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Philadelphia Flyers Fire Chuck Fletcher

Author Pat Egan
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 22: Chuck Fletcher of the Philadelphia Flyers attends the 2019 NHL Draft at the Rogers Arena on June 22, 2019 in Vancouver, Canada. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The Philadelphia Flyers have officially fired general manager Chuck Fletcher. This according to Giana Han from the Philadelphia Inquirer. 

The longest 4 1/2 years for Flyers fans finally comes to an end with this firing. This comes a week after Fletcher botched the trade deadline by overplaying his hand and failing to trade the one asset that would be intriguing to teams; James Van Riemsdyk. Fletcher waited far too long and was left without a chair when the music stopped. Instead of taking, literally anything for him, he elected to keep the impending UFA. A move that was (deservedly so) highly criticized.

Fletcher then bravely faced season ticket holders in a town hall where the coach (John Torterella) came to Fletcher’s defense but no one was buying it. Fletcher was booed by the fans who had watched him take a proud franchise and turn it to ash.

In the 4 1/2 years, Fletcher’s tenure is filled with a lack of self awareness. The team continuously failed to realize what the team was, and the landscape of the division. Even after the botched trade deadline Fletcher wouldnt say the word “rebuild” and was saying “aggressive retool.” Treating the world “rebuild” as if it were “voldermort.” a name that should not be mentioned.

Because of the lack of self awareness, Fletcher traded a slew of high draft picks in win now moves that didnt result in many wins. The 14th overall pick for Rasmus Ristolainen, and then doubling down with it on a 5 year contract. The trade for Tony DeAngelo, which saw the team give up high draft picks. It was simply bad move after bad move.

Former Flyer Danny Briere will take over GM duties. And while many Flyers fans would like them to walk away from “former Flyers” in the front office I will remind you that they did that….with Chuck Fletcher.

 

Pat is Philly through and through, having grown up in the Oxford Circle of Northeast Philadelphia. He attended Cardinal Dougherty High School, and it was at CD that a teacher suggested he should pursue a career in sports radio. He worked his way up the ranks and joined the morning show in June of 2020. As a content creator for 97.5 The Fanatic he writes about Eagles, Sixers, Phillies and Flyers. Follow Pat on Twitter @Pat_Egan

7 Infuriating Quotes From The Flyers That Show They Just Don't Get It

Over the weekend, the Flyers held an event for Season Ticket holders. Perhaps not the best timing. Given it came just a day after the Flyers‘ front office’s complete failure to be sellers at the deadline. The fan reaction was immediate and angry. On The Best Show Ever we fielded calls for the rest of the show about this. Fire Chuck Fletcher may have been the nicest thing any fans said. Fans are mad and they have every right to be. This is a low point for the franchise. Not just because of yesterday, but because of a long series of time where this team has not done much besides maybe making the playoffs here and there. But the thing that makes it so much worse. Is that the reactions from the people inside that building show they have no clue just how bad it is.

It was bad enough in the off-season when we had to hear Flyers employees pretend this team could actually be good. Where we had to hear Chuck Fletcher say things like how they just didn’t have the cap space to be in on someone like Johnny Gaudreau. But for some reason, we shouldn’t be blaming him when his bad contracts are the reason for that. If that were all part of a plan to break this team and rebuild it, it would make sense. But given everything else the team did, it just seems like incompetence, not a plan to rebuild. A rebuilding team would not have made that trade for DeAngelo, and a rebuilding team would have moved expiring contracts like JVR and Justin Braun.

Flyers fans should not have to watch this once proud franchise fall into disrepair. And they should not have to be lectured for being mad about it too. Here are a collection of quotes from people who work for the Flyers, who just how little these people understand how bad this really is.

  • Chuck Fletcher- " We never had any type of offer"

    “I can only control my half, and there has to be a willing buyer. And until 1:40 today, we never had any type of offer, and the offer we got was conditional.”

    [Source- NBC Sports Philly]

    Maybe Chuck Fletcher did not get any offers. But a good GM would have. JVR is not the player he used to be. But he is worth something to someone. There is value in a veteran forward with a history of being able to light the lamp up. Maybe it wouldn’t be a 3rd or even a 4th. But literally, anything is better than nothing. There is literally no upside to keeping JVR on this team. The fact that Chuck got no offers for him, says more about himself than it does about JVR.

     

  • John Tortorella- "Chuck tried. But everybody wants to pile on."

    “Do you not think he tried to move him? Are you guys kidding me? He tried like hell to move him. There are so many different scenarios that went on. I just don’t get the criticism of James still being here, like Chuck held onto him; $7 million [contract], we’ve got to eat some of the money, probably half of it, as I’m sure you guys know. Chuck tried. But everybody wants to pile on.”

    [Source- Flyers Press Conference- NBC Sports Philly]

    Weird John Tortorella has no issue calling out failures when it comes to a player. If a player went out and failed at their job, but they tried, would Torts be giving him that pass? I doubt it, given his history, especially this year, of benching players for mistakes or poor play, regardless of effort.

    And all that is fine. But it becomes hypocrisy when all of the sudden it is okay for Chuck to fail because he tried really hard to move JVR. You can study all you want for a test. But if you get all the questions wrong, you will still fail. There are no bonus points.

    Of all the Flyers people trying to lie to us and pretend everything is honky dory, I didn’t expect it to be Mr. tell is how it is John Tortorella. He comes on The Best Show Ever almost every week, and never shies away from criticizing players when it is called for. The fact he will act like the fans and media are the crazy ones for being mad at Chuck Fletcher, is disappointing coming from him. I don’t expect him to go out and say “yes, my boss deserves to be fired.” But turning it back on the fans complaining is ridiculous.

  • Steve Coates- “Let’s keep it classy, okay?”

    “Let’s keep it classy, okay?” and later  “Don’t ruin it for everyone else”

    [Source- Crossing Broad]

    Flyers season ticket holders were rightfully pissed off. And they took out that anger by booing multiple times during the Flyers town hall today. But Steve Coates, Flyers Radio Color Commentator, did not appreciate the fans letting their voice be heard. He told the crowd to keep it classy. and later told them to not ruin it for everybody else. To which one fan retorted, “Dont ruin the Flyers.”

    We love Coatsy. He does a great job on the radio with Tim Saunders during the games. But him telling the fans to stay classy is ridiculous. These people have given more than enough to this organization. They have paid for season tickets through a decade of often meaningless hockey. If they want to boo the man who took the franchise to this low point, let them. If you all didn’t want to hear from fans, maybe you should not have held a town hall. But if you are going to invite the fans to interact with the organization, you will have to hear what they have to say. So spare us the lectures Coatsy.

  • Chuck Fletcher- "You guys are gonna beat this one up, oh my gosh."

    “You guys are gonna beat this one up, oh my gosh.”

    [Source: Flyers Press Conference-NBC Sports Philly]

    There were many baffling parts of the Chuck Fletcher post-deadline press conference. Perhaps the most baffling thing was just how baffled he was to keep being asked questions about JVR. Did he think people would be more interested in the two minor trades they did make? That media would be dying to ask him how he managed to get a 6th for Patrick Brown? This interaction showed just how clueless Chuck Fletcher really is about the state of the franchise. These people really don’t think its a big deal.

     

  • John Tortorella- "We're going about this the right way."

    “People may be discouraged and impatient about this. I don’t know what to tell you. I firmly believe, in my mind, we’re going to go about this the right way.”

    [Source: The Best Show Ever]

    John Tortorella is usually pretty candid when he joins The Best Show Ever. And in this interview, he at least said he understands why fans are not showing up. But then he turned around at the end and said this. What is the right way? To be fair, this was before they failed to do anything at the deadline. But even before the deadline, what exactly are the Flyers are doing that qualifies as “the right way”?

  • Bobby Clarke- "Hexy made some huge mistakes."

    Over a year ago now, Bobby Clarke went on the Cam and Strick podcast, and didn’t just throw Ron Hextall under the bus, he backed over him for good measure. Now some of the stuff about Hextall may have been true. He did not do a great job as GM here. And now in Pittsburgh, he is still struggling. But what ridiculous is Clarke throwing shade at others, when he has been part of the decision-making team for this franchise for a long time.

    Bobby Clarke deserves as much blame for the state of the Flyers as anyone. Chuck gets the brunt of the ire. And he certainly deserves it. But Clarke is on his 8th life with this franchise. And what good has having Clarke around the team done for them any time recently? The problem here is the criticisms of Hextall, which could be fair on their own. It’s that the people like Clarke who continue to take zero accountability for where this franchise has fallen to.

  • Chuck Fletcher- "We are the 5th most improved team."

    “We are the fifth most improved team. Clearly, that’s nice, but that is not good enough.”

    [Source- Flyers Press Conference- NBC Sports Philly]

    Last year the Flyers finished the season 29th in points. As of now, they are 25th in points. Last season they were 31st in goals scored. This year they are currently 29th. And they were 27th in goals allowed last year, and are 20th in goals allowed this year. Man, they really have improved. This 100% feels like something Gabe Kapler used to tell us when he managed the Phillies.

    For reference, here are all the teams that, at least to this point, have literally improved more based on where they fall in the league standings. Bruins went from 10th to 1st. Devils from 28th to 3rd. Stars from 15th to 5th. Golden Knights from 17th to 6th. Kings from 14th to 7th. The Kraken from 30th to 11th. Jets from 19th to 13th. Islanders from 20th to 15th. Sabres from 24th to 18th. And the Senators from 26th to 19th. That is 10 times with a larger jump. And other than the Kraken, none of them started from a lower point they could improve from.

    The Flyers went from being terrible to being bad. And Fletcher thinks that is something to brag about? Even if he was technically correct, who brags about being the 5th most improved team? If they improved to a competitive team, I could maybe see it, but they are still a bad team well out of the playoffs.

    Its a baffling quote from Fletcher that just goes to show how out of whack his priorities and goals are.

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