Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Season 2: Episode 1 -FLYERS 2026-27 SEASON OPENER
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome back to season two of Hat Trick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast. I'm Rick Mullen, I'll be your host as usual. And we have a lot to talk about. You know, this is our first episode that we've dropped for the 26-27 season. I was pretty much waiting for the summer to get over, took a little time off, enjoyed the family, and have been following the flyers and the news and everything. And You know, it's nothing happened. It was kinda kinda very boring, other than the Leo Carlson offer sheet, which, you know, was very difficult to pull off and we didn't. the Flyers really didn't make any moves. they got Wall in here as a backup, which is great. we needed a backup. And Achari, he joined the team. We got Benoit, from that Toronto trade as well. And Eurochek. So there's a couple there's a couple of new bodies, but you know, most of those players are role players, even if they make the team in as in Yurchek. So n nothing substantial in my opinion, other than Wall, which I'm really hoping to see that he does very well as a backup and can be a a stable influence for us in net when Vladar can't play. So Last night the season kicked off for the Flyers. we had a home game down there at the Xfinity Live Center. And we were playing our Pittsburgh Penguins, right? Our arch nemesis from the state of Pennsylvania or the other side of Pennsylvania. And I figured, hey, this is gonna be a really good game. this should be something where we left off last year and there should be lot of bad blood here, and it should be a really good game. And it turned out not to be a really good game at all. It was an absolute disgrace from the Flyers standpoint. Pittsburgh absolutely, as my buddy Jim B would say, they did not forget. And they came out hard. They played a great game. They really did. They gelled, they passed, they were skating well. a lot of pressure on on us. And the Flyers just came out completely flat. everywhere across the ice, everybody. Forwards were not playing. guys on forwards positions that had opportunities to shoot the puck, wouldn't shoot the puck. They went for an an extra pass and the pass just wouldn't make it, or the guy flubbed or whiffed or whatever it is that was receiving the pass. But it it didn't didn't go good. Yeah, the Flyers went down to the Pittsburgh Penguins seven to nothing in their season opener. At the Xfinity Live Center. And I think that's tied with the worst season opener we've ever had. I think we we did it again seven nothing, actually, I think again in a prior game years ago. So it's good we have a game under our belt. It's good that the team realizes, hey, we are not ready here. We were not ready last night when they play a team like the Penguins, who have a older roster. And they can see that those vets knew what it was like to be prepared and they did whatever they had to do to be prepared. And our younger guys came out really flat, like really flat. So there's a lot of growth here potential for the Flyers youngins, and they really need to focus, you know. So it's it's not gonna get easier, it's only gonna get harder as the year goes by. Just like last year, we just squeaked into the playoffs. These early games sadly mean a lot. It could mean the difference of getting into the playoffs or not. So I hope they bounce back quickly. Barkey is out hurt. He's not playing. I'm hoping he comes back really soon and gets in there because I I think we miss his like sparkiness that that dogging him. I I think missing him hurts. I was down the center last night and I was watching the game and there wasn't really not much to to watch that was exciting or impressive. it was very just boring. The team as a whole was not gelling in any way, shape, or form. The lines were just no no what's the word? No gelling, I for lack of better word. That nobody gelled last night. Everybody struggled. Guys who should have shot didn't. They tried that extra pass and the pass never got through where it went through and the receiver whiffed as I said prior. So it was it was a tough game. It was a really tough game to watch. And you know, it'll get better. It won't stay like this. It's only game one. There's gonna be a ton of people out there going, shut up. It's only game one. And they're right. It it's it's just game one. But you know, these podcasts are meant to talk about what's been happening and that's what we're gonna do. We're gonna talk about last night's game. So the Penguins outshot the Flyers 38 to 19. The Flyers out hit the Penguins 28 to 23. The Flyers had 10 penalty minutes, and the Pittsburgh Penguins had eight. Faceoff percentage was actually leaning towards the Flyers. They won sixty-two percent of their face-offs, sixty-two point one to the Penguins thirty-seven point nine. So the Flyers did pretty well in the faceoff dot. They just couldn't convert at at all. They had no shots. They struggled. Matt Vemishkov, he got a lot of ice time last night. You know, he was one of the, I think he was like the second, third highest on the team in time on ice. Not that he stood out or anything. He did have a couple good plays, and you know, he passed the puck really well when power play one. But It's just good to see he's starting out, not in a doghouse, and he's actually starting out and he's given time and he's beg he's given opportunity to produce. And he did do really well. He had some really good plays, he made some really good passes. but I I I guess like maybe towards the end of the game, he he did make some mistakes too. He made some really weak plays and poor puck decisions. And that's just gonna get better as he ages, hopefully. Porter Martin. Porter Martone was Somebody, we all looked at thinking like, hey, this is gonna be a really good kid, and we still do, but last night was not a good game for him. he made some mistakes, he had a a bad line change, and I believe he got set in the first period. He got knocked down, I think, to the fourth line a little bit. So he played, I think, the second least amount of time in this game. So hopefully that'll fire him up. You know, one of the things that Rick Tocket had said was His job was to not keep these guys comfortable. It was to press them and make sure they're trying and they're playing hard. They're not just expecting to be in the lineup. And I think you know, just from viewing one game, they play again tonight against the Devils. But just looking at one game, that's what someone's gonna say because it's the first game of the season, but it's it's it's not just one game. The last game of preseason. They also had pretty much a full roster, and I think they lost five to one to the Capitals AHL team, for lack of a better term. I think the Capitals had three or four semi good vets playing. The rest were all kids and they smoked us that game. So there's a little bit of a consistency here over the last two games that you know you can be worried about. You know, it's definitely something you want to keep an eye on, but obviously it's too early. You can't go to Tankathon. I think as one of the other podcasters says, you can't. You can't. You just gotta give it a couple games and then reevaluate, see where we're at, and go from there. But right now they do not look good. I don't know what it is. Trevor Ziegers didn't look good. He didn't look like he had legs. He just didn't look like himself from last year. Tippett looked pretty good. I Tippett had like seven, eight shots. I think he had the most shots on the team. however, he didn't. look he had that you know burst of speed he normally has, which is okay because you know he's just coming back from core surgery, core abdomen surgery here and green and it's not expected for him to be 100% yet. He needs to work back in. So we definitely missed his legs. Zekers did not look well. TK looked okay. TK looked like TK. Coots looked a little slower, a little softer. when the game got a little bit out of hand, like two, three, nothing last year, we'd throw that fourth line out there with Garnet Hathaway, and he would go out and start like clocking everybody in the world. that was missing last night. That was just totally missing. There, there we didn't do it. And I think I think Garnet Hathaway bought that like little bit of fire to him, which maybe would light up the next line coming out. But we didn't have that player last night. there's no one on the team that really did that. And I think he's gonna be missed in games like this, when they need to reset. So definitely different, not seeing Garden Hathaway on the ice. someone's got to step up and try to take that role. He wasn't happy. He was, you know, not happy at all with anything. Dan Vladar was pretty weak. He gave up a lot of goals. I thought they would probably. Pull him after the second. I didn't think they wanted to pull him during the second period, but I I didn't think he would start the third. But when he came out on the ice and played the third, I thought, you know what, that that makes sense. he hasn't played a lot. He only had like like I said, like 13 minutes of preseason hockey. And then he went down injured. So leaving him in the game to you know last night, as long as he was okay with it, which I'm sure he was. That was his opportunity to get some work in, try to learn the fuel for the game and the puck again, how to control the rebounds, because he struggled in that last last night. He struggled control controlling those rebounds. He left a lot out there for rebounds. I think we had a puck go off the boards and hit him in the back of the l of the skate and he kicked it in. So like nothing went right for him last night. It w it was pretty ugly. So all in all Not not a lot of good things to talk about here, okay, from a game perspective. Ver very, very difficult game for the Flyers. Very nonchalant they were. They they just didn't seem like they wanted to win. last year when they came back from a lot of games, it's because they battled, they started banging, they started hitting, they they and they have to play that way. And that's where I think Rick Tockett's got to get back in their head. we're not gonna beat teams with skill. We don't have that skill set, at least not yet. Maybe these kids grow with Barkey and Martone and Mishkoff and eventually get there. But right now they don't they don't have that. So they have to play harder. They have to hit. And hitting forces that other team to move the puck faster where they make make an errant pass or whiff on the pass and give it to one of our guys. So the pressure has to be put on these teams by f for checking and checking. That's the only way, they're gonna slow down the other teams. And they didn't do that a lot. Even though they had like a lot of hits, they had 28 to 23, it it just didn't it just didn't feel that way last night where the Flyers were in their face and and and taking it to them. So yeah, a higher hit count, but didn't didn't really matter, if that makes sense. So Anyhow, we are going to go into Jersey, into Newark tonight. We're going to go see the Flyers play the New Jersey Devils. I won't be there to be watching on TV, but we are going to get another peek at them. They didn't have a lot of time to dwell on last night's loss. I'm sure they have a bitter taste in their mouth. I'm sure they want to come out and play a lot harder. I'm hoping they do, and I hope that they get it together and they can make a game of it tonight. We did do r well against Jersey last year, but usually Jersey is is really a difficult team for us to play against. So I'm hoping the Flyers can continue that trend and, find themselves and recover tonight and figure out, what they did wrong last night and and make up for it. I do expect Wall to be in net tonight. That's my guess. Not confirmed. would like to see him. Definitely would like to see him. So hopefully he gets the start, the nod, and we can get a a good early peek at him and see what he can bring to the table as well. So we'll do another b podcast after that. but let's talk a little bit about this team. And and this is where it we're just talking here. I'm not saying to do this. This is just some ideas, you know, what can they do and what should they do. And, you know, some of the things that they try to work on that so they say that you know, they worked on the power play supposedly since training started, 'cause they needed it, right? They they did make changes to personnel. They created a whole new first line. I think if I remember correctly, I I believe it's got a blanket. I think it's Ziggress, Mishkoff, Martone, Forster, and Jamie Drysdale. I'm pretty sure that's what they were going with. And, you know, the power play didn't look too bad. It didn't, but they didn't score. And it did look a couple times where like Jamie just can't get that pop through. Like they would give a pass to him and he'd come at the slot and he'd wait that little extra second and someone would get in front of him, so he'd have to move over a little bit, and he still wasn't, in his mind, had a lane, so he'd pass it. And that's the difference between like really good power plays and poor power plays. when that cup puck comes back to that point, Jamie should be able to make a move real fast and fire that puck and get it through. But but he doesn't. He he just can't. If he's got a lane, he'll take the shot, but he just struggles. He can't seem to create the lane. And when he creates the lane, he doesn't see it. And then he ends up holding the puck a little bit longer and he can't get the shot through and he's got a pass. So they need they need some more work on there or they or they need a new power play. control from the the top and I don't think we have it. I think they've tried Urk and everybody and they just don't have it. So at least not yet. And then Yurchek was maybe bought in to fill that role, but if he can, he creates other problems. He's not really good. He just is not really good defensively or or smart with the puck. maybe he would be on the power play and he's got a big booming shot that he can take, but He gives up to Puck a lot. He he makes a lot of mistakes and a lot of the mistakes in that last preseason game, a lot of the goals that went in were because of him and his mistakes. So there's no confidence in him yet, I'm sure, from Tocket and I don't know what's gonna happen with him. I think I think you can't set him down again, you know, if you wave him, he'll probably get picked up maybe. I guess that's what the Flyers are worried about. So I I think they would rather trade him than wave but you know, they're definitely gonna give him a little bit of a look here in the beginning of the year and see how how that goes. So let let's hope they can figure something out and they can get their stuff together because they they need some help. And again, it's only it's only the first game of the year. It's not, you know, nothing crazy and every every team's gonna have one of these games. It's just sad that it it's the it's the first game since the end of the year where everyone cheered for them and, they felt all the love and we go to an opener where we're pumped And man, they don't show up. It was really, really, really sad they didn't show up at all, especially against the Penguins. what can they what can they do for this team? You know, this is where there's like some question marks in my mind. And again, we're not we're not privy to the full picture or what Danny's plan is. You know, we can all speculate, and we're probably more than like 90% certain when we speculate, we're probably right. on point with what they're thinking, right? They want to keep this cap space open. They're gonna have to sign Mishkoff at the end of this year before the off season, otherwise they may have a offer sheet against them. They do want to keep money available, so if, you know, a big stud player, center, whoever it is, becomes available, we have the money to pay them. So this money isn't a lot. You know, I think it's like twelve, thirteen million right now. So You if you get halfway through a season, you may have enough because next year the the cap goes up again. So there could be enough to get that person. but where I'm going with this is we've seen this a lot now, like they don't have like real shooters on this team. They did they do. Like Tyson Forster can fire that puck. And so can Martoni if he gets clear. The problem is is they're not doing it yet, yet, yet. So again, this is all just Right now, one game in, and it's not end of the world. It's just a a conversation we're having. a little bit of me looks at like, hey, I I believe Tarasanko's still out there. I believe Lane is still out there, and those two guys are shooters, and those two guys are power play specialists. And it may it may actually benefit the Flyers to pick up one of the two. And really, they're probably going to be the the best shooter on this team, even though they're a lot, they're a little older. And, I know Lonnie comes with a lot of question marks, but if they could come in and maybe help some of these kids like see a vet who actually does it right, like how to shoot, where to be, how to cycle on those power plays, how to create space, I I think this team might actually benefit from something like that. And I Tarasanko's old. I get it. I I know Lonnie's, you know, not the the best choice. But if one or of those two guys could be had for a one year cheap contract, it it might be worth it to send like say a bump down, let bump get one more year, you know, under his belt in the AHL and like maybe be co-op eligible and let Lane or Tarasanko get a shot out here to help these kids develop this shot, this process, help them maybe be a little more successful on the power play so they feel better. So I I think there's a lot to be said for that. a lot of a lot of our guys are not like real real strong at that. they're just not. Like TK is probably our best player, I guess. And He's not really that good. And a lot of times on the power play, he's been on it. He's been on the first power play for years. He can't get it done. and a lot of times he makes horrible passes on the power play and the puck ends up getting out of our zone. So I just I just think maybe, maybe that's an option where if Danny doesn't see like a good player available here, and they could squeak in a contract, that may maybe they should. Maybe they should pull that trigger, get us just that one. veteran sniper and run with it so these kids have somebody to emulate and watch on a daily basis and to practice with. So anyhow that's that's that's my thoughts. again it's it's hard to say because if they pick one of them up and then all of a sudden a Star Center becomes available and we can't grab them because our salary gets too high and nobody will take contracts from us. Yeah that hurts. So Danny's got a lot to think about and I think Danny's, of a peace of mind where he's just gonna run with what he has and keep trying to, hunt here. but i I think it's an it's an option maybe they they should kick around, if that makes sense. So anyhow, let's see what they do tomorrow or tonight, I'm sorry, with New Jersey. We'll get another podcast out, but I I wanna go over yesterday's opener, like the ceremony. So I'm not sure how many of you got to go down to Xfinity Live for that orange carpet rollout. But it, I I and again honestly, I'm not even sure if they did it last year. If they did, I missed it. But I I went this year. And I and I went down pretty early. the reason I went down pretty early was because TNT was hosting their hockey episode broadcasting from Xfinity Live. And you it said on their website that you should RSP for it because if it was full, we weren't gonna be able to get in. So I RSP'd for it, make sure I got in and I went down and and in all honesty, you know, my my whole career I'm sorry, my my whole life, I mean, I I've been playing hockey since I was like two, three years old. You know, I had hockey sticks in the basement, I shot at nets, I I built stuff and put it in front of my net so there there was like maybe two spots on the top that you had to try to fire or pluck through and I would sit down in the basement, you know, for years just shooting, shooting, shooting, shooting. When the weather would break, I'd go outside, I'd do a impossible angle shots and shoot and shoot and shoot. So hockey's always been one of my one of my favorite things in life to do. And I I wish I could still play. I can. I need a hip replacement sadly and I I can't skate anymore. But I I miss it. I miss it a lot. but I grew up watching Wayne Gretzky. And you know from the time I was actually able to play on teams I I I always were number ninety nine. I just did. That's who I grew up watching. what an amazing player, Wayne Gretzky. I know there's gonna be a lot of people say, he was soft, he wouldn't check, he wouldn't fight. you're right, 100%. And I obviously didn't like that part of his game either. However, he was the best player to ever play. He had the best hands. I mean he had such vision. He was so creative. And you know I try to always emulate how he played that way. But I was also more of a a tougher player. Like I had a lot of a lot of grit when I played. So but Gretzky was my my hero, man. He was a guy I looked up for too. And I got this go down to a hockey game at the Spectrum when he was actually traded to the LA Kings. I and went down and sold. It was in the middle of the winter. It was in the middle of a snowstorm. Drove all the way down there through this terrible snowstorm and this little Toyota Camry And if I stopped, we you know, there were there were like actually cars like on the side stuck in snow. There was trucks stuck in snow. So it was so much snow, like we just me and my brother-in-law Dom, we drove down this camry and we didn't stop. Like, you know, basically we went through every light. There was barely any cars on the road. Because I knew if we stopped, we were stuck. And we made it. We made it down to the game. And we sat in the upper bowl, right? And I think they played I think they were just about playing in company. They were about to play like a couple minutes in. And the announcer said, Hey, because there was barely anybody there. So Gretzky was playing for the Kings. And they told everybody, like, hey, come down to the first level, fill the first level bowl, right? So we did. We came downstairs, we sat like right behind the net that Gretzky was going to shoot at twice and saw him live that first period. It was great. Like he was right there and we were so close to the glass that when he took a shot Puck actually hit the glass, you know, we could see how fast it came in and how it raw like rised and it was really, really, really cool experience watching them play live. And anyhow, they go they they go into that intermission of the first period and hear the like couple of the windows, and I I think it was like part of the roof blew off the spectrum and they canceled the game. So they never came back out. They they never finished that game. And We left, we had to drive all the way back home in this snowstorm and it it was brutal, you know. We had to go all the way back home. It was about, you know, from South Philly all the way up to northeast Philly. And it took a long time and we had to like go non stop. We couldn't stop. If we stopped we were getting stuck. So anyhow, we did make it home where other people didn't. So, you know, I thank God we did. but that was the only time I actually was able to watch Gretzky live and I only got one period to see him. So, you know, I followed his career the whole time. long story short, in nineteen ninety nine he he retired. And when he retired, I ended up having I purchased the hockey news newspaper then and I saved it. And I remember I remember like it was yesterday, I stuck it in. It's what, twenty six, twenty seven years now that that you know, ago that I put it in this bag. So I ended up sticking it in this bag. Wasn't sure what I was gonna do with it. And you know, through the years I realized I I had this thing. So every now and then I take it out, I take a peek at it in and stick it back in the bag. But I probably looked at it maybe two, three times over 26, 27 years. So anyhow, Gretzky's on the panel for TNT, and he's always sitting on that like left side of the panel. So I got down to this game and I went into Xfinity Live super early and I put myself over in the corner right behind where Gretzky would sit. And they had like the stage and then they had like a big glass plexiglass and they had like big steel beams. So like you couldn't you couldn't like hang over the beams, you couldn't like talk to them. Their chairs were right there. But if you put your arms up, the beam would hit you like right back here. So Really, there wasn't a lot of room to talk to him at all, but I thought, you know what, I I'm gonna I'm gonna go down here and I'm gonna try to get this guy's autograph. So I go down, I'm standing there and for a while, a couple hours, and finally they bring them out and everyone just starts swamping the stage. I'm right in the front of this thing and they're pressing us against the glass, everyone's pressing, and he's coming up on the stage, Gratsky. and they're hanging over my head, they're hanging like they got hats and jerseys and they're trying to get everything signed. And I mean they're screaming, there's hair, there's hands and everything everywhere. And you know, you can tell on his face he's overwhelmed. He couldn't really he couldn't really see much. And he was trying to focus on something. And I turned around and I I I bought the hockey news with me. So I turn I got the hockey news up and I'm holding it up and I got the magic marker and you know so you can sign it to Sharpie. And he he walks a little bit over to me. not to me, to a couple of people, like maybe like three down. And as he's walking over, he like looks over at me real quick and then looks down and then real quick go looks again to see what I'm holding. And then instead of going over there, he walked right to me, which is fantastic. He walked right to me, took my took my hockey news, signed mine first. I was the first autograph on this thing. And then he handed me back the hockey news, but he kept my marker, my Sharpie. And he went down the line and he sh and he signed everyone else. So I never got my Sharpie back. But anyhow, the this is it right here, boys and girls. This is the hockey news from nineteen ninety-nine. And he signed it right here for me. So I am going to it's just such a huge article. The whole half the thing is about him. So I am going to get this in a frame with some UV glass and I'm gonna hang in here in my office. And I I can't tell you how much this meant to me. he he didn't talk, he just took it, signed it, and gave it back. He was very overwhelmed. There were so many people there, but this has meant a lot to me watching him through his career, like wearing his number, watching him retire and finally, you don't see him often in Philadelphia and you don't even see him often like doing autographs. So I was I was I got lucky I was able to come in, see him in Philly, grab his autograph, and it's something I'm gonna have and hand down to my my son and pretty pretty incredible. I'm I'm just pumped and I'm glad I had the opportunity. So anyhow, if you if next year comes around and you can get to the season opener. You know, TNT might not be down there again that day. However, everything else was really nice. They had a really big spread outside. They had the Phillies game on on big TVs. They had like little sofas. They had an outdoor bar and people were sitting up on the deck. You could go inside. there they had a lot of things going on. So it was a really nice experience. So if you can get down there next year, definitely, definitely try it. Get down there, take a look at it. It's worth it's worth your time. And I I I know Wayne Gretzky's never gonna see this episode, but Wayne, I appreciate everything you did. You made my day, you really did, and I I thank you for your autograph. And guys, let's let's vote for a big Flyers win tonight and let's hope that they look really strong. It's just not a fluke win. I'd like for them to get their stuff together early in the year and and fix it now instead of have game after game after game and then try to fix it later. every c every win matters. Every win matters. We saw that last year. You know, let's get ahead of this. Let's get the wins in. Let's qualify for the playoffs early. And until tomorrow, go flyers.