Philadelphia Flyers: New GM Chuck Fletcher is keeping his word

Chuck Fletcher is upholding his promise to the Philadelphia Flyers by making them better.

When the Philadelphia Flyers hired new General Manager Chuck Fletcher, his promise was to make the team better as soon as possible. With a trade and a buyout in the first days of the offseason, Fletcher is keeping his word.

The Flyers trade of fan favorite Wayne Simmonds on the trade deadline was Fletcher’s first move. With that move, Fletcher made it clear that he would not allow sentimentality to cloud his judgment – making the Flyers a better team is his priority.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

On Friday, Fletcher traded away another fan favorite in Radko Gudas. The heavy hitting defenseman seemed a throwback to the days of the Broad Street Bullies, and the fans warmed to him almost immediately after he was acquired from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Along with Gudas’ hard hits came penalties – bad penalties that seemed to come at the most inopportune moments. Those penalties earned him numerous suspensions, most notably a ten-game suspension in November 2017 for slashing the neck of Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault.

The return for Gudas is veteran defenseman Matt Niskanen, the very player that Gudas knocked out of a game in February 2017.

Despite the wailing from many fans that the team has traded away their best defensemen, this trade immediately made the Flyers a much better team. Niskanen has a playoff pedigree that includes a Stanley Cup, a hard right hand shot and is not the penalty liability that Gudas had become.

He can also be a veteran presence to mentor the Flyers youth movement on defense, a role that became more important with the second move Fletcher made this weekend. On Saturday morning, Fletcher placed Andrew MacDonald on unconditional waivers with the intention of buying out his contract.

While MacDonald was that mentor to youngsters like Shayne Gostisbehere and Ivan Provorov, his $5 million a year salary was too high a price tag with too little return.

The move to buy out his contract will give Fletcher and the Flyers a fatter wallet on July 1st, perhaps to land coveted UFA Artemi Panerin. Fletcher has also been working to sign Kevin Hayes. He acquired the winger from Winnipeg but have yet to sign him – perhaps a sweeter contract will persuade him to sign with the Flyers before June 23rd, when other teams can come courting.

While Kevin Hayes future with the Flyers remains murky, one thing has become crystal clear – Chuck Fletcher intends to do more than talk about making the Flyers a better team. He will make the difficult decisions to get this team back to the playoffs.