Philadelphia Flyers Need GM Ron Hextall To Shake Up The Roster

The Philadelphia Flyers are right where you don’t want to be as an NHL franchise. They aren’t bad enough to put on a full rebuild, but they aren’t good enough to contend for a Stanley Cup. They will consistently fall 5-10 points short of the playoffs and it will be a vicious cycle. That is, unless something changes.

The Flyers need to make a move. It usually doesn’t make sense to make a huge move early in the season, but this may be the exception. Despite having scoring threats like Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Wayne Simmonds, they rank 25th in scoring. The team is having trouble getting more than two goals per game. They aren’t doing much better on the blue line, ranking 22nd in goals against. This shows that if the Flyers want to make noise this season, something needs to be done.

Every year a major trade goes down earlier than expected, and the Flyers need to make that deal this season.

The Flyers have a ton of assets. They made some dumb moves (R.J. Umberger) that look really bad now, but the worst move you can make is no move at all. Flyers GM Ron Hextall knows this is not the team that is going to win it all. There is no stat in which they rank anywhere near the top 10.

There are teams that look like they are already out of the race, however unlikely that sounds. The fact is, right now the Flyers would have to give up more than if they waited for the trade deadline, but it will be worth it. That doesn’t mean they have to bring in a Steven Stamkos or an Eric Staal, but they do need a difference maker.

The first call I make if I am Hextall is to the Winnipeg Jets. Dustin Byfuglien would be the perfect difference maker to turn this team around. It would cost a lot, but he makes this team 100 times better. He provides offense and defense. The Jets are right in the thick of things out west, so Byfuglien may not be available, but it is definitely worth a phone call.

The Flyers need a change, and they can’t afford to wait. A move needs to happen soon. They look flat, can’t score and their starting goalie can’t keep pucks out of the net. It’s time for a drastic shakeup in the City of Brotherly Love.