The Philadelphia Flyers love to be complacent. It’s a trait Ron Hextall brought to the organization that he masked as a “process” then the incompetency of Chuck Fletcher further perpetuated the problem, and when Danny Briere took over, the early parallels with Hextall have been hard to ignore.
The months leading up to the 2024 offseason were a very quiet time for the team, with practically no rumors attaching them to any pending free agent or trade partner. Despite the fact they almost made the playoffs last season, it seems as though their relaxed approach to roster overhaul was going to continue.
And it turns out the rumors were quiet because, well, Briere wasn’t “cooking” anything. With the draft and the bulk of free agency in the rearview and the Flyers choosing to run back a roster that is nearly identical to 2023-24’s, it’s left fans a bit confused and very let down that the front office didn’t put in at least a bit of effort to accommodate their new Russian star.
They managed to get 2023 seventh overall pick Matvei Michkov to North America two years early, signing his entry-level contract on Monday after months-long rumors indicated he’s be making the jump.
Getting Michkov to North America two years ahead of schedule is a big win, but it should not have been their only victory of the summer.
A lot of their stagnation comes back to the salary cap, which the Flyers have done a very good job screwing themselves with. Between massive contracts to players who aren’t worth it (and another one coming when Konecny signs) and then having to use buyout and retention dollars to attempt to correct their failures has left the Flyers with the worst cap situation in the league with less than $1 million in free space before the draft and free agency.
The had to buy out Cam Atkinson to have any money at all, then immediately used $1 million of that freed up space to re-sign Erik Johnson for some reason. Some went to Michkov’s entry-level contract and according to CapFriendly (RIP) they have about $2.3 million in space, basically just enough for any in-house NHL/AHL deck chair shuffling.
Luckily…. or unluckily, there’s already a 23-man roster signed for the 2024-25 season, but it’s an almost identical look to the 2023-24 group, sans Marc Staal and Cam Atkinson and plus Matvei Michkov.
And that’s kind of the problem to begin with.
This group was rather uninspiring last year. Sure, they worked hard under John Tortorella, but they missed the playoffs, had a 26th ranked offense and a dead last ranked power play. Adding Michkov by himself may help a bit, but with a mediocre group surrounding him, how good can a 19-year-old kid be? He’s not going to put up 200 points by himself and single handedly change the franchise, the front office needs to insulate him to the best of their ability, which is a huge test for Briere and co. they they (so far) failed.
It’s been a LONG time since the Flyers made blockbuster moves. Even their only recent “big” move was signing Kevin Hayes, which was already five years ago. James Van Riemsdyk was six years, and Vincent Lecavalier was in 2013. Let alone making a trade that sent the organization down a new path. The Richards/Carter deals were in 2011. Chris Pronger was added in 2009, and Danny Briere himself was added in 2007- 17 years ago.
It shouldn’t’ve be expected that the front office can overhaul the team in one summer, but with Michkov in tow, there’s no reason why they should be running things back. There needs to be progress this time around to avoid falling into the same pitfalls Hextall did a decade ago, and it sure doesn’t seem like a quick and painless “rebuild” towards a winning product is on the horizon.
Even adding one more top six forward whose ceiling is more than 60 points would’ve go a long way to adapting Michkov to North America. They didn’t need to have their own version of the summer of 2007 (though it would be nice), they just needed to provide a good faith move to prove they’ve got more tricks up their sleeve than just Michkov, and they didn’t.
Briere has pointed towards a mythical 2025 offseason as their starting point, but boy is it hard to get excited after they borked 2024 so badly. It’s where the comparisons to Hextall really pick up steam- pointing towards the future as the time when things change after doing absolutely nothing today… and then they arrive to that future date and it just keeps getting pushed back.
If Briere can’t step up to the plate and make even a single addition to help their top prospect now, how can he be trusted to do something meaningful in the 1% chance that someone like Leon Draisaitl is available in 2025 free agency?
All of a sudden the question of “what next?” becomes a bit more time sensitive for the Flyers than the kicked back pace they prefer to take. If Michkov stayed in Russia for another few seasons like originally anticipated, then Briere punting responsibility down the road would not be nearly as bad. But with the only bullet the organization has in their chamber now officially on the clock, the word complacency needs to exit the Philadelphia Flyers’ vocabulary forever, but unfortunately it seems like it’s here to stay, as is the mediocrity it breeds.
By: Dan Esche (@DanTheFlyeraFan)
brotherlypuck.com 