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The Flyers' Identity Crisis: What Have We Learned So Far? · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:29
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:32
Speaker 1: Podcast Show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:35
Speaker 1: in the world. Over 13 and a half years strung,
0:38
Speaker 1: we got a great show coming your.
0:39
Speaker 2: Way this week.
0:40
Speaker 1: A great Table Talk interview discussion with our good friend
0:43
Speaker 1: from brotherlypuck.com.
0:46
Speaker 2: Great work over there. Covers the Phantoms. He muses about the.
0:51
Speaker 1: Flyers every now and again as well. Our good friend
0:54
Speaker 1: Daniel Esch. Dan, my friend, thanks so much for taking.
0:57
Speaker 2: The time here. I I hope this is going to
0:59
Speaker 2: be a fun discussion here. I think it will be.
1:00
Speaker 2: Thanks for jumping on. Yeah. You know, you got me
1:03
Speaker 2: on now instead of two weeks ago and things would
1:05
Speaker 2: have been bad. Exactly. Exactly. A little happiness now. A
1:09
Speaker 2: little bit.
1:10
Speaker 1: Right. Well, that's where we want to start this conversation
1:13
Speaker 1: off with is the fact that, I mean, we saw
1:15
Speaker 1: such an awful start to the season. It was historic,
1:18
Speaker 1: historically horrendous in so many ways. But then we see
1:22
Speaker 1: three wins in a row. They recently, however, dropped a
1:25
Speaker 1: lead that they had in that loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
1:30
Speaker 2: And there's a lot to dissect, I think, with this team.
1:33
Speaker 1: But to start us off here, Dan, let's talk about
1:36
Speaker 1: this team's identity, if they even have one.
1:39
Speaker 2: Here at this point.
1:41
Speaker 1: Because I think in sports, as we know, team identity,
1:44
Speaker 1: especially when teams are expected to go places or they
1:48
Speaker 1: are expected to improve teams, certain areas of play, whether
1:52
Speaker 1: it's hockey, basketball, football, baseball, soccer, whatever the case, you know,
1:56
Speaker 1: the identity of a team is important as they move forward.
2:00
Speaker 1: So I guess to start us off, is this Flyers
2:03
Speaker 1: team really starting to generate an identity here recently, or
2:08
Speaker 1: are they really still looking for it in your opinion?
2:10
Speaker 2: What are your thoughts here? It's funny because it feels
2:12
Speaker 2: like a simple question, but to me, this is one
2:14
Speaker 2: of the biggest philosophical wrongdoing the Flyers have going for
2:20
Speaker 2: them right now. Everyone always complains when I talk about
2:23
Speaker 2: Konechny and Kateria, but the reality is these guys have
2:26
Speaker 2: been on a really bad team for a really long time. Correct.
2:29
Speaker 1: Yep.
2:30
Speaker 2: And when you need that identity, when things get bad,
2:34
Speaker 2: you need those players that have kind of been there
2:36
Speaker 2: and done that to show up and lead the way. And,
2:40
Speaker 2: you know, they just don't. have that right now. They
2:44
Speaker 2: just keep bringing back their own players. And a lot
2:46
Speaker 2: of these guys, people always talk about, you know, we
2:48
Speaker 2: don't want to be the Buffalo Sabres. We don't want
2:50
Speaker 2: to be the Red Wings.
2:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.
2:51
Speaker 2: The reality is those teams made very similar mistakes. You know,
2:55
Speaker 2: a bunch of bums and a bunch of like 18
2:57
Speaker 2: year olds that don't know what they're doing. Right. Right.
2:59
Speaker 2: And the Flyers are not quite as bad in that realm,
3:02
Speaker 2: but You know, when Stephen Stamkos was available a couple
3:05
Speaker 2: of years ago, like I vouched for him because that's
3:07
Speaker 2: the kind of guy that, you know, he may not
3:09
Speaker 2: be potting 50 goals anymore. Yeah, but he's won Cops.
3:12
Speaker 2: He's won champions. He knows what it takes to win
3:14
Speaker 2: and knows what it takes to stop that spiral. And
3:16
Speaker 2: I just don't think the Flyers have a lot of that.
3:18
Speaker 2: right now. They just don't get a lot of that
3:19
Speaker 2: new blood, you know, meaningful new blood into this team
3:22
Speaker 2: on a regular basis. So it is one of the
3:24
Speaker 2: bigger problems when it comes to this whole identity question
3:27
Speaker 2: is like when you just run the same product back
3:29
Speaker 2: over a year, these guys that have been through six,
3:31
Speaker 2: seven coaches in this time and have made the playoffs
3:33
Speaker 2: are what Travis connections, what three times in 10 years
3:35
Speaker 2: or something like that. Like it's hard, man. When things
3:38
Speaker 2: go bad again and just go off, man, here we
3:40
Speaker 2: are back in the same situation again. Like, like put
3:44
Speaker 2: yourself in those shoes. You'd be worn down. Absolutely.
3:46
Speaker 1: Right.
3:47
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
3:47
Speaker 1: And I thought, and I think a lot of us
3:49
Speaker 1: fans thought after last season, how it ended, it was
3:52
Speaker 1: kind of like, you know, it was gravy them getting
3:55
Speaker 1: not only to the playoffs, what they did in the
3:57
Speaker 1: first round against the penguins.
3:58
Speaker 2: It was, it was fantastic.
4:00
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to start off this season, Dan,
4:03
Speaker 1: looking at this Flyers team and their identity was going
4:05
Speaker 1: to be that of hungry. They were hungry to whether
4:09
Speaker 1: get back to the playoffs or advance further in the playoffs.
4:12
Speaker 1: And yeah, that's tough to really ascertain in the beginning
4:16
Speaker 1: of the season at times, especially again with this young
4:19
Speaker 1: group of kids that they do have and they're hoping
4:21
Speaker 1: can take new steps and further steps. but I thought
4:24
Speaker 1: that hunger would really be there.
4:26
Speaker 2: And I just, I just haven't seen it here. And I,
4:28
Speaker 2: it could be a reflection of the coach.
4:30
Speaker 1: We're going to get to the coach certainly during this discussion,
4:32
Speaker 1: but they don't have that hunger, Dan.
4:35
Speaker 2: No, that was the most disappointing thing is, you know,
4:40
Speaker 2: Rick Talkett aside, like, man, these players just did not
4:43
Speaker 2: have it during that nine game losing streak. It was
4:46
Speaker 2: some of the worst hockey I've seen in a long time. Exactly.
4:48
Speaker 1: Yes.
4:49
Speaker 2: Back to back. They just did not have it. Yes, absolutely.
4:52
Speaker 2: All right.
4:52
Speaker 1: Well, let's move on with the next topic, because I
4:55
Speaker 1: think as we are. Looking forward at what this team
4:59
Speaker 1: is or is not in terms of any sort of identity,
5:03
Speaker 1: we still have a long way to go this season,
5:05
Speaker 1: still a lot of hockey to be played. The one
5:08
Speaker 1: thing that we wanted to see from this team early
5:10
Speaker 1: this season, and it was how they were going to
5:13
Speaker 1: deal with the power play, for God's sake. I mean,
5:15
Speaker 1: how many times have we talked about it? How many
5:17
Speaker 1: times has it been written about? They've been terrible over
5:19
Speaker 1: the years in this regard. As we all know, I've
5:23
Speaker 1: always said you can't fall out of a basement window
5:26
Speaker 1: when it comes to the Flyers' power play. And we've seen,
5:30
Speaker 1: amazingly enough, as of late, we've seen this bizarre resurgence
5:35
Speaker 1: of this power play, or what maybe is their power
5:38
Speaker 1: play here. Has this team actually kind of fixed their
5:42
Speaker 1: broken power play in a bit? Or how would you
5:44
Speaker 1: assess where they're at here at the end of October
5:46
Speaker 1: when it comes to this part of special teams here?
5:50
Speaker 2: They're better than they were when the year started. Maybe
5:53
Speaker 2: I'm trying to be optimistic. More than two, three games
5:55
Speaker 2: to undo, you know, nine years of misery. Yes. Uh, Cumulatively, what?
6:01
Speaker 2: Nine years, I believe, dead last. Dead last in four
6:03
Speaker 2: of the last five. Yeah. That's bad, man. And it
6:07
Speaker 2: was probably the thing at the end of the offseason
6:10
Speaker 2: that I was annoyed with more than anything was how
6:13
Speaker 2: do you not make a move to address the power
6:16
Speaker 2: of life?
6:16
Speaker 1: Yes.
6:16
Speaker 2: And this was when, like, the Giroux rumors and stuff,
6:18
Speaker 2: when that happened, it's like, listen, whatever anybody feels about
6:22
Speaker 2: the guy coming back is fine. He can still succeed
6:24
Speaker 2: on the power play. That would have been a modicum
6:26
Speaker 2: of hope. And they didn't do that instead. It's just
6:30
Speaker 2: kind of like you ran. I mean, now they're finally
6:32
Speaker 2: using Mitch Cobb a little better, which, you know, believe
6:34
Speaker 2: it or not, that guy's good. You know? Yeah. So
6:38
Speaker 2: it is nice to see them finally kind of coming
6:39
Speaker 2: around and giving some of the young hungry guys a
6:42
Speaker 2: chance instead of just having Michael bunting on your first
6:44
Speaker 2: power play. Exactly. Well, that's what I couldn't understand.
6:48
Speaker 1: I couldn't understand how you go the entire off season.
6:52
Speaker 1: Like you mentioned, you, You don't bring anybody in that's
6:54
Speaker 1: going to help the power play. So how can you
6:56
Speaker 1: help the power play develop with some of these younger
6:59
Speaker 1: players and putting them in good positions to succeed. And
7:02
Speaker 1: it just really hasn't happened. I mean, aside from maybe
7:05
Speaker 1: three games here really hasn't happened.
7:07
Speaker 2: And it's just absolutely mind boggling to me. And it
7:10
Speaker 2: seems to be just, it seems to be gross incompetence
7:13
Speaker 2: at this point, Dan. Oh yeah. That's probably the best
7:16
Speaker 2: phrase for it is just completely overlooked incompetence. How, how
7:20
Speaker 2: you let something go on that bad for so long
7:23
Speaker 2: and just Didn't even make an attempt. It just sucks. Absolutely.
7:27
Speaker 1: Well, look, before we go to a break here, Rick Tockett,
7:32
Speaker 1: I think, may have found two lineup changes that may
7:34
Speaker 1: be able to work for this team moving forward, perhaps long-term, Martone, Cates,
7:40
Speaker 1: and Michkov. And then you've got Sam Heim and Bonk,
7:44
Speaker 1: which seems to be potentially a legit top pair, defensive
7:49
Speaker 1: pairing here. With all of these injuries, all these call-ups,
7:54
Speaker 1: do you think that these two lineups are the best
7:56
Speaker 1: for this team at this particular moment? Is that what
8:00
Speaker 1: you're seeing now, or is this team just getting lucky
8:03
Speaker 1: here in terms of these two lines?
8:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, you know, they put their good players together
8:08
Speaker 2: and are seeing good things happen. I think is, you know,
8:11
Speaker 2: the be all end all here. Oliver Bonk in Sandheim
8:13
Speaker 2: are your two best defensemen right now. And I don't
8:15
Speaker 2: think it's particularly close at this moment. And, you know,
8:18
Speaker 2: Mishkov and Martone, the young, exciting duo that seem to
8:21
Speaker 2: have a lot of chemistry together, which is really good
8:23
Speaker 2: to see. You know, if they had a legitimate center
8:25
Speaker 2: on top of that, oh, man, you know, that could
8:27
Speaker 2: be a perfect line. But unfortunately, I don't have any
8:29
Speaker 2: good quality centers here. But yeah, you know, it's unfortunate
8:32
Speaker 2: that it had come, you know, seven, eight, nine games
8:34
Speaker 2: into the season before they were like, hey, let's try
8:36
Speaker 2: our good players before. putting Garrett Wilson in the lineup
8:39
Speaker 2: for some reason. It's just crazy. Yeah, it's crazy. Go ahead.
8:42
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. But hey, they got there sooner or later, right?
8:45
Speaker 2: Better late than never for a team that desperately needed
8:47
Speaker 2: some kind of spark to grasp onto and try to
8:50
Speaker 2: win some games. You know, that's a great word you use, spark.
8:52
Speaker 2: It's what this team needs.
8:54
Speaker 1: And I do think with this young talent, there's a
8:57
Speaker 1: lot of spark, but those sparks just aren't lining up
8:59
Speaker 1: with each other right now.
9:01
Speaker 2: And again, goes to the coach, I think. It really does.
9:04
Speaker 1: And we are going to get to him in a bit,
9:06
Speaker 1: but folks, we are going to take a break. Dan,
9:09
Speaker 1: before we, uh, before we take that break, let everybody
9:11
Speaker 1: know where they can follow you on the interwebs. If
9:13
Speaker 1: they want to connect with you, if they want to
9:14
Speaker 1: follow you, read your content, listen to you as well. Yeah.
9:18
Speaker 2: At Dan, the flyer fan on Twitter, uh, the website,
9:21
Speaker 2: not overly active right now. I've put my hockey writing
9:24
Speaker 2: on the back burner as I pursue my career of
9:26
Speaker 2: being a published author. Um, Nice, nice. Have not been
9:30
Speaker 2: very attentive to the website, but the podcast is still going,
9:32
Speaker 2: Brotherly Pod, every single week. So you can check that out,
9:34
Speaker 2: at Brotherly underscore pod on Twitter.
9:36
Speaker 1: All right, very good. Folks, we're going to take a break.
9:38
Speaker 1: When we get back, more Flyers talk coming your way.
9:43
Speaker 1: We are back with our good buddy, Dan Esch, and
9:46
Speaker 1: we need to talk about this Flyers team more because,
9:49
Speaker 1: you know, I was really excited about where the goaltending
9:53
Speaker 1: was going to go this coming season. Dan Vladar, Of course,
9:58
Speaker 1: what he did last year, then they acquired. Joseph Wall. And,
10:01
Speaker 1: you know, he, boy, Joseph Wall, he had his first really,
10:05
Speaker 1: really tough game with the Flyers this past week when
10:08
Speaker 1: they were taking on the Ducks. Dan Vladar's save percentage
10:11
Speaker 1: is at 900% Dan, which is 20th in the NHL.
10:16
Speaker 1: His goals against average is 35th in the league here
10:20
Speaker 1: at this point. I'm disappointed. A lot of Flyers fans
10:24
Speaker 1: disappointed in the goaltending thus far. How would you assess
10:28
Speaker 1: the goaltending situation here for the Flyers this early in
10:31
Speaker 1: the season?
10:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, Joseph Wohl has been a pleasant surprise.
10:34
Speaker 2: You know, they desperately needed an upgrade over Urson. Absolutely.
10:37
Speaker 2: And they found one. And thank God for him because
10:40
Speaker 2: he's been keeping them afloat to start the year here. And,
10:42
Speaker 2: you know, man, I was not the biggest fan of
10:44
Speaker 2: the Vladar signing as early as it was. You know,
10:47
Speaker 2: the reality of the situation is he was a serviceable
10:49
Speaker 2: backup in Calgary for a long time. And then he
10:52
Speaker 2: comes into Philadelphia for one year and looks like a
10:53
Speaker 2: Vesna candidate.
10:54
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:54
Speaker 2: That's a statistical outlier of his career.
10:57
Speaker 1: Yeah.
10:57
Speaker 2: You know, and giving him a long-term contract, everyone was
11:00
Speaker 2: kind of happy with it, but it's like, can he
11:02
Speaker 2: replicate that before you kind of give him that money.
11:06
Speaker 2: Everyone was like, well, when he wins the Vesna next year,
11:08
Speaker 2: he's going to want $ 10 million. And it's like, well,
11:09
Speaker 2: what if he doesn't win the Vesna? What if the
11:11
Speaker 2: other side of that, we just kind of goes back
11:12
Speaker 2: to being a dude.
11:13
Speaker 1: Right.
11:14
Speaker 2: And I don't think the numbers... currently are as bad
11:18
Speaker 2: as it seems. Cause he, he was the one that
11:19
Speaker 2: took that stinker in Pittsburgh on opening night. And he
11:21
Speaker 2: had one other bad game there, but like on the whole,
11:23
Speaker 2: I don't think the numbers tell the whole story, but yeah,
11:26
Speaker 2: you know, it probably wasn't the smartest bet to assume
11:29
Speaker 2: that this guy was your new Marty Brodeur to come
11:31
Speaker 2: in and save the day. And the, the, the reasonable thing,
11:34
Speaker 2: the one thing they did this summer was bring in
11:36
Speaker 2: Joseph wall and it's worked out well for him thus far.
11:39
Speaker 2: Cause he's been a very good safety net for Vladar
11:41
Speaker 2: is kind of fluttered. Absolutely.
11:43
Speaker 1: And look, you know, as we look at this team and,
11:46
Speaker 1: We look at the talent on this team. You know,
11:49
Speaker 1: you do see flashes here and there with certain players
11:53
Speaker 1: who you feel like they have that promise. They have
11:56
Speaker 1: the foundational promise that they can take their game to
11:58
Speaker 1: another another level. And then there are other players on
12:01
Speaker 1: this team that kind of give you some pause and say, oh,
12:04
Speaker 1: my gosh, what is happening to this player? hockey player
12:07
Speaker 1: that we had a lot of hope for so two-part
12:10
Speaker 1: question here let's talk about any players that you specifically
12:15
Speaker 1: are seeing that is giving you a lot of promise
12:17
Speaker 1: here at this point and then some players will get
12:19
Speaker 1: into that are giving you some pause let's start with
12:21
Speaker 1: the the promising players here this season that you're seeing
12:24
Speaker 1: any thoughts here.
12:25
Speaker 2: I mean, it's good to see Mitchkov rebound. Absolutely, yeah.
12:29
Speaker 2: And the ice time is still not where you want
12:31
Speaker 2: it to be. He's probably not being deployed perfectly, but
12:33
Speaker 2: he is getting a lot of power play time all
12:35
Speaker 2: of a sudden. And every time he's on the ice,
12:37
Speaker 2: you know, there was that brief window between Tortorella and Taka,
12:41
Speaker 2: the Brad Shire, when they just kind of let him
12:42
Speaker 2: do his thing, and he looked fantastic. And for the
12:45
Speaker 2: last couple games, they finally kind of let him do
12:46
Speaker 2: his thing, and he looks fantastic. So it's like, if
12:49
Speaker 2: they just give this guy a little bit of room,
12:50
Speaker 2: they may actually have something here with him. So it's
12:53
Speaker 2: good to see him. Martone is finally coming around again
12:55
Speaker 2: after a little disappointing way to start the season there.
12:58
Speaker 2: Zegers obviously coming around as well. So it is nice
13:00
Speaker 2: to see your your main key offensive contributors finally step
13:05
Speaker 2: up and make it. Absolutely. What about on the opposite
13:07
Speaker 2: side of the coin?
13:09
Speaker 1: The players that are really giving you some pause at
13:11
Speaker 1: this point say, wow, I expected a little bit more
13:14
Speaker 1: at this point in the season, even though it's early
13:17
Speaker 1: end of October.
13:18
Speaker 2: Who are those players that are giving you a little
13:20
Speaker 2: pause here? Yeah.
13:22
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:22
Speaker 2: I mean, Cam York was rough during those game and
13:25
Speaker 2: he really was hurt the last little while, but he
13:27
Speaker 2: was rough. Tyson Forrester is another one where it's like, man,
13:30
Speaker 2: you just got this long-term contract. He's here for eight
13:32
Speaker 2: and a half more years. And he's just kind of
13:35
Speaker 2: been a dude. And, you know, he and Tippett kind
13:39
Speaker 2: of fall in that same boat of like having all
13:41
Speaker 2: of the raw skill, but struggle to kind of truly
13:45
Speaker 2: unlock it and become that guy. And, you know, I'm
13:48
Speaker 2: not giving up on Forrester by any means. I like
13:50
Speaker 2: him more than most people on this team. But at
13:51
Speaker 2: the end of the day, like, man, he's making some
13:53
Speaker 2: mistakes here. Just can't mistake. Just can't make. And, you know,
13:57
Speaker 2: you're not quite seeing the best of his game lately.
14:00
Speaker 2: So he's definitely been disappointing, especially coming off of this
14:02
Speaker 2: extension where essentially it makes him a pillar of this
14:05
Speaker 2: team for the long term.
14:06
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely. You feel like he's going to break out
14:09
Speaker 1: of a shell. I mean, I kind of feel like that,
14:11
Speaker 1: but it's like, all right, are we going to get there?
14:14
Speaker 2: Are we going to get there? We're already this many
14:15
Speaker 2: games into the season. Let's get it going here.
14:18
Speaker 1: So look, before I let you go here, Dan, we've
14:21
Speaker 1: got to talk about the, uh, we, I hate to
14:24
Speaker 1: say the elephant in the room, but look, I mean, it's,
14:27
Speaker 1: it is a gentleman who a lot of us didn't
14:30
Speaker 1: necessarily have all the faith in when it came to
14:32
Speaker 1: the head coach. When this gentleman was hired, some of
14:35
Speaker 1: the coaching decisions he has made, some of the guys
14:39
Speaker 1: he's sat over the, uh, over the years he's been
14:41
Speaker 1: here during a short tenure, uh, How much is Rick Tockett,
14:44
Speaker 1: do you think, on the hot seat, given the start
14:47
Speaker 1: to the season, where the team is at right now?
14:50
Speaker 1: A lot of folks just not a fan of where
14:52
Speaker 1: he is taking the talent right now, of course, and
14:55
Speaker 1: for good reason.
14:55
Speaker 2: We talked about him earlier.
14:58
Speaker 1: Some of these lineup changes, like why is it taking
15:00
Speaker 1: you so long to get to there or to get
15:03
Speaker 1: to these lineup changes? I don't know. He's not the
15:06
Speaker 1: right guy for this team, in my opinion. What are
15:07
Speaker 1: your thoughts here with Rick Tockett and where he may
15:09
Speaker 1: be going? Yeah.
15:11
Speaker 2: I was not a fan of him when they hired him,
15:14
Speaker 2: wrote a piece on the website, kind of highlighting all
15:16
Speaker 2: of his flaws in Vancouver. And, you know, when they
15:20
Speaker 2: start the season, oh, and three, oh, and four, it's
15:22
Speaker 2: kind of like, all right, you know, it's not the
15:25
Speaker 2: foot they wanted to get off on. They still have
15:26
Speaker 2: hope in him. They want to see what happens. Okay, fine.
15:28
Speaker 2: You know, you don't want to get anything too quickly.
15:31
Speaker 2: All right. When you get to five and six games,
15:33
Speaker 2: it's kind of like, man, what is going on here?
15:36
Speaker 2: You know, when you get to seven, eight and nine games,
15:40
Speaker 2: and he still didn't get fired, which at that point
15:42
Speaker 2: is like the bare minimum that they could have done.
15:44
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think he's going anywhere. Like if
15:48
Speaker 2: you can survive that, you can survive anything, you know?
15:51
Speaker 2: So unless this season gets real ugly, which I guess
15:53
Speaker 2: is still a possibility. Yes. Anything's possible. They can nose
15:56
Speaker 2: dive in a second. Like the off season at the earliest,
16:00
Speaker 2: maybe is you see him relieved, but yeah, just so
16:03
Speaker 2: much of what he brings to this team. I mean,
16:05
Speaker 2: it's boring hockey and, It's stuff that doesn't really work.
16:08
Speaker 2: It's the same stuff he was doing in Vancouver. Yeah. The,
16:11
Speaker 2: the lack of shots on goal, the overly defensive thing,
16:14
Speaker 2: not entering the zone. Like there's just the sheer basics
16:17
Speaker 2: of this game that are so wildly frustrating and it
16:20
Speaker 2: can succeed if you have a very, very specific roster construction,
16:23
Speaker 2: but the Flyers don't have that kind of roster.
16:25
Speaker 1: Right. Right.
16:26
Speaker 2: You got a team that leans more into being young
16:29
Speaker 2: and dynamic and, and you know, I, I don't love
16:31
Speaker 2: this offense, but they're better than this. And that was
16:34
Speaker 2: kind of my, that, that, They're better than this has
16:37
Speaker 2: been the point. You know, everyone kind of the people
16:39
Speaker 2: were torn, right? Talk it versus the roster. Who's at fault?
16:42
Speaker 2: And the answer is both. But I may not love
16:44
Speaker 2: this roster, but they're better than this. And that is
16:47
Speaker 2: what I keep coming back to with all of this
16:49
Speaker 2: and why I'm so out on this talk and experience already.
16:53
Speaker 2: I get he's won a couple of games, but I
16:54
Speaker 2: was talking to somebody off the other day. And they
16:57
Speaker 2: said even after that Colorado game, after they won, he
16:59
Speaker 2: would have marched into the dressing room and fired him
17:00
Speaker 2: on the spot. And, like, I can't disagree with that. Like,
17:04
Speaker 2: you have to do what's best at the hole, you know,
17:07
Speaker 2: what this whole team can do. Absolutely. And Tuckett being
17:09
Speaker 2: here just isn't that, man. It isn't.
17:12
Speaker 1: And I guess before I let you go, just, you know,
17:15
Speaker 1: one final thought here is the fact that I truly
17:18
Speaker 1: think that Danny Breer has created this roster with a
17:22
Speaker 1: lot of promise. I think there's a lot of promise here.
17:25
Speaker 1: But when it comes to Danny Breer's decision to not
17:28
Speaker 1: only keep Rick talking around after that seventh game, I
17:31
Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. After the seventh loss, I was saying
17:35
Speaker 1: to some buddies, I'm like, I can't believe he's still here.
17:36
Speaker 1: I can't believe then the eighth loss. I'm like, are
17:38
Speaker 1: you kidding me? What the hell is happening here? I
17:41
Speaker 1: think that is Danny Breer's Achilles heel right now.
17:44
Speaker 2: And it's it's huge. It is absolutely huge for this
17:48
Speaker 2: team to move forward and move to that next level
17:50
Speaker 2: that they want to get to. Dan, I just it's
17:53
Speaker 2: this isn't going to end well. Yeah, it's it's very
17:57
Speaker 2: reminiscent of Hackstall and Hackstall. It is. You have this
18:01
Speaker 2: guy where you just don't want to fire a coach.
18:02
Speaker 2: And the thing is, Tuckett was Breer's first coach. He
18:05
Speaker 2: inherited John Tortorella.
18:07
Speaker 1: Yeah.
18:07
Speaker 2: Like you can make a mistake if you just admitted
18:10
Speaker 2: that you made a mistake. Yeah, they fired him after
18:12
Speaker 2: five games and brought somebody else in. It's like, hey,
18:14
Speaker 2: I don't like that you hired him in the first place. Yeah.
18:16
Speaker 2: But at least you corrected it quickly. Yeah. But they
18:19
Speaker 2: didn't do that. They held on to him. And this
18:21
Speaker 2: is when my analyst hat goes off and my fan
18:23
Speaker 2: hat goes on. I go, what the hell? What are
18:26
Speaker 2: we doing here? How can I believe that this front
18:29
Speaker 2: office is qualified to make the right decision when you
18:31
Speaker 2: can't fire the coach after a nine game losing streak? Like,
18:34
Speaker 2: I was just kind of like, man. So yeah, Breer
18:37
Speaker 2: for all the fanfare that he had when he got
18:39
Speaker 2: hired and they made the playoffs and all this stuff
18:41
Speaker 2: and the Leo Carlson offer sheet. It's just dashed because
18:45
Speaker 2: of a nine game losing streak where they just didn't
18:47
Speaker 2: react properly. Absolutely.
18:49
Speaker 1: Well, it's a great way to end it. And we
18:51
Speaker 1: are still going to be in flyers purgatory for quite
18:53
Speaker 1: some time.
18:55
Speaker 2: Folks. He is Dan. Yeah.
18:57
Speaker 1: He is Dan Ash. The brotherly brotherly podcast.
19:01
Speaker 2: Correct.
19:02
Speaker 1: Yes.
19:03
Speaker 2: Brotherly puck.
19:03
Speaker 1: Podcast, check it out on whatever podcast platform you're listening
19:06
Speaker 1: to us on. Dan, my friend, always great talking to you. Let's,
19:10
Speaker 1: let's talk some flyers in the future. I always love
19:12
Speaker 1: having you on my friend.
19:13
Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. I love coming on and get me on
19:15
Speaker 2: after a wind streak again. It feels good. Let's do it.
19:17
Speaker 2: Let's do it.
19:19
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Table
19:20
Speaker 1: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
19:24
Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
19:27
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19:31
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19:35
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19:39
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19:42
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Speaker 1: Sports Table and.
19:48
Speaker 2: Over on Instagram as well. Take care and we'll catch
19:51
Speaker 2: you next time.