GDT: Free Agent Frenzy - July 13th

[Sombastate]

Who else remembers when Fletcher traded Leddy for famous bust Cam Barker? That dastardly Dave Scott must have ordered it.

Dastardly is an underused word.

Keep up the good work

 

[mja]

Or conversely, if you're gonna do that, since you're playing so many guys on ELCs, keep Ghost and trade him this summer with one year left (though why aren't there rumors out of Zona?), don't sign Gaudreau, use that cap room to retain half on JVR and garner some assets. Now you're young and bad, with lots of picks and cap room.

That is, if you're gonna suck, be young and rich.

I don't disagree at all, but for the purposes of that post, the point is the Flyers could have had both Gaudreau and a slew of early draft picks, effectively in exchange for Laughton and one of Risto or TDA along with slightly shrewder asset-management from Chuck.

 

[Lord Defect]

I see you've come back from the ledge. You were almost there, you were almost getting it! But no. You continue to be the victim trapped in an abusive relationship who keeps making excuses for their abuser.

I'm very much on the record as wanting to ride JVR's contract out this year, and if we can move him with retention at the deadline, then great, and also that alas we're not in the right spot (thanks a ton, Chuck) to sign Gaudreau to a big deal. So ultimately, that part of all of this is probably for the best.

But this is an unmitigated disaster. They have no plan. They're just throwing shit at a wall and hoping it sticks. They have absurd amounts of money tied up in older middling players with term. They have some young talent but are incapable of living with the ups and downs that comes with the territory because they're trying to win now, and respond by overloading the roster with plugs with term. They have no cap space and have traded away a shit ton of draft picks with Chuck at the helm. In other words, they've decided to move forward with the worst of all possible options.

You know how they could have freed up cap for Gaudreau and have it be a good fit? Trade Laughton for Colorado's 1st instead of extending him, and slide in an ELC in his spot. 2.1M saved, an extra first to play with, and a young guy gets a chance to develop. Keep Ghost and pass on Risto. 600K saved, and holding onto a 1st, 2 2nds, and a 7th. Move Robert Hagg for a pick and slide in a guy on an ELC in his spot. An extra mid-round pick to play with. Pass on DeAngelo and a 7th, slide in a guy on an ELC. 4.2M saved, and holding onto a 2nd, a 3rd, and a 4th, and a young guy gets a chance to develop. Keep NAK, pass on Deslauriers. 800K saved and we're not committed to a 31 year old goon for the next 4 years. Finally, bridge either Provorov and/or Farabee. At least an extra 2M in cap space to play with. Voila!

So, we could have had this:
Gaudreau, Ghost, NAK, 2 firsts, 3 2nds, a 3rd, a 4th, another mid round pick, and possibly some extra cap space.

But instead Chuck did this:
Laughton, Ristolainen, DeAngelo, Deslauriers. And we're capped out.

With Giroux’s contract, I’d have to believe he would have taken a discount to come back here. A little bit of finagling and we could still have him as well.

 

[Tripod]

Didn’t you support tanking?

And weren’t you against trading a 1st rd pick to dump JVR?

So I don’t even know your argument. They should tank, but also should give up a 1st to dump JVR so they can sign Gaudreau?

Inconsistent stances. Choose one. Right now you’re only choosing complain.

Never have supported tanking. We have way too many contracts locked in to rebuild. If rebuild was the direction, they you don't re-sign Laughton, Couts, trade for a longer contract in Atkinson, trade Ghost, etc...

That DOESN'T mean we have to make shit move after shit move. We gave up a 1st and 2nd for Risto(not to mention Ghost +2nd for the cap space)....but would not give a 1st+ JVR for JG? That's so f***ed up.

It's quite clear to most that Fletch has no idea what he is doing. Yet you still think he is a good GM. That's being a contrarion or just a troll.

 

[TCTC]

It is odd how Fletcher's now putting so much emphasis on the value of draft picks after basically throwing them away last summer. You don't trade a 1st for Ristolainen and then refuse to trade a 1st to sign Gaudreau. What's the plan? Do we want to compete or do we want to rebuild? We tried doing both at the same time with Hextall and it was a failure. We really don't have to try that again.

 

[Don Nachbaur 26]

By nature, I'm a very optomistic person. I see the good in most things. Last offseason, I was like, "OK, I can see it through the smoke. There is some talent here. While not the best, it's certainly not the worst." Not this season. Not a semblance of anything good.

This offseason, I'm going to still visit here, but may start hanging out with the Kings. I'm 45 years old and have been following the Flyers since 1985. For the first time in my life, I don't give a shit about this team.

 

[FlyerFaithful17]

By nature, I'm a very optomistic person. I see the good in most things. Last offseason, I was like, "OK, I can see it through the smoke. There is some talent here. While not the best, it's certainly not the worst." Not this season. Not a semblance of anything good.

This offseason, I'm going to still visit here, but may start hanging out with the Kings. I'm 45 years old and have been following the Flyers since 1985. For the first time in my life, I don't give a shit about this team.

Bingo. Last year I tried to spin Fletcher’s moves as a positive in my mind (and truly loved the Ellis deal). I’m not sure how any Flyers fan can feeling anything positive towards this team right now. They got an outdated goon and brought back Braun, and had to buy out Oskar to do it. I crawled out of hibernation to vent a little with you all. Back to hibernation for me. This team is dead. They got worse in terms of character and talent.

 

[Rebels57]

It is odd how Fletcher's now putting so much emphasis on the value of draft picks after basically throwing them away last summer. You don't trade a 1st for Ristolainen and then refuse to trade a 1st to sign Gaudreau. What's the plan? Do we want to compete or do we want to rebuild? We tried doing both at the same time with Hextall and it was a failure. We really don't have to try that again.

Last summer? He just moved 3 last week for Racist DBag version of Ghost.

 

[Lindberg]

The problem is the players and their contracts not the management who signed them. -deadhead

 

[wankstifier]

Zadorov and Gudbranson were signed to bad deals. Still a lot more palatable than the Ristolainen contract. If Fletcher had let Ristolainen test the market, he might’ve saved a year in term and $1MM+ in AAV.

 

[TCTC]

Last summer? He just moved 3 last week for Racist DBag version of Ghost.

Yeah, I'm already in denial mode it seems.

In general I'm ok with being aggressive and spending draft picks on actual players. But he has to be consistent. This was our biggest opportunity to sign a true star player and Fletcher blew it.

 

[Lindberg]

For as much shit as I give NHL coaches, at least their job is hard. They have to motivate players and manage personalities. They’re the ones that have to answer media questions no matter how shitty something went.

You can keep an NHL front office gig for decades simply by eating your own face off less than 80% of the time. And if you cross the 80% line, that just means you’re a Senior Advisor now.

Untrue. The Flyers organization will spit in your face once you leave to avoid blame. (Hextall)

 

[Tripod]

Reality is, we have no idea what our playears REAL value are because Chuck is such an awful negotiator AND decision maker. We just had 3 examples the last 2 days:

Not willing to trade a 1st to get JG long term, but no issue doing it for 1 guaranteed year of Risto
Buying out Oskar, he signs for almost the same amount and had multiple suitors.
Signing Deslauriers for 4 years...christ

Again, 2 days ago we had no free agents with tge possibility to make the team better in free agency. Somehow, made the team worse using more cap space. Par for the course for Chuckles.

 

[Curufinwe]

Imagine if Ed was around to see what happened today.

He was around when they signed useless goon Jody Shelley.

 

[SuchySays]

Cannot believe that happened yesterday. Chuck should be tar and feathered

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Zadorov and Gudbranson were signed to bad deals. Still a lot more palatable than the Ristolainen contract. If Fletcher had let Ristolainen test the market, he might’ve saved a year in term and $1MM+ in AAV.

Or… he could have traded Risto acquired a half decent package and then pursued him in the open market and if he got him he got him, if he didn’t he didn’t.

Sadly Paul Holmgren put a gun to Fletcher’s head at the TDL and made him sign him.

 

[FLYguy3911]

I can't believe Johnny left all that money on the table to end up in Columbus. He had to have read the market wrong there. Or put blind faith into Chuck Fletcher which never ends well.

 

[Icedog2735]

By nature, I'm a very optomistic person. I see the good in most things. Last offseason, I was like, "OK, I can see it through the smoke. There is some talent here. While not the best, it's certainly not the worst." Not this season. Not a semblance of anything good.

This offseason, I'm going to still visit here, but may start hanging out with the Kings. I'm 45 years old and have been following the Flyers since 1985. For the first time in my life, I don't give a shit about this team.

This is where I'm at. Fan of this team for nearly 40 years, fan of all aspects of the sport for just as long. I LOVE hockey, but can honestly say for the first time in my life that this team needs to win me back. I can deal with bad years (early 90s, 2007, etc.), falling short of expectations (2000, all the Lindros years really, etc.), but to have people leading the franchise with such ineptitude, lack of vision, and mismanagement and then having the audacity to get in front of a microphone with a holier than thou attitude and flat out lie to the fan base is disgusting. I do not work in professional hockey and can certainly deal with my team having a different plan for success apart from one that I think would work (I would like to believe that those who have these jobs have expertise in what they are doing) ... so long as it leads to success. There is nothing to suggest that the Flyers are on any path to success for the foreseeable future. This franchise has not known how to build a roster under the constraints of a salary cap since it was implemented nearly 2 decades ago and are still being lead by a group of men trying to acquire pieces that would have helped us win the 1987 Final vs the Oilers, let alone be competitive with the Colorados and Tampa Bays of the league.

I wish there was a way for the everyday, loyal fan to get their feelings across to ownership. I don't subscribe to the "well just don't spend money on them and they will get the point" because these are multi-m(b)illion dollar organizations and I just think they will always find money or make a profit somewhere. Dave Scott, Chuck Fletcher, etc. are not making less on their salary because they are icing a shitty roster next year. I understand that it could lead to them losing their jobs, but ineptitude has not caused anyone to lose their job in the upper echelon of this organization over the last 20 years.

I love hockey; I love the Flyers; I'm too old to get overly emotional about this move and that move, but that being said, I think I speak for more than just myself when I say that this franchise needs to take a hard look in the mirror, from the tip top on down, and figure out ways to make us fans want to care about this team again.

 

[Bigkarl]

Fair enough but I am thrilled we didn't step into that mess......now we just need to get rid of some of the management and go from there.....I know it isn't fun to be bad but this upcoming year could be a turn around for us with the draft....I feel much better today then yesterday when I was apprehensive about us signing a stupid contract for Johnny.....this is a win for us today .... in the long run.....

I think you might be misinterpreting the sentiment here. Most of us are also thrilled he didn’t sign here, and the way in which it all blew up in Chuck’s face is perfect.

It’s really been a perfect offseason so far. Knowledgeable fans have been proven right all this time, authentic fans and media now see how completely incompetent management is, even the national media is ragging on them, and we have a bottom 5 roster.

 

[Danko]

Chuck fletcher is a lying sack of shit.

 

[BiggE]

Imagine the boos that rain down on this stellar opening night lineup

JVR-Couts-TK
Laughton-Aardvark-Cam
Cates-Frost-Tomato
Lacyzinski-Brown-Goon

Provy-Racist
Sanheim-Fisto
York-Braun

Hart
AHL goalie

Healthy scratches: Seeler, Mac, Ratcliffe
IR: Allison (as usual), Sandstrom (as usual), Farabee
Dead: Ellis

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

I can't believe Johnny left all that money on the table to end up in Columbus. He had to have read the market wrong there. Or put blind faith into Chuck Fletcher which never ends well.

Sure smells like something was up.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Supposedly his wife was against NY area and they held out hoping Chuck would do something.

I guess she was really adamantly against NY.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

No one should feel guilty about not wanting to follow this shitshow. Find whatever hockey you enjoy. It's supposed to be fun.

Untrue. The Flyers organization will spit in your face once you leave to avoid blame. (Hextall)

Sometimes you have to move to a different fiefdom, but you'll still be collecting arbitrary taxes on the hopes and dreams of some poor fanbase. These unkillable wraiths wander from city-state to city-state, cracking open your bones and replacing the marrow with congealed platitudes like "harder to play against" whispered out of the corners of their creepy mouths.

There are plenty of traditional hockey people that still want to get better. Most of those names we'll never hear, but they're the ones that should be celebrated when these teams win Cups. They pushed the league forward at massive personal risk knowing that less than 1 percent of 1 percent of hockey fans will ever know who they were. They're not making 7 figures either. They're probably driving to a rink in Brampton in a rental car with torn cloth seats right now.

You want to lose all hope for this sport? Go talk to an NHL front office member and then do the same thing for MLB. It got to the point where there were so many people doing good public quantitative work that weren't getting hired that baseball started hiring them instead. Manny Perry had 4 or 5 major hockey projects that should have written his ticket into any NHL org he wanted. He finally gave up, made a baseball model with a full-on shitposting name (Big Boomers and something or other), and had an MLB job in less than a year.

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

Sure smells like something was up.

It almost seems like he was waiting on Flyers and got burned.