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Risto has missed 50% of his games since the start of 2023. He’s lost an entire season’s worth of games and not gotten above 20 pts since he joined the Flyers 5 years ago. He reinvented himself as a 3rd pair dman, when healthy, who now excels at not being asked to do a lot.
It’s great that Risto has reinvented himself as a defensive defenseman, when available, while still being paid to be the franchise/PP QB defenseman, for him. Him and his 9 PP points in 4 years. Ghost has had 90 PP points in that time frame and we wonder why the Flyers PP has sucked.
Risto gets paid to fill a roster spot. If he’s more effective than whoever he replaces, likely Juulsen, how is that bad for the team when that happens? None of where he was drafted, what scoring numbers he put up in Buffalo, what the Flyers gave up to get him, how often he’s injured or what his contract is matters.
Ghost hasn’t played here in a half a decade and has moved four times since. Not sure how focusing on everything other than how this year’s team is doing is even marginally interesting or relevant.
That’s very simplistic. If all you care about is winning a game in November that nobody will remember, sure. If your goals are more long term like say building a Stanley Cup roster, it absolutely matters. The short term thinking that has doomed the Flyers front office for years.
Just imagine when Risto and Bonk come back.
Risto’s return will be a good thing but he’s missed so much time. It was supposed to be 6 months and the surgery was in March. We’re two months beyond that and no firm return date yet. He was the Flyers second best Dman last year. Assume he’s up to date on all the systems/watch tape stuff and his cardio is OK since it’s his arm that’s the issue.
Not expecting anything from Bonk this year, but what the hell did he do to himself? Upper body without surgery needed. It’s been two months plus. Everybody was commenting on the bulk gain. I hope he didn’t injure himself pushing things in the gym. Unforced error if that’s what happened.
Risto has missed 50% of his games since the start of 2023. He’s lost an entire season’s worth of games and not gotten above 20 pts since he joined the Flyers 5 years ago. He reinvented himself as a 3rd pair dman, when healthy, who now excels at not being asked to do a lot.
It’s great that Risto has reinvented himself as a defensive defenseman, when available, while still being paid to be the franchise/PP QB defenseman, for him. Him and his 9 PP points in 4 years. Ghost has had 90 PP points in that time frame and we wonder why the Flyers PP has sucked.
There has been no news on Risto or Bonk in a month. The last update on both was at least 5 to 6 weeks suggesting it could go on even longer. Do we have proof of life on either player? Very reminiscent of Ellis.
he now has 6 points in 5 games: that’s nothing special. dont ever see him being a big point producer at the nhl level. they better hope him or nesbitt becomes a legit 2nd line center. Not a flyers 2nd line center.
That’s 6 more points than he scored in 2 years with the Flyers. I mean how is your only stat in the NHL 4 SOG after 2 years? How dumb do you have to be to keep promoting this guy as having deserved to make the team when he keeps looking like dog poop on the ice? The current coach didn’t even try to develop him despite the articles talking about the Flyers being worried about his development, just let DB get his PR moment in and then back to the minors.
Hope in one hand and etc, etc. see which fills up first.
Just glad the AHL is an option next year so the Flyers don’t feel the need to protect their helpless 1st round pick from being to good to play in juniors but not good enough to actually see the ice as a professional.
Good for Jett. It’s nice to see him get some positive press for his play on the ice. He’s where he belongs. Next year he’ll play in the AHL and in a year or 2 he’ll most likely challenge for a 3rd line spot.
At least next year when he “makes the team” they can send him to the AHL without all the hand wringing and woe is me bull. If Cutter had gotten the Jett treatment from DB he’d be the Flyers leading scorer.
Reason 1 for Frustration: Michkov Isn’t Struggling
There’s a popular idea right now that Michkov is struggling. This is used to justify his anemic 14:49 of average ice time, a figure that has been steadily declining. But those “struggles” are exaggerated, if not totally fabricated.
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Keep in mind, the Flyers have a 39.29% goal share (outscored 17–11) at 5-on-5 during this span when Michkov isn’t on the ice. The team is actually kind of depending on him, despite the limited usage.Yet the 20-year-old has gotten more scrutiny than anyone else on the roster.
I get that y’all are frustrated with the organization, there hasn’t been much to cheer about over the past 10 years with poor ownership and management since Mr. Snider passed away. But this isn’t as big a deal in my mind as you are making it out to be. The center ice position is a position of weakness within the organization and needs to be addressed, that’s why I have no issues with them swinging at a few young guys given the lack of talent at that position within the organization and how I personally believe it’s an absolute key to having a winning franchise. It’s not the only key, but it’s a major major one, for me. Look at any successful franchise and you can see they have strength and depth down the middle.
Heck, look at 2009, 2010, 2011, the Flyers had Richards, Carter and a very young Giroux, who aren’t exactly Crosby & Malkin, or Sakic & Forsberg, or Yzerman & Fedorov, or Bergeron & Krejci, etc. etc. but they were a big part of getting to the finals in 2010. There was obviously more to it than that (Pronger) but you gotta be strong down the middle. Anyways…I digress.
There’s lot of 19/20/21 year old kids throughout the history of the draft who’ve had a hard time getting a spot on NHL rosters because of the 20 year old AHL rule, which they are changing because of that, or they’re just not quite good enough for the NHL but they’re also perhaps too good for junior. Look at Connor Geekie in Tampa, last year he played 50 games and then got send down, this year he played 6 games and then got sent down again. Marco Rossi got sent down two years in a row to the AHL because he wasn’t ready.
Jett just turned 19 in August, he’s still a VERY young player…things will be fine with him.
Everything you say about the center position applies equally to defense. Look at any successful franchise and you can they have strength and depth on defense. I also get that we can’t change the past, the pick was made and the team/fans have to live with it. With 2 franchise cornerstone positions needing addressed and a consensus potential franchise defenseman is available and a tweener center who nobody ever confused with a franchise/first line center are the choices, you’d have to think the choice wouldn’t be to trade out of the spot so you don’t have to pick the franchise dman. 99 people out of 100 pick the franchise dman with the 100th working for the Flyers.
That Cinderella team get’s brought up way to much when people try to justify shitty roster building and as you mentioned Pronger (franchise dman). Qualified on last game of last day of regular season on a shootout just to make the playoffs. It would’ve been a made for TV movie if they had won that year with all the longshot things that happened that favored the Flyers. But that sort of thing helps sell the fans that “anything can happen” no matter how bad the roster building is. Richards and Carter did win Stanley cups on the 2nd line of a better built Kings team.
Buium, who is the same age as Jett and playing a harder position to learn, has done nothing but live up to his draft status so far. On top of that he was available to develop in college, something Jett can’t do, because DB signed him after the Cutter disaster. The 6′ dman is to small while the 5’11 180lb center isn’t?
Just because other GMs make mistakes doesn’t mean the Flyers didn’t make one. Signing a player who is AHL eligible isn’t as big an issue as signing one who isn’t (even though it is changing in the future). If they are too good for junior and not AHL eligible, send them to college. This, woe is me I have no choice but to add him to the NHL roster, is bull. The GMs knew their choices with the players when drafted. It’s ok for Martone to go to college but it never crossed DBs mind as an option for Jett?
Neither of the players you mentioned were as bad as Jett who played 8 games across 2 years putting up 0 stats and watched another 9. What was the plan for Jett when he made the team this year? Does anyone know because whatever it was wasn’t visible to the fans?
Jett might be Ok but that means energy line player who can maybe play up on the 2nd line. Nobody has projected him to be more than that but is that really what the Flyers needed with that pick?
The PK has been really good so far. I don’t mind a PK not scoring goals. I thought the whole “Power Kill” mantra was silly. Allowing goalies to see the puck as opposed to expecting every player on the ice to act as a human shield seems like a better idea.
After that, yeah the offensive woes I place a lot of blame on the HC. I get the sense that he is implying not enough guys are going to the net, which he refers to as the “hard area”. Well, he inherited a roster with few net front guys to begin with, so somehow it is a shock because most of the top 6 guys with skill are below 200 lbs. Not sure it makes sense to expect most of these forwards to camp out and try to tip shots from the point. Couts and Cates, I expect could fit that bill. Grebenkin could, but Tocchet has shown an unwillingness to play him minutes. Foerster and Tippett have size, but have never really been a major part of their games. Zegras, Mickhkov, TK, and Brink will go and make plays in the center of the ice, but expecting them to camp at the crease constantly just is unrealistic. Much like the previous HC, is the current HC adjusting his style of play to his players, or do the players have to bend to his will.
The issue going forward is this brand of hockey is boring with the occasional elevated shooting % game. From the current list of top 9 forwards on the NHL roster and the AHL, the regime would have to severely reshape the forwards to play Tocchet’s style of hockey he seems intent on installing. So far at the gate, the fanbase does not seem overly enthused with this HC and brand of hockey. The supposed future star of the team has played like 1 shift in 4 OT games. Even watching the games at home, I want to see the potential star play as much as possible in another regular season that it is a fact this team is not a serious contender. He has already “earned” that right to play more from his rookie season last season. He deserves the chance to play out of his slump because if Michkov does not pan out as at least a PP/game player, this rebuild or retool is finished. Martone turning out to be a stud and the consummate scoring power forward will not be enough to carry the team to being a contender if Michkov does not work. The rest of the forward group is not talented enough to make up that gap if Michkov cannot elevate to near elite level. TK going into his 30s is not going to find enough consistency to be that guy. Foerster could be a really good two way forward, but his playmaking ability is not top tier. Brink doubtful becomes even a 60 pt guy. Zegras has shown 60 point ability in the past. Tippett will be 27 is this going to be year 1 of consistently being a 30 goal scorer- highly uncertain. Couts is an older fine 3C. Cates is a younger, but not exactly young anymore fine 3C.
Even if everything does work they aren’t a contender. Can you tell me who the Franchise center or franchise dman is on this roster? Not who is the best center or dman on the team, but who is their Austin Mathews, Connor McDavid, Barkov, Crosby, Makar, Ekblaad, etc? The answer is those players aren’t on the roster and that there are no realistic plans to acquire that talent.
What they can be, if everything works out, is “in the mix” to make the playoffs. That’s their ceiling. Making the playoffs would be their Stanley Cup. They can spin that to keep the fans attention and make money. That is their only goal. I don’t even think it will be possible for the next guy to do an actual rebuild even if they want to as the team has cried wolf too many times.
The thing is that there was never really a spot for Luchanko to begin with. He wasn’t knocking Sean Couturier and Noah Cates out of a spot, and both have started off the season strong. With the addition of Christian Dvorak as well, space was limited.
But it shouldn’t have come to that either way. Luchanko should’ve been sent back regardless of the team wanting a closer look and regardless of who his team was. Playing fewer than nine minutes a game was never going to be good for him. And being in and out of the lineup didn’t help either. If he had knocked down the door and forced their hand, this would be a different story.
Too much drama in here associated with him and the Flyers. They gave him another chance to showcase himself and it didn’t work out, there’s also nothing wrong with going back and playing Junior at 19 years old, he just turned 19 August 21st. Last season he only played 46 games in Junior, 9 in the AHL and 4 in the NHL, go down and play a lot of minutes and get better. I don’t know what the big deal is from a fan perspective, this is still a very young kid.
The issues have nothing to do with the player and everything to do with the Flyers. The kid was a galaxy brain pick on the heels of the Cutter screwup. If he had been drafted a few picks later and spent the last 2 years honing his craft in OHL (and possibly College) nobody would care because that’s where he should’ve been drafted and where he should be playing.
The Flyers haven’t had a franchise defenseman in forever but they desperately need one. One falls into their lap, all the draft experts, everyone not part of the Flyers agrees. He has every award known to man in college but DB compares him to Emil Andrae (who the Flyers treat like dog poop when it comes to playing time in the NHL) and refuses to draft him for a 5’11” 200 ft player who loves the weight room with limited upside (best estimate 3rd line).
Instead of letting the kid develop, DB immediately signs him and puts him on the NHL roster and promotes the crap out of the kid including him being the “youngest player to ever make the Flyers roster” despite him not being ready. The kid can’t develop in College because DB signed him to a pro contract. Another strike against the front office who likes to complain that he’s too good for the OHL but has no other option.
They put him on the team again this year despite him missing 3 months of the offseason and not looking particularly great in the preseason. Put him on the team anyway to help develop his offensive skills and then proceed to put him on 4th line and press box in equal measure before low key sending him back to the OHL.
All of this while the player they should’ve drafted (and need) and consensus top 3-5 prospect in the world for each of the last 2 years Zeev, is QBing the NHLs #1 pp even if he is going through some growing pains. The guy they said was the reason they couldn’t draft Zeev? No matter how well he plays, does not seem to factor into the Flyers plans. On merit alone, Andrae should’ve been with the Flyers and playing.
Am i wrong on any of that?
So anyway, yea, it’s all about the drama with the Flyers. Was it coincidence they benched Jett when they played Zeev so the 2 young players wouldn’t have a head to head easy comparison that would embarrass the Flyers? Drama.
It’s not a myth and never was a myth. Has he improved? Probably, but he’s also not playing center, which has increased responsibilities, this year.
Zegras isn’t taking faceoffs because that is the weakest part of his game and Dvorak is really good at them. First forward back into the D-zone takes on the +1 role in the Box +1. Sometimes it’s Zegras and sometimes it isn’t. Sometimes there’s switching if a Dman jumps in deep in the Ozone and a forward has to turn around and cover for him. If that’s Dvorak, that doesn’t make him a defenseman. The NHL isn’t rod hockey.
You didn’t address that analytics show that , yes, Zegras historically has been bad defensively at even strength. Nobody was confused about Dvorak not being a defensemen. Just like nobody is confused about Zegras, who is listed as a winger in the lineup, not being a center on this team.
