Fletcher, Flyers Busy Re-Tooling Lehigh Valley Phantoms On Day 1 Of Free Agency
Philadelphia Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher has certainly made his mark on the organization this summer.
He was a busy man prior to free agency, particularly on defense - buying out Andrew MacDonald and David Schlemko, trading Radko Gudas and acquiring Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun. Don't forget about the two-year bridge deal for Travis Sanheim, either.
Fletcher, of course, acquired the rights to forward Kevin Hayes and locked him up longterm.
All of moves made upgraded a position that needed tending to, but heading into July 1st all the work that really remained for the Flyers' new GM was to re-tool the organization's depth and surround the highly-touted prospects in Lehigh Valley (AHL) - i.e. Mogan Frost, Joel Farabee, Isaac Ratcliffe, etc. - with a set of veteran players that could help what was an extremely young roster heading into the beginning of the free agency signing period. There wasn't a forward on the roster older than 23, and the lone 'veteran' (explained in detail below) on the Phantoms' roster was defenseman T.J. Brennan.
During development camp, Chuck Fletcher was asked about his plan for free agency at the AHL level with a large group of young players under contract for next season. While he chose his words carefully, he smiled and said that there would be some 'roster tweaks'.
The expectation at that point was that there would be a couple of veterans added to help stabilize the youth on the roster and help them transition to the pro game. Inside AHL Hockey had caught wind from multiple sources that indicated the Flyers' new regime wasn't pleased, overall, with the current crop of AHL-level unrestricted free agents. And as is par for the course, when a new GM comes in he usually starts bringing in his own guys.
As the dust settles on what turned out to be an incredibly busy day for the Flyers Monday, there was a general theme with the eight players they signed to NHL contracts - bolstering the organization's depth and bringing in "their guys".
"One of the important things we were hoping to do was provide a solid, veteran cast of players to surround our talented young players that are starting their professional journey down in Lehigh Valley this year," Chuck Fletcher told reporters via conference call Monday evening. "We feel we’ve added a lot of good hockey players, a lot of quality people and clearly the depth of our organization is much better right now."
The Flyers signed two players - defenseman Andy Welinski (one-year) and forward Andy Andreoff (two-year) - to one-way contracts worth $750,000. The term 'one-way' simply means that the player earns the same salary, in this case $750k, regardless of whether they play in the NHL or AHL.
Philadelphia signed six other players to two-way contracts: goaltender Jean-Francois Berube (one-year), defensemen Chris Bigras (two-years), Nate Prosser (two-years) and Tyler Wotherspoon (two-years) and forwards Kyle Criscuolo (one-year) and Kurtis Gabriel (one-year)
"I think the majority of the players we brought in are upgrades on what we had last year. We didn’t have a very good season last year in Lehigh Valley," Fletcher explained, noting that the Phantoms did have to overcome a lot of injuries and they lost the previous year's AHL MVP Phil Varone to the Flyers where he spent most of the season. "[That] was a big blow for that club. Between the young players that are turning pro this season and the veteran players we’ve added I think we significantly upgraded our talent and our character level."
The Phantoms themselves announced two AHL contract signings Monday, adding five-time AHL All-Star center Cal O'Reilly to a two-year contract and bringing back one of last year's Phantoms' All-Stars in left-wing Greg Carey on a one-year pact.
While the roster looks awfully crowded now, a lot can change over the summer and during the course of training camp and the preseason with injuries and trades, etc.
For now, Fletcher and company feels that they've accomplished a lot of what they had set out to do. The pieces are in place, and now it's on to waiting until September in training camp and the preseason for all of the pieces to fall into place this fall.
"We have a lot of options. That’s what training camp’s for," Fletcher said Monday. "It’s an opportunity for players to come in and show that they belong. It should be an exciting camp."
Under Contract - Potential 2019-20 Phantoms Roster Candidates
Editor's Note *At least one more forward from the list below is likely to begin the season in the NHL with Philadelphia. I also opted not to add Kurtis Gabriel to this list, giving the Flyers exactly 12 forwards (10-signed plus RFA's Konecny and Laughton) at the NHL level.
AHL = AHL contract V = A veteran by AHL standards, which is a player entering the season with more than 320 pro games played.
FORWARDS (16): Andy Andreoff (V), Nicolas Aube-Kubel (RFA tendered qualifying offer), Connor Bunnaman, Greg Carey (AHL, V), Kyle Criscuolo, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, David Kase, Pascal Laberge, Cal O'Reilly (AHL, V) Isaac Ratcliffe, German Rubtsov, Matthew Strome, Maksim Sushko, Carsen Twarynski and Mikhail Vorobyev
DEFENSEMEN (7): Chris Bigras, T.J. Brennan (V), Mark Friedman, Nate Prosser (V), Andy Welinski, Reece Willcox and Tyler Wotherspoon (V)
GOALIES (4): Jean-Francois Berube, Alex Lyon, Felix Sandstrom and Kirill Ustimenko
Depth Chart
NOTE: This couldn't be an actual lineup for Lehigh Valley because they cannot dress six veteran players for a game due to the AHL's development rule.
Left Wing/Center/Right Wing
Greg Carey (V) / Cal O'Reilly (V) / Andy Andreoff (V) Joel Farabee / German Rubtsov / Nicolas Aube-Kubel Isaac Ratcliffe / Mikhail Vorobyev / David Kase Pascal Laberge / Connor Bunnaman / Kyle Criscuolo Carsen Twarynski / / Maxim Sushko Matthew Strome
LD / RD
Chris Bigras / Andy Welinski Tyler Wotherspoon (V) / Nate Prosser (V) T.J. Brennan (V) / Mark Friedman / Reece Willcox
Goalie
Felix Sandstrom Alex Lyon / Jean-Francois Berube
ECHL Reading: Kirill Ustimenko
