The Flyers Make Sense

Some time ago, I wrote an article that essentially lamented that the Flyers were operating with a complete lack of internal logic. In short, they made no sense. I called them confounding, and I thought that was a generous description. In reality, they were caught between two worlds. They had one foot in each pool and were bound to slip into a very uncomfortable split.

On one hand, they were a spirited bubble playoff team. They may or may not be one of the 16 teams left standing in the end, but all indications were that they would be in that mix. In that way, they were greatly concerned with the future. Even if they were getting there through the contributions of some players under 22, it’d be silly to call this a rebuild.

On the other hand, they were seemingly putting all of their eggs into the basket of an 18 and 19-year-old respectively. Neither of them had made their NHL debut yet. They were supposed to be the center of the team in years to come. But what team? This team who needed help now? This team who was fighting in the present to do something? This team whose largest contributors may or may not be relevant by the time these kids turn 23 in 4 and 5 years?

How did that make any sense?

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Then the Flyers traded one of those children–the significantly less talented of the two–to the Ducks in exchange for Jamie Drysdale.

I happen to prefer Drysdale as a player. This isn’t some opinion I came upon randomly, or because Jamie is a Flyer now. I’ve always believed in that kid’s upside as a future top defenseman in the NHL. I don’t say that to stand and cheer the team. I say it because I believe it.

Do you want physical upside? Yeah, Gauthier has a lot of that.

Drysdale is one of the best skating defensemen to come out of the draft in the last half decade at least, and he has a processor capable of running with his feet. Sure, he could stand to make significant improvements defensively. He could stand to elevate his aggression level both with and without the puck significantly.

That’s called development. And both of these kids are gonna need lots of it. But one of them was good enough to be in the NHL and put up a legitimately impressive point total on a horrific team at 19.

Do you disagree with my assessment? That’s your right. But you know what? For me, that doesn’t even matter.

With this one move, the Flyers make sense. They don’t confound me. They are following internal logic.

They’re no longer praying that a 19-year-old kid will descend from the Boston College heavens and save them as the next incarnation of Alex Ovechkin, while simultaneously trying to compete for a playoff spot. They’re no longer holding a prospect drafted in 2022 to a completely unrealistic timeline.

Instead, they’re putting their trust in a 21-year-old defenseman to play in the NHL now and contribute somewhat now… moreover, they’re hoping that this defenseman will use the rest of his formative years to tap into his incredible upside and become a unique force from the back end. They have half an eye on the present, but the bulk of their vision is on the future.

That makes sense. And that’s important to me. It was the reason I wrote the previous piece. I didn’t understand the logic with which the team was operating. I couldn’t decipher their vision. I didn’t even know what I should hope happened as a fan.

Should I hope for a better draft pick so we can continue building out the potential team 5 years from now?

Or should I hope that this team keeps piling up points in the standings because they want to compete, knowing full well that the team of 5 years from now may suffer for it?

See, Matvei Michkov gets to operate independently of this logic. He gets to be his own thing. He’s that level of rare, incredible talent who can reasonably be expected to make an impact in the NHL as soon as he graces the league with his presence.

That kind of talent doesn’t come around every day, and for me to say Gauthier is not at that level isn’t even really an insult being hurled at him. It’s just plain reality.

If you’re putting your trust in Gauthier, then you’re focused on a future that’s five years away. Maybe that ends up being wrong. Maybe it ends up being 3 or 4 years away, but it’s highly unlikely to be soon. Just because of the nature of the prospects.

I think people would have been very well served to remind themselves of this nature of prospects with Jamie Drysdale, instead of being flummoxed that he didn’t win a Norris by the time he was 20.

Now, don’t get me wrong. This isn’t me saying that everything is perfect now and that it’s kumbaya for all. This isn’t even me saying that everything is guaranteed to work out. I have a good feeling. But sports are random.

This is about having something vivid to believe in. The team is finally following some form of internal logic, and I’m genuinely happy to see it.

It isn’t perfect yet. William–if the general manager of the Flyers is to be believed–was not going to fulfill the role of a center, much less a number-one center. And even if he would, he certainly won’t be now that he’s gone.

Someone has to fill that role. There has to be a succession plan for Sean Couturier. Take positions out of it. Michkov needs a partner up front. It can’t be a total one-man show, even for him.

I’m not convinced that we’ll be finding that forward out of the draft. We don’t figure to be picking high enough to count on that, and besides, it isn’t the timeline that this team is looking for.

This is why I think the team needs to copy this Jamie Drysdale strategy with another forward, preferably a center. Find another young, high-upside center whose previous team is willing to deal with them for whatever reason. Let them start as the 2C besides Couturier. Then, develop them into someone who can organically push Couturier into that very same 2C spot.

The truth is that there’s a market inefficiency that exists. Prospects that haven’t broken out as stars on day 1, lead teams to get impatient with them. Everyone’s stock goes down when they play in the NHL with imperfect results… for absolutely no reason at all.

Everyone’s stock goes up when they dominate feeder leagues… for absolutely no reason at all.

Whether it be a winger or a center we play this game with, I’d very much like to play this game again with another forward who has the potential to be a game-breaker on a top line and isn’t named Matvei Michkov.

But until that happens, I find myself at a greater peace with this franchise than I have been in some time. And they gave me this peace by trading one of their top prospects. Because, at the very least, now the team makes sense.

Mandatory Credit: AP