Ivan Provorov may have doomed Chuck Fletcher.
Provorov may have been the catalyst.
The Philadelphia Flyers made a major organizational shift this week when they fired now former Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher. The move was made after the Flyers, and specifically Fletcher himself, were inundated with criticism for their inaction at the National Hockey League's trade deadline.
While it may appear as though Fletcher's downfall stemmed from his failure to acquire any assets for players on expiring contracts ahead of the deadline, most notably Flyers veteran forward James van Riemsdyk, in reality his fate may have been sealed much earlier than March 3rd.
On Friday, National Hockey League insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov may have played a significant role in Fletcher's termination this week.
"There's one other thing I would like to say about this," began Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. "When we did our interview with [Minnesota Wild general manager] Bill Guerin, one of the things we talked about was relationship with ownership, and the Flyers are owned by a corporation. I do think the Pride Night, where ownership or representatives from ownership were not informed until warm-ups started that Provorov wasn't going to skate, that was what you and I and Guerin talked about: Don't surprise your bosses."
"You cannot surprise your ownership like that," said Friedman. "From the moment that happened I think there were gonna be consequences, I do."
It sounds like the criticism surrounding the Flyers' handling of the NHL trade deadline only accelerated what Flyers ownership may have already had planned for Fletcher come the end of the season. Friedman went on to clarify that he wasn't sure how responsible Fletcher was for the Pride Night controversy playing out in the manner that it did, but he did acknowledge that it was Fletcher's role to bite the bullet as a general manager in the NHL.
"When you're in that chair you probably get credit you don't always deserve, but you also take the blame and maybe you don't always deserve it but that comes with the title and the paycheck of that title," said Friedman.
