A Nolan Patrick commerce? A deal to entice Seattle Kraken to take Jake Voracek? A transfer to get Dougie Hamilton?

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Good morning people. The Stanley Cup semi-finals are underway and it’s a good time to see how much work GM Chuck Fletcher has to do off-season by assessing how the Flyers fared against these four teams.

Oops. In the year of the pandemic, which resulted in redesigned divisions and a shortened season, the Flyers only played against one of the four semi-finalists, the New York Islanders. They didn’t meet Montreal, Vegas, or Tampa Bay.

How did the Flyers fare against an Islanders team that stunned hosts Tampa Bay 2-1 in the series opener and tried to make last season at the Nassau Coliseum unforgettable?

In fact, depending on how you look at it, they did pretty well.

Glass half-empty view: They lost five of the eight games.

Glass half-full outlook: They played the Islanders hard and scored points in seven of the eight games and ended with 3-1-4 against the team of Barrylik. They had a percentage of 0.625 points which was their best against any opponent that year.

Known for their great defense, the Islanders capped the Flyers at 2.13 goals per game, which is Philly’s lowest performance against all seven teams this season.

The Flyers allowed the Islands 2.88 goals per game, their best defense against any team.

But just because the Flyers were extremely competitive with the Islanders doesn’t mean Fletcher shouldn’t make a lot of moves in the off-season. The flyers have to get a new look, have to find an identity, have to shake up the list.

You also need to play with the same precision as the islands.

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– Sam Carchidi (flyers@inquirer.com)

It’s time to clear out a mailbag full of questions and comments from readers on Twitter. Some are edited for clarity or length. Here goes:

Comment: Please tell me you are moving away from Brian Elliott as a backup. In four years with the Flyers, he never finished with a save percentage of at least 0.910. – JD (@ JDiRoc1)

Answer: Thanks for the comment, JD. My feeling is that Elliott’s career with the Flyers is over. He’s 36, and while he was a fighter for the Flyers, he’s not durable enough to play a lot of games if Carter Hart trips again.

Question: What do you think Fletcher will give up to sign and trade with Carolina to get Dougie Hamilton on the Flyers? – Christian Audi (@TheEpicAudi)

Answer: Interesting question, Christian. The 6-foot-6,229-pound Hamilton is a pending unreserved free agent, but the Hurricanes have given him permission to speak to other teams, according to Elliotte Friedman. That doesn’t mean the canes have given up on the idea of ​​signing him, but they want to see what they can get for him if they can’t sign him again. He is expected to be awarded a seven or eight year contract with an annual salary of $ 9 million.

Hamilton, who turns 28 on Thursday, is the best right-hander out there. It would take a long time – probably several high draft picks and either Travis Sanheim or Phil Myers to start with – but it’s a deal that would land the Flyers with one of the best top pairing duos in the league. Ivan Provorov and Hamilton would frustrate many opponents.

The Flyers would of course only put together a significant trading package if Hamilton agreed to a long-term deal.

Bottom line: The Flyers would have trouble getting Hamilton under the hood (and meeting other needs) unless Jake Voracek was part of the deal.

Columbus defender Seth Jones, who works in the commercial market, would also fit in well. But I would act for him – it would cost a lot – only if he agrees to sign a long-term contract because he can become an unrestricted free agent after the next season.

Question: Will the Flyers try to move Nolan Patrick? – Ed

Answer: Thanks for the question, Ed. That’s a question that a lot of fans ask me. If I read the tea leaves correctly, the flyers wouldn’t be averse to including Patrick as part of a bigger deal. As for a one-on-one trade, they would sell low and I don’t think now is the time for such a move. It makes more sense to see if he can recover – that is, if he is not involved in a multiplayer trade.

Question: What do you think the Flyers need to get back into the playoffs? – Devlin (@ChrisDevlinPDS)

Answer: I hope I don’t bother you with my lengthy answer, Chris. They need Hart to recover, and they need to add a reliable and long-lasting # 2 goalie. They also need a sniper, a top notch defender to play alongside Provorov, and a huge improvement from their specialty teams. Oh, and they need their young players to take a big step forward. That’s a lot of demands in a flat cap world, so Fletcher has to be creative.

Question: Why have we been converting / converting since 2014 and are no better today than then? Do you think Fletcher, given his history when he was GM in Minnesota, is the person fixing this team? – Left hand drive (@ LHD20)

Answer: Appreciate the question. The Flyers have changed coaches and directors several times during that time, and that hasn’t obscured the fact that the players just weren’t good enough – especially in defense and in the nets.

You don’t have to be Scotty Bowman to realize that successful teams usually have very reliable goalkeepers and defenses. During the period you mentioned, the Flyers had statistically average or below average team defense in seven of the last eight seasons, starting in 2013-14. (The only exception was in 2019-20 when Hart was very good, as was his defense when the Flyers finished 10th.

As for Fletcher, he was your average GM in Minnesota, and the Flyers jury is still over him. He needs a productive summer.

Question: Will the Flyers use their first-round picks to get Seattle to take a player like Jake Voracek to clear the margin? – @BeeRubbed

Answer: I think that would be a big mistake, Bee. The Flyers will get a very good player in the first round in 13th place, and Fletcher should just drop the chips where they can in the July 21st expansion draft. He was burned by Vegas in the 2017 expansion draft – he traded former first-round draft selection Alex Tuch to the Golden Knights in exchange for their selection Erik Haula. These players helped Vegas make it to the Stanley Cup final in its first season. (Minnesota received a third-round conditional election.)

I don’t see Fletcher making the same mistake. Let Seattle choose who it wants – sadly, the Kraken will vote Shayne Gostisbehere – and the Flyers should just keep going about their business and keeping their precious 13th place overall.

  • Flyers center Kevin Hayes should be back to his old self next season, and his team could look very different.

  • Ian Laperriere, a fearless player when he played for the Flyers, will bring a great work ethic to his new job as the Phantoms coach. But he won’t read his coaching reviews on Twitter.

  • On Tuesday, Flyers left winger Oskar Lindblom, cancer survivor, will find out whether he has won the Masterton Trophy, which is awarded for endurance, athleticism and commitment to hockey. The history.

  • Flyer signed strikers Linus Sandin and German Rubtsov; The latter has disappointed since it was drawn up in the first round in 2016.

  • The Islanders are a rude awakening for reigning Stanley Cup champion Lightning, writes Larry Brooks in the New York Post.

Who had the best shooting rate among the Flyers this season?

If you said Joel Farabee (20 goals) treat yourself to a box of Tastykakes. The second year left winger scored 16.4% of his shots. The NHL leader (at least 30 games): Minnesota’s left winger Marcus Foligno (11 goals), who hit with an incredible 27.5% of his shots.

Tuesday: Islanders at Tampa Bay in Game 2 of the NHL Semi-Finals, 8 p.m. NBCSN

Wednesday: Montreal in Vegas in Game 2 of the NHL Semi-Finals, 9 p.m. NBCSN

Thursday: Tampa Bay at Islanders in Game 3, 8 p.m. USA Network

Friday: Vegas in Montreal in Game 3, 8 p.m. USA Network

Saturday: Tampa Bay at Islanders in Game 4, 8 p.m. USA Network

Sunday: Vegas in Montreal in Game 4, 8 p.m. USA Network

Monday (if required): Tampa Islanders in Game 5, 8 p.m. NBCSN

July 17: Deadline for club protection lists for the draft expansion, 5:00 p.m.

July 21: Draft Seattle expansion

July 23: NHL Draft, Round 1

July 24: NHL Draft, Rounds 2-7

July 28th: ​​Free agent signings allowed, noon

Send questions by email or on Twitter (@broadstbull) and they could be answered in a future issue.