‘We’re selling’: Chuck Fletcher cites the future in announcing Flyers are open for business

As the clock ticks and Friday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline draws closer, general manager Chuck Fletcher made it clear that the Flyers are open for business with two simple words: “We’re selling.”

Fletcher, who is overseeing his fifth trade deadline with the Flyers, said Tuesday that he is focused on positioning the team for a better future with the Flyers out of the playoff race this season. He added that most of the trade conversations he has had with other teams have been centered on “rental” players in the final year of their respective contracts. While he didn’t mention specific names, winger James van Riemsdyk, defenseman Justin Braun, and center Patrick Brown fit that description.

As usual, he bristled at using the word “rebuild” to describe his long-term approach to shaping the roster, but he emphasized that he’s not looking to take shortcuts in the process.

“It’s terminology,” Fletcher said. “I mean, are we going to gut this team? No, we’re not going to gut this team. I’m not looking to trade [Owen] Tippett and [Joel] Farabee and [Morgan] Frost and [Cutter] Gauthier and just trade everybody and start over. But clearly, we have to get younger, and we have to find some more young assets.”

Don’t expect a fire sale at the trade deadline among players with more term on their contracts, however. Fletcher said he is willing to listen to “just about anything” as far as fielding offers is concerned, but he acknowledged that plenty of teams are up against the cap, and the Flyers may be better off waiting until the summer to pull off those types of trades. That said, Fletcher added that he is willing to retain salary to make a trade more palatable for a suitor.

» READ MORE: The Flyers have mismanaged the 2022-23 season, but they can still get the trade deadline right

Because he isn’t setting a time frame on his roster-building process, Fletcher isn’t in a hurry to trade some of the older players with term on their contracts. The goal, he said, is to get value back, not just to move players out because they might not line up with the Flyers’ potential timing to get back into playoff contention.

One of those players could be Kevin Hayes, who is 30 years old and has three years remaining on his contract at a $7.14 million annual cap hit. When asked about whether or not the team would look to move Hayes now or in the offseason, Fletcher said they could for the right return.

» READ MORE: Assessing the Flyers’ potential trade chips ahead of Friday’s deadline

“I’ve expressed to teams, ‘Look, we’re open to ideas, and we’re willing to listen on lots of different types of scenarios,’” Fletcher said. “So without addressing Kevin specifically, because I don’t know if it’s fair to single out names, but clearly, we’d like to get even younger if we can, and [if] we can do that, then we’re going to try to do that.”

Fletcher reiterated that the Flyers are in need of high-end offensive talent. Adding Tippett in the Claude Giroux trade last year and selecting Gauthier fifth overall in the 2022 draft was a good start, Fletcher said. But the Flyers still are seeking more, and they’ll look to add a “real top player” in this year’s draft. If the season ended today, the Flyers would be eighth in the draft lottery and have a 6% chance of landing the No. 1 overall pick, according to Tankathon.

In addition to adding young players and draft picks, the Flyers could take on “undervalued assets” who might benefit from a fresh start. Twenty-four-year-old Tippett, who struggled to carve out a consistent role for himself with the Florida Panthers, has taken off this season, posting 15 goals and 17 assists for a career-high 32 points in 56 games. Plus, Fletcher said he still is interested in supplementing the roster through free agency.

Not only have Fletcher, John Tortorella, and the Flyers’ hockey operations staff finally accepted that their process is going to take some time, but Fletcher also said that Comcast Spectacor chairman Dave Scott is on the same page. This would be somewhat of a pivot from what Scott said in January 2022, when he was adamant that he didn’t see the Flyers going through a three-to-five-year rebuild and that the team should be “in it,” i.e. competitive, the following season.

At the time, however, center Sean Couturier, winger Cam Atkinson, and defenseman Ryan Ellis were expected to play this season. Couturier, 30, continues to rehab from a second back surgery on Oct. 27 and has been skating on his own recently. Fletcher said he is pleased with Couturier’s progress, but he isn’t sure if he’ll return this season.

“I think we’re really hopeful he’ll be able to come back and play,” Fletcher said of Couturier’s outlook for next season. “I think we’ve seen through this, there’s a lot of things you can’t control. But I think the medical people are confident we can get him healthy. After missing the time that he’s missed, I’m sure it’ll be a little bit of an adjustment, but he’s a smart player and a competitive player and certainly, a guy that we really hope can get back to where he was.”

Fletcher also shared that winger Travis Konecny, who was placed on injured reserve on Saturday with an upper-body injury, is not expected to be out for the season. He called Konecny “week-to-week” and said that he should have a better update in approximately three weeks.

While the Flyers may be sellers for the third consecutive trade deadline, Fletcher pointed to some of the progress that the team has made this season in its first year under Tortorella. He said that from a points-percentage perspective, the Flyers are the fifth most-improved team this season. He feels like the team has made some headway in re-establishing the “Flyer identity” of being a hard team to play against.

» READ MORE: What NHL insiders are saying about the Flyers ahead of the trade deadline

However, Fletcher acknowledged that the team is still “not good enough.” Now, it’s back to the drawing board for Fletcher with an eye on the future.

“The key thing for this franchise, I think we need to make sure that we’re drafting well, we’re developing well, and we’re continuing to add to our pipeline of young players,” Fletcher said. “There probably hasn’t been enough of a push from that angle over the last few years. And I think we have an opportunity here to add a few more assets. We’ve seen some kids this year, and I think we have a chance next year. And I think that’s the best way to build. That’s a tried-and-true method.”