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TABLE TALK: The Flyers Are Showing Us Promise! · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:28
Speaker 1: Welcome to Table Talk here at the Philadelphia Sports Table
0:31
Speaker 1: podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
0:34
Speaker 1: in the world, over twelve and a half years strong.
0:35
Speaker 1: We got a great discussion coming your way, specifically about
0:38
Speaker 1: this Philadelphia Flyers team. What's been happening with various talent
0:43
Speaker 1: early this season. It's gonna be a great discussion. Stick
0:47
Speaker 1: around for it and share our content with those Flyers
0:49
Speaker 1: fans in your world and in your network. I'm Jeff Warren.
0:53
Speaker 1: I'm here with one of my good buddies from Broadstreet
0:55
Speaker 1: Hockey dot Com does a lot of great writing over there,
0:58
Speaker 1: Ryan Quigley, my friend, and thank you so much for
1:01
Speaker 1: joining us this week. I appreciate you taking the time,
1:04
Speaker 1: my friend.
1:05
Speaker 2: It's a it's a pleasure being on. Thank you for
1:06
Speaker 2: having me.
1:07
Speaker 1: John absolutely absolutely all right, dude, let's just dive into
1:10
Speaker 1: it here, because like, there's one guy on this team
1:13
Speaker 1: right here who I just want to talk about the guys.
1:16
Speaker 1: I'm so happy he's here, and that's Trevor Zegres. I
1:19
Speaker 1: mean want a welcome addition to this Flyers team. And
1:22
Speaker 1: I think a lot of us during the offseason we're
1:24
Speaker 1: thinking to ourselves, you know, you know, what kind of
1:27
Speaker 1: Trevor zegress were we going to see right out of
1:30
Speaker 1: the gate. You know, given that he had a couple
1:31
Speaker 1: seasons in Anaheim where he struggled, there were certainly some
1:34
Speaker 1: challenges with his game out there. Who are we going
1:37
Speaker 1: to see? But this season so far thirteen points through
1:41
Speaker 1: twelve games as of us recording this here, I let's
1:45
Speaker 1: just dive in. Man, how do you measure what he
1:48
Speaker 1: has meant to the team thus far this season? Ryan?
1:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think right now he's kind of the
1:55
Speaker 3: for lack of better phrasing, I think he's kind of
1:57
Speaker 3: the cornerstone of the team right perfect at this particular
2:02
Speaker 3: moment in time. You know, you bring up a good point.
2:06
Speaker 3: A lot of people were wondering what kind of Trevor's
2:10
Speaker 3: egress are we going to get? Are we going to
2:11
Speaker 3: get Trevor's digris of the last couple of years where
2:14
Speaker 3: he's been injured and not really playing well and unhappy
2:18
Speaker 3: with everything and just you know, you could question his
2:21
Speaker 3: work ethic the last couple of years. Turns out the
2:24
Speaker 3: Flyers are getting the Trevor Zegres from his first couple
2:27
Speaker 3: of years. Yes, is exactly what you want because that's
2:31
Speaker 3: when he was electrifying the NHL. That's when he was
2:34
Speaker 3: pulling off the Dichigan and pulling off Michigan's and doing
2:37
Speaker 3: all these different things that just brought fans out of
2:40
Speaker 3: their seats. And he's kind of doing that now.
2:43
Speaker 1: Now.
2:43
Speaker 3: Granted he hasn't pulled off Michigan or anything like that,
2:45
Speaker 3: but he's making good, responsible plays and just you know,
2:50
Speaker 3: he is playing at a dynamic level.
2:53
Speaker 1: That's a great word, by the way, Ryan, you said responsible,
2:56
Speaker 1: like that's the thing. He's not really being careless out there.
2:59
Speaker 1: Have not seen a lot of that. He's playing responsible hockey.
3:02
Speaker 1: That's a fantastic word.
3:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, And you know, I kind of go back to
3:06
Speaker 3: that story that Greg Wushinski of ESPN wrote, I think
3:10
Speaker 3: like a month ago something before the season, Trevor Ziegres
3:15
Speaker 3: basically said, listen, I want to be known as a
3:18
Speaker 3: hockey player, not just a guy who's good at hockey,
3:22
Speaker 3: because there's a difference there. He wants to be a
3:25
Speaker 3: hockey player. And so far the season, I think the
3:28
Speaker 3: first moment that we got of that was I can't
3:30
Speaker 3: remember the exact game it was, but he was behind
3:33
Speaker 3: the net. It was it was the It was the
3:35
Speaker 3: first home game against the Florida Panthers. He had Sam
3:39
Speaker 3: Bennett and aaronek Bled coming at him like a couple
3:43
Speaker 3: of banshees, and he just, you know, kind of dances
3:47
Speaker 3: away from him and he finds Sean Conturier wide open
3:52
Speaker 3: and it leads to a goal and it was a
3:53
Speaker 3: beautiful backhand pass.
3:55
Speaker 2: And it's just like that was the first moment where
3:57
Speaker 2: we were like, oh wow, Okay, yeah, that's the Trevors.
4:00
Speaker 3: Chris is back, and over the last couple of weeks,
4:03
Speaker 3: it seems like he's built off of that and it
4:05
Speaker 3: seems like he is playing a little bit more responsibly.
4:09
Speaker 3: He's never going to be a sulkie candidate, Like I
4:11
Speaker 3: think we can agree on that.
4:13
Speaker 2: But we don't need him to be.
4:14
Speaker 1: We don't need him to be.
4:15
Speaker 3: No, no, he needs like That's the thing is, like
4:18
Speaker 3: he is an offensive wizard and you want to see
4:22
Speaker 3: him leaning into that, and it seems right now he is.
4:25
Speaker 3: But he's also putting in a lot of effort in
4:28
Speaker 3: his two hundred foot game as well, which is exactly
4:30
Speaker 3: what Rick Talcket wants. So it's not gonna be perfect,
4:33
Speaker 3: but the effort's there, and I think he's just been
4:35
Speaker 3: such a revelation for the Flyers, especially if he ends
4:38
Speaker 3: up sticking at center where they obviously need a lot
4:41
Speaker 3: of help. Boy, I mean, that's that's a huge development
4:44
Speaker 3: for this team.
4:44
Speaker 1: That's a great point. And he's also calling out opponents
4:47
Speaker 1: awful looking mustaches too.
4:49
Speaker 2: I mean, what a great what a great shirt that
4:52
Speaker 2: was that?
4:53
Speaker 1: That that's that's been like the best so far.
4:55
Speaker 2: Really, he loves a good shirt, yes, and I love that.
5:01
Speaker 3: I'm just so happy that he immediately dove headfirst into
5:04
Speaker 3: the Keystone State rivalry. I love it as intensely as
5:09
Speaker 3: he did beautiful.
5:11
Speaker 1: Well, let's now get into a gentleman who has been
5:15
Speaker 1: we're kind of like scratching our heads a little bit
5:17
Speaker 1: with this particular player, and that is Matt VeVe Mitchkoff,
5:20
Speaker 1: and you wrote recently on Broad Street Hockey how he
5:24
Speaker 1: was playing. He's been playing basically less than ten now
5:27
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes per game, especially this past week. Really hasn't
5:31
Speaker 1: looked like himself out of the gate this year. Last
5:34
Speaker 1: week things started to kind of look up for him,
5:36
Speaker 1: but overall in that over so from that overall perspective,
5:42
Speaker 1: it's been a quote down season for him, and some
5:45
Speaker 1: folks are starting to get worried that we're seeing the
5:46
Speaker 1: sophomore slump. Here, Ryan, what are your thoughts on what's
5:49
Speaker 1: happening with Matt ve Mitschkoff and what have you been
5:52
Speaker 1: seeing from him on the ice and it does it
5:54
Speaker 1: concern you at all? What are your thoughts here?
5:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, So, well, to answer your last question, I'm not
5:59
Speaker 3: necessarily concerned yet. Okay, So, I think right now the
6:04
Speaker 3: main thing with him is, you know, we heard that
6:06
Speaker 3: over the offseason he did suffer an ankle injury and
6:10
Speaker 3: that apparently did impede him from properly going through his
6:15
Speaker 3: off season training regiment. So right now he's still kind
6:19
Speaker 3: of playing catch up. His conditioning is not good. That
6:23
Speaker 3: that much is very clear. Like he has said it,
6:25
Speaker 3: right Talcket has said it. It's not a secret at
6:27
Speaker 3: this point. So his conditioning is still a work in progress.
6:30
Speaker 3: He's still getting into I guess, I don't know if
6:32
Speaker 3: you want to call it game shape, but he's still
6:34
Speaker 3: he's still going through the motions right now, and I
6:36
Speaker 3: think that's a big reason why he's not playing that well.
6:40
Speaker 3: You kind of watch him on the ice. He doesn't
6:43
Speaker 3: look and he's not a fast guy. He's never been
6:45
Speaker 3: really a burner, but he looks. It does feel like
6:49
Speaker 3: through this first portion of the season, the first twelve games,
6:51
Speaker 3: he's looked particularly slow. He's looked a little sluggish, and
6:57
Speaker 3: you know, because the conditioning's not there. You know, when
7:00
Speaker 3: you're gassed, you start making questionable decisions with the puck.
7:03
Speaker 3: And it seems like we've been seeing Mishkov making a
7:06
Speaker 3: lot of probably sub optimal passes. Yes, we've seen trying
7:11
Speaker 3: to force plays to happen.
7:13
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering if that I'm glad you mentioned that,
7:16
Speaker 1: because I'm wondering if because of who he is on
7:19
Speaker 1: this team, what he means to this team that narrative.
7:22
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if he's putting way too much pressure on
7:25
Speaker 1: himself because he may not be in that you know
7:27
Speaker 1: quote game shape that you were just talking about, that
7:29
Speaker 1: he's really just putting too much pressure on himself to
7:31
Speaker 1: get to a certain level where he just can't get
7:33
Speaker 1: to at this point, and it's a liability, it's a detriment,
7:35
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if that's what it is too He's
7:37
Speaker 1: just putting too much pressure on himself.
7:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I mean, I'm glad you brought that up
7:42
Speaker 3: because that could be part of it.
7:43
Speaker 2: Like, we don't know exactly what he's thinking.
7:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, when you're dealing with the pressure
7:48
Speaker 3: of I mean, let's face it, he's pretty much the
7:51
Speaker 3: face of the franchise right now, that's a lot. That's
7:55
Speaker 3: a huge burden to carry, especially when you are twenty twenty. Yeah,
8:00
Speaker 3: that's a whole lot to do with So maybe that
8:03
Speaker 3: has something to do with it. But based off of
8:05
Speaker 3: what I but based off of what we absolutely know,
8:09
Speaker 3: it seems like he's still just kind of getting back
8:11
Speaker 3: into shape and the ankle situation and all that, I
8:14
Speaker 3: don't know if it's still lingering problem. I feel like,
8:18
Speaker 3: you know, I don't know any of that, but I'm
8:20
Speaker 3: not worried. I think I think if we're still having
8:24
Speaker 3: this conversation in February, then we have something to talk about.
8:28
Speaker 3: But right now, again, we're only twelve games in and
8:32
Speaker 3: last week he had three points in three games, or
8:35
Speaker 3: excuse me, three points in four games. So I am
8:40
Speaker 3: very okay with that. Like, obviously you want to see
8:43
Speaker 3: him putting the puck in the Natty only has one
8:45
Speaker 3: goal so far the season, but I think the goals
8:48
Speaker 3: will come. I think his play will come around sooner
8:52
Speaker 3: than later. I'm not overly worried about Mishkob. The main
8:56
Speaker 3: thing is, you know, what's it going to be like
8:58
Speaker 3: at twenty four years old. I think he's be very,
9:01
Speaker 3: very very good. I think he's gonna be a superstar
9:03
Speaker 3: right now. If he has a sophomore slump and this
9:05
Speaker 3: kind of carries on, not great. But I'm not necessarily
9:09
Speaker 3: worried about his long term potential as the kind of
9:13
Speaker 3: star player of the Flyers.
9:15
Speaker 1: It's interesting how you mentioned if this is still going
9:17
Speaker 1: on around in February, then there's a reason to be concerned.
9:20
Speaker 1: My concern at that point would be for the Flyers
9:22
Speaker 1: medical staff and why they've allowed it to continue if
9:25
Speaker 1: it really is the ankle injury that he was still
9:28
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like there have been times
9:31
Speaker 1: where we have questioned medical based decisions with this Flyers
9:34
Speaker 1: team and organization and some of the talent over the years.
9:37
Speaker 1: Why are certain guys still out there playing if they're
9:39
Speaker 1: not able to be these type of contributors that we
9:42
Speaker 1: need them to be. They need to be healthy for
9:44
Speaker 1: their future. And that's where I'm coming from with this, because,
9:47
Speaker 1: like you, I feel that a lot of this is
9:49
Speaker 1: because of that ankle injury. And I'm thinking that if
9:52
Speaker 1: in another two months we're still seeing this sluggish type
9:55
Speaker 1: of skating, it's probably because that ankle injury is still
9:58
Speaker 1: lagging there. And that goes to the medical staff and
10:02
Speaker 1: it just in my opinion, yeah, yeah, no, and.
10:04
Speaker 3: That listen, that could be part of it. And I mean, listen,
10:07
Speaker 3: look at the situation with Rasmosus de Linen. Right at
10:10
Speaker 3: first it was supposed to be a minor situation, and
10:12
Speaker 3: now who the hell knows where he is in the world, right,
10:15
Speaker 3: So right, yeah, so you know we've seen that, I mean,
10:18
Speaker 3: the Ryan Allis situation.
10:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, I'm not trying.
10:21
Speaker 3: To scare people here, right, I'm not saying but like it,
10:25
Speaker 3: I don't think that it's unreasonable to have that thought
10:28
Speaker 3: in the back of your mind.
10:29
Speaker 2: Out.
10:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I mean it's you know, it's early in
10:31
Speaker 1: the season here, and we're getting a better handle of
10:35
Speaker 1: how certain players are adapting to their various roles. You
10:39
Speaker 1: mentioned Trevor Zegres, you know, if he's able to play
10:42
Speaker 1: center in the future, My gosh, how great would that
10:44
Speaker 1: be for this organization? You know, I mean, but I'm wondering,
10:48
Speaker 1: I'm wondering, are there any players or which player I
10:50
Speaker 1: should say, on this Flyers team do you see their
10:53
Speaker 1: role possibly expanding in the future based on what you've
10:56
Speaker 1: seen so far? Who would that player be?
10:59
Speaker 3: Well, I think there's a couple of players. I think
11:01
Speaker 3: one player who immediately comes to mind would be Bobby Brink.
11:07
Speaker 3: And so the reason I point out Bobby Brink is
11:08
Speaker 3: because for him, and obviously, you know I say expanding role,
11:13
Speaker 3: I think what I mean more is just kind of
11:15
Speaker 3: like growing into a bigger piece of.
11:18
Speaker 1: The roster, the development continuing.
11:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, yes, but you know, for Bobby Brink, this
11:24
Speaker 2: is the best hockey I've ever seen from him.
11:26
Speaker 3: He looks spectacular, he does, and like he looks very
11:29
Speaker 3: very good. And now granted he's he's got that line, well,
11:33
Speaker 3: I should say, had he was on that line with
11:36
Speaker 3: Noah kateson Tyson Forrester. Tyson Forrester obviously is injured right now.
11:40
Speaker 3: He might he's he's on ir so he's going to
11:42
Speaker 3: be out at least a week. But you know, I
11:46
Speaker 3: just think Bobby Brink has been so dynamic really this
11:50
Speaker 3: entire start of the season. That game against the Penguins
11:53
Speaker 3: was the best game I've seen him play. He was
11:56
Speaker 3: awesome and everywhere. He just couldn't stop making plays if
11:59
Speaker 3: he tried. He was in the right spot all game long.
12:03
Speaker 3: That that move he pulled off in the shootout, I mean, Artur,
12:07
Speaker 3: she loves has his jock is somewhere in the.
12:10
Speaker 2: Specific ocean right now. So it was just great.
12:13
Speaker 3: It was great, and I think that there's a lot
12:16
Speaker 3: more there because people forget Bobby Brink is still really
12:19
Speaker 3: young too. There's a lot of really good young guys
12:22
Speaker 3: on this team. Bobby Brink's only twenty four, so you know,
12:26
Speaker 3: I could see him growing into a little bit of
12:28
Speaker 3: a bigger role at some point. I'm not saying that,
12:32
Speaker 3: you know, I think that he should be put on
12:33
Speaker 3: the first line and they should break up the line
12:35
Speaker 3: with Forster and Kates when Forrester is healthy. That's not
12:38
Speaker 3: what I'm saying. But I do feel like Brink is
12:41
Speaker 3: at a point where we're seeing a real coming out
12:44
Speaker 3: party for him, which is awesome. Another guy who I
12:47
Speaker 3: feel like could take on a little bit of a
12:50
Speaker 3: larger role at some point no. Granted, I feel like
12:53
Speaker 3: this is a little bit more of a long term
12:56
Speaker 3: view here, but I really really like Nikiya Greben and
13:00
Speaker 3: a lot. He's been playing a lot in the fourth line,
13:03
Speaker 3: and sometimes he's been scratched in favor of Nick Delauria,
13:06
Speaker 3: who personally I would I would not put in over
13:09
Speaker 3: Gribankin because Delarey at the stage in his career, he's older,
13:13
Speaker 3: he's slower, he's never been a dynamic player. He's an
13:15
Speaker 3: enforced let's be real, and Gribankin.
13:20
Speaker 2: He can. He can, he can throw, he's got some hands.
13:24
Speaker 3: But on top of that, he's a from what I've
13:27
Speaker 3: seen over the last you know, the start of the season,
13:29
Speaker 3: in the games that he has played, he can play
13:31
Speaker 3: hockey really really well. He's got a great brain, great vision,
13:37
Speaker 3: awesome along the wall. I just I could see him
13:40
Speaker 3: playing if they decide to give him a shot in
13:42
Speaker 3: the top six, maybe even put him on the power
13:44
Speaker 3: play at some point. I feel like he could be
13:46
Speaker 3: a great NetFront guy. I really do.
13:48
Speaker 1: I like him.
13:50
Speaker 2: I would love to see that. I would love.
13:52
Speaker 1: Folks out there, if you're listening to us on whatever
13:55
Speaker 1: podcast platform you're on, what do you think about Nikita Grey.
13:59
Speaker 1: What do you think about Nikita here? Because like Philadelphia
14:02
Speaker 1: Sports Table at gmail dot com, shot us have an email,
14:04
Speaker 1: respond to us hear about it. We'd love to hear
14:07
Speaker 1: from you. Gribencan is definitely interesting. He's an interesting piece
14:11
Speaker 1: for sure, and we'd love to hear what your thoughts
14:13
Speaker 1: are in terms of what Ryan was just talking about.
14:16
Speaker 1: So that being said, we are going to take a break. Ryan.
14:18
Speaker 1: Tell everybody where they can find you on the socials
14:20
Speaker 1: out there if they want to connect with you.
14:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, you can find me at Ryan Quiggs with a
14:26
Speaker 3: z on x I call it Twitter, or you can sky.
14:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, those are probably the main places you'll find.
14:34
Speaker 1: All right, sounds good and folks, if you are on
14:38
Speaker 1: YouTube watching us right now, like and subscribe to the
14:41
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14:49
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14:56
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14:58
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15:01
Speaker 1: Just search Jeff Warren and you'll find me over there.
15:04
Speaker 1: So that being said, folks, we are going to take
15:06
Speaker 1: a break, pay some bills. We're gonna be back in
15:08
Speaker 1: just a bit. All right, We're back with our good
15:11
Speaker 1: friend Ryan Quigley from broad Street Hockey dot Com. You know,
15:14
Speaker 1: we love that site content they put up on there
15:17
Speaker 1: every single day. So with that said, we got a
15:20
Speaker 1: two part question here for you, Ryan, talking about what
15:23
Speaker 1: the most frustrating aspects of this team have been thus far,
15:26
Speaker 1: because there's certainly some frustrating aspects for sure, exactly, you know,
15:33
Speaker 1: and then we'll get into like the best parts about
15:35
Speaker 1: this team. So let's start off most frustrating for you?
15:39
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts here?
15:40
Speaker 2: Man?
15:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think first of all, you gotta you
15:43
Speaker 3: gotta kind of point to the goal scoring. They're not
15:45
Speaker 3: putting up enough. They're just not putting up enough points,
15:49
Speaker 3: especially right now. You know, we just saw them almost
15:52
Speaker 3: get shut out by arguably the worst team in hockey yep,
15:58
Speaker 3: and it just feels like they're not playing up to
16:00
Speaker 3: their potential.
16:01
Speaker 2: Now.
16:01
Speaker 3: Some guys are like, we are seeing Trevor's egress play
16:04
Speaker 3: pretty well, We're seeing cam Yorke, I mean I thought
16:06
Speaker 3: he's been very good since he re ended the lineup.
16:09
Speaker 3: I know he started the year inactive for a couple
16:11
Speaker 3: of games. Since he's been in he's been pretty solid. Yeah,
16:15
Speaker 3: I really want to see some guys stepping up here.
16:18
Speaker 3: I would like to see obviously we were talking about Mishkov.
16:21
Speaker 3: I think his time's coming, but you know, we're on
16:25
Speaker 3: pins and needles here, you know, I would like to
16:27
Speaker 3: see him start, you know, filling the back of the net.
16:29
Speaker 3: I would like to see Travis Connectney when he's going
16:31
Speaker 3: in on a rush taking a shot instead of you know,
16:35
Speaker 3: dropping the pop back to Igor Zamula for.
16:40
Speaker 2: For a scoring.
16:41
Speaker 3: Weird strange behavior against the Calgary Flames. So I think
16:46
Speaker 3: a lot of guys, you know, maybe they're gripping their
16:48
Speaker 3: sticks a little too tight, but I would I would
16:52
Speaker 3: really like to see some guys step up here. Owen
16:56
Speaker 3: Tippett after a really hot starting season, he's been cold
16:59
Speaker 3: a little bit, but again, goal scorers do that. But
17:03
Speaker 3: we are reaching a point where it's like, all right, guys,
17:05
Speaker 3: we're twelve games in. Now let's let's try and let's
17:08
Speaker 3: let's all get in sync.
17:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
17:10
Speaker 1: I think that was yeah, really quick, like I think
17:13
Speaker 1: some of those early pieces that were working shown shown
17:18
Speaker 1: us some promising signs of a team really taking some
17:21
Speaker 1: tangible steps forward on that you know, quote rebuilding path,
17:25
Speaker 1: but offensively, just like you're saying, it hasn't really equated
17:29
Speaker 1: to regular and consistent pressure yet, which is perhaps I think,
17:33
Speaker 1: I think the first real dilemma of Rick Tucket's tenure
17:36
Speaker 1: behind the bench here in Philly.
17:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I agree.
17:39
Speaker 3: And you know, another thing I was going to say
17:41
Speaker 3: that has been a little frustrating has been power play.
17:43
Speaker 2: Now.
17:43
Speaker 3: Yes, it's interesting because the second I'm going to say,
17:47
Speaker 3: I'm gonna use air quotes here, the second power play
17:50
Speaker 3: unit with the Forrester Kate's brinkline featuring cam Yorke and
17:55
Speaker 3: Trover's Egress.
17:56
Speaker 2: That has been spectactically great. That has been a very
17:59
Speaker 2: good power play unit.
18:00
Speaker 3: It's the top air quotes our play unit that has
18:03
Speaker 3: been disappointing, the one with Paturier and connect Me and
18:06
Speaker 3: Mishkov and you know and Tippett and Jamie Drysdale that
18:09
Speaker 3: has been lacking quite a bit. I would I really
18:13
Speaker 3: want to see that unit start putting something together here
18:17
Speaker 3: because it's it's it's a little I don't want to
18:20
Speaker 3: say concerning, but it's it's certainly disappointing. You think that
18:22
Speaker 3: they have some of the firepower to to to make
18:26
Speaker 3: that work and it's just not coming together. So I'd
18:28
Speaker 3: say that's a little frustrating as well. And that's something
18:31
Speaker 3: that Rick talkt I think is definitely you know that
18:34
Speaker 3: that's probably toward the top of his to do list
18:36
Speaker 3: is figuring that out.
18:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, what, what's been the best part of the team
18:41
Speaker 1: so far? Do you think?
18:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, it's funny because going into this season, I
18:47
Speaker 3: remember looking at the goaltending and thinking.
18:49
Speaker 2: All, right, here we go, We're really doing this.
18:53
Speaker 1: I think we talked about it the last time you
18:54
Speaker 1: were on you know, I.
18:56
Speaker 2: Know, I know.
18:57
Speaker 3: And then here comes Dan Vladar a night in shining armor,
19:01
Speaker 3: just coming in and immediately playing like, you know, like
19:05
Speaker 3: he's now granted, granted again, I cannot stress enough. We're
19:10
Speaker 3: twelve games in. He this is not a sustainable level
19:15
Speaker 3: of play. I don't think that is really possible. If
19:18
Speaker 3: if it, I mean, if he does, he's the greatest
19:20
Speaker 3: goalie to ever live. It should be a very cool development.
19:23
Speaker 3: But I have a sneaky suspicion that he's probably not
19:25
Speaker 3: the best goalie of all time, so but he's playing
19:28
Speaker 3: very well. And now, granted I know he didn't he
19:31
Speaker 3: got pulled against the Maple Leafs Saturday night. Yeah, sometimes
19:37
Speaker 3: you just have a bad game and it's not like
19:40
Speaker 3: the Maple Leafs or some sort of you know, run
19:43
Speaker 3: of the mill team.
19:44
Speaker 2: They're they're a good team. So that happens.
19:47
Speaker 3: But overall, I've I've been really pleasantly surprised by the goaltending,
19:50
Speaker 3: and not even just ladar I thought, you know, Arison
19:52
Speaker 3: had a little bit of a slow start, but his
19:54
Speaker 3: last two games before he got put on IR he
19:57
Speaker 3: was good, especially against against Pittsburgh, I thought he was
20:01
Speaker 3: very good. So yeah, I think there's there's some really
20:06
Speaker 3: good stuff going on in net right now. Which is
20:08
Speaker 3: so funny because going all off season that was one
20:11
Speaker 3: of the big things everyone said, Oh man, if the
20:13
Speaker 3: Fires could just get league average goaltending, think of the possibilities.
20:18
Speaker 2: And now they're getting it and they're still kind of
20:21
Speaker 2: mid team.
20:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we talked about it. Yeah, we talked about our
20:24
Speaker 1: good friend Kelly Hinkel when she was on. We've talked
20:27
Speaker 1: about the goalie situation as well. It's a good segue
20:30
Speaker 1: for some more goalie talk here, because like, like we're
20:33
Speaker 1: talking about Dan, Laar has been pretty solid for this team,
20:36
Speaker 1: like mentioned, you know, he did give up those four
20:39
Speaker 1: goals to the Maple Leafs last week, which was that
20:42
Speaker 1: was really rough. And of course he's not going to
20:45
Speaker 1: be perfect every single game, and I think it's good
20:47
Speaker 1: that he's been in net more than Erson and it's
20:51
Speaker 1: probably what we're going to see probably for much of
20:55
Speaker 1: this season. I mean, it's so shocking that he's the
20:59
Speaker 1: quote only number one moving forward I think here this season.
21:03
Speaker 1: But should we have any concerns about that or what
21:07
Speaker 1: are your thoughts, you know, maybe a little bit more
21:09
Speaker 1: detail about Vladar in terms of maybe the expectations should
21:13
Speaker 1: we should be should they be even quelled more? Perhaps?
21:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, I do think people should should temper their expectations,
21:20
Speaker 3: but I don't think people should be worried either because
21:23
Speaker 3: to start the year he has been good and until
21:27
Speaker 3: he proves that he is actually bad, which we don't
21:31
Speaker 3: know that he's a bad goalie.
21:32
Speaker 2: We don't.
21:33
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm pretty sure he's He's not going to
21:36
Speaker 3: win the Vest again. I don't think sustainable level of play,
21:40
Speaker 3: but I don't think that people should just assume, oh,
21:44
Speaker 3: he's on a hot streak. Eventually he's going to come
21:46
Speaker 3: crashing down to earth and once again the Flyers are
21:48
Speaker 3: going to have league worst goaltending. Yeah, so I'm not
21:51
Speaker 3: I wouldn't necessarily be worried about Vladaar being kind of
21:55
Speaker 3: the guy if that's what ends up happening here, because
21:58
Speaker 3: obviously Rison's out for right now and sounds like he's
22:02
Speaker 3: weak to week. Sounds like Alexei Kolosov is going to
22:06
Speaker 3: be getting some serious playing time. Yes, you know with him,
22:11
Speaker 3: he he's an interesting guy because with Alexi Kolosov, obviously
22:15
Speaker 3: last season he was horrendous. He was terrible. There's no way,
22:20
Speaker 3: he was absolutely atrocious. And this year it seems like
22:24
Speaker 3: there's a little bit of a mentality shift with him,
22:27
Speaker 3: where he's been much more.
22:29
Speaker 2: Open playing in the AHL.
22:30
Speaker 3: I know there was a thought this offseason that he
22:32
Speaker 3: was just gonna, you know, sayonara his way back to
22:35
Speaker 3: the KHL, and that hasn't happened. Apparently he's had a
22:39
Speaker 3: really solid, strong, healthy mindset going back to Lehigh Valley
22:42
Speaker 3: to start the year. You know, we saw him against
22:45
Speaker 3: the Mayle lice. He didn't play very long. He came
22:48
Speaker 3: in in relief of Ladar, but he looked okay. And
22:51
Speaker 3: then you know, against the Flames Sunday night, he looked pretty.
22:55
Speaker 3: He looked decent, And I think that's pretty much what
22:58
Speaker 3: you want to see from your young from a young
23:01
Speaker 3: goalie in your system. Look, he looks fine. He's probably
23:04
Speaker 3: not gonna win new games. Let's be real about that.
23:07
Speaker 3: That's probably what they're going to be counting on Bladar
23:09
Speaker 3: for as long as Erson's out of the lineup. But yeah,
23:13
Speaker 3: I think it's it's an interesting dynamic now because if
23:17
Speaker 3: without the Arson injury, I thought they were in a
23:20
Speaker 3: pretty good situation where it's like, you know, we're kind
23:23
Speaker 3: of flip flopping. Whoever's got the hot hand, we'll put
23:25
Speaker 3: them in, and then once they have an hot day,
23:27
Speaker 3: we'll put the other guy in and ride him. Seems
23:30
Speaker 3: like now they're gonna have to lean on Bladar a
23:33
Speaker 3: little bit more than they optimally would like to. But
23:36
Speaker 3: you know what, like I said earlier, give him the
23:39
Speaker 3: opportunity to prove you wrong. Absolutely, he's playing well. Let
23:42
Speaker 3: him keep playing well, and let's let's see how he
23:45
Speaker 3: handles it.
23:46
Speaker 1: You can't you can't foresee injuries, and of course, you know,
23:49
Speaker 1: nobody could foresee Sam Erson being on IR. But I
23:53
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, I got to give I gotta give
23:55
Speaker 1: credit to Danny brier for taking control of the goalie situation,
23:59
Speaker 1: taking care of it during the off season. And I
24:02
Speaker 1: think he deserves some credit, you know, at least a
24:04
Speaker 1: little bit of credit for getting this team from a
24:06
Speaker 1: goalie situation where it was last year it was complete clustered,
24:11
Speaker 1: you know what, to where they are now. I think
24:14
Speaker 1: there's something to be said for that, and I just
24:16
Speaker 1: think Danny Briere has done a really good job. And
24:19
Speaker 1: it goes to you know, the last topic I wanted
24:22
Speaker 1: to dive into with you was Rick Tockett in his leadership,
24:26
Speaker 1: his coaching style thus far this season. You know, as
24:29
Speaker 1: a fan of this team, you know, since I was
24:31
Speaker 1: a kid, it's nice to see Tackett coming in and
24:35
Speaker 1: having what I believe is a positive impact so far
24:39
Speaker 1: overall on the team. And maybe it's just because John
24:42
Speaker 1: Tortorella was there on the bench for how long and
24:45
Speaker 1: it's just like God, I'm just so glad to see
24:47
Speaker 1: somebody else back there. Maybe there's a little bit of
24:49
Speaker 1: that there. But I'm wondering when it comes to Rick
24:51
Speaker 1: tocket here, Ryan, do you have a grade so far?
24:54
Speaker 1: If you had to grade him thus far this season,
24:56
Speaker 1: what would that grade be? And why?
24:59
Speaker 2: Yeah?
24:59
Speaker 3: I think right now I would probably give him a
25:01
Speaker 3: B plus. I think he's been a really, really solid
25:05
Speaker 3: addition for the Flyers. And now I know a lot
25:07
Speaker 3: of people, you know, when the hire was made, people
25:10
Speaker 3: immediately started thinking, of course you're hiring y, Yeah, former flyer.
25:16
Speaker 3: He doesn't even have that good of a coaching track
25:18
Speaker 3: record as a head coach. As a head coach, I know,
25:21
Speaker 3: with the with the Penguins, he was back to back
25:24
Speaker 3: Stanley Cup champion, but as a head coach, not the
25:27
Speaker 3: best track record. But you know, he did win the
25:30
Speaker 3: Jack Adams for a reason. Yes, the Vancouver a couple
25:33
Speaker 3: of years ago. They had a spectacular year. He was
25:37
Speaker 3: the main reason for that. And you know, we're seeing
25:41
Speaker 3: him come in for the Flyers and you know, granted
25:43
Speaker 3: the last couple of games have been bad. They were clunkers.
25:46
Speaker 3: The last one in particular was horrible, and he was
25:50
Speaker 3: very unhappy about it. He sounded off after the game
25:52
Speaker 3: and basically said our guys need to be better players.
25:57
Speaker 3: Very critical, Yeah, which good, quite horribly What do you
26:01
Speaker 3: want to do? So call it like you see it.
26:04
Speaker 3: But I thought, overall these first twelve games, I'm pretty
26:08
Speaker 3: happy with what I've seen. It seems like I don't
26:13
Speaker 3: think it's a coincidence that a lot of these young
26:15
Speaker 3: guys are on pace to have career years so far.
26:20
Speaker 3: Like you look at Tyson Forrester looks like a different
26:23
Speaker 3: player right absolutely, no free injury, he looks he was
26:26
Speaker 3: looking like a different player. He looked very good. Bobby
26:29
Speaker 3: Brink is playing the best I've seen him. Noah Kates
26:31
Speaker 3: is on pace for to pretty much set career best
26:34
Speaker 3: in every major statistical category. John Coturier looks like Sean
26:38
Speaker 3: Coturier again. Jamie Drysdale looks spectacular. He's not putting up
26:44
Speaker 3: a ton of points right now, but he looks visibly
26:47
Speaker 3: more confident, more comfortable in the back end. I just
26:50
Speaker 3: think that a lot of those those uh, you know,
26:54
Speaker 3: you ask what's the difference coaching? I really think coaching
26:58
Speaker 3: is a huge cam York. I mean, I mean, so
27:00
Speaker 3: many guys on the team are playing legitimately well right now.
27:02
Speaker 2: Now.
27:03
Speaker 3: Granted some aren't Mishkov. We talked about him at nauseum
27:06
Speaker 3: Travis Connecty and not having the best start. But I think,
27:10
Speaker 3: you know, the the young guys I think are playing
27:13
Speaker 3: pretty well, and I think you have to give talk
27:16
Speaker 3: it a little bit of credit there.
27:17
Speaker 2: Now.
27:18
Speaker 3: One thing I'll also say is, you know, he does
27:22
Speaker 3: make some questionable lineup decisions at times. I referenced a
27:25
Speaker 3: little bit earlier. He likes to put in Nick de
27:27
Speaker 3: Laurier over Nikita Gribankin at times, which I personally would
27:31
Speaker 3: never do. But let's not act like questionable lineup decisions
27:36
Speaker 3: is a unique thing.
27:37
Speaker 2: To Rick taking right.
27:39
Speaker 3: Every every NHL head coach does things that just absolutely
27:43
Speaker 3: mystifies their respective fan base. Yes, and they have they
27:48
Speaker 3: all have their their quote unquote guys right right or
27:52
Speaker 3: Rick Tackett seems like, for example, Noah Julson is his guy,
27:56
Speaker 3: and fans are all up in arms about putting me
27:59
Speaker 3: a Landre in and listen, I want to see a Melandre,
28:02
Speaker 3: But uh, he loves his Noel Jillson man and he's
28:05
Speaker 3: sticking with him. And that's not to say that that
28:07
Speaker 3: Melandre won't play again. It sounds like you probably will
28:10
Speaker 3: relatively soon. But that is that is a knock on
28:14
Speaker 3: Rick Tockett. But at the same time, like I just said,
28:17
Speaker 3: it's not a unique problem just to him. It's something
28:19
Speaker 3: that every NHL head coach does.
28:22
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a team that just wants to play. I
28:26
Speaker 1: know that sounds weird, you know, but they want to
28:29
Speaker 1: play like they want to be out there, they want
28:33
Speaker 1: to be doing what they're doing. And we didn't see
28:36
Speaker 1: a lot of that last year. We just saw lethargic,
28:40
Speaker 1: laxadaisical type of hockey play from a lot of these guys,
28:43
Speaker 1: and I'm not seeing that as much this year. And
28:46
Speaker 1: again it goes to what you were saying, Ryan, I
28:47
Speaker 1: think the direct leadership of Rick tckin the way that
28:50
Speaker 1: he's coaching this team, I think that's what it is.
28:52
Speaker 3: So yeah, listen, you know, Rick Tackett is a player's
28:56
Speaker 3: coach for sure. No one's calling John Tortorella players right,
29:00
Speaker 3: let's be yes. And I feel like that's such a
29:03
Speaker 3: huge shift in the locker room dynamic and it's just
29:05
Speaker 3: good to see that, you know. It seems like at
29:08
Speaker 3: least a good amount of the players are responding pretty well. Yeah,
29:11
Speaker 3: So yeah, overall, I approve of talking so far.
29:14
Speaker 1: All right, well, folks, he's Ryan Quigley from Broadstreet Hockey
29:18
Speaker 1: dot com. Search him out over on Blue Sky the
29:20
Speaker 1: Twitter slash x Ryan Man. It was great talking to you.
29:23
Speaker 1: Always enjoy it, my friend. We always talk. We always
29:26
Speaker 1: have great conversations here about this Flyers team.
29:29
Speaker 2: You got it.
29:30
Speaker 1: I'd love to have you on again. Let's come back,
29:32
Speaker 1: come back, and let's do it at some point down
29:34
Speaker 1: the road.
29:36
Speaker 2: Let's Jeff, I'm telling you, give me a call. I
29:39
Speaker 2: have you. I have alerts for you.
29:41
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
29:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll be back for you.
29:46
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Opposition
29:48
Speaker 1: Territory this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
29:52
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29:54
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30:02
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