The offseason puzzle looks nearly complete for the Philadelphia Flyers. Rookie general manager (GM) Danny Briere started his first season offseason in the big seat with a bang, and the Flyers have remained at the center of discussions around the league ever since. The players he’s moved were the ones that would’ve been named at the end of the 2022-23 season as the likeliest to leave the organization. Now, he faces the decision of making more changes involving players the organization isn’t so anxious to subtract.
Addition by Subtraction
“You don’t start adding players until you subtract them. I think there needs to be some subtraction. Those (players) will be in discussions at the end of the year,” head coach John Tortorella told the Philadelphia media on March 20 as his team played out the stretch after their playoff hopes had faded.
The Flyers placed Tony DeAngelo on unconditional waivers on July 14. The eventual buyout will cost them $1.67 million against the cap in both 2023-24 and 2024-25. DeAngelo and Ivan Provorov, who was recently traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets, were the top two scoring defensemen on the team last season. They also averaged more ice time than any other skaters on the roster. Kevin Hayes finished second on the team with 54 points before he was traded to the St. Louis Blues in June.
The purpose of bringing in Tortorella in 2022 was to set a new standard for performance on and off the ice within an organization that had lost its way in an embarrassing fall from grace in recent years. Part of the veteran head coach’s approach was identifying players who didn’t fit the mold of what the Flyers wanted to become.
Although Tortorella valued Provorov’s workhorse style of play, the 26-year-old defenseman didn’t fit well into the developing locker room chemistry. He spoke during his end-of-season interview in April about his frustration surrounding the looming rebuild after his debut in the NHL happened during former GM Ron Hextall’s “competitive rebuild” in 2016. He was no longer a fit with the Flyers.
Hayes didn’t click with his head coach from the start. Tortorella benched the 6-foot-5 forward in the sixth game of the 2022-23 regular season and later pushed him to the wing after a long NHL career as a center. A second benching and a healthy scratch less than midway through the season made it clear that Hayes, with a high-priced salary over the age of 30, had no future in Philadelphia.
DeAngelo’s situation was a little bit different. Tortorella sat him as a healthy scratch for the season’s final five games, a move that DeAngelo called “ridiculous” during his exit interview. The organization kept the obvious feud mostly behind the scenes. However, a buyout with nothing in return clearly indicates they felt the relationship was irreparable.
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The possibility of trades involving Carter Hart, Travis Konecny, and Scott Laughton, among others, still exists. However, moving any of the three respective players would be for the purpose of maximizing value in a return package rather than the “subtraction” process. Tortorella has consistently praised Konecny and Laughton as team leaders who personify the attitude the organization needs. He’s also praised Hart for the way he competes and carries himself off the ice.
Briere got a great return for Provorov in his biggest move of the offseason so far. He cut the losses of two mistakes by his predecessor Chuck Fletcher by getting rid of Hayes and DeAngelo despite the need to retain money that will count against the cap. The necessary subtraction is complete, and the future will determine whether or not the moves added a positive intangible element to the rebuild.
Flyers Face Decision on Morgan Frost
The Flyers have already signed restricted free agents (RFAs) Cam York, Noah Cates, and Olle Lycksell to two-year contracts this month. However, they still need to make a decision on their most intriguing RFA. Morgan Frost has battled adversity early in his professional career, but he doubled his career point total with 19 goals and 27 assists in 81 games in 2022-23.
Frost was not one of the most reliable players on the Flyers last season. However, he started an excellent scoring pace in the second half of the season, which ultimately landed him fourth on the team. Tortorella spoke in late March about the young center’s development at the NHL level.
“I want to be fair with him. I don’t want to overthink it either…He drove me crazy early in the year (with) some of his habits, and he’s corrected those. I just want more time,” he said about his evaluation of Frost. “A lot of players that I’m really interested in being here are inconsistent also. That’s what I’ve got to watch myself at.”
Even with the acknowledgment that a young player needs patience to develop, Tortorella was certainly not speaking as highly of Frost as he had about other players working out flaws in their game like York, Cates, or Owen Tippett. The former Ontario Hockey League star did post respectable defensive metrics in 2022-23 with a better rate of expected goals against per 60 minutes (xGA/60) than Tippett, Laughton, and Joel Farabee. He also had the advantage of a higher percentage of offensive zone shift starts, an indication that Tortorella didn’t rely on his defensive game as heavily.
His key play-driving metrics of Corsi share (CF%) and expected goal share (xGF%) fell short of the 50% median. As a puck carrier, his offensive zone entries also became predictable, which could lead to issues once opponents become more familiar with his game as he spends more time in the league.
The likeliest scenario is that the Flyers give Frost a two-year deal with a similar average annual value (AAV) to Cates’ $2.625 million through 2024-25. The added sample size of the next two seasons for a rebuilding team will either demonstrate his development or expose his flaws until he becomes an RFA again in 2025. He will remain one of the most scrutinized Flyers in the meantime.
Loose Pucks
The Flyers have loaned goaltender Aleksei Kolosov to Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) after signing him to a three-year entry-level contract. Hart’s future is still up in the air amidst trade rumors and the uncertainty of the Hockey Canada investigation into his 2018 World Junior Championship team. Cal Petersen and Felix Sandstrom have a chance for NHL playing time in 2023-24, but they’ll likely start lower on the goaltending depth chart than Sam Ersson.
The summer activities include the tour of the Flyers Caravan, which made a trip to the Jersey Shore this week. Newly-appointed franchise governor Dan Hilferty has taken the beginning steps to rebuild some goodwill locally at a time of incredible frustration from a fan perspective. His public image and the already positive perception of Briere and President of Hockey Operation Keith Jones have fizzled the previously intense media criticism in recent months.
Former Flyers head coach and player John Stevens brought the Stanley Cup down the Jersey Shore over the weekend. As excited as Philadelphia fans get when they see the holy grail of the NHL, they’re more concerned about enjoying the moment with a current player or head coach after nearly half a century since the Broad Street Bullies lifted the Cup.
All advanced stats apply to 5-on-5 play, courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
