Flyers general manager Danny Briere and head coach John Tortorella stressed on Saturday that their team’s seemingly endless rebuild continues.
Even with the departure of two underachievers, Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, who used to be considered key cogs in a supposed “build from within” movement, Briere and Tortorella say they’re sticking to a slow-growth plan.
“The move was made for the future,” Tortorella said. “This was part of the rebuild. Maybe other things (will be) going on even before the (trade) deadline, right? That’s where we’re at.”
Where they aren’t is any place near playoff positioning … not that it matters.
Tortorella says his team will never be at a stage of giving up early on this season, even if its record (23-24-6, 52 points) shows they are 14th out of 16 Eastern Conference teams as they take on the Colorado Avalanche Sunday (3 p.m. Delco time).
That said, they’re only four points out of a playoff spot in the crowded East.
“The thought in our head should never be, ‘Is that it? Do we stop playing?’ ” Tortorella said. “Those guys don’t know how to (do that). They just play.”
Not playing Sunday are the two newest Flyers, former Flames Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier.
In addition to those two wingers, the Flyers picked up a 2025 second-round pick and a 2028 seventh-rounder for Frost (all of 11 goals and 25 points in 49 games) and Farabee (he’s been worse). No salary was retained in the deal, which to Briere was an important facet.
That’s because Farabee, with eight goals, 19 points and a minus-12 in 50 games, has three more years after this remaining on a contract carrying a $5 million annual “value.”
“The biggest thing in all of this is the cap flexibility that it gives us moving forward,” Briere said via a Saturday Zoom session. “Maybe not this year, per se, but moving forward. It’s no secret that, especially in Joel’s case, the cap hit moving forward was tough. Most of the discussions we had, teams were not willing to take on his full salary.”
As for Frost, the sometimes sleek center carries a $2.1 million cap hit as a pending restricted free agent. Said Briere: “Morganwas also getting closer to getting paid a lot more money.”
So, it would seem the Flyers made good moves with their two trade assets in getting a former near-40 goal scorer in Kuzmenko and a former first-round pick in 23-year-old Pelletier.
But Kuzmenko, who scored 39 goals and 74 points in 81 games with Vancouver in 2022-23, will be joining his third team in three seasons. And he’ll be joining it with all of four goals and 15 points in 37 games this season while carrying a $5.5 million cap hit.
As for Pelletier, the No. 26 overall selection in the 2019 draft, he wasn’t able to stick for a long period of time with the Flames and had to clear waivers before this season.
The undersized (5-9, 170) center is making $800,000 and is a pending restricted free agent, while Kuzmenko — who has a reputation for lack of backchecking interest — is a pending unrestricted free agent.
Trying hard to envision a Kuzmenko comeback at the age of 28, Briere said, “He had a really good year two years ago. Last year he had a rough start but really came on in the second half. This year, again he had a little bit of a slow start, but he was coming on lately. So, it gives us the chance to see a little bit of him from here on out.”
As for Pelletier, Briere said, “We’re hoping that a fresh start for him gets him going. We like the motor. We like his energy and his spunk.”
Guys that are 5-9 do tend to be spunky, don’t they Danny?
Maybe Pelletier can get a longish look if he signs a qualifying deal at season’s end. But it also seems quite possible neither new guy will become part of the Flyers’ long-term plans. If that’s the case, this trade could eventually be perceived as a salary dump.
Briere, of course, wouldn’t characterize it that way. But he isn’t shy to think of where he can go with some cleared payroll space leading up to the July 1 free agency shopping season.
“It is like cracking open the door a little bit,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s wide open. I’m not saying that this will be the year that we go out. It’s got to be the right player or players if we do decide to open up the checkbook and go after free agents, but itdoes crack the door open to some possibilities.”
Source: Berkshire mont
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