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In-Depth Analysis Of The Flyers Goalies & Defensemen (PST Episode 550) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

• 0:00
  Hey there, it's Jeff. We wanted to let you know we recorded this
• 0:03
  podcast episode on Wednesday, January twenty fourth, twenty twenty four. By the
• 0:08
  time you hear this, some things may have changed here and there, but
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  we hope you enjoyed the show. All right, everybody, you're listening to
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  the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show
• 0:37
  in the world. Thanks so much for joining us here ten and a half
• 0:40
  years strong. Got a great show for you and lots of Eagles talk.
• 0:44
  We're going to be getting into our predictions with regard to the NFC AFC Championship
• 0:48
  games, predictions on who is going to win the Super Bowl. We're also
• 0:52
  going to be talking about the Baseball Hall of Fame and the fact that Billy
• 0:55
  Wagner fell five votes short of making it this year. What a freaking de
• 1:00
  grace. And by the way, you may have heard Doc Rivers likely going
• 1:03
  to the Milwaukee Bucks. How is this going to possibly impact the Philadelphia seventy
• 1:07
  six ers. And then we're thrown down on the table. We got a
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  lot of Flyers talk with a great guest, Kurt r for Broadstreet Hockey dot
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  Com. He's going to be joining us to dive into this team, talking
• 1:18
  about some of the talent developing during the rebuild. What this goalie situation is
• 1:22
  going to look like short term, long term after the news about Carter Hart
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  came out, and just an interesting situation there for sure. I'm Jeff Warren.
• 1:32
  I am here, my good buddy, Eric Leonard, Eric Man first
• 1:36
  and foremost buddy, congratulations on the basketball team season twelve and oh you're heading
• 1:42
  to the playoffs. Man, congrats, buddy, Thank you. It was
• 1:46
  a tough season at times, told some of my parenting stories. Yes,
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  but one of my favorite teams to coach, twelve and zero. We one
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  tonight and playoff start. I believe on Sunday it's going to be super Dad
• 2:00
  Sunday because I have a playoff game probably two o'clock Sunday, and then I
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  have to drive forty five minutes to a dance competition to see my daughter.
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  That's this is not the glamorous life of a coach, right your dad stuff
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  exactly. Oh my gosh, it's a you know, we're getting we're getting
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  to that time of the year too, you know, like with school like
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  kids are basically what a little over halfway done with school, certain activities are
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  coming to a close. And well, I mean, at least at least
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  for me. I think I'm not sure my daughter's like cheerleading a few days
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  a week. I go to the games and stuff. The basketball team is
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  absolutely horrendous. I have to sit there and watch these kids that don't have
• 2:38
  any form at all when they're trying to shoot the basketball into the hoop,
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  And like I said before I hit the record button, I want to ask
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  the coach. I'm like, are you teaching them how to shoot at all?
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  I just had not to be a jerk. I'm just asking them because
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  it's like some of the worst stuff I've ever seen. But I mean,
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  I'm I'm kind of glad we're getting to the end of the line on some
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  of this. Do you do want to go to some of their practice and
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  be like what are you doing at this practice? Like what exactly what are
• 3:02
  you covering? And it was one I apologize some of those parents that are
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  yelling like run a pick and roll, like like maybe they do know something
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  that you know, Like, believe me, I would never decided I would
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  never be on the side of parents, just so you know, but I
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  honestly feel bad for them. We talked before the show. It's like,
• 3:21
  is it is it more fun to coach a team that's or not more fun?
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  Is it tougher to coach a team than twelve and zero but you're constantly
• 3:27
  in pins and needles trying to stay undefeated? Yeah, or you're owing twelve
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  and it's just a disaster, And you know it is, like, what,
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  what's worse? I probably owen twelve is worse, but twelve and oh
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  is sometimes not very fun. Just the pressure, you know what I mean,
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  just the pressure of that and it's not like I mean, it's a
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  different kind of fun. I think. I think in sports in general,
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  that pressure that not only athletes feel, but coaches feel when you need to
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  perform. You've gotten to one level, Okay, now it's to the next
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  level. How are you going to continue to perform in a way where that
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  winning kind of just becomes the culture. And if the culture is not necessarily
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  where I shouldn't say the culture isn't where it needs to be, but if
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  the talent isn't performing to where the culture you know should be or everybody thinks
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  it is, then everything gets like jumbled around it's like the Philadelphia Eagles,
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  for God's sake. No, listen, my culture is they're only ten years
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  old, so it's boogers right nine. That's the culture my boys have.
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  So and wieners. Yes, oh I love it. Well. Look,
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  before we get into this show, I just wanted to give a shout out
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  to one of our longtime listeners, April, down in South Carolina. She
• 4:42
  actually sent us an email that just said, I love the Pick Review show
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  from this past week. She said, never stop doing that piece at the
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  end of the respective sports seasons. Part of the appeal of this show is
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  your hubris and fun. The Pick Review is such a good mix of both
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  your South Carolina fan April. So, April, thank you so very much
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  for reaching out to us, and uh, glad you glad you liked it.
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  I have to say, Eric, it was one of my favorite shows
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  that we've done in a while when we are able to reflect on terrible picks,
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  some good picks as well, but usually terrible picks, and we could
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  just make fun of ourselves about it. I always love doing those type of
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  shows and those type of bits. Did I do that? When? What
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  did I do that show? Last week? Oh? My God, which
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  the pick reviews we did we we we we? Sorry? Yeah, the
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  reflections yeah no, no, no, yeah, the reflections on our picks
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  for the division and the playoffs and everything. Yes, my day to day
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  is just a just a struggle. I know. I know. By the
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  way, April, thank you so much for using just stellar grammar. Hubris
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  is phenomenal. Yeah, I love that word. I know she likes that
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  we we you who's we're actually kind of literate, So I appreciate it coming
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  from a fan as well. Yes, absolutely, and April, my best
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  to you and your family. I know that there are some issues that are
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  going on, some health concerns with some loved ones, So are best to
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  you as you guys are moving forward. So yeah, anyway, let's get
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  into this Eagles team, Eric, Let's get into the Philadelphia Eagles. Here,
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  boy, Nick Sirianni, how we roseman? They had press conference today
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  and right now it's really about where the coaching is going to go, where
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  the where the philosophy of this team is going to head in the future from
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  an offensive perspective and defensive perspective. We no, I know, Nick Sirianni.
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  He is staying on as the head coach Sean Deci was fired. Matt
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  Patricia's contract going to be expiring. Brian Johnson he has been fired, so
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  obviously, yes, changes are coming, and the Eagles are interviewing apparently Ron
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  Rivera to be their potential defensive coordinator. We know that Nick Fangio now appears
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  to be the top candidate after being let go from Miami. We know how
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  much the Eagles front office loves him after, you know, bringing him on
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  board as a consultant for the Super Bowl last year. From an offensive coaching
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  standpoint, they are interested in one. Jim Bob Cooter. I know you
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  love the name. Does he do that on purpose? I know, I
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  don't. Thinking it's sounds like he should be in Boogie Nights, you know,
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  Bookie Knights or some southern like like the water Boy. Like I'm not
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  sure what to say. Yeah, I mean it stands out. I'll say
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  that, look absolutely and apparently too U the offensive coordinator for the Houston Texans,
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  Draw Johnson, He's going to be interviewing for the Eagles offensive coordinator position
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  as well. I mean, that's just a couple a couple guys that we
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  just wanted to throw out there as we get this conversation started here because I
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  I one thing they talked about was the fact that, you know, things
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  got stale. When I say they Nick Sirianni and specifically how he rose mean
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  just talked about how things got stale towards the end of the season. I'm
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  glad they were able to admit that, and glad they were able to to
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  to, you know, tell the truth in that regard. And the fact
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  of the matter was and the theme that came from the press is things gonna
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  are gonna have to change, of course, And I mean it seems obvious,
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  Yes, things are gonna have to change after one of the worst collapses
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  in Philadelphia Eagles history. So I look, Nick Fangio. Uh you know
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  he did? I say Nick Fangio, Vic Fangio. You said Nick Fangio
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  like three times now? Yeah, oh my god, what's going on with
• 8:43
  me? You know what, we're robots, you and I we talked about
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  it earlier. We're robots. I just I just I live my day to
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  day. If that's a robot with work, kids, family, he has
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  he has the botty being named though, So like, yeah Fanio, it
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  makes like Nick makes more sense in vis. Yes, oh, Yeah.
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  Anyway, so new coaching philosophies are going to be coming to this team.
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  I think I hope you know, but with that, you know, you
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  have certain personnel here that aren't going to be going anywhere. I mean,
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  well, I shouldn't necessarily say that. I hopefully there's going to be a
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  new secondary, a linebacker corps. They said today in the press conference that
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  they believe in n Kobe Dean at linebacker and not sure about that. But
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  look, there's going to be a new philosophy, Eric, and obviously it's
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  needed after the collapse this season. So I don't know what are your thoughts
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  as this team is moving forward in terms of the coaching aspects. Before I
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  throw a question back to you about the head coach, can we Is it
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  possible to re sign Matt Patricia to a one day contract and fire him?
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  Signs it because I feel like he deserves to be fired as well along with
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  Sean decide that that's just my take. Yeah, I hope that's possible.
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  I'm I'm still not on board with Nick Sirianni coming back as a head coach,
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  Like it's really bothersome that the GM and and and all the people in
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  the front office come out and say, we got really stale near the end
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  of the year. And it's like, well, Sirianni was the head coach.
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  He's only been here what two and a half two years? Three years?
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  Right, yeah? Three yeah, three, and and he's responsible for
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  everything and he let it get stale. And he's a young up and coming
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  like for raciously like he's he's like, he's like, he's like one of
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  those guys like pumping pumping his fists on the sideline, like things got stale
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  under his watch. Why is he coming back, Jeff explain to me.
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  It leads me to believe that he did not necessarily lose the team. Maybe
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  maybe there were certain players he lost here and there. Perhaps maybe we'll find
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  out about that years down the road, but it leads me to believe that
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  he did not lose the team. I just believe that how he wrote usman
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  would not have made the decision to bring him back if he had lost the
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  team. When you lose a team, if you're a head coach with anything
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  and you lose the team, you're not getting him back. It's just not
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  gonna happen. You're not gonna be able to wave a magic wand one day,
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  or have an off season where things can cool down and then you come
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  back and oh, everybody's starting over fresh. It's lollipops and rainbows. No,
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  that does not happen, and that was not going to happen. It
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  leads me to believe that he did not lose the locker room, that there
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  was more going on behind the scenes with Brian Johnson, with even with certain
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  players perhaps and how they were interacting with the coaching staff as well, and
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  what I mean by that is the coordinators. So it doesn't appear that he
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  lost the coach lost the locker room. That's what it seems like to me.
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  I could be completely wrong, because if he did lose the locker room
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  and he's going to be coming back, this team is going to be terrible
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  next year, they're gonna be awful. Yeah, But then you get that
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  put you get in that territory though. Of he's a player coach. He
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  didn't lose the locker room, right, but is he holding anyone accountable?
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  That's a great point. Yeah, Like, I'll definitely scan it for a
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  coach that lets me get away with what I want to get away with.
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  I want to make a nice paycheck. Yeah, And I'm not saying the
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  players won't play for him. It's just it's just concerning that he's a younger
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  coach. He was brought in tons of tons of passion, and for this
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  to fall apart so much under his watch. I know, I know he
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  lost two really good coordinators. They both became head coaches that I'm pretty sure
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  that kind of helped save his job, that his coordinators became really good head
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  coaches across the league. It just bothers me that that it got so bad
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  so quickly. And did he make the decision to put Matt Patrician in charge
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  of the defense. Is that his call? Yes? That was his call?
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  Yes, from the press or that was actually his call. He went
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  to Howie Roseman and said, I think we got to demote John Decigh.
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  That is a judgment call like that is that is bad? Like that is
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  a really bad decision. And if he lost any if he even lost half
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  the locker room and made that decision, I would say he's gone. I
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  think the players are saving his ass and I hope they're right. That could
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  be part of it. Yeah, And I hope they hope they play hard
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  for him next year because he's definitely coming back. Hope he hires the right
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  coordinators. I hope he hires Jim Bob Cooter so I can say it all
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  year long in the show. I mean, good for him. I do
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  like the name, I like the like the gimmick. But I'm man,
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  I'm super hesitant going the next season with him as the head coach. Yeah.
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  Look, look, you mentioned the word accountability. You know, you
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  know, did did he hold players accountable? Did he hold people accountable?
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  There's one and I know it sounds like I'm defending Sirianni folks, And I
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  said, I've said on this show, I thought it was a fifty one
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  percent show, like fifty one percent, forty nine percent, fifty one percent
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  chance that he would get fired, Like I honestly thought it was like that
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  close where he would. I remember when this team was turning the ball over,
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  and specifically Jalen Hurts was turning the ball over, and they were going
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  back to very basic drills. We're talking the type of drills that they do
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  in high school. And remember they were doing that on the field in front
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  of the press at the Novacare Complex and the fucking Philly press, the sports
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  Press was like, boy, this must be embarrassing for Jalen Hurts, This
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  must be embarrassing for these professionals having to do these type of drills. Blah
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  blah blah. But in that moment right there, Nick Sirianni was actually to
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  an extent holding these players accountable because they were turning the ball over so much.
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  So there's one example where yes he did hold them accountable, but I
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  don't believe he held the coaches accountable down the stretch when it was a just
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  debacle and a pure collapse. It was like they were continuing to do the
• 14:50
  same shit and those coaches were not necessarily held accountable. Yes, maybe Sean
• 14:54
  Deci was getting demoted, but Brian Johnson, no, not at all.
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  So yeah, That's where I'm at right now. Well, and he has
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  like one last shot. If he brings if he brings ADATs into the house,
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  into his house, he brings Jim, Bob Cooter and Vic Fangio,
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  Like those are names and if you fail next year with actual names, you're
• 15:18
  done. Like I think he knows like he has one season left to make
• 15:22
  this work, and he's making the right He's probably making the he's gonna make
• 15:26
  the right moves. He knows he has to bring in veterans, and like,
• 15:31
  whether we like it or not, he's going to bring in guys.
• 15:33
  If they go like two and five next year to start the season, there's
• 15:37
  gonna be rumors those guys are gonna take his job. So it's a risk
• 15:41
  on his part, but one he has to take. It's a weird risk,
• 15:45
  right, because he's like, if I bring in no names, like
• 15:48
  I'm just gonna get fired. Period. But at least but if he brings
• 15:52
  in like these names and he doesn't do well, they're going to take his
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  job. But I think it's his only it's his only choice. Yeah,
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  yeah, So I like the decision. And the next topic obviously will play
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  directly into his how he does next year and if he stays on his coach,
• 16:10
  Yeah, well let's get into that next topic, and that is where
• 16:12
  does Howie Roseman really need to concentrate efforts to start this offseason? In terms
• 16:18
  of the talent on the field, Like I mentioned earlier, they said in
• 16:22
  today's presser they still believe in the Kobe Dean at linebacker. We saw what
• 16:27
  a complete shit show the linebacker corps was. The secondary as well, We
• 16:32
  are going to see changes with regard to the personnel on this defense for sure,
• 16:36
  But re signing Son Reddick, re signing Landon Dickerson and also DeVante Smith
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  seems like it should be a given right. I mean, it seems like
• 16:45
  it should be and I hope that Howie Roseman does this. Our good friend
• 16:51
  Ed Kratz from Eagles Today over fan Nation wrote a story about this, and
• 16:56
  I think it makes sense for them to give contract extensions to these guys.
• 17:03
  You have to. You have to from a salary cap standpoint, from a
• 17:07
  pure talent standpoint. I mean Landon Dickerson a second round draft pick in twenty
• 17:11
  twenty one. I mean he's been a bargain with a base salary of one
• 17:15
  point eight million the final year of his deal. He was just just named
• 17:18
  to his second Pro Bowl. I mean he continues to play at a very
• 17:22
  very high level. We saw Davonte Smith, I mean he was the only
• 17:26
  he was the only receiver that showed up in the playoff game against the Tampa
• 17:33
  Bay Buccaneers. And you know when Aj Brown was not not able to be
• 17:37
  on the field, Davonte Smith absolutely stepping up, and of course, asan
• 17:41
  Reddick you know, he had a good case for you know, just you
• 17:45
  know, making the Pro Bowl, just doing what he's been doing three straight
• 17:49
  seasons of over ten sacks. I mean, you have to bring him back.
• 17:53
  Considering there really hasn't been a pass rush at all for this team.
• 17:56
  You got to bring these guys back, and how it relates to the hap
• 18:00
  Eric. I think that's where Howie Roseman needs to start off. Oh,
• 18:03
  for sure, the three players at ed ed highlights or the three you have
• 18:08
  to bring back. The rest of the names, I mean, I think
• 18:14
  you can bring them back on cheaper deals. The NFL is so weird though,
• 18:19
  like in terms of like resigning players, the three you mentioned probably the
• 18:25
  most important. But I would say that the one thing missing from the article
• 18:30
  is what players on the current roster would be willing to restructure their deals for
• 18:36
  less money. That's always the trick with the NFL. There's always there's always
• 18:41
  two or three veterans that are willing to like Lane Johnson, who might not
• 18:45
  be willing to do that anymore. He's kind of at the end of his
• 18:48
  career. Is there anyone else on the roster that would be willing to restructure
• 18:53
  a G Brown is probably no way. Probably not like the way he walked
• 18:56
  away from the team this year. He's still in the team, but like,
• 19:00
  I can't imagine him doing that, Dallas Goddard. I can't imagine doing
• 19:03
  that after the kind of the confrontation him and Jalen Hurts had. Is there
• 19:08
  anyone else anyone else in the roster? Darius Slay maybe structure? Yeah?
• 19:12
  Maybe? Yeah, maybe Slagh I mean, I mean even I mean Sligh
• 19:17
  and Brad Berry signed their extensions last year. It's only been one year removed,
• 19:22
  and boy they look cooked this year in a lot of different settings.
• 19:25
  So maybe who knows, maybe they will well, And you know, we're
• 19:30
  what we're facing now. We talked about last year in the show or whenever
• 19:33
  Hurts sign his deal, you signed your quarterback, and that's when the cap
• 19:40
  starts to become an issue. And like we are now officially a team in
• 19:45
  that we signed a QB to the two hundred million dollar deal, and now
• 19:48
  everything else kind of like falls into place, right. Yeah, Like when
• 19:52
  he was a second round pick and making like two million year, things were
• 19:56
  easy. We could sign over the hell he wanted. We got to a
• 19:57
  super Bowl last year. Now we're starting to pay the piper. I know
• 20:02
  it's such a cliche, but that was for you, Jeff, thank you
• 20:06
  titling the show cliche, but like that that's the real, Like we talked
• 20:11
  about that on the show where he like last year it was like he signs
• 20:14
  that deal and now you gotta like make choices and this is a this is
• 20:18
  a tough that's why this collapse. But we're gonna talk about like the worst
• 20:23
  of all time collapses for the Eagles. But like that's why this collapse was
• 20:26
  such a downer, not just because of the actual season, but like now
• 20:30
  the fallout, we're gonna we're gonna see what happens, like what players are
• 20:33
  actually gonna be able to retain because of that. The signing of how much
• 20:37
  is it hurts making like two hundred yes exactly, Like it's crazy, He's
• 20:41
  guaranteed a lot of money and that there was talk yesterday. I'm just gonna
• 20:47
  throw this out there. I really don't want to get into a big discussion
• 20:49
  about it because it's ridiculous, but there was talk amongst certain certain areas in
• 20:56
  Eagles Nation that Jalen Hurts could be traded and I was like, shut the
• 21:00
  fuck up. Stop it. I mean, stop it already. I mean
• 21:06
  you want to talk about pulling stuff out of thin air and just your clickbait
• 21:11
  nonsense. Give me a fucking break. Just the finances alone. I know
• 21:15
  who's going to trade for him and the guaranteed money that he's going to be
• 21:19
  getting from the Eagles. Give me a break. How that would impact the
• 21:25
  cap for this team for years to come. Give me a break. He's
• 21:27
  in the first year of his deal, Like, there's no freaking way.
• 21:32
  And now I'm reading that of corresponding with some folks that have been on the
• 21:36
  show, and I've been on their show, and it's just like, oh
• 21:37
  my god, it's just crazy. Anyway, Like social media's given a pathway
• 21:42
  to a lot of like really good reporters, right, it also gives it
• 21:47
  gives a platform to so many douchebags. Yes, Jalen Hurt traded. Like
• 21:52
  how it's not even like financially possible exactly. Oh my gosh. All right,
• 21:57
  Well, moving on. You mentioned it just a couple of minutes ago,
• 22:02
  Eric about you know what this past season was like? Was it the
• 22:06
  largest and worst collapse? But you know, this Eagles franchise, they've seen
• 22:11
  their share of collapses, you know, And I don't think this year was
• 22:15
  actually the worst collapse. I think if you go back, I think this
• 22:19
  particular collapse was remnant of nineteen eighty one. So Eagles were coming off their
• 22:26
  first Super Bowl appearance, and they were immediate contenders to go back to the
• 22:30
  Super Bowl. In eighty one. They started out six and oh. They
• 22:33
  had basically rushed out to a nine and two start before absolutely collapsing in December,
• 22:40
  much like this current Eagles team did, and they ended up finishing the
• 22:45
  season ten and six. It was very remnant of, or reminiscent, I
• 22:51
  should say, of this past season. But I don't think it was the
• 22:55
  worst one. I don't know. I know you've got some in mind.
• 22:59
  Nineteen ninety five, though, holy I actually remember checking out during that season
• 23:03
  where I didn't watch the last few games, or maybe it was the last
• 23:06
  two or three games. Nineteen ninety four, Holy cow, they started off
• 23:11
  seven and two and then they went seven and nine, missed the playoffs.
• 23:17
  It was it was a terrible, terrible season. I mean, when you
• 23:19
  start off seven and two and then you go seven and nine. Whooach head
• 23:26
  coach at the time, Rich Colee tit. He was fired two days after
• 23:30
  that season finale under it was first first firing Jeff Lurry did back then.
• 23:37
  So and in fact, no team would go on to have seven wins or
• 23:41
  more and lose seven straight to end the season until the Tennessee Titans did it
• 23:45
  in twenty twenty two. That's per our good friend of the show, Jeff
• 23:48
  Kerr from CBS Sports. So, I don't know, do you have some
• 23:52
  ideas out there? I think it might be the ninety four collapse that was
• 23:56
  probably the worst. What are you thinking? See, I became a huge
• 24:00
  fan of the Eagles nineteen eighty seven. I was, I was eleven,
• 24:03
  yep, And I went to my second game. It was the Cowboys Eagles
• 24:10
  game after the strike, and they Buddy Ryan did the fake knee. I
• 24:15
  was there, I sold the ticket stuff, did the fake needed the Cowboys
• 24:18
  and ran up their asses and we all just like, this is the greatest
• 24:22
  thing of all time. And then I actually think the greatest collapse is like
• 24:26
  from the fog Ball of eighty eight to that ninety four season, because those
• 24:30
  teams are so fucking talented. Yeah, and Buddy Ryan never never ever,
• 24:37
  ever ever put any any draft capital into the offense and kind of put Cunningham
• 24:42
  back there by himself. I mean, I'm looking right now, I have
• 24:45
  three. I have three starter figures on my desk from like the first day
• 24:51
  I've done the show, right, you know. I have Round Cunningham,
• 24:56
  I have Anthony Tony and Keith Buyers and nice play the other two. But
• 25:02
  not good enough to win the playoffs. No, no, they lost that
• 25:04
  Fog Bowl. I'll never forget my to this day. I remember in the
• 25:07
  second half of the Fog Bowl, we were at a We're to party in
• 25:11
  reading. It was New Year's Eve, as back when he's played like on
• 25:15
  New Year's Eve in the playoffs, like not in January, right, And
• 25:18
  I remember like my dad going, this isn't fair. You can't see the
• 25:22
  screen like no things, I can't see what's happening. And I said,
• 25:27
  I remember seeing my dad's face just being like, this is what it's like
• 25:30
  to be an Eagles Fanly this is it. And from that game through like
• 25:36
  eighty nine they lost of the Rams and eighty nine in the playoffs, I
• 25:38
  think they won one playoff game from eighty eight to like ninety four, I
• 25:42
  think you're right, yeah, and like to me, that is the ultimate
• 25:47
  collapse of one of the greatest defenses of all time. Like like they they
• 25:52
  destroyed teams. I mean, I go back and watch the footage Jerome Brown,
• 25:56
  the front four was was sickening. Yep. And they won one playoff
• 26:00
  game. To me, the biggest collapse outside of like like they the early
• 26:04
  two thousands when they went to all those NFC title games and lost. The
• 26:07
  two thousand and two Bucks game was awful. It was like such a punch
• 26:11
  to the throat. But I honestly think from the Fog Bowl to that ninety
• 26:15
  four collapse, that is the worst stretch of Eagles football in the playoffs in
• 26:19
  terms of collapse that has ever happened, even compared to this season. That's
• 26:23
  my take. Yeah, because you knew how much talent was there, Like
• 26:27
  you said, you knew how much talent was there, and you're like,
• 26:30
  my god, it's just being wasted. I mean completely wasted. I will
• 26:33
  never forget that pit that I had in my gut when free agency started and
• 26:41
  Reggie White was one of the first big names to go and he went to
• 26:44
  Green Bay and I was just like, that's it, Like that is finally
• 26:48
  it. That is the nail in the coffin of the Philadelphia Eagles. I'll
• 26:52
  never forget that. He just freaking wasted it. I remember that, and
• 26:56
  I think it was in college right about. Yeah. Been like I remember
• 27:02
  like talking to my dad going, why is he leaving? Like I didn't
• 27:04
  understand all that. I understand, like free agency because they suck. I
• 27:10
  was like, but he can't leave, he's an Eagle. Yeah, well
• 27:11
  he's with another team. Like I don't understand, Like that's not right,
• 27:15
  right, he just insulted me. Like, honestly, those years, they
• 27:21
  had so much, so much talent, it should have been at least into
• 27:25
  one Super Bowl. I think that's the worst stretch for me. I like
• 27:27
  your take. Yeah, I like your take on that for sure. Let
• 27:30
  us know what your worst collapse collapsing moment of the Philadelphia Eagles was for you.
• 27:37
  We'd love to hear at Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'll
• 27:40
  read your email here on the show and respond to it. So before we
• 27:42
  get to our first break here, Eric just really quick wanted to get in
• 27:47
  some predictions for the NFC Championship, AFC Championship. Predictions on who wins the
• 27:52
  Super Bowl. I'll tell you mine for the AFC and NFC Championship games.
• 27:56
  I do think the Baltimore Ravens are gonna win. I believe that. I
• 28:02
  believe in Lamar Jackson. I'm hoping for it too, because I am tired
• 28:07
  of Kansas City. I'm at that point where Kansas City now is like the
• 28:11
  New England Patriots of old. It's getting to that point. And Detroit Lions
• 28:17
  taking the Lions, what are you thinking? I think Ravens Niners. I
• 28:22
  love the Lions story. They're in a tough spot, their defense is not
• 28:26
  very good. Yeah yeah, but if you get to Brock Proty, who
• 28:32
  my god. I saw so much on Twitter of the Niners people trying to
• 28:37
  stand up for how his performance. He was horrible. He was not good.
• 28:42
  He sucked ass in that game, Like green Bay should have won that
• 28:45
  game like that. That was my takeaway. I was like, if he
• 28:48
  hits that field goal, yeah, I think green Bay wins that game.
• 28:51
  Yep. Party was horrible, and I do think the line's gonna give me
• 28:55
  a game. But I think the Niners get through it. I think Niner.
• 28:59
  I think the Ravens beat the Chiefs. I think it's I think it's
• 29:03
  Lamar's year. He was just he was phenomenal. Last week. I know
• 29:06
  they played a team the Texans, that were just not quite ready, probably
• 29:08
  a year away, but uh my god, he just he's He's one of
• 29:15
  those he's like Randall, like I just talked about the early nineties Eagles,
• 29:18
  like he's but but but better with a better defense, their weapons and I
• 29:23
  and just like you know, deep down, I've always said, like,
• 29:26
  if if I was not an Eagles fan, I'd be a Ravens fan for
• 29:29
  sure. I love that franchise. They're they're they're toughest shit, and they
• 29:33
  got an awesome quarterback. And I still remember being at your house in that
• 29:40
  hunk draft weekend. We watched the draft and Lamar falls at thirty. Yes,
• 29:45
  and even then I was like, this guy's pretty awesome. Because of
• 29:48
  an Eagles trade by the way, yeah I know, I know for house
• 29:51
  God or basically and all of the teams that passed on him and said,
• 29:55
  oh we're good, we don't need the Patriots, I'm sure, Like what
• 29:57
  the fuck rice that one up? Like, yeah, I think this is
• 30:03
  Ravens year. I think Ravens beat the Niners in the Super Bowl. I
• 30:04
  think the Ravens are gonna win the Super Bowl as well. So that's it's
• 30:08
  where we're coming out, coming out the same again as we did with our
• 30:12
  predictions, which means completely wrong. Exactly, yeah, exactly. That means
• 30:18
  the Niners are gonna win. No. I do think the Ravens are gonna
• 30:22
  win, just such a well run team. That offense is humming with Lamar
• 30:26
  Jackson under center, and the defense is just fantastic too. And look,
• 30:32
  whether it is the Niners or the Lions, I just don't think either of
• 30:34
  those teams are gonna be able to do it. I don't think they're gonna
• 30:37
  be able to beat the Ravens. So if you are new to the show,
• 30:41
  subscribe. We'd appreciate that. Our website is Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
• 30:45
  If anything happens to your feed, you can always head on over there
• 30:47
  and get some shows there. We got our PSD special shows you want to
• 30:52
  dive into, some eighties movies, movie reviews, we got plenty of them
• 30:55
  over there, as well as some music podcasts as well. We did some
• 31:00
  reviews so fun times over there, and again, the email here is Philadelphia
• 31:04
  Sports Table at gmail dot com. We'd love to hear from you. If
• 31:07
  you want us to get into any particular topic in the world of Philly sports
• 31:11
  of the sports world in general, we will. We'll get into it.
• 31:15
  So follow Eric on Twitter Atpricpolot. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore Warren.
• 31:19
  I guess we'll call it Twitter slash x now at this point, and
• 31:23
  we're on threads as well at Slen ten twenty three for Eric. I'm there
• 31:30
  at mister jeff Warren in the show at Philadelphia Sports Table. We're gonna take
• 31:33
  that break right now. We'll be back in just a bit. All right,
• 31:37
  we are back and Eric the Baseball Hall of Fame, I gotta tell
• 31:42
  you, doing it once again, doing it once again. These fucking people,
• 31:47
  I'm telling you right now, I'm dropping a lot f bombs on the
• 31:49
  show today. But Jesus, I was almost positive that Billy Wagner was going
• 31:56
  to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. But nope, nope, not
• 32:00
  at all. He missed it by five votes. So folks, if you
• 32:05
  don't know, you need seventy five percent of the votes to get in.
• 32:09
  Billy Wagner got seventy three point eight percent. Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton,
• 32:16
  Joe Maher. They got in hard to argue Eric, hard to argue with
• 32:22
  Beltray and Helton for sure. Now Joe Maher, Joe Maher could have easy.
• 32:29
  I think I think we can question him, maybe give him another year.
• 32:31
  He was a terrific player, But I think there's a distinction between a
• 32:36
  terrific player and a Hall of Famer. Billy Wagner's both. He is seven
• 32:42
  time All Star, is only one of seven pitchers in history to record double
• 32:45
  digit seasons of twenty five or more saves and compiled four hundred and twenty two
• 32:51
  saves in a sixteen year career, for God's sakes, six all time in
• 32:57
  saves. And the guy still isn't there. He's got one year of eligib
• 33:00
  ability left. It's fucking disgrace, to be honest with you. I mean,
• 33:02
  seriously, every single year there's always something with the Baseball Hall of Fame
• 33:07
  where they screw something up. In this year, it's Billy Wagner. Man,
• 33:10
  I just think it's a disgrace. Let me go through the three that
• 33:14
  made it. I'm gonna challenge you on Billy Wagner real quick, Okay,
• 33:17
  So, Helton and Beltray, it absolutely they deserve to be in Yes,
• 33:24
  I think Jill Mauer he's borderline. Honestly, I think he benefited from being
• 33:32
  with the same team his entire career, right, right, and being a
• 33:37
  nice guy, like no controversy with him, right, like just to bring
• 33:43
  his lunch pale to work every day kind of guy. But like all time
• 33:46
  batting average of three h six, just a really solid player, stay with
• 33:51
  this team the entire time, Like I think the Hall likes that when when
• 33:54
  a player like he was from Saint Paul, I think originally right and in
• 34:00
  state Minnesota's his whole career. That's a good story. Good story, Yeah,
• 34:06
  and that's kind of what they look for. And Beltray obviously deserve to
• 34:08
  be in Helton as well. But Billy Wagner, I'm not gonna lie like
• 34:15
  I'm gonna challenge you here because I think we kind of forget kind of what
• 34:19
  an asshole he became two Philadelphia fans. Yes, yes, after he left,
• 34:23
  Yes, right, Yes, I agree that he's he's his borderline as
• 34:27
  Joe Mauer should be. I think if he was like third or fourth all
• 34:31
  time and saves and had a better end of his career, maybe he makes
• 34:36
  it automatically, but I tend to agree with you a little bit that he
• 34:40
  was like it's so close, like five votes off. Did he piss somebody
• 34:44
  off? Which which which it's it's a detriment to or it's it's a problem
• 34:52
  with the voting, the voting stuff, that he probably angered somebody and probably
• 34:58
  couldn't get those five votes. But I will say, as a Philly fan
• 35:01
  when he left, not the biggest fan of his, I understand. Yeah,
• 35:05
  no, no, I completely get it. I really do. I
• 35:07
  get I get that part of it. I get the I get the fan
• 35:13
  base part of it, because that is what that is, what this is.
• 35:15
  I mean, you were just talking about Joe Maher and and what he
• 35:19
  meant for what he meant for Minnesota, like like what he was, it
• 35:22
  was a great story and you know, being with one team kind of being
• 35:27
  from the area. Meanwhile, Wagner was what was he with four or five
• 35:30
  teams with the Astros, Phillies, Mets, Red Sox and maybe the Braves.
• 35:36
  I think the Braves he was with. Yeah, So like, I
• 35:40
  I get where you're coming from. But I think, and I've said a
• 35:44
  number of times on this podcast that if you if you're if your athleticism professionally
• 35:52
  contributes to the sport in a way your story contributes to the sport, then
• 35:58
  you should be in the Hall of Fame too. Like if you rank sixth
• 36:00
  all time in saves, behind yes, behind Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman,
• 36:06
  Lee Smith, Francisco Rodriguez, and John Franco. Like John Franco had four
• 36:12
  hundred and twenty four saves. You know, like he's he's he's up there,
• 36:17
  He's up there with these guys. And I think his story has contributed
• 36:22
  to baseball. And it's not it's not just like the Philly the Phillies angle.
• 36:27
  I I I get where you're coming from, because he didn't leave on
• 36:30
  the best terms at all. But I just think his story really helped contribute
• 36:35
  to the game of baseball for the years that he was in the league.
• 36:38
  And uh, it's like you said, he probably pissed somebody off. He
• 36:42
  probably did. He'll probably get in next year. Then again, I said
• 36:46
  that last year that he's, oh, he's probably gonna get in in twenty
• 36:50
  twenty four, So I will have to wait and see. But I get
• 36:52
  where you're coming from, buddy, But it turns one of those situations like
• 36:57
  are the guys above him in no Hall of Fame? Franco and I believe
• 37:05
  they are, aren't they? Oh? I don't know. Actually I don't
• 37:07
  know Mark, I didn't even look. I'm just thinking out loud. Yeah,
• 37:13
  I actually don't know. Like for me, the reason he should be
• 37:16
  in is like the story itself, like this is where the riders are wrong,
• 37:22
  Like I, Okay, he might have pissed you off or mine said
• 37:24
  something stupid, but the fact that he the fact that he's like five nine,
• 37:30
  one hundred and sixty pounds through one hundred two miles an hour, Like
• 37:35
  I was there when they Philly signed him and it was like, holy shit,
• 37:37
  this guy's What the hell is this? Like Yeah, no, no,
• 37:40
  guy that's small throws that hard. Like I think the story itself and
• 37:45
  his stats should have got him in. I'm hoping he makes it next year.
• 37:50
  I'm hoping next year is like not one of those bizarre years where like
• 37:52
  no one gets in, like ah, that's where the Hall of Fame like
• 37:55
  just falls apart from absolutely like Todd Helton's another guy like he was with the
• 38:00
  same team his entire career. Joe Mauer Beltray played for a couple of teams,
• 38:04
  but his legacies, like it's too hard to ignore. Yeah, Wagner's
• 38:10
  like kind of up in the air because they so many teams. But I
• 38:13
  think the story itself should get him into the Hall of Fame. I just
• 38:15
  wanted to challenge you as a Phillies fan because when he left, he went
• 38:20
  to the Mets and the Braves, and it was like fuck him. Yeah
• 38:22
  yeah, so yeah, I completely get it. And look, I know
• 38:25
  that some players and whether Billy Wagner was one of those players that really pissed
• 38:30
  off whoever it was pissed off right here or there. He's not such a
• 38:36
  polarizing figure like a guy like Kurt Shilling in a way. And I know
• 38:39
  that's extreme, but like, yeah, Kurt Shilling probably never getting into the
• 38:44
  Hall of Fame based on who he really has become since leaving baseball and the
• 38:50
  legacy in his store. Again, that story of Kurt Shilling not necessarily reflecting
• 38:55
  well probably in the Hall of Fame, even though the stats are there,
• 38:59
  the numbers are there. He quote should be there in terms of stats and
• 39:02
  numbers, but there's other things that do go on, whether it's behind the
• 39:07
  scenes or from a pr perspective in front of our face. After these guys
• 39:09
  retire that do contribute to why they do or don't get in. So I
• 39:15
  get you, but Maguire should be in bonds like that's where it all falls
• 39:21
  apart from you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't think Wagner falls
• 39:25
  into that category at all. I'm not even sure if he said. I'm
• 39:29
  just thinking like he might have pissed off somebody somewhere. He's so borderline.
• 39:34
  I hope he makes it because he kind of he does deserve it. I
• 39:37
  look at his stats tonight. I'm like, man, it's kind of a
• 39:38
  joke. I just wanted to be like he's kind of a dick when he
• 39:42
  left film. Yeah, all right, all right, that's fair, fair
• 39:45
  for sure. All right, well let's move on here. We wanted to
• 39:47
  get into some NBA talk before we got into what we're thrown down on the
• 39:52
  table with Philadelphia Flyers. But Eric, I don't know if you've heard,
• 39:57
  Doc Rivers is peeping his head up in the NBA again here likely heading to
• 40:02
  the Milwaukee Bucks. Is it's happening, Yes, it's officially Yeah, he
• 40:07
  signed today, So yeah, oh did it actually? Did it actually?
• 40:10
  Happen. It was like, yeah, most guaranteed, Yeah, was posted
• 40:15
  it. All right, Well he's going to be there. How is this
• 40:16
  going to impact the Sixers? And they're standing in the East right now because
• 40:22
  I think aren't the Bucks? I think they're I think they're number two correct
• 40:25
  in the in the East if I believe, yeah, second in the East.
• 40:31
  Yeah, I gotta I gotta say. Part of me is like,
• 40:35
  really giddy, you know that. You know now, Bucks fans are gonna
• 40:38
  have to wonder why, like, oh my god, Dame and Giannis and
• 40:43
  Brook Lopez they're all off the floor at at the same time as five five
• 40:47
  man bench unit just completely gets waxed out there. Bucks fans are like,
• 40:52
  what's going on here? What's what's what's happening here? Part of me is
• 40:57
  really giddy about that. Eric, Dude, they're thirty one and thirteen.
• 41:00
  Sorry I hit the wrong record, but like to get fired as a coach
• 41:05
  man like I, there has to be there has to be something else going
• 41:07
  on there behind scenes. I'm kind of I'm kind of happy that there's that
• 41:10
  much turmoil with the team above us. The one thing I am scared about
• 41:15
  with Doc taking over is uh, he's absolutely going to focus on the stars,
• 41:21
  like because they were not running enough pick and roll between Jannison and Dame.
• 41:24
  I think it's going to happen a lot. He's going to be like,
• 41:27
  guys, I'm going to put my best players out there. I have
• 41:30
  seven guys I'm going to play because that's dock style. And he's going to
• 41:32
  be like, you're you're going to win its title or that's it. We
• 41:36
  have no other options. We're not making any trades because we have no other
• 41:39
  capital to make trades. Right, that's my one fear. This is my
• 41:45
  one. This is like more of a lifestyle question, like he's on the
• 41:50
  road like doing color analysts, like like for ESPN or whatever it is TNT.
• 41:55
  Yeah, Like do you just get an apartment in Milwaukee? How does
• 42:00
  his work? Like like one day you just go like, oh, okay,
• 42:06
  I was I'm in LA I'm gonna beat in Milwaukee Bucks coach like I'm
• 42:08
  just gonna yeah, like I'm gonna get a one bedroom and walking Like that's
• 42:15
  crazy to me, Like how does that work? He probably will, he
• 42:17
  probably does. We need to figure that out. I want to get a
• 42:20
  guest on the show that can talk to us intelligently about the actual like like
• 42:25
  the behind the scenes action that we just don't see. Okay, what happens
• 42:30
  if a player gets traded and he's got to go play a game of baseball
• 42:34
  in Philadelphia? He was just traded, you know, from from the Astros,
• 42:37
  let's say, and he's gonna be starting, He's gonna be starting on
• 42:40
  the mound, you know, in two nights. Like what is he doing
• 42:44
  is he's staying at the Hilton? Does he have to get an apartment?
• 42:46
  Like you said, same thing with dock here, Yeah, hostel for like
• 42:51
  a week. Yeah. I love that. I love that. It's a
• 42:55
  great take, But really I do wonder. You know, there's part of
• 43:00
  me that where I was joking before about you know, the fact that your
• 43:02
  superstars are going to be on the bench, and then you got you know,
• 43:05
  five five bench guys coming in just completely getting the crap kicked out of
• 43:08
  them. I mean, of course I was joking about that before, but
• 43:12
  like you, like, part of me worries that Doc is going to be
• 43:15
  a real upgrade for this team and what that's really gonna mean. But then
• 43:21
  again, we know how Doc has coached, we know how he can piss
• 43:24
  off certain players and especially probably superstar players, and I'm not sure how Dame
• 43:31
  is going to take to him, quite frankly, and there could be some
• 43:35
  dissanction. There really could over the course of these next couple months here,
• 43:38
  and of course I'm hoping for it. My take is they disrespected Adrian Griffin
• 43:45
  big time. Yeah, that's pretty obvious. Yeah. My biggest fear is
• 43:49
  he's a professional coach, he's a players coach, he's a superstar coach,
• 43:52
  and I think he's going to come in and cater to those guys and they're
• 43:59
  really fucking good, Like with all the dissension, Like tonight, I told
• 44:06
  my kids after the game, we're twelve and zero. We played a horrible
• 44:08
  game, Like, guys, you played like shit tonight. I didn't say
• 44:12
  that to their faces, but I was like, you guys played like shit
• 44:15
  tonight and we won by eleven points against the second best team in our division.
• 44:17
  Yeah, it means you're really good. So I feel like docs and
• 44:21
  a community like, guys, just relax. We got this, like,
• 44:25
  like, we're going to play upon our strengths. We're going to play upon
• 44:29
  we have two mega superstars that can both score. My biggest fear is he's
• 44:34
  going to turn around their defense. Yeah, I think a twenty third defense
• 44:37
  this year and like they are piss poorn defense. I think it's going to
• 44:42
  turn that around. That's that's my biggest concern as a Sixers fan is that
• 44:45
  he's a professional guy and he knows I'm gonna put guys on the floor that
• 44:50
  can score. I already have guys that can score. I'm gonna put guys
• 44:52
  on the floor that can play some defense too, And I think that's where
• 44:58
  he's going to benefit That team going to be a detriment to the Sixers.
• 45:00
  But the Sixers also have a lot of moves to make and which we can
• 45:05
  talk about on the show. Yeah, in the future, like the trade
• 45:08
  deadline is coming up like real fast, yea during rule week, so and
• 45:13
  I'm pretty sure they're gonna make a move. But like Doc going to the
• 45:16
  Bucks not good for the Sixers, not not not the end of the world.
• 45:21
  But like I was kind of like I was hoping they were gonna keep
• 45:23
  Aging and Griffin in place, because I was like, that's a coach we
• 45:25
  can take at advantage of, but not anymore. So great discussion and we're
• 45:30
  certainly gonna be talking about this Sixers team. As Eric said, the trade
• 45:34
  deadline is right around the corner, and we're gonna be talking about a lot
• 45:37
  more in the future here on the show. Eric, I'm gonna let you
• 45:42
  head out of here before we get into some Flyers talk. The Flyers are
• 45:45
  second in the Metropolitan Division. Then woo dude, Dad. In all seriousness,
• 45:50
  they have basically said, you know we everybody said we were gonna suck
• 45:54
  this year during this rebuild, but you know what, We're gonna shove it
• 45:58
  up your ass. And that is what they have been doing. It's been
• 46:00
  incredibly fun hockey to watch, just week by week. It's it's really incredible.
• 46:06
  And got a good guest, Kurdar, coming on from Broadstreet Hockey dot
• 46:09
  Com to talk about this team. So for I let you go, buddy,
• 46:12
  you got anything, got anything else here? I'm gonna watch a hockey
• 46:15
  game next week, Yes, next week Flyers game. Tell me which one
• 46:20
  I'm watching it. If anybody is like new to this show, what I
• 46:23
  mean by new is like over the past few months, and when we like
• 46:25
  make fun of Eric not watching hot it's it's not like you've never watched a
• 46:30
  hockey game before in your life. I mean, you've watched Flyers games before.
• 46:35
  It's the best live sport in sport, in sports. I love live
• 46:38
  Hockey's fucking awesome, greats awesome. Yes, yes, I I just only
• 46:44
  have so much time in my life. Yes, the sports bandwidth only goes
• 46:49
  so far. Oh my god, Yes, I agree. All right,
• 46:52
  buddy, you're gonna let you go, folks. We're gonna take quick break
• 46:54
  here. We'll be back in just a bit with some Flyers talk. All
• 46:58
  right, we are Backlet's get to what we're thrown down on the table this
• 47:01
  week. A lot of Philadelphia Flyers issues and in talent, to get into
• 47:07
  how we're seeing certain talent developed during this rebuild with the goalie situation is going
• 47:10
  to be looking like of course from a short term and long term perspective,
• 47:15
  that's what we're thrown down on the table. And now on the table joining
• 47:22
  us this week, he writes words over at Broadstreet Hockey dot com. I
• 47:25
  am a subscriber on the five dollars a month platform and you should be as
• 47:30
  well. They'd give fantastic content to those who are reading on the site.
• 47:34
  Lots of great analysis. We've got the one and only Kurt are Kurt,
• 47:37
  buddy, how you doing, Thanks for jumping on. I'm good, I'm
• 47:40
  good. Thank you, Jeff. Always glad to hear it again what he
• 47:44
  said, if you we welcome on subscribers. We welcome all subscribers. We're
• 47:47
  trying to give you know, a voice out there for you know, this
• 47:51
  fan base and what's been a surprisingly interesting and exciting year. Yeah, we've
• 47:54
  enjoyed watching this team for what feels like the first time since at least you
• 47:59
  know, that run right before the world ended. And I know some some
• 48:02
  have made the joke that, you know, the last time the Flyers were
• 48:05
  this interesting and it's exciting, the world came to a pause, right,
• 48:08
  Well, hope it doesn't come to that exactly. We're enjoying this season.
• 48:12
  It's great. And you can follow Kurt on Twitter slash x at Kurt Underscore
• 48:16
  BSh. He is a great, great follow And I guess we have to
• 48:22
  address the elephant in the room first. You know, I don't want to
• 48:23
  get into, of course, too too many details as it pertains to Carter
• 48:28
  Hart an illegal type of issues that may be going on with regard to him
• 48:31
  his camp. But there was a press conference as we're recording this on January
• 48:37
  twenty fourth. Here on Wednesday press conference, Flyers addressed what they could have
• 48:43
  Kurt, I don't know, do you want to just kind of take us
• 48:45
  through this because I wanted to get into the goalie situation with you as it
• 48:47
  pertains to this team. We just heard the news and it's just it's kind
• 48:52
  of deflating to an extent, But we don't want to hypothesize about anything,
• 48:58
  but we're probably not. I could be seeing Carter Hart for quite some time.
• 49:01
  Yeah, yeah, So in relation to, you know, the the
• 49:06
  twenty eighteen year old junior's team which had an ongoing about which there was an
• 49:09
  ongoing investigation regarding a group sexual assault that included multiple members of the team,
• 49:15
  it's again it's tough to speculate. But also with Carter Hart going on indefinitely
• 49:22
  from the team yesterday, four other players from the team or from that twenty
• 49:25
  eighteen team being placed on indefinitely from their teams within the one earlier like this
• 49:31
  week, and then three others as of Wednesday morning, and then with the
• 49:36
  report from The Globe and Mail in Canada saying that London police expect five players
• 49:40
  to surrender to face possibly face charges. It's difficult not connect, to connect
• 49:46
  those stats, and like, it sucks, it's brutal, and you know,
• 49:51
  hockey shouldn't even be the biggest focus here, but it's yeah, we
• 49:58
  mean, either way, we shouldn't. We probably just shouldn't expect Carter Hart
• 50:02
  to be the goalie here for a while. Like you said, you know,
• 50:05
  we were going to talk about the goaltending situation. Either way, it's
• 50:08
  brutal that this is the way that we have to look at the long term
• 50:13
  picture now exactly I mean, And again, it sucks to frame it that
• 50:15
  way because that shouldn't be the focus here, but nonetheless that is something to
• 50:20
  consider. It sucks that it needs to be framed that way, and it
• 50:22
  sucks because this team, as you mentioned Kurt, is doing things that we
• 50:25
  did not expect to see this season. There is some sort of hope,
• 50:30
  There is a glimmer of hope. There is that sparkle within Flyers Nation's eyes
• 50:36
  about where this team could potentially be going in the future, what Carter Hart
• 50:38
  has meant to this team during the course of his tenure as a youngster in
• 50:44
  his twenties, but really what it all means for the goalie situation. I've
• 50:47
  said to one of your colleagues last time she was on Kelly Hankel and talking
• 50:52
  about you know, I remember the days of Brisgagalov, you know, and
• 50:57
  you know Steve Mason, and you think about the history of this Philadelphia Flyers
• 51:01
  organization and the goalies position in particular, and the fact that we've had a
• 51:07
  good thing here I think in front of our faces now for a little while
• 51:09
  in terms of Carter Hart, in terms of Sam Erson that you know,
• 51:13
  we really want to kind of dive into, and we'll get to it right
• 51:15
  off the bat here, Kurt. You know what's gonna happen with this goalie
• 51:20
  position long term and even short term, I mean a short term now we
• 51:23
  know, you know, based on what you were just talking about and the
• 51:27
  update you just provided, we know short term, sam Erson he's going to
• 51:31
  be in front of net for quite some time. There will be you know,
• 51:35
  backup, backup goalie as well. And I don't know if you want
• 51:38
  to get into that too in terms of the short term, but I do
• 51:43
  wonder if sam Erson is actually going to end up being the long term answer
• 51:47
  to the solution in terms of consistency in front of the net. So I
• 51:51
  don't know, let's get started here on the goalie situation. You know,
• 51:53
  what are your thoughts at this particular point here, buddy? Yeah, again,
• 51:58
  like it feels gross to speculate about heart long term. Yeah, and
• 52:02
  you know, like you said, so we'll all we can assume right now
• 52:07
  is he's going to be away from the team for a while. So and
• 52:09
  who knows how long a while is, but yeah, so all we can
• 52:12
  assume for now Samerson's going to get a lot of starts here and and again
• 52:17
  you have to be careful with how you frame this, but like it's it's
• 52:21
  not I don't want to say opportunity again, it's it's all just very icky
• 52:24
  to tiptoe around. But you know, he's he's going to be the starter
• 52:29
  here and it and you know he's been in workload wise, he's shown he
• 52:35
  can handle a starter's workload because you know he did it last year. He
• 52:38
  played I think near was I think it was about close to sixty games between
• 52:43
  the Flyers and Fantoms and the playoffs in his last year in Sweden, I
• 52:46
  think he played about fifty and you know he's played well this year, he's
• 52:50
  going to get a chance to get a lot of games. I think it
• 52:52
  seems the Flyers right now prefer Cal Peterson as their number three option, who
• 52:57
  will now be their number two option, because he's the one they called up.
• 53:00
  So he and I imagine he'll get into some games as well. He's
• 53:04
  only playing in a couple this year mixed results. You know, he's a
• 53:07
  guy that got salary dumped to them. But yeah, short term, sam
• 53:10
  Erson is gonna get you know, he's gonna he's gonna get a lot of
• 53:14
  games, and he's you know, he's someone that the Flyers like, you
• 53:16
  know, I believe. Charlie O'Connor asked this morning in Danny BER's press conference,
• 53:21
  like, do you guys see Erson as someone who can be number one
• 53:23
  goalie down the road? Danny Brier said definitely, yeah, you know,
• 53:28
  so I wouldn't expect him to say anything else, but nonetheless, like you
• 53:30
  do get the sense of the organization's high on Erson. Tortorella basically since Ersen
• 53:35
  came up last year, has seemed to like him a lot, Like you
• 53:37
  could tell he liked playing him more than he liked playing Felix Hanstrom. So
• 53:43
  yeah, he's he's gonna get some run here and we're gonna see it like
• 53:45
  he it feels like through his time as an NHL player, Erson has had
• 53:50
  you know, a bad game here and there, and otherwise has been very
• 53:52
  solid. He's been very consistent. Absolutely, and the Flyers, you know,
• 53:57
  we'll we'll see what he can do because he's now it's his net down
• 54:00
  the stretch now in what increasingly looks like a play like a team that's going
• 54:04
  to make a run at a playoff spot. Long term, it's tough to
• 54:07
  say. Again, setting aside what we don't know about the about Carter Hart,
• 54:13
  Person's only fourteen months younger than Carter Hart, which surprised me when I
• 54:15
  when I checked that. Yeah, but he's but yeah, I mean he
• 54:21
  and the Flyers signed him to a two year extension before this season. Well,
• 54:24
  he still had a year left on his contract. It's a weird contract
• 54:30
  for a guy in his situation. I don't remember if he was coming.
• 54:31
  I think he was. I think this is the last year of his entry
• 54:35
  level deal. It's not a kind of contract you see signed for like a
• 54:38
  young player and a backup goalie that often. And it suggests that like they
• 54:43
  very much saw him as at least, you know, a backup goalie for
• 54:45
  the next two years, as like someone who could hang on in this organization
• 54:49
  for a couple of years. Yep. So clearly the ORG likes him.
• 54:52
  Clearly the ORG is going to give him a chance to do something that said.
• 54:58
  You know, they spent two reasonably high draft picks on goalies this past
• 55:00
  them this past draft and a Carson Barnesen who will probably be on Team Canada
• 55:06
  next year, and uh and igor Zaverrigan. If I'm butchering names here,
• 55:10
  I apologize both guys that Danny Brier and New York they are clearly like a
• 55:15
  lot. I'm Alexei Kolosov, who was drafted by Chuck Fletcher is another guy
• 55:20
  that they seemed reasonably high on. Hasn't been as good in the KHL this
• 55:22
  year as he was last year, but nonetheless someone who who they seem to
• 55:27
  be optimistic about. Yeah, so there are there's options. There are a
• 55:31
  lot of guys in there are a lot of guys in the pipeline. A
• 55:34
  granded goalie prospects just requires so much projection. And the fact that Sam Erston
• 55:37
  is here, we're watching him play, He's going to get fifty games at
• 55:40
  the NHL level this year at least probably barring injury. Yep. And and
• 55:46
  the fact that he's here and like he just requires so much less projection at
• 55:50
  such an unstable position makes you think, yeah, he's he's going to be
• 55:52
  around for a while. And that's before you factor in how up front of
• 55:57
  the Flyer of the Bend and saying, hey, yeah, we like this
• 55:59
  guy a lot. He's he's gonna play. So, I mean, again,
• 56:01
  not the way you wanted to go about it, but the Flyers are
• 56:02
  going to get a look at him. Definitely, I'm interested to see how
• 56:07
  it goes. Yes, absolutely, I mean, yes, there's a wrench
• 56:10
  that is put into the spokes of this wheel now at this point in terms
• 56:14
  of the goalie situation. But and I think it is a fair assessment to
• 56:17
  say that that having somebody like Sam Erson is like, not too too many
• 56:23
  teams have this ability and the option that the Flyers do. And I think
• 56:29
  it's I think it says a lot, you know, in terms of Danny
• 56:31
  Briere, terms of the front office and the structure that they have put in
• 56:36
  place for this rebuild too. And speaking of that, as we're moving along
• 56:39
  here, Kurt. You know, I love I loved the acquisition of Jamie
• 56:45
  Drysdale. I love having him on this team. He recently scored his first
• 56:47
  goal of the season in a Flyers uniform, and you know, we've seen
• 56:51
  some really good stuff from him, I think thus far and looking long term,
• 56:54
  Yes, I know they still need that number one defenseman in the future.
• 56:59
  We all know that they need that number one defenseman in the future.
• 57:01
  But I do wonder as to whether or not that could be Jamie Drysdale.
• 57:06
  Could it be him, maybe even Oliver Bonk. You know, there are
• 57:08
  some defensemen in the pipeline. I'm wondering your thoughts on whether it's Drysdale and
• 57:15
  Bank that can be that top number one pairing in the future. I mean,
• 57:19
  have you given any thought to that and where the defensive pairs may be
• 57:23
  moving in the future. I mean it'd be nice. Yeah, Drydale's fun
• 57:29
  like he you know, he's He's I think the best skater they've had on
• 57:31
  the blue lines, probably since Shane Gazaspair who yep, and even ghosts like
• 57:36
  ghost like straight line. It's probably faster, but I feel like Drysdale's a
• 57:39
  little smoother. I could be wrong, and it's been a while since I
• 57:42
  watched Ghost that closely, but yeah, I mean he's certainly fun, brings
• 57:45
  a you know, brings a that kind of dimension to the team that could
• 57:47
  certainly use it. There, you know, you can tell there's still work
• 57:52
  to be done with him and he and I think that Tortorella in one of
• 57:55
  those first couple of press one of those first press conferences where Drysdale was was
• 58:00
  after one of Drysdale's games, he made the reft he called him a rover
• 58:06
  and like, you know, if you know John Torrell's background, there's been
• 58:07
  some really good writing about like his time with Seth Jones and zach Rensky and
• 58:12
  Columbus and he a term that he used to describe those two guys as well.
• 58:15
  So like again, the ORG clearly is high on him, and I
• 58:19
  think, you know, the skill sets there. You know, he was
• 58:21
  a guy who was built, as you know, one of the best prospects
• 58:22
  of hockey. Back before he joined the Ducks, things didn't go super smoothly
• 58:27
  there. Now, granted the Ducks one of the years he at least one
• 58:30
  of the years he was there were pretty openly tanking and as and as we
• 58:35
  sort of saw with Rasmuss the line who I think we'll get to in a
• 58:37
  minute here, Like you have to be careful drawing conclusions from what you see
• 58:42
  on the ice with the young guys on bad teams. So and now he's
• 58:45
  here on a good team. You're seeing you know, you see the talent.
• 58:50
  It's and I think the Flyers have played pretty well since he got too.
• 58:52
  Since he got here, his on ice numbers just like its five and
• 58:55
  five numbers haven't been great. But you know, twenty one year old in
• 58:58
  the new system, I'm not he's played five games, I believe. I'm
• 59:00
  not going to put a ton and he was also had he had an illness.
• 59:05
  I think like he missed a couple of games. I'm not going to
• 59:07
  put a ton of weight into that. You know, we can reevaluate that
• 59:09
  after you know, twenty five games end of the year into next year.
• 59:13
  See like how how that all shakes out and how in his numbers. But
• 59:16
  I mean the skill set's intriguing. And again a guy like that, you
• 59:21
  know, number one defenseman status is lofty, but he's it's he has the
• 59:24
  skill set to make it work. You'd think Bank is a guy you know,
• 59:28
  have to say stock up on him. You know, when I drafted
• 59:30
  him after Mitch Cough, it almost felt like, I know, there were
• 59:35
  a lot of exciting wingers who went like around that time. I think like
• 59:37
  Gabe Perrot went right after him, I believe to the Rangers, and I
• 59:40
  know some Flyers fans are like, man, I really wish we could have
• 59:43
  got Gay Parro. It almost felt at the time like the Flyers said,
• 59:45
  Okay, we we took like the ultimate home runs went on Matvey Mitchcoff.
• 59:47
  Great pick, by the way. You know, we did this big risky
• 59:51
  thing. Now we just need to find a safe defenseman and plug him in
• 59:53
  there. Okay, and look, man, credit to Oliver Bank. He's
• 59:58
  he's played really well this year. Now he is playing on the Ohl equivalent
• 1:00:02
  of an All Star team in London. So like you look at the numbers,
• 1:00:06
  you have to you have to mentally adjust a little bit for that,
• 1:00:08
  just because like that team's so so stacked. Denver Barkie who also guy I'm
• 1:00:14
  very excited about like on that team as well. Like so when you see
• 1:00:16
  the huge point numbers, you just sort of have to remember, Okay,
• 1:00:19
  there's a lot, there's a lot working in the savor here. Nonetheless,
• 1:00:22
  part of what's working in that teams favor is his being on it. So
• 1:00:24
  yep, yeah, he's He's impressed me more than I thought. Like he
• 1:00:28
  got billed as like a steady, steady defenseman who like may he probably tops
• 1:00:34
  out as a second pair guy, and maybe that's what he becomes. But
• 1:00:37
  I mean people I trust, people are respective, said like, he's shown
• 1:00:39
  offensive skills this year that we weren't seeing from him last year. And I
• 1:00:44
  mean he's eighteen or he might be nineteen at this point, I'm not actually
• 1:00:45
  sure that's You expect a guy like that to progress, You expect a guy
• 1:00:51
  like that to add skills to a skill set. I mean, he's got
• 1:00:52
  the physical profile, he moves well, he plays a sound defensive game.
• 1:00:58
  If he's adding you know that two way to mentioned offensively, yeah, have
• 1:01:01
  to be excited. Yeah, and if he can be I don't Again,
• 1:01:05
  I don't want to say like, yeah, he's going to be a number
• 1:01:07
  one guy, but like, if you can you can pop him on a
• 1:01:08
  top pair. That answers a lot of questions because that is clearly the weak
• 1:01:12
  spot in the Flyers prospect pool, right now. Absolutely. It was interesting
• 1:01:15
  in your in your discussion right there, you called the Flyers a good team.
• 1:01:21
  I love it. I can't believe it. I believe that they're a
• 1:01:24
  good team. They're a good team, folks. They're a good team.
• 1:01:28
  My goodness. And we'll get to that. Yes, absolutely, And well
• 1:01:30
  you mentioned you know Rasmus Wristolane and you know this, this is a this
• 1:01:35
  is a gentleman who is not having a bad season at all. He's not
• 1:01:37
  having a terrible season, Kurt. And while you know the the forty plus
• 1:01:42
  points seasons for Risto are likely a thing of the past at this point.
• 1:01:45
  I mean, he's really made some improvements to his game this season, especially
• 1:01:51
  from his play driving impact. So I'm wondering, like, how have you
• 1:01:53
  been looking at what ristalline and has been really giving this team throughout this season,
• 1:01:59
  you know, based on where he is at in his career and what
• 1:02:02
  he can continue to give this team. Yeah, I mean, it's it's
• 1:02:07
  so interesting. And I mentioned it in the context of Drysdale being on a
• 1:02:10
  bad team, and I have to come back to it here. I remember
• 1:02:15
  I'm getting off track here sort of, but I remember an interview that Arnold
• 1:02:17
  Kelly Hinkle did with a Buffalo based reporter joe Yarden, right after that trade.
• 1:02:22
  Yeah, and he talked about a lot about how, you know,
• 1:02:24
  Risto was on a bad Buffalo team for eight years, got twenty five minutes
• 1:02:29
  a night, did whatever the heck he wanted to do with the puck,
• 1:02:31
  and like a lot of bad habits got ingrained into him. And I thought
• 1:02:36
  about that in a postgame press conference he did recently where he said, I
• 1:02:39
  wish Sean Tortorel as my coach when I was eighteen, because like a lot
• 1:02:45
  and that's him basically clearly saying I think that, like this guy is teaching
• 1:02:50
  me like how to play hockey right now at twenty eight, twenty nine,
• 1:02:53
  right in a way that like you just don't expect to happen this far into
• 1:02:58
  a guy's career. And it was why I was very skeptical of the people
• 1:03:00
  when they made the trade, that people who said, like, yeah,
• 1:03:02
  you know, he was in a bad situation, he'll be better here,
• 1:03:05
  Like that's not usually how this works. Guys don't turn into just totally different
• 1:03:07
  players five hundred games from the career. It doesn't happen. Yeah, and
• 1:03:10
  that it has happened is a testament to the player, a testament to the
• 1:03:15
  flyers who you know, I still wouldn't. I'm still not as high on
• 1:03:19
  them as as him as I think they are. Like I wouldn't, I
• 1:03:21
  still would not give up a first, a second, and a five year,
• 1:03:22
  twenty five million dollar contract for the player he is now. But like
• 1:03:25
  he's, he's been a good player. He's been a solid defensive defenseman,
• 1:03:30
  and we've now seen it for a year and a half under John Tortorell.
• 1:03:32
  You have to acknowledge this has happened like he's. I still, like again
• 1:03:37
  think his value might be higher elsewhere, but he's you know, he's been
• 1:03:40
  the player that the Flyers think he can be to a degree, like he's,
• 1:03:45
  he's a solid defensive player he had I don't think he's been great on
• 1:03:49
  the penalty kill, but like at five on five, he's been a strong
• 1:03:52
  he's driven strong defensive results for a year and a half. Now, at
• 1:03:55
  some point you have to say, okay, there's something here again yet offensively
• 1:04:00
  as if you're not like putting him on the power plane having him bomb away
• 1:04:03
  back there, like I don't think he's given you a ton, but every
• 1:04:08
  stop and you'll see some aggression from him that makes you think, like,
• 1:04:10
  ah, there's something that's something that you can work with. Right, But
• 1:04:13
  again, like as like a middle of the lineup defender, like he's been
• 1:04:16
  fine, He's been perfectly fine. And that's you know, credit to the
• 1:04:20
  Flyers, credit to him as a player for making the developments there. And
• 1:04:25
  I mean he's been put in his position to succeed and he's made. He's
• 1:04:29
  going to make for some interesting decisions at the trade deadline here because I know
• 1:04:32
  that earlier in the year there were rumors that teams are interested in him.
• 1:04:36
  It'll be it'll be interesting to see what the Flyers do there. Absolutely,
• 1:04:40
  but yeah, again you had to give as someone who was a doubter from
• 1:04:43
  before day one of him on the Flyers, you got to give him credit.
• 1:04:45
  I would actually give him like a B plus grade at this point,
• 1:04:48
  give him what we've seen this season, and I think that's significant that the
• 1:04:51
  grade from last year to this year. I think it's certainly improved. And
• 1:04:58
  you know that's why I wanted to get into some grades with you now in
• 1:05:00
  terms of some certain players and talent on this team, Kurt, I'd really
• 1:05:04
  like to talk about three particular players, So if we can, uh,
• 1:05:08
  I'd love to know what your grade is for them right now at this point
• 1:05:12
  in terms of them reaching a certain threshold of potential for this season and how
• 1:05:17
  they're developing. So let's start with Owen Tippett here. What what grade would
• 1:05:21
  you actually give him this season in terms of you know, you know,
• 1:05:26
  what he's done with his development and reaching that that threshold. What are your
• 1:05:30
  thoughts? I think that probably like B plus A minus. Maybe like I'd
• 1:05:39
  shave towards a B plus because I think like he I think basically what he
• 1:05:41
  showed is that what he did last year wasn't a fluke. Yes, and
• 1:05:45
  like there's I mean I was gonna give an that's what I was gonna get.
• 1:05:47
  Yeah, you could talk me into that. Yeah, I mean we
• 1:05:50
  we now know, Okay, No, this guy's a top six s winger.
• 1:05:53
  He's like what we saw last year's real, Like, he's a top
• 1:05:55
  six swinger. Dude shoots the heck out of the puck like often, and
• 1:05:59
  every so often we'll see like some really really cool stuff off his stick,
• 1:06:02
  like to highlight reel goals in a lot like in one week last week,
• 1:06:05
  yep, Like we know he has that in him, like he can skate,
• 1:06:10
  he can shoot, Like he's the kind of player like he sort of
• 1:06:13
  provided, like the he in these last two years has provided like the kind
• 1:06:16
  of jolt that we briefly saw from cam Atkinson yes when he first came here.
• 1:06:20
  And like the fact that he's doing into like twenty four twenty five means
• 1:06:24
  there's maybe still a little bit of projection there. But even if like this
• 1:06:27
  is just what he is going forward, like twenty five to thirty gold guy
• 1:06:29
  on your second line who can like move, he can shoot, well,
• 1:06:31
  isn't a liability defensively? Like sweet, that's awesome, Like that's as good
• 1:06:36
  at and you know, the the claud Dry trade. It's funny right now
• 1:06:40
  that that you know, at the time that felt like a really underwhelming return,
• 1:06:43
  and it's like, Okay, I know I can work with this.
• 1:06:45
  That's a that's a top six player. That's a second line player at worst,
• 1:06:47
  who you know again on a like a on a title contending team,
• 1:06:51
  he's probably a second line player. And that's that at least, and that's
• 1:06:57
  worth a lot. Yep, all right, very good. Well, kind
• 1:07:00
  of sticking with the theme here. You know, I'd like to get your
• 1:07:02
  thoughts on Igor Zamola at this point here. I mean, I'm gonna I'm
• 1:07:08
  just I mean, if I had to give him a grade, I would
• 1:07:10
  say it's probably an average grade at this point in terms of this season,
• 1:07:15
  maybe C C plus maybe around there. I don't know, what do you
• 1:07:18
  think? And in terms of Egor Zamola development reaching that certain threshold that you
• 1:07:24
  were hoping to see this season. Thoughts on Zamola, I have to give
• 1:07:28
  him some points just because, like in the last month, him getting on
• 1:07:31
  the power play has made the power play better and it didn't expect that at
• 1:07:35
  all, exactly, Like if you look at the underlying numbers there, it's
• 1:07:38
  not like a huge difference, but he has been their best, like all
• 1:07:41
  the underlying say, he has been their best power play defenseman. Yeah,
• 1:07:44
  and like I have to give him a lower credit for that because the power
• 1:07:46
  play with him and it has gone from the worst in the NHL to below
• 1:07:50
  average. Yeah, and that's you know, that's that's something right. But
• 1:07:55
  yeah, like at five on five, there's clearly worked, Like as a
• 1:07:57
  finished product, there's clearly work to be done there. You saw it in
• 1:07:59
  the out of a game the other day, Like, you know, he
• 1:08:00
  has the very silly goal where no one knows where the puck is, and
• 1:08:03
  then he has another like nice shot, and then he gets burnt going the
• 1:08:08
  other way and gives up a goal because of that, Like, yeah,
• 1:08:10
  that's that's like if that's the trade off with him, that's okay. Like
• 1:08:14
  my expectations for him were never super high. You know, underafted player came
• 1:08:17
  in, you know, was like tight making the team this year. I
• 1:08:20
  wasn't expecting much more than like a number five defenseman. And I feel like
• 1:08:25
  you've got that. I feel like he can he's that probably and if and
• 1:08:29
  when you trade guys down the stretch, whether you know it's Seeler or Walker
• 1:08:32
  or someone like that, he'll really get a chance to settle into that role.
• 1:08:36
  But yeah, I feel like a sea I'll bump him up to a
• 1:08:40
  C plus because of the power play stuff, because I do think that's increasingly
• 1:08:43
  looking like oh that might be a real thing, okay, which I wouldn't
• 1:08:45
  have expected. But yeah, as a whole, Like I'm not super high
• 1:08:48
  on him, but if the power but if him, if he's genuinely making
• 1:08:51
  a difference, on a power play that's been so bad for most of the
• 1:08:55
  year. Yeah, then I think you got to then you've got to keep
• 1:08:57
  him in the lineup just for that. Absolutely, if he is on this
• 1:08:59
  church jectory seriously for the rest of the season, I mean I could bump
• 1:09:01
  that up. If it's on the trajectory at the end of the season,
• 1:09:03
  I could bump them up to a BEE. I would. I would say
• 1:09:05
  that if he's currently on this trajectory, keeps it going, you know.
• 1:09:10
  For me, I think he'd get up to a BB plus actually, So
• 1:09:14
  again, you know, in terms of watching development with some of these players,
• 1:09:19
  I have to know what your thoughts are with regard to Cam York here.
• 1:09:23
  I mean I would give him. I'd actually give him a solid BEE
• 1:09:27
  at the at this point here, So what are your thoughts in terms of
• 1:09:30
  Cam York, what you've seen thus far? What great I think a be's
• 1:09:32
  about right, Like if you wanted to be a little bit of a tough
• 1:09:35
  grader, maybe be minus okay, but like he's been fine. Like I
• 1:09:40
  I know that some of the numbers folks were real high on Cam York coming
• 1:09:43
  into him coming this year, like his his pistical profile last year was actually
• 1:09:46
  excellent, and this year he's been you know, he's been solid. He's
• 1:09:50
  you know, there's there's you can see the appeal. You can see like,
• 1:09:54
  Okay, this guy's gonna be an NHL player for a while. And
• 1:09:58
  it's also tough to hell like how much of that is Sandheim related, just
• 1:10:01
  because he's been with him for basically the whole season and Sandheim it seems like
• 1:10:03
  it's having a really nice bounce back year. Always tough to untangle who gets
• 1:10:10
  the who gets the credit there? Yeah, yeah, yorkm Yeah, York
• 1:10:15
  usually like makes makes good plays. He's you know, a pretty sound defenceman.
• 1:10:18
  But all in all, I think it's tough to like. I don't,
• 1:10:21
  I don't. I'm not wowed by him. But I also, you
• 1:10:25
  know, for where expectations were for a guy like him coming in as like
• 1:10:28
  you drafted him, you think you're probably getting like a solid number, like
• 1:10:30
  a solid, steady number three defenseman. Yep, nothing I've seen this year
• 1:10:34
  has taken me off of that expectation. I don't know if it's much higher
• 1:10:39
  than that, Like last year it looked like he could be more than that.
• 1:10:41
  I mean, he's still only twenty two. I think I could check
• 1:10:45
  these things. But yeah, so he's still got time. But yeah,
• 1:10:48
  I think yeah, probably a B B minus. I think it's for him,
• 1:10:51
  absolutely fair. For sure, he's solid. He's a solid player,
• 1:10:55
  but again it's it's tough to untangle what he does from what Sandheim is doing
• 1:10:59
  this year. Yeah, in a while, since we actually dove into just
• 1:11:01
  defenseman here on the PST podcast show, And again, folks, we're talking
• 1:11:06
  to Kurt R from Broadstreet Hockey dot com and you can follow Kurt on Twitter
• 1:11:12
  x at Kurt Underscore BSh. Great great follow And to close us out here,
• 1:11:17
  Kurt wanted to get your overall thoughts on how this Metropolitan division here is
• 1:11:20
  shaking out. I mean, my god, the Flyers, as of us
• 1:11:24
  recording this are in second place, second place, for God's sake, and
• 1:11:28
  I think a lot of us are thinking the Rugs just gonna get pulled out
• 1:11:30
  from under us. Ere we are having a fun season, at least I
• 1:11:32
  am, as a Flyers fan, having a fun season watching this rebuild and
• 1:11:36
  just watching what this team has been doing defensively and even from an offensive standpoint.
• 1:11:41
  What are your overall thoughts here on how this Metropolitan division is really shaken
• 1:11:45
  out as it pertains to the Flyers. Other teams got the trade deadline coming
• 1:11:47
  up that can obviously again put a wrench in the spokes of this Flyers team
• 1:11:53
  and what they've been doing. So what are your overall thoughts here? Yeah,
• 1:11:59
  the Metros tricky because I mean I think you know, the Rangers are
• 1:12:01
  still up there. They're being the Rangers. They you know, they have
• 1:12:05
  a good goalie and score five goals on the rough every game. They've been
• 1:12:09
  doing it for fifteen years. Yep. And uh other other than that,
• 1:12:13
  like teams basically two through seven are all in a very weird spot. It's
• 1:12:17
  weird. It's weird to see. It really is so strange, Carolina.
• 1:12:21
  I'm pretty sure he's going to put it together. Like they're they're started to
• 1:12:25
  play better. Yeah, everyone else is tricky, Like you know, the
• 1:12:29
  Aisles just fired their coach. I don't know how the Patrick wat experiment's going
• 1:12:30
  to go there. I don't know if they have the personnel to play how
• 1:12:33
  he wants to play. The Devils. I keep expecting them to pull it
• 1:12:39
  together, but they're so banged up, Like Hughes is still out their defenses
• 1:12:43
  and shambles without Dougie Hamilton. Like I keep expecting them to make like a
• 1:12:47
  Hurricanes like run, and they might, but they're starting to run out at
• 1:12:51
  time. Yeah, Like I mean, playoff adds projections all like basically have
• 1:12:58
  the Flyers and Devils andretty similar spots, which is crazy to me. But
• 1:13:03
  here, you know, we're forty five games in this were almost almost fifty
• 1:13:06
  games in the season, like here we are. Yeah, and the Penguins.
• 1:13:10
  I think the Penguins are starting to put it together a little bit,
• 1:13:12
  but again, like they're they're down there. You know, they got to
• 1:13:15
  they got to make a bit of a run. The Capitals, I think
• 1:13:18
  they're going to fall apart. They're the one here that like I just don't
• 1:13:20
  see playing a big role in this. Like they're being propped up by their
• 1:13:26
  backup goaltender Alex eve Echkin is slowing down at an alarming rate, and they
• 1:13:30
  just don't have the horses otherwise, I think, And I I mean,
• 1:13:33
  if it as far as the playoff race goes, you know, you look
• 1:13:35
  over at the you look over at the Atlantic, And it's why Tuesday Night's
• 1:13:41
  loss was a tough one to take because Tampa Tampa, for what feels like
• 1:13:44
  the first time in years, is vulnerable. Yeah, you know, they
• 1:13:46
  don't have they just don't quite have the horses they usually do Toronto homes.
• 1:13:53
  It'd be funny if they mess U. I'm pretty sure they're going to figure
• 1:13:55
  it out. So yeah, it feels to me like you've got five teams
• 1:13:59
  in the East that are probably in in New York, Carolina, Boston,
• 1:14:01
  Florida, and Toronto, and then you've got Tampa, Detroit, Jersey,
• 1:14:08
  the Islanders, the Penguins, and the Flyers fighting for three spots. Yep,
• 1:14:11
  yeah, and I mean yeah, like I said, you know,
• 1:14:14
  playoff odds, projection sites all have the Flyers still wherever I check between like
• 1:14:18
  fifty and seventy percent chance of getting in, betting markets have them shaded towards
• 1:14:24
  getting it, like not by a ton, but by a little bit,
• 1:14:26
  like favor of the Flyers to get in. Yeah, like I said,
• 1:14:30
  I think it's going to be those six teams fighting for three spots. I'm
• 1:14:33
  increasingly believing less and less than the Aisles and the Red Wings and if if
• 1:14:39
  they're not going to hang around the net, would leaves four other teams in
• 1:14:43
  competition for those three and that would really and yeah, it'd be fun to
• 1:14:45
  It would be fun in the middle of the quote unquote rebuilding year to be
• 1:14:48
  fighting at Pittsburgh Penguins who are still all in for a playoff spot. I'd
• 1:14:51
  really enjoy it. That would be fun for sure. Again, folks,
• 1:14:54
  Kurt are from broad Street Hockey dot Com at Kurt Underscore BSh on the Twitter
• 1:15:00
  slash x Kurt Buddy. It was great talking to you. Thanks so much
• 1:15:03
  for your insights with regard to this Flyers team. Man, I would love
• 1:15:06
  to talk to you at some other point down the road. Come back and
• 1:15:10
  join us, my friend, We'll do Thanks for having me. We've talked
• 1:15:13
  a decent amount on this show. You know, when we do Flyers talk
• 1:15:16
  here that whether or not we want this team to actually get a better draft
• 1:15:20
  pick, whether or not we want to see Flyers playoff hockey. And I
• 1:15:23
  think at the end of the day right now, I think the excitement,
• 1:15:25
  at least for me and I know a lot of my friends watch Flyers hockey,
• 1:15:29
  is that we want to see this team just do well overall. You
• 1:15:30
  know, of course, the rebuild is going on, and they're strategic type
• 1:15:33
  of moves that the Flyers front office can make to determine how this rebuild is
• 1:15:40
  going to go, perhaps in a more strategic fashion. But I want to
• 1:15:43
  see playoff hockey. I want to see. I want to see fun playoff
• 1:15:46
  hockey, and the way that this Flyers team has played so far this season,
• 1:15:50
  it would be fun playoff hockey. That's where I'm at, folks.
• 1:15:54
  I want to see this this Flyers team in the playoffs and you know,
• 1:15:59
  if they get knocked out in the first round, to get knocked out in
• 1:16:00
  the first round, you know, fun playoff hockey is entertaining and that's what
• 1:16:06
  I want to see with my Flyers team here. So that being said,
• 1:16:10
  again, so much appreciation and thanks to Kurt for jumping on. That's going
• 1:16:15
  to do it for us this week. Here Philadelphia Sports Table dot com.
• 1:16:17
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• 1:16:20
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• 1:16:26
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• 1:16:29
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• 1:16:32
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• 1:16:36
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• 1:16:43
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• 1:16:47
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• 1:16:51
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• 1:16:57
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• 1:17:00
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• 1:17:04
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• 1:17:08
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• 1:17:10
  time. M