much as a hockey move.

What will be interesting is if Fletcher and Scott agree that AV gets one more year to turn it around, but he has to bring in younger assistant coaches who aren't his drinking buddies.

 

[Curufinwe]

Even if Niskanen was crap like he was in the bubble, the defense would have been better than what we have seen in March. It also would have meant no room on the roster for Braun ($1.8m) and Gus ($3m).

Giroux wasn't good in the bubble, but has been great in 2021. So if Niskanen had the motivation to come back, I think he could have been more like his 19-20 regular season self.

 

[deadhead]

The last two seasons have been so weird that I'd be researching players who've had off seasons and see if it looks like a permanent decline or just a COVID fluke (access to training facilities, family members vulnerable to COVID, etc). Could be some real bargains available this summer in FA.

 

[Garbage Goal]

In all likelihood he was gonna be mediocre when we hired him for a mediocre team and franchise. He’s proving to be very mediocre.

So, yes, stop wasting time and fire him. Could’ve just not hired him.

 

[Flyer lurker]