Fletcher’s office cleaning should make room for other maneuvers
PHILADELPHIA >> You’ve got to hand it to Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher ... no, really you do. If anything, in his brief time with the Flyers, the camera-shy general manager has shown an affinity for getting rid of his predecessor’s old collectibles, and doing so quietly.
In the weeks after boxing some spare bobbleheads that may have still been hanging around what used to be Ron Hextall’s office, Fletcher has dumped some over-appreciated locker room statues.
Just a couple of days after shipping never-again forward Jori Lehtera to the AHL’s Phantoms via a waiver clearance sale, Fletcher made a major minor-talent move Saturday by trading Dale Weise — who was previously optioned out to the Phantoms — and veteran seventh defenseman Christian Folin to Montreal for David Schlemko and Byron Froese.
Both of those veteran bubble players were reporting to the Phantoms while the streaking Flyers team they won’t be a part of dismantled the Mighty (Laughable) Ducks of Anaheim, 6-2, at Wells Fargo Center in a sloppy matinee.
For the serious Fletcher, however, this move, like his others since coming on board, is more minor in nature than trade-deadline-esque. But certainly the philosophy is sound: You take what you can get rid of.
“Both players were, I think, looking for a bigger role and different opportunity, so we tried to accommodate them going forward,” Fletcher said at a rare press conference to thank Weise and Folin for time served. He added that the 31-year-old defender Schlemko, who has spread
415 NHL games over an
11-season professional career (18 goals, 94 points) can play on either side at the blue line.
On the schedule
And as for Froese, an AHL captain and center, he’s played 110 games in the NHL ... and has five goals.
But hey, Fletcher did need to pump up the Phantoms’ roster a bit in preparation for the Calder Cup playoffs.
“He’s a real, top twoway player at that level,” Fletcher said of Froese, “and a guy who has shown he can provide depth. I think what we tried to do is accommodate Dale and Christian, and yet to make sure we have enough depth going forward.”
Actually, the best part of Fletcher’s Saturday swap was what he did after it was done, promoting Philippe Myers from the Phantoms to take Folin’s spot. The
22-year-old undrafted defender can put his size (65, 210) and skills to good use on a defense that even during winning streaks has had to count on Carter Hart bailing it out with way too much frequency.
But if Folin was largely an extra defenseman on this shaky Flyers defensive team, apparently Fletcher only wants a real prospect like Myers (29 points in 48 Phantoms games this season) to spend most of his game time watching.
Which begs the question ... why?
“He’s been (the Phantoms’) best defenseman all year, and one of the better defensemen in the American Hockey League,” Fletcher said of Myers, who is just in his second pro season. “He’s earned this opportunity, and and he’s still a young man, and really his key time will be next year at training camp, when he has to come in and earn a fulltime spot for a full season.
“But right now, if we can get him some experience and practice ... being around the team is great. If he can get some games, that will only help him as he prepares for next year.”
In their win over the disastrous Ducks, who have now lost an amazing 19 of 21 games, the Flyers had the first period to themselves. They scored four times ... and then managed to give the Ducks a bunch of chances thereafter. Hart is shaping up to be a valid Calder Trophy candidate as the league’s top rookie, mostly because he’s that good ... and partially because the Flyers’ defense can be that chaotic.
“He made a big save there on the breakaway,” Sean Couturier said of Hart after he started this Ducky win with a breakaway stop on Jakob Silfverberg. “It could have been a whole different game. But he kept us in once again and it was nice to give him some support.”
Having largely breezed through a soft (as in Pacific Division) spot in the schedule, the Flyers, 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, have to really get back to work Monday night when they take on the beloved Penguins. As it was, Pittsburgh had a six-point lead over the Flyers for the second wild card spot as the Pens entered into play in Tampa Saturday night.
For the Flyers, then, the thinking should be that achieving a mustwin Monday means that this club that was dead in the ice in mid-January really has a solid shot at the playoffs. So you have to wonder why Myers would be here to watch.
And you might wonder when or if Fletcher is going to start making moves that actually improves his club’s playoff chances rather than merely makes room for next year’s rebuild.
To his credit, Fletcher said at the time of his hiring that roster improvements had to be made with the goal of getting what then was a terribly underachieving team into the playoffs. To the credit of Carter Hart and the newly believing players around him, that should still be Fletcher’s goal leading up to the Feb. 25 trade deadline.
It wouldn’t be a surprise to find him just as surprised as anyone else that that’s the case.