Gauthier wanted to sign with the Flyers and it's implicitly believed that Fletcher guaranteed him the ability to sign and burn an ELC year after his freshman season at BC. Problem was, Fletcher got fired the day before that season ended. So in Briere's first week on the job, he talked to Gauthier, reneged on that promise and offered an AHL PTO instead--thousands instead of millions. Their next conversation in May of 2023 is when Gauthier requested the trade. The Flyers then doubled down by running a smear campaign around "didn't want to be a Flyer!" instead of acknowledging that management turnover resulted in a broken player relationship.
Gauthier can be an entitled prick, but it's logical to not want to work for a company that promises you massive sums of money and that yoinks that immediately when one stooge gets fired in favor of another, and then immediately turns around and shit talks you nonstop on its own captive media networks to get ahead of it.
RyJo situation: They took him to get a 1st from Colorado. He was willing to play but Tortorella did not want him on the roster. So they DOA'd his career to make their hardass coach happy. He responded by claiming an injury.
Their top goalie prospect is currently demanding a release from his contract to return to the KHL because they stuck him in the AHL without a translator and made him ride the bench while cap dump Cal Petersen started every game. Because a short AHL playoff run is, of course, more important than developing prospects by playing them.
They're a sloppy, unprofessional organization run by a GM with no prior experience, their ex-color commentator, and a random health insurance executive meant to oversee everything. Their coach was hired directly by the cable company that owns them, because he gave off good hardass vibes that are the only thing the cable company understands about hockey and the Flyers as an entity. Instead of being an employee, the rando outsider CEO has requested a "triumvirate" where he shares power with Briere and Jones.
Badly run company. Absolute mess.