Nick Seeler, now 30 years old, once upon a time was a Chuck Fletcher draft pick back in 2011. It led to their reunion when he signed with the Flyers for the 2021-22 season, then inked a two-year deal in 2022. While his signing was originally a depth move, he has been on the main roster for a vast majority of the last three seasons with only a few paper transaction demotions in October of 2021.
He’s a pending unrestricted free agent and one of the more interesting trade chips the Flyers possess heading into the deadline, but there have been some recent rumors that suggest he could be in line to receive yet another contract from the Flyers, but it doesn’t really make much sense at to why the organization is prioritizing Nick Seeler right now.
The “rebuilding” Philadelphia Flyers should be on one of two paths during the 2024 offseason- letting some of their overcrowded roster go so they can inject more of their in-house prospect depth into the NHL lineup, or start looking outside the organization to find bonafide star power to lead their ragtag group of overachievers.
Re-signing Nick Seeler doesn’t fit into either of those categories.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with players like Seeler. Much like Nic Deslauriers and Garnet Hathaway up front, there’s a time and a place for these guys on an NHL roster, but now just isn’t the ideal time for the Flyers to be focused on these pieces.
There’s a reason teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs have been in the rumor mill for players like Seeler and Sean Walker, because slightly above average depth players could be the difference in whether or not they’re winning a Stanley Cup. But they’ve already got an offensive and defensive core in place and they just need the right depth puzzle pieces to unlock postseason success.
For a team like the Flyers to be focusing on re-signing Nick Seeler is absolutely putting the cart before the horse when it comes to roster construction. Trying to install the depth pieces before there’s any semblance of star power to build around on either offense or defense.
When it comes to the Flyers’ defense, they need to be focused on playing Emil Andrae and Ronnie Attard, or looking outside the organization to find a legitimate top lefty for Jamie Drysdale to play with. Bringing back Seeler takes away an opportunity from one of their NHL-ready prospects and it doesn’t actually move the needle when it comes to winning games.
They could re-sign him then put him on waivers in hopes of sending him to the AHL, so he stays within the organization but doesn’t cloud up the main roster, but if teams are circling him at this year’s trade deadline, he’d probably be in their radar come October, albeit with slightly less urgency. If they were to utilize him in a proper seventh defenseman spot, a depth player that only sees ice time when injury occurs or rarely in between, that could also be acceptable, but considering he’s played every game for the Flyers so far in 2023-24, that probably wouldn’t be the case. He’d be taking priority over Andrae or Attard at worst, or be thrown in to the lineup replacing one of them at the first sign of struggle from the rookies at “best.”
The decision to not re-sign Seeler doesn’t really have anything to do with Seeler himself. He’s a perfectly fine depth defenseman who has his good days and bad. But bringing him back, even if it’s for just one year, is just an unnecessary hurdle when it comes to actually taking steps forward with the rest of the roster. An extra body on a team that doesn’t need extra bodies.
Really, it’ll end up being decisions like the one they have with Seeler that will give a better peek into the minds of the new Flyers front office. Can they actually make the tough calls? Can they actually make progress towards putting a winning product on the ice? It’ll be up to Danny Briere to prove he’s capable of advancing his team, and the first step towards doing that is not re-signing Nick Seeler.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
Photo credit: Getty Images
brotherlypuck.com 