Philadelphia Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher paused and pondered the question for a moment.
How would he describe the 2020-21 Flyers season in one word?
“I will use two words: poor defensively,’’ he said.
There’s no possible argument to that. It’s as plain as day.
“We finished 31st in the league in goals against and 31st in the league in save percentage,” said Fletcher. “You have no chance to be successful giving up the number of chances and the number of goals that we did this year.’’
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It was shocking in many ways. After all, the Flyers had the seventh-best defensive record in the league a year ago.
A team that many had pegged to challenge for the East Division title going into this pandemic season, ended up as one of the NHL’s most surprising disappointments.
“We didn’t perform to our expectations,’’ Fletcher continued in an interview this week with The Athletic.
In fact, Fletcher felt something was off even when the team got off to an 11-4-3 start.
“I don’t think our record was representative of our play,’’ he says now looking back. “We weren’t playing as an 11-4-3 team; we were finding ways to win games, which was great, but our process was off all year.’’
To which the question must be asked even if I didn’t believe it to be any other answer than the one Fletcher gave. But because there were a few murmurs around the league wondering, I asked: is head coach Alain Vigneault safe as head coach?
“Absolutely. AV’s our coach and we’re excited to have he and his staff back next season,’’ Fletcher said without any hesitation.
“We have a lot of work ahead of us to redefine our defensive game and our defensive structure. I can’t think of a better group to do it than the group of experienced coaches that we have behind our bench right now.’’
Which is the right answer. This is still the same Vigneault who worked wonders a year ago and has a track record in his career of being one of the best defensive minds in the game.
You don’t throw that overboard after one brutal season.
The loss of top-four blue-liner Matt Niskanen to a surprise retirement after last season was a blow that the Flyers never recovered from.
“I did a poor job of filling that void,” said Fletcher, who scoured the trade and free-agent market trying to find a top-4 D last fall. “It wasn’t for a lack of trying, but we didn’t do what we needed to do. And that falls on me.’’
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The Flyers’ young blue line corps faltered. In fact, almost every player not named Joel Farabee struggled this season. Which, well, is a bit alarming.
“The majority of our young players either plateaued or regressed this season,” said Fletcher. “But I put our team in a tough position by asking too much of our young players. It starts with me, I have to do a better job.’’
And believe me, this sounds like a veteran GM determined to make this offseason count. The Flyers are going to be players in what should be a very busy offseason overall with the Seattle expansion draft.
I could see the Flyers looking into Jack Eichel, for example. I could also see them reaching out to Nashville and inquiring yet again on either Mattias Ekholm or Ryan Ellis.
And certainly, if for whatever reason the Blue Jackets aren’t able to extend Seth Jones, you can bet the Flyers will be all over that situation.
A busy offseason is ahead. But first, Fletcher says his organization must decompress after an emotional season. Then, a look inward before going outside and establishing a shopping list.
“We’re going to have to do certainly take a look internally first at our players and try to determine the players that we feel are part of the solution going forward,” said Fletcher. “And look at the areas we need to improve. You won’t be able to fill every hole you have in a salary cap system, particularly with a flat cap, so we’re going to have to prioritize and try to improve where we can.’’
The Flyers have the young pieces to get in on a major trade or two, and they’ve got their top picks intact. They’ve got the ammunition to be active.
A piece at forward, a piece on the blue line, and yes, finding a goalie to push Carter Hart will also be top of mind.
The Flyers have no issue with Brian Elliott, the pending UFA veteran did all he was asked and more in a tough situation this year with Hart faltering as much as he did.
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So I think in a perfect world, while Fletcher wouldn’t come out and say it, the Flyers develop a 1a-1b situation by finding a goalie that really pushes Hart.
And certainly, there’s the matter of Selke Trophy winner Sean Couturier. He’s got one more year left on his deal before becoming a UFA.
“Our intention clearly is to keep Sean in Philadelphia for the rest of his career,” said Fletcher. “He’s one of our best players if not our best player. We’ll certainly make it a priority this summer to have conversations with him and try to find a way to continue this relationship going forward.’’
So, a busy summer ahead. And some soul searching.
Did the Flyers vastly overachieve a year ago? Did they vastly underachieve this season? Wherein lies the reality of their roster?
“In 19-20, we defended well, we defended as a unit of five, players seemed to be slotted properly and we were a hard team to play against,” said Fletcher. “This year we just completely lost that identity.
“I have complete faith that if we can make a couple of additions and refocus our group on playing the game the right way, we can dramatically improve our goals against as we did two years ago.
“If we do that, we’re still a very good hockey team,” continued Fletcher.
“But we have some work ahead of us. I think our issues were so obvious this year that we should be able to make a dent into fixing those issues and come back a better team.’’
This team might be able to bounce back next year.
But a productive offseason with meaningful roster changes might be required.
(Photo: Andy Marlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
