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I guess the hope is when Risto returns he can help solidify the 3rd pair, which is a black hole. Juulsen and Zamula just get exposed way too much. If any of the top 4 miss significant time, the team is in deep trouble. York needs to get back sooner then later. I would hope Briere would take this winger surplus depth to address the blueline. I would assume he will try for Hughes first and is waiting to see how that plays out. I would hope Rutherford resolves the Hughes situation before the Olympic break, bot who knows.
Risto is really good. He’s a Top 4 guy here and for a lot of other teams too. He’ll make a difference. Juulsen had a rough 1st period. An errant pass led to the first goal and his penalty led to the 2nd. I’d be shocked if Hughes gets dealt anywhere this season.
We can debate whether is a top 4 Dman as far as play and production. Risto is now 31 and who has played over 70 games once since the ’20-’21 season. I think it is fair to question whether Risto really can be reliable for the duration of his current contract. The better hope I believe is Andrae solidifies his place in the top 4 with the current organizational depth chart.
As far as Hughes, VAN is basically a capped team who is now second worst in the league. Hughes has shown very little eagerness to extend with VAN this summer. In theory, VAN should be able to get better assets from a team that would have Hughes for two potential playoff runs as opposed to one. 1st round picks are nice, but if you are VAN how much value is there with multiple picks in the 20s in a particular draft. I believe when Hughes gets traded it will be similar to the Tkachuk trade with FLA. What would be different in a potential Hughes trade is he has term left on his contract. Tkachuk was traded during the summer when he could sign an extension with FLA. Rutherford should be able to do better from an asset standpoint trading Hughes before this trade deadline. What is the benefit of VAN keeping him past the deadline? Difficult to make the playoffs this season being so low in the standings. Unlikely, Rutherford can build a roster over the summer that can compete with EDM, ANA, or Vegas for next season to just even compete in the division. My personal belief is Rutherford would be foolish not to deal Hughes soon.
Once Hughes is traded, then I believe the next domino to fall would be BUF. Byram or Power would be my guess for the next young Dman with term left to potentially be traded.
I guess the hope is when Risto returns he can help solidify the 3rd pair, which is a black hole. Juulsen and Zamula just get exposed way too much. If any of the top 4 miss significant time, the team is in deep trouble. York needs to get back sooner then later. I would hope Briere would take this winger surplus depth to address the blueline. I would assume he will try for Hughes first and is waiting to see how that plays out. I would hope Rutherford resolves the Hughes situation before the Olympic break, bot who knows.
the scary part is what risto like dman will he acquire? big is better.
will risto ever see the playoffs? I think he has the longest streak of no playoff games.
Hard to say. Jones talking about his views on team building, Briere has not exactly followed. Zegras is certainly not a big forward. Right now, I would argue the Drysdale/Andrae pairing has been the best pairing since being put together. Somewhat small sample size. The pursuit of Hughes certainly suggest a lack of need for size on the blueline. With Risto’s injury history, not even sure he lasts the entire season when he returns. Seeler seems to be declining with age. Still a capable #6 Dman going forward.
I’m really hoping Hughes gets traded soon. I doubt Briere does anything meaningful until the Hughes situation is resolved.
I guess the hope is when Risto returns he can help solidify the 3rd pair, which is a black hole. Juulsen and Zamula just get exposed way too much. If any of the top 4 miss significant time, the team is in deep trouble. York needs to get back sooner then later. I would hope Briere would take this winger surplus depth to address the blueline. I would assume he will try for Hughes first and is waiting to see how that plays out. I would hope Rutherford resolves the Hughes situation before the Olympic break, bot who knows.
Amazing how much of a mess BUF still is this season. I still believe Briere should try and pry Dahlin, Power, or Thompson away. Power reminds me so much of a potential Zegras situation. His value continues to plummet, a change of scenery may do wonders. Not a guarantee, but a risk I believe would be worth taking. Dahlin is a pipe dream, but if somehow, some way, it can be done, whew.
I am more amazed those players and tuch haven’t asked out. maybe they are comfortable and have accepted losing like some flyers players.
There were rumblings last year that Dahlin was not happy, and then met with the GM Adams and supposedly things were smoothed over. They are going to have blow up the roster, the mix just does not work. They tore it down to the studs and have a bunch of top 10 picks drafted over the last decade. Have a feeling they would be more interested in player for player trades similar to the Cozen/Norris trade and Mittlestadt/Byrum trades. BUF still has not won a road game this season in regulation, pretty incredible.
Amazing how much of a mess BUF still is this season. I still believe Briere should try and pry Dahlin, Power, or Thompson away. Power reminds me so much of a potential Zegras situation. His value continues to plummet, a change of scenery may do wonders. Not a guarantee, but a risk I believe would be worth taking. Dahlin is a pipe dream, but if somehow, some way, it can be done, whew.
I do hope Grebenkin can seize this opportunity and be released from the purgatory of the 4th line forever. The game against BUF was a nice start. The play for Briere will be to trade some of these wingers to help improve the roster. We’ll see what he can get done.
It is fascinating to watch Drysdale-Andrae play with so much pace, and Zamula comes on the ice and looks like he is in slow motion. Maybe he adds value in the locker room somehow, but his on ice play might be slightly better then Juulsen. Maybe, maybe not.
A gpalie who can stop the puck and the top 4 on the blueline is the catalyst for success. I guess Risto is closing to coming back to help bolster the 3rd pair. Kind of hoping Kyrou would get a shot with Seeler on the 3rd pair. The blueline is not big, but constantly gets it out of the D zone with good outlet passes as opposed to chipping the puck up the boards every time. It would take real courage to embrace making the blueline smaller, but even more mobile and passing ability with inserting Kyrou. I do not expect it to happen any time soon, but with Drysdale and Andrae not getting caved in due to lack of size, it is something to think about.
That whole Drysdale trade still doesn’t sit well with me. Gauthier screwed the organization over with his request, he probably wouldn’t be having as much success offensively with the Flyers as they lack the talent that the Ducks have, but his talent level far exceeds Drysdale’s in my opinion. Bad trade!!
I don’t disagree about the results of the trade, but Drysdale is a big part of the results of the current team. This team currently built is not a true contender. Above average goaltending and a top 4 cannot take a team to the Finals. As far as asset management, no doubt trading for a top line winger for a second pair Dman is not ideal. A miss for Briere. Trading a 4th line center for at worst a top line winger is a win. I am not a Briere apologist. From day one, I thought the path of the rebuild laid out was a mistake. TK and Tippett extensions a mistake, IMO. If he can trade for Tippett before his NTC kicks in to bolster the team, then not a mistake. The way forward is trades and savvy free agent deals. Vladar full credit as a savvy free agent move. Pretty obvious, the next big move is trading some of these winger assets for a top 6 center or top pair Dman. It is really the only was forward to making this team relevant. That’s why if Hughes becomes available, Briere will try to acquire.
A gpalie who can stop the puck and the top 4 on the blueline is the catalyst for success. I guess Risto is closing to coming back to help bolster the 3rd pair. Kind of hoping Kyrou would get a shot with Seeler on the 3rd pair. The blueline is not big, but constantly gets it out of the D zone with good outlet passes as opposed to chipping the puck up the boards every time. It would take real courage to embrace making the blueline smaller, but even more mobile and passing ability with inserting Kyrou. I do not expect it to happen any time soon, but with Drysdale and Andrae not getting caved in due to lack of size, it is something to think about.
I do believe Quinn Hughes does get traded and has no interest in extending in VAN. There has not been many top tier players who have been traded with more then a few months left on their current contract. The most recent example was Jack Eichel and he had a medical situation added to the equation. Whoever trades for Hughes the assets given up to get him might be surprising lower then expected.
I have posted before I would prefer to trade for Dahlin over Hughes. However, the current regime has to justify its plan back to relevancy. Hughes is the type of player they have to try and acquire because of their insistence of not gutting the roster to acquire multiple top 5 picks. I have been no fan of Tocchet, but we’ll see if he can help get a Hughes trade over the line. What we have seen so far with the cap rising is all the star players not waiting to sign in the summer of their free agency, but extending early. Will Hughes buck the trend to player with his brothers? Possible. However, I read a rumor that Hughes may sign an extension which ends when Jack’s current deal is up in 2030. Hughes current cap hit is 7.8 million. I have to figure his extension will probably be double that number. We’ll see who has an appetite for giving out that type of contract.
Team looks like its skating in mud thru much of the games. I know the HC does not want the forwards to cheat out of the defensive zone, but somehow the forwards need to get going quicker. They are just so slow thru the neutral zone.
Rather move heaven and earth for Dahlin, then Hughes. I believe once he gets out of BUF, he will be a perennial Norris top 3 candidate. Maybe Briere can start by offering the greatest 3rd line in hockey as the foundation of the trade. I just don’t see BUF being satisfied with prospects and picks. I would try to avoid including Michkov or Martone in a trade, but I would think about depending on what other assets are involved.
If you truly believe that then he is worth more than either Michkov or Martone. Norris caliber dmen are worth more than good/potentially good wingers. They could always try to draft one but that’s crazy talk. Everyone knows the only way to get your #1 center and #1 dman is to trade for them, nobody actually does a rebuild.
To acquire a potential #1 Dman below 30 is going to require significant assets, I agree. I certainly do not believe Briere should start with Michkov or Martone. Certainly, he might have to get there, we’ll see. Has there been a #1 Dman under 30 traded since Kimmo? I cannot remember. I do not consider Hanifin a #1 Dman. Pronger was well over 30. I would be curious if there are other examples to possibly review on trade compensation. I guess the question is for BUF, do they want picks and prospects as the primary assets. Or young players under term, who they believe can contribute today and in the future.
Rather move heaven and earth for Dahlin, then Hughes. I believe once he gets out of BUF, he will be a perennial Norris top 3 candidate. Maybe Briere can start by offering the greatest 3rd line in hockey as the foundation of the trade. I just don’t see BUF being satisfied with prospects and picks. I would try to avoid including Michkov or Martone in a trade, but I would think about depending on what other assets are involved.
The Flyers will never get it. Dvorak is a 2-3rd line center. Cates is at best a 3rd line center. Coots makes too much money for what he offers. You refuse to play Zegras at center. You will finish just outside of the playoffs this year. How will they improve at center? I haven’t even referenced the defense. They are A LONG WAY away.
When the Flyer signed Dvorak over the summer, I understood the move. Overpaid bottom 6 center for one year. Briere could retain salary at the deadline and get a good asset back. He could fill a spot if Luchanko was not ready. Let Zegras play center and have Dvorak take certain faceoffs when G Was paired with Couts. That plan lasted about 5 games apparently. If Briere does not move Dvorak at the deadline for an asset, it is a failure. Trying to make the playoffs with no shot at the Cup does not justify keeping Dvorak. It would only compound the mistake because I guess the Zegras at center experiment is over. If Tocchet could not allow Zegras to play center against Tampa in the 3rd period last after watching the first two periods, I doubt it happens at all this season with any regularity.
It is amazing to watch that Torts’ team was about transition offense and Tocchet is the complete opposite. Not sure during the hiring process why the regime thought it was a good idea to do a complete 180 on style of play. They could not break down a blueline missing their top 3 Dmen. If they make the playoffs, it will only happen if Vladar plays 50 games and has a top 10 save %. Tocchet does not have the offensive structure to win any other way. This has proven to be true in all of Tocchet’s previous jobs. Got to give the man credit, he got paid by the Flyers and he has shown no ability to adjust his offensive structure. Play safe and only shoot with traffic in front of the net. Leads to a lot of nights just like what has happened in Tampa.
from just a coaching standpoint, is tocchet worse than Torst?
I believe Torts was a better HC for how the team is currently constructed. They are not big upfront, so trying to come thru the neutral zone with limited speed and try to win board battles to then get forwards in front of the net to deflect shots is not this team. Torts downfall was his loyalty to Rocky running the PP. He just would not move Rocky off that responsibility. Tocchet is married to his offensive philosophy, no matter the talent level. He salivates having a winger like Tippett. A forward who can skate fast with size and hopefully dig out pucks in the corner. Does not matter if Tippett is not good at that job, Tocchet believes he will be able to mold him into that player.
The Flyers now have given up the 4th least amount of goals in the league, and have scored the 4th least goals. Unless the team gets on a hot streak of shooting %, this is Tocchet hockey. It is no different then his last head coaching jobs. It is generally very boring hockey. Quite frankly, when the team plays three 3rd line centers and one 4th line center, the boredom factor is magnified. Really cannot afford to trade Luchanko or Nesbitt because no matter what the belief is in their ceiling, they have to let those players develop and hope because the cupboard is so barren right now. Couts, Cates, and Dvorak are basically the same type of center, redundancy at its highest.
It sure looks like they are going to do everything possible to make it as a wildcard. This roster is not taking steps to ascend into a playoff contender. It has serious structural issues that place the team right back into purgatory. The HC has zero interest in seeing if Zegras can develop into a top 6 center, which is something they have absolutely nothing close to at the NHL or AHL level. Baffling decisions.
With pretty much every team in the playoff “picture now would be a good time to try to sell high on players. There will be plenty of buyers. Stop with this short term we need to make the playoff nonsense. Its about the future.
Now we know they will not sell. More than likely find the next Nate Thompson or Alex Grant. As you said they want the playoffs. They will view that as a successful season.
Not really when you see what the goal this season is about .
I agree. There is no doubt in my mind the HC would want Dvorak past this season. The GM cannot allow the team to stockpile bottom 6 centers. He already has 2 of them under contract for awhile. I’m sorry Noah Cates will not be a 2C in his career. That is not a slight, just reality. Couts is sunk cost. The rumor of them wanting another bottom 6 center to help the roster is frankly laughable. Acquiring more grinders is not going to make them overtake CAR and NJ for the division. Figuring out a way to supplement offensive talent besides Michkov and Zegras closes the gap.
Vladar for his career has only played 30 games in one season. He is already up to 13 games. We will see if he can maintain this level of play for an entire season. This HC has little evidence in his past to suggest he can win with offensive output.
