Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / TABLE TALK: Should The Flyers Push For The Postseason?

Transcript

TABLE TALK: Should The Flyers Push For The Postseason? · 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, just about thirteen years strong. And we've
0:37
Speaker 1: got a great discussion coming your way here on Table
0:39
Speaker 1: Talk this week to dive into this Philadelphia Flyers team,
0:43
Speaker 1: this team that has been driving us nuts all season.
0:46
Speaker 1: We've got our good friend for Broadstreet Hockey dot Com.
0:50
Speaker 1: You can also hear over on Phoy Sports every now
0:53
Speaker 1: and again, our good friend, Kelly Hankle.
0:55
Speaker 2: How you doing, my friend.
0:57
Speaker 3: I'm doing pretty good, Jeff, how are you doing?
0:59
Speaker 2: I'm doing right.
1:00
Speaker 1: I mean, look, I'm watching last night's game against Dallas
1:03
Speaker 1: and how Trevor Secres just brought it back home and
1:07
Speaker 1: in over time, My goodness.
1:08
Speaker 2: I just We're gonna get into it.
1:11
Speaker 1: But I feel like we have the same conversation just
1:13
Speaker 1: about this time every year, Kelly, and you're so nice
1:16
Speaker 1: to come on the pod every all the time whenever
1:19
Speaker 1: I ask, and it's like it's the same thing. It's like,
1:22
Speaker 1: do we want this team really get into the playoffs?
1:23
Speaker 1: Do we want this team really trying to make a run.
1:25
Speaker 1: Do we want this team maybe to flop a little
1:28
Speaker 1: bit so they get a better draft pick. Where we
1:29
Speaker 1: want this team to go in the future. I feel
1:31
Speaker 1: like we're in limbo. We're in limbo here.
1:35
Speaker 3: I don't know this year I feel this year, I
1:37
Speaker 3: feel a little bit different, I think than I felt
1:39
Speaker 3: in the last couple of years.
1:40
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, Well it's been you have been more positive,
1:44
Speaker 1: Dare I say you've been a little bit positive concerning
1:48
Speaker 1: this team everything that I've seen from you and like
1:51
Speaker 1: hearing you when you're on PHL Y, Well, I mean,
1:54
Speaker 1: let's get into it. And I know it's a very
1:56
Speaker 1: general question to get us started off here, but like,
1:58
Speaker 1: how would you characterize where the Flyers are at as
2:01
Speaker 1: a team? I believe only nine games left as we're
2:04
Speaker 1: recording this during the regular season and again kind of
2:08
Speaker 1: being in that middling type of position within the Metropolitan Division.
2:13
Speaker 1: But given that they have been really on an incredible
2:16
Speaker 1: run here, how do you characterize this team?
2:20
Speaker 3: So if we had had this conversation maybe like a
2:24
Speaker 3: month ago, maybe like right before the Olympics or something,
2:27
Speaker 3: I would have told you, listen, it's not going to happen.
2:30
Speaker 3: If it's not going to happen, you might as well
2:33
Speaker 3: lose as many games as you can and maximize that
2:35
Speaker 3: draft position, right, because that's the logical thing, right, Like
2:39
Speaker 3: Bill and I from PHL I talk about this all
2:42
Speaker 3: the time. As a fan. As soon as the game starts,
2:45
Speaker 3: you're watching the game. You're not going to get mad
2:47
Speaker 3: when the Flyers score a goal. You're not going to
2:49
Speaker 3: be upset if they win the game. Like right when
2:52
Speaker 3: you like step back and think about it globally, it's like,
2:55
Speaker 3: it's probably better if they lose a bunch of games
2:57
Speaker 3: I get a better draft pick. However, this year, especially
3:01
Speaker 3: out West, there are a lot of real, real bad
3:03
Speaker 3: hockey teams. Yes, so the likelihood that the Flyers were
3:07
Speaker 3: going to get a very good lottery pick slim anyway,
3:13
Speaker 3: just because because of the steps that they've been taking forward,
3:17
Speaker 3: because of the rebuild kind of progressing year by year,
3:20
Speaker 3: they're just not as bad as those teams. And that's
3:22
Speaker 3: a good thing. But you know, a month, a month
3:25
Speaker 3: and a half ago, they weren't really close enough to
3:28
Speaker 3: the playoffs. I think for me to believe that they
3:31
Speaker 3: could really get there, especially with the way they were playing,
3:33
Speaker 3: it was looking pretty dier there, especially in January. But
3:38
Speaker 3: now we're two points out. Jeff I know two points
3:42
Speaker 3: playing so well, and so now I'm like, all in. Now,
3:45
Speaker 3: I'm like, let's do it. Will they win a single
3:48
Speaker 3: game in the first round?
3:49
Speaker 2: I don't know.
3:50
Speaker 3: It depends on the team. However, I do also think that,
3:54
Speaker 3: like with a goaltender like Ladar who has shown the
3:58
Speaker 3: ability to steal games and play really well, the playoffs
4:02
Speaker 3: are kind of weird, man, like anything can happen, and
4:06
Speaker 3: so I kind of feel like at this point, as
4:09
Speaker 3: close as we are with the way the team is playing,
4:14
Speaker 3: might as well go for it.
4:15
Speaker 1: I'm usually mister optimistic on this podcast platform. You can
4:18
Speaker 1: ask my bodies Eric and Len who are just like
4:21
Speaker 1: they're always like the rugs gonna get pulled out from
4:23
Speaker 1: under us. Disappointment is right around the corner. We're gonna
4:26
Speaker 1: be crying in the fetal position when it's all said
4:28
Speaker 1: and done. And I am, in a sense feeling that
4:32
Speaker 1: in a way, I love the excitement that you have
4:34
Speaker 1: because I'll tell you right now, if there's somebody in
4:37
Speaker 1: Flyer's Nation who I love in terms of the energy,
4:39
Speaker 1: whether it's positive or even from a pessimistic standpoint, it's you.
4:43
Speaker 1: And I'm being honest about that, and I love the
4:46
Speaker 1: positive energy that you have right now, because there is
4:50
Speaker 1: some chemistry that we're seeing game by game, and there
4:55
Speaker 1: is this cohesion dare I say, coming together with certain lines,
5:00
Speaker 1: certain players. And we just talked about how you characterize
5:04
Speaker 1: this team. Now, what about Rick Tocket here as the
5:08
Speaker 1: head coach of this team. I'm wondering, how do you
5:10
Speaker 1: characterize Rick tocket especially after the Olympic break when many
5:14
Speaker 1: of us wanted to see if he was going to
5:16
Speaker 1: make any alterations to his coaching, his decision making, how
5:21
Speaker 1: the lineups were gonna go, Because like after some of
5:23
Speaker 1: those losses in January, you'd reflect on and be like,
5:25
Speaker 1: my god, the lineups, Like what is this guy doing?
5:28
Speaker 1: But now where the team is at, how do you
5:31
Speaker 1: characterize tacket here?
5:34
Speaker 3: Uh? So I am not the biggest fan. I know
5:41
Speaker 3: you're not make it as the coach of this hockey team.
5:45
Speaker 3: I feel like you always have to say on these
5:46
Speaker 3: kinds of things, not talking about him as a person. Sure,
5:50
Speaker 3: he's a very nice guy. I just would not have
5:52
Speaker 3: hired him to coach this hockey game at this stage
5:55
Speaker 3: of their kind of rebuild process. Yeah, and I'm not
6:00
Speaker 3: really sure that it's going to you know, if we
6:04
Speaker 3: look back in five years at his tenure, I don't
6:07
Speaker 3: know if it's going to prove out to be the
6:09
Speaker 3: best possible way that the Flyers could have gone. Yeah,
6:13
Speaker 3: as always, I think I say this all the time
6:14
Speaker 3: on your show. Would love to be wrong about that. Yeah,
6:17
Speaker 3: would love to see Rick Togget be the coach that
6:19
Speaker 3: leads this team to the Stanley Cup. That would be awesome.
6:23
Speaker 3: That said, I do think that even for me, there
6:27
Speaker 3: have been some positive developments over the last little while.
6:31
Speaker 3: For example, he seems to have kind of lightened up
6:36
Speaker 3: on his weird obsession about playing mate Mitschkov on his
6:39
Speaker 3: off wing and limiting his minutes and I don't know,
6:43
Speaker 3: like publicly calling him fat like that seems to us
6:46
Speaker 3: have slowed down a little bit, So that's good. It
6:49
Speaker 3: seems like maybe they're playing a little bit more of
6:52
Speaker 3: like a rush based offense from time to time than
6:55
Speaker 3: just like a pure dump and chase, which is what
6:57
Speaker 3: they were doing for a while. Still kind of think
7:00
Speaker 3: that his system seems to be designed to have as
7:05
Speaker 3: few things happen as possible in a hockey game. So, like,
7:10
Speaker 3: you know, we have these games where the Flyers take
7:13
Speaker 3: like sixteen shots in the course of an entire game,
7:16
Speaker 3: and it's like this.
7:17
Speaker 2: It's incredible.
7:18
Speaker 3: This isn't fun, right, Like, you know, like you want
7:21
Speaker 3: to see these guys doing stuff. We want to see
7:23
Speaker 3: these exciting young players, like you know, just popping off
7:25
Speaker 3: in the offensive zone. And part of me still worries
7:29
Speaker 3: that Rick Talckett is not the guy that's going to
7:31
Speaker 3: let that happen. That said, it's you know, as always results,
7:38
Speaker 3: our results, and as bad as January was, and and
7:42
Speaker 3: while this this last stretch hasn't been perfect. There have
7:45
Speaker 3: been some disappointing games, particularly those Blue Jackets games were
7:50
Speaker 3: real bummers. The team has been playing well. The lines
7:57
Speaker 3: have been looking good, Like like you said, there seems
7:59
Speaker 3: to be some cohesion, some chemistry developing with these guys.
8:03
Speaker 3: The fourth line looks good lately, which that was real
8:07
Speaker 3: bad for a little while. So, I mean, I'll give
8:10
Speaker 3: credit where it's due. The team looks better over the
8:12
Speaker 3: last month and it has for most of the season.
8:16
Speaker 3: Is that because of Rick Tocket I'm sure it had
8:19
Speaker 3: something to do with it. I mean, like, honestly, so
8:22
Speaker 3: I find that he's not very good in front of
8:24
Speaker 3: a microphone, which is strange to me because he's an
8:26
Speaker 3: a media guy, right, But like I feel like every
8:28
Speaker 3: time he press conference or every time they like stick
8:30
Speaker 3: a micro from in front of seasons says something and
8:32
Speaker 3: I'm like, what are you right? What are you doing? However,
8:36
Speaker 3: just the other day this video came out of him
8:38
Speaker 3: in the locker room, and then I was like, oh,
8:42
Speaker 3: like that I kind of I'm like, oh, okay, I
8:43
Speaker 3: kind of see it, Like I kind of see that
8:45
Speaker 3: guy as the guy that people are super excited about.
8:49
Speaker 3: So I want to be wrong about Rick Tackett. I
8:53
Speaker 3: feel a little bit better about him over the last
8:56
Speaker 3: couple of weeks than I have for most of the season.
8:58
Speaker 3: I'm still a little bit hesitant to believe he's going
9:02
Speaker 3: to be the best possible fit for this team.
9:04
Speaker 1: I think, and look, this may be me just trying
9:07
Speaker 1: to make an excuse, because sometimes I do that in
9:09
Speaker 1: the world of Philly sports, make an excuse for folks.
9:13
Speaker 2: I know.
9:14
Speaker 1: I just I feel like maybe he's still just trying
9:17
Speaker 1: to get a better sense of the team and even
9:20
Speaker 1: the talent. And I know it's been it's almost been
9:22
Speaker 1: a year of him, you know, having this team under
9:25
Speaker 1: his wing, but there's a lot of young guys on
9:27
Speaker 1: this team.
9:28
Speaker 2: And yeah, we saw some we saw some.
9:30
Speaker 1: Absolutely ridiculous coaching in December, especially January. But I think
9:36
Speaker 1: I think folks can grow, I just do you know,
9:39
Speaker 1: And we may be seeing that right now, him growing
9:43
Speaker 1: with the talent that he has. Like you mentioned the
9:46
Speaker 1: fourth line, I mean, it's been pretty it's been pretty
9:49
Speaker 1: good so far, and I just I don't know, maybe
9:52
Speaker 1: things are just clicking here for the for the guys
9:54
Speaker 1: on the ice.
9:55
Speaker 2: But I do give Talkets some. I do give him
9:58
Speaker 2: some credit for it. I really do. Sure.
10:00
Speaker 3: I mean, you got to give them some. And you're right,
10:02
Speaker 3: I do think that coaches can get better. There's a
10:07
Speaker 3: distinct possibility that maybe like having a whole summer with
10:11
Speaker 3: this team, you know, really getting to know the players
10:16
Speaker 3: in and out, maybe that will lead to some better
10:20
Speaker 3: you know, in our opinion coaching decisions. Yeah, next season,
10:23
Speaker 3: I don't know. Yeah, but I mean like we're going
10:25
Speaker 3: to be they give him a five year contract, we're
10:27
Speaker 3: going to be stuck with them for at least three.
10:28
Speaker 3: Like that's serious, Like you know, it is what it is,
10:32
Speaker 3: and I hope you know that it just continues to
10:34
Speaker 3: get better, because that's what we all want to see.
10:36
Speaker 1: That's what we want to see, absolutely, but we also
10:38
Speaker 1: want to see certain players on this team kind of
10:42
Speaker 1: up their performance a little bit as well. So I'm wondering,
10:45
Speaker 1: are there any players or maybe just one player or
10:49
Speaker 1: so on this team that down the stretch you just
10:53
Speaker 1: want to see more from? Is there is there a
10:55
Speaker 1: player of players that you're really going to be looking
10:57
Speaker 1: at during the final stretch here.
10:59
Speaker 3: So the the one that really sticks out for me
11:01
Speaker 3: is Travis Connectney. The reason is like he is, for
11:06
Speaker 3: all intents and purposes, the best player on the team.
11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, and what a goal yesterday, by the way against
11:10
Speaker 2: the Star.
11:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was great to see because if you look
11:14
Speaker 3: at his points totals over the last ten and fifteen games,
11:16
Speaker 3: they're not very good. And you know, he went out
11:19
Speaker 3: to you know, in front of a microphone and said, man,
11:22
Speaker 3: I just want to make the playoffs. And like totally
11:24
Speaker 3: get that. Like, if you're a guy like Travis Connectney,
11:26
Speaker 3: you're as good as he is. It's got to be
11:29
Speaker 3: really annoying to be on a team that's just never
11:31
Speaker 3: even sniffing the playoffs. That's what he's been dealing with
11:34
Speaker 3: for most of his career, and so I get the
11:37
Speaker 3: frustration there, but like if that's the case, if you're
11:41
Speaker 3: the best player on the team, you're the highest paid
11:43
Speaker 3: player on the team, I think you're the guy that
11:47
Speaker 3: wants to make the playoffs. You want to lead this
11:48
Speaker 3: team there, Like I need to see you step it
11:51
Speaker 3: up when when it cut. Like I talked about those
11:55
Speaker 3: Blue Jackets games, like those games were not must win
11:59
Speaker 3: in like a technical sense, like they didn't have to
12:02
Speaker 3: win them in order to make the playoffs, but they
12:05
Speaker 3: were big like statement games, right, Like they there were
12:08
Speaker 3: games that like, this is a team you're chasing, This
12:10
Speaker 3: is a team that really you're kind of like even
12:13
Speaker 3: with talent wise, I think, yeah, like you should be
12:16
Speaker 3: coming out and just dominating them, especially at home, and
12:20
Speaker 3: showing that like, yeah, we want to do this, We're
12:22
Speaker 3: going to make that, we're gonna make the playoffs, We're
12:24
Speaker 3: going to make it happen. We're going to take down
12:26
Speaker 3: this team this in front of us. And I want
12:27
Speaker 3: to see a guy like connectne get On on the
12:30
Speaker 3: ice and like will it to happen? Yeah, And last
12:34
Speaker 3: night's goal was a good step forward. I hope we
12:37
Speaker 3: see more of that because I feel like.
12:39
Speaker 2: He was aggressive.
12:40
Speaker 1: He was he was aggressive when ye putting that puck
12:43
Speaker 1: in the net there. I mean he could he could
12:45
Speaker 1: have he could have passed it, but he didn't. He
12:47
Speaker 1: went right for it. I loved seeing that.
12:49
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's what I want to see more from him.
12:51
Speaker 3: I want to see him being one of the guys
12:54
Speaker 3: with multi point games going down this stretch because we
12:57
Speaker 3: we're going to need every bit of it. Yeah, you
12:59
Speaker 3: know they're close, but it's a it's a real like
13:03
Speaker 3: mushy you know, third in the third in the Metro
13:06
Speaker 3: wildcard situation. Like there's a lot of teams right there, yeh,
13:09
Speaker 3: and the Flyers the only thing they can do is
13:12
Speaker 3: control their own destiny, right Like, So they got to
13:13
Speaker 3: win these hockey games. And if they're going to guarantee
13:17
Speaker 3: themselves that they are going to do that, a guy
13:19
Speaker 3: like Travis Knnectney has to get out there and be
13:21
Speaker 3: that leader, be the best player on the team, do
13:24
Speaker 3: what he did against Dallas and just like you know,
13:27
Speaker 3: cut it away.
13:28
Speaker 1: Be aggressive. You gotta be aggressive every minute you're out
13:31
Speaker 1: there on the ice for sure.
13:33
Speaker 2: Folks.
13:33
Speaker 1: Again, we're talking to Kelly Hinkel from broad Street Hockey
13:35
Speaker 1: dot Com. You can also hear over on phl Y
13:38
Speaker 1: every now and again at hanks over on the Twitter
13:41
Speaker 1: slash x. I know you're also on blue Sky. I
13:44
Speaker 1: believe it, Hank's correct. Yeah, yeah, anything else you want.
13:47
Speaker 2: To promo, No, just.
13:51
Speaker 1: Com.
13:51
Speaker 3: It's the best website on the internet.
13:52
Speaker 2: Awesome.
13:52
Speaker 1: Yes, Broadstreet Hockey dot com. Folks, I'm a subscriber. Look,
13:56
Speaker 1: I give the five dollars a month, but they do
13:58
Speaker 1: great work, right, appreciate that helps out a little bit,
14:01
Speaker 1: right right, Well, we're gonna go to break really quick, folks.
14:05
Speaker 1: When we come back, we've got more Philadelphia Flyers talk.
14:08
Speaker 2: Come in your way. All right.
14:11
Speaker 1: We are back with our good friend Kelly Hinkle from
14:13
Speaker 1: broad Street Hockey dot com. And as we are looking
14:17
Speaker 1: at this team and the possibilities of what this final
14:21
Speaker 1: stretch of the regular season might be, we certainly have
14:24
Speaker 1: to talk about one Porter Martone. He has decided to
14:28
Speaker 1: forego the rest of his college career, wants to jump
14:31
Speaker 1: right into the NHL, right into this Philadelphia Flyers team,
14:35
Speaker 1: and his entry level contract is gonna kick in immediately.
14:38
Speaker 1: So I wonder, Kelly what type of juice he's really
14:42
Speaker 1: gonna give this Flyers team down the stretch and really
14:45
Speaker 1: what our expectations should be for his performance when you
14:49
Speaker 1: know there's only a few games left in the season.
14:51
Speaker 1: I mean, there are folks, there are the irrational folks
14:53
Speaker 1: within Flyers Nation that are gonna be like, oh, he's
14:55
Speaker 1: got to come in and make incredible changes to the
14:58
Speaker 1: culture of this team and all that stuff. But what
15:01
Speaker 1: should the realistic expectations be with Martine when he comes in.
15:05
Speaker 3: I think in these kinds of situations, I think that
15:08
Speaker 3: the best way forward is always to kind of just like,
15:11
Speaker 3: have you know, a positive outlook, but tempered expectations. It's like,
15:16
Speaker 3: this kid's nineteen years old. Yep, He's coming in to
15:19
Speaker 3: play on a team that he's never played on before,
15:21
Speaker 3: with a whole new group of guys that he's never
15:23
Speaker 3: played with before, with a coach he's never played for before. Like,
15:26
Speaker 3: all of this is going to be brand new, and
15:28
Speaker 3: it's going to take him some time, yeah, adjust to
15:31
Speaker 3: all of that. And nine games might not be enough
15:34
Speaker 3: for him to fully adjust to all that, and I
15:36
Speaker 3: think that'll be okay. However, I do expect I kind
15:42
Speaker 3: of expect, you know, a lot of jump. I do
15:45
Speaker 3: think that he's going to bring a little juice to
15:47
Speaker 3: the team. I think that the guys will be kind
15:50
Speaker 3: of energized by the idea that we have this really
15:53
Speaker 3: good prospect that's going to help us in this playoff push. Yeah,
15:58
Speaker 3: I'm kind of hoping that that kind of it, you know,
16:00
Speaker 3: gives everybody a little bit more energy on the ice.
16:05
Speaker 3: And I I kind of I mean, I expect him
16:08
Speaker 3: to look pretty good. Yeah, Like I won't like, I like,
16:11
Speaker 3: I don't know if he's going to go out there
16:12
Speaker 3: and score, you know, fifteen goals and nine games, Like,
16:14
Speaker 3: I don't know, like he's not going to go crazy,
16:17
Speaker 3: but I think he's probably going to look pretty good.
16:20
Speaker 3: Like he's he put on a bunch of weight apparently
16:23
Speaker 3: over the course of this year in college. He's so
16:27
Speaker 3: he's like a big dude, Like he's he's not a teenager,
16:32
Speaker 3: like he's got he doesn't have like a Denver Barkie
16:34
Speaker 3: teenager body, and he's like he's like a physically developed
16:38
Speaker 3: hockey player. So the idea that he could step right
16:41
Speaker 3: in and become a guy that maybe he's not going
16:46
Speaker 3: to be a game breaker right off the bat, but
16:50
Speaker 3: I do feel like he'll have an impact in a
16:52
Speaker 3: positive way on the team, and more than anything, I'm
16:55
Speaker 3: just kind of excited. I'm excited to see what he
16:57
Speaker 3: looks like, because, I mean, outside of Michev, this is
16:59
Speaker 3: the most exciting thing that we have coming. Yes, and
17:04
Speaker 3: you know, shiny new toy like exactly.
17:06
Speaker 2: Exactly exactly.
17:07
Speaker 1: And I think what's going to be interesting too with
17:09
Speaker 1: Martone is is who is linemates are gonna end up
17:14
Speaker 1: being for the rest of the season. Thomas Williams over
17:16
Speaker 1: at broad Street Hockey wrote a really good piece on this,
17:19
Speaker 1: folks again, head on over to Broadstreet Hockey dot com
17:22
Speaker 1: you can check out the piece. And I was hoping
17:24
Speaker 1: we could get into some of what Thomas was specifically
17:27
Speaker 1: talking about. I'm wondering, you know, what are your thoughts
17:29
Speaker 1: on his future linemates, who they may be. I know
17:33
Speaker 1: Thomas Mentionedoa kates, and it just like, what what what
17:37
Speaker 1: do you think it may actually happen with?
17:39
Speaker 2: Who? Who his linemates might be.
17:42
Speaker 3: So a friend of the pod, Charlie O'Connor, he he
17:46
Speaker 3: I think is reporting that he kind of thinks it's
17:49
Speaker 3: going to be Christian Devorak and Travis connecty guy, and
17:54
Speaker 3: I think that makes a lot of sense because we
17:57
Speaker 3: mentioned earlier that TALKT has finally put moving each cough
18:01
Speaker 3: back where he belongs and he and Marton play the
18:07
Speaker 3: same side kind of naturally, I don't want to move
18:11
Speaker 3: Miashkov back to the left. I don't want to bring
18:14
Speaker 3: Martone in and immediately put him on his off side
18:17
Speaker 3: like ken wingers play on either side in the grand
18:21
Speaker 3: scheme of things. Sure, but I feel like with young
18:23
Speaker 3: guys off the jump, like you probably want to make
18:26
Speaker 3: them as comfortable as possible, right, you want to put
18:28
Speaker 3: them in the best position for success, And I think
18:31
Speaker 3: that that means playing them where they've been playing for
18:33
Speaker 3: most of their career makes a lot of sense to me.
18:36
Speaker 3: And Travis Connectney being a VET, I think he can
18:39
Speaker 3: move over and it's totally fine. And then also you
18:44
Speaker 3: have you know, Christian Devorak has been very reliable, good
18:49
Speaker 3: center for this team since joining them. Travis Connectey, like
18:53
Speaker 3: we said, allegedly best player on the team, you know,
18:58
Speaker 3: one of the vets at this point on the team.
19:00
Speaker 3: So having I think Martone with those two guys that
19:04
Speaker 3: are both steady and also have been very successful together,
19:10
Speaker 3: I think you're really putting him in a position to
19:14
Speaker 3: off the jump, Like we said, make a real impact
19:17
Speaker 3: on the game really.
19:19
Speaker 2: Quick, really quick.
19:20
Speaker 1: Just with regard to Travis Connecty, going back to Thomas's piece,
19:23
Speaker 1: he actually wrote a sentence which I just loved reading
19:27
Speaker 1: because of what it because of what it could be
19:29
Speaker 1: that connect Me and martone together might be the most
19:32
Speaker 1: annoying duo to play against.
19:34
Speaker 2: Like how cool would that be just to know that.
19:38
Speaker 1: There are like a flyer's duo that other teams would
19:40
Speaker 1: be like, oh man, these guys are just gonna be
19:42
Speaker 1: freaking annoying.
19:44
Speaker 3: That would be outstanding. I mean, there's nothing better than
19:47
Speaker 3: having players that are both good and hated by other
19:50
Speaker 3: teams fan bases because they're so annoying. Like that's that's thing.
19:54
Speaker 3: Like you always want your own Brad Marshan, right, like
19:56
Speaker 3: you and a guy that's super good that everybody hates. Yeah,
20:00
Speaker 3: so the two of them together might just you know,
20:02
Speaker 3: be fun for that reason.
20:03
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I interrupted you, so so sorry, go ahead.
20:06
Speaker 3: Uh the note kids, thing I think is also not
20:09
Speaker 3: a terrible idea. Kate's obviously very solid, has a history
20:14
Speaker 3: of playing really well with you know, young wingers that
20:18
Speaker 3: are coming into the league. So I mean couldn't be
20:20
Speaker 3: a bad thing. But I kind of prefer the idea
20:24
Speaker 3: of Martone. You know, off the jump, you're playing at
20:27
Speaker 3: the top of the lineup kid, like, get out there
20:29
Speaker 3: and do it. Yeah, I'm sure that over these nine
20:33
Speaker 3: games we're going to see him with a whole bunch
20:35
Speaker 3: of combinations while they try to figure out what works.
20:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly.
20:39
Speaker 3: But I do like the idea of Dvorak and Connectne
20:42
Speaker 3: out of the gate because I think that's a nice,
20:44
Speaker 3: like steady presence for him to kind of feed off
20:46
Speaker 3: of and also maybe be really annoying.
20:49
Speaker 2: It's gonna be fun. Yes, I would love that. I
20:52
Speaker 2: love the annoying part. I love it. Well.
20:54
Speaker 1: To close us out here, you've got to talk about
20:56
Speaker 1: one storyline, you know that's just been on the back
20:58
Speaker 1: of everybody's mind, and that Tyson Forrester and might he
21:02
Speaker 1: be coming back to the Flyers in the foreseeable future
21:05
Speaker 1: based on reports, it is possible. I know Rick Tocket
21:09
Speaker 1: has heard on the side of caution when asked about
21:11
Speaker 1: when and if we'd see Forrester's return this season, Kelly,
21:15
Speaker 1: are you optimistic that we may see Tyson Forrester in
21:18
Speaker 1: the near future or just should the Flyers kind of
21:21
Speaker 1: just keep him where he's at right now and make
21:23
Speaker 1: sure he's healing up the way he needs to, so.
21:27
Speaker 3: You definitely don't want to rush him. However, he's been
21:30
Speaker 3: skating with the team, yeah, and I didn't expect that
21:33
Speaker 3: he would be skating with the team.
21:35
Speaker 2: He was wearing a blackers too.
21:38
Speaker 3: The Yeah, the vibe was very much like he's done
21:41
Speaker 3: for the year, you know what I mean. And to me,
21:44
Speaker 3: that means if you're done for the year, you're not
21:47
Speaker 3: practicing with the team right like you're You're just not
21:50
Speaker 3: because you're done for the year. So that kind of
21:53
Speaker 3: makes me think that maybe he's progressing a little bit
21:57
Speaker 3: more quickly than they initially thought. And that gets me
22:00
Speaker 3: back to this whole, like, I gotta I gotta root
22:04
Speaker 3: for them to get into the playoffs at this point,
22:05
Speaker 3: because I don't only think that like maybe if they
22:09
Speaker 3: get into the playoffs, like I don't think we're gonna
22:11
Speaker 3: see Tyson Forster in the regular season, but if they
22:14
Speaker 3: get themselves into the postseason, we might see him come
22:18
Speaker 3: back in the first round. And imagine the juice then,
22:20
Speaker 3: Jet you got Forester coming back, you got Mietchkov coming
22:25
Speaker 3: on like Latar playing well, like, yeah, the possibility is there,
22:29
Speaker 3: and I know this is I know this is getting
22:30
Speaker 3: ahead of myself, but the possibility is there for this
22:34
Speaker 3: team to be an annoying first round upset kind of candidate,
22:39
Speaker 3: Like I I really think that it's there. Like if
22:41
Speaker 3: they end up with a team like Buffalo.
22:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I mean.
22:45
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I know that I am expecting to see Forrester.
22:52
Speaker 3: Definitely not in the regular season, but it would not
22:55
Speaker 3: shock me that if they get into the playoffs that
22:59
Speaker 3: he won't make it back sometime during the first round.
23:03
Speaker 2: You got me excited, So it's more fun this way
23:08
Speaker 2: it is.
23:08
Speaker 1: You've got me optimistic now, folks, Kelly's got us optimistic
23:12
Speaker 1: here about where the Flyers can go at the end
23:14
Speaker 1: of the season.
23:14
Speaker 3: Here, they can get in the top ten of They
23:17
Speaker 3: can't get into the top ten of the draft.
23:18
Speaker 2: You can't do it.
23:19
Speaker 3: It's not gonna happen, so you might as well do
23:20
Speaker 3: the other way.
23:22
Speaker 1: Ken folks, Kellyhankle from Broadstreet Hockey dot Com, she's got
23:25
Speaker 1: us optimistic here, and I love the energy, love you
23:29
Speaker 1: bringing that optimism here to the show this week, My
23:31
Speaker 1: friend come back and join us down the road. I'd
23:33
Speaker 1: love to have you back on the show.
23:35
Speaker 3: For the playoffs, Jess, Yes, let's do it.
23:39
Speaker 1: That's gonna do it for us here on Table Talk
23:41
Speaker 1: this week. Please share our podcast with your friends and
23:44
Speaker 1: family members who are Philly sports fans or sports fans
23:47
Speaker 1: in general. We thank you our listeners for being part
23:51
Speaker 1: of this online community with us and within this space.
23:54
Speaker 1: Please make sure to check out our website, Philadelphiasports Table
23:58
Speaker 1: dot com for all of our podcast hast and follow
24:01
Speaker 1: us on our social sites over on Twitter at Philadelphia PST,
24:05
Speaker 1: threads at Philadelphia Sports.
24:07
Speaker 2: Table, and over on Instagram as well. Take care and
24:10
Speaker 2: we'll catch you next time.