Flyers Continue to Hum Along, Remain Patient
Feb 25, 2022 14:44:35 GMT -5
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Post by Philadelphia Flyers on Feb 25, 2022 14:44:35 GMT -5
The Philadelphia Flyers have been humming along the basement of the league for quite some time now, but prior to the 2019 season they didn’t seem to have any kind of direction. Eric Wolf stepped down as the Hurricanes GM at the conclusion of the 2019 season when his Hurricanes fell to the Jets in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. For Wolf, that loss was the signal of all he felt he could have proven himself and accomplished with the Hurricanes franchise, turning a last place team into a cup winner just one season later in 2016, and multiple deep runs in the playoffs until his defeat against Winnipeg in the 2019 finals. “I wanted a new challenge and Philadelphia was vacant at the time, huge fan of the Flyers growing up, and that team had been perennially bad in the VHL for a very long time. I wanted to come in and attempt what I did in Carolina, turning a dead last team into a cup winner in just 365 days.”
The Philadelphia Flyers have only made the VHL Playoffs twice in the entire 16 year history of the league. They got to the Cup Final against the Sharks in 2008, and got eliminated by the Capitals in 2011 in Round 1 in just 5 games. 2011 was the last appearance for the Flyers in the post-season.
It’s 2022, and the Flyers are still out of the picture, but at least now they have a GM with a direction and a commitment to get them back to relevancy.
“It’s been a slow and steady process. When I came to Philadelphia in the 2019 off-season, there wasn’t very many assets to work with. We didn’t have any top prospects, our best player(s) were Jamie Benn and Anthony Cirelli at the time, and our best defenseman was Adam Pelech. We didn’t have really anything to work with beyond those three, our team comprised of a lot of older 3rd and 4th line veterans. So as much as I would have loved to come in and do a massive rebuild, we were forced to do the slow and steady approach and build through the draft because we just had absolutely no assets to work with.” Wolf admitted.
So for Wolf and the Flyers, sadly, there was not going to be a 30th place to Stanley Cup Winner conversion in just one season. The process has been slow.
“When you don’t have good enough assets to convert to multiple first rounders like the Stars, Panthers, and Bruins of the league, you kind of have to sit on your hands for awhile to let the seasons play out and let the first rounders trickle in.”
Since Wolf has joined the Flyers, they’ve added a respectable prospect pool, the best in Flyers history, with the likes of Jack Hughes, Tim Stutzle, Vasili Podkolzin, Tobias Bjornfot, Cole Sillinger, Matt Boldy, Simon Edvinsson, and four (4) 1st round picks in the upcoming draft. And have slowly built a respectable supporting cast on the main roster. However, it is still not enough, at least not yet. The prospects look good, but are not developed enough yet. There are still glaring holes on the roster, especially on defense and in goal. The only way for Wolf to solve those right now? More patience.
Jack Hughes, up to 33 pts in 31 games in the NHL, is finally appearing to become the elite #1 centerman the Flyers had hoped for when they drafted him in 2019. With Hughes developing as a 1C, the Flyers have their core piece to build around.
“Admittedly I thought we'd be further along our rebuild by now, but our prospects have taken a little longer to develop. They are still a couple years away from really hitting their stride, entering their primes. As much as I’d love to be further ahead of the game, and to be pushing to compete like the Panthers for example, we are not quite there yet. The Panthers young assets have now cemented themselves in the league and are ready for the next step. We’re still a year or two behind. Our team is still very much in the 'wait and see' stages. I’d love to scour the trade market and acquire elite talent to get us out of the VHL basement, but we’re just not quite ready.”
With the upcoming trade deadline, The Flyers need to be careful not to force a big trade when the team isn’t ready to compete yet, but also need to be careful to not gut any of their core pieces.
“We’ve had a handful of teams knock on our door, asking about the availability of players like Andre Burakovsky and Rickard Rakell thinking that them being in their late 20’s means we should be selling them for futures during our rebuild. I don’t really see it that way. These guys are the perfect skilled 50 point complimentary players that you’re going to need to surround your core with. If we moved these guys out now, in 1 or 2 years we’d just have to find the same type of players to bring back in when our core is hitting their prime.”
So what will the Flyers likely do? Likely stay the course that is, as boring as it may sound, sometimes the act of doing nothing is the best course of action for a franchise, an action that seems to be necessary this time around.
The fans in Philadelphia must wait, something they are very used to. With only two appearances in the playoffs in the entire history of the Virtual Hockey League, and 2011 being the last appearance, fans are growing restless. When will we see Philadelphia in the post-season again?
With this season as another write-off and development year for the franchise, Wolf was then asked where he sees the team next year in the 2022-2023 season, Wolf replied “I gotta get this team back into the playoffs next year, and we’re going to do everything we can in the summer to provide that possibility.”
