There is a clear barrier between John Tortorella and Chuck Fletcher
The Flyers front office, mainly GM Chuck Fletcher and Comcast Spectacor CEO Dave Scott have been adamant the Flyers are NOT rebuilding. As recently as this past summer they have insisted the talent here is good enough a "retool" should suffice. But then off course, as we all saw in the off-season, despite Scott saying Fletcher "has a blank check" to do with as he pleases in Free Agency, when it came time to go spend that check and acquire those pieces to prove this is indeed just a retool in their eyes, Fletcher sat on their his hands. He didn't even bother to call Johnny Gaudreau, who notedly WANTED to come to Philadelphia after telling the Calgary Flames he wasn't going back to Calgary. But he didn't get his wish, and neither did Flyers fans. Instead of Gaudreau, the Flyers signed Nicolas Deslauriers to a four year contract and tacked on an NMC to boot. No disrespect to Deslauriers, but he's not a top-six player. Then just to add insult to the fans injury, after the Deslauriers signing, it was just a who's who of possible third-liners, definite fourth-liners to round out the team.
What makes the entire ordeal even worse is the fact that Fletcher knew at the time that he decided to pass up on Gaudreau that Sean Couturier was not recovering properly from his [first] back surgery. He knew the chances of Couturier beginning the season on the Long-Term Injury List were becoming more and more of a reality as the days past at the Entry Draft in June. But when given the chance to grab a player like Gaudreau, he passed and went from Deslauriers instead. That's not the move of a GM looking to "retool", it's a move of a GM either looking to rebuild or lose his job. The jury is still out on which is the case at the moment.
Let's Fast Forward a bit to the season, and the Flyers current situation. While the front office has remained mum on what exactly their plan is, despite the fact injuries have begun to pile up and this teams already lacking talent level has dropped even more significantly, John Tortorella has not. If you listen to the head coach, he has been as close to honest as he can be without crossing a line and stepping on Feltcher's toes. In his post game interview last night, he admitted he's not "mad" at this team, but "frustrated" for them because it's "obvious they're trying".
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What he also says, in so many words in that quote, is that this team IS rebuilding. Despite what the front office tells you; despite what they want you to believe, this *IS* a rebuild. Torts admits as much, in so many words in his quote that says "I'm not worried about game results. I still trying to figure out who's who, and who do we want to keep here."
I'm sure people can twist that phrase a bunch of different ways, but to me, in so many words, that quote says "I'm trying to figure out who fits into this teams future and who would be best used as an asset toward this teams future."
Is it possible he meant "Who should remain in the NHL and who isn't quite ready yet?" Sure. But if that were the case, I think he'd have figured it out with a few players by now and swaps between the AHL and NHL would have been made. Trades are a bit harder because you need another team to talk to, and more importantly come to an agreement with. Usually teams don't start talking until sometime around (US)Thanksgiving or Christmas, and actual trades don't start happening until closer to the deadline in March. This gives Tortorella plenty to time to figure it out and report back to Fletcher.
Trusting Fletcher to get the proper assets in the potential deals is a whole different story, for a whole different article. Let's just say the fact he won't even admit that this is in fact a rebuild because then he would have to admit to his own mistakes that got this team here in the first place should be enough to tell you all you really need to know about how much trust should remain in Fletcher, and even Dave Scott, for that matter.
| POLL | ||
20 NOVEMBRE | 129 ANSWERS There is a clear barrier between John Tortorella and Chuck Fletcher Do you think Torts Quote was a hint toward rebuild, or just moving players around within the organization? | ||
| Rebuild | 85 | 65.9 % |
| AHL/NHL Swaps | 17 | 13.2 % |
| Hard to say | 18 | 14 % |
| Undecided | 9 | 7 % |
| List of polls | ||
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