Latest / Jablam Sports Hockey / Philadelphia Flyers 2026-2027 Season Preview: Brière cooking up some deals

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Philadelphia Flyers 2026-2027 Season Preview: Brière cooking up some deals · Jablam Sports Hockey

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome to Jablam Sports Hockey, your home for everything happening around the NHL.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: I'm your host, Peter Rojuranov, and every episode we break down the biggest topics all fans are talking about with writers, TV, and radio experts from all 32 teams.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: Today we'll continue our 32 season previews with the Philadelphia Flyers.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: Back on the show, Jason Mertitas.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: How you feeling, Jason?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Doing good, man.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Hanging in there, we're getting ready for hockey.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, let's do this.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: And we've got Kevin Kurtz.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: He covers the Flyers for the Athletic.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome back, Kevin.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, thanks.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Good to be here.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and also I didn't say Murtis.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: You can catch him on, of course, Flyers Audio and stick to hockey podcast.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_01: Training now, we'll talk about obviously a big Ryan Leonard contract and maybe Badart Captain Chao.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: Let's drop the box.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: You guys don't like that sound effect, do you?
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Last season, the Philadelphia Flyers snuck into the playoffs in a weaker Metropolitan division that made the playoffs for the first time in six years.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_01: Jason, what needs for to happen maybe again or this season for them to still stay in that playoff race?
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: They've got a they've got to duplicate what they did last year, but in a more even fashion.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because last year, what was it, 3.8% or something after the uh Olympic break?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna go on a run like that.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's not really repeatable.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a recipe uh to be repeated.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you're gonna have to be more consistent.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: They cannot have the January that they had where it was uh like the three stooges they're like running into each other and and really put themselves out of the playoff mix.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have an Olympic break to really get your feet back under you and make some adjustments.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So you got to do it in a much much more even-handed fashion by being more consistent.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna require veterans to be more consistent, whether that's Owen Tippett needs to find still, he had a little more consistency last year, needs to find more of it.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the the health status of a guy like Tyson Forster is a big element of that.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then young players got to you know take that next step and be able to play to that level consistently.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not to mention, you know, goaltending was a big part of last year.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Dan Lodar was the MVP.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think overall their goaltending is better, improved with uh Joseph Wall here as well.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you you got to be more consistent and avoid those three and four game skids and a month like January that they basically had a backhoe out, and we're digging the hole deeper and deeper.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: You said it, Dan Vladar got paid though this summer.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: Contract extension starts next year.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Five years, 5.5.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: Does Vladar need to be top 10 in goals above saved above expected again for them to get the playoffs again, Kevin?
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I mean he's I don't I don't want to put a number on it in terms of where he needs to finish in the league, but you know, he has to be at least in the same realm of where he was this season.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: Um I think in order to maybe ease the concerns about that contract extension, right?
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_02: You know, goalies are so weird.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: The Flyers gave him a five-year extension based on really just one season of high-end play.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think if he just if he just shows up and he's the same guy he was, uh consistent, good in the dressing room, um you know, makes a handful of big saves a game, the kind of the kind of saves that goalies need to make in order for a team to be successful at key times, saves at key times.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, I I think they'll be pleased with that.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm not gonna say he has to finish in the top 10 of goals against or save percentage or anything like that.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, because the fact is, you know, in Rick Tocket's system, the the Flyers should be allowing fewer shots than most other teams in the league.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Um But you know, I think if you're I think if you're the Flyers executives, you're just you're just hoping Vladar comes in and he's the same guy he was last season.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: If his numbers are a little bit better, a little bit worse, just somewhere in that same in the in the vicinity of where he was last season.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: And we'll see if he can do that.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Jason, they also picked up, like you mentioned, Joseph Wall to go right behind Vladar, even if he falters.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: He's got some good upside, but as Lee fans know, he does go on the IR quite a bit.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, look, any player, you gotta stay healthy.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: The most important ability in sports, I say it all the time, is availability.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care how good you are if you're not available, it doesn't matter.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta stay available, you gotta stay, in a goalie's case, vertical um and be able to play.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, he's got good game totals.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: I know he missed some time last year.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Played 42 the year prior in 24-25, played 39 last year despite the injury.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you're looking at a number for him to play this year, 39 would be on the high side.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think you're probably looking at that 36 range as probably the ceiling for your 1B or backup, whatever you want to call it, depending, you know, what Dan Vladar's ability to stay healthy.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But also, I mean, you look at you know the last three years for Joseph Wall where he played 25-42 and 39 games, and he's got a save percentage that's over league average.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was 898 last year.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Some people go, 898, that's not good.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, last year league average was 894.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: The goals uh save percentage in the NHL is dropping like a lead balloon, as a lot of teams have decided that volume of shots is not important.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I agree.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's about the quality of shots.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's why you see that going down.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean like like Kevin said about Vladar, is you want a predictable damn Vladar season.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: But what is that?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Is that based on last year or is career?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, you you just want to know what you're gonna get from him every night.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: He's such an even keel guy that I think you'll they'll have that confidence.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if again, if he stays healthy, uh, he's in the prime of his career.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: When goalie's hit 28, they've got this three, four-year window where they're really able to maximize their potential.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Joseph Wall just turned 28, so he's in that window now as well.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Takes a while for a goalie to figure it out.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: In Vedar's case, it took a uh a hip uh surgery and recovery to get that lateral movement.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Wall's another guy that moves extremely well.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but when you look around the league, there's not a lot of teams that have two goalies.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Some have one, um, some have what like one and a half.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: They've got two legitimate goalies.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: They do.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: And goaltending shouldn't be a big issue for the Flyers this season.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's good.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: The uh GM Danny Breer.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: You said that before though.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_01: We there it's happened before.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: We'll see.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Uh GM Danny Brier put out a huge offer sheet this summer for Anaheim Ducks' young talented center Leo Carlson.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Ducks GM, though, Pat Verbeek, chose to match and retain Carlson.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: It shook the hockey world though, and it's raised contracts, I believe, especially with those RFAs.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, do you guys, Kevin, uh think Breer might have something else cooking?
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think, you know, anytime you hear uh of a of a star player that is in trade rumors, you're gonna hear the flyer's name attached to it, I think.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that's just the the evolution of the rebuild now is obviously based on the Carlson offer sheet, they're looking for a big fish.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so you know, if a guy like Quinn Hughes gets dangled at some point, I think that's the guy the flyers will be interested in.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, Austin Matthews, uh, you know, even Connor McDavid, go down the list.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if these guys ever reach a point where, you know, they they they want out, they want to change a scenery, you know, Zach Werensky, we'll see what happens to him.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I think the Flyers are gonna be interested.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they've they've what what Breer's done a good job of just shedding salaries, creating cap space.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, they've got some young assets now that I think they would dangle in a trade uh situation.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, when that's gonna happen, it's hard to say, you know, those guys don't become available all that often.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_02: And then when they are available, you usually have a handful of teams at least that are interested in guys like that.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that's the challenge.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's gonna be his biggest challenge.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I think Briere's done a good job sort of setting the table here, but the hardest thing uh is gonna be getting that final piece or two.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and in today's NHL, that's that's no easy task.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_02: So um that's the way they wanted to go about the rebuild.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_02: I I'm sure they saw this coming two, three years ago, that at some point they were gonna reach uh this point where they were gonna be, you know, have to get aggressive in trades uh in the trade market or or or you know the offer sheet route, which we saw in the summer.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_02: But um, you know, it's it's hard to predict when when that's gonna happen.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_02: But um I I would think within the next 12 months, you know, if nothing happens between now and the start of not not this coming season, but next season, I think that will be a little bit of a disappointment.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: I I think it has to happen within the next 12 months.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I don't know if you agree with me on this, but I I kind of push back on the notion that Danny Brer reset the market.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Clearly, there was other there were three or four other GMs that were ready to reset the market with Carlson.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: And you know NHL GMs.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't one guy.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: They're they all can't control themselves.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: They've never been able to control themselves when they have uh a glut of get cap space available and percentage of the cap.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It would have gone here no matter what.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, GMs cannot, they they've always been their own worst enemy to a degree when it comes to term of deal, no trade clauses, and elevating the salaries.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: They were going here no matter what.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It it wasn't the Danny Breer may have been the first to do it, and I reject that even because Bill Garrin did it with Capri South.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was going here no matter what.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_02: There were so many good young players that needed to get paid this summer that I think one of them eventually would have at least been in that realm.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_02: You know, maybe maybe it went a little bit higher than some of these GMs expected, but you know, as it's been reported a few times, if the Flyers hadn't signed Carlson to an offer sheet, he had other offers.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_02: I think it was three other teams that presented him with an offer sheet, and you can bet that they were at least somewhere in that vicinity of 18 million a year.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the the agent was definitely telling that to the other teams that were putting an offer sheet together, but the number was to try and beat it.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_01: Definitely.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Wonder if he really wanted to stay.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: In the playoffs, we saw Porter Martin, the sixth overall pick in 2025, show you what he can do, what he's capable of.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Now entering his full rookie year.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: Jason, what could we and Flyers expect from him?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I think people have to be reasonable here.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he came in and he had 10 points in his first nine games.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_00: He he was good in the Penguin series for the most part, really struggled in games one and two against Carolina, as I think a lot of guys did because of that way Carolina plays suffocating and uh just relentless all over you all the time.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: But I thought he adjusted in games three and game four in particular.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know, this notion that he's just gonna come into this league and be a point per game player at his age, it just kind of doesn't wash for me because it's it's incredibly rare that that actually happens.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the top one percent of the one percent of the one percent.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: It is the guys like McDavid, uh like Crosby, that just kind of hit the ground running and and build uh and don't really have a step back and just continue to put up point per game early, you know, in their teens, or how you know, whenever they start their career.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Porter Martin right now is what just 19 years old.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's not even gonna be 20 until uh until October.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: So um I think people have to temper their expectations.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like I thought they should have tempered them with Matt Vemishkoff, and I think they should temper him again for Matt Vemishkoff.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at a guy like Nikita Kucherov's arc, he didn't get to be a point per game player.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: It was fifth year in the league.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And you look at the player he is now, he's a machine.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you don't just come into this league and and and take it over and have your way uh for the most part, because it's the most unforgiving league in the world and it's the hardest league in the world.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I I mean I think if he puts up 60 points, like a 28 and 32, I think that's a great rookie season for him.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_01: And lots to look forward to with his play.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: In your piece in the athletic, Kevin, you mentioned Jet Lyshenko's skills with his skating ability and hockey IQ.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: But of course, we all know he still has a lot of development to come and to live up to his draft selection.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Is it still possible to for him to become what Flyers management saw in him?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_02: Well, it's possible.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think you ever want to write off a kid that just turned 20 years old.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: I would say that, you know, to this point he's probably been a little bit disappointing.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I think he has been a little bit disappointing.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but you know, as I explored in that piece, I think there are a couple reasons for it.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: Number one, uh, he was dealing with an injury for about a year and a half, and um, I talked to Riley Armstrong, the director of player development, and he said that, you know, it was affecting Jet's stride.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, when he would try to get going uh and get that skating stride going, he would start to feel it and pull back a little bit.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_02: And that's the most important part of Luchenko's game.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_02: So, you know, I think he deserves uh a measure of sympathy there.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_02: He did look pretty good in the rookie series games against the Rangers over the weekend.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that's gonna have to continue.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I expect him to start the season with the Phantoms.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: I think he'll be with the Phantoms for at least half a season, if not the full season.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and he's gonna have to get his development back on track.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_02: And and frankly, I'm not sure the Flyers did him any favors because I I don't know.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_02: I I still don't really understand why they kept him on the NHL roster each of the each of the last two years.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, that if you looked at two years ago, I think John Tortorella kind of pushed for that.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_02: And and that I think management should have just told Torts, no, you're not getting him right now.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: He's too young, he's not ready.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: That didn't happen.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_02: And then last year it was almost like he got kind of shoehorned onto the roster.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and Rick Tockett never really in the preseason looked like he wanted to give him that long of a look.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: And even when he did play the four games he played, his average ice time was something like nine minutes.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: So um, I do wonder if that hurt him from a mental standpoint, but you know, it's all it that's that's all in the past now.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_02: You know, if you're Jet Luchenko, you have to look at it like he's healthy, he's turning pro.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna be in one spot, whether that's Lehigh Valley or or or the Flyers.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you're you're gonna be just with one organization this season.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, now it's up to him, and uh we'll see what he does with it.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: But you know, the Phantom should be a pretty good team.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_02: There's got a lot, they got a lot of players here.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_02: The Flyers have a lot of players that are turning pro this season.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, that I would think the Phantom should be pretty competitive, and that means Jet should be able to play with some pretty decent players.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's hard for some management and coaches to find that happy medium between rushing players and over-ripening them, like sometimes like Eisman's done with the Red Wings kids.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll see even what happens there.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: Uh Briere locked up a few of his key players this summer, including defender Jamie Drysdale.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: He signed for 6.5 million for four years.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Pretty cheap deal considering some of these other defensemen that have signed recently.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Do you still see there's a lot more room in Drysdale's game to grow, Jason?
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there is.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think that he's made really good steps since coming here, after he was, in my opinion, was a bit rushed to the NHL and rushed into a role that obviously he wasn't ready for in Anaheim, maybe out of necessity or impatience.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure, but um to to have him, you know, under this new deal, which is a four-year contract at 6.5, when you look at just to look at the Z Boyne deal.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um for a guy that's a lot less proven than Jamie Drysdale, in my opinion.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: I thought Boyne really struggled last year, and Vancouver's betting on the fact that he's going to develop into uh a really good offensive defenseman and a power play guy.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: But at 6.5 for Drysdale, it's I think it's a really good price.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, he's obviously he's a legit second pairing guy.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Could he find his way under that top pairing with Travis Sandheim this year?
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that depends a little bit on either Rasmus for Stalin's uh uh availability or if he stays on the team and is not traded.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but Drysdale looks like a guy to me that now has the defensive end figured out to a higher degree and can now push the envelope a little bit on the offensive end of his game.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And having the right partner is gonna be a part of that.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Sandheim, I think, would be a good partner for him.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um it's a little undersized with he in York, but um at 6.5 in today's NHL economy.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that looks like a heck of a deal to me for four years.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he's kind of betting on himself he's gonna be a UFA after the 28-29 season or 29-30 season.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Time, time, time for some trending now.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_01: Washington Capitals signed forward, Ryan Leonard to an eight-year extension, 10.5 million average team announced Tuesday.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_01: The rookie scored 20 goals and 25 assists last year.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Man, these kids are getting paid, eh, Kevin?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, you see the GMs trying to get out in front of some of these players that they project are gonna be future stars.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we'll see.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_02: There's obviously some risk involved in that, but um, you know, I guess that's just where we are in the league.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it was it was uh it was a much more newsworthy summer than I think a lot of us expected.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh and and seeing some of these salaries rise the way they are, um, definitely a little surprising.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: The thing about that, the thing about two kef is is this is that Owen Tippett is under contract through the 31-32 season at 6.2, and Tyson Forster at 25 years of age, his new deal kicking after this year at 7.1.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can get in front of it, and you could really get in front of it.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_02: So the Flyers look there with that same.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's true, yeah.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, you know, and that Forster contract is is is that that could be a real home run, you know.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: I I I was surprised Tyson wanted to wanted to sign for that long, frankly.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, but you know, I guess he likes it here, and he's not concerned about trying to break the bank.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, that's part of what the culture they all talk about, right?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is and and Brere and Keith Jones and Dan Hilford have mentioned it a number of times.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_02: You want to build an organization where players want to stay, and the Flyers have been able to do that.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's another feather of Brillere's cap here.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: The Chicago Blackhawks announced Connor Bernard as the 37th captain in franchise history.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_01: Patty Kane and Tyler Bertuzzi will serve as Chicago's alternate captains.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Furthermore, the Detroit Red Wings tabbed Sean Horcav, Horkoff, ex spoiler, uh, as intern GM, the team announced Tuesday.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: Of course, he was the assistant GM under Steve Eisman.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: Jason, how much more can an intern GN do?
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_01: Especially like is he got the reins here to make a move to trade ex-Captain Dylan Larkin?
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Dylan Larkin's requested to trade, it's untenable.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's on the record.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: He wants out an American-born player, a player that would grow up in the Detroit, Michigan area, wants out of the Red Wings after playing a whopping five playoff games, and I think ten seasons.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh he doesn't have a choice.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: It it's curious to me why you would A, if you're moving on from Eisman like they did, why you would hire one of his lieutenants in an interim role with basically no power when you have that tag, you don't have yeah, you don't have any real hammer as the GM.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's gonna be tasked with making some moves, and other GMs are gonna just try and take advantage of him, knowing A, that he's in an interim and that the the captain wants to leave.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's in a he's in an awful, awful situation.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the Red Wings didn't do anything to either help him do the job correctly or calm the the organization down by finding the right guy.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Apparently they were looking, they were calling and asking for permission from other teams to interview GMs, and they weren't calling them in for an interview.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what the hell's going on in Detroit, but this isn't the Red Wings that made the playoffs 25 years in a row.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: They're a mess.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I understand why Dylan Larkin wants out when you look at the the the messiness in which they conduct business behind the scenes.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really unacceptable.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: Not to mention they have Alex to brink it on his last year of his contract, too, and they haven't made a move on either re signing him or maybe trading him.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: That's it for this episode.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for joining me on the show, Kevin.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_01: And Jason.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: And let me know, fans, in the comments or and uh in the comments on the show or on social media, and remember to subscribe in your listening app.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: See you next time.