Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / TABLE TALK: Looking Towards The Flyers 2025 Offseason

Transcript

TABLE TALK: Looking Towards The Flyers 2025 Offseason · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, It's Jeff here. I wanted to let
0:02
Speaker 1: you know. We recorded this podcast episode on Monday, April seventh,
0:06
Speaker 1: twenty twenty five. By the time you hear this, some
0:09
Speaker 1: things may have changed here or there.
0:10
Speaker 2: Oo.
0:10
Speaker 1: We hope you enjoy the show. Welcome to Table Talk
0:34
Speaker 1: here at the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:37
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, twelve
0:41
Speaker 1: years strong. We got a great discussion coming your way
0:43
Speaker 1: this week here on Table Talk. We got to get
0:46
Speaker 1: into this Philadelphia Flyers team and what we are expecting
0:50
Speaker 1: during this upcoming off season. John Tortorella is gone and
0:54
Speaker 1: what are the consequences of that firing. Danny Breer made
0:59
Speaker 1: that decision decision we thought was possibly gonna be made
1:02
Speaker 1: during this offseason. It was made a little earlier than
1:05
Speaker 1: a lot of us thought that. We got a great
1:07
Speaker 1: discussion coming your way about this team and where they're
1:09
Speaker 1: gonna be going in the future. Let's get right to it.
1:12
Speaker 1: Joining us here to get into this Philadelphia Flyers team
1:15
Speaker 1: and what their future looks like. We love having him
1:17
Speaker 1: on the pod. Always always enjoy his takes and what
1:22
Speaker 1: he brings to the table here. You know, him on
1:24
Speaker 1: the Twitter slash x as Dan the flyerra fan. You
1:28
Speaker 1: can catch a lot of great coverage about this team
1:30
Speaker 1: over at Brotherlypuck dot com. Listen to the Brotherly Pod
1:35
Speaker 1: podcast as well. We've got our friend Dan ash Dan buddy,
1:38
Speaker 1: how you doing, man?
1:39
Speaker 2: Oh good, it's always going to be back. Always good
1:41
Speaker 2: to vent about this team exactly.
1:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's a lot of venting that's been going on
1:44
Speaker 1: these past few years.
1:45
Speaker 2: Huh yeah, yeah, absolutely.
1:48
Speaker 1: Well, Look, it's great to talk to you very much.
1:51
Speaker 1: Appreciate you taking the time here because there are so
1:55
Speaker 1: many storylines heading into this off season and after the
2:00
Speaker 1: firing of John Tortorella. I mean, the Flyers won some
2:04
Speaker 1: games and didn't necessarily help themselves with regard to their
2:07
Speaker 1: first first round pick necessarily. Right now, you know, they're sitting,
2:11
Speaker 1: I believe, at number five overall, and they have about
2:14
Speaker 1: an eight point five percent chance of getting the number
2:17
Speaker 1: one overall pick. Doubtful that that will probably happen. Still,
2:21
Speaker 1: they are in the mix. I mean, I wish they
2:23
Speaker 1: had just pulled the Nashville and just lost six in
2:25
Speaker 1: a row to help with their standings here in terms
2:29
Speaker 1: of the draft. But I'm wondering how do you view
2:32
Speaker 1: the manner in which this Flyer team has performed as
2:36
Speaker 1: of late, and how that correlates with their draft standing here, Dan.
2:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, this is unfortunately one of those years
2:42
Speaker 2: when there's a half dozen teams right in the same mix. Yes,
2:45
Speaker 2: Chicago and San Jose at the bottom, everyone else is
2:47
Speaker 2: within two or three points of each other. You know,
2:49
Speaker 2: those one or two wins can change a lot.
2:51
Speaker 1: Yep.
2:53
Speaker 2: You know, if they came in with more of a
2:56
Speaker 2: plan to tank this year rather than go for the
2:58
Speaker 2: playoffs and fail, maybe you could argue this more. But
3:02
Speaker 2: you know, their schedule is so easy down the stretch here,
3:04
Speaker 2: which is a problem. It's not like they're facing the
3:06
Speaker 2: Capitols and the Jets. Oh no, we got the Sabers
3:08
Speaker 2: of the world multiple times, right, the teams that are
3:12
Speaker 2: fighting us for those same equal spots. So unfortunately, the
3:15
Speaker 2: strength of schedule do not help him out here in
3:17
Speaker 2: these last few games of this season. But with everyone
3:19
Speaker 2: so tightly packed, it's hard to get angry at them.
3:22
Speaker 2: You know, they can't lose nine straight games, unfortunately with
3:25
Speaker 2: a schedule like this, So it is what it is.
3:27
Speaker 2: You know, at this point they'll probably finish in the
3:29
Speaker 2: bottom five, so hopefully these last few games go not
3:35
Speaker 2: their way exactly.
3:37
Speaker 1: I mean, that's what we want, that's what we want
3:39
Speaker 1: at the end of the day. But like, it's just
3:41
Speaker 1: it's so bizarre. Look, I was under the impression that
3:44
Speaker 1: the firing of John Tortorella was probably gonna happen after
3:46
Speaker 1: this season, that it was likely going to be happening,
3:49
Speaker 1: like most folks, And when it did, I think it
3:52
Speaker 1: was a bit surprising. I mean, not necessarily after his
3:55
Speaker 1: comments you know that he made that really led to it,
3:58
Speaker 1: But I think the firing really gave the guys on
4:02
Speaker 1: the team kind of like a spark in a way,
4:05
Speaker 1: which we saw, especially in the three games after that
4:08
Speaker 1: they had won. And it really it really goes to
4:12
Speaker 1: show that head coaching in this league really does matter.
4:15
Speaker 1: And I find it to be so incredibly bizarre that
4:19
Speaker 1: this organization hung onto John Tortorella as long as they
4:22
Speaker 1: did at times. You know, he did some good things
4:24
Speaker 1: here and there, but also there were some negative things
4:27
Speaker 1: that came about with this team because of his coaching.
4:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was just time. One of the things we've
4:35
Speaker 2: pointed out on our show a little bit lately is
4:38
Speaker 2: every time we talk about Towrderella, we try to prevace
4:40
Speaker 2: it by saying he did good things. Yes, but when
4:44
Speaker 2: all is said and done, with three years of a
4:47
Speaker 2: sample size, there were so few of the cold hard
4:50
Speaker 2: stats that truly painted him as doing good things. They
4:54
Speaker 2: missed the playoffs three consecutive years, two of which were
4:57
Speaker 2: spectacular disasters. Right, you know, a lot of the players
5:00
Speaker 2: didn't really succeed outside of Connectney. You know, the power
5:04
Speaker 2: play was miserable, the offense in general was miserable, The
5:07
Speaker 2: attitudes in the room, the whole reason he was here
5:09
Speaker 2: was culture reasons. Yes, you know, if he just came
5:12
Speaker 2: in that first year and got rid of provarov in
5:15
Speaker 2: Haze and he brought in Hathaway and elevated lot and
5:18
Speaker 2: and kind of changed and then passed the torch to
5:20
Speaker 2: someone else that could have grown things, maybe that would
5:24
Speaker 2: have been successful. It would have not all been for
5:26
Speaker 2: not essentially over the last handful of years, But the
5:28
Speaker 2: last two years it's like things just got worse and worse,
5:31
Speaker 2: and it's a bad kind of stifling. I don't think
5:35
Speaker 2: players respond to that for long periods of time anymore.
5:38
Speaker 2: You know, it's not the early two thousands anymore. It's
5:40
Speaker 2: just a different league and different players in a different era.
5:42
Speaker 2: And you know, he probably did do good things in
5:46
Speaker 2: certain responses, but at the end of the day, there
5:50
Speaker 2: just is not a lot you can look back in
5:52
Speaker 2: this Tortorella era unfavorably and go, yeah, this guy did this,
5:56
Speaker 2: and it's the pillar moving forward. It just just feels
5:58
Speaker 2: like a waste of time a lot of respect.
6:01
Speaker 1: It's a really good way to look at it, and
6:03
Speaker 1: it's like it's just like it was a waste of
6:05
Speaker 1: time when Chuck Fletcher was running the show in the
6:08
Speaker 1: front office as well. But it leads to my next point,
6:11
Speaker 1: which is the future of the head coaching position of
6:15
Speaker 1: this team. I mean, Danny Brier is really gonna need
6:18
Speaker 1: to nail this next hire or old guys like myself
6:22
Speaker 1: here may never see a Stanley Cup in our lifetime.
6:24
Speaker 1: I am absolutely convinced of that. So Dan, I'm wondering,
6:28
Speaker 1: you know, who are you hoping the hire will be?
6:32
Speaker 1: What will this new head coach like what we're what
6:35
Speaker 1: are you looking for in terms of what type of
6:37
Speaker 1: head coach could be brought in From an overall perspective,
6:39
Speaker 1: in terms of this rebuild. Just in terms of what
6:43
Speaker 1: these younger guys are going to need from a head
6:46
Speaker 1: coach that's leading them into this new era. What are
6:49
Speaker 1: your thoughts here?
6:50
Speaker 2: They need to get this right, Yes, just plain and simple.
6:55
Speaker 1: Yeah.
6:55
Speaker 2: So much of it involves the phrase that I've used
6:58
Speaker 2: a million and one times over the last few years.
7:00
Speaker 2: Pick a direction. Yes, if they are going to attempt
7:05
Speaker 2: to compete next year, if Brier has a Summer of
7:07
Speaker 2: seven up his sleeve and they're gonna take this from
7:10
Speaker 2: bottom of the barrel to playoff team, then you need
7:12
Speaker 2: to hire a coach that has success, preferably recent success. Yes,
7:16
Speaker 2: you know, if we're going down that route, cross your
7:18
Speaker 2: fingers and hope the Penguins fire Mike Sullivan. Right, He's
7:21
Speaker 2: had two Cups within the last decade. You know, like
7:23
Speaker 2: that's the kind of pedigree that you would want if
7:25
Speaker 2: you're trying to compete. If they're gonna take a step
7:28
Speaker 2: back and they're actually going to rebuild this time, and
7:30
Speaker 2: they're gonna focus on the twenty twenty six draft, and
7:33
Speaker 2: you know, you know, finding somebody that can integrate prospects,
7:37
Speaker 2: that can develop, that has that kind of relationship, that
7:40
Speaker 2: harmonious thing where you can grow and develop. Even if
7:42
Speaker 2: it means you're not gonna win a lot of games,
7:44
Speaker 2: then you've got to go that route. Somebody like David
7:46
Speaker 2: carl has been talked a lot about, you know, uh
7:48
Speaker 2: brothers with former flyer Matt Carle. He coached Bobby Brink
7:51
Speaker 2: and Masimo Rizzo and there's a lot of ties there.
7:54
Speaker 2: You know, two national championships in the last three years
7:57
Speaker 2: at Denver, one gold with Team USA, Like those are
8:00
Speaker 2: the kind of guys. Whatever it is you want to do,
8:02
Speaker 2: there's so many retreads, right, so many random guys you
8:06
Speaker 2: can bring in that'll have random results, or a former flyer,
8:10
Speaker 2: because that's all this front office knows how to hire
8:11
Speaker 2: in the first place that I've never done this job before.
8:14
Speaker 2: It's just like there's so many just unsexy options out
8:17
Speaker 2: there right now. And whatever it is that they do,
8:20
Speaker 2: whatever route they go down, they just need to commit
8:23
Speaker 2: to it and they need to find a coach that
8:24
Speaker 2: fits it, because it just never felt like Torterella felt,
8:26
Speaker 2: you know, fit with the scheme, the plan that they
8:29
Speaker 2: had laid out in front of them here. So whatever
8:32
Speaker 2: it is that they do, I hope it's the right
8:33
Speaker 2: fit and I hope it's a big time higher that
8:36
Speaker 2: that feels different, that feels like it's going to change
8:39
Speaker 2: the direction of the organization.
8:40
Speaker 1: It's critical. I think this. I think the coaching and look,
8:44
Speaker 1: I honestly we don't do a lot of hot takes
8:46
Speaker 1: on this podcast platform. We really don't. But I think
8:48
Speaker 1: this head coaching higher could actually be more important than
8:51
Speaker 1: the actual draft this year, to be for sure. I
8:54
Speaker 1: really think that it could.
8:55
Speaker 2: So.
8:56
Speaker 1: As we're moving along here, Dan, you recently put up
8:59
Speaker 1: a piece on brotherlypuck dot com that ask questions about
9:03
Speaker 1: where the Flyers are going to go now after John
9:06
Speaker 1: Tortorella is firing. And the one question you raised that
9:09
Speaker 1: I think is just on so many Flyers fans' minds
9:13
Speaker 1: is how good can that be? Mitchkov get in the
9:17
Speaker 1: future here. We saw some tremendous hockey from him this season,
9:22
Speaker 1: his first year in the NFL, and even though Towards
9:25
Speaker 1: only played him for about eight minutes a night during
9:27
Speaker 1: the middle part of the season, it's amazing what we
9:30
Speaker 1: saw from this kid. And yes, he is still a kid,
9:33
Speaker 1: and I'm going to continue to call him a kid
9:34
Speaker 1: even though he's he's he's uh. I don't know. He
9:38
Speaker 1: could be my son actually at this point. But anyway,
9:41
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts about how good Matt Bey Mitchkov
9:44
Speaker 1: can actually get in the NHL and with this Flyers team,
9:47
Speaker 1: because it's something we're gonna be talking about for a while. Yeah.
9:51
Speaker 2: You know, there are players across the league where you
9:54
Speaker 2: look at and go, if only they were on a
9:56
Speaker 2: good team, how right could they really be? Right? You know,
9:58
Speaker 2: Rasmustalin and Buffalo or Clayton Keller for all those years
10:01
Speaker 2: in Arizona, like you have that with Mitchkov. Now, you know,
10:06
Speaker 2: nineteen years old coming over from Russia, doesn't speak the language,
10:09
Speaker 2: has all the expectations in the world in his shoulders. Yep,
10:12
Speaker 2: and then he has to battle his own head coach
10:14
Speaker 2: for ice time. The offense in general is completely anemic,
10:18
Speaker 2: the power play sucks, like everything working against him, and
10:22
Speaker 2: he still put up sixty points. This incredible and looks
10:24
Speaker 2: like a star in the making. You know, just imagine
10:28
Speaker 2: what he could do with a real center. Yeah, what
10:30
Speaker 2: he could do with even a league average power play,
10:33
Speaker 2: with a head coach that doesn't want to torture him. Right,
10:36
Speaker 2: he plays it even fifteen minutes a night like the
10:39
Speaker 2: potential is there. He came completely and totally as advertised.
10:44
Speaker 2: It's amazing. Like there are not a lot of tangible
10:47
Speaker 2: positives with this organization at the moment, Mitchkov is one
10:50
Speaker 2: of them. And it's big and it's huge, and this
10:52
Speaker 2: is the guy that you can build around now and
10:54
Speaker 2: you what form that takes this summer, We will see.
10:58
Speaker 2: We talked about the coaching and you know, what do
11:00
Speaker 2: they do in terms of roster additions and changes and
11:04
Speaker 2: drafting and all this stuff. But right now, it's like
11:06
Speaker 2: Mitchkov has the potential to be that one hundred point
11:09
Speaker 2: guy for you for years and years to come because
11:12
Speaker 2: he's doing all this on this team right now, right exactly.
11:15
Speaker 2: You raise a really good point and to you know,
11:18
Speaker 2: as an offshoot here of our discussion, I'm wondering if
11:21
Speaker 2: the new head coach that they end up hiring is
11:24
Speaker 2: going to be somebody who is going to be able
11:27
Speaker 2: to be relatable to Matt ve Mitchkov, Like where Meetchkov.
11:30
Speaker 2: Not that Mitchkov as a nineteen year old should have
11:33
Speaker 2: any say in the hiring process, That's not what I mean,
11:36
Speaker 2: But if it's somebody who is going to be able
11:37
Speaker 2: to relate not just to Mitchkov younger players as well
11:40
Speaker 2: that we just talked about, but Mitchkov being so paramount
11:44
Speaker 2: within the conversation of where he is going to end
11:48
Speaker 2: up going with his career. That that's why the head
11:50
Speaker 2: coaching position becomes so important. That you're essentially hiring a
11:53
Speaker 2: head coach that's going to be able to build this
11:56
Speaker 2: kid up to the point where he is going to
11:59
Speaker 2: be a dominant in a play like I wonder if
12:01
Speaker 2: that's gonna be part of the conversation. It has to
12:04
Speaker 2: be one of the first questions I would ask if
12:06
Speaker 2: I was hiring a coach. If you give him an
12:08
Speaker 2: answer and they say, well, we're gonna play him on
12:10
Speaker 2: the third line freightment, it's not you're disqualified from coaching
12:13
Speaker 2: this team right now. You know, you gotta find somebody
12:16
Speaker 2: that has the vision, that knows how to understand how
12:19
Speaker 2: to deploy somebody like that. And you know, even if
12:21
Speaker 2: we're going back to Mike Soul and they're gonna be better,
12:23
Speaker 2: Sky ran Sidney Crosby all these years. Yeah, you know,
12:25
Speaker 2: he knows how to use a star. He knows how
12:27
Speaker 2: to get the most out of players like that. So
12:29
Speaker 2: that would be the exact kind of thing that you
12:31
Speaker 2: would need to do. You need to find somebody that
12:33
Speaker 2: knows how to utilize their star players. It's just the
12:36
Speaker 2: complete opposite of what Torderella was doing over the last year.
12:39
Speaker 1: Just do the opposite of John Twittorella and everything's gonna
12:42
Speaker 1: be fine. Folks. Again, folks are talking to Dan Esh
12:45
Speaker 1: from Brotherlypuck dot Com. Listen to the podcast brotherlye Pod
12:50
Speaker 1: and follow him on the Twitter slash x at Dan
12:52
Speaker 1: the fly Era fan if you are not following him already.
12:56
Speaker 1: I mean, it's gonna be a huge, huge offseason for
12:59
Speaker 1: the Flyers day and so let us get into a
13:01
Speaker 1: few of the storylines here. And the first one we
13:03
Speaker 1: got to get into is we're all talking about it
13:05
Speaker 1: is Cam York what his future is going to be?
13:08
Speaker 1: You wrote about it again over a Brotherlypuck dot com.
13:11
Speaker 1: Wanted to get your thoughts on where you think his
13:14
Speaker 1: future will go during the course of this offseason.
13:18
Speaker 2: What a what a fascinating situation. This whole thing is
13:22
Speaker 2: kind of boiled down into and you know, the Flyers
13:25
Speaker 2: have some kind of bad luck when it comes to
13:26
Speaker 2: these defensive prospects over the last you know, a decade
13:29
Speaker 2: or so, you know that they have all the potential
13:32
Speaker 2: in the world. They show up and they may not
13:33
Speaker 2: be that good, and then it's the off ice problems
13:35
Speaker 2: that ultimately get them moved on. From Shane Dossi's beer
13:38
Speaker 2: was one of them over I was one of them,
13:40
Speaker 2: you know. And now seems like we're coming down this
13:42
Speaker 2: rabbit hole again with cam Yorg And you know, I'm
13:46
Speaker 2: not necessarily in favor of moving him. I think he's
13:49
Speaker 2: too young to make that call just yet to give
13:52
Speaker 2: up on him essentially, Yeah, But at the same time,
13:56
Speaker 2: he's your most valuable trade ship right now on this roster.
13:59
Speaker 2: If you're serious about out fixing your center depth, trading
14:02
Speaker 2: York may just have to be the cause to make
14:04
Speaker 2: it happen. And I don't know what a contract looks
14:08
Speaker 2: like anymore, you know, some of the comparables are you know,
14:11
Speaker 2: eight by eight, You know, one of these top young
14:12
Speaker 2: defensemen in the league to play thirty minutes a night.
14:14
Speaker 2: They're getting paid these days, you know. But has the
14:18
Speaker 2: downward spiral in his play and some of the personal
14:20
Speaker 2: things that have gone on around here, has that changed
14:22
Speaker 2: their opinion on him? Did they fire Towarts to hope
14:26
Speaker 2: to keep Cam York or are they completely independent of
14:29
Speaker 2: each other like they're so. I don't think anything would
14:32
Speaker 2: surprise me really with York. If he signs a long
14:34
Speaker 2: term contract in his here forever and everything's fine. If
14:36
Speaker 2: they trade him, if he signs a bridge deal, like,
14:39
Speaker 2: I have no idea what they do with York, but
14:41
Speaker 2: it is definitely in terms of internal storylines outside of
14:44
Speaker 2: hiring coach. You know, how they handle York as a
14:47
Speaker 2: pending RFA is definitely probably the biggest thing to keep
14:49
Speaker 2: an eye on this summer.
14:50
Speaker 1: I was gonna say the same thing. If they sign
14:52
Speaker 1: him to some sort of like long term extension wouldn't
14:55
Speaker 1: surprise me. If they trade him gather more assets, that
14:59
Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me all either. It really wouldn't so well,
15:02
Speaker 1: you know a couple more topics here, Dan, And when
15:04
Speaker 1: we look at the possible flyers that might be actually
15:08
Speaker 1: traded during this offseason, I'm thinking of two in particular,
15:12
Speaker 1: Igor Zamola, Rasmus ristal Line and might be the two
15:16
Speaker 1: guys I could see heading to another team. I'm wondering,
15:19
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on them possibly not being on
15:23
Speaker 1: this team to start next season. And what could this
15:26
Speaker 1: organization realistically acquire for both Zamola and Risto? What are
15:31
Speaker 1: your thoughts?
15:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Zamola at this point just is not
15:35
Speaker 2: anything more than replacement level talent. Yeah, you know, he
15:37
Speaker 2: still has a year left on his contract. You know,
15:39
Speaker 2: I can't imagine teams are lining up for his services.
15:42
Speaker 2: But if you throw him in in a Cam York
15:44
Speaker 2: deal or something like that to get an extra draft
15:46
Speaker 2: pick or something, at this point, you know, more power
15:49
Speaker 2: to you. He's fine. He's just not not anything special
15:51
Speaker 2: at this point, right, And God, rista lining man. They
15:54
Speaker 2: should have traded him at the deadline. I stand firm
15:57
Speaker 2: to that one.
15:58
Speaker 1: Do you think they tried, because I think I think
16:00
Speaker 1: they probably try. I think they probably maybe threw some
16:02
Speaker 1: things out and just wasn't they weren't getting what they
16:04
Speaker 1: wanted that was mine.
16:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm sure they listened to his name. I'm
16:08
Speaker 2: sure somebody had to have called about him, and you
16:11
Speaker 2: know some of the rumors about what they wanted back,
16:12
Speaker 2: which is mind blowing out. But you know, maybe going
16:18
Speaker 2: to the offseason now the teams can handle taking on
16:20
Speaker 2: a little more money, a little more freely, and maybe
16:23
Speaker 2: they can do it. Maybe some teams that weren't necessarily
16:25
Speaker 2: looking to add for the playoffs come back to the table.
16:27
Speaker 2: And but I mean, at this point, you know, he's fine,
16:30
Speaker 2: he is what he is. But he's gonna be thirty
16:33
Speaker 2: one this year. He's got what two years left at
16:35
Speaker 2: five point one, Like, you're not making the playoffs anytime soon,
16:38
Speaker 2: you know, like you just gotta there's no real reason
16:41
Speaker 2: why you're keeping him here. Yeah, he succeeded a little
16:43
Speaker 2: bit under twitterrella, but just at this point in time,
16:46
Speaker 2: there's just no need for his services that this team
16:49
Speaker 2: has clearsome cab getting the extra asset or two, even
16:52
Speaker 2: if it's not the you know, a lottery that they
16:54
Speaker 2: wanted to win when they sell them, just you know,
16:56
Speaker 2: you move on Oliver Bonks coming next year, you're gonna
16:59
Speaker 2: need a spot on the main roster potentially for him,
17:02
Speaker 2: particularly at the right handed position. I just don't really
17:05
Speaker 2: get it. So, you know, they should move on from him.
17:08
Speaker 2: They should move on from Zamola. You know, Ryan Paling
17:12
Speaker 2: was a name that popped up at the deadline as well.
17:13
Speaker 2: He's got a year left on his contract. You know,
17:15
Speaker 2: just a lot of these depth guys. If you can
17:17
Speaker 2: find somebody that'll give you a mid round pick for him. Hey,
17:20
Speaker 2: you have to consider it at this point absolutely, Ie
17:23
Speaker 2: prospect or find a guy that's a million dollars cheaper
17:26
Speaker 2: than Ryan Paling or zamola is and just throw him out.
17:28
Speaker 2: They're like, there are ways to just even shave off
17:30
Speaker 2: a little bit of money and try something different and
17:33
Speaker 2: make changes. And those are all things that need to
17:35
Speaker 2: be considered this season, even if they're not you know,
17:36
Speaker 2: the blockbuster home run trades that we hope they would be.
17:39
Speaker 1: I wasn't planning on asking you about Oliver Bonk, but
17:41
Speaker 1: you brought him up, so its just a general question
17:44
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, him coming up potentially next season,
17:48
Speaker 1: what are your thoughts on his where his development is
17:51
Speaker 1: right now and potentially where it could get to or
17:54
Speaker 1: where it should gets to or where it should get to.
17:56
Speaker 1: Obviously head coach is going to have something to do
17:58
Speaker 1: with it. And we're starting and my last question and
18:01
Speaker 1: topic for you, you know, is going to get into the
18:05
Speaker 1: development system that the Flyers have in place. But in
18:08
Speaker 1: terms of ollerber Bank, like, what are your thoughts on
18:11
Speaker 1: what his trajectory could potentially be for this Flyers team
18:14
Speaker 1: and organization.
18:16
Speaker 2: You know, there are a lot of people that pay
18:18
Speaker 2: more attention to the junior level prospects that I do
18:21
Speaker 2: that raise some red flags about him. You know, he's
18:25
Speaker 2: doing a lot of good things offensively, but in his
18:27
Speaker 2: own zone it's still kind of hit or miss. I
18:30
Speaker 2: would not be surprised if he ends up with the
18:32
Speaker 2: Phantoms next year and is down there for a minute
18:35
Speaker 2: to garner it. But obviously as a first round pick,
18:37
Speaker 2: they want him in that role. If he does succeed
18:39
Speaker 2: on the power play like he's doing in juniors, hey,
18:41
Speaker 2: even if he can carve out a niche and that
18:42
Speaker 2: role in the NHL right now, it's pretty big considering
18:44
Speaker 2: how bad the power play is. So you know, we'll
18:47
Speaker 2: see how he ultimately shakes out at the NHL. But yeah,
18:49
Speaker 2: I think there's reasons to be excited. I think there's
18:51
Speaker 2: reasons to also be skeptical.
18:52
Speaker 1: You know.
18:53
Speaker 2: The people that know more about this than I do
18:55
Speaker 2: definitely seem to indicate that he could struggle defensively, which
18:59
Speaker 2: is which is not really what you want to hear
19:01
Speaker 2: from a first round pick. But it's one of those
19:03
Speaker 2: things when you make the jump to the pro level
19:04
Speaker 2: and if you have a coach that knows how to
19:06
Speaker 2: integrate him and use him properly and develop him, and
19:09
Speaker 2: then you can make it. You know, you can go
19:11
Speaker 2: places here, So I'm definitely interested. You know, this is
19:13
Speaker 2: going to be a significantly different professional level prospect pool
19:17
Speaker 2: next year with Bonk and Barkie Bjarnison. They may sign
19:20
Speaker 2: Alex Bump, you know, Ty Murchison signed, Alex Siernak is here,
19:23
Speaker 2: Jelachenko may stick around in the NHL, So it's going
19:25
Speaker 2: to be a very different scene. There's gonna be a
19:27
Speaker 2: lot of prospects that are making the jump, which will
19:30
Speaker 2: be exciting, and Bonk is obviously highlighting that class next year.
19:33
Speaker 2: So overall, it's going to be a lot of fun
19:36
Speaker 2: both for the flyers and the phantoms that some of
19:38
Speaker 2: your siegs you plan into it a little while ago,
19:40
Speaker 2: are finally starting to blossom. We'll see what they can provide.
19:42
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and it's a great segue into this last and
19:45
Speaker 1: final topic that I wanted to dive into with you, Dan,
19:48
Speaker 1: because a story that my co host and I were
19:50
Speaker 1: discussing this past week on the show was how you
19:54
Speaker 1: had John Tortorella coaching players a certain way at the
19:58
Speaker 1: NHL level for the Philadelphia Flyers over the past few years.
20:01
Speaker 1: And also, you know, we hear reports and read articles,
20:06
Speaker 1: you see tweets or I'm sorry, you know, posts on
20:08
Speaker 1: x whatever you want to call them about how Ian
20:11
Speaker 1: la Perrier is essentially coaching these young kids and these
20:14
Speaker 1: prospects in a different manner in Lehigh Valley. And what
20:19
Speaker 1: my co host and I talked about was that that
20:22
Speaker 1: potential disconnect for these players in the pipeline when it
20:27
Speaker 1: comes to their overall development and once they inevitably potentially
20:30
Speaker 1: get to the the NHL level with the Flyers. I'm wondering,
20:35
Speaker 1: do you have concern with this from an overall organizational
20:39
Speaker 1: standpoint in terms of the development with these kids in
20:42
Speaker 1: the pipeline here or is this something that we may
20:45
Speaker 1: be overblowing here? What are your thoughts to close this
20:47
Speaker 1: out here?
20:49
Speaker 2: It's one of the biggest failures of the John Tortorilla
20:52
Speaker 2: era is prospect integration. You have these guys in the AHL.
20:57
Speaker 2: I'm a phantom season ticket older I have been for
20:59
Speaker 2: a long time pay attention to the AHL, and like
21:01
Speaker 2: I on the whole, do not have many complaints about
21:04
Speaker 2: the way I la Perrier runs his team.
21:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, And like you know.
21:07
Speaker 2: I'm sure if people were to dig through my tweets
21:10
Speaker 2: back from Meal twenty fourteen twenty fifteen, when he was
21:12
Speaker 2: the penalty hill coach of the Flyers, I'm sure I
21:14
Speaker 2: said a lot of nice things about this guy back then.
21:16
Speaker 2: But you know, I think he's come a long way
21:18
Speaker 2: as a coach. I think he knows how to handle
21:20
Speaker 2: the young guys. And when you have someone like oilexl
21:25
Speaker 2: as a recent example, who's your top line winger succeeding
21:28
Speaker 2: on the power play in the AHL and a point
21:31
Speaker 2: per game guy for through three years, he's top ten
21:33
Speaker 2: now in Lea Valley Phantom's history in terms of points,
21:37
Speaker 2: Like you have that, and then he gets called up
21:39
Speaker 2: to the NHL and he's playing four minutes a night
21:41
Speaker 2: on the fourth line with Nick de Laurier and not
21:43
Speaker 2: seeing power play time. Like, that's not I la Perrier's fault.
21:46
Speaker 2: That's not only Lexel's fault. That is John Torderella's fault
21:49
Speaker 2: for not making the most of somebody that specializes in
21:52
Speaker 2: a power play role. You know, And it's happened time
21:55
Speaker 2: and time again, you know, lexcel Andre, addered Allison Lizinski
22:00
Speaker 2: let the list goes on and on and on and
22:01
Speaker 2: time and time again. It's just that they were not
22:04
Speaker 2: properly utilized in the NHL. You know, when you specialize
22:08
Speaker 2: in something. Waite Allison was the NetFront guy in the
22:10
Speaker 2: power Play, did a great job of it. Fan favorite
22:12
Speaker 2: in the AHL comes to the NHL fourth line defensive minutes. Yeah,
22:16
Speaker 2: it's like, that is not how you integrate these guys.
22:19
Speaker 2: This is one of those things like this is how
22:21
Speaker 2: successful teams remain successful. Tampa Bay did a phenomenal job
22:26
Speaker 2: of this, especially when they were back in their Cup
22:27
Speaker 2: run a few years ago. You have these depth players
22:29
Speaker 2: that go elsewhere in free agency to get paid to
22:32
Speaker 2: like championship caliber depth players, and they just bring up
22:35
Speaker 2: players from the AHL flawlessly into grade up and just
22:38
Speaker 2: keep on hugging right, you know. And they had just
22:41
Speaker 2: complete in total failure in the John Tortorella era to
22:45
Speaker 2: do that. And you know, even though mitchkov wasn't bounced
22:48
Speaker 2: back to the AHL, we saw what he was doing.
22:50
Speaker 2: He was just cutting his minutes and cutting his legs
22:52
Speaker 2: out from under him and not giving him opportunities. Yes,
22:54
Speaker 2: it's just like it's just just such a black mark
22:57
Speaker 2: in this organization over the last handful of years, So
22:59
Speaker 2: that is it would be one thing as well with
23:01
Speaker 2: the coaches and even though these aren't your first round
23:04
Speaker 2: pick prospects, they're not your kreme de la creme guys.
23:06
Speaker 2: You need to incorporate them. You need to be able
23:09
Speaker 2: to successfully transition them and find that diamond in the rough,
23:12
Speaker 2: which is they just disqualified themselves from doing over the
23:15
Speaker 2: last handful of years. So yeah, it needs to be
23:18
Speaker 2: a little more on par. I don't know what the
23:20
Speaker 2: level of communication is between you know, somebody like Tortorella
23:24
Speaker 2: and La Perrier and what they were doing and what
23:26
Speaker 2: the front office is disconnect was who knows right right,
23:28
Speaker 2: but whatever it is they're doing right now, you need
23:31
Speaker 2: to farm these players better. And now that especially with
23:34
Speaker 2: some of these prospects coming longest, higher end prospects going
23:37
Speaker 2: up the Bonks and Barkies of the world, you know,
23:39
Speaker 2: you really can't afford to screw this up again. Yeah,
23:42
Speaker 2: whatever that means, whatever that boils down to for them,
23:45
Speaker 2: the communication needs to be there. They need to be
23:47
Speaker 2: ready to integrate prospects into the NHL and just not
23:49
Speaker 2: sabotage your own players and you may have some success
23:52
Speaker 2: because of it.
23:53
Speaker 1: That would be nice, right, That would be nice to
23:55
Speaker 1: have some success. How we long for that success as
23:58
Speaker 1: Flyers fans again, folks. Danesh from Brotherlypuck dot com the
24:04
Speaker 1: Brotherly podpodcast check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and
24:09
Speaker 1: all podcasting platforms at Dan the flyerrafan on Twitter slash
24:13
Speaker 1: X my friend, it was great talking to you. Always
24:16
Speaker 1: a wealth and knowledge. I appreciate you taking the time.
24:19
Speaker 1: I'd love to talk to you at some other point
24:20
Speaker 1: down the road, my friend, come back and join us.
24:23
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, whenever you need me, I'll be here. I
24:24
Speaker 2: always enjoyed talking Flyers.
24:27
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for us here on Table
24:28
Speaker 1: Talk this week. Please share our podcast with your friends
24:31
Speaker 1: and family members who are Philly sports fans or sports
24:34
Speaker 1: fans in general. We thank you our listeners for being
24:39
Speaker 1: part of this online community with us and within this space.
24:42
Speaker 1: Please make sure to check out our website, Philadelphia Sportstable
24:46
Speaker 1: dot com for all of our podcasts, and follow us
24:49
Speaker 1: on our social sites over on Twitter at Philadelphia pst,
24:53
Speaker 1: threads at Philadelphia Sports Table, and over on Instagram as well.
24:58
Speaker 1: Take Caaren well, catch you next time.