Simmonds' situation is one of many Fletcher is considering as he tries to help the Flyers climb the standings. Philadelphia won three straight before its mandatory five-day break before 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend. However, going into their game against the Winnipeg Jets at Wells Fargo Center on Monday (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSP, TSN3, NHL.TV), the Flyers (19-23-6) are 14th in the Eastern Conference, 14 points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"We have good players, we haven't been a good team," Fletcher said. "We haven't defended very well, our special teams have been atrocious really, in terms of what the numbers say. ... We have things we can do to improve this pretty quickly, but clearly, we've dug ourselves a big hole for this year.
"What I'm doing is talking to every team in the League and looking for opportunities. Whether it's now or this summer, we need to find some pieces to improve our team."
Fletcher, who was hired Dec. 3 to replace Ron Hextall, said he felt the Flyers could be buyers and sellers ahead of the trade deadline.
"I don't expect us to trade our first-round pick for a rental, but we could both buy and sell," he said. "To me it's not the next eight games or even the rest of the year. From this point forward, we have to get better. To be better next year we may have to try to get better this year. That's what we're trying to do, whether it's the choices on the ice, adding players, whatever we have to do. I could see us buying and selling to use those terms.
"The bigger focus is we'd like to get some pieces in here that could be a part of this for the next few years. That's where my focus has been."
Fletcher said the only untouchable is forward Claude Giroux, who leads the Flyers with 52 points (14 goals, 38 assists) in 48 games and was their lone representative at the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game.
"I would never say never to almost anybody besides Giroux," Fletcher said. "Giroux's got the no-trade, he's our captain, probably one of the best players in the history of the franchise, so I don't think that makes much sense.
"There's a lot of guys that don't make much sense to trade either. But you can't say never."