Latest / Hattrick's Unofficial Flyers Podcast / Episode 33: KING LEO to the FLYERS???
Transcript
- Rick Mullen: Hey, Flyers fans, I'm Rick Mullen, and you are listening to Hat Trick's unofficial Flyers Podcast. We are going to talk about the Philadelphia Flyers and Danny Briere's crazy offer sheet to Leo Carlson. I I am pumped. I am absolutely pumped by this. We're going to talk about it. We're going to see how things go here. And man, it's it's it's great to be back. when I was growing up watching the Flyers, the Flyers always did everything they could to try to sign players, spend money, and bring talent here to give the Flyers a chance to win. a lot of times obviously that didn't work out, but they were always exciting. There was always like something coming that, you knew they were going to try to do something to help. And we haven't had that in a long time, in a in a really long time. It's been kind of boring in Flyerland, up until I I think Danny Brere and Jonesy took over. they had a a window of time. We all knew it was going to be like three to five years where they had to get out from under contracts. They had to clear the cupboards, right? Do better drafts and build this team internally because it was really hard to find anything external to trade for. ⁓ however, Danny's done a a ⁓ fantastic job. I he's he really has. He brought Vlad in last year, he got ⁓ Wall. As a backup for us this upcoming year, I I really think that tandem of those two players are going to be fantastic. I I I just look at this team and you know, two years ago, it was hard to watch. five years ago, it was even harder to watch. But every year since Danny and Jonesy have been here, it it's been getting better and better. ⁓ And, and behold, we get into this offseason, and sadly we have all this money and we all knew it was coming. Jonesy did. ⁓ Danny did, and we were all planning for this to be a big summer. ⁓ And lot of the free agents had signed and you know, there wasn't much to get. And, jo ⁓ Danny was in on so many people lately. ⁓ know, like John he overpaid John Carlson, and John Carlson decided to take less money and go to Tampa, know. So Danny's been trying and trying and trying. So going back to this Leo Carlson offer sheet, ⁓ I am just Excited. I'm excited that Danny had the balls. And he did. Danny had the balls to put this offer sheet together. he had some help with a previous GM that used to work with the ⁓ ducks organization that had a lot of inside information on ⁓ the contracts that ⁓ they the ducks hated the match, ⁓ and know, it seemed to be long term deals, you know, big money. And ⁓ signing bonuses, right? ⁓ UFA contracts or like took you up to UFA status. And ⁓ Danny Briere ⁓ used that information and he and he sent a poisoned pilled offer sheet to Leo Carlson. ⁓ and we're gonna talk about it, right? We're gonna talk the good, the bad, the ugly, and what the chances and possibilities are here. So, you know, going going over everything, if you look at this from what's being reported out there. It it it's historically known that Pat Verbeek is not easy to work with. He's very, very difficult. Very difficult. He is a nickel and dimer, a penny pincher. He doesn't want anybody to feel like they got over on him. And he plays hardball with all his players. So many people have already left that organization, McTavish, Ziegris, Drysdale, ⁓ a few others ⁓ that had the same experience with them. And, if they if they ⁓ fought process of just giving in to ⁓ Verbeek, ⁓ missed camp. They in late. Like Pat Ver fat Pat Verbeek created a ⁓ horrible, horrible situation the ducks. Why at the same while I should say at the same time, he's done fantastic things for the Ducks. Like he's really turned a corner there or turned a page with the Ducks organization and getting them back to, you know, winning the second round of a playoffs. And ⁓ he he's done a a very formidable job out there. ⁓ however, ⁓ if you look at everything that's happening and all the players that left or wanted to leave, he could have done a lot better. Like like I I I can't imagine. Like if he was just a normal person here and was ⁓ doing things the right way, what that ducks team would look like. They they would be a true contender probably because he's a smart man with certain things. And sadly he's an absolute dope in other things. And this is why the Ducks are in this position. Leo Carlson was ⁓ coming up to his contract end. And they could have ⁓ done a deal last year, I believe the rumor was, at least what was reported, was Carlson in an interview, he said it himself. I think he said he would have signed like an eight year deal for like nine million dollars. And it never happened. Right. So then we go forward and you know, Leo and his agent are, trying to get a deal done and Verbeek puts the brakes on it and he's nah, we're gonna wait till after the season, we'll deal with it then. So he he basically let Leo ⁓ go into this position to get offer sheeted, which is insane. He's your number one center, your star player, and he decides this is what he's gonna do. Really, it's criminal. it's it really is like it's just criminal. And Rabik just signed a ⁓ what three year extension with the Ducks. ⁓ So I I man, I I just don't get it, but but I I I'm I'm glad he dropped the ball here with Leo. ⁓ So has it again, what's being reported Is that the offers that were coming in for Leo by the ducks ⁓ were between twelve to thirteen million dollars. ⁓ some were reporting it was like twelve and a half. ⁓ And Carlson want that. Carlson won it fifteen. That's what he was asking for from what from what I'm I'm hearing and reading. ⁓ So he wanted million. ⁓ And ⁓ Verbeek do He he's just wouldn't do it. So I I ⁓ Right again, you know, all this information's out there for you guys to all find. But it sounds like the ⁓ agent for Leo went to Pat Verbeek and said, Look, we have these offer sheets. here's some of the stuff we're getting offered, ⁓ and want 15 and Verbeek still won't do it. He wants to do twelve or thirteen and that's it. Is that an acceptable amount for Leo Carlson? Yeah. Yeah, it it is. It's definitely an acceptable amount. However, Verbique was not reading the room. basically Carlson had options and he's been playing ⁓ this with Verbeek for over a year. And he had enough. He had enough. So ⁓ supposedly teams offered a offer sheet to Leo Carlson. One of the offer sheets were rumored to be, I believe it was ⁓ like eight years at ⁓ 17 and a half or something like that. So it was a long, it was a long one. I don't know who did it. I'm sure we'll find out soon, like what other teams offered and if that was actually a ⁓ a real offer. But one of the offers that I read was eight years at like 17 and a half. And Leo decided not to take that one and he decided to sign with the Flyers. And that Is where things get really interesting. Okay. Because that says a lot. That says a lot. That says that, you know, you have to read between the lines that Leo Carlson wants to, wants to play with the Flyers, because that's the offer he that he chose. He wants to be a flyer. I think that goes into Jamie Drysdale and Ziegris talking with him, more than likely. ⁓ that's tampering, right? But ⁓ it's gotta be it. you probably heard great things from them. He probably heard that they have a great organization, that they have are they, up and coming. They have great training facilities. ⁓ I do. I I think Leo Carlson heard all these good things. I think Leo Carlson playing here with us and having the fans like destroy Cutter. ⁓ I think, you know, he knows that the fans are involved. He knows that the fans are allowed. ⁓ And think he he wants to be a flyer. And we're gonna talk about that a little bit later. But let's talk about this contract for right now, or this offer sheet, I should say. So Danny Briere, with all the internal information that he received from a prior Ducks GM, sent a $18 million five year deal out to Leo Carlson. And part of that ha has the last year in that contract being a no movement clause whatsoever. So it's not a limited, it's a no movement clause. So year five, he has a no movement clause. If the Ducks retain, they can't trade him if they can't sign him. They have to wait, and there's a possibility that Leo could roll, and they get nothing. So that fifth year poison pill there, you know, no movement clause is huge. On top of that, the Flyers gave it a very bonus heavy front end loaded contract. And I don't have numbers exactly in front of me, but I believe he gets like 19 or 20 million this year just for signing on the dotted line. I think another 19, 20 million next year. Verbeek and the Ducks have no people on their roster that have a bonus structure in their contract, except for Kreider. And and the Ducks didn't give that to Kreider. Crider actually had it built in. That that's that's big too. That just goes and shows that, even though ⁓ the ducks are w owned, was it I forget the people's name that owns it, ⁓ they're very, ⁓ very They're billionaires, I billionaires, they could take this money out of their pocket, in a minute and pay. So they're wealthy owners, but at the same time, they're cheap. They're they're not they're not willing to pay bonuses to any other people. They're not treating their players right. They're not they're pinching, every nickel, dime, and penny out of these players and ⁓ They're making the process hard and frustrating to the point where the players want to leave. So, if you look at this contract, ⁓ just its whole, ⁓ it's pretty solid contract. It goes against everything the ducks believe in. I mean, everything. The second part of this is Verbeek is a very, very proud full man. he it's his way or no way, and that's and that's it. so now you got this guy who's an adamant ego. Right. Who who doesn't want to bend to anyone's rules, who wants to do things his way. He takes this book out of Yeiserman, right? ⁓ I think trained under Yeiserman. And ⁓ you know, you look at this and think, he's got to be looking at this thinking right now, do I sign this guy? Do I match this contract? I hate everything about it. He's probably completely pissed off at Leo for signing it. He is gonna have a problem with Leo, I think. I don't think he can get away from this mentally. I think he's gonna have a problem with Leo. There's stuff all over the boards calling that for Leo Carlson doing the wrong thing and ⁓ taking a to not giving him a C or an A or anything, you know, he since he didn't want to be here to begin with. So there's some fan blowback over there that he signed it. ⁓ even if Pat Rabique and the Ducks match it, a lot of the fans were pissed. They're like, our hands are tied. Leo just killed us. No matter what we do, it's a lose-lose. So I I don't I think the fans, like like 50% of the fans are pissed off and don't want Leo there no more. The other 50% are like, hey, you can't let him go. You got to sign him. And and I really think Pat Rabique is fighting this too. I really do. I think Pat Rabique is sitting there thinking, ⁓ not thinking. I think he's stewing. He's pissed. I think he's just like, you know what? I don't want this kid on my team. He didn't want to sign. we offered him 13 mil, 12 and a half, maybe that was fair. Leo decided not to take it. Like, does he really want to be here? So, so like right now you got to start thinking like, does does this contract get matched? ⁓ And this and this is just all the ⁓ front loaded, the ⁓ the fifth year no movement clause. Like, if you just look at the contract structure, really think about this, okay? If If the ducks are worried that in Peverbeek are worried that come year five, when this takes Leo Carlson up to UFA, Leo can pretty much determine what he wants to do. He just got paid a ton of money, a ton of money. So Leo could take that year, and he knows he wants a big contract at the end of that year. Ducks probably are not that team that wants to do that. So he could say, okay, well, I'm not signing. I'm going to go, I'm going to go test that free market again and see what I can get. And the ducks have no power to stop them. They can't trade them. Nothing. They can't trade them. Even if they get offers for them, you know, Carlson could turn around and say, nope, nope, I'm just waiting. Finishing this year out. I'm going to go to UFA in the summer and see how this folds out. So, so in my opinion, you got this guy that you just signed. And I think and you follow this out, and we're going to go down a real long rabbit hole here. This Ducks team has a lot of other problems. This Ducks team is really up against the cap. ⁓ Minti Yukov, hopefully I said that right, he's their defenseman. He was rumored to be signing like maybe a three or five year deal with them for like three to four million. And then lo and behold, there was an offer sheet being talked about, and he made a deal with the ducks. He made a deal with the Ducks for five years at 7.2 million. So it's at least 3 million more than what the Ducks were going to pay him. They also gave him a signing bonus. Verbique learned he's got to, he's got to start doing that. I'm I'm sure the owners in Verbeak went at it. Like, this is ⁓ not we're going to operate moving forward. There's things here that we need to do to be ⁓ normal in line to keep our players happy. So he he did have a signing bonus on this Minti Yaakov. ⁓ contract, but it's also three million more than what they thought. So if you look at the numbers, if the ducks match, and this is just money right now, we're gonna talk about other things in a minute, but if the ducks match the offer, that's $18 million out to Leo Carlson, A, right? A V, ⁓ Minty Yaqov, Yukov, Yuckov, he's got 7.2 That leaves 9.9 million left for them to sign Cutter, which will I think he's ⁓ eligible next year, right? ⁓ nine point nine million. Cutter's going to probably want 12 to 14 million himself. He's a 40 goal scorer. I know it's only been once, but he's a 40 goal scorer. They're very rare in the NHL. And he's quite he did he, I mean, in all honesty, he he belongs to receive over 10, 12 million dollars for sure. ⁓ I doubt Cutter is going to settle and say, hey, let's take a a team discount, right? So the Ducks have 9.9 million to sign Cutter, I think Hind or Hind. And they're not done. Like their team's a mess. Like they have a terrible blue line. ⁓ they just do. They so so what they would have to do is they'd have to clear them some space. And and can they do that? Yeah. Yeah, absolutely they can. ⁓ V Vitrano, I think, has a a deal for four point five seven million and Krider has a six point five million AAV deal deal on the table. So they'd have to get rid of one or two of them. And and they probably will if they're gonna match. That's what we're gonna see. We're gonna see one of the or two of these guys move out. But do you really want to do that if you're the ducks? Like you're gonna go and roll with these three guys who are gonna be making like thirty five to what, thirty eight, thirty nine million, these three players, just just the three of them. And you're not gonna be able to you're not gonna be able to ice a good team. You're basically gonna have to put like all rookies in on defense, like one and a half, two million dollar deals, you're not you're not gonna really have a a team that you're gonna be able to to put out there for for probably a year, maybe two, maybe. Okay. And we're gonna talk about that too. So what when you look at this, you see a lot of different angles here. You see The ducks would have to decimate their team and take a step backwards for sure. Because they're going to have to play a lot of rookies that aren't making any money. They're not going to be able to sign anybody because they're going to be right up against the the cap. It's going to be tough for them. And then they don't have the core the core team that the Flyers do. The Flyers have a lot, I think, better younger players. ⁓ we're a little more stable on the wings. We, you know, we can drop a contract or two when we take Carlson in if he ever gets there. And and it may not hurt us as much as it will hurt the ducks. So you think about it from a numbers perspective, and they would have to try to figure out a way to make this work, you know, for at least a year or two. the cap for this upcoming year is 104 million. So they're under this cap of 104. But when you go into 20 ⁓ 27, 28, it up to 113, right? So that's another nine million increase there. And then 20 what, 28 to 29, what did I say it was? ⁓ 123 million that year. So They they they can get there. It's gonna be really hard for them, but you know, they'd have to pull their pull their belt really tight, play with a bunch of rookies, go backwards this year, they'd get another nine million available to them next year, and then things would start working out a little bit better for them. However, if one of these rookies comes up and he's playing really good and he wants a, you know, eight, seven million dollar deal, they're right back at it again. They have an issue. So they would have to carry these young kids who make no money for a while. For a while and and hope that they can make it through because if not, they're gonna have the same problem. They're gonna have a kid who's playing really good out of the blue here, and someone's gonna offer sheet him. So the cap does go up and will help the ducks over time. They just need to get there if they can. So when when you look at this, you know, the biggest question is well, ⁓ ⁓ this is funny part, right? How bad does Cutter want to screw the flyers? ⁓ Because Cutter could turn around and say, you know what, man, like I hate the Flyers. Give me like a three-year deal, pay me seven million, and man, I'm okay. You just have a handshake promise that I'm gonna ⁓ get this huge payout in the end. You know, could he do that? Yeah. Do we see foresee him doing that? Not a chance. Not a chance. You know, his his agent will probably would rip him up for doing that. You know what? It's not your problem, you get the money you deserve, and that's it. we don't play this game taking home tail and deeps at discounts. And, ⁓ it's just don't see it happen. But it's kind of funny that it really could. Like if Cutter did want to, he could do that. He could take a one year deal and ⁓ just get paid five, six million or whatever, and then wait, push it off a year. ⁓ But ⁓ kind of crazy. if does it, if he if he was to do something like that, it it was 100% because he was trying to screw the flyers. And keep Leo, with him. So anyhow, look looking at this whole deal from, you know, very high, because we're, obviously I'm not connected to it, and none of us really are except for ⁓ Danny and them. If I was Pat Verbeek, ⁓ what would I And this is where it gets ugly. Because we one, we don't know what's going on behind the scenes. And and this is where I'm trying to like, you know, read between the lines or see through the smoke, see through the trees. Like, what's what's going on in the background? I really think and I hope, I really do, I hope that Carlson finally blew up after all this delay and delay in his contract extensions, and then finally having some offers and telling the ducks, and the ducks still like, no, I'm not, we're not doing it. We're doing like 12 to 13 million. I really hope that Carlson said he doesn't want to be there anymore. Like I, you know, it's not public, but I I want to move. I'm not happy. I don't want to be here anymore. I've seen too many of my friends go. I've seen how this organization has done this for years to everybody. And I just don't want to be part of it. Like, like just let me move on and that's it. And and that could be happening in a little bit. It really could. But this is a business too. And the ducks might like, No, man, my best opportunity here is to keep you and make you play. All right. Now Is that going to happen? I I don't know. what's everyone's thoughts here on this on this offer sheet? I'm excited. I really am. I was just because as excited when the Shea Weber came down. I'm more excited this time. Leo is going to be a hell of a player. And that's what scares me the most. Like, ⁓ we know this kid's only 21 years old and he's he's a prototypical, big, fast scoring, creative center. Why would anyone in their right mind let this kid go? It's only 21. He's only going to get better. And Verbique has to be sitting there thinking the same thing. Like, there's no chance I'm letting this kid go. Like we'd have to try to find him again somewhere in the draft or a trade. And Flyers can't do it. Like, there's a lot of teams that can't do it. We're not going to be able to do it. There's no way we can let this guy go. Like he's he's more important to us than any winger on this team. And if we have to like cut cutter and let him go, it's almost impossible to get ⁓ one C. And we're gonna have to deal with this. I mean, that's that's realistically what they're thinking. In my opinion. now now go back to the other side. ⁓ And two ⁓ two to look at it, right? ⁓ you have a guy who has an ego problem, you guys who has a control problem. You have a guy who in van in Pat Verbeek ⁓ that pissed off that this happened. He I'm sure he's under the gun with management now, you know, so he he's pissed off he's got to deal with this. He's pissed off that Leo Carlson, you know, was offered, in his opinion, a very good contract to stay there. ⁓ at twelve to thirteen million, which it honest to God was a fair contract. It it was, ⁓ could he could have gotten a little more, yeah. I think like if he was on the Flyers already, the Flyers probably would have gave him 14 15 for sure. He's a one C and he's a darn good one C and he's young kid. ⁓ We probably would have done you know, to keep him because you can't find them players. So the stubbornness of Pat Verbeek by not going to 15, it sounds is like what hurt him. it's it's ⁓ what started this whole mess. So does Pat Rabique swallow his pride and take this kid back that I'm sure he's pissed off at? I'm sure he is. And half the fans are. And if he takes them back and it hampers the ducks for years because they can't they don't have enough money to improve the team, he just basically like again he they poison pilled the ducks. If this doesn't work for two to three years here, right? They literally have to trade Carlson. Not in year five, because they can't. They won't be able to. Year four, if they're under the gun where they're not doing too well, they could possibly trade them. ⁓ but there might be a lot of teams going, like, nah, we, you know, we don't want that like yet. You know what I mean? Or they don't want to give up that much for him, which I doubt that. I think someone would get him. But if you really look at it, They got maybe a three-year window here with him before they have to determine going into year four, do they get rid of this kid if they don't think they can resign him? Because in all honesty, chances are, come the end of that contract, the Flyers are going to come back knocking to try to sign this kid. And this kid's going to be loyal to probably the Flyers a little bit here because of what the Flyers, you know, did to his pocket. So there's a really good chance that if Leo Carlson doesn't see improvement on the ducks and he won't for probably two years because they're going to be stuck in Capel. ⁓ that he walks. And that means they're gonna be under the gun the Ducks to trade him in year three or year at the end of year three or four. So there's a lot to think about here from the Ducks organization. And I think, you know, there's talk that you know, the Ducks could go back and do what would what the Flyers did with Chris Grattan, right? We you offered ⁓ Sheety Chris Grattan, and instead of just sending the picks back, they actually worked out a a trade and some picks and some trade and a couple bodies. So, you know. Paver Beek has to come back to Danny and, if they're contemplating both sides, ⁓ and say, Hey, know, if we give you him, if we don't match, we'll you know, we don't want all these four first round picks. Cause in reality, these four first round picks are probably going to be like number what, twenty and above all four years. So let's do this. You keep like two of the picks, give us two of the picks and maybe send us a tippet or a Barkey or a bump or someone like that. Right. So there's a chance here that Verbi could save some face, you know, get back like maybe a a Noah Cates, ⁓ a a winger too, like maybe a tippet and a first. This way the Flyers get to keep and they get their number one and they clear a couple of salaries out because they're gonna they're gonna have to clear some salaries out. ⁓ But we'll see. We'll see. ⁓ what what do I think that's going to happen? I I I really don't know. And and it's really sad. If you if you listen to everybody out here and they're all saying pretty much it's a done deal that the ducks are not gonna let this guy walk. They can't let a one C walk. They can't. And I and I get that. And we're not privy to a lot of things happening behind the scenes. I'm I'm up to thinking that Carlson doesn't want to be there. He told him that. He's tried to deal deal with them. He's tried to sign with them. They wouldn't sign. I I really think that Carlson maybe told him that he doesn't want to be there. And that's what I'm hoping for anyway. And I'm hoping Verbique doesn't want him there anyway. And he doesn't match. That's what I'm hoping for, just like every other Flyer fan. Do I think that's going to happen? I I I am honestly and truly 5050. I think if you look at everything combined, I think the Ducks hurt themselves, in my opinion, if they if they hold on to Leo Carlson. 100%. I think they hurt themselves. Period. I don't think there's any way shake around it. It's going to take them a few years to get out of this. They're going to be in cop hell. It's going to take a while to get out of it. So I I think it for the next two to three years, the ducks will be in some financial pain. It will eventually clear, but they have to get through those two or three years. If they really look at it and say, hey, this kid wasn't happy. He didn't want to be here. We tried to sign him for a year, year and a half, and he wouldn't do it. we have four first round picks. Maybe we could turn those four first round picks into something else, or maybe we can not take the four first round picks. Maybe we can get a player or two from the Flyers and a pick or two. I think the I think the Ducks are in a better position to do that. You know, there was some theories out there where the Ducks could take the picks and maybe another player, the Flyers gives them and maybe flip it over for ⁓ Petey up in Vancouver. they could maybe put a package together for ⁓ Dylan Larkin. Possibly maybe they could offer sheet ⁓ Fantilly. So the the Ducks do have some options here. it's not horrible to take and accept this deal. I think in all honesty, I I think it's better for them. I don't think they have 18 million to lock down when they could turn around and get two good guys at nine ⁓ and their team probably better. They may have two, ⁓ they have two good lines instead of just one good line. Maybe they have ⁓ one good line and a good defenseman that they can upgrade over there. So I think the Ducks have a lot of holes that they could fill from this deal. And and it would my opinion, it would be better for them to take the deal, don't match on Carlson, get the picks, do a trade, improve the roster, save some money. That's my thoughts. But again, I think it's fifty fifty at this point. I think they're thinking about this too. I think they don't want to look stupid and lose their one C. ⁓ And they're battling with their egos, their pride, and not thinking through on the business end of how this is going to affect them. So we'll we shall see. We shall see how this all works out. Yeah, it's gonna end what I think it's like Friday at four o'clock or three o'clock, something like that. They have until then to ⁓ match. And all Flyers fans, I'm sure, are watching and reading Twitter and YouTube and doing everything they can every day to see if there's any update. And and there probably won't be, ⁓ there really probably won't be. They're gonna ride this thing all the way out to the end because they have to. They gotta look like they put a lot of thought process in it. And even if they're thinking about it, it it's gonna take time. if they're like, okay, we're not gonna match this guy, even if they know right now they're not matching, they have to get out there and start beating the phones and start talking to players and teams about signing them. Like, hey, if I if we if we get these two f or four first rounders, ⁓ what this look like? What can we get? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. ⁓ So have a lot of work to do in these next four or five days here. So ⁓ Anxiously waiting to Friday. I I am hoping and praying they do not match. I would love to see Leo Carlson here on this team. It would make the Flyers an absolute ⁓ contender in the East. I think we have a really good core of young guys. ⁓ if for some reason the Flyers can go and trade ⁓ out some of these people, to clear some space for Carlson. I don't mean if for some reason, I'm sorry. If the ducks don't ask for a trade and they only take the four picks. Flyers probably have to trade one or two guys. What does that look like? I don't know. Like maybe the Flyers do two or three guys, like a Risto, and I'm not, I'm just throwing names out there, right? But like a Risto, a Tippet, and I don't know, a Bonk. And maybe they could sign one big defenseman, one really good stud defenseman. I don't know. I'm just kicking stuff around. But I know that was probably a huge overpay. But they're gonna unset sadly, they're gonna probably have to lose to. Two guys, two, two good guys that you know, I think the fans are gonna hate to see gone. So it's gonna be a bitter suite. It would be very sweet to have Carlson here and very bitter to watch two two of our boys go somewhere else because there's not enough money to retain them. ⁓ lastly, real quick, you know, rumor on Claude Giroux coming to the Flyers to end his career. was it Dave Pagnata reported that Claude Giroux signed a contract with the Flyers? And that came out like ⁓ what, two days ago, I believe two days ago. there has been no confirmation from anybody that that has happened. ⁓ I think Jeruscamp actually came out and said Jerus was taking his time to trying to see what his best deal will be because it's probably his last year in the NHL and he wants to make the right decision. So even though there was reported he was signing with the Flyers, he did not sign with the Flyers yet, but the Flyers are in the mix. I don't know how that works out. Like I I really don't. I don't know if like he's only in the mix if they don't sign Leo or he's only coming here if we do sign Leo because then he feels he has a chance. ⁓ I'm not sure. I'm not sure at all. However, the rumors still out there that they are trying to bring G home for and let him retire here as a flyer. So a lot lots going on right now. I'm anxious to see what goes on. You know, there's even talk that if ⁓ this falls through, the flyers might backpedal and offer sheet. ⁓ Fantilly, maybe. You know, there's articles out there right now for people saying it can be done. Other people saying, or hey, why are we stopping at Fantilly? Why don't we just add two more million to that and go get Bedard? ⁓ it's crazy, crazy in Flyerland right now. You know, like it really is. Like the it's just it's good to see, it's good to read, it's good to see everyone excited. I I just am praying that the Flyers have suffered for a really long time. And if this deal goes through, this will make up for all the pain that we have been dealing with for years. It really will. I will be so pumped to have Leo on this team. I am praying that this goes through. I'm sure I'm going to be disappointed. ⁓ from, if you read all the big names out here and listen to their their podcasts, pretty much all these big guys are saying they don't think it's going to happen. how do you how do you not match On Leo Carlson, it's just the what's being reported. So I I like to hold a little bit of positive thoughts here that with all the things going on that maybe we don't know about, like I said, maybe Carlson's not happy, but he sure isn't. Maybe he told them he doesn't want to be there. Some of the fans don't want him there. Bringing him back might be like a mess, you know, for the fans, especially if they bring them back and they can't do anything because their hands are tied. I think they'll resent the kid playing there. So I think in the best interest of Leo Carlson and the Ducks, Pat and Pat Verbeek hopefully can swallow his pride and just look at this as a true business decision. ⁓ they should move on and they should not match the Flyers offer. So I will be back as soon as we know about what happens. It's probably going to be Friday night. But until then, go Flyers and In Flyer Kingdom here. We all have to start saying a prayer, wishing do whatever you need to do to see King Leo here in Philadelphia.