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Watching his podcast today was a gutpunch. I don’t know him at all but I feel like I do, from watching him almost daily. When he started talking about wanting to see the Flyers win before he leaves was almost too much. Fight hard Myrt.
Jason off-mic is exactly the same as he is on the program. Just himself.
“Two weeks ago, after my serious discussion with Jason, we took a few deep breaths and went into the program recording. If a viewer had no idea what Jason is going through, they’d never be able to tell. He shifted immediately. That’s because Jason is a pro’s pro.”—-
—As we say of the greatest of fighters; “That’s because he’s a HOCKEY PLAYER!”
I write this with the hope it is received as intended, but I have a personal anecdote regarding the cruel “C”, hockey, and humanity.
In 2012 my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer with bone mets. Obviously not great news. One of my best friends, Chris Becker, had worked in the Flyers sales department for many years and retained some great friendships. Upon hearing of mom’s plight, he remembered that her all-time favorite athlete was Mr. Bill Barber. After an untold number of calls and favors– mom got a call one afternoon. It was Bill Barber. He spent every bit of 15 -20 minutes chatting and laughing with her, not just a quick hello, a human conversation.
She was over the moon. Mr. Barber was gracious and kind and human, and my friend Chris showed why he is so important to me.I’ve barely had a handful of stat-related back-and-forth tweets with Jason, but he’s always been generous and friendly and notably knowledgeable. This note is my comical effort at returning the Flyers good Karma of Billy calling mom. So this is me wishing Jason well and telling him to keep fighting. And reporting, because we need him.
Godspeed good sir. Godspeed indeed.
Thank you for sharing this.
I think the Zegras side left some money on the table. He got paid four years out for the player he is right now, not the player with some upside I think he is. I don’t have a problem with a prove it deal based on past performance but the term is a year too long. A lot of guys are getting paid on potential and not results.
Even with the cap inflation, Zegras got a very good deal for himself. He wasn’t going to get the Aho deal, but he got more than 9 million and will still be in his prime when he’s a UFA. GOod deal for both sides.
The cap inflation is everywhere, not just because of the Carlsson offer sheet. That said, the OS is definitely a factor across the league. They made a first-time RFA the highest-paid player in the NHL (for now).
Good post. I think you raised good points. In terms of accelerating the rebuild, they view it as going for that if there’s a specific fit (skill set, age, etc) and otherwise preaching more patience. Whether that’s the right approach or not, we will see. But that’s how Briere views it.
What does the failed pursuit of Carlsson reveal about the organization’s mindset? Can the Flyers realistically accelerate their rebuild, or is patience still the best path forward?
Briere just took all the cap increase, $10M, all the dead cap that went away this year, $7M and change, rounded up to the next million and threw it at LC to solve the 1C issue for half a decade. Shows they will do that in a unique situation which likely won’t repeat . . . including hopefully ever having $7M+ in dead cap space.
Twenty-two year old defensman David Jiricek has a golden opportunity in front of him come training camp. The big right-shooting defenseman will receive every opportunity to earn an opening-night roster spot.
Reirden/Tocchet have shown their system is pretty simple for most any Dman to plug into and play for at least a while. I like their chances of getting the most out of Jiricek.
There are still on-ice adjustments the Flyers want Michkov to make once he’s back in Voorhees.
Keeping MM with Cates is the way forward short to mid term. With Cates, MM had 18 points and was a plus 11 in his last 16 games. That ain’t broke so don’t fix it.
There is a real cost to a team “retaliating” via a future offer sheet: They would need to offer up a contract for a player that is big enough that the Flyers would, at minimum, consider not matching. No team is going to do that just “for a friend”. Will Anaheim pull something in that regard like the Canes did to the Habs? Possible, but unlikely. The “retaliation” risk here isn’t really offer sheets to future Flyer RFA’s: It’s other GM’s being wary of working with Briere going forward. That’s why, I believe, Carlsson’s agent (almost 100% surely) “leaked” that 3 other teams were prepared to submit offer sheets for Carlsson as well…That gives Briere cover as “if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else” comes into play.
I agree totally. I think teams will still worry about themselves first (as they should).
