Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / Philadelphia Flyers Season Preview! (PST Episode 637)

Transcript

Philadelphia Flyers Season Preview! (PST Episode 637) · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:43
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest
0:46
Speaker 1: running weekly Philly sports podcast show in the world, twelve
0:49
Speaker 1: years strong. We've got a great show coming your way
0:51
Speaker 1: this week. It is our Flyers season preview show. But
0:55
Speaker 1: we've got some stories and some Philly sports little tidbits
0:59
Speaker 1: to get into before we get to our season preview.
1:02
Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking to Kelly Hinkle from Broadstreet Hockey
1:05
Speaker 1: dot Com phl Y Sports as well. She's gonna jump
1:08
Speaker 1: on to dive into what we're gonna be seeing with
1:10
Speaker 1: this team. Len and I are gonna be talking about
1:11
Speaker 1: it as well. In fact, my co host, Len, you're
1:14
Speaker 1: awake amazingly enough. Thank you for doing the show, Buddy.
1:17
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. How you doing.
1:19
Speaker 2: Been up since seven am on Monday?
1:22
Speaker 1: All right, well, why don't we do this quickly? Why
1:25
Speaker 1: don't we do the show really quickly. We'll get into
1:27
Speaker 1: it here. The Philadelphia Eagles, they are coming off their
1:30
Speaker 1: first loss of the season. Teams still need some consistency
1:35
Speaker 1: on offense, and we really wanted to dive into this week.
1:38
Speaker 1: Whether or not this team has an identity we certainly
1:40
Speaker 1: don't know, or we certainly know that the Eagles themselves
1:44
Speaker 1: do not have an identity. But I think really Len
1:49
Speaker 1: comes down to the offense here. I mean Saquon Barkley
1:51
Speaker 1: only getting six carries this past week. His only runs
1:55
Speaker 1: were on first and ten, another first and ten, a
1:58
Speaker 1: second and ten, and then three other second and sixes
2:01
Speaker 1: that they had. Jalen Hurts had a sixty percent completion rate,
2:05
Speaker 1: which ranked twenty third amongst quarterbacks on Sunday this past week,
2:09
Speaker 1: and while they wanted to get the passing game going
2:13
Speaker 1: for God's sake, they leaned into it and it was
2:16
Speaker 1: just again, we're seeing inconsistencies with this offense here, and
2:21
Speaker 1: we're asking the question, you know, does this team have
2:24
Speaker 1: an identity and a lot of it? You know, maybe
2:26
Speaker 1: no because of the offense. But I think if there
2:28
Speaker 1: might be an identity, Len, it might actually be that
2:31
Speaker 1: the Eagles are skating by at this point. I don't
2:34
Speaker 1: know what are your thoughts here.
2:37
Speaker 2: I mean, this loss that they had to Denver has
2:41
Speaker 2: been coming for weeks. You know, it could have been
2:45
Speaker 2: against you know, the Rams, it could have been against
2:47
Speaker 2: the Bucks, it could have been any one of these
2:50
Speaker 2: past few weeks. I mean, I I wasn't surprised by
2:54
Speaker 2: it at all. I don't know. I don't know if
2:57
Speaker 2: it's like all the personnel. You know, you have a
3:01
Speaker 2: couple of injuries on the offensive line, okay, yeah, you know,
3:04
Speaker 2: but all the offensive personnel, skill positions, it's all the same.
3:09
Speaker 2: It's all the same people.
3:11
Speaker 1: Yeah.
3:11
Speaker 2: So I mean, is Kevin Patullo that bad or is
3:17
Speaker 2: it just you know, they're not you know, they haven't
3:21
Speaker 2: fully jaeled yet or whatever.
3:23
Speaker 1: I don't know.
3:23
Speaker 2: I don't know if maybe he's just out of his
3:26
Speaker 2: depth as an offensive coordinator and you know, for some reason,
3:31
Speaker 2: none of this is clicking.
3:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, go ahead.
3:34
Speaker 2: It's all the same people, so don't I don't know.
3:36
Speaker 1: And that's the weird thing here, And I think it's
3:38
Speaker 1: a little bit of everything at this point. Yes, the
3:40
Speaker 1: team is four and one, but this offense, they're not
3:43
Speaker 1: ranking well, they're not performing well. And where the coaching
3:47
Speaker 1: aspect of this comes into play, they don't have a
3:49
Speaker 1: clear plan offensively that is built into really disguising things,
3:55
Speaker 1: attacking the weakness of the opponent, or something that's going
3:58
Speaker 1: to be able to gain long term se excess for
4:00
Speaker 1: them in the future. Again, they're just skating by offensively
4:05
Speaker 1: and the defense. There's only so much this defense can do.
4:08
Speaker 1: They're one of the youngest defensive corps in the NFL.
4:11
Speaker 1: So I don't know when I think about their identity,
4:15
Speaker 1: they're just skating by at this point and for being
4:18
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl team, the defending champions here, and that's
4:22
Speaker 1: what they are. You know, they obviously want to get
4:24
Speaker 1: back to the Promised Land, but they're not going to
4:26
Speaker 1: be able to do it with this type of offensive productivity. Yeah.
4:30
Speaker 2: I mean, like I'm assuming, like the game plan is, okay,
4:35
Speaker 2: we're keen on Saquon, we're gonna make hurts and the
4:39
Speaker 2: passing game beat us, which basically what the Chiefs said
4:42
Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl. And for whatever reason it worked
4:46
Speaker 2: in the Super Bowl, they were able to throw the
4:48
Speaker 2: ball all over the field, yep, and you know, just
4:50
Speaker 2: basically do whatever they wanted. For some reason, that's not
4:54
Speaker 2: happening now and I don't know why. I don't know why.
5:00
Speaker 2: In in in an offense where okay, it's so easy to
5:03
Speaker 2: bottle up Saquon Barkley as a runner, why the rest
5:07
Speaker 2: of the field isn't open for them to just throw
5:10
Speaker 2: the ball all over the place like they did in
5:12
Speaker 2: that Super Bowl game. I it's it's beyond my understanding,
5:17
Speaker 2: and I don't know if it's maybe it's an next
5:18
Speaker 2: I'm sure it's an execution thing. On on one hand,
5:23
Speaker 2: maybe the play calling isn't as good. Maybe Kevin Pulo
5:26
Speaker 2: isn't the isn't the play caller that Kellen Moore was,
5:30
Speaker 2: or you know what have you. That's probably, you know,
5:35
Speaker 2: a safe guess. But at the same time, you know
5:38
Speaker 2: you should be able to at least execute some plays.
5:41
Speaker 2: They're not doing it, so I don't know what's missing.
5:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, and show some creativity too. I'd love to see
5:47
Speaker 1: that for sure. Let us know what you're thinking out there.
5:49
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. I have the
5:51
Speaker 1: website up here once again for some reason, I forgot
5:54
Speaker 1: to change that if you're watching on YouTube, But again,
5:56
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Sports Table at gmail dot com. I'd love to
5:58
Speaker 1: read your email here on the show and respond to it.
6:01
Speaker 1: So moving on from the Eagles talk, there is some
6:05
Speaker 1: good stuff happening in the world of Philly sports. There
6:08
Speaker 1: is something good. Yes, the Phillies are doing the Phillies
6:12
Speaker 1: thing right now, and we're not actually going to be
6:15
Speaker 1: getting into that team. But what team we are going
6:17
Speaker 1: to get into is the Philadelphia Union. The Union have
6:20
Speaker 1: won the Supporter Shield. Len. It has been quite a
6:23
Speaker 1: season for this team, for this brand new head coach,
6:27
Speaker 1: and there really is more to come here. You know.
6:31
Speaker 1: You saw Michel Urah with the one goal that he
6:37
Speaker 1: scored this past week to end up getting this team
6:40
Speaker 1: the Supporters Shield, And it's just been such a fun
6:43
Speaker 1: season to watch. It really has been. They've got an
6:46
Speaker 1: international break and season finale on the turf in Charlotte
6:51
Speaker 1: on October eighteenth ahead of their playoff push. But it's
6:54
Speaker 1: been it's been so fun to actually have a team
6:57
Speaker 1: here in Philadelphia, or that we're not questioning them, you're
7:00
Speaker 1: at this point.
7:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean if you're let's say you're a fan
7:06
Speaker 2: of all the Philly teams, and you know, I think
7:09
Speaker 2: there's a lot of people like this. I know I'm
7:10
Speaker 2: certainly one of that that you're your college team by
7:15
Speaker 2: default is Penn State because they're the pre eminent college
7:18
Speaker 2: football program in the state, whether you graduated from there
7:21
Speaker 2: or not. But if they're your team and the Philly
7:24
Speaker 2: teams are your team, really the Union was the only
7:27
Speaker 2: port in the storm this this past week. Uh, really,
7:31
Speaker 2: the only good thing that happened at all was them
7:33
Speaker 2: winning the Supporter Shield. So I mean that's a that's
7:37
Speaker 2: a big deal. You know. I always kind of you know,
7:42
Speaker 2: you think of you know, the other sports, and I
7:46
Speaker 2: think in the other sports, you go, okay, best regular
7:49
Speaker 2: season record, who cares, you know, the President's Trophy and
7:52
Speaker 2: Hockey's the is what you get for the best regular
7:55
Speaker 2: season record, and nobody gives a damn about that. In
7:59
Speaker 2: soccer it's different. I mean, all these trophies matter. All
8:02
Speaker 2: of it is a resume point and all of it matters.
8:06
Speaker 2: So I mean it's a cool thing in a sport
8:08
Speaker 2: where that kind of thing does matter, that the Union
8:10
Speaker 2: are picking up hardware because you know that, you know,
8:13
Speaker 2: the cupboard is bear Otherwise, I mean, there's never been
8:16
Speaker 2: an MLS Cup, there's never been a US Open Cup trophy, right,
8:19
Speaker 2: things like that. So the fact they're able to go
8:22
Speaker 2: and get another trophy for the further case, it matters.
8:27
Speaker 2: It definitely matters.
8:28
Speaker 1: Well, I wanted to ask you too, because you know,
8:31
Speaker 1: they won the Shield back in twenty twenty, but the
8:34
Speaker 1: Union benefited from an abbreviated twenty three game schedule playing
8:37
Speaker 1: against a reduced number of teams throughout the pandemic, you know,
8:42
Speaker 1: so does this one carry a little bit more weight
8:46
Speaker 1: given what this season has been. And again, first time
8:50
Speaker 1: head coach or first time Union head coach coming here
8:53
Speaker 1: after the Jim Curtin era really really lay in his mark,
8:57
Speaker 1: Bradley Carnell, that's like really laying his mark on this team.
9:02
Speaker 2: I mean I think there, you know, maybe there's some credence.
9:04
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, thirty three games played more than
9:07
Speaker 2: you know, what you had said with that abbreviate. Yeah,
9:10
Speaker 2: well yeah, thirty three this year though, is more more
9:14
Speaker 2: so than what was happening at that season.
9:18
Speaker 1: Yeah.
9:18
Speaker 2: I think, you know, anytime you have a greater sample size,
9:22
Speaker 2: I mean, I think it stands the reason that you know,
9:24
Speaker 2: there's more opportunities to get kind of picked apart as
9:27
Speaker 2: a fraud if you know, if you weren't you know,
9:30
Speaker 2: as good as you are. So yeah, I think that matters.
9:33
Speaker 2: And I think the fact that a first year coach
9:35
Speaker 2: was able to come in and take you know, not
9:40
Speaker 2: in not the same team because you know, we all
9:42
Speaker 2: talked about the Unions off season and we were worried
9:45
Speaker 2: about the Unions off season, and we didn't know what
9:48
Speaker 2: to make of the guys they were bringing in. Yeah,
9:50
Speaker 2: but the fact that he was able to bring in
9:52
Speaker 2: take this team with these guys that were already there
9:55
Speaker 2: and the additions, and meld them all together and go,
9:58
Speaker 2: you know, go from a team that you know was
10:01
Speaker 2: not expected to do anything to the supporter Shield winners
10:04
Speaker 2: says something and it's kind of weird. I don't know.
10:07
Speaker 2: I don't know what it says about the stability of
10:08
Speaker 2: the league, because then you look in the other direction.
10:10
Speaker 2: You have a team like the La Galaxy, who won
10:13
Speaker 2: the MLS Cup last year and I think is dead
10:16
Speaker 2: last in the West or close to it. So is
10:19
Speaker 2: that a thing that just from year to year you
10:21
Speaker 2: don't know what you're getting And it's not like, you know, oh,
10:24
Speaker 2: we have we won the division last year. We have
10:27
Speaker 2: the same team. We should be expected to be in
10:29
Speaker 2: the hunt next year. So it'll be interested interesting next
10:32
Speaker 2: year to see, you know, if they can maintain. But
10:36
Speaker 2: I mean the way they're playing, the way they've played
10:39
Speaker 2: for I mean a good chunk of the year it's
10:43
Speaker 2: been it's been really enjoyable to watch. So yeah, I
10:46
Speaker 2: mean I'm super happy with what I've seen. I'll be
10:50
Speaker 2: interested to see what kind of lineup they field against Charlotte,
10:53
Speaker 2: because there's nothing to play for. I mean, they've plinched
10:55
Speaker 2: the supporter shield, they've plinched to buy in the first round.
10:59
Speaker 2: You know, they they've you know, there's nothing more to
11:02
Speaker 2: be gained. So do you just you know play you know,
11:05
Speaker 2: your your kids that normally don't get as much time
11:07
Speaker 2: and give them, you know, most of the run in
11:10
Speaker 2: that game again, Charlotte, I would think that they would.
11:13
Speaker 1: They probably will, yeah, yeah.
11:15
Speaker 2: And then just you know, give give your main players
11:18
Speaker 2: the time to recuperate for once the playoffs actually start.
11:21
Speaker 1: Absolutely, we're gonna get into more Philadelphia Union in the
11:24
Speaker 1: coming weeks as the playoff push starts, and we're not
11:28
Speaker 1: gonna have Eric do that. We're not gonna have Eric
11:30
Speaker 1: do the Philadelphia stuff. Do Len or bring on some
11:34
Speaker 1: of our other friends. Not Eric though, right I think
11:38
Speaker 1: he would be happy to be left out of it. Yes,
11:39
Speaker 1: I think he would, all right. Folks, if you are
11:42
Speaker 1: watching us on YouTube, like and subscribe to us, helps
11:45
Speaker 1: us out and gets our podcast in front of other
11:49
Speaker 1: folks out there, and we are on various social media sites.
11:52
Speaker 1: If you're watching on YouTube, you'll see it right in
11:53
Speaker 1: front of you right now. But if you're listening on audio,
11:55
Speaker 1: we are on Twitter, slash ex at Philadelphia pst Over
11:58
Speaker 1: on Instagram, Philadelphia Sports Table, I'm over on TikTok at.
12:02
Speaker 1: Mister Jeff Warren can search out the show on Facebook threads,
12:06
Speaker 1: Eric and Irover on Blue Sky. So that being said,
12:09
Speaker 1: we are gonna take a break here and when we
12:12
Speaker 1: get back, it's our Flyers season preview. Stick with us,
12:17
Speaker 1: all right, we are back and uh here with my
12:20
Speaker 1: buddy Lenn Hunsicker and Len Man, Flyer season is like
12:24
Speaker 1: it's it's here. We are finally here after this off
12:28
Speaker 1: season of you know, we're still saying Danny Briere is
12:33
Speaker 1: like making some pretty good moves here. Brand new coach
12:36
Speaker 1: coming in. Thank god, not gonna have to John Torrella.
12:41
Speaker 1: Thank God, We're not gonna have to deal with him anymore.
12:43
Speaker 1: Rick Hackett his first season, I think some of the
12:46
Speaker 1: biggest challenges for this team heading in, and we're gonna
12:49
Speaker 1: get to some of this with Kelly Hinkle in a
12:51
Speaker 1: little bit. But the Flyers allowed twenty seven shots on
12:53
Speaker 1: goal per game last season. That was the eighth fewest
12:56
Speaker 1: in the NHL. But they're eight ninety five on five
12:59
Speaker 1: saved percentage was the worst in the NHL since the
13:04
Speaker 1: league began keeping the stat in two thousand and nine
13:07
Speaker 1: twenty ten. We also got to, you know, I wanted
13:10
Speaker 1: to get your thoughts here on the goalie situation too.
13:13
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if Kelly and I are really going
13:14
Speaker 1: to be getting into the goalie situation that much, but
13:17
Speaker 1: they signed Dan Vladar to a two year contract. We
13:20
Speaker 1: know Sam Erson is going to be in front of
13:22
Speaker 1: the net mostly. He had an eight eighty three save
13:25
Speaker 1: percentage in forty seven games last season and the nine
13:29
Speaker 1: the final nine games of last season when Dan Vladar
13:32
Speaker 1: was with Calgary he finished with a nine to twenty
13:35
Speaker 1: seven save percentage, but before that it was an eight
13:39
Speaker 1: ninety eight save percentage. So I think the biggest challenge
13:42
Speaker 1: and one of the biggest challenges heading into this season
13:44
Speaker 1: for the Flyers is really going to be the goaltending
13:46
Speaker 1: and how these guys play, and how Rick Tockett is
13:49
Speaker 1: going to essentially play these goalies who you know, how
13:53
Speaker 1: many games is Erson going to be starting, how many
13:56
Speaker 1: games is Ladar are going to be starting? So I
13:57
Speaker 1: think that's one of the biggest challenges.
13:59
Speaker 2: Lenn Yeah, it's it's gonna be interesting because I think
14:03
Speaker 2: that the schedule may be a little bit more compressed
14:06
Speaker 2: because there is going to be that that break in
14:10
Speaker 2: the middle of the season for the Olympics. So you know,
14:13
Speaker 2: you still have, you know, the regular amount of games
14:15
Speaker 2: that you play over season, but now you're getting rid
14:18
Speaker 2: of a couple of weeks worth of season, so maybe
14:20
Speaker 2: you know, you're stacking some games together, you know more
14:23
Speaker 2: maybe a stretch of you know, more games in a
14:25
Speaker 2: shorter amount of days than you would normally have in
14:28
Speaker 2: a regular season. So that is going to make the
14:32
Speaker 2: backup goalie, not just for the Flyers, but for every
14:35
Speaker 2: team in the NHL more of a position to watch
14:38
Speaker 2: this year, because you are going to need to give
14:41
Speaker 2: you know, your your your main guy a little bit
14:43
Speaker 2: more of a rest here and there. So I think
14:46
Speaker 2: you're gonna see more of you know, Dan Vildar and
14:49
Speaker 2: really every backup goalie in the league than maybe you
14:51
Speaker 2: normally would in a season like this. So it'll be
14:55
Speaker 2: interesting to see how he looks Erson. You know, he's
14:59
Speaker 2: got a lot to prove. Very shaky. It's funny reading
15:03
Speaker 2: some of the national coverage of the Flyers. Nationally, there
15:09
Speaker 2: seems to be you know a decent amount of respect
15:12
Speaker 2: for the defensive group as a whole. So I mean
15:17
Speaker 2: they seem to think that the defensively that might be
15:19
Speaker 2: the strength of the team, whereas the forward group and
15:22
Speaker 2: the and the goalie group are kind of maybe lagging
15:25
Speaker 2: behind that. But it is kind of funny to see
15:28
Speaker 2: because you know, if you've been reading up on camp,
15:32
Speaker 2: you know, you've had this this glut of defenders, uh,
15:35
Speaker 2: you know, Helga Groans and and no juleson and and
15:39
Speaker 2: Dennis Gilbert and like they're waiting for somebody to step up,
15:43
Speaker 2: you know, Uh, I go or Zamola has you know,
15:47
Speaker 2: not really inspired a lot of Yeah, been in Rick
15:51
Speaker 2: Tocket's doghouse a little bit. So where where is this
15:55
Speaker 2: you know, maybe third line or third pairing defensive defenseman
16:00
Speaker 2: to come from? Yeah, they did make that trade with
16:02
Speaker 2: San Jose to get rid of Ryan Elis's salary, free
16:06
Speaker 2: up some cap space, and I you know, I think
16:10
Speaker 2: that you know, I don't know what's out there. I
16:12
Speaker 2: don't know what kind of trade could be made, but
16:15
Speaker 2: I think they freed up that space for a reason.
16:17
Speaker 2: I think that they are not at all happy with
16:21
Speaker 2: their you know, their defensive group, and they want to
16:24
Speaker 2: make an ad and it'll be interesting to see where
16:26
Speaker 2: that comes from, if it can come to fruition. You know,
16:29
Speaker 2: who knows you need a partner to make these deals.
16:32
Speaker 2: So that's something I think early on in the season
16:35
Speaker 2: to look for and see if that's something that they
16:37
Speaker 2: can get done and get another body in here that
16:40
Speaker 2: they're more comfortable and more you know, just that they
16:43
Speaker 2: feel is more reliable.
16:44
Speaker 3: Yeah.
16:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely. I mean Cam York is probably gonna miss the
16:46
Speaker 1: first week at least at least and then Rasmus wrist
16:49
Speaker 1: the line and he's gonna miss me. He's going to
16:51
Speaker 1: be out for a while. Yeah, about three four weeks
16:53
Speaker 1: perhaps so. Yeah. But I think the most intriguing part
16:57
Speaker 1: of this upcoming season, Len and and right out of
17:00
Speaker 1: the gate too, before I let you go and before
17:02
Speaker 1: we get Kelly on here is Trevor Zegres. I mean,
17:05
Speaker 1: can he really be an effective center? They made that
17:08
Speaker 1: deal with the Anaheim Ducks to bring him in. Zegres
17:13
Speaker 1: has had back to back twenty goal sixty point seasons,
17:16
Speaker 1: had in two thousand and one, twenty twenty two, twenty
17:19
Speaker 1: twenty two twenty twenty three, but he was a combined
17:22
Speaker 1: minus forty five. Defensive play was one of the reasons
17:26
Speaker 1: that he was shifted to the wing the past two seasons,
17:28
Speaker 1: but his injuries and just I guess a lack of
17:31
Speaker 1: comfort at the position kind of led to some subpar results.
17:36
Speaker 1: But I think Trevor Zegras is so intriguing in terms
17:40
Speaker 1: of what he can be, what he can provide this offense,
17:43
Speaker 1: specifically at the center position, where there's a lot of
17:46
Speaker 1: question marks about the center position moving forward.
17:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's it's absolutely a position to need,
17:52
Speaker 2: so right then and there, he's going to be given,
17:54
Speaker 2: I think, every opportunity to show he can be a
17:58
Speaker 2: top six center with this team. And I think he's
18:00
Speaker 2: gonna get plenty of time with Mitchikoff because you have
18:04
Speaker 2: two just really creative players, you know, guys that really
18:10
Speaker 2: can just see the ice the way that not a
18:12
Speaker 2: lot of people can see it. Maybe not the best
18:15
Speaker 2: defensive pair, so I think you're going to see those
18:18
Speaker 2: two and then like a just your your your regular
18:23
Speaker 2: two hundred foot you know winger that you know is
18:25
Speaker 2: defensively responsible that coaches NHL coaches eat that stuff up.
18:30
Speaker 2: You're gonna have to put a guy like that with
18:31
Speaker 2: those two because those two are you know, all gas,
18:35
Speaker 2: no breaks on offense and then defensively, you know, they're
18:38
Speaker 2: not ideal. So I think you kind of have to
18:41
Speaker 2: have that blend in there a player. But I am
18:44
Speaker 2: looking forward to see. That's one of the things in
18:47
Speaker 2: a season where you know, Okay, you don't really think
18:49
Speaker 2: the Flyers are gonna you know, make a playoff push,
18:52
Speaker 2: and I don't, to be honest with you, I'm with you,
18:55
Speaker 2: but that's still going to be a fun thing to
18:57
Speaker 2: look at and see. Okay, if we can get Zeke
19:00
Speaker 2: Gris and Mitchkoff on the ice together, what kind of
19:02
Speaker 2: stuff could we see? I think you're gonna see some
19:05
Speaker 2: highlight level stuff out of those two that's really gonna
19:09
Speaker 2: make you do a double take sometimes yeah, and then
19:12
Speaker 2: other times you're gonna see things that frustrate you. But
19:14
Speaker 2: it's I think they're gonna be a lot of fun
19:16
Speaker 2: together to.
19:16
Speaker 1: Watch, part of the developmental PSS process of hockey. So
19:20
Speaker 1: that being said, Buddy, I am gonna let you go.
19:22
Speaker 1: Thanks for the nineteen twenty minutes you were able to
19:25
Speaker 1: give us here. I know you're beat tired, you're.
19:27
Speaker 2: Up serious, Sorry, we could do longer.
19:29
Speaker 1: No, that's all right, buddy, We appreciate you. Yeah, we're
19:32
Speaker 1: going to take a break now and we get back.
19:34
Speaker 1: We got Kelly Hinkle from Broadstreet Hockey dot Com. We're
19:37
Speaker 1: gonna be getting into more Flyers talk with our Flyer
19:39
Speaker 1: season previews. Stick with us.
19:42
Speaker 2: And now on the seabe.
19:47
Speaker 1: All right, we are back and to continue diving into
19:50
Speaker 1: our Philadelphia Flyers season preview we have from Broadstreet Hockey
19:54
Speaker 1: dot Com. And she also appears on phl y Sports
19:58
Speaker 1: every now and again talking with our friends Bill and
20:00
Speaker 1: Charlie O'Connor as they get into some Flyers talk. But
20:04
Speaker 1: we've got her to get into our Flyer season preview.
20:07
Speaker 1: Kelly Hankle, my friend, how are you? And man, the
20:10
Speaker 1: season's like it's here.
20:11
Speaker 3: I love it, It's coming and we can't stop it.
20:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly, all right, pull back the curtain before
20:18
Speaker 1: we hit record. You're like, I don't know if I'm
20:20
Speaker 1: ready for this. You're like, I just don't know if
20:22
Speaker 1: I'm ready for this. There's so much I don't even
20:25
Speaker 1: want to use the word expectation. I use that word
20:27
Speaker 1: a lot on this podcast. Platform, and yes, there are
20:30
Speaker 1: some expectations, but there's also an excitement about where the
20:34
Speaker 1: team and where the organization is gonna go overall, and
20:37
Speaker 1: if it's actually gonna manifest itself. That's what I'm really
20:40
Speaker 1: looking forward to.
20:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean there's definitely a lot to look forward
20:45
Speaker 3: to this season. Obviously, Trevor Zegris that should be if
20:51
Speaker 3: nothing else fun, Yes, so at least we have that obviously,
20:55
Speaker 3: you know, we get to see if Miechkov takes a
20:58
Speaker 3: step forward. We to see how Forester looks after being
21:01
Speaker 3: injured all summer, Like, we have to see if the
21:03
Speaker 3: goaltenders are going to be okay. Like, there's a lot
21:06
Speaker 3: of stuff that, you know, questions to be answered and
21:09
Speaker 3: things to be excited about. And you know, if nothing
21:12
Speaker 3: else as usual, they're gonna give us something to talk about.
21:14
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Absolutely. Look, Lennon and I were talking about before
21:17
Speaker 1: bringing you on, Sam Erson, Dan Vladar, what the goalie
21:21
Speaker 1: situation is going to be like. We also mentioned how
21:23
Speaker 1: intriguing Trevor Zegress is going to be like you just
21:26
Speaker 1: mentioned too, But I wanted to start off the discussion
21:30
Speaker 1: Kelly on an optimistic note here by really talking about
21:34
Speaker 1: players like matt Vey, Mietchkov, Trevor z Gress, you know,
21:37
Speaker 1: Christian Dvorak on the top line here, and then you
21:41
Speaker 1: know what the second line with like Coots connect me,
21:44
Speaker 1: oh and Tippett. You know what that may look like.
21:46
Speaker 1: I'm really excited for these players. I mean, these these
21:50
Speaker 1: top two lines are going to be so much fun
21:53
Speaker 1: in my opinion to watch right out of the gate.
21:55
Speaker 1: I love talking about themes on this podcast platform here,
21:59
Speaker 1: So I'm wondering, what do you think are going to
22:01
Speaker 1: be the overriding themes of these top lines throughout this season,
22:06
Speaker 1: whether it's the top line, second line. What are your
22:08
Speaker 1: thoughts here?
22:10
Speaker 3: So I kind of think I'm I'm thinking that it's
22:13
Speaker 3: the overarching theme. I think is going to be experimentation,
22:17
Speaker 3: all right, because we've got a new coach, right we
22:21
Speaker 3: don't know what he's going to like, what he's going
22:23
Speaker 3: to expect, what he's going to prefer from his players,
22:27
Speaker 3: So we've got that to kind of figure out as
22:29
Speaker 3: a group. Yeah, and also I think it's it's probably
22:33
Speaker 3: going to take a little bit of time before Tacket
22:37
Speaker 3: settles on the best combination of these players. Is it
22:42
Speaker 3: best to have Zeegras and beach cough together all the time.
22:44
Speaker 3: I mean, it'll be fun, but like, is the best
22:47
Speaker 3: way to allocate your resources? Like do you want to
22:50
Speaker 3: put connect me up there? What do you want to
22:52
Speaker 3: do with Owen Tippett? Like, I really do think that
22:55
Speaker 3: whatever lines we see in this first game against Florida,
22:58
Speaker 3: I don't think we should get to a ttch to them. Yes,
23:01
Speaker 3: they're like really good out of the gate, right, but
23:03
Speaker 3: I just think that, like there's there's so many new pieces,
23:09
Speaker 3: the new coaches, a lot of guys that need to
23:12
Speaker 3: take steps that you really want to try to maximize
23:14
Speaker 3: over the course of the season, I just think we're
23:17
Speaker 3: going to see a lot of mixing it up until
23:19
Speaker 3: something really sticks, and then I'm hoping once it does stick,
23:24
Speaker 3: it sticks. Because we had a problem with Tortorelli, you know,
23:27
Speaker 3: I think he mixed it up a little bit too
23:28
Speaker 3: much and guys never really got they never really got going.
23:31
Speaker 1: And I was going to say that Rick Tockett understands,
23:34
Speaker 1: knows and when that's actually going to.
23:35
Speaker 3: Happen, right exactly, I think I have a little bit
23:40
Speaker 3: more confidence in him being able to kind of settle on. Okay,
23:46
Speaker 3: this looks good, it's looked good for a couple of games. Yep,
23:50
Speaker 3: Let's give them the next ten together and see what happens,
23:53
Speaker 3: or you know, give them the season until it doesn't work,
23:56
Speaker 3: you know what I mean. I just don't even after
23:58
Speaker 3: watching the preseason games, I don't I don't know where
24:01
Speaker 3: a lot of players are going to fit perfectly. Owen Tippet,
24:04
Speaker 3: I got a lot of questions about I don't know
24:08
Speaker 3: what line he fits on the best. We actually talked
24:10
Speaker 3: about it a little bit today on PHL Y like
24:13
Speaker 3: he might do best on the third line. You must,
24:15
Speaker 3: because you know, then you've got a couple of guys
24:17
Speaker 3: and Kate's and Brink who can kind of get into
24:20
Speaker 3: the corners and get him the puck, and he's really
24:22
Speaker 3: the only guy on that line that's going to shoot,
24:24
Speaker 3: So maybe that's the best place to put him, right
24:27
Speaker 3: And you know, maybe maybe you want Katurier with Meachcoff
24:30
Speaker 3: because they looked so good together last season, and Katurier
24:33
Speaker 3: is kind of probably the smartest hockey guy on the
24:36
Speaker 3: team and can really keep up with Meachcoff kind of intellectually.
24:40
Speaker 3: So it's going to be interesting. I think that the
24:42
Speaker 3: first couple of weeks of the season. It's gonna be
24:45
Speaker 3: a lot of feeling stuff out, and I think we're
24:47
Speaker 3: going to learn a lot about what this team is
24:48
Speaker 3: going to be.
24:49
Speaker 1: Absolutely, but you know, we started off on an optimistic
24:53
Speaker 1: note here, let's get into a pessimistic note because we
24:56
Speaker 1: are Philly sports fans and we are Philadelphia Flyers fans.
25:00
Speaker 1: The injuries have really been brand yet exactly. The injuries
25:04
Speaker 1: have been a disappointment here. Cam York is gonna be
25:07
Speaker 1: sidelined for at least the first week of the season
25:10
Speaker 1: based on reports, if not longer. You know, we know
25:13
Speaker 1: how these things kind of go for the Flyers every
25:14
Speaker 1: now and again. Oh, one week man ends up being
25:16
Speaker 1: two weeks, three weeks. We're not gonna see Rasmus wrist
25:19
Speaker 1: the line and for at least a few weeks as well.
25:23
Speaker 1: There's already limited defensive personnel for this Flyers team to
25:27
Speaker 1: begin with, not to mention igor Zamola not having the
25:30
Speaker 1: greatest camp in preseason as we saw, really hard to
25:34
Speaker 1: be optimistic about the defense right out of the gate
25:36
Speaker 1: to start the season, Kelly, But I'm wondering, is there
25:39
Speaker 1: any silver lining that we can perhaps look to in
25:42
Speaker 1: terms of what we might see from this or might
25:45
Speaker 1: see from these pairs, possibly right out of the gate.
25:47
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts?
25:49
Speaker 3: I gotta tell you, Jeff, I am terrified of his defense.
25:53
Speaker 3: I spent the entire summer thinking, like, man, I wonder
25:58
Speaker 3: if the goaltenders are going to get it to I
26:00
Speaker 3: wonder if they'll be just average enough to give this
26:03
Speaker 3: team a chance to win games. Really worried about the goalies.
26:06
Speaker 3: And then training cam started and the preseason game started,
26:10
Speaker 3: and we got to look at who we're going to
26:12
Speaker 3: have on defense. Yeah it, I mean, you know, you
26:18
Speaker 3: never know what you're gonna get on the ice, right,
26:20
Speaker 3: Like maybe maybe these guys play well together, and you know,
26:24
Speaker 3: maybe Tackett has like a team defense system that kind
26:27
Speaker 3: of gives them the best possible opportunity. But like I'm
26:32
Speaker 3: thinking about a third pair of like Zamola and juleson. Yeah,
26:37
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm I'm getting like PTSD flashbacks to the
26:40
Speaker 3: twenty ten playoff run when we had parent cry Check
26:43
Speaker 3: on the pair. We couldn't you count. You could play
26:46
Speaker 3: them four minutes a night because every time they were
26:48
Speaker 3: on the ice, you were gonna get scored on, right,
26:50
Speaker 3: And I I I don't know with Cam, even with
26:55
Speaker 3: Cam York, it was looking kind of bleak with him out.
26:59
Speaker 3: I don't know, Like who's the second best Drysdale? Is
27:05
Speaker 3: it Nick Seeler. Yeah, It's just it's just it's it's
27:13
Speaker 3: it's frightening. I am really interested to see how Rick
27:19
Speaker 3: Tacket handles this, because he seems to I mean, I
27:25
Speaker 3: think Emil Andre is better than at least three of
27:29
Speaker 3: the guys that are currently on the roster in Zamola, Juleson,
27:33
Speaker 3: and Gilbert Rick Talcket, though seems to have a type.
27:39
Speaker 3: Juleson seems to be his Andrew MacDonald, so I guess
27:42
Speaker 3: we're going to see a lot of him. But it's
27:47
Speaker 3: it's just I just I wonder how long of a
27:49
Speaker 3: leash they're going to give these guys if they look
27:51
Speaker 3: real bad, Like if Zamola continues to look as bad
27:53
Speaker 3: as he did in the preseason games, Like how long
27:55
Speaker 3: are you going to keep that up? You don't want
27:57
Speaker 3: to keep it up? Who are you putting in? He
27:59
Speaker 3: was so bad? Like? And are we replacing him with Dennis?
28:03
Speaker 3: Is his first name Dennis Gilbert?
28:04
Speaker 1: Yes?
28:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like is that what we're going to replace them with?
28:08
Speaker 3: Is that? I don't know, it's just if there's anything
28:12
Speaker 3: about this team that makes me think, hey, lottery pick,
28:17
Speaker 3: let's go. Yes, it's the defense. It's not even the goaltending,
28:21
Speaker 3: which is really surprising to me. It's the defense more
28:23
Speaker 3: than anything.
28:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely. All right, Well, let's move into some actual personnel too,
28:28
Speaker 1: And I want to get into Tyson Forrester because there
28:31
Speaker 1: are some big expectations coming to this season for what
28:34
Speaker 1: he'll do on the ice, even though he was out
28:37
Speaker 1: for much of camp with an injury. Keith Jones recently said,
28:43
Speaker 1: or I should say he said in the past that
28:45
Speaker 1: he expects Forrester to be one of the building blocks
28:48
Speaker 1: of the future. And I guess the real question is,
28:50
Speaker 1: after it's all said and done here this season, can
28:53
Speaker 1: he be a top six winger on this team? I
28:55
Speaker 1: mean maybe by December January, when those months roll around
29:00
Speaker 1: and once this team is at a certain point where
29:02
Speaker 1: there's a level of comfortability with each other. Do you
29:06
Speaker 1: think that Tyson Forrester could be a top six winger
29:09
Speaker 1: on this team? Say, by you know, mid season, what
29:11
Speaker 1: are your thoughts.
29:14
Speaker 3: I do think it's possible. I mean, obviously this team
29:17
Speaker 3: is super deep on wing, so you know there's a
29:20
Speaker 3: lot of guys that he's competing with for those top
29:22
Speaker 3: four spots. But you know, when Tyson Forrester has been good,
29:30
Speaker 3: he's been really really good. Yeah, you know, we were calling
29:33
Speaker 3: him like a mini Couturier there for a little while.
29:36
Speaker 3: He got he actually got Selkie votes, not a lot
29:39
Speaker 3: of them, but he got a couple of Selk votes.
29:41
Speaker 3: Like he he has the potential to be really good.
29:44
Speaker 3: I do think that you're right that it's probably oops,
29:47
Speaker 3: sorry my ear, but thought it's probably gonna take a
29:50
Speaker 3: little bit of time for him to get going because
29:53
Speaker 3: as you said, he was injured, gonna need to you know,
29:56
Speaker 3: get back up to game shape and all that stuff.
30:00
Speaker 3: It was the arm, Like I don't know how much
30:01
Speaker 3: an infection in your arm affects, like your shooting ability
30:05
Speaker 3: or whatever. Like he's got a really good shot obviously,
30:08
Speaker 3: so hopefully that isn't affected. But yeah, I'm kind of
30:12
Speaker 3: expecting hoping, I guess more than anything, because we I
30:18
Speaker 3: think we expected Forrester to take a jump last season
30:20
Speaker 3: and he didn't. Really, so I'm hoping that this is
30:24
Speaker 3: the year that he does, because if he doesn't again
30:26
Speaker 3: for a second season, you start to wonder like where
30:30
Speaker 3: the where the Selky flashes just you know, flashes that
30:35
Speaker 3: we got lucky to see, but they're not going to
30:37
Speaker 3: be able to be consistent. But yeah, I think that
30:42
Speaker 3: under Rick Tacket, I think that Tackett's gonna love Forrester
30:45
Speaker 3: as a player. Just the way that he plays seems
30:47
Speaker 3: like very Ricktocket to me. You know how these guys
30:51
Speaker 3: love a two hundred foot player. But yeah, I'm I'm
30:56
Speaker 3: expecting that he will be in the top six, and
31:01
Speaker 3: that's a lot of that is also me expecting that
31:04
Speaker 3: Owen Tippett will not.
31:05
Speaker 1: Okay, interesting, see it goes to what we were kind
31:08
Speaker 1: of talking about to start things off of who Rick
31:12
Speaker 1: Tocket is really going to inevitably see as whether or
31:17
Speaker 1: not it's a bright star. I don't necessarily see that,
31:19
Speaker 1: but this is the trust factor. You know who who
31:22
Speaker 1: Rick Tocket is going to trust. So you're thinking more
31:26
Speaker 1: along the lines of him trusting Forrester. But when it
31:29
Speaker 1: comes to and tipp It and not maybe not too much,
31:32
Speaker 1: it just I.
31:33
Speaker 3: Mean it really depends. Like Tippitt does one thing, Yeah,
31:36
Speaker 3: he shoots the puck and he scores goals. Yeah, last
31:39
Speaker 3: year he didn't shoot the puck enough. Was that a
31:42
Speaker 3: usage problem? Was that his him problem? I don't know.
31:46
Speaker 3: But if he doesn't find that part of his game
31:50
Speaker 3: again this season, like that's all he does. Yeah, and
31:53
Speaker 3: if he's not doing that, I don't know what he's
31:56
Speaker 3: good for. Right, So hopefully talk It finds a way
32:01
Speaker 3: to get the most out of Owen Tippett, and that
32:04
Speaker 3: might be on the third line. And that's fine because
32:08
Speaker 3: you know, Tyson Forrester playing with meach Cough I think
32:13
Speaker 3: makes a lot of sense. I think that's something that
32:14
Speaker 3: a lot of people talked about last season that they
32:16
Speaker 3: wanted to see meatch Cough with Forrester. So maybe you
32:19
Speaker 3: give that a try. But yeah, I after last season,
32:23
Speaker 3: I'm a little I'm a little worried about Owen Tippett,
32:27
Speaker 3: but little hesitant. Could he could prove me wrong? Real quick?
32:30
Speaker 1: Yeah? All right, sounds good. Well, folks, we are going
32:32
Speaker 1: to take just a real quick break, and when we
32:34
Speaker 1: get back, we're going to be getting into some categories
32:38
Speaker 1: with regard to what we may see from some of
32:40
Speaker 1: these players. Who's going to be the comeback kid, who's
32:42
Speaker 1: going to be the bounce back guy, who's going to
32:44
Speaker 1: be the rising star the dark Horse MVP more Flyers
32:48
Speaker 1: season preview when we get back stick with us, all right,
32:53
Speaker 1: we're back with our good friend Kelly Hinkle from broad
32:55
Speaker 1: Street Hockey dot Com and she's also over on phl
32:59
Speaker 1: Y every now and again with our good friends over there.
33:03
Speaker 1: Let's get into some categories here, Kelly. I'm gonna give
33:07
Speaker 1: you a category, like for you to give me that
33:09
Speaker 1: Flyers player that comes to mind, brief reason as to
33:13
Speaker 1: why that player matches this category as it pertains to
33:16
Speaker 1: their ability to get it done this upcoming season. So
33:19
Speaker 1: let's do it. Let's start with the comeback kid. Who
33:22
Speaker 1: do you think the comeback kid is going to be
33:24
Speaker 1: this season for the Philadelphia Flyers.
33:26
Speaker 3: I think it's gonna be Trevor Zegras, all right. And
33:29
Speaker 3: I think it's because I think there's a number of
33:31
Speaker 3: things that are going to work in his favor. Number One,
33:33
Speaker 3: they're going to put him back at center, and that's
33:35
Speaker 3: where he is the best version of himself.
33:37
Speaker 1: Yep.
33:39
Speaker 3: He very clearly, based on like every interview that he's
33:42
Speaker 3: given since he got to Philadelphia, wants to prove that
33:46
Speaker 3: he is the hockey player that we thought that he
33:49
Speaker 3: was going to be at the start of his career,
33:51
Speaker 3: so the motivation is obviously there. He seems to be
33:54
Speaker 3: having fun, He seems to have a lot of chemistry
33:56
Speaker 3: with Mietchkov. I just think that, like, all the stars
34:00
Speaker 3: are aligning for him to be able to become the
34:04
Speaker 3: best version of himself, and then all he has to
34:07
Speaker 3: do is do it. Yeah, And if if he is
34:10
Speaker 3: able to become that player that landed on the cover
34:15
Speaker 3: of you know, NHL whatever year it was, I forget, Yeah,
34:20
Speaker 3: then the Flyers in a real good spot for the
34:23
Speaker 3: next many years, you know what I mean. Like, if
34:26
Speaker 3: if Meechkov is as good as we think he's going
34:28
Speaker 3: to be and Zegris ends up being, you know, the
34:32
Speaker 3: old version of himself, Yeah, then we that's a couple
34:36
Speaker 3: of pretty strong positions that the Flyers are going to
34:38
Speaker 3: have for really long.
34:39
Speaker 1: Exactly, because we're crapping our pants about the center position
34:41
Speaker 1: for how long now and what the future of the
34:43
Speaker 1: center position looks like. If he's able to step up
34:45
Speaker 1: and get back to where we know that he can
34:47
Speaker 1: probably be, that's really going to take a lot of
34:50
Speaker 1: pressure off this front office too, exactly. All right, let's
34:53
Speaker 1: move to the next category. The player on this Flyers
34:56
Speaker 1: team that needs to bounce back this season. Who that
35:00
Speaker 1: player and why.
35:01
Speaker 3: I'm going back to Owen tippetto all right? I mean,
35:04
Speaker 3: he just signed that big contract.
35:06
Speaker 1: Yep.
35:07
Speaker 3: Last year was a giant disappointment. He was not playing
35:11
Speaker 3: the best version of his game, and he absolutely needs
35:17
Speaker 3: to be better. He needs to be better because the
35:20
Speaker 3: Flyers need him to be better. He needs to play
35:23
Speaker 3: up to that contract that he was given. Also, I
35:27
Speaker 3: think that, I mean, obviously there's trade rumors already. The
35:31
Speaker 3: Flyers need help on defense, they need a lot of stuff. Yeah,
35:34
Speaker 3: and he just cleared out all that cap space. Maybe
35:36
Speaker 3: they do something. I think that given how strong the
35:40
Speaker 3: Flyers are at wing, Owen Tippett is one of the
35:44
Speaker 3: logical pieces that you could look to move in a
35:46
Speaker 3: hockey trade. But that's not going to happen unless he
35:49
Speaker 3: looks real good on the ice. So, like, we really
35:51
Speaker 3: need him for a number of reasons to pick it up.
35:54
Speaker 3: And if he doesn't, you're going to start to look
35:57
Speaker 3: at that contract.
35:57
Speaker 1: Like ooh yeah, yeah.
36:00
Speaker 3: Going to be stuck with that one for a while.
36:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a really great point. Great point, all right,
36:04
Speaker 1: As we're moving along here, who's going to be the
36:07
Speaker 1: rising star on this team when it's all said and
36:09
Speaker 1: done this year, Who's going to be that Who's going
36:11
Speaker 1: to be that player and why?
36:14
Speaker 3: I don't know if this is so much of a
36:16
Speaker 3: prediction as it is a real strong hope. I hope
36:20
Speaker 3: that Jamie Drysdale is able to build on what he
36:25
Speaker 3: kind of started last season.
36:26
Speaker 1: Ye I like he was starting with this one.
36:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, he was starting to look like he was putting
36:30
Speaker 3: his game together. He was starting to look like he
36:34
Speaker 3: was a little bit One of the things with him
36:36
Speaker 3: is he seems to be a little bit slow making
36:38
Speaker 3: decisions on the ice, and when he was looking at
36:41
Speaker 3: his bass last season, it kind of looked like he
36:43
Speaker 3: was getting a little bit more comfortable with making decisions
36:46
Speaker 3: on the fly and moving the puck the way that
36:48
Speaker 3: he needs to. And of course, Drysdale is another guy
36:52
Speaker 3: that the Flyers kind of need him to hit in
36:55
Speaker 3: order for this whole thing to work out as well
36:57
Speaker 3: as we want it to. Yeah, So I'm hoping that, like,
37:00
Speaker 3: you know, Drysdale can find that role as power play quarterback,
37:04
Speaker 3: that he can be the guy that's, you know, scoring
37:07
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of points on the power play because
37:08
Speaker 3: he's getting the pucked to Mishkov constantly. I'm hoping that he,
37:15
Speaker 3: you know, plays a little bit of a bigger game.
37:17
Speaker 3: He's not a big guy obviously, but you know, plays
37:20
Speaker 3: a little bit of a bigger game, not so scared
37:22
Speaker 3: to go into the dirty areas that kind of thing.
37:26
Speaker 3: I do think that I know a lot of people
37:28
Speaker 3: were a little bit nervous when Tuck Towards got fired
37:35
Speaker 3: that without that coaching staff, Drysdale wasn't going to be
37:38
Speaker 3: able to progress the way that he had been. But
37:41
Speaker 3: I think he's still going to be able to do it.
37:44
Speaker 3: I think that the tools are there, He's just got
37:46
Speaker 3: to put it together, and I'm hoping that this is
37:48
Speaker 3: the season that he really starts to, like, you know,
37:51
Speaker 3: really take off.
37:52
Speaker 1: All right, very good, last category before we start getting
37:56
Speaker 1: into a couple other topics here. Who do you think
37:58
Speaker 1: the dark horse and VP of this season could potentially be?
38:03
Speaker 1: Or who do you think it is definitely going to be?
38:05
Speaker 1: Who's that Flyers player?
38:07
Speaker 3: I mean the chalk pick is Mietchkov, right, yeah, because
38:10
Speaker 3: like I personally have decided that he's scoring one hundred
38:13
Speaker 3: points at least, So I mean, if he does it's
38:15
Speaker 3: gonna be hard not to have him.
38:17
Speaker 1: Is he the dark horse one though, because I don't
38:19
Speaker 1: know if he's a dark horse at all.
38:21
Speaker 3: No, that's the chalk pick. Yeah, I'll go, Uh Travis Sandheim.
38:27
Speaker 1: I'd like that. Yes, because if.
38:30
Speaker 3: This defense is as bad as we think it's going
38:33
Speaker 3: to be, Uh, Travis Sandheim might be playing twenty seven
38:37
Speaker 3: minutes a night.
38:37
Speaker 1: Oh god, yes, every single night.
38:39
Speaker 3: Right, and if the team is able to string together
38:44
Speaker 3: a successful season on the back of Travis Sandheim playing
38:48
Speaker 3: half of every single game, yeah, you know, maybe he's.
38:51
Speaker 1: The everything could happen, could be a good dark horse
38:54
Speaker 1: MVP candidate for sure. All right, again, folks are talking
38:58
Speaker 1: to Kelly Hankle again from Street Hockey dot Com. She's
39:02
Speaker 1: over on phl y every now and again as well.
39:04
Speaker 1: Let folks know where they can catch you on the
39:06
Speaker 1: interwebs out there if they want to connect.
39:09
Speaker 3: So I'm mostly on Blue Sky now at Hanks dot
39:13
Speaker 3: whatever comes after that. Yeah, Twitter still exists at Hanks
39:18
Speaker 3: over there as well, and obviously on brush youe hockey
39:20
Speaker 3: dot com every single day.
39:21
Speaker 1: I'm a five dollars a month a subscriber, folks.
39:25
Speaker 3: So and we appreciate.
39:27
Speaker 1: Yes, exactly, it's not all the money in the world.
39:29
Speaker 1: I forget what's the top tier called again, I'm forgetting
39:32
Speaker 1: Andrew McDonald, the Andrew McDonald that's right.
39:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, where you you're Oh, you're way over paying for
39:37
Speaker 3: what you're getting. But you do it anyway.
39:39
Speaker 1: Exactly. You do it because you love the content. You
39:41
Speaker 1: love the people over there, they're fantastic. Right. Moving along
39:45
Speaker 1: here a couple other topics before I let you go.
39:47
Speaker 1: We always see injuries year after year after year. We
39:51
Speaker 1: always see players struggle have challenges to the point where
39:54
Speaker 1: the front office needs to bring up guys from Lehigh
39:56
Speaker 1: Valley and the Phantoms. I'm wondering, Kelly, which players down
40:00
Speaker 1: to the AHL playing with the Phantoms to start the season.
40:04
Speaker 1: Do you think that we're probably going to see sooner
40:06
Speaker 1: rather than later in a Flyer's uniform. I mean, I'm
40:08
Speaker 1: thinking to myself, maybe it is gonna be Alex Bump,
40:10
Speaker 1: Maybe Oliver Bank might be one of those players. What
40:13
Speaker 1: are your thoughts here on who we might see from
40:16
Speaker 1: the AHL sooner rather than later.
40:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, I do think that there's a solid chance we
40:22
Speaker 3: see a defenseman or two come up from the AHL.
40:27
Speaker 3: It'll be interesting to see how Bonk looks once he
40:30
Speaker 3: comes back from injury. I don't think he's back yet, right,
40:32
Speaker 3: I think he's still yeah, still injured, So once he
40:35
Speaker 3: gets some playing time, it'll be interesting to see what
40:37
Speaker 3: he looks like. I would like to believe that this
40:42
Speaker 3: front office is not so blind to the size of
40:45
Speaker 3: a defenseman that they can't call up Emil Andre. Yes, yes,
40:49
Speaker 3: when needed. I mean he is. Is he a perfect defenseman? No?
40:55
Speaker 3: Would he be the second or third best defenseman on
40:57
Speaker 3: this team, Yeah, absolutely easily. So I think that he'll
41:02
Speaker 3: probably be called up. And I do agree with you
41:04
Speaker 3: that as far as forwards go, I think Alex Bump
41:06
Speaker 3: will be the first guy called up. You know, he's
41:08
Speaker 3: a bit of a disappointment in camp. I think we
41:11
Speaker 3: were all kind of hoping he would blow the doors
41:13
Speaker 3: off and make the team.
41:14
Speaker 1: But he didn't play well. I mean he played.
41:16
Speaker 3: He didn't look terrible. Yeah, you're right, he didn't look terrible.
41:20
Speaker 3: He kind of looked he kind of like continued what
41:23
Speaker 3: we saw from him. I think in the playoffs with
41:25
Speaker 3: the Phantoms last season, there wasn't a big jump and
41:28
Speaker 3: he didn't he didn't make it impossible for them to
41:31
Speaker 3: send him down, which I think is what we were
41:33
Speaker 3: hoping would happen. That said, I think he's going to
41:37
Speaker 3: be playing. I think he's going to play very well
41:39
Speaker 3: in the AHL. I think that that chip on his
41:41
Speaker 3: shoulder is still going to be there. It might be
41:43
Speaker 3: even bigger now that he didn't, you know, get a
41:45
Speaker 3: real solid chance at making the flyers. So I think
41:49
Speaker 3: he's going to do very well down in the AHL.
41:51
Speaker 3: And you have to think that if a forward goes
41:53
Speaker 3: down with injury, why wouldn't he be the first game?
41:56
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I can't wait to see it, can't wait to
41:59
Speaker 1: see it. All right, Well, before I let you go here,
42:02
Speaker 1: I know it's a very general question here, but just
42:05
Speaker 1: want to know what you are looking forward to most
42:07
Speaker 1: with anticipation when it comes to this season. And I
42:10
Speaker 1: can tell you on my end and from what I
42:13
Speaker 1: have been thinking, and again this is very general. If
42:16
Speaker 1: Philadelphia can get the power play at least to a
42:20
Speaker 1: league average, and there are some sort of improvements every
42:24
Speaker 1: now and again with goaltending, they could compete for a
42:28
Speaker 1: wild card spot. I am convinced of that. You know,
42:31
Speaker 1: I'm not convinced the power plays get to where it
42:35
Speaker 1: needs to be. And of course with our two goaltenders
42:39
Speaker 1: and Sam Erson and Dan Vladar, who knows what's gonna happen.
42:42
Speaker 1: Maybe dan Vladar just like blows our socks off, you
42:45
Speaker 1: know it, or knocks our socks off? I doubt it,
42:47
Speaker 1: But who knows what's going to happen. It's hockey. Strange
42:50
Speaker 1: things happen in this league. But I'm wondering, you know,
42:54
Speaker 1: what are you know, what are you most excited about
42:56
Speaker 1: for this upcoming season, Like when you think about all
43:00
Speaker 1: these different storylines that are in front of us.
43:03
Speaker 3: Honestly, this is kind of a boring answer, but I
43:06
Speaker 3: am really excited to see what you're too. Matvey Mitchkoff
43:10
Speaker 3: looks like.
43:10
Speaker 1: I don't think that's boring at all. I think it's fun.
43:13
Speaker 3: I just like, I believe so strongly that this kid
43:18
Speaker 3: is going to be like one of the sickest players
43:21
Speaker 3: in the league. Yeah, when he really gets to the
43:24
Speaker 3: you know, the high point of his abilities. And I'm
43:28
Speaker 3: I'm really hoping. I mean, sophomore slumps are real. There's
43:31
Speaker 3: a reason that term exists. The thing that happens all
43:34
Speaker 3: the time. If it does happen, am I going to
43:36
Speaker 3: be worried that he's some kind of bust. No, not
43:38
Speaker 3: at all. That said, it'll be a lot more fun
43:41
Speaker 3: if he just takes another giant jump and it's just
43:43
Speaker 3: like once again creative and fun and exciting, and just
43:50
Speaker 3: like like I think we talked about this a bunch
43:53
Speaker 3: last year that like there really hasn't been a player
43:57
Speaker 3: on the ice for the Flyers since Lynd Ross that
44:00
Speaker 3: when he gets off the bench onto the ice, you
44:02
Speaker 3: can expect something to happen. Yes, Like when he gets
44:06
Speaker 3: the puck and he's skating it into the zone, you're like, yeah,
44:09
Speaker 3: they're scoring, like it's happening. Yeah, And a lot of
44:11
Speaker 3: the time it does because he's just that good.
44:12
Speaker 1: Yeah.
44:13
Speaker 3: And I really just want to see if he takes
44:16
Speaker 3: a jump, how big of a jump is it? Like
44:18
Speaker 3: what's he look like as a more confident player and
44:20
Speaker 3: a player that's had a whole year of NHL conditioning
44:23
Speaker 3: under his belt. What's he look like playing with Trevor Zegras,
44:26
Speaker 3: like all of these things. The power play, Like you
44:28
Speaker 3: said Zebras and Mishkoff on the power Play, how could
44:32
Speaker 3: it not be better? You know, like, how could it
44:34
Speaker 3: not be better? So I'm just really excited because I
44:38
Speaker 3: think we have something special with this kid, and I
44:40
Speaker 3: think that each year as he progresses, I think it's
44:44
Speaker 3: going to get more and more fun for us. So
44:46
Speaker 3: I'm hoping, Yeah, we have a lot of fun with
44:47
Speaker 3: Mata misch Coff.
44:49
Speaker 1: I'll say this too, because we have a certain sector
44:51
Speaker 1: of this fan base before I let you go, who
44:53
Speaker 1: just lets the like one little thing take them down
44:57
Speaker 1: a rabbit hole of pure utter pass. And I think
45:01
Speaker 1: that there are gonna be some growing pains with Rick
45:03
Speaker 1: Tocket here and there. But I think that when at
45:07
Speaker 1: the end of the day, you know we're not having
45:09
Speaker 1: John Tortorello there on the bed, like not having him
45:12
Speaker 1: there is such a good thing, I think. So I
45:15
Speaker 1: think we're going to see some good team. Let's embrace
45:17
Speaker 1: some of the positivity that we're gonna see when one
45:20
Speaker 1: little thing happens. We cannot go down this rabbit hole
45:23
Speaker 1: of negativity and pessimism. I implore everyone out there, do
45:27
Speaker 1: not do that, because I do believe good things are
45:29
Speaker 1: going to be happening for this team.
45:31
Speaker 3: Kelly, there's enough to be negative about. You don't need
45:34
Speaker 3: to do it with your sports team. Just have fun
45:36
Speaker 3: exactly exactly.
45:38
Speaker 1: She's Kelly Hinkel. Folks from broad Street Hockey dot com.
45:41
Speaker 1: Great content over there. We love all the folks over there,
45:45
Speaker 1: we really do, whether it's Ryan or Maddie. Fantastic content
45:50
Speaker 1: all the time. Come back join us down the road
45:52
Speaker 1: and we'll talk more. Flyers. I'd love to have you
45:54
Speaker 1: back on the show.
45:55
Speaker 3: My friend, of course, anytime.
45:58
Speaker 1: And that's gonna do it for us this. Make sure
46:00
Speaker 1: to share the Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show with your
46:03
Speaker 1: friends and family members who may be Philly sports fans.
46:06
Speaker 1: You can always head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot
46:09
Speaker 1: com to access all of our podcasts, or any major
46:12
Speaker 1: podcast platform on your device. We appreciate our guests taking
46:16
Speaker 1: the time to join us every week to help make
46:18
Speaker 1: this podcast happen and to give us great content, and
46:21
Speaker 1: ultimately we appreciate you. Take care and have a great week.
46:25
Speaker 1: We'll catch you next time.