Chuck Fletcher signed soon-to-be 34 year old Derick Brassard to a one year deal worth $825,000.
I can’t see many negatives as Brassard has a ton of experience. 905 career games and 117 postseason games to be exact.
Clearly it’s a low risk, high reward signing and I mentioned on twitter that this is possibly a move we look at through the season as “savvy” by Chuck Fletcher.
He absolutely has the potential to solidify a role in the bottom 6 which was an area of concern for me after the major splashes earlier this offseason.
He rocked 8 goals in 53 games last year with the Arizona Coyotes as an Alternate Captain. (Note: add that to the list of Atkinson, Yandle, Ellis, and Ristolainen as former leaders)
In 2019-2020, Brassard recorded 32 points in 66 games on the New York Islanders with 8 points in the postseason.
If that’s the level of production we are looking at, it’s extremely exciting.
Oh by the way, he played for Alain Vigneault with the Rangers where he scored a career-high in goals with 27 in one season and the year before he put up a career-high 60 points.
Respectfully, this was back in 2015-16 and 2014-15, but it’s reasonable to point out the familiarity and how it resulted in prior success.
I don’t know if I necessarily believe it’s an issue, but this signing made me wonder about the philosophy of Fletcher this summer.
Has there been too much of an emphasis on older players?
I have stressed for a long ass time that this franchise was stuck in the old mentality trying to win with toughness while the rest of the league adapted to a new style. I saw too many other teams rolling 4 lines of youth and skill making the pace difficult for the Flyers to keep up.
Are they setting themselves up for that issue again?
Look, it’s fair to criticize the youth last season.
- Travis Konecny underachieved
- Morgan Frost got injured
- Nolan Patrick never grew into his own
- Scott Laughton was eh
- NAK became a disaster on the 4th line
- Phil Myers & Travis Sanhiem were a mess
- Kevin Hayes (younger player?) we learned needed surgery
To be fair, these players are going to have an opportunity to prove themselves in camp.
Same goes for Cam York who is battling for a spot this year.
I just wonder if the franchise is going overboard and trying to fill these problems with too many older players.
Nate Thompson makes smart plays, but can he hang over 82 games with the speed?
He will be 37 years old.
How much does Keith Yandle have left in the tank? He’ll be 35.
Does Derick Brassard make more sense than giving Morgan Frost the room to grow?
I don’t want to sound like a hypocrite because I am excited for this upcoming season and I actually really like what Chuck Fletcher has done.
I just love to look at both sides of every sports argument, debate, trade, signing, etc.
Is it possible they targeted too many old guys or is it the right amount of mix between youth and experience to get over the hump?
Only time will tell!
LET’S GO FLYERS!