GM Chuck Fletcher discusses upcoming NHL Trade Deadline

Flyers President & General Manager Chuck Fletcher held his annual pre-deadline media availability on Tuesday morning at Flyers Training Center ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline.
Fletcher affirmed that the Flyers are in "selling" mode, a notion also mentioned by head coach John Tortorella on Monday and one that became more clear after the Flyers battled through a tough month of February. However, Fletcher clarified that he is not interested in a scorched-earth rebuild where the Flyers move as many players as possible in order to acquire as many assets as possible.
"We're not going to gut this team," he said. "I'm not looking to trade Tippet, Farabee, Frost, [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. But the timing of how you do things is important and it really depends on the market. The goal is to get better and to get value, not just to move guys out."

2/28 Press Conference: Chuck Fletcher
The writing is on the wall that James van Riemsdyk, whose contract expires at the end of this season, is likely going to play his last game as a Flyer on Wednesday if he hasn't already. The veteran forward's name has surfaced in multiple media reports as a player who could bolster a team's overall scoring and specifically could help on a power play.
"It will depend on market opportunities that are there," Fletcher said. "The primary focus, most of the calls have been about players on expiring contracts and the rental players, if you will. Saying that, we're willing to listen on just about anything, if it makes sense. The one limiting factor right now, there's some teams that are really tight on the cap or tight on [long-term injured reserve implications]. So when you're looking at maybe a bigger move, or a hockey move, you just want to make sure you're not limiting your market too much. And, it's often easier to do it in the summer. But that doesn't mean something can't pop up. But the focus right now has been mainly on the on the rentals."
Given that, it's less clear whether any other deals may materialize with teams that come calling about Flyers players with term remaining on their contracts. But Fletcher indicated that he is open to that to accomplish the overall goal of getting younger.
"I've expressed to teams that look, we're open to ideas, and we're willing to listen on lots of different types of scenarios," he said. "I don't know if it's fair to single out names, but 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."
Regardless of how the deadline goes, Fletcher affirmed the notion of Tortorella's recent letter to Inside Edge members that "this year was the first step in building the future of the Flyers and restoring our reputation as one of the best teams in hockey." He also affirmed that Flyers chairman Dave Scott is on board with the plan. But he did not want to put a timeframe on how long the process will take.
"That's difficult to say right now," Fletcher said. "We're not looking to take shortcuts right now. But a lot of young players have stepped into our team this year. Most years, it seems like you have one or two young players pushing. This year, between Cates and Tippet, and York and Allison and Frost, all these guys are starting to establish themselves as NHLers. I think the goal next year would be [if] two more kids [can] push their way onto the team. There's a group of six or seven where those two could come from.
"We're gonna have an opportunity to draft a real good player this year - right now, I think we're sitting in the eighth slot… [Connor] Bedard is at the top of the heap, but there's another group of seven, eight players after that, that we think are very good. We have two more first round picks the year after. I'm not sure on the timeframe. I've seen some teams flip it pretty quickly. Probably depends on how well you draft and how well you develop. And that's going to be our focus."
In terms of current personnel questions, Fletcher said Travis Konecny is going to miss at least a few weeks with the upper body injury he suffered in Calgary and may or may not play again this season. He offered the same sentiment for Sean Couturier, who has been ramping up his workload but may not have enough runway left to play in a game this season.
Fletcher also indicated that the Flyers are likely to leave the Lehigh Valley Phantoms largely intact for the rest of the season rather than bring players up to give them extended looks in the NHL. Roster rules between the NHL and AHL give the Flyers just four call-ups after the trade deadline outside of emergency conditions created by injury or illness, so while some players may get a look, the focus will be on the Phantoms making the Calder Cup Playoffs.
"Lehigh Valley's in their first real playoff push since 2018," he said. And to me, it's part of the sign of the growth of our organization, the fact that we're pushing, we're in a playoff spot, and we're gonna have a chance to hopefully make the playoffs. So, to me, that's the priority. We have seven kids completing their first year of pro hockey down there and they're all important players on that team, and they're helping to push that team into the playoffs. To me, that probably trumps anything that we could give them up here. They have a good group, a tight group and they like each other and they're playing hard for each other. So I think to see how far they could go would be the best thing we could do for their long term development."