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In case you missed these nuggets: From The Athletic: On Nov. 17, former Flyers and current special advisors to the hockey operations department John LeClair and Patrick Sharp were at Boston College’s Kelley Rink to catch prospect Cutter Gauthier play against the University of Connecticut. Gauthier had a memorable evening. He scored the game-tying goal in the third period and then again in overtime to help the Eagles defeat the Huskies, 5-4. Sharp and LeClair met with Boston College coach Greg Brown after the game. They also intended and desired to meet with Gauthier, who was informed that the two Stanley Cup winners were in attendance by one of Brown’s assistant coaches. Gauthier, though, declined to speak with them. From Broad Street Hockey: On the broadcast, NHL insider Pierre Lebrun mentioned how he reached out to Gauthier’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, and asked if he had an explanation as to why the player did not want to sign with the Flyers. “It’s a private issue between the player and his family,” Overhardt told TSN’s Pierre Lebrun. “We definitely had conversations with Philadelphia, we had very respectable conversations with Philadelphia about it, we’ve chosen just to take the high road and leave all that information private.” This last item is downright weird. Did one of the Flyers give him a wedgie? By the way, I think he means “respectful”. I don’t regret that this head case won’t be joining the Flyers. In fact, one has to contemplate the notion that the Flyers dodged a bullet.

Interesting and plausible notion. Organizational dysfunction, passed down like substance abuse, and afflicting an NHL franchise: Clark, Holmgren, Scott, Chuck. I like to think Timonen and Briere are inoculated. Are they?

@flyercanuck for sure. Amusing to note he stopped watching for a couple of years. There were others and it would be funny to see who was stoked and who was indignant. Worth adding, as others have intimated, that Chuck was just the most visible component of a completely dysfunctional organization. It won’t change unless the Flyers completely clean house, including Scott, who seems to have already been kicked upstairs. Actually, I blame Scott more than Fletcher. Chuck being Chuck is his fault.

We all knew it would end this way when he was hired.

This is what drew my attention: a guy who is somewhere between the 3rd and 20th best prospect begs for someone to look back and see who does and doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I get that these are 18 year old guys and by nature it is hard to predict. But, even so, 17 places? It means there are some significant disagreements among these people, whoever they are.

You mean….I have to do it myself? It might not be that bad if it is done in baby steps. Maybe look five years of first round picks for two sources, starting 10 years ago, NHL games played, GPG, PPG, something like that. After the first round, it’s like roulette anyway and would probably look that way statistically.

Hundreds of players have been ranked by each of these sources. Has anyone ever attempted to objectively evaluate the evaluators? Is there any reason why I would be more inclined to rely on the evaluation of one versus another? No doubt, there could be a fair amount of “play” in any attempt to evaluate the evaluators. But has anyone tried?

Yup, good point though even Dave Scott might struggle to walk back this vote of confidence in 120 days time.

Scott emphasized that he doesn’t think it will be a “three-five-year rebuild.” All he said it will take is “two or three” players to complement the strong core group he believes the Flyers have when they’re healthy. He and Fletcher both pointed to the bad luck the team has had with injuries. [Translation: I (Dave Scott) am still deeply, deeply in denial, going so far as to say that, just like last year, and despite a 13 game losing streak, a last place record as well as a worse performance than last season, we’re still three players away from being a contender.]. Queue the “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” analogies/laugh track. Likewise, Scott said he likes what he’s seen from Fletcher and showed no indication he has plans to rework the front office in the near future. “Right now, Chuck’s my guy and we’re trying to build around that,” Scott said. Let that sink in for a moment: Chuck’s….my…..guy…. He doesn’t even know to be embarrassed. [Translation: Look, maybe I scared you with some of my earlier, laughable assertions. But please allow me to reassure you by saying that I’m completely delusional, have no intention of admitting any mistakes, and need to allow Fletcher another season or three to completely gut this team before I wake up and acknowledge the stench.] Follow on question for Dave Scott: Which of Fletcher’s moves do you actually like? Other than a couple of draft picks, I can’t think of even one that has worked out well for the team, so let’s start with something, anything to back up your affirmation that he’s your “guy” and to validate your soundness of mind. Skinny: It is difficult to imagine a more frightening and depressing outcome to this press conference.

I’ve seen nothing in quite some time to suggest this is by any means a “playoff team”. If they make the playoffs, it’s a counterproductive miracle that distorts perceptions of what they really are. i don’t foresee a sale by any means. I’m inclined to think however that the shame of this is so intense that Comcast is forced to act drastically to right the ship. No assurances given, more like, if I were Dave Scott, I would desperately want to rehabilitate my reputation.

It’s gotten so bad, even I’m going to post. I read this thread with a lot of interest and agree with the assessment that the team is clearly worse than it was when Fletcher took over. To the Wild fans that warned us, what can I say other than that he’s the old boy network running, imagination-less, plausible Buddhist solution proffering organization wrecker he was in MN. I cannot imagine him not being fired at the end of the season. He’s only still here because this mess is of such a magnitude that Comcast needs a good, long think to even figure out how to stop digging. I agree with the most negative assessments of the pro players acquired by Fletcher and find the evidence presented on the poor state of player development compelling. So far as Giroux is concerned, while he no doubt has strong ties to the area, from a purely hockey perspective I can’t imagine why he would want to play out his swan song in Philly. There is either a bigger mess or a rebuild in the offing. Both, I suppose. Why stick around for that? Odd however that I don’t recall anyone take direct aim at Dave Scott, Comcast Chairman and CEO, Flyers’ NHL Governor and, if memory serves me correctly, a man with his fingerprints all over on the firing of Hextall, in the press. Whether because he personally endorsed Fletcher based upon his own conviction or his conviction about the Flyers’ “brain-trust” of senior advisors (an ironic misnomer if there ever was one), this on him. In the same way Scott criticized Hextall’s solitary management style as the cause of his dismissal, in all fairness and consistency he will need to judge Fletcher still more harshly because i) he’s in fact done a worse job than Hextall and of course ii) because the optics of blowing up the team in Giroux’s contract year, three years after the last re-do, with the team in even worse shape thanks to Scott’s botched intervention, has to be peddled with a great deal of seriousness to the league, players and fans. This is a monumental facking embarrassment and if Scott isn’t himself feeling utterly humiliated and prepared to completely upend the Flyers organization around now, then I’d say he’s forgotten how he got to the position he holds.

From what I’ve read, the only way you want Gostisbehere and Gustaffson on the ice together is on the power play. This could be exciting even, but at a cost of having a pretty unbalanced defensive line up. I think there are some pairings to maximize the skill sets but it’s not ideal (e.g. two of the top 7 probably shouldn’t be in the line up together). While I hope another move is coming, as I look around the league, I can’t imagine anything plausible that corrects this. My knee jerk move is to dump Ghost though I can’t say what that accomplishes without knowing who our new #7 would be. If it’s Mark Friedman, it’s a salary dump only and maybe a hockey net negative as well.

While Fletcher has indicated he is bargain hunting, this move seems to have more to do with the expansion draft than I would have expected. Their defensive line up seems weird to me for now, as if there has to be another move coming. With Gustaffson in the line up in place of Niskanen, Gostisbehere’s iffy defensive play makes him an odd fit for 7th defenseman. So on the one hand I think it’s more likely he’s on the move but on the other am unclear why, if he is, it hasn’t happened before now.

Maybe Tallon doesn't worry about this but he's not doing himself any favors by broadcasting to the entire league that the content of sensitive, confidential trade discussions with the Panthers may end up in in the newspaper. I have to assume someone from the Flyers already called Tallon and tuned him up.

@ruxpin I don't recall seeing them paired; referring to them as individuals, not as a pair. MacDonald is more able down low than Streit I'll give you that. I would say Carle is better than both, which gives you my frame of reference at least.