Is there really that big of a problem with what Fletcher has done? The team is better.

I don't know if Provorov gets 7M i think its closer to 6.5M and he might get less than 8 years.

I am very interested in Provorov's next contract because he just seem so poised to be a top10 dman but I agree that he probably doesn't deserve a $7m AAV quite yet. I feel like him and McAvoy will probably get identical contracts, which is why I think Provy is waiting until they sign McAvoy to see what the numbers are. On the contrary, if I was a Flyers fan I would still be okay with paying him $7m AAV for the player that he will be, rather than they player he has been.

Evolving wild has his projection being 6.737 for 6 years. I could see either of us being right.

Yeah I would be ecstatic to get him under $7m, imagine how good that will look when he is 25??

At what cost though. The most exciting thing about this summer was all the cap space we had. Barring further moves it's essentially all gone and what we got from it feels underwhelming. Is the team better? Sure. But if we literally did nothing I'm pretty sure the team would have improved as well so I'm not as concerned with the improvements as much as I'm concerned with how we're improving

I don't agree that if they did nothing they would be better. I also don't believe that good teams win by only building through the draft and or trades. It's a 3 prong building process. Hayes is a good type of UFA to add. The Flyers have a glaring hole in the 2C role. Patrick has not yet been good enough to play there. Hayes will be. He's also only 27 so the risk of him falling off is much less and he's played a lot less games than most 27 year olds so I like his odds of playing well into his age 33 and 34 seasons even if his role diminishes to line 3 by then. The Flyers don't have much in the way of center prospects coming. Frost has played center but all indications are he's viewed as a wing at the NHL level which is common for junior age players. Simon Gagne was a center in junior and moved to wing as a example.

I thought last year made it clear that Provorov and Sanheim needed help. Myers didn't show he was ready for Top 4 NHL minutes yet and Gudas is overmatched in that role. I believe they're getting it in a similar fashion the Flyers added Derian Hatcher and Jason Smith. They're not long term commitments either which is good.

Fletcher has made solid moves to improve the team immediately. He also did nothing to handcuff the team from signing the important cornerstone young players they have. The moves may have a feel of underwhelming because there's no star. But it's good players. Hayes adds 50 to 60 points that didn't exist last season. If Patrick breaks out for the same we may be talking about a high seed in the standings and a deep playoff run next year. We're no longer asking the young players to make the team okay. We're asking the young players to lead the team from okay to great and the time is now. That's what these moves symbolize.

Just so things are clear, I am not saying we would be a better team without these additions than we are with these additions, I'm simply saying we would be better than last year regardless of the additions. With that being said

I'm fairly confident they would have been better. Last year we were extremely unlucky, stats prove it. Odds are we wouldn't get that unlucky again. The biggest improvement in terms of players would be in nets. Instead of using 8 goalies, most of which aren't NHL caliber, we would have Hart who even at his worse is better than what we had. Up front, had we not signed anybody, I'd be fairly confident in Frost and/or Farabee making the team and even if they aren't great, they'd be improvements over the guys like Lehtera, Weise, Varone and Knight. Losing those 4 is essentially addition by subtraction. Having a full season of Myers instead of A-Mac/Folin would do wonders. Youngsters would most likely improve. Provorov and Ghost would most likely play better than they did last year. We also have a better coaching staff. Not saying we would be Stanley Cup contenders, but even before these moves were made, I would bet on the team improving

As for last year's defense, Provorov had a down year, no doubt about it, but if you go to as recent as two years ago, he and Ghost were 1st pair d-men the way they played together. Feel like we should have used that pairing more this year in hopes to get them back on track. I disagree with the Gudas comment though. Dude has always faced 2nd pairing level of competition and he's always done well, at least from an analytics point of view. Dudes a number 4 which isn't spectacular but solid nonetheless. As for Myers, we just gotta hope he's good

I'm not saying I don't like the additions, don't get me wrong. If you asked me if I rather have Hayes, Braun and Niskanen or not have them at all, I'd obviously say I want them. They improve the team, no doubt about it. But if coming into the offseason you told me we'd spend 17 million dollars on additions, I'd be pretty disappointed to find out those were the 3 guys. It's pretty much all that bums me out, not because they aren't good or players we can use, just feels underwhelming. Maybe my expectations were too high, idk