Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 32: FLYERS - Build the Right Way- June22, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix Unofficial Flyers Podcast. This is Rick Mullen. I'm your host. And we are going to put a quick episode out before the draft this upcoming Friday, just to catch up because we took some time off. We ⁓ watched the ⁓ end of the Flyers season. We posted, you know, quick some quick recaps, and then we haven't posted anything since. You know, I I sat back and I watched the ⁓ Stanley Cup playoffs. Definit at the end of them I watched ⁓ Carolina Hurricanes win. And we're gonna talk about them in a little bit. ⁓ And know, I sat back for a couple of weeks here and waited to see kind of what started happening. Some of the rumors were out there and you know, what some teams have done already, what some teams are rumored to do. And before the draft comes, I figured let let's get a quick episode out. ⁓ And then get another one out in July after ⁓ the first and try to see what the Flyers and the rest of the league does. But real quick, let's start with the Carolina Hurricanes. ⁓ Carolina Hurricanes are on a tear. They were on a tear of this playoffs. They o I mean they owned almost every team they played. They didn't really hit any adversity until they played Vegas. And then they figured them out pretty fast too and shut the door on them. So looking at the Carolina Hurricanes, Rod Brindamore is ⁓ You can just tell. Rob Brendan Moore is one of them. He's one of them. He doesn't look like their coach. He looks like one of their players. You know, Rob Rod the Bod, he he is in incredible shape. You can see how they talk with him and treat him. He he fits right in that locker room and he is going to definitely be in the Carolina Hall of Fame and maybe even the hockey hall of fame after all said and done. So big win for Brendy. I'm excited. I'm happy for him. It was nice to see him lift that cup again and Carolina did a fantastic job. And we're gonna kind of talk about them a little bit because Carolina is built so completely different than most NHL teams. These these NHL teams out there like Edmonton and Dallas and Colorado, ⁓ Toronto, they all have big name players, Vegas, big name players, and they're playing High salaries to a lot of them. And some of these teams, like Emmitton Toronto, they there was no money really left for them to build around these guys. And that's what scares me with the Flyers. I do not want the Flyers to be in that position. I really don't. It's not a fun position because you try to ride with your star players, kind of like Pittsburgh's doing. Like they're trying to keep their star players, and then every year. They bring in like third and fourth liners and hope that they stick or hope they overperform. And when they don't, it's just a scrap year and they got to start all over again. And they can never kind of get there. And I know Pittsburgh did when they w they were younger, but I'm just talking about recently. And that that's kind of where the Flyers maybe headed because there's a lot of pressure put on Danny and Jonesy and, you know, with the media saying, like, we need that star player. We need that star center and that star. ⁓ defenseman and it scares me that they're gonna make a decision that's gonna lock this team up. I personally would rather see them follow Carolina's path. I you know I looked at the ⁓ salary for the Carolina Hurricanes and they have nobody on that team, not a soul making more than like 9.8 million. I think Aho's like really close to that million, that nine point eight. I think the next one down is Aylers and he's in like eight point five, something like that. And then everyone else is like six, five, three, ones. ⁓ they you know, they they, in my opinion, have done it the correct and right way. And they can sustain that for years. For years, they could sustain this. So they have no stars. They're paying everyone under 9.8 million, and they were one of the most dominant teams in the league. And that's there's a lot to be said for that. I would rather the Flyers have four solid lines, four good solid lines than overpay for a star and go back to errors here in Philly when we had only one lines that worked. like the Lindros error. We had one line pretty much the whole time. I mean, don't there were some exceptions there, but that was pretty much the truth. And I don't I don't want to do that again. I live through it. It's yeah, it's great for us to have like that guy where we can say, Yeah, he's ours. He's our number one center. the league looks at him and ⁓ you know, we want that. we we are jealous when we see Pittsburgh have Cindy Crosby for all these years. ⁓ I get it. I've watched the Flyers since the seventies, mid seventies when they won the cup and I I get it. ⁓ we went through some years there through the eighties where we had some guys that were good, but they weren't really like the stars. And then we all of a sudden we hit Lindros and it was like, ⁓ we finally got that star. And I I get it. I get it. But I just don't think it's sustainable. I I think if the Flyers approach this in a different way, they could build a team like Carolina ⁓ and almost every year. And yeah, it's some of its luck, some of its skill, some of its ⁓ Good trading, good drafting, but I would rather the Flyers do that. And we're gonna peel off that a little bit because there's there's two moves right now that are like a ton of rumors. ⁓ well let's start, let's start back at what's happened since our last conversation. So the Flyers made a trade. The Flyers traded Andre and Erson in a pick to Toronto for Wall and Benoit. Wall was a great pickup for us. definitely a good pickup. He's not making that much money. Benoit's not making that much money. ⁓ but getting rid of Urson is was 100% what the Flyers had to do. They couldn't take a chance on Urson repeating what he's repeated these last couple years. He he had to go. And Wall is kind of like Vladar. Wall Wall is ⁓ he's good, he's a big body. He is a really good goalie. I think he had some injury prone, right? So I a lot of Toronto fans were complaining that he's always hurt. ⁓ so let's hope that's not the case and that might be his only downside. However, he has some really good numbers. He ⁓ I mean, he definitely has the potential to be a very good goalie here for us, especially in Tockett's defensive system. So I'm excited about that pickup. And it didn't cost us anything. we got rid of Andre and Erson. Andre was going anyway, and so was Urson. So I think it was a really good move by by Danny. I I think the Flyers won that trade. ⁓ I don't even think Erson gets signed by Toronto. I think it's come July 1st, he's a free agent and they're not gonna qualify him. So we basically gave up a pick in Andre for Wall and Benoit. Benoit is a little bit better than Julson. He's a big kid, he hits hard. ⁓ you know, if Tockett needs that big banging body, he's and we let Julson walk, we don't re-sign him, Benoit will fit that role. So he will replace Julson. So maybe, maybe Benoit's not even on this team a month from now because it's still early and there's a ton of things that can still can be done. But if he is, that's the role he's going to play. He's probably going to play that seventh guy. ⁓ so that was a good trade for the Flyers. The Flyers won. They sealed up their need in and goal ⁓ and they can focus on defense and forwards, right? Centers. ⁓ And that said, We we're gonna walk into ⁓ this senators trade that just happened this past weekend. ⁓ the senators trade Brady Kachuk to the Florida Panthers. He's gonna go play with his brother and ⁓ gave up picks, gave up a few first round picks, and I think a second round pick. And, kind it's funny because Brady was trying to say, Hey, this isn't happening, like I'm a I'm an Ottawa Senator, like all summer so far. ⁓ And meanwhile, they on podcasts with his brother and Matthew Kachuk and ⁓ Matthews like basically tampering, talking to Brady about coming to the Panthers. ⁓ And and behold, Brady ties the ⁓ Ottawa Senators' hands. He gives them a list of four teams. ⁓ I forget the teams. I think it was Carolina, Vegas, ⁓ Panthers, ⁓ somebody I forget. ⁓ but anyhow, it was kind of like, hey, here's four teams, but really he wants to go to the Panthers, and that's where he ended up. ⁓ So that The senators in a position where they got to start doing a little bit of a rebuild here. And there's been tons of rumors the last two weeks about the Flyers ⁓ being interested in ⁓ their centers. So in particularly in this order. ⁓ the Flyers ⁓ tons of articles, tons of podcasts being talked about right now that the Flyers are interested in this order in Pinto, Cousins, and Ridley Gregg. ⁓ let's talk about these three guys, right? So I'm going to start at the bottom. ⁓ really Greg is a third line center. He's making 3.25 AAV until 2029. He's six foot, 184 pounds. He had 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points this past year. Really Greg is kind of like a Noah Cates ish kind of player. He's a little younger, cheaper, right? and that's where this question comes in. Like, why would the Flyers be interested in Ridley Greg? I don't know. Like you wouldn't be on our radar. We have Kates, we have Dvorak. I I just don't see what the interest is there. Now that could just be smoke, like, hey, we're interested in three centers. ⁓ but there could be something else there too. Like, you know, there could be some thought process where the flyers feel like maybe they have to move on from Noah Kates. There's teams asking and maybe there's value there where they could trade Cates in a package for something. and and Ridley would be like a replacement center. ⁓ I I don't know. I I just I have a hard time believing that the Flyers are linked to Ridley Greg. ⁓ I just do. ⁓ I know his father I think works with the Flyers so there's that but I just don't see the fit here unless we move somebody out, right? Like a ne Noah Cates out or a Dvorak out. So and in all honesty, ⁓ even that, I don't know why ⁓ we get him. There's other options in my opinion. ⁓ So going up to the next in line is ⁓ cousins. So cousins is ⁓ 25 years old. He's a little more established as a a center. He's making 7.1 mil until 2030. He's six foot three, two hundred and five pounds. So that's a good size center for us. He has 82 games under his belt last season. He did 28 goals, 31 assists for 59 points. So not not super exciting, but definitely A good center that the Flyers would would and could use. ⁓ you know, he's not putting 75, 80 points, 90 points up. Maybe it's because of the role he played there. ⁓ maybe there's more upside. He did have ⁓ I think a career year a year or two ago, and then he hasn't hit that career year. I think he had like 69 points or something like that. I'm sorry, I didn't check my numbers. ⁓ but you know, he he's an option. But it sounds like the Flyers are really linked ⁓ are linked to Pinto. Pinto is twenty-five years old as well. He's making seven point five mil until twenty thirty. He's six foot three, two hundred and six pounds. So pretty much the spitting image here of cousins, except he has less points. He's on ⁓ he's only played seventy-two games. So he he missed ten games last year. He has twenty-three goals, twenty-three assists for forty six points. ⁓ so he costs a little bit more. He's twenty five years old. ⁓ and he's got only forty-six points. Matt Matt Vemishkov had what, fifty-one? ⁓ so he's not, you know, he didn't have a great year. And maybe he wasn't used a lot. ⁓ And that's that reclamation project again where the flyers say, okay, listen, this guy Pinto has more upside. We're gonna give him more time, ⁓ giving more time will probably get him more points. And, you know, okay, I I see something like that. So ⁓ I be too ⁓ upset with getting Pinto ⁓ or really. I just don't want to tie our hands with a long-term contract of a guy who's going to pull seven, seven point one mil and he's only going to get forty to fifty points with us. And I know this is what Danny does. Like Danny's going out there trying to get those reclamation projects. And, these guys aren't really reclamation projects. It's just the ⁓ Ottawa's deep in centers and they probably need to move one of them. So ⁓ These are options for the Flyers. You know, hopefully it doesn't cost them a lot. There's rumors that the senators are interested in ⁓ Bristol Lannon. There's also rumors that now with Brady Kachuk on, they'd be looking at a Tippet kind of offer, which again, we're gonna talk about Tippet. ⁓ I just don't want to see Tippet go. I don't want to see Tippet go. I think Tippett is on a great cheap contract. This goes back to that thought process of building like the hurricanes, right? He's not costing a lot of money. He's playing much better than the salary we're paying him. He's the fastest guy on our team. And he's hits. He hits and he could turn a game real quick on his own. And we don't really have many guys on this team that can do that. Probably just him. Maybe Zegers, maybe from time to time. But Owen Tippett is ⁓ is much needed on this team. I I don't trade him. I think he's just not tradable in my opinion. ⁓ but You have to give to get, and there might not be much for us to give, you know, if we don't want to get rid of a Martona or a Mishkoff. So I I understand it. I hope it doesn't happen. If it does, I I again I I I I'll understand it, but I I would rather them not do it. ⁓ there's other options for the flyers. I mean, almost everybody that's available, the flyers are linked to, which is okay. they should be. They should be looking at every option they can. the number one thing is I read an article like a day or two ago that the Flyers are watching Austin Matthews. They're trying to sit back and see what happens. ⁓ there's really no ⁓ official from the Matthews camp or what they're doing, but there, you know, there's a lot of smoke there again with a player who probably wants to get out. ⁓ And, he drops the hammer and says, trade me, you know, ⁓ I don't know Tor Toronto would even let that leak. I know it'd be hard to hold that in. ⁓ But he it could be happening right now where Toronto's out there scouring the market, trying to figure out what they could get for him. But ⁓ being they don't want it out and and about in the news. So ⁓ really only thing that's out there is there's a possibility to that Austin Matthews isn't happy. ⁓ I I don't want to see the Flyers do that. I really don't. I I do not want to see the Flyers wrapping up 10, 12, 14 million dollars on a player. I I think it hurts. I I think when you put that much money. into one player, it's almost impossible to succeed. It it just hurts because you're limited with what you can put around them. And you know, these other teams like Toronto and Edmonton, and you know, we went down the list, they're struggling with it too. So I I I don't want to see it. I I really don't. And and then you have the John Carlson rumor where you bring him in, you pay him like eight, nine million a year. He's our power play quarterback for two years. He trains these new kids, you know, how to play. And I don't know if I want to do that either. Like that would have to be I I I guess I would do it if like Ristal Lannon had to go, but it's not really what I'm looking for. I think bringing Carlson in, he's too old, he's too old. Yeah, he can play a little bit still, but in my opinion, he's too old. It's gonna cost too much. ⁓ I'd rather I'd rather do other things. ⁓ I really would. so ⁓ I'm gonna be negative a lot this this podcast because the options I'm reading about, ⁓ I don't know if like there's a lot of interest by the Flyers or if it's just all smoke and mirrors because this is what people write about. But Bowen Byron's available. I think he's making like a little bit under seven million, ⁓ six point five, six point eight, something like that. He's got one year left on his contract. He's not happy in Buffalo. He wants to be moved, he wants to get a chance to go to a team that's gonna make him like the number one power play. Guy, the guy who's running it. So he's really looking for that opportunity, ⁓ which is really what I wanted to see. you and Bowen Byron wouldn't be a bad pickup, but it's just what would it cost us, right? ⁓ And may cost us a lot to get him. ⁓ And other ⁓ flip of this is there's rumors that him and his agents are really hard to work with, ⁓ that he thinks that he should be getting like close to $14 million or something like that, right? ⁓ And that's crazy. It's absolutely he hasn't he does he have potential to be that kind of player? Maybe, maybe, I don't know fourteen million, but ten, eleven, twelve, maybe, maybe. But he hasn't done it yet. Like he needs to come in, take a cap-friendly, you know, contract, prove his value, maybe a short term, do a two or three year extension, prove what you are, and and then maybe they look at paying you, you know, down the road. But if he's going to go to market and try to get the highest he can from which I hear his ⁓ agent does. At the end of this one year, if the Flyers wouldn't throw like sick money at him, it sounds like he would go to market trying to just get the high speed he can and leave. ⁓ don't know if that's true. That's just what we're I'm reading. So Bower Byram's is interesting, from a Taylor perspective and what he might bring, but the cost might be astronomical and hurt this team in the long run. ⁓ then there's other rumors out here. You know, almost every player available out here is ⁓ Up for grabs, right? And the flyers are linked to Mason McTavish. The ducks are looking to move him from what they're being said. ⁓ there's interest by the Flyers. ⁓ Danny and Verbique have a history of making trades, so it wouldn't be something I'm sure that they're not talking about. But what does Mason McTavish bring? We don't really know. he's a he's a kid who's who's tough, he likes to hit, he's do, he does have good hands around the net. ⁓ but they say his skating is weak. He's slow. The Flyers don't need any more so slow players. We don't. speed kills trying to keep up with the Keynes, in that series were was difficult. ⁓ our best skater was out. We had a lot of slow guys out there trying to keep up. And the Flyers didn't do too bad really against the Keynes. They really didn't. They played pretty strong, other than that first game, ⁓ and ⁓ it good to see. But you have some older guys that are starting going to start getting slower, like TK, Katourier, you know, age age it just hits every one of us. And, you know, if bringing a Mason McTavish in like on the cheap may not be that bad of a a thought process, right? I I I in ⁓ in theory, right? But I I don't know if he has the skill sets that we need. a little bit of me thinks like Mason McTavish is a tough kid. ⁓ could you put him like in front of the net, like a Wayne Simmons type of role, ⁓ on the power play? ⁓ that might work. let him get in there, let him grind, let him get in front. Martone's doing it a little bit towards the end of this year, and he'll probably continue to do that in the next year. But, ⁓ you know, there's spot and a place for McTavish for sure, but ⁓ it might not be the best ⁓ overall fit, if makes sense. You know, there is more thoughts here again. There's another article I just read. ⁓ yesterday that the flyers doubled back on Shane Wright. And I mean this is one that just keeps coming, coming back and coming back and coming back. ⁓ Flyers were linked to Shane Wright a long time ago. Shane Wright, he's a he's a kid who got picked up. He was supposed to go number one, number two in his draft year. And I I don't think he did. I forget what number he went, six or seven, something like that. ⁓ but He had all this potential. He was, definitely like ⁓ well, liked in the media, right? But at the draft, he fell. He fell down everyone's list. So there was something there these teams didn't like. ⁓ I know if it was attitude, work ethic. I I I don't know. But when he went to the Kraken, ⁓ they absolutely did not treat him well. he they didn't. They didn't treat him well. ⁓ he probably, in my opinion, I don't know, I wasn't internal there. ⁓ I'm sure he upset. He wasn't all excited about how they treated him. I'm not sure how hard he tried to get into the roster. ⁓ but I I think he felt jilted. ⁓ And ⁓ you see even now to this day, he's playing like twelve minutes average with them and he's he's not living up to his expectations, but Seattle's not really playing him and giving him Opportunity to either, in my opinion. So Shane Wright to me is ⁓ he's a little faster. ⁓ he definitely had a lot of potential coming into the league. He is definitely on that Ziggress level where he's a reclamation project. He could turn out to be something really special if given the right opportunity, or or he could flop, right? He could just be okay. ⁓ And that's where it's okay. if if if I in my opinion, if the Flyers went after Shane Wright, I don't think they'd have to give up much for him. That's just my opinion. ⁓ and I think he might fit in pretty well with us. He might get a chance to actually ⁓ excel. And I and I I'd like to see it. He's got this skill set. He could pull things he could pull this off, I think, better here than there. And he's got a good team around him. So i if ⁓ somehow could bring him in, it wouldn't bug me. ⁓ Because he's again, he's a short-term contract. I think he's got a year left too. And we get a chance to see what he's got. And if it doesn't work out, you move him on. But most of the rumors, and these are just rumors because it's not really been out there that this player is available, but Matty Beniers is somebody who would fit the Flyers very well. And that is probably the target that the Flyers are shooting for. They're trying to get a Matty Beniers. ⁓ they're they're probably looking at all options because they if they have to pick somebody up, they need options. But I think Maddie Biniers and maybe Pinto are their top two that they're going after, at least that we see. ⁓ the Flyers are a very secretive organization. ⁓ they keep things really quiet. So there could be a lot of things going on out there that we don't even know about, and Danny's gonna hit us with later out of the blue, which would be okay, right, if it's the right stuff. But all these names we kind of just went over are are definitely players that the Flyers could have a shot at and maybe not have to give up the farm. So it's interesting to see what they're gonna do. and they have a lot of ⁓ avenues here. So I I think this week going into the draft, and then you know, obviously after July first, I I think there's gonna be a lot of movement in the NHL. There's so many. There was already a lot of movements already. And you know, normally it doesn't happen a lot like this. And I think this year is going to be a little different. ⁓ I think there's a lot of teams that are going to try to make moves to try to better themselves. I think there's a lot of teams that are looking for some of the things that the Flyers have to offer. ⁓ we have a lot of wings. We have ⁓ defensemen, with ⁓ potential these teams who have three, four, five centers. They they they know they have to move one of them. So ⁓ I I think I think you're gonna see. some changes on the Flyers. I I think there's going to be more changes than we thought. ⁓ and I hope they're just not going to cost us a fortune. But again, going back to what I would like to see for the Flyers, ⁓ I really don't want to see the Flyers spend 12, 13, 14 million dollars on one player. And I I know I've said this before. I know there's gonna be a lot of people go, you're crazy. We need that one scene. You got to pay. I I I just I just think if they have such a tight group of guys right now. And they played really well. They did. Don't be wrong. I know Vladar stood in his head. And if we didn't have Vladar, they wouldn't have got as far as they did. But guess what? We do have Lodar. We do have Wall now, which is a another good goalie. I do think there's gonna be some internal changes here, obviously, but I just would rather the Flyers build out three or four solid lines of potential of scoring. And That to me, you can go up and put like a one line against like a like a McDavid and try to shut them down. And then when your second, third, you know, first lines go out against their second, third, or fourth lines, mm we should have better lines because they can't afford to really ice a good team. They, you know what I mean? Carolina did it because they controlled their their cap, their salaries. And I think that's what the Flyers should do. And I know there's probably a lot of pressure on Danny to make that one C move and that you know one D move and it's gonna cost them if he does it, but I'd rather them build three, four solid lines and go at it in that way and let the ones that you have and the ones that you draft it in actually learn and grow to be that first line people that you needed, not go out and buy them. That that's my opinion. again, I don't think there's no one out there that I would pay a lot of money for. ⁓ I I don't want an Austin Matthews in here. I just don't. I don't want this John Carlson. Bowen Byron, maybe. It maybe, but again, he's going to want probably an arm and a leg at the end of the year. So interesting to see what Danny does. ⁓ what's my prediction? My prediction is is I I I think Danny will try to get a one C. I think he does want that Austin Matthews type player. how he gets it though, this is where He said it all in all. He's not going to make a move and hurt the rest of the team. It's going to have to make sense. So if he gets gutted to bring in an Austin Matthews, I don't think he brings in an Austin Matthews. I think he looks at it and he has a lot of temptation to do it, but I think in the end he doesn't pull that trigger. I think Danny's pretty, pretty good. And I think he's going to do the right thing for the Flyers as a whole. ⁓ but I do think he's going to be aggressively trying to get those players if he can. And it may not be this year, it may be next year. but we'll see. So anyhow, with that wrapping up, the draft is this Friday, and hopefully we'll see some some movement. ⁓ July 1st, you know, is coming quickly too. So I think July is gonna be pretty busy. I don't know if there's gonna be any movements at the draft, but we will come back probably mid-July and do another episode and kind of recap everything that has gone down. And in the meantime, let's let's Keep our fingers crossed that this all works out for our the Flyers and us fans, and we improve this team dramatically going into next season. We do have a lot of people but not a lot of people are ⁓ following on our YouTube channel. So we're out there. Please like and share and subscribe ⁓ and We'll see you ⁓ the couple weeks, mid July. Go flyers.