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Vladar started one game, that was not an elimination game against a cupcake, and nearly lost it. At one point it was 3 goals on 7/8 SOG and only made 9 saves TOTAL on the game. It remains to be seen if he will get to redeem himself. Hopefully DB does not prematurely give out another 5 yr contract with NMC.
Risto. I just want him to get through the Olympics healthy so he can be traded although i am probably kidding myself on either of those. He’s going to end his career as a Flyer.
Jett. I can’t wait to hear your take on Jett as a 3rd line center in the OHL or his switch to (hybrid) wing. I can’t imagine either bodes well for the Jett fulfilling DB’s reach for a 2nd line center in the NHL or for the absolute log jam at RW. Michkov is going to be permanent at LW (in the defensive zone) isn’t he?
– Agree with JM and Bill 100% on vladar. As well on Zegras. No need to extend at this point.
– Why on earth would Matthews want to come to Philly when he has pick of where to go? Why would Trocheck? No top end players are coming to Philly. They have next to nothing to offer.– Tearing it down to the studs is the most successful path. None is guaranteed. Seems you make excuses for the flyers not to. The flyers way is 100% guaranteed to fail. How much proof do they need to see this is true. None is guaranteed.
– Danny has zero balls to make a big move. He is a scared dog to make a bold trade. They are so far away from legit contention.
– Look at Vladars numbers month by month. Has the clock struck midnight? October looks like an outlier when you look at his career. Let this season play out and the 1st half of next season before you extend. If you extend.
– Will TK and Sanheim ever come to their senses and ask out?
– Way too many players are still too comfortable losing. Look at who has been here for a while.
– No need to buy out ex selke at this point or anytime soon seeing the flyers are nowhere near contention.
Danny has given out way to many extensions already based on 2026 being Go Time. The problem is the Flyers are locked into trying to make the playoffs from here on out because the timelines of everyone he extended and gave NTCs won’t allow a true rebuild. Agree on Vladar and Zegras but again with DB’s timeline, look for him to push his chips into the center of the table sooner rather than later, he’s already got a fair amount in the pot.
The Flyers plan that required them to acquire a 1C through FA in 2026 was a fireable offense and has failed even before they got to UFA season.
I am sooooo sick of people (looking at you Myrt) saying tearing it down is no guarantee as a reason not to do it. Well no shit, nothing is a guarantee, but you can’t win if you don’t play the game. Not everyone gets out alive even if you do everything correct. It definitely is easier to just cash paychecks and talk about next year than to make real change.
The Flyers have not had real change and Flyers media just wants to not rock the boat more than actually hold management accountable for being chicken shit. If they want the big chair they should make big boy decisions but instead they constantly follow the path of least resistance like a 200′ winger in Luchanko who is now no longer a center in the OHL over ceiling.
It’s the Mike Tomlin plan except for the NHL. If they can just get to 8-8, even if does not represent real growth or playoff success, is enough to keep you employed for another year. That’s really the goal here isn’t it?
After joining the Brantford Bulldogs via trade, Luchanko wasn’t exactly blowing the doors off and was quickly buried on the depth chart behind Seattle Kraken prospect Jake O’Brien, the 2025 No. 9 overall pick, and Caleb Malhotra, a top 2026 draft prospect.
But, in the last four games, Luchanko had moved from third line center to first line right wing, flanking O’Brien and 2024 draft classmate Marek Vanacker.Looks like our Flyers nightmare of Jett being the future at center might finally close to being behind us. He couldn’t hack it as a top 6 center on a good team in the OHL, what chance does he have in the NHL? It’s hilarious that his best position might be winger, if he even makes it. So much for DB drafting for need over talent in 2024 and now the Flyers have more wingers than can possibly play in the NHL and still no center prospects.
Vladar
October: .939 SV% (6 games)
November: .894 SV% (9 games)
December: .905 SV% (8 games)
January: .877 SV% (8 games)DB has been busier than Chuck in locking up players long term and NTC clauses and in many cases rushes to do so on small sample size. It’s going to take the next GM 3-5 years to dig out of Danny’s contracts when he’s eventually fired.
What if Vladar finishes the season closer to his career average the last few months? And it turns out one month, October, was the outlier? Do you want to be stuck with that for 5 years because your other options at the time of signing were worse?
There is no rush, take your time, make sure you have the right guy.
Macklin Celebrini, forward, Canada. You expect Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh Penguins), Connor McDavid (Edmonton Oilers) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche) to dominate in games like this, and they have. But Celebrini, the San Jose Sharks’ 19-year-old phenom, has arrived on the biggest stage, with the biggest stars, and has emphatically showed that he belongs.
Imagine having him represent your team for the next 20 years. Already a star in the NHL and Internationally at 19 years old. On a 120 pt pace at 19. He will put fans in the seats and win games for you.
The Flyers have Jett from that draft, who set a flyers record of being the youngest player to make the team, wooohoooo! 2 years later he still hasn’t played 9 total games or even assisted on a goal. But did you hear, he keeps making the team!
Celebrini most likely will never hit FA and in the remote chance he did, why would he ever pick the Flyers. Both questions are absurd and do not constitute a plan but that’s the extent of the Flyers “plan” for year 3 of their rebuild and it has failed before it even started.
They should do whatever they need to do to draft that talent, but they won’t. Long term thinking is not something they are capable of.
Remember that the Flyers “owed it to the veterans” to not do what it took to draft this guy. Instead they were just going to get a guy just like this in UFA in 2026 by throwing all that comcast money at him. Also remember that they failed to draft another talented player at a cornerstone position, with the pick they did have, who was just traded for a young Norris winning defenseman because they liked a guy who is a gym rat over talent.
When is a plan not a plan?
After admitting that the entire plan was to buy elite talent in the 2026 UFA pool instead of developing it and it had failed, Jones then said that trades, free agency, offer sheets, and anything within the rules are avenues the Flyers are going to explore.
Literally everything every other team does every year. That’s not a plan, that’s a list of things they are allowed to do, in no particular order. Even the original plan (that could be an insult to plans) was like something a 4th grader drew up.
Step 1. Buy elite talent.
Step 2. Done!Well it’s 2026, the Sharks are 3 pts behind the Flyers and have a 19 yr old who will probably eclipse 100+ points by a wide margin. The Flyers have what? Culture! and the 2 Stanley Cups from the 70s that people still talk about for some reason while being stuck in the same endless loop.
The Flyers show all the signs of an organization that has little to no internal communication… nobody ever seems to be on the same page (and that’s been the case for a while now), and it’s why I continually say they’re directionless.
I think part of it are the qualifications of those put in charge. The qualifications mostly stop at being exflyers which in itself has no bearing on running a team capably. DB interning under Fletcher was not a good thing as he was one of the most incompetent GMs during his tenure but he was, if nothing else, a company man who wouldn’t get dressed in the morning without Clarke’s say so.
The Peter Principle
I agree that playing for OT sucks but Tocchet also sucks with his decisions in OT. Michkov hasn’t scored in OT this year because he hasn’t played in OT and still leads the team in OT goals over the last 2 years. 2 goals in 18 games for the Flyers this season is horrific.
Loved the stats breakdown but i wish you could breakdown last year’s stats even further as last season was an adjustment for him and going through multiple coaches,etc. He came into the league and was a point a game the first couple months. I think he was about a 1 PPG through 12/10 last year? Maybe none of that is statistically significant but i feel he had alot to overcome last year – new team, new country, multiple new coaches.
I am glad you agree that the Flyers need to FREE MICHKOV! after the olympic break. For god sake let him take some OT shifts. Development, not wins is what’s important.
I still don’t think Tocchet is the right coach for a rebuilding team and Front office apparently agrees as Jonesy keeps telling us that he has to remind the coaches to play the young kids and DB keeps (erroneously imo and probably more for his own sake in keeping his job) keeps talking about the playoffs instead of acquiring more talent.
What are your thoughts on Pronger’s insights?
“I don’t know any team — any team — that rebuilds with a winger,” Pronger said. “I don’t know one good team who rebuilt with a winger. You don’t rebuild with a winger, you rebuild up the middle — center, defense, goalie. I know you [draft] the best player available, and clearly he was the best player, but as it relates to that, sometimes you have to luck out, too, in a rebuild and get the right pick when the right player is available.”
In January, Pronger posted on X that those centerpiece players are the hardest to find, and the Flyers need to be patient and deliberate about compiling assets to make those moves if they become available. But he also suggested that the best way to rebuild is to tear it all the way down, like San Jose and Chicago have done, for a chance at landing a player like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
“I don’t know any team — any team — that rebuilds with a winger,” Pronger said. “I don’t know one good team who rebuilt with a winger. You don’t rebuild with a winger, you rebuild up the middle — center, defense, goalie. I know you [draft] the best player available, and clearly he was the best player, but as it relates to that, sometimes you have to luck out, too, in a rebuild and get the right pick when the right player is available.”
In January, Pronger posted on X that those centerpiece players are the hardest to find, and the Flyers need to be patient and deliberate about compiling assets to make those moves if they become available. But he also suggested that the best way to rebuild is to tear it all the way down, like San Jose and Chicago have done, for a chance at landing a player like Macklin Celebrini or Connor Bedard.
Who would’ve thought?
Tocchet is making Torts look good by comparison and this is with Torts quitting on his own team.
Well, the previous coach and current GM carried his stuff through the airport, so there’s that.
The Flyers drama is of their own making. Let’s see if they can handle it with a bit of professionalism this time.
https://975thefanatic.com/2024/01/09/flyers-united-in-their-dismissiveness-towards-cutter-gauthier/
They started off unprofessionally with the coordinated media blitz on Cutter Gauthier from Hilferty to Jones/DB to Torts to Sanheim. The attacks by every level of the front office on one of their draft picks which happened to be the highest they’ve drafted in years is unprecedented to this day.
This year, Kurz and Bissonette carrying Tocchet’s water just takes it to another level. I don’t think Tocchet is capable of going 48 hours without him or Kurz mentioning that Michkov is unredeemably out of shape.
In looking at the situation, let’s begin with things that can be equally true. Matvei Michkov did not come into the season prepared to match his rookie year levels. Rick Tocchet is right to be frustrated, but were airing those concerns in public the best pathway forward?
..
However, when given some proverbial “rope” with a new coach (and no skating test to worry about), Michkov came to camp unprepared. The organization pointing to a lack of training due to an off-season injury. However, subsequent indications are that Michkov’s off-season regimen was off-track even before that. Regardless of the injury, Michkov showed a lack of maturity, both on- and off-ice.Michkov has lacked attention to deal in Year Two. For one, he’s taken far too many careless penalties. For another, he’s made some shockingly low-percentage decisions on when to exit the defensive zone, when to make a play near the attacking blueline, and where he’s supposed to go when supporting the play.
Regardless of pre-camp injury, Michkov did not come adequately prepared. While portions of the fan base solely blame head coach Rick Tocchet or on Michkov’s linemates, the player properly assigned the blame to himself.
Too a certain extant this is all bullcrap. He was training strength in the offseason and when he went to do his on ice conditioning he had the ankle injury and was unable to skate. Should he have contacted the Flyers and worked with them regarding the ankle injury? Probably, but this is also a dysfunctional front office who was just forced to fire it’s last coach for abusing and giving up the team. Despite either one of those being enough to fire and blackball a coach for life DB still backed him publicly. Not enough can be said about Torts excesses in the last half of last season but since it’s embarrassing to the franchise and not the player you never hear it brought up by the beats on the payroll.
He is far from the first player to come into camp out of shape including former stars like Phil Kessel and Dustin Byfuglin. It was also not his intent to be out of shape
I can tell you unequivocally that his franchise was immature last year with Torts handling of the players and the front office handling of Torts. It was immature this year with pretty much everything Tocchet related including the constant internal leaks by someone (Tocchet) to Kurz even when it isn’t in the best interest of anything but his ego. What was the purpose of once again smearing Michkov’s fitness after the press conference to put out the fire after the Caps game to the point of saying there is no way to for Michkov to get in shape this season? Criminal and inaccurate.
This whole narrative that if you start out behind in your conditioning you can never catch up should be called out by the beats long ago. Players do it all the time. Players get injured and can’t skate for weeks or months and then go on a conditioning stint in the AHL in some cases and then ramp up during the season. Big Byf and Phil Kessel are obvious examples but the whole can’t catch up lie stares you right in the face every day.
Matthew Tkachuk just returned from major surgery 2 weeks ago for the first time all season and played 20 minutes and has averaged 18 min since. He didn’t start skating until November, 2 months after the season started. His legs didn’t fall off, he wasn’t played out of position on the 3rd line. Barkov is returning next. My guess is the coach won’t go out of his way to play him out of position or give him minimal minutes. If it was such a concern the could’ve sat him games so he could work on his conditioning, yet they played him while complaining about him.
Bill is just as complicit as the rest of the beats with this.
Did Michkov arrive at camp without skating for the previous couple of months? Yes. Did he train off the ice? Also yes. Did the Flyers think he trained effectively? No. Did Tocch lose his mind? Yes.
Between Kevin Kurz, Tocchet, DB, Jonesy, and Michkov there is only one adult and that is Michkov in the way this has been handled. The kid accepted responsibility, took blame, and never said a bad word about his usage or ice time. Tocch has had no issues irrationally using Michkov, who has been one of their best forwards in underlying metrics all year, in a limited checking line role. Did he start out needing to get his skating legs, sure. Apparently that doesn’t need to end your season according to last year’s Stanley Cup winner but they don’t have the Flyers “culture”.
Tocch has been one of the worst situational coaches and his mishandling of Russian players in the past :
Past Handling: Vancouver Canucks (2023-2024)
Andrei Kuzmenko: After a 39-goal season, Kuzmenko’s production dropped significantly under Tocchet, leading to him being sat in key moments and eventually traded. Reports indicated a clash over defensive responsibility and consistency.
Other Players: Discussions regarding his time in Vancouver often cite a, “cleaning house” of certain Russian players, including Nikita Zadorov and Vasily Podkolzin, leading to perceptions that he has a difficult relationship with players from that region.Tocchet should have his own thread. If he didn’t have his “friends” in the media and comcast covering for him this would be a much bigger story but Hockey front offices are like high school and he’s friends will all the right people. I thought Torts was rock bottom but the Flyers keep finding ways to keep digging.
That Ottawa game was probably the worst played in the entire NHL this season but not a criticism to be heard about Tocchet. I wonder why is that?
Not that anyone is going to read this … The team has faded into irrelevance and they expect players to want to come here for something other than being the highest bidder by a significant amount (ala Hayes)? Lol.
I thought the game was so bad and boring that Bill went to sleep and wiped it from his memory. It was bad boring hockey by the Flyers and we are all worse off for having watched it. People who went to the game should have their money refunded.
Despite another hatchet job by Kevin Kurz after the Caps game, i thought Michkov was one of the better Flyers players on the ice with other players not being held to the same strict standard that he has been held to. Whoever (Tocchet) inspired Kurz to write that article needs to be fired.
Friedman called the Flyers out for the Michkov Saga, DB went to bat for his hand picked coach, hand picked coach FINALLY told Michkov he could stay on the ice longer, Michkov looked good, Flyers won. The heat was dying down. Then Kurz publishes his article saying that many in the building think Michkov is basically a lost cause for this year. WTF? Only an idiot would protect Tocchet even though every advanced metric says Tocchet is wrong.
The icing on cake against the Sens were 2 things :
1. Juulsen whose only defining hockey trait is being tall was to important to let the smaller but much more talented Andrae play in the Sen was responsible for what was, up until the last 2 minutes, the only goal in the game.
2. Michkov, who still leads the team in OT goals over the last 2 years, once again not seeing OT ice because …. Tocchet. The Flyers never even made it to the first line change with Tocch’s boys making all the mistakes he keeps saying he’s afraid Michkov will make.2 goals in 18 OT games and counting. The Flyers are so so bad but apparently the extra 45 seconds of ice time in OT would break Michkov.
DB has been forced to take deserved heat for Tocchet despite only being 6 months into his 1st year. It’s going to be a loooong contract for DB to answer for as this goes on.
Plain and simple, the Flyers are the same thing they’ve been for roughly a decade now… directionless. The plan has been business as usual, and the organization has regressed, and to think otherwise is to completely ignore the results over the past 10 years.
Jonesy came out and said the entire plan hinged on them being able to buy elite talent on the UFA market starting this year, which really wasn’t a plan at all. It’s crazy how many people refused to believe their eyes. Tocch’s going to bring in those big name UFAs who want to play only for him. ROFL.
Let’s stop calling it a rebuild because that was never the plan, it was just branding. It’s vaporware.
The only realistic way they get a “top six” C, let alone a #1 center is to trade for one. Im hoping they can identify a team that lacks wing depth and maybe find a need for need trade. Tippett for Wright has been mentioned. Robert Thomas has been mentioned but I think the Flyers would really have to pay an uncomfortable price for the Blues (and Thomas) to consider it. I’m talking Michkov or Martone. (plus that NTC, cap hit and term)
I wonder if something like Tippett and Toronto’s 1st gets you Wright and a pick or prospect from Seattle? Maybe Julius Miettinen? Is Jake O’Brien (instead of Wright) available? These are the kinds of deals Briere is “hopefully” pursuing.
Who knows, maybe they keep falling and get a realistic chance to draft someone like Tynan Lawrence or Caleb Malhotra.
I think i read from one of the beats that the Flyers have no interest in Wright?
Either way they have a log jam in center. Assuming they resign Zegras and plan to use him as a center, he will get a NMC because Flyers. That leaves you with 3 C with NMC for the next 3 years (Dvorak, Coots, Zegras). That doesn’t include Cates who is on a 4 year extension. What do you do with the existing centers, most of which are unmovable? The Flyers already have too many middle six wingers for next year. Unless Wright ends up being a #1 center you are worse off than before with 5 centers who aren’t the answer and no place to put another if you can find one.
I don’t know. The Flyers roster construction is batshit crazy and DB wants to lock everybody up to keep the crazy train rolling.
