When Chuck Fletcher said that this offseason was about to change, he was obviously not joking.

A few days after trading the Flyers’ first-round pick to the Sabres for Rasmus Ristolainen and sending Jack Volachek to Columbus for Cam Atkinson – not to mention A week after Shayne Gostisbehere has delivered cap space-the general manager of the Flyers once again increased his blue line by acquiring free agent guard Keith Yandle according to multiple reports.

The 34-year-old Jandel will enter his 16th NHL season in 2021, but despite his age, he has always been very reliable. During the five years he played for the Panthers, he participated in the Panthers’ Every game. In fact, he has not missed a regular season since 2009, and has played 922 consecutive games, which is the second longest winning streak in NHL history.

His offense is also very stable, averaging at least 1.7 points per 60 minutes in 10 of the past 11 seasons, and at least 40 points per full season since the 2009-10 season. Last year, in 56 games, Jandel scored 27 points (3 goals, 24 assists). With this offense, you can bet that he thrived on the strength of his career and played a key role for the Flyers this season. Last year, 18 of his 28 points, including his 17 assists, all came from strength.

In Philadelphia, Yandle will reunite with former coach Alain Vigneault, who has coached him for a season and made some changes in New York. Earlier in this offseason, the Panthers bought Jandel from his last two years of contract, which cost $6.35 million. This makes the Flyers get him for less than a million dollars this season-especially if he can continue to maintain a high level of competition-pretty good.

However, the problem is still Yandel’s defense, he became a burden on the Panthers last season, which eventually led to his withdrawal. He fell in the depth list and eventually fell out of favor, but he will not be required to become Philadelphia’s top defensive player. The flyer already has Ivan Provorov and Ellis there. Is the second pair of offensive threats from the defensive Ristolainen and Yandle useful for Vigneault? Or is there more action to come?

However, one thing is clear, the Flyers hope to bring in some veterans from the outside to provide a different perspective in the locker room. In addition, the actions they did, especially the defensive actions, seemed to establish their own future collaborative work with them along the blue line. They found a suitable partner for Provorov and worked for the likes of Kam. Young guards like York provide a way to grow up without letting them or their team be exposed defensively.

What is left of Fletcher’s company? Please stay tuned, because the NHL free agency will officially open at noon on Wednesday.

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