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what in flahrs track record leads you to believe he is good at drafting? what so much faith?
It’s looks to me like they have plenty of forward prospects, and only one D prospect, who look like they will be regular NHL players. Martone, Luchanko, Nesbitt and maybe Berglund will play for the big team. Bonk will too. None of that will happen this season, but it’s on the way.
Is it any different than you claiming they’ll somehow be harder to play against over and over again? Sounds like a big if to me, but since it fits your narrative, it’s okay, right?
What if Buium isn’t the next Cale Makar but is the next Jamie Drysdale? We can obviously keep tabs on all four of Buium, Perrault, Luchanko and Bonk. We’ll see how that works out but it’s a little early to claim the Flyers are terrible at drafting based on a completely made-up hypothetical future.
Personally, I really like where this is headed with the Briere era as GM. He’s only been at it two years, three drafts, plus Torts is now gone, they’ve acquired some nice young players from the draft. This isn’t going to be a quick fix, especially without a few top five picks, but I’m hopeful a few more good drafts they hit on some of these picks and we have some building blocks that start to stack up.
Finally, a voice of reason around here. The Flyers are within range of putting a decent, competitive team on the ice for the first time in years. A couple of the choices for opening night fixes, in G and on D, look questionable. Forwards look OK. They have 4 legitimate NHL centers and the Top 4 wingers combined for 95 goals last year. That is enough to go into this season with and hope the D and G band aids don’t fall off.
If and when the Flyers ever get to the current level Florida, Edmonton, and Vegas has attained, I’ll gladly listen to how they built a top-tier defensive corps via free agency. I’m guessing I won’t be hearing of this astounding success for a decade or more, or ever if they keep employing the incompetent because it’s the Flyers way.
And if Zegras and Drysdale show any inkling of improvement, not only will they get a bag of money, they’ll get a maximum term contract as well… it’s how the Flyers operate (just ask Owen Tippett).
Free agency? Some yeah, some draft and some trades. Every way you can acquire a defenseman. That’s how the good teams do it, usually with size and grit. None of FLA’s regular dmen are listed at under 200 lbs. Buium is 185. The Flyers do need to add there but we’ll see what the current corps can do soon enough.
Haha! The old “if that happens, then this will happen” argument. Tippett is the safest bet to have a full and productive season, then Zegras. Drysdale will be a project. It a turnaround doesn’t happen, a project with dwindling ice time.
You keep bringing up the Panthers, Oilers, and “recent better teams” as building their teams by bringing defensemen from outside the organization in. Well, if you haven’t checked, only 3 of the Flyers starting defensemen (if you’re considering the gimp Ristolainen as a starter) are home-grown talents. Despite the Flyers already “building” in the same manner as the Panthers and Oilers, they still can’t sniff the playoffs.
While I think your estimate of $20M may be a little low (based on RFA/UFAs at the end of the 2025/26 season, which I may delve into in another post at a later time), that money will dry up quickly if they choose to extend Michkov at the end of the season (the earliest they can do so), if Trevor Zegras meets or exceeds expectations, and if Drysdale finally takes a step forward. And that’s just the easiest 3 examples heading into the 2026/27 season.
Only three? What a catastrophe. Florida had one, Vegas had two covering the last three cups. Michkov will take some of the new surplus. Zegras is already making $5.75M. If he goes from the .75 PPG guy that got that deal to a .8 PPG guy with the Flyers, how much of a raise would he get? Drysdale needs to pull a rabbit out of a hat this season.
You’re looking small picture here. I’m looking big picture. Outside of the players who are currently on the NHL roster (which as a unit, is below average) and Oliver Bonk (who right now one has to hope can get somewhere near his ceiling or he’s just another name we’ll soon forget), what defenseman in the system is NHL quality within the next 2-5 years? Ditto for the goaltenders. Until one of those kids shows he can perform at the NHL level, they’re all the second coming of Maxime Oulette to me.
And as replied on another thread… how many good defensemen are you going to acquire via FA when you constantly spend to the cap? And yes, there is money coming off the books this season, but is it enough to rebuild a bad defense on the fly, and realistically, can this team spend it’s way out of its troubles? They sure as hell haven’t done it the past 15 seasons.
I’m looking at the small picture on D? I’m looking at the D corps of the best teams currently and in the recent past. If Sanheim, York and Bonk can comprise the Top 6 next season, that’s half your D corps and that’s more than most of the recent better teams have built their D.
The Flyers will have a bundle in cap space next July. Dead space gone, cap jumps, more young players on cheaper deals and some contracts won’t get extended. Somewhere around $20M I’m guessing.
Doesn’t matter as it has no bearing on the upcoming season. Just like if a player had a bad end of season. Not cherry picking anything.
With or without Dvorak the flyers will end up in the same spot they end up. He is an insignificant add. He does nothing to move them up the standings. Replaces laughton more or less. Never said any such thing about faces offs or playing good D. You win by scoring more goals than the other team. Do you not? Don’t need every player to be good on D.
How can you not think having an extra 5 million in cap space would be a very good thing for this season. Does that not give you several options as the season gets underway? Truly baffles me. How much cap pace will they really have? Factor in all the RFA. Yes, it is basic math which eludes you.
I am sure they will have enough to lure Connor to Philly. He did after all fly on their jet.
Oh come on. If a guy ends the season badly you want to definitely put that in the rear view mirror STAT. Tippett absolutely had a bad last two months and a bad first month. He doesn’t get trashed too much here, which is good. I think he needs a solid center and some time. He’s a lock for 20+ goals, he shoots the puck, has decent size and is fast. What are they going to get in season with $5M in space? You think the Flyers are awful but want them to stock up at the trade deadline? That makes no sense. The Flyers won’t be adding big in season. They don’t need the cap space and still have juggling options to add some space in a tight deal.
Zegras has proven it several years ago. Needs to get back to that. Can he? Can he do it playing center or wing? If he cant cut it at center how does that change things with the other wingers?
what Dvorak has done in the past does not matter. It is just that the past. Go off the recent season and the 1 before that as it is more relevant don’t you think? Of course you don’t. Dvorak had a solid season last year. Adding him to the flyers really does next to nothing; he is a guy a team close adds for depth. A case of once again the coach calling the shots instead of the GM.
Why not spend to the cap? Do you really need that answered? You’re like the flyers no long term thought process.
Zegras did get back to that late last season. Why does the past not matter for Dvorak, or even Zegras when he finished strong last year, but does for the Flyers? You seem to be cherry picking. Poehling was getting 3C ice time the last two seasons which obviously helped his scoring. I’m heartened to know you think winning faceoffs and being responsible in your own end is next to nothing. The long term thinking on the cap is dead space goes away, expiring contracts go away and the cap bumps next season. The Flyers will have plenty of cap space next summer. This is basic math stuff.
Defense and goaltending are long-term questions. Outside of Bonk possibly being a middle-pairing defenseman, what else of quality is currently in the system? And as I alluded to in a previous post, Flyers goaltending prospects have mostly been disappointing for the past 3 1/2 decades.
For whatever reasons, history shows the Flyers have had problems developing top-tier defensemen and goaltenders.
I think those questions will get answered pretty quickly. If the team D, goalies included, doesn’t get better they’re in for another bad season. I frankly don’t think it can get any worse. They still have Dmen and at least a couple two-way forwards they can build around. You’re overestimating the importance of having originally drafted Dmen for good teams. Spent some time on this, and the majority of Dmen on top teams are usually acquired as already developed, plug and play pros.
Health is not the only concern. He has been used on the wing. Whether he can convert back to center and be effective is a concern. He must show he is an improvement at the center spot over frost. I am sure tocchet is playing the long game and no worries when it comes to zegras.
Zegras has a higher PPG ( as a winger) over frost. That is an improvement. Dvorak has a lower PPG than Poehlig that is also an improvement, makes sense. Talk about laughable.
Why should they have spent to the cap this season? What does it accomplish as they are gig nowhere fast. Would have been better to have that extra 5 million space to start the season. Being a bottom feeder with no cap space is a joke.
Frost is better on faceoffs. Frost has also had injury issues that checked his progress. Zegras generates a lot more offense. He’s proven it over multiple seasons. Poehling’s only double digit goal seasons were his last two here. Dvorak has seven, basically every full season he’s had in the league, excluding two where he played a combined 50 games. Poehling has never scored 15 or more goals in a season. Dvorak has done it four times. Why spend to the cap with short term deals, when you have about $7M in dead cap space coming back and the cap will go way up for 26-27? Why not?
