Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / S2:Ep3: Same Problems, No Solutions - Oct 12th, 2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix Unofficial Flyers podcast. I'm Rick Mullen and we're going to talk today about the Flyers last few games. it is Monday, October 12th. the Flyers just played a couple games and nothing's changed since our last podcast. It's been horrible weekend. The Flyers went down two to one to the Senators on what Thursday? They lost to the Bruins five to one on Saturday. And then last night they lost to the Hurricanes four to one. So they they just don't look any better. They're they're absolutely out of sync. this team has no answers. They did bring up Bonk for last night's game and they paired him with Sandheim last night. Poor kid had to go out there and play top minutes and he wasn't ready. You know, he he had a couple early penalties. He wasn't as fast afoot, so he trailed some plays. And I feel bad for him. I think he is going to be a good player down the road, but I think he got thrown into a mix that he wasn't ready for right now. The Flyers are absolutely terrible right now. They're just terrible. They cannot figure this out. And I have a couple of things that I noticed during the game and let's talk about them for a little bit. So first off, let's let's get something out of the way. at the end of that game last night, you know, there was a small chant for the Flyers to fire Rick Tocket. There was a chant that went around for the remaining fans fire Rick Tocket, fire tocket, fire talk it. And you know, I still don't think it's gonna happen yet. it could it be coming soon? I I said absolutely not. but in my head I'm thinking they're not gonna stay in this funk forever, they're gonna finally get out of the funk, it'll give them a little bit of wiggle room and they you know, won't fire a talk it. But looking at this the way we've seen the first seven games, I I guess there's a good chance that if they can't figure this out and they go like ten games, you know, they lose ten straight games or 12 or 14 straight games that that that could happen, I guess. So yeah, I said publicly last episode that there's no way, shape, or form Tockett's getting fired this early. I still feel that way. I I think because my logical side of my brain is saying the Flyers aren't going to stay in this funk forever, and Tacket's gonna have some saving grace. Now that could change real quick. So Yeah, I guess there's a chance Take it could get fired if they don't get better. So if if the Flyers continue to lose, I wonder what that magic number is before they have different conversations. Or maybe Danny doesn't let it get to that. Maybe Danny goes and says, you know, after ten games, losing streak or or something along that line, and Danny drops a trade. and that buys Rick some time. So I still don't think Talk it's going anywhere. I think we own one, we own too much money. Two, we go through coaches way too fast. I think they're gonna have to try to really look internally to bring kids up from the minors to try to light this fire on this team or make some kind of trade, something that will will help this team. So y last night's game, the Flyers looked pretty good for like about a period, maybe a period and a half. The hurricanes didn't look really good for that period, period and a half. And I think that's why the Flyers were hanging in that game. But then all of a sudden, the second period rolls around and the hurricanes turn it on. They understand, hey, they've been playing pretty poorly. They turn it on, they start trying a little harder, and that was it. Once they started trying, like this game was over. Not not a good feeling for us Flyers fans, and honestly, not a good feeling for that locker room. there's a lot of people. Not happy in that locker room, they don't understand what's going on. Trevor's Egress, Katourier, all of them. They're putting the blame on themselves. they say they have the support of the coach, they support the coach, they like the coach. Of course they like the coach. I mean, my opinion is when they're not getting pressed and they don't have like a torch breathing down their throat and they can lose like this, and they still like the coach. I I think something's wrong there, right? Like Tocket should be in there hammering this team. this is not acceptable. He should be doing skating drills. We should be killing this team right now. Not acceptable at all. But he's doing it more of a player's coach mentality. He's trying to just work on positioning and plays and you know, small ace drills to try to win pucks, things like that. So he's doing what a nice guy coach would do instead of hammering this team like Torch would be doing right now. it's ugly. It's ugly. you don't you don't you don't necessarily want someone like Torz. I I do think Torch was over the the line a lot, but you definitely want some kind of fire out of your coach too. And you know, I think Tocket sense of fire isn't the same as Torts'. You know, Torches was loud in your face, like suck it up, let's go, you're better than this, and if you're not, get out of the way and I'm gonna put someone in your spot where talk it is more of a a coaching and let's get on the ice and let's spend a few minutes together and let's run around this drill and then when he gets to the game time, it's all right, these lines aren't working, let's mess with these lines again. So every game he's messing with lines and I I don't think he should have. I think the lines from the last game against Ottawa were pretty good. I I I'm not sure why he messed with them. It it's I don't know. I don't know. I guess he's seen the Boston game and said, Nope, we're not doing that no more. And you know, he changed it for the hurricanes. But anyhow, we have a lot, a lot of problems on this team. And we talked last time about how to fix them and and what the options were. And and in all honesty, it's A, you just run with this team. And wherever they land, they land. If they are terrible and we get a high draft pick, that's great. You know, B, you trade your vets and go the youth route. Which I think maybe maybe you should right now. Maybe you should start looking at trading some of these vets. You know, they've been here a long time and I know it's hard. You can't really get rid of them when they have no trade clauses or no movement clauses. You have to ask them and and maybe they don't want to be here much longer either. I don't know. You know, I know they're comfortable and that's half the problem. But maybe they want to win and they're tired of this and maybe if you keep going to them and telling them like you really want them to waive this, maybe they would. But I just don't see I don't see a way to win here. The Flyers looked pretty good at the end of last year, and we pretty much have the same team. You look at yesterday's game, and it looked like all the Flyers struggled, struggled and struggled to skate. They just struggled. Like if they got the puck and they started trying to break out of their zone, the Canes could catch them before they even hit like maybe halfway between the red line and the Canes balloon line. And then they would have to dump it. Or if they got the puck in the neutral zone, they maybe skated a foot or two over the blue line and they couldn't pull off the boards or make a creative cut to get away from the four-checking cane. And they would have to dump it in the corner and lose the puck. And they did it over and over and over and over again. They tried to go down the boards, they weren't fast enough, they got pinched off. it was just ugly. And and Tocket even said it like, you know, they have to take it to the center of the ice, they have to take it to the center of the ice. He he sees this too. And in all reality, this team has been like this for years and years and years and years. Prior to torts, prior to probably like the last decade, 15 years, this team does not like the center of the ice. They I guess they weren't coached that way. These these people like Sean Couturier and TK, who have been here forever, were never coached that way. So they just have a tendency to play the boards. They don't get off the boards. And that's where I think this team needs help. Like I'll give you an example. Last night, I think on the one of the best plays out there, and I think we had a goal on this play, was Denver Barkey. Denver Barkey got his legs moving. He was in the center of the ice. He was able to get the blue line and be creative in the middle of the ice. And he he started a whole play there with his speed up the gut. I think the only other pla two players on this team that can do that are Ziegris and TK. I'm sorry, Tippet. So where Ziegers has been confuses me. He he I questioned Ziegress a lot last year. Like I like his play. I think like he's okay to have on your team. I'm not saying get rid of him. However, I said it last year. He's super, super soft. He doesn't want to get hit. Because if he gets hit, he can't win a battle. And I think he's afraid to get hit, to be honest with you. he he doesn't put himself in those danger zones. He doesn't skate and use his legs. Little Barkey, half his size, is willing to go up the gut and try to fight through, taking huge checks. But Ziegers tries to tippy toe around them and go wide. that's a problem. You know, so when you look at with the duck soul in Ziegress. They probably saw the same thing. They saw a guy who like wasn't like a Leo Carlson who would drive the net go wide, you know, use his body. And yeah, I get it. He's not Leo Carlson. He's not even as big as Leo Carlson. But if you're building a team, if if some guy has a lot of talent and some speed, but he he won't use it in the danger zones and he hurts himself by not using it in the danger zones, he's really kind of worthless on your team. that's kinda how how I I I feel looking at Z. I think he's got a ton of ton of opportunity in his skill set to use those legs. But he just doesn't have the the I don't know what you want to call it, the guts to use them where he needs to use them. And that's where it matters most. So if you look at this team and how it's being used, you have you have man, you have Kates, you have Mishkoff, you have all these guys last night that are barely getting used. I think Kates had very low ice time. Mishkoff had like 12 minutes or something like that last night. He's like I think he was like third least time used on the ice. I don't understand why. He's your most creative player. Yeah, he makes mistakes. Yeah, he's been throwing some bad passes here and there, but he's also made some really good passes. The people just can't score. give you an example, he was behind the net, he tossed one out front, and found Cates in the slot and Case shot it right into the gully. I think if Mishkov had some guys who could actually put the puck in net, Mishkov would have so many assists right now, like they would be playing like every other shift it but we don't. We don't have anyone that can score. We have no one that plays with Mishkov that can fire the puck and get it get it on net. They either shoot high, wide or they shoot it right into the gully. It it's just Crazy how this team just can't figure it out. But again, I said it before, they have a lot of good players, in my opinion, pieces, but that's it. They're just pieces. They're missing so many gelling players or complimentary players. They're just a mess. So, what happens now? Do we just continue this way? Do we sit some of these guys? Do we trade some vets? I I don't know. You know, in my opinion, you had a guy like Nuble who was willing to go to the front of the net, charge the front of the net. I'd bring that kid up and give him a shot. I'd sit somebody who's underperforming right now and let Nuble come in and give him a game or two to just see what happens. You know, you one game he might not show the best, two games maybe he does. If if he's just a driving consistency to the net that causes some havoc when we're putting like shots out from the point, I I say let him let him come, give him a chance. Because if you look at Bunning, who who I do think would be a good complimentary fourth line player for us, but when you look at Bunning and Achari, these guys are not good. I mean, they're really not. And it and this goes to back to Danny Briere and and I'm gonna I'm gonna talk a little bit about Danny and where I think I'm at with him now at this point. And you know, things could change today or tomorrow. He may be working on something because he sees all this too. But when Hexall came in here, Hexdall, not Hexdall, when Hexall came in here, he caused a lot of problems. Like he you know, he stopped like alumni from coming. He's he closed the door, no one was allowed to go to his office. And the flyers always had like an open door policy. He tried to track every single aspect of players, like what they ate, they like f everything, what they were. I mean, he was just insane. And he thought he knew better than everybody else. And his thought process was we're just gonna be as terrible as we can be for as long as we can be, so I can just stockpile picks. And to a point that was probably right, because we needed them and and that's what you have to do. You're you know, you had to gut it to get a rebuild going. And But but talk I'm sorry, Hexdall would go out and he would get like RJ Umberger when he was washed up, like just total mess. Like they would sign him and we'd be like, What? I think it was I think pretty sure it was Hexall. Pretty sure. I'm not positive, but I think it was. But that's kind of where we're at now. Like Danny Briera, in my opinion, from the outside looking in, we all knew this offseason that just passed was where the Flyers were trying to spend their money and get some free agents and there was nobody there that they liked. The free agents that they wanted weren't available. There were free agents that were there that I think would have absolutely helped this team, but they chose not to go after them. So they took a swing at the free agent like Leo Carlson, didn't get it. Kirill Kephrasoff was signed so we couldn't get a shot at him. Austin Matthews was maybe available, maybe not, and never it never came to fruition. So the Flyers waited and waited for these guys and they were never available. So then what does Danny do? Dan Danny, in my opinion, is kind of acting just like Hextal. He's doing the same stuff. He's like, okay, man, I'm gonna be smarter than everybody else. I'm gonna go after all of these, you know, hopefully like players who have a high potential but aren't being used right or or like like Ziegress wasn't being used right in the ducks. That's who he went for. You know, he's going for a year check because He was a top round pick, but he stunk on two other teams already. you know, he's going after Bunning because he needs a little bit of grip because he got rid of Hathaway. He's going after Atari, which is because I guess he had f decent face-offs. He he thinks he's smarter than everybody else. He's he's trying to put all his all his thought in I'm not gonna overpay. I am not overpaying for anybody. I am gonna underpay and take risk on a crap. crappy player because the that crappy player may have a good upside. And that's all we kind of seen other than like the wall trade this offseason. You know, he I don't know and and again, and this is where it's hard if you're Danny, we didn't stink long enough to get enough picks or high picks. The couple high picks we did have They were questionable who we who we drafted, like a jet let's check go, right? Like that that didn't turn out. Maybe it will, I doubt it, but we wasted some high picks that we had. Now we're in a position where if we need to like let's say, I don't know, Dylan Larkin was available and he did want to come here, you know, Detroit might want like Porter Martin or Mavi Mishkov, you know, one of these guys. Barkey and the Danny doesn't want to give them up. And and I get it, rightfully so. I I wouldn't want to give them up either. So Danny's trying to say, no, I'll give you, a pick and Jet Lichanko and something like that, right? Noah Cates. Something like that. And and these people don't want them. Like they they why would they? Why would they want to get rid of Dylan Larkin for that? Like they can definitely get more from another team. So Danny's in this position where If he gives up these guys, like if he was to give up, say, I'm not saying he's gonna do it, but if he was to give up like a Mishkoff, like, okay, yeah, fine, I'll give you Mishkoff and a pick, and you're gonna give me, you know, Beneers. You know, Beneers comes in here and now all of a sudden, maybe a little bit better at center, maybe it turns around a little bit, but now you don't have Mishkov. So like it's like kind of I know that the word to wash isn't gonna like really be relevant here because we don't have a number one center. It's kind of like a wash. if you could bring in Austin Matthews, but if you have to give up like Mishkov and like say I don't know, Sandheim or something like that, right? I know I I know I'm being crazy. But if you had to give up something like that, you're bringing Mart, you know, you're bringing you know Austin Matthews on a team that's just been depleted, we're gonna be in the same position. We're gonna be worse because we hurt our team. And that's where Danny is right now, I think, in my opinion. I think he knows like, hey, I can't give up these guys because if I bring in this stud. I have no supporting actors here to help him. So we're still in the same boat. So how does he get out of it? And I think that's where there is no answer here. I I think you have to tank. Like I don't think there's a choice. Like you have to tank and you gotta get high pick. That's really the only way if Danny wants to pull off bringing a superstar here. He's gonna need more picks and he's probably gonna have to tank. Or He's got to go through the year the way it is. And maybe they win, maybe they don't. But when we get down towards the trade line, deadline, maybe there's guys on this team that somebody would give a first round pick for later, you know, like kind of like what they try to do with Risto. You know, everyone looking for that right-handed defense. Maybe maybe he could sneak a a a first round pick in. So I I don't know. I think Danny's got a really hard, hard road here in front of him. And I don't know. I I'm I'm sitting here looking at this team and I just do not see any light at the end of this tunnel. I think, you know, these kids need time to play. I think they really, really, really need to work on their skating. I think most of their practices should be skating and shooting. They have no speed, like Tyson Forster looked like he was skating in cement last night. And I know somebody had posted in the off season. in that started camp, that Tyson Forster skating got so much better. I haven't seen it yet. He's slow. He had the puck and he had the ability to get around some guys last night and he couldn't. And then when he lost the puck, he had to try to stop and get it and he couldn't. So he was like s kind of like what Mishkoff was doing last year where he he was bent over and stretching, trying to reach it with his stick. Like him and a few of our guys, Porter Martin looked the same way. they they they're not fast enough. They're not able to skate against the the speed on these teams that they've been seeing. And that hurts us, right? It really does. When you only have one guy out there that's flying around, which was Barkey last night, where's Tippett? You know, again, he's got core quarter surgery. So maybe he can't right now and maybe he'll get there. But Tippett has played well. You know, he has made a couple moves. He made a really pretty cool move the other night where he skated in, tried to go to the backhand but spun around and then threw a bat like a a a wraparound shot from the front of the net. I mean he's he's really trying, but his speed isn't where it was last year yet. so I'm sure it's coming back. But, you know, what what would you do? What do you think Danny has here that he can do to improve this team without gutting it for one star player? And then just having like one star player here. And for all you guys that are a little older and and remember when Lindjur started with us, you know, Lindjur's came in and he was pretty much by himself. Like he was our star player and we had like nothing to help him with. Like nothing. There was a year, you know, year or two there where Flyers had nothing. And that's what this team would be if we had to give away some of these kids that have potential to grow. We'd have one star player and a bunch of like Noah Cates and Dvoraks. So this team would be just as bad, if not worse, maybe. So I'm kind of torn. I do not like Danny's mentality of just try to be smarter than everybody and take a chance on somebody who has potential but hasn't reached it. I'm kind of getting tired of that way of life right now. I think we already have too many of them on this team. way too many. I I think nails the opportunity where you really have to go and you gotta look at these other teams and figure out who you can bring in here that can one hundred percent slot into the first or second line and has some wheels so they can drive the puck and get the puck in the zones and make some plays. And I'm not sure if that person's available. I'm not. right now probably not. I think teams are still trying to figure out are they in the mix or not in the mix. So they're gonna have their hands full here today on on how to fix this, and they may not be able to. This this what we're looking at right now might be exactly what the flyers are going to have to deal with this entire year until this current core gr guys wakes up and gets their legs back. So, anyhow, quick episode today. I talked a lot, I'm a little down. maybe you can tell it's frustrating. It's the same stuff over and over again. Right right when you think they finished last year on a high note, and these kids kind of knew what it takes. We come into this year, and guys we just paid contracts to that just won contracts or performance last year, like Ziegress. He gets the money and he disappears. Where is he? What's he doing? I'm I'm upset, you know. I really am. You know, Rush Joey. He's out here blasting them, and he rightfully so. I I totally, totally get it. And I'm trying not to get to that level. I'm trying to just hang in there and let Danny cook a little bit. But the more time that goes by here, I I have I have less and less faith in Danny getting rid of anyone in his team to bring in good people. Because I really think Danny's sitting on this money. Hoping that something opens where he can use the money to get somebody without giving up these young players. And I think that's his plan. And Jonesy's plan, I think that's their plan. They they know if they give up young players and get one of these studs, again, they're not gonna have a team. They're gonna have one stud and no complimentary players. So I really just think that Jonesy and Danny are too stubborn to tank. And do what's right for this club, which I think is. I think they need to tank and get a couple more high picks. And I know it's a longer process, but that's where they're at. if this is the team and these are the kids that we want to go moving forward with, then you just gotta let the kids play and let these games lie where they lie, win, loser, draw. Just let it ride out. And if you're terrible, you're terrible. Get that high pick. Or he's trying to buy someone. If that someone has becomes available, I don't know. But I I don't I don't see an easy window here of helping this team without having to give up. And I don't think Danny can do it. Hexdall couldn't do it. I don't think Danny's gonna do it either. And and I think we're gonna be living kind of like this for a while. I do hope I'm wrong. I'm hoping I don't see something and they do something that's totally out of left field and we're all super pumped. I really do. And I hope they do it soon. So tomorrow night they play the Seattle Kraken at home at what seven o'clock. I should be down that game. So I will try to get an episode out. I think they play them tomorrow, Tuesday, and they play the Red Wings on Thursday. Maybe we can start a We Want Larkin chant down the center on Thursday night. We want Larkin. We want Larkin. Let's let's see if we can make Larkin change his mind. All right. So until then. Let's hope Danny Briere gets his head together. Let's hope Rick Tockett stops changing these lines so much and gives some of these guys some time to gel and go flyers.