Carter Hart

Recently NHL Network listed their Top 20 centers entering the 2019-20 season. Couturier’s name was absent, and it drew the ire of Flyers fans. Take the lack of inclusion for what it’s worth, but Couturier’s value to his own team can’t be understated.

When Monday came and went and the Flyers did nothing but address organizational depth, it was telling. For prospects like Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, it should be motivating. It means there will be an opportunity to make the Flyers roster this season. There will be an open competition.

For every team that made a big signing as free agency opened, it is a calculated risk. The New York Rangers landed prize forward Artemi Panarin and are waging their success on him. The Flyers made their bet before free agency began on Kevin Hayes, Matt Niskanen and Justin Braun.

The Flyers have re-signed goalie Brian Elliott to a one-year, $2 million deal, GM Chuck Fletcher announced on Wednesday afternoon.

After several weeks of activity, all the wheeling and dealing happening over the last two weeks, the weekend where free agency opens may not be all that eventful.

Whether you watched Jordan Binnington’s incredible story with the Blues or watched the Bruins’ Tuukka Rask continue to be a force in net in Boston, you saw two teams that didn’t have a question in net. For years, that has been the one part of the equation that has eluded the Fly…

Assuming Kevin Hayes is going to sign with the Flyers, what would the contract look like and what would it do to the Flyers open cap space?

Flyers GM Chuck Fletcher faces a critical first offseason and plans to attack it head-on. "I think we're going to be very aggressive in the trade and free agent markets in the sense of looking into every possible situation that can help us," Fletcher said.

For teams like the Flyers, the first focus of the offseason is on yourself, the players and moves you can control. For the Flyers, those moves center around several pending free agents that will need new contracts.

Early in Vigneault’s introductory press conference on Thursday, it became apparent why Fletcher felt he had found the right person for the job. Vigneault talked at length about the approach he will bring to the Flyers, one that involves approaching the game with the right mindset.