Aggressive retool. No matter how many times we’ve heard the phase — or how unlikely it was to accomplish — it was said by the Flyers brain trust.
What Philadelphia did Wednesday on the opening day of free agency wasn’t an aggressive retool. However, it wasn’t a total rebuild either.
“We’ve been very aggressive in trying to fix some of our holes,” Chuck Fletcher said to the media on Wednesday.
Signing two depth players doesn’t constitute the Flyers being aggressive. At all. What the organization did accomplish, though, was gaslighting the fanbase.
And that’s the major issue here.
Look, I don’t know if signing Johnny Gaudreau would have changed the Flyers’ fortune or pushed them to contention. He’s an outstanding player, sure, and he reportedly told his inner circle that he was coming home, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan during the station’s NHL Free Agency special. I know he could have helped this team today, as they needed more high end talent. That cap figure though? The term?
It’s such a hard sell for a team that finished 40 points out of a playoff spot last season. The future cap complications would’ve created a massive headache. To say, though, that “we’re not involved in the Johnny Gaudreau sweepstakes” that’s simply a lie. It had been reported by reputable hockey media for over a full season that there would be shared interest from both the Flyers and the player.
Signing Gaudreau could’ve done the following, however:
- Changed the optics of how casual and diehard fans view this team.
- Showed an actual commitment to putting a winning team on the ice.
- Allowed the team to market itself around a star player in his prime that also happened to be from the area.
But if attaching a 1st round pick to James van Riemsdyk was too rich for the Flyers blood, they could’ve simply said they were going to adjust the plan and rebuild. They could have been transparent. The fan base would have accepted that. They would have been mad, to be sure, but they would have accepted it.
Signing Nic Deslauriers to a four-year deal when the club has Zac MacEwen under control for a lot cheaper in the same role was a poor choice and a mismanagement of the salary cap. For a team who needed to make sure every penny counted, it was redundant. Ditto Justin Braun.
While both players may be honest, hard-working types, their signings indicated that there was no real, cohesive plan in place this summer. The front office misread the free agent market after having a year to prepare for it. They said some big things and backtracked on them. Allowing it to play out publicly for the entire league to see is embarrassing for all involved.
And it’s likely to be reflected in the organization’s pockets this up-coming season as a result.
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