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For Flyers’ Chuck Fletcher, important offseason begins with disappointing start as Joel Quenneville goes to Florida

“I’m going to take the time to get it right,” Fletcher said about the coaching search.

Chuck Fletcher addressed the media on Monday.
Chuck Fletcher addressed the media on Monday.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer

No matter how long he lasts on the job, general manager Chuck Fletcher may look back on his first offseason with the Flyers as his most important months with the club.

For one, he has to hire a coach who will shape a team that suffered through inconsistency and goalie injuries as it finished this season with just 82 points – 16 fewer than last year.

For another, he has to make moves – and he will have significant cap space -- that will not only jump-start a 37-37-8 team that went backward this season but will invigorate a fan base that, interest-wise, has dropped to No. 4 among the city’s major sports teams.

His coach search took a direct hit Monday when Florida hired Joel Quenneville as its coach. Quenneville, who won three Stanley Cups with Chicago and is the second-winningest coach in NHL history, had been at the top of the Flyers’ wish list, and many other teams'.

And, yes, the man they call "Q" would have invigorated a fan base that hasn’t watched the Flyers win a playoff series in seven years, the longest stretch in franchise history.

“Disappointed? I’m happy for Joel,” Fletcher said at a season-ending news conference Monday at the team’s Voorhees practice facility. “We’re less than 48 hours since the end of our season, and the process of identifying the next head coach for the Flyers will start today. I had a conversation with Scott [Gordon, the interim coach] this morning, and he remains a strong candidate.”

Before Monday, Fletcher said he hadn’t started the process and had not contacted Quenneville, who was hired by Florida general manager Dale Tallon, the Blackhawks’ former GM.

In addition to Gordon, Dan Bylsma, Alain Vigneault, and Guy Boucher, are believed to be among the candidates Fletcher will consider. Dave Tippett, a former coach with Arizona and Dallas who played for the Flyers in 1993-94, would be a candidate if he left his position as a senior adviser for Seattle’s expansion team.

Former Flyer Luke Richardson, a Montreal assistant, is a dark-horse candidate.

“I’m going to take the time to get it right,” Fletcher said. “Having said that, I want to recognize the job that Scott did. You look at the job he did with our young players. You look at the job he did with our veteran players. … I thought we defended better. Obviously, the last few games at the end, once we fell out of it, we seemed to lose a little bit of our structure and discipline, but we had a pretty good push there for a couple months.”

Making matters worse for the Flyers, the odds increased that gifted left winger Artemi Panarin, whom Quenneville coached in Chicago, will sign a free-agent deal with Florida. The Flyers will make a pitch for him. (Florida also may sign free-agent goalie Sergei Bobrovsky, a former Flyer.)

Among the intriguing unrestricted free agents: Panarin (28 goals, 87 points), center Brock Nelson (25 goals, 53 points), left winger Jeff Skinner (40 goals), center Matt Duchene (31 goals, 70 points), left winger Anders Lee (28 goals), right winger Gustav Nyquist (22 goals, 60 points), center Kevin Hayes (19 goals), right winger Jordan Eberle (19 goals), and defensemen Erik Karlsson, Tyler Myers, Jake Gardiner, Anton Stralman, Alexander Edler, and Jay Bouwmeester.

There are some high-quality restricted free agents who will be available, including Toronto right winger Mitch Marner (26 goals, 94 points), Vegas center Willliam Karlsson (24 goals), and Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba (50 points, plus-8).

“My philosophy is, you have to consider anything to make your team better,” Fletcher said. “If something makes sense, we’ll consider it – whether RFA, UFA, or a trade.”

The Flyers currently have $47.8 million committed to 13 players for 2019-20. The cap is expected to increase from $79.5 million to around $83 million for the 2019-20 season. The Flyers also need to sign restricted free agents Travis Sanheim, Ivan Provorov, Scott Laughton, Travis Konecny, and Ryan Hartman.

Fletcher said he wants to add a veteran defenseman, a backup goalie -- he is considering Cam Talbot or Brian Elliott, who can become unrestricted free agents July 1 – and “some help up front.”

“I think we need to add a couple more proven players, for sure,” Fletcher said.

Fletcher pointed out that the Flyers yielded 3.4 goals per game and allowed 85 goals more than the Islanders. They finished 29th in the 31-team league in goals allowed (281).

“You have no chance of making the playoffs if you give up that many goals,” he said.

The Flyers spent too much time in the defensive zone, Fletcher and Gordon said.

“The best teams in the league, defensively, don’t defend,” Fletcher said. “They’re playing in the offensive zone. They have the puck.”