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Ekblad is a very good all-around defenseman. Bouchard is a very good offensive defenseman. Four Nations was a tournament and the teams were picked by the top hockey guys from the included countries. But I guess they weren’t “good talent evaluators.” You can laugh all you want. All Star game replacement? Now, that’s funny. What does Tony DeAngelo have to do with where the Flyers are at today? He hasn’t played here in three years. Fletcher brought him in. Fletcher, like Torts, is gone.
I never said that they weren’t good talent evaluators. I said their job was to put together what they thought was the best team for the tournament so factors other than just raw talent are in play. There’s only one puck. Maybe they had enough high end offensive defensemen and needed more defensively oriented defensemen. Right shot/Left shot, etc. The same things everyone talks about the Flyers needing up and down the lineup, a good blend that complements each other.
The All-Star Weekend, which took a hiatus in favor of 4 Nations this year, will return at the New York Islanders’ UBS Arena next February. That will serve as a bon voyage event ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, which mark the return of NHL players for the first time since 2014.
It was a one off tournament, which may never happen again, that replaced the all-star game. It was great, exciting and really promoted the game, but ultimately meaningless warmup to the Olympics. In soccer it would be called a “friendly” tournament.
TDA was an example at how poor the Flyers are at evaluating and making decisions regarding players. If you think the current Flyers brass, which included DB, is under appreciated for the moves they make you can certainly attempt to make that case but you’d be wrong. While Fletcher may be gone players such as Drysdale and Risto that he and to a lesser extent DB acquired still remain. Fletch was not a man who went rogue. Players were only acquired if everyone was on board because he was the ultimate collaborator. If you think they have a better process and results now, feel free to make your case but let’s not pretend the Flyers didn’t exist before 10/8/25.
I literally said that it’s ok to trade or sign the rest of your defense if needed if you have the cornerstones and you went and listed trades and UFAs that were acquired? ummmm .. so thanks for proving my point?
Another aspect that we haven’t talked about is you have to be smart on who these waivers and traded players are that you select. You can’t be trading for or signing Risto or TDA players unless their cap hit and performance are right for your team. Like TDA at $1 mill was a good play for the Hurricanes because he was cheap and Slavin covered up his deficiencies. He was a bad fit for the Flyers because they paid him more than his on ice value, plus traded picks, plus not having a Slavin to help him out. So a team has to good talent evaluators to evaluate what they have, what they need, and what they should spend to acquire them. The Flyers absolutely have none of the above.
What’s the 4 nations have to do with anything? I’m talking Stanley Cup and you are talking about the All-star game replacement? lol. Entertaining hockey and good for Sanheim but it doesn’t go beyond that. Both Bouchard and Ekblad are better than Sanheim but they picked who they thought would make the best team, not necessarily the best talent and their reasons are their own.
Ekblad is a very good all-around defenseman. Bouchard is a very good offensive defenseman. Four Nations was a tournament and the teams were picked by the top hockey guys from the included countries. But I guess they weren’t “good talent evaluators.” You can laugh all you want. All Star game replacement? Now, that’s funny. What does Tony DeAngelo have to do with where the Flyers are at today? He hasn’t played here in three years. Fletcher brought him in. Fletcher, like Torts, is gone.
Thanks for the superficial overview. Now look at the rest of the D.
Panthers: Jones-trade, Schmidt-FA, Kulikov-FA, Mikkola-FA, Forsling-waivers!!! WAIVERS!
Oilers: Walman-trade, Ekholm-trade, Klingberg-FA, Kulak-tradeDid Ekblad, Nurse or Bouchard play in 4 Nations? Sanheim did. Thanks for playing.
I literally said that it’s ok to trade or sign the rest of your defense if needed if you have the cornerstones and you went and listed trades and UFAs that were acquired? ummmm .. so thanks for proving my point? The cornerstone dmen that were DRAFTED still count.
Another aspect that we haven’t talked about is you have to be smart on who these waivers and traded players are that you select. You can’t be trading for or signing Risto or TDA players unless their cap hit and performance are right for your team. Like TDA at $1 mill was a good play for the Hurricanes because he was cheap and Slavin covered up his deficiencies. He was a bad fit for the Flyers because they paid him more than his on ice value, plus traded picks, plus not having a Slavin to help him out. So a team has to good talent evaluators to evaluate what they have, what they need, and what they should spend to acquire them. The Flyers absolutely have none of the above.
What’s the 4 nations have to do with anything? I’m talking Stanley Cup and you are talking about the All-star game replacement? lol. Entertaining hockey and good for Sanheim but it doesn’t go beyond that. Both Bouchard and Ekblad are better than Sanheim but they picked who they thought would make the best team, not necessarily the best talent and their reasons are their own.
So when is it allowed to get more information on what is going on with Oliver Bonk. He seems like a pretty important prospect that needs to pan out. “Just two more weeks” is getting concerning.
The Flyers are their own worst enemy with their medical staff/updates.
It all started with what the Flyers believed was an injury that occurred during one of their pre-season matches. That was unknown to us until the end of October when Ellis surprisingly went from day-to-day to week-to-week. It wasn’t believed to be a serious injury, hence the day-to-day designation. Then all of a sudden, still without an explanation, general manager Chuck Fletcher announced that he was to week-to-week. Week-to-week then turned into 4-6 weeks at the beginning of November but it was speculated that surgery wasn’t required. At that point in time, Ellis had missed 10 of the last 11 games and there was still optimism that he’d be able to return in-and-around that timetable.
Panthers – Ekblad – #1 overall
oilers – Bouchard (10th overall), Nurse (7th overall)There’s your Stanley cup finals teams and looking back you will find similar results.
Thanks for the superficial overview. Now look at the rest of the D.
Panthers: Jones-trade, Schmidt-FA, Kulikov-FA, Mikkola-FA, Forsling-waivers!!! WAIVERS!
Oilers: Walman-trade, Ekholm-trade, Klingberg-FA, Kulak-tradeDid Ekblad, Nurse or Bouchard play in 4 Nations? Sanheim did. Thanks for playing.
So when is it allowed to get more information on what is going on with Oliver Bonk. He seems like a pretty important prospect that needs to pan out. “Just two more weeks” is getting concerning.
If a team cannot draft and develop prospects at a certain position, it does not have to be the end. Look no further then Vegas’s blueline.
Look at any top team’s blue line. Draft for offense, acquire defense.
Panthers – Ekblad – #1 overall
oilers – Bouchard (10th overall), Nurse (7th overall)There’s your Stanley cup finals teams and looking back you will find similar results.
The majority of your blueline can be built through trades and signings but in general you need a cornerstone player that you drafted on defense. You also need players to trade that other teams want, do the Flyers have that? It is possible to get a player like CAR with Slavin in the later rounds but that was the exception, not the rule. He also has yet to make the Stanley Cup finals. Carolina also has an extremely productive analytic department and a good long term plan. It is really the only way to compete consistently if you are unwilling to make sacrifices and the Flyers front office/senior advisors have always put themselves above the team. The Flyers brass would kill to be CAR even if it doesn’t end up in a cup. Constantly a good team who makes the playoffs and they have very few poor contracts. DB could ride that to a successful career. Instead we get media blitzes and panic signings and an in over his head GM trying to justify the Jett reach pick and they call it a long term plan.
But hey, the Flyers are in the playoff mix and they are building brick by brick. I guess nobody is biting on New Era of Orange anymore.
If a team cannot draft and develop prospects at a certain position, it does not have to be the end. Look no further then Vegas’s blueline.
Look at any top team’s blue line. Draft for offense, acquire defense.
By his play Vladar should get this start, but I fully expect Ersson in net. At this rate, Zamula is playing his way out of the top 6 pretty quickly. Undrafted player, who deserves credit for getting this far in his career, but he is trending to be a very fringe 6th Dman. No need to be overly critical with the player, start pointing the finger at the organization cannot figure out a way to build a better top 6 blueline.
after all these years they still cant draft/develop even bottom pair dman.
agree with vlader and zamula
If a team cannot draft and develop prospects at a certain position, it does not have to be the end. Look no further then Vegas’s blueline. The key is for a regime not to over value the talent found within their organization. Use all available assets to improve the NHL first and foremost. This regime is entering year 3 with the expectation of being better then last season. The internal evaluation of all the players who have been on this roster or the AHL since they have taken over, should be done. Zegras trade was a nice start trying to improve the NHL roster. It may not work out, but I will at least give credit for Briere trying. He needs more of these trades to happen over the next year.
