Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 30: Flyers Season Recap - May 11th, 2026

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Episode 30: Flyers Season Recap - May 11th, 2026 · Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast

• Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix unofficial flyers podcast. This is Rick Mullin. I'll be your host tonight. And we had taken a little bit of a break. We decided not to post a episode after game three. And then we figured we were going to wait until the end of game four to kind of post ⁓ a ⁓ podcast here about the series. So, you know, let's talk about the series for. right now, the flyers got swept in four. The Canes, ⁓ they were a machine. They were an absolute machine. They were the better team, no doubt about it. The Canes are a team that have been built for the last few years to play in a certain position, a certain way, a certain system. They've had like what, five, six years, seven, eight years to get this system down pack. Every year they added some players, took away some players, and this year it just seems that they landed on the right mix of players. You know, the season's not over yet from a from playoff perspective, so we don't know. You know, obviously if they've won the Cup this year or not, but they definitely have a team that. Plays very, very well. They have four lines that role. They have their second lines on fire. Anderson standing on his head. and the Flyers had a huge task to try to take them down with a very young team and They weren't able to do it I have some frustrations. I'm to talk about I'm assuming there's a lot of fans out there, but I just want to say I'm going to talk about things that have happened over these last four games ⁓ There's no Wayshaper forum here that I want to distract from this year or so and I'm not making excuses of why the Flyers lost and I want to make that, loud and clear that The Flyers lost because they were not the better team The Flyers lost because they couldn't score And that's really what it comes down to so I want to talk solely though about the refs in games this season or this playoff series series. So game four wasn't so bad, wasn't too bad. That was probably the best officiated game of the four games that the fires played the Canes. ⁓ But over those first three games, ⁓ it infuriating to watch ⁓ those The refs were terrible. They should be ashamed of themselves. ⁓ The needs to do better. missed calls, phantom calls. It was just terrible. To me, it was just terrible. So I'm going to start off this year, this podcast on a, on a bad note, and then I'm going to go all good. Okay. From this point forward, for the most part. So, ⁓ let me get this out because I have to, it's, one of those things that eat you up if you don't talk about it. And I want to talk about it. So ⁓ I these refs were absolutely brutal. for most of the series. think that hit by Hall and Sandheim when Sandheim was on his knees for about 10 seconds before Hall came in, targeted his head and put it into the boards was an absolute disgrace that the officials called a two minute penalty on it. And that was it. It was an absolute disgrace. The refs were brutal. They called penalties one way. For those first three games, they did give the fires a couple but for the most part the the canes were dirty They were very dirty. They did a lot of things from their goalies tripping our players to slew footing to boarding to high head hits Spearing all kinds of stuff man and the rest didn't call anything it drove me nuts watching those games and then you get into I think was was the third game where the refs try to basically determine the outcome of the game. they were calling all kinds of stuff that was weak ⁓ and the big ones ⁓ and hurt. I mean, it basically the refs made the game or the outcome of the game. It wasn't the players determining the outcome of the game. It was the ref stepping up ⁓ and control of probably game two and game three. And not sure not knowing how to get out of it They just kept calling penalties and just putting people in the box. There was no play. There was no rhythm It was like basketball, you know, you touch somebody you were in the box, you know for the Flyers So I think the refs had of ⁓ overstepped for a game three I think ⁓ they were really, really weak, really weak. Game four was much better. There were some missed calls, but overall they let the teams determine how that game was going to go for the most part. So I think game four was one of the best or officiated games. So anyhow, that's my, that's my rant about the refs. And I know there's going to be some ref fans out there that are going to say, you can't play anything on the rafts. Well, you know what? I played hockey all my life. I got hurt pretty badly. I couldn't play anymore. My right hip when I was 40, 42, I had to stop playing and I thought, man, I have to stay in this game some way, or form it. And I did go to, ⁓ took classes. I went out, I reffed, I think for a year or two. That was it. No more than two years. ⁓ so looking at it a very meager meager reffing experience on my own. You just don't want to see the refs call a game one way. That's going to affect the outcome of a game in a playoffs. if you have to eat one of those games here and there in the regular season, okay, you eat it. But when you get into the second round of the playoffs, you don't want the refs being a determining factor in a series. ⁓ And weren't, if the refs put their whistle away, I think the Flyers still would have lost obviously. But They did. They did hurt the Flyers a lot during the series. Those first three games. Let's say the first game the Flyers choked on their own. Game two and three though was an absolute brutal, brutal showing by the refs. So anyhow, with that said, I'm done ranting about the refs. Let's move on and ⁓ I got that out of me. So listen. I want to thank the Flyers organization as a whole for this season. This season was fantastic. It really was. The Flyers were playing fantastic up until January. They had a really good system. There was a lot of drama with Matt V. Mishkov, who we're going to talk about later, and Rick Tocket in the beginning of the year. All the fans were and reporters and media in this part of the country were talking about. ⁓ It was ugly. That part was ugly, the Flyers as a whole were playing great. They were taking steps. They were starting to gel. They were trying to learn, talk, get system. We get into January and the Flyers can't win. They go on a losing streak and they're falling out of the playoff race, which they were in before that wild card spot. And then they go and where they have 3.8 % chance to get into the playoffs down the stretch and the Flyers tear it up. absolutely tear it up the last, what, 20 games of the season. And they do everything possible to land themselves a playoff spot, a third place in the Metro. And they got in the playoffs and we went up against our arch enemies in the Pittsburgh Penguins and Cindy crybaby Crosby. And the Flyers were able to beat them, know, knock them out of the playoffs. And, you know, these Pittsburgh Pans are so, but hurt that they're still all over the internet, like talking about raising the banner, the Flyers won against the Pittsburgh Penguins, raised the banner. And then when we got swept, they're all over the internet again, picking on the Flyers fans. So, you know, it's really good to see that ⁓ we are living rent free in the minds of all these Pittsburgh Penguins fans. And ⁓ nothing could be better than to know that. So it was an absolute sweet victory to beat the Penns, to watch Dan Valdar with his magical play this year and it was magical. The guy was really good and he's such a good guy. He's such an inspiration to the team. Really, really hoping that Vlad can do a second year here next year and perform the same exact way. ⁓ A couple of things I want to talk about. When you look at this year and we're going to kind of talk about some things and reference to Probably the one thing that sticks out the most which is ⁓ matt v mishkoff, right like matt v mishkoff was Terrible. No, no doubt about it. He was terrible in the playoffs He had one point in I think eight games and That's not enough. that's not enough at all ⁓ Rick felt all year, from his actions that matt v was ⁓ not really a go-to player for him. Not at all. Even when Mathay was coming down the stretch in the last 20, I think Mathay actually led the team in points in the last 20 games of the season, and he was a huge piece of why the Flyers got into the playoffs. And then when we get into the playoffs, Mathay's like, barely playing, barely playing. So let's talk about a couple things about Mathay. So, you know, it's important to... view things in a bigger picture. If you look at 21 year old Nathan McKinnon, he had 53 points that year. Kucherov at 21 years old had 65. Caulfield had 43. Suzuki had 41. Connor had 57. Mishkov had 51. 51 at his 21 year old season. These points don't lie. He's absolutely contributing. He's doing really well. He's on a good trajectory. And yes, he has problems for sure. but let's look internally at Mavie Mishkov. So Mavie Mishkov played 20. I'm sorry. Mavie Mishkov had 20 goals this season, ⁓ 31 He was a plus zero. He had 71 penalty in minutes. He had 163 shots. And he only had 14.5. In time on ice. Owen Tippett. Had. Who's 27 years old Owen Tippett had 28 goals, 23 assists. He was minus 6. He had 32 penalty in minutes. He had 22 shots. And he had 16.5 time on a ice per game. They both Owen Tippett. And Matvei Mishkov finished with 51 points this season, 51 points. And Tippit had more time on ice. And he also had, I believe, power play time, which Mishkov didn't have much. So when you look at Mishkov's year from a stat perspective, Matvei's doing really good. Matvei was part of the reason why the Flyers got to the playoffs. And Matvei had a flight through all kinds of adversity to put those numbers up. Tippit, TK, whom we'll talk about as well, they had some really good ice time. They had some really good lines. They had much better line mates than what Maffei has had. Maffei has been benched. Maffei has been held out of the lineup. Maffei was not giving much power play time. When Matt V was given power play time with Zegress in the beginning of the year, they performed pretty well. again, our power play is terrible, but they did better when he had some regular strength ⁓ points Zegress and some other players. But Matt V ultimately was held to playing with ⁓ Cates and my goodness, a blanket on the other guy like a. ⁓ My So he's ⁓ Not getting the same line mates. I can't for the life of me remember his linemate, but he for the life of me, I can't believe I'm not remembering this guy's linemates. But Kate and Mishkov and he would have somebody on that third line like maybe like bump towards the end of the year. But it wasn't good linemates and it hurt. Maffei not getting good power play time, not being on the top line. ⁓ And think about this and in reality. what's Matt Vade really good at? Matt Vade is very good at passing C &E ice creating some plays. And you would think he would have been on that top power play unit, especially with the top power play unit not performing well. You know, just not doing well in any way, shape or form. You think they would have said, okay, look, we need to go, let's give Matt Vade this opportunity. And this goes back to like where my head is thinking that maybe, you know, Tocket is just so adamant and not about giving Mavy Mishkov the opportunity because he didn't deserve it in Rick Taukett's mind. Does that make sense? Because it's the only reason I can think why he wouldn't play him there, It's kind of like, you know what, hey, you don't back check hard enough, so we're not going to reward you with top power play minutes. And I think that was it. I really do. Because if you look statistically at But holding Matvei out versus putting Matvei in on that first line, everything statistically says that line should be better. So why wouldn't you do it? Statistics matter, which they do because everyone's looking at your power play saying it sucks and they got to do something. But if it matters, which it does again, why wouldn't you give that a whirl? Why wouldn't you try Matvei-Meshkava out there on that first power play line? But he doesn't. He doesn't give it to him. He didn't give it to him at all. and Matvey had to earn his 51 points with limited ice time and benchings. So I'm going to give kudos to Matvey Mishkov for doing what he did his second year with all the obstacles that he had around him. And I'm also going to say, hey, Matvey Mishkov came into this season out of shape. He didn't take it seriously. And I know he learned his lesson. he learned his lesson. he doesn't want to lose. He wants to produce. He wants to play. He gets upset and mad when he's not. So I know he learned his lesson. Taukeet sent that message loud and clear. The organization sent that message loud and clear. And I'm sure it will never happen again. Now with that, Rick Taukeet has to learn to move on. ⁓ And I'm going about Rick too. So I'm not picking on Rick here, but ⁓ Rick Taukeet needs learn how to move on here too. yeah, he ⁓ definitely was upset with You know it and he still probably is, but he needs to move on. you need to look at the team as a whole. ⁓ you're of the team, even as the coach. And what can you do to make this team better? And everyone on the ice is asked to put everything on the ice that they can to make the team better. And the coach needs to do the same. And I do think putting Matt Vey on the first power play unit, giving them time to try to figure out if it will work, not just put them on there for a game and move on. But giving them time to see if they can figure out how to make it work is what Rick Tocket needs to do as a team guy to put everyone on the ice that has the best opportunity to score on that power play. And he didn't do it with Matt Bay. And I think that was absolutely ⁓ a bad decision for Rick Tocket. No doubt about it. Rick Tocket chose not to put Matt Bay on that line and it hurt them all year. So. That was Rick Tokett's downfall. Rick Tokett's ⁓ win this season, right? Like what's ⁓ a plus? I really, truly was stressing over Rick Tokett in the beginning of the year. I was kind of excited to have him. I was waiting to see what he was doing, going to do and how this team was going to respond. And in the beginning, I wasn't sure. And then watching some of his line combinations and what he was doing, it didn't make any sense. And, we were all like, ⁓ God, we picked a bad coach for this team. And I don't think he came off in the beginning as a good coach, but as he muggled his way through the season, he really earned a lot of respect from me for what he was able to pull out of this team, how he was able to get buy-in from those players for the majority of them. Again, I'm not going to go backwards on the Mishkaf thing. That's a, that's an open wound on him. The one tick mark I would say. But his system worked his ⁓ ability to pull. the best out of this team worked and I give him kudos and I'm looking forward to next year. And now he knows what he has. He knows where he's missing. The off season is going to be hopefully pointed at the holes this team has. Danny Breyer needs to get out there, figure out what talk it needs, make some hard choices and plug some holes here. And I think this team, did fantastic. And I think Tocket did really well coaching them and he got everything out of them that he could. So I just wanted to thank the Flyers organization from Keith Jones, Danny Breyer, Rick Tocket, all the way down to every player on the Flyers team, to Vlad for standing on his head. This was the best season in a very long time. As a lifelong Flyers fan, I've been watching since like 1970, what, four? And... Man, this was the best season in a very long time that I've been able to watch the Flyers and go down to playoff games and cheer and watch them knock out the Penguins. it was great. I had so much fun. So thank you for such a great season. mean, all the fans, thank you. The end of that last game when there, I mean, the Canes scored on us and within like five, six seconds, the fans in the place exploded in let's go fires chance and cheering the team on even though we just got swept in four. That just goes to show that the fans are behind you. The fans saw what you all did this year. The fans were happy. The fans were very emotional at that game. They were happy and they want to show love for our flyers and man I had goosebumps listening to it. It was tremendous and I hope they all know that we appreciate everything they did this year. You know so Let's move on a little bit because there's going to be a lot of things happening. I think this summer, ⁓ if we look at TK this year ⁓ and was tough, TK TK played. What 31 playoff games in his career ⁓ and TK was of the. Ones that came one, in his. Interviews ⁓ saying like, hey, I'm just tired of losing. I'm so tired of losing. I just want to get the playoffs ⁓ and he gets. into 31 playoff games in his career so far. And TK had two goals and 10 assists in 31 playoff games. And he's looked at as probably our heart and soul on this team. And yeah, he had some good, he had a good assist, you know, when the bump play the other game and, tying that game up, but all in all, TK really didn't play real well and he knows it, we all know it. Media talked about it. But I worry, like I worry. There's like a common thread here of do we have the right people? And, to give you an example, know, Sean Couturier was asked to be a number one center, right, for the last couple of years. And Torz didn't, I don't think he liked Couturier in that position. And they had a pretty bad relationship. And then, he comes in, gets fired. Taki comes in, he's still using Kouturier as his number one center and then through some games, finally, they have a talk with Kouturier about, you're just not that player anymore. We need to change your role, we need to move you down in the lineup and this is what we expect from you. In all honesty, can either, because this was talked about in the media, you have two choices. You can either sulk and drag your feet and be a detriment to this team and yourself or you can accept your new role. help these young kids learn, give it all you got and show what a true leader was. And Coots did. mean, Coots went out there and he played like a young man. mean, Coots was banging everything that moved. Coots was one of our best players. If Coots was able to get the puck down low, he was the only one with his big body that was able to actually hold that puck deep and defend the puck and try to find some plays. And you know, I'm not saying he's Eric Lindros, but that was a lot of the stuff that the Lindros are. I did like they were able to get in the corners and defend the puck and shield it like Yager, right? Yager did it too. Um, and finally some trailers coming in and Coots was the only one actually able to do that. Everybody else, they tried and couldn't like they would go around the boards and just get, pressured off the puck and the canes would take the puck and get out of their zone. So it would be nice to have a couple bigger bodies that are like kind of have the ability to do what Kutz did and keep that puck down there and maybe create a cycle play down low and get some of the pressure off our end and keep the puck in their end a little bit more. So Kutz was actually able to step up, accept his new role and he played that new role incredibly well, like incredibly well. So looking at TK, he makes me nervous because I don't, I don't even, what's TK like 30 now, right? He's we know what he is. He's 29 or 30. we know what he is at this point. It's not like he's 24. We're not sure what he's going to turn into, right? But he he is what he is at this point. And, could he get hot one series? Sure. sure. But, history and everything's telling us that, TK is not really going to carry this team on his back, if that makes sense. He's just not. He's a small contributing factor on this team through the playoffs and. What do we do with them? Like, there was talk about maybe trading TK, but, know, obviously TK would have to accept that ⁓ trade. But you trade them? I don't know. is that somebody we want to move off the roster? I don't know. like looking at it, like ⁓ with big glasses on. That's a lot, it's a decent amount of money we're paying him and we're asking to be a first line winger and he's not performing like a first line winger. So ⁓ we're going to bump down the line up too. I, ⁓ it's, it's a hard decision. you, have to really see what you could get for him ⁓ and trying to make a trade for anybody. if we're looking at a number one center, for this team in the off season. We're going to give up something to get something, right? And this is where it gets hard because I don't think anyone wants TK. like, say we go after Robert Thomas. Robert Thomas is 26 years old. Why would the St. Louis Blues trade Robert Thomas to us for a 29, 30 year old TK ⁓ with really high, with a really high salary? ⁓ Like, just don't, I just don't see. something like this happening. Obviously they're going to want a Marton and Mishkov. Things like that are number one pick. TK, I don't know if he's going to be able to be moved for that piece, but I also don't want to get stuck in a position here where you have to use TK as a starting winger when he's not really a starting winger. He's not. He's like Koutourier here. TK is not who he is or we want him to be. TK should be further down the lineup and different people should be in those top spots. You look at Trevor Zegras. I like Trevor Zegras. I really do. I think he's a good kid. I think he's got definite ⁓ skill. He's fast. He's creative. ⁓ But he's soft. He's soft. His playoff showed how soft he was. Yes, he got a goal there against the Canes, but he's soft. He doesn't really hit. When he does, it's not even a hit. It's like a little push, like a little lean and that's it. And, you know, he's just soft. He's not going to be, don't think in my opinion, a game changer in the playoffs. He's going to be a good contributing factor with the right people in his line. But, when you have guys like TK and Denver Barkie, I mean, Denver Barkie, they're flying into these corners, trying to put forechecking pressure on the Canes defensemen. And regardless how big those defensemen were, know, TK smoking the guy on the glass. And we all know that. He's a rat, right? That's what he's known for here. ⁓ But Barky, who's like 125 pounds slick and wet, ⁓ he's the same thing. Like he's 5'7", something like that, right? ⁓ And going in and he's hitting hard too. Zegras is not. Zegras goes in and you see, he lines up the player, but then he won't hit him. He won't hit them hard. He doesn't go in there hard. He's afraid to contact and when he gets contacted, he gets mad. he starts losing his mind a little bit and he gets all flustered. And I think that's why ⁓ Taki was fighting with him the other day, ⁓ know, the game, like telling him to calm down and, you know, pay attention to what you're doing. So, I don't, don't think that Zegras is a center. ⁓ I really don't. He's the center. In my opinion, he's definitely a winger. And I think we need to adjust the team a little bit in this off season. I don't want them paying a huge amount of money to Zegras. I don't want to see them walk either, you know, obviously. you know, to me, Zegras is not a $10 million kind of guy. Sadly, I think with the salary cap going up and, Danny, think worried about ⁓ maybe Zegras, right. ⁓ And just think they're going to overpay him. ⁓ And you're going to have Keturri overpaid, Zegras overpaid, TK overpaid. ⁓ That's hard. hard. You got to get these these salaries in in check and the players that aren't able to continue to earn the salary you're paying them. You got to figure out what to do with them. know, TK is close to that right now. Again, he's he's not quite in our window of the money we want to we were spending for the production that he's producing at. And when you look at Sean Katurier's line, and this is where it gets to me, it's kind of going back to the old size matters, size matters, and everyone fights about that size versus scale, Hopefully you'll find a guy with size and scale. But when you look at the Katurier line for checking and getting in there and throwing those big hits, they were able to actually hold the puck deep. They had some good time on ice down in their zones. You have a TK coming in and yeah, he's throwing big hits, but He's small, like they're absorbing the hits and they're just getting the puck out of the zone. ⁓ if can get somebody who's better than Koutourier and maybe has the heart of TK, but has some skills where he belongs in the first or second line wing, that changes the game a lot, a whole lot. If we can get our first line to be able to be big and control the puck in their end, that takes a lot of pressure off our day and Vlad and that, that makes a big difference in games, huge difference in games. you saw that during the Lindros error with John LeClair, you he's a big body and you Lindros obviously, but keeping that puck low and being able to cycle, even Jagger, big body was able to defend the puck with his body and cycle. ⁓ that game still exists. you see McKinnon that a lot ⁓ and it's just, I know, yeah, yeah, he's a freak in right? But there was a lot of teams that are bigger and they, and they actually do that. ⁓ the Canes were actually not a small team and they were doing it to us a lot. their passes were very good and their cycles were very strong, ⁓ but the Flyers really no cycle. was like, get the puck in, get the puck and pass it and that would be our only shot and then we were out. ⁓ But Kutz's line, again, Kutz was able to actually defend with his body and actually hold the puck in corners and ⁓ try to get to his mind mates. And ⁓ that's where I like, if you were able to move a TK, ⁓ and get maybe a little bit younger of a guy who's a little bit bigger with maybe they're like the same stats, roughly. That would be a win. That would be a really big win for the Flyers. We, you know, we need that size. Yes, Porter Marton, Big Marty, he's going to be a fantastic player. And, that's why I transitioned over to him because of the size thing. ⁓ He's big kid. He's strong. this was his first season and wasn't even his first season really. You know, you put, what do you play games? ⁓ he's going to be one of those people for sure. Hands down, know, Tyson Forrester, he's going to get stronger too. He's a big body bump. He's a big body. So, they're ⁓ definitely there with the size. These kids just need a little more time to grow and they need a little more time to, ⁓ refine their game, but we're going to have those, those bodies for sure. Moving forward with these kids. But at the point of time where these kids are, able to do all this, which is probably going to take him a couple of years. TK is going to what 31, 32 years old possibly, and he's smaller and he's not producing well now. So I'm assuming he's going to go at the same level or worse and then you have a fluke here and there maybe. But hopefully he does. That would be great. But TK needs to be, in my opinion, moved down the lineup or maybe moved out if they can for somebody with a little more. Upside and somewhere more into the targeted range of ⁓ age that this team is based on right now, but. Lots of going on man in this fires world right now, you look at this and you think okay, how did it get out of? The conundrum of keeping the same ⁓ next year because it's really hard. I mean it really is I think this is gonna be a really hard year for Danny Breyer You look at all these kids that are coming and we have a lot of kids We still have these these centers, you know Mike again or they have room down in the phantoms for them for at least a year ⁓ you have ⁓ so many kids that played really well and they look like they're going to be really good players for us. And you have holes too at the same time that you have to fill. if you keep a TK and you keep a Kutz and you have to get rid of a bump or ⁓ a Mishkov to fill a hole, you may have just stayed status quo. You know what mean? Because you got rid of one or two good young kids that were doing well for one center, let's say. but you still have your other guys on this team, like again, your TKs and it's not a good position to be in. The best thing to do here would be to keep your kids, because you don't really know what they have yet. Move your TKs if you can, move your Grumstrums, your Grubankins, those kinds of players, your Garnet Hathaway's. Yeah, no one's going to give you anything for them, but you need to figure out a way to not give up on a bump a bonk a more tone a mishkaf probably right. I mean honestly if you look at mishkaf and it's a little scary because you mishkaf is like this unknown. He's an unknown like like bump and more tone. They play a very good defensive game. They try real hard. They're good on the boards. They have a hell of a good shot and you have mishkaf who's slower. Can he work on that? Sure. And I'm hoping he does. I'm hoping he goes through skating classes and power skating this off season. He gets a lot better for next year. But you look at just like basic plays that Mishkov makes. And from an offensive perspective, he sees the ice very well. He creates plays with his passing. His passing will get better. there are times where he sees the right play, but ⁓ he a weak pass instead of a hard pass and gets picked off and he turns the puck over. But the play was there and, know, talk, it's talking about, being creative and, in order to get better and Mishkov's probably the most creative player on our team hands down, but with that creativeness, there's also high risk, in order to make a creative play, you have to, go against the grain and force something a lot of times to be creative. And, sometimes it works out and sometimes it's it doesn't. It's a turnover. You but as you get to be a better player like Kucherov, you learn to make that plays better. you learn to make that harder pass or when's the right time to throw that pass. And that's where Mishkov is trying to get to. And he has that ability. What does Mishkov not do ⁓ well? Mishkov is ⁓ absolutely at playing defense. Like horrible. ⁓ He takes. ⁓ the he takes the complete wrong angle on bodies. He he really does like I've never seen someone as bad as him and he knows and that's why like when talk it benched them. Yeah, I was upset but the same time I get I got it. I understood it too from a defensive perspective. ⁓ But there had to be like a give and take there like if you knew he was a bad defensive player, but he's probably one of your most creative forwards then. Don't play them a lot during the game, but when there's a power play, throw them out there on the first line. You got to learn how to use your players and not bench them. You know what mean? Like when you have a guy like Mishkov, he should have been on that first power play unit all year. All year, hands down, he should have been out there. ⁓ So that's my only kick at target. Like he could have made that first power play unit probably better, putting Mishkov on it and then limiting his defensive time on the ice. And that's... That's where I think he did a disservice for Mishkov and the first power play. But when you look at Mishkov again, getting back to him, his defensive play is horrible, like horrible. Like he doesn't really know when to hit. When he does hit, he doesn't put his body in the right position. ⁓ I guess the best way he can explain it without like actually doing like video ⁓ is, in his end of the ice and there's a skater coming down the boards. What most players will do is they will get in front of that player and pinch him off against the board so that you can't get through them. But they're also blocking the middle of the ice. So it's like you have your shoulder on the player and you're squeezing them against the boards and you also have your other shoulder like on the guy's side so he can't jump across the center of the ice. And you basically pinch him off and that's it, plays over, guy loses the puck most of the time. Instead of doing that, Mishkoff will just hit the guy from the side. and not pinch him against the board. So these guys are stronger than Mishkov and most of the time the guy just goes right down the boards past Mishkov's hit or they knock Mishkov over and keep going past Mishkov's hit. Or Mishkov is just about to hit him and instead of hitting them and getting in front of them so they can't get down the boards, Mishkov jumps around them because he's hoping the puck went to his defenseman in the corner and the guy's going to send them off on a breakaway. Right? So Mishkov makes really, really terrible, terrible decisions on defense. He does. And I don't know if that's because he's always looking for that breakout, if it's because he doesn't like to hit, or if it's because he really don't know how to hit. He really doesn't know how to pinch a player off. And yeah, I mean, for us, I think that's like simple hockey 101 that you learn in juniors, right? Like this is how you... You stop these guys, you know, this is how you hit. is how you defend. This is how you use your body to make sure they can't skate through into your zone any deeper. Does Mishkov just not know this? Does he not know what he's doing? Like does he really not truly understand that? Yeah, he hit the guy, but he didn't hit the guy in the most beneficial way. I'm not sure at this point because I think I think Mishkov wants to be on the ice and I think if you wanted to be on the ice Badly enough, he would do the things that he needs to do to stay on the ice and he's not, you know, you'll see him like light up a game after he comes back and he still throws those weird angle checks. So I'm not sure. I think he needs somebody to really coach him on ⁓ angles, like hitting angles and defensive angles and all that stuff, as well as power skating this off season. That that's his two biggest flaws. 100 percent his skating and his angles. on defense. So hopefully he gets some help and we see him play much better next year. But let's talk a little bit about the offseason again. How are the Flyers going to fix this team going forward? And I don't mean fix it but how are they going to add to it to make it better? They have to be looking at upgrading their defense. But what does that look like? do they go out and they get a Darren Radish? Did they overpay this guy who plays on a really good team with who has a really good power play because the guy scored power play goals? just because he did it in Tampa with all that skill of Kuturov and them around them. ⁓ Do we really that that guy getting paid coming here to our team would do that? ⁓ I don't. Not Not at this point. I don't think we have this surrounding skill. So I don't know if that happens. Do the Flyers look at training Risto and bringing Andre out and Jules in out and just bringing Bonk and your check up and giving them the run next year. So not really upgrading our defense sort of right. I mean Bonk or your check could be much better. We don't know but it's not like we're going out and signing a Chris Pronger or something like that. So like with that move which it seems like it's going to happen. I mean in all honesty it sounds like your checks got to come up if he stays. Once he comes up, he's not waiver protected. So he's got to stay. So he's our seventh demand next year. So do you bring bonk up and, you run that route? I don't know. Do they focus solely on bringing in a top center? And if they do, how do you get that top center? There's tons of tons of rumors right now. I can't wait until the off season gets a little deeper, you know, into like July and August here, because, you know, there's rumors that, ⁓ Austin Matthews is available. Austin Matthews, right? I think Austin Matthews is 29 years old. he is a much better center than any player on the Flyers team right now. Any player. He's actually a two way player too. he does block a lot of shots. My opinion, he has done nothing in big games. Would he be an instant upgrade for us? Yes. 100 % he would. But what would he cost us? What would you have to give up and how much of that salary cap would we be using for him? I just don't see that. I don't. And maybe it happens because the fires feel like they have to pull off like a star move and he's one of the only ones available. But I don't know. I don't really necessarily like Austin Matthews. I never did. I just don't think he brings much to his team when it matters most. He kind of disappears in the playoffs and We already have that. already have guys like TK who are not performing in the playoffs. You bring in another one. I don't like the Matthews pick. I wouldn't do it. I definitely wouldn't do it. If it happens, will I be happy? Yes and no. You know what mean? I'll be happy he's here and hope for the best and hope he performs well, but I just, I wouldn't do it. Robert Thomas, would I do that? Yes. Robert Thomas is 26 years old. He looked fantastic against Colorado towards the end of that year. If you watch those games with St. Louis, I mean, he was flying around Colorado. He was making things happen. He was one of the best players on the ice. He has that ability in him, but he's going to 100 % cost you first round picks. He's going to cost you probably Matt V. Mishkov hands down. Do we do that deal? I know everyone's going to say, yeah, you do that deal. You absolutely do that deal. I mean, you know it like. Yeah, you have to. If you're getting a star center, you have to. I don't know, man. I would love to have him. He's probably the one I would love to have, but I don't want to give up Marton or Mishkov or Tipit. We're going to talk about Tipit a little bit, too. But how do you get him, then? You got to give up draft picks. St. Louis doesn't want that. They want players. We would have to give up some guys in the minors. And they really don't want that too much either. they want players, they want players now. So ⁓ you literally have to probably give up Mappay-Mishkov in part of a package to get Robert Thomas. What else is available right now? I don't know. There's a lot of things that are probably going to happen once the season ends that, you know, we're going to see other opportunities. You know, there's talk about Connor McDavid not being happy up there. And ⁓ once he got two more years left on this contract. ⁓ So there's going to be lots of different things coming up. And again, like call me crazy, but I don't I don't even like Connor McDavid, I think he's a puck hog. Like I just think he tries to do everything on his own too much. And ⁓ I that ⁓ with a lot the other ⁓ poor goaltending, poor that the Edmonton-Wilers have is one of the main reasons that they don't win in the playoffs. ⁓ I just think, you look at Crosby, I hate that you look at Crosby, but if you look at Crosby, he he he distributes the puck very well. He can score goals. pretty much at Woolloom when he was young, but he also distributes really well and he uses his whole team. And that's what makes it better in the playoffs. When you have a guy like McDavid who's just trying to fly from one end of the ice to the other and he skates past four of his players and tries to go through four or five of the other team's players, that's a puck hog. It's never going to work out. You need to use your team. Like he needs to use his legs better. Like get to the space, throw up, find some trailers, know, get to a next space so you can receive it back. pass to you, but he, my opinion, just is way, way too much hogging that puck. So you got two big names out there who would cost a lot. There'd be a fortune to get them and it and it would also be a fortune to keep them on a team. Probably 14, 15 north of 15 million to keep them. I just don't think I do either of those two players. look for other options. Who those options are. don't know. But like I said, right, Robert Thomas would be the guy I would look for. I just don't know what you'd have to give up. And in reality, if Mishkov can come back and this is where I don't want to get away from the Mishkov position too soon. if Mishkov can learn how to play a little more defense, learn how to angle his bodies on defense and play a stronger defensive game and also increases skating speed. We may, do very, very well at Mishkov. And this is a totally different conversation at the end of next year. ⁓ And I don't to ⁓ sell. too short on Mischkov. I really don't. And this is like a really sad, sad position to be in because by the time you know if you need to get rid of Mischkov, the rest of the league knows too that you need to get rid of Mischkov, right? So his value drops. So right now every team's looking at Mischkov thinking he's a young star. He's got a lot of upside. Yeah, he's not playing real well right now, but hey, he'll probably work out in the long run. I'm willing to give that a shot. just like the Flyers were willing with Zygres and ⁓ Yurichek. Same thought process. Mishkov doesn't, doesn't or isn't looked at as a flop yet. He's not. There's a ton of players or teams looking at him thinking he's worth a shot. And the Flyers have him right now, right? The Flyers have him right now. So you got to figure out with the right training, is this kid part of the future? And if you really feel like he's not, if there's like some internal things here that most of us fans aren't seeing and you need to move him, okay, man, I get that and we'll never know because they're not going to say, we traded him because he was a problem inside the locker room. they're they'll just say, ⁓ we just felt, know, we really needed a number one center in order to get a number one center. You had to give up, you know, to get. ⁓ we up Matthew Mischkoff. Right. I ⁓ don't Like Danny and I think Jonesy are so entrenched on Mischkoff right now that I was finding it hard to believe he's gone. But looking after this year and what Taket did to him. Makes you wonder, know, is Matt by Mishkov, even though they're saying he's untouchable because that does raise his value, right? Is he really untouchable? And I guess we're going to find out in this offseason because 100%. Any first line center we're going to get is either going to ask for a Marton or Mishkov. And if we're not willing to trade one of them, we're probably not getting any first line center. So we're going to see how badly. We. We will or how much we will pay to get a number one center here probably in the offseason all right, so we're going to Probably look, to do a couple more episodes through the summer as the the season winds down with the ⁓ Stanley Cup hopefully done, we're gonna look at those trade rumors later We're gonna go over like maybe some more players on our team and what the outlook looks like but we're not gonna do ⁓ probably weekly episodes through the summer. We're gonna really take our time here, look at what's happening on the market. if some good crazy rumors come up, ⁓ discuss them from time to time over the summer, but we'll kick back off next year again ⁓ the season starts with hopefully ⁓ better game plan, ⁓ ⁓ new bodies and maybe some exciting trades that the fires do over ⁓ summer, be it through trades or. offer sheets if there's anyone out there to offer sheet. this year again, it was such a good year. It really was. The Flyers took some huge steps. They really did. it was really fun watching them play this year. And, you know, at times you were upset when they were going through those losses, in January and then at the end of the year, they couldn't do anything wrong. They won everything they touched and they got into the playoffs win. It was almost impossible. The only team in NHL history to do it. 3.8 % chance and they got in. Unbelievable. So thank you to all the Flyers. Thank you to all the fans. We're looking forward to some really good rumors this summer. And until then, as usual, go Flyers.