Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / EPISODE 4: Flyers vs Rangers Recap - March 9th,2026
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey everybody, welcome to Hatrix Unofficial Flyers podcast. I'm Rick Mullen. I'll be hosting the show today. Well, I just watched the Flyers play their New York Rangers and it was not pretty. Really, really hard game. We got a lot of things to go over and talk about and you know, really disappointed. Tonight was a game that, you know, the Flyers really need to show up for and they didn't. It was a game that they needed to put a statement out there that they weren't giving up. They were going to come out hard and they were going to score. They were going to crash the net, get shots, get the puck at the net. And they didn't. It was a difficult night for the Flyers. ⁓ And let's kind of start with talking about Dan Vildar. So Dan Vildar, who stands on his head for this team, he does so many good things for this team and he's been... The only reason why the Flyers are in most games, he had a really tough night tonight and you can't blame him for that. You know, he is trying hard. He, you know, gave up a really weak goal with like a minute into the game. I think it was ⁓ just around one minute. He gave up a goal and ⁓ he looked a little shaky. ⁓ You can't expect in little artists stand on his head every night. You know, you just can't. And tonight was one of those nights where he did not play well. He got pulled into third period going into the third period for Erson. tonight was a night the Flyers as a team should have tried to stand up for Vodar, play harder, play better defensively and protect their goalie. Their goalie has done so much for them and they didn't really do much. of the goals that were ⁓ out there to land on the Flyers were you know, incompetent plays in my opinion. You know, the team looked really bad defensively. I mean, really bad defensively. Our defense doesn't know how to clear a crease. Our defense doesn't know how to control sticks from the other players. The Rangers had bodies in front of ⁓ Vlad most the night. They had ⁓ tip-ins. They rebound goals. These are all that, you know, ⁓ should and can addressed. But for whatever reason, the Flyers do this all the time. They give up this slop in front. They just can't seem to control in front of Vlad. If Vlad can't control the rebound, the Flyers can't usually get it. And if they do, they poke it, it goes back to the point and the team still has it in the zone. And it comes around and gets more shots on that and gets tipped in. And it's sad to see. It's just one of those things where somebody's got to start working with these defenders and I'm sure they try, but if they're not succeeding doing the things that they need to do, then you know, they got to try harder. They have many more training. They need somebody in there that can show them how to tie up the stick, how to tie up a player in front, how to clear that crease, how to not let that rebound get tipped in. And right now they're playing horrible. They're giving those tip ins, they're giving those deflections and they're letting people stay in there. And it's got to change if this team is going to get better. You you look at it and you think you know is this team built to play that way and in all honesty I don't think so not yet hopefully with a Year check and ⁓ maybe bunk coming next year ended this season. know, it's a learning year They date maybe they have a little more size and they can figure out a way to play that that crease a little stronger around our goal ⁓ you know right Now it's a weakness and it gets exposed. Cam York, I don't know what to say. Cam York has been a huge disappointment. just don't see the value in this guy. I he's just super lackadaisical. I Torch had it right. I mean, I ⁓ don't how Torch treated him or what he said to him, ⁓ know, to have said to him. ⁓ Don't it. ⁓ I agree with Torch a lot. is nothing important to this team in my opinion. think it's a wasted roster space. ⁓ I think he's somebody that could get moved out and try to find somebody with a little guts and a little heart, somebody who's willing to play harder. But York is just not what I vision this team needs in any way, shape or form. If we're going to go out there with a smaller Jamie Drysdale. which I love Jamie, I'm not saying to trade him. Let's keep him, let him keep doing what he's doing best and moving the puck up the ice. And that's great. But if we're to have someone like him and you then you follow it up with a York, it's just not, it's not conducive to this team. This team needs to move on from York. I kind of envisioned York as like a lazy Provarov. I hate to say that, ⁓ but didn't like Provarov. Rob when he was here, I think Prorov touched the puck and made a lot of bad decisions with the puck. He thought he was great. He thought he was like a power play leader and all this good stuff in his head, but he wasn't. He was the guy who turned it over. He was the guy that whiffed on passes. He was the guy that mishandled the puck and lost it behind him. And ⁓ the guy who couldn't get the puck out of the end. ⁓ ⁓ think Yurik has a lot of that in him. ⁓ Maybe over this off season they can address it, the Flyers can address it and try to move on from York. I think it's a hard thing to do. mean, Zegris is his buddy, Jamie Drysdale is his buddy. They came in here, made a big deal about it, how they knew these guys and hung out with them. it's what's right for the team though, in my opinion. I think you can't cater to a team that's losing. You know, if the team can't get it right, then, you and play right and get wins, then you got to move on. You got to, you got to break up the core because there's something wrong with the core. And I think the Flyers core has been broken for a long time and you know, it's still broken. It's, it's ⁓ adamant the last few games that we've watched or I've watched that, you know, this core is what's hurting us and ⁓ know, can they get out of this core of players? ⁓ Yes and no. I do think they can move York. I do think they can move a couple of guys. ⁓ some of the other guys like Coots, Coots needs to be moved in the off season. But can you do it? No. ⁓ His is terrible. If you buy him out, I think you eat like 6 million plus every year for then what the next 10 years or something like that. It's ⁓ insane. hoping Coots retires. ⁓ It's going to happen. He's not going to walk away from a guaranteed paycheck. But it would be really nice to, know, maybe somebody's desperate, somebody's looking to hit the minimum ceiling of the, or the minimum floor of the salary cap for their team and they're willing to take on coots. And I just think this course got to be dismantled in the summer. Really do. ⁓ think Danny Breyer has his work really laid out for him here. He's got a hard job this summer. He's got a lot of to do to fix this core. can't roll out there with this again. It's sad. It's really sad because I'm not sure what's out there this year. You know, there's got to be teams that are looking to move on from people and, you know, we're players and ⁓ they're not better than what we got, you know, ⁓ still take a swing at them ⁓ I'm tired of looking at the same people over and over again, the same players that, you know, we know that it's an issue and they just can't get it together and we try, next year, next year is going to be the year we're going to add this one to the core and it will be better. And you know, year goes by, we're still the same, you know, and then we do it again, you know, Hey, we're going to have one more guy. And, know, it's hard. you know, I think losing Bobby Brink in, this last week in tonight's game, that was, kind of evident, you know, like his speed is missed, like his, his for check was an, is an incredibly quick. in your face for check and he's got speed and he makes good plays. Didn't see anything really tonight that anyone can make up for what Brink had. And I'm not saying Brink's a great player. Brink's not scoring tons of goals and he's our savior. I'm not saying that in any way, or form. But what I am saying is we miss his speed. ⁓ Most of these, this team is a little slower. They have not the ability to get in quick enough. Brink seemed to be able to get into those corners really fast and hit that guy trying to get that puck out and made that guy throw a bad pass or not a strong pass. So some of the players on his lines like Mishkov or Cates were able to get that puck and turn it into a shot or turn it into a pass that led to a play on net. And we're not seeing it. Tonight we didn't see a lot of that. know, a couple of things. Mishkov had a nice goal. Mishkov was out on the power play and ⁓ you know, he had a shot come at the net. He was standing next to the net on the right hand side. That's right. I said the right hand side and the puck hit the goalie. He moved it to his stick, missed the stick, thought he wasn't going to get the shot on net, but he kicked it back up to his stick. And as he was falling down, kind of stuffed it in the net and had a really, really pretty goal. So really nice to see Mitch score in the power play. Really nice to see Mitch score on the ⁓ right hand side. Right hand side. Good for Mitch. You know, one thing I did notice on the power plays through this game, Zygrass and Mishkov tend to play on that right hand side. You know, you see lot of these other teams where the puck goes onto the right hand side and they're looking for that back door across the crease pass. And there was really nobody over there. think Mishkov or Zegras should have been over there, but they weren't. know, Mishkov was hanging down by the right side of the net and Zegras was right, like maybe by the right dot. And they kind of stayed there the whole time. Nobody was playing that back door on the other side. you know, seeing that open ice and nobody there. and nobody even trying to come in, not even the defender, know, one of our guy or a defenseman. ⁓ It's easy. It's easy to defend that power play. You know, the Rangers were able to look and say, OK, there's no one behind us here in the left hand side. Let's just all press the puck and make it difficult on these people or these players to pass. And, ⁓ you know, it it it's it's an easy system to defend against if you're not rotating and moving and taking open space. You know, the power play. should be a like a cycle. You know, you got a cycle, you got to move. If you watch Colorado, McCarr, you see all these guys, Quinn Hughes, like they they rip around the net, they cut across the crease, they do drop passes as they take the player, the defender out, you know, like it's it's not hard, in my opinion, to see what these good teams are doing. But I guess it's really hard for people, players to do it. if they don't feel confident. I don't think there's a confident player on this team. I did see Mishkoff come off the boards tonight. You know, he had a guy on his back. He still came off that right hand boards and came across the crease and he put a floater on that for a tip in. You nobody tipped it. You know, the goalie saved it. But he's one of the only people that actually pull off the boards, come through the crease or a slot or center ice, wherever you're talking about. And, you know, get a shot on that. Not many people do it. Most people go down the corner, down the wall, around the net, throw on the brakes, change direction, throw on the brakes again because the defender's catching up to them and then they lose the puck and the puck's out. Terrible, just terrible. We need guys who can skate that puck. They can pull and use their angles or their edges to get off the boards and get across the middle of the ice. know, cutting from the boards to the middle of the ice with your head up so you don't get knocked out from a big check. But if you can keep your head up, come off those boards. cut across the middle of the ice, a lot of times that takes two defenders to play. A guy who's chasing you is on your back and then somebody else has to step up and cut you off from coming down the middle, which in turn leaves somebody open. So we need more of that. We need more guys who can create a play by going through that danger zone, that middle of the ice in the offensive zone. I find Zekris and Mishkov really bumping into each other are like out there. They're all playing in the same spot like he's hanging out on the right hand side. They played a few feet from each other like maybe a foot within each other but it seems like Zygrass and Mishkov are fighting for that same ice space on that right hand side and I wish Zygrass would ⁓ pull off a little more you know go towards the middle let's you know Mishkov keep his right hand side and ⁓ know, Zygrs is better in open ice because he can go left, he can go right, he's got the wheels and to do it. ⁓ Where Mishkoff is one of those players who I think he really ⁓ likes being on that right-hand side. He likes using those boards and he likes using the edges and cutting into the middle. So I wish Zygrs would learn how to do some separation there and get away from him and, you know, open themselves up for maybe a little cycle in the middle and ⁓ a pass down the gut. know, a couple of things today happened out there. Tocket. You know, here's a guy that, you know, as a flyer, as a player, I absolutely loved. I grew up watching him. Great player. Loved He gave everything he had on the ice. ⁓ He hard. He scored goals. He hit hard. He fought. He was a great, great player. ⁓ And respect him for that. But. I struggle with him. do. I just struggle with him. You know, some of the decisions he makes are difficult to understand. know, he's ⁓ putting guys out there at the wrong times. He's playing lines that are a little messed up. You know, he just struggled tonight with with some of his choices. You know, you don't see him really juggling lines. You know, a lot of these other coaches, especially towards last year. If a line wasn't working, he start moving things around. He start trying to generate different lines. He started trying to generate something. Tucket doesn't do that. He doesn't shorten the bench. He doesn't move guys around. He does here and there, but not enough, not enough. know, he just, I'm not sure what it is. I'm not sure if he's just not capable of doing that on the fly and everything has to be like analytical and pristine and it's got to be on paper and this is what we're going to do and that's it. And if that's the case. He's the wrong coach for us. You know, he can't do that. You just can't do that. You have to be a game time coach if you want success in the NHL. You got to know when to put somebody on the ice, when to take them off. You got to know when to juggle lines. You got to know who's hot, who's not. Get them out there together. If you have to skip a line, you skip a line. know, ⁓ Tocket doesn't seem to do that. And I'm not sure why, but it's hard to watch. ⁓ you know, I just think it's a At this point, I'm not sure if Tuck's going to make it past his second year here, ⁓ and rightfully so. One of the other things Rick Tuckett did, ⁓ he came out and I think in one of his interviews, he said, quote, well, Bobby leaving and then Mitch wants to try it. We'll see. I've got my thoughts on that, but we'll see how that goes. I mean, what a statement. What a statement. That just... pretty much says he wants to do what he wants to do, which he can, I guess he's the coach, but he doesn't believe that Mishkoff should be on the right hand side. Even though Mishkoff has been playing there his whole year, he made it to the NHL, I'm sorry, his whole career. He's made it to the NHL playing that position. He's told the coach he's more comfortable in that position. Every single player and fan out here, I think, can turn around and tell you, we all see Mishkoff better on the right hand side. So there's thousands and thousands of thousands of people, including Danny and Jonesy, who think Meshkov belongs on the right wing. This statement that he said, Tocket, it sounds like it's coming from Danny Brear. It sounds like Danny Brear had to talk with him. Jonesy had to talk with him. One of the two, maybe both of them, maybe just Danny. But basically they had to talk with Tocket and said, we need Meshkov on the right hand side. and you have to play them on the right hand side. And wow, I mean, that's just incredible. It's incredible that a GM has to come down and tell your coach how to play one of your up and coming star players. Wow, not much to say here other than if you watch Mishkov's production, if you watched his games from last year, if you've seen the recent success he's had being on the right side the last two games, you know, there's a reason Mishkov should be on the right hand side. I don't know if tonight's game helped Tocket change his mind. ⁓ Keeping him on the right hand side, I'm not sure. But I think Tocket needs to know, ⁓ ago, Gretzky was one of my favorite players growing up. watched him. When I played my games, I was number. I grew up in the 70s. I were 99. The hands on him, the vision. mean, everything Gretzky back then was just like my idol. I mean, obviously I didn't like that he wasn't tough or he didn't fight, didn't hit. But from a hockey mind, like what he saw, how he created, what he did, he was just amazing. So have lot of respect for Wayne Gretzky. And Gretzky said somewhere down the road years ago that I think, and don't hold me to this word for word, but it was something along the lines of, he thinks Rick Tocket has one of the best hockey minds he's ever seen. And maybe he did back then. I don't see it. I just don't see it. I didn't see it with Vancouver. I didn't see it with Arizona. I didn't see it with Tampa Bay. I'm not seeing it here with the Flyers. I just don't see it. Like what I am seeing is I'm seeing a guy who's coming in and he's not willing to bend here and there. He's not willing to try things out. He's not willing to learn from his mistakes. He's not willing to listen to others. ⁓ You know, it's something that I think talk struggles with. I watched him in an interview at the carnival ⁓ and he got mad when asked certain questions. He got defensive. He even said something along the lines of, go down swinging, you know how I am. ⁓ We don't want to hear that from a coach. Yeah, okay, you're a tough guy. We get all that and you know what mean. But that's not what we want to hear from a coach. We want to hear from a coach like... your thought process, like here's what I'm thinking, you know, we're going to try it. If it doesn't work, we'll make adjustments. You know, Mishkoff's a young player and you know, he deserves this. He deserves that. You know, when he doesn't do well, you know, we, we coach him when he does well, you know, we, you know, celebrate them and, know, ⁓ but that's not what we're seeing. You know, that's not what we're seeing, you know, all this stuff about him, Mishkoff being out of shape and, you know, Mishkoff, you know, coming in bad shape with the camp really got under Tocket. And I think to this day, even though he says that they're moving past it and all, I don't think he did. I mean, in all honesty, I think Tocket was told this is what's going to happen. And I really think it's bugging Tocket. And I really think Tocket hates the fact that he was told to do certain things with Mishkoff. And I think it's driving him nuts. I really do. I think it's driving him nuts. who knows? I could be wrong, but that's how I see it. so, God, terrible game, a really terrible game. Fliers lose six to two to the New York Rangers. ⁓ Erson comes in the third period and, you know, putting this one past us. Hopefully next, next game they start bringing up, like maybe a bonk. ⁓ let's get a peek at him because there's really nothing fun to watch right now, but you know, seeing a new kid start the game. So. You know, I think if the Flyers PR have anything to do here, they should bring up a rookie every game because that's what we're all watching for at this point. We're not watching to win and get to the playoffs. It just not happening. closing, I want to put a really big shout out to ⁓ a fine gentleman on Facebook that I met. His is Cody Spink. Cody ⁓ helped get my podcast up and running. He helped me do all the things that I'm currently doing right now with all of you. He helped me ⁓ where to start, where to go, how to create a format. Everything that I needed help with, Cody Spink was there. Cody Spink is part of ⁓ Really Quacked podcast. ⁓ a podcast that him and his father run. and it's about the Ducks and the, ⁓ my gosh, the ⁓ LA Kings. Sorry about that. So his father's an LA Kings fan and Cody is a Ducks fan and they do a show together. And I think that's fantastic. A father son duo, they talk about hockey and they're teams that they love. So Cody, thank you very much for helping me get this off the ground. I truly appreciate it. And if I can ever do anything back for you. please don't hesitate to ask here. All right, well, that's a wrap, guys. If you have any questions or ideas, please again, use our mailbag, send us some thoughts. We'd love to hear from you. email address will be at the end of this video. Take care and hopefully we can get another episode under our belt after the next game.