PHILADELPHIA —Looking at his call log, Chuck Fletcher saw he’d taken two calls yesterday while making 17. For the last three weeks, Fletcher said he’s been working the phones, trying to move his biggest pending unrestricted free agent, James van Riemsdyk. But when the 3 p.m. Friday deadline hit, to almost everyone’s surprise, van Riemsdyk remained on the Flyers’ roster.
Fletcher and his staff moved two players, enforcer Zack MacEwen and fourth-line center Patrick Brown, from their NHL roster Friday and one AHL player, winger Isaac Ratcliffe, Sunday. To get draft picks back for players they claimed off waivers was worthwhile, but it was overshadowed by the front office’s failure to move van Riemsdyk, the bare minimum expected.
According to Fletcher, it wasn’t for lack of trying.
“We certainly made everybody aware he was available,” Fletcher said Friday in his postdeadline news conference. “We made everybody aware we would retain 50% [of his salary]. We made everybody aware that we could even take back a contract if that helped a little bit more with the cap.”
The Flyers’ front office discussed different returns they would be willing to accept to make something happen, whether it was in the form of prospects, a pick, multiple picks or conditional picks. Heading into the window, the rumblings were that the Flyers would land around a third-round pick for the winger.
But no one was biting. Fletcher said he didn’t receive “any offers at all” until 1:40 p.m., an hour and 20 minutes prior to the deadline. One team, which was reported to be the Detroit Red Wings, was interested but made it clear all along they could only take him if they first moved another player. About 25 minutes before the deadline, Fletcher found out they had failed to move the player and could not take van Riemsdyk. By that time, no one else was interested.
“I’m trying to be very clear here. “I didn’t get a clear offer of even a fourth-round pick,” Fletcher said regarding JVR.
That was surprising to Fletcher, considering van Riemsdyk, 33, has almost 300 career goals (297). He’s a respected veteran with playoff experience and a weapon on the power play in front of the net with his size. He boasts a stronger pedigree than many other players who were acquired by teams in the playoff push.
“I’ve been using that line for three days,” Fletcher said. It obviously didn’t work.
The biggest drawback was van Riemsdyk’s contract. He is in the final year of the five-year, $35 million ($7 million AAV) contract he inked under the previous regime. Even with Fletcher willing to retain half, van Riemsdyk’s cap hit is still $3.5 million a year.
“You can see some of the teams cap situations,” Fletcher said. “I assume that was part of it.”
Van Riemsdyk has been — and will continue to be — a valuable member of the organization and the team, Fletcher said. But Fletcher definitely would prefer they were bidding van Riemsdyk farewell and thanking him for his contributions.
“We would probably rather have a good pick and allow JVR the opportunity to play in the playoffs,” Fletcher said.
Van Riemsdyk’s contract expires at the end of the season and the Flyers now will not recoup anything back from him.
Prior to the trade deadline, Fletcher said he was taking calls on everyone. He made it clear he was trying to get younger, and there were several other veterans on the roster that would be available for the right price. Defenseman Justin Braun is a free agent after this season and fetched a third-round pick last season, although coach John Tortorella has not played him much this season. Thirty-year-old forward Kevin Hayes has three more years left on his hefty contract, and said he, too, was aware of his name being thrown around in trade rumors.
While Fletcher moved Brown, to Ottawa for a 2023 sixth-round pick, and MacEwen, to Los Angeles for a fith-rounder and pending UFA Brendan Lemieux, he said the offers weren’t good enough on any other guys at this point. However, they may have set the groundwork for moves once the season ends.
The Flyers’ fan base is not happy. Fletcher understands why, and he took responsibility. He admitted the plan the last few years was to find a way to be competitive and take advantage of former captain Claude Giroux’s final contract year.
“Clearly, I haven’t done that,” Fletcher said. “I haven’t done that job. There’s no doubt.”
He followed up the Giroux trade with an offseason that was supposed to be an “aggressive retool” but turned out to be what he described as “tepid.” Fletcher explained that the uncertainty around injuries affected that.
There were concerns about Sean Couturier’s back. Ryan Ellis (pelvc injury) remained unavailable. And Joel Farabee needed disk replacement surgery. With so many injuries, the Flyers feared they might not be able to be competitive again no matter who they acquired. So Fletcher said he didn’t want to be aggressive in free agency and chose to turn his focus to the organization’s youth.
“We put some kids on the team, we gave them that opportunity,” Fletcher said. “And as we go forward, we recognize we have to get more talent. We are going to build it.”
The counterargument would be that Fletcher senselessly traded draft three picks for defenseman Tony DeAngelo, and signed 31-year-old enforcer Nic Deslauriers to a four-year contract in July. Both moves will have long-term consequences for the organization.
But Fletcher insists his past, present, and potentially future deals, if he stays on past this season, have and will be made with the best interest of the Flyers in mind over his own job security. But he promises fans this: “We don’t want Band-Aids anymore.”
