It was only a matter of time until the Philadelphia Flyers figured out that Chuck Fletcher wasn't the guy to lead them into a brighter future.

The clock was already ticking on the day he was hired in December 2018, but the edict was clear. You don't hire a GM with Fletcher's track record when you want to make deep playoff runs or start finding the kind of talent at the draft that will help you compete for years to come. You hire a guy like Fletcher when you want to tread water until you can't tread water anymore.

Look at his teams with the Minnesota Wild, each more dead-end than the last. And they were only that good because the two best free agents in a single draft class called him to say, "We will play for your team and your team only, but you will have to give us contracts that will have