Howie58

There is much truth in what you say. But he is competent (I think last year was his best) and versatile. What's sad is that looking over the last 15 years or so of first rounders, you could argue he rates well. He's been reasonably healthy. He does represent the team in the community. And he tries. Granted, he is no game changer. As my mom would have said, "In the Kingdom of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King."

I don't like the cap hit. But I ask the question again--is there something here we don't know about related to his "escape" from Mother Russia? Putin is corrupt. Would we know if there isn't diverted money, or money paid to an agent that ends up in the Former Soviet Union? Sam can't feel very good about this.

I watched the PHLY dudes and dudette over lunch. O'Connor and Bill said: 1. It implies that next year is not necessarily a playoff year, and the Brass doesn't care. If they did, entering with this tandem makes no sense. 2. An interesting question, with Sandstrom gone and Petersen rotting in the AHL, is the third-in-line? My take is that Kolosov might fit that bill. 3. The salary seems absurd. 4. Translating KHL to NHL stats is tough. The save percentage in the KHL is considerably higher given lower caliber of play. 5. Carter Hart is out of the picture for good.

Occ: I agree the amount seems high. The term--when you have Petersen (a possible buyout this year) getting paid 5 million for AHL work, I will at least something for this guy. BTW--my gut says Florida resigns Stolarz. I am sure the airwaves and blogosphere will go ape over the amount, which does seem high. Whether Briere is drinking the same Kool Aid as his predecessors, that seems a bit overstated, but I understand your PTSD from Flyers history.

Greetings: The amount seems high. The brass must see something. This is a huge "TBD." Maybe a summer of training and whatever and we find something good. Remember, in his period of relief, he stopped 14 of 15 and looked impressive. My other take is that the free agency market for goalies, if memory serves, isn't real good this year. Maybe they reckon Ersson gets 25-30 games of help, and an older goalie can't cope. The other factor is that they expended a lot of human capital to get him here. A one-year, two-way deal may have raised question about "why bother?" There's more here than meets the eye. Let's hope we have something of value. As it is so often in Philly, we will enter the season with goaltending being a big question. History repeats itself, right?

There is clearly some truth to the value of Laughton in their assessment. You've got a Poehling (who probably has more upside offensively) and Hathaway gets under the nerves of opponents. From that vantage, Laughts' value as a committed "Swiss Knife" may or may not be what it was a few years ago. There are times I wonder if Laughts is kept on board to show that a Flyers' first-rounder can actually pan out. It seems rare. I agree with @mojo1917 about the PHLY staff. Matz is funny. The woman (I think her name is Karen) is generally very quiet, but her take often mixes sarcasm with a knife blade.

Greetings: I get a kick (occasionally) out of hearing the PHLY crew that drops videos on YouTube. By themselves, they're OK, but when Charlie O'Connor is on, their banter is reasoned. In their latest gig, they asked a question: Who might get traded among the non-expiring contracts this off-season? The first name mentioned was Front. In essence, he might not be out of Torts' doghouse, making him expendable. Next on the list was Farabee. Yes, he had a "career" season, but he only scored one goal out of the last 19 games (I think), leaving a bad impression on management. Last but not least, the three mentioned Laughton. Their reasoning was that he became expendable with Hathaway and Poehling on board, and it was time to give other players a roster slot to become the future Laughtons. But another reason--and this is a bit more "cerebral," was that it pitted player quality versus the importance of "maintaining the locker room culture." (my paraphrase). A rebuild requires a better corps of players. Yes, Laughts is important to the culture, but as we saw at the end of the season, culture doesn't necessarily win games. For those here who feel the management isn't really in a true "rebuild" mode, this was thought-provoking. I would probably agree with their sentiment. Howie

Last night, I looked at our historical record and was reminded of how we made it to finals with some regularity in the 70s and early 80s, and then comes 2010. If memory serves, there was a stretch when Boston, Philly, Montreal, and the Isles were a finalist for 6-7 years running. As I've said before, management hasn't adapted to the New NHL post-2005. We don't get the speed. We don't seem to manage a draft. And yes, there is enormous parity. Every game, pick, and trade matters. Would this team be better if we had top 5 picks a few years in a row? Hopefully. But I look at the last 15 years of first rounders and bad trades, and wonder about poor luck and management. Briere may be the first GM in recent history who is candid about our shortcomings. He rates 2-3 years to see if we finally make it into the New NHL. Drafting Michkov took courage. Bringing Fedotov here took skill and tact. Drysdale may be Patrick II. Let's see. At least he's in our jersey. It appears we'd never see Gauthier. We have not heard anything from Homer and Clarke. Good. The Cup Era people have passed from the scene. That may have been a bigger impediment than we can imagine. If we can build on our D and start winning against Metro teams, the worst may be over.

Dear SC: I know you are in part joshing me, but seriously, I am not saying we are on the verge of greatness. But we finished above .500 and our longest losing this year was eight games, not 10. That's improvement. I agree there's no one player who's that great. But the product is more competitive.

I just want to emphasize something in my original post. Yes, we have made progress. But that's benchmarked to the post-Bubble funk that took out AV/Yeo and gave the second-worst season in in history. We have a long way to go before we are top-10. One observation I'd make is that the fans apparently gave the team an ovation after Game 82. The fanbase appreciates the effort we got most games. That's important. I recall the fear some had that Comcast and brass couldn't tolerate a long rebuild--lost revenue, lost fanbase, etc. My gut says Briere, Hilferty, and Jones see a fanbase that will play the long game as long as there's effort and incremental improvement. By the way, I posted eons ago about the fact that former Sharks GM Doug McClean was adamant about not signing contracts over five years. I am surprised that the NHLPA fleeced the owners (or vice versa) in allowing eight year contracts in a sport with this degree of physical contact. I am like McClean--I wouldn't do more than five years. By the way, part of his rationale was that top free agents did not want to come to a team with aging, non-competitive, overpaid superstars. This is a collective bargaining issue worth revisiting.

Strange.

@BobbyClarkeFan16 has posted wisely. That said, personnel matter. Putting aside the PP, our historical record in the SO and PP since inception is league-worst. That stretch covers a long stretch and I believe a half dozen coaches. I think that reflects the DNA problem I mentioned earlier. We put physicality over skill in player choice, and I think we've paid dearly. It wouldn't surprise me if the dismiss or reassign Thompson. Then we see if things get much better.

I said it a few weeks ago, and it's worth noting here--Bill Meltzer is correct that the O and B may be faced with some buyout/dead cap issues in this rebuild. I think Cam Atkinson is a good example for the coming year: https://thehockeywriters.com/flyers-buy-out-atkinson-2024-offseason/#:~:text=Since his return from injury – after missing,so the Flyers would be saving some money. Another candidate here might be Cal Petersen, though he could continue to get buried. Nic D--he appears to be losing favor with Torts--wonder about him. While his is an unlikely buyout candidate, Coots value-added could be iffy. I hope we see a rejuvenated version next year. Otherwise, we are grossly overpaying for a 3C, and the Captain no less.

Greetings: Well, we are not going into the post-season, something that may or may not make people happy given itsimpact on standings and draft. Regardless, I wanted to do a post-mortem thread. To start, here's a good take by Jordan Hall. It is the glass half-full, half-empty model: Flyers vs. Capitals: Promise followed by drop-off, 2023-24 season ends on final day – NBC Sports Philadelphia Are we better than expected? Check? Are there some good young players? Check? Does our PP stink? Check--and last night, Boosh contrasted the excellence of the PK with the putrid PP. Is our goaltending a question mark? Yes? We could go on. My take: We have lanced the boil of the Gordon-Vigneault-Yeo Era and back to where we were under Hakstol. The team is playing "structured" hockey. But as was case under Hakstol (whose winning percentage isn't that bad), we can only win low-scoring affairs in which the goaltending is above-average to excellent (contrast our sub.900 overall save to Sam's percentage in wins--often above .920), and the team effectively suppresses the opposition with blocked shots and tight D. Otherwise, we have problems, even against teams we should beat. That gets back to the DNA problem--we trade and draft for players "who make us tougher to play against," thinking that means being physical, ala Nic D, when we need snipers, finishers, and "game changers." I hope against hope that DB and KJ get it. We have to draft difference makers, and we should emulate Bill Zito of my backyard Panthers and make smart trades that upgrade talent, instead of trades that lock us into mediocrity for years. As I said a few days ago, there is probably legitimate debate about Torts being the best person at this stage of development. But a coach can only teach so much. Rocky Thompson may be an awful power play coach. But I don't think you have the worst PP in the league for three years running due solely to coaching. I think our PP reflects the relatively low-caliber talent of our players. Without that high-end talent, we will always be two years away from being two years away. Howie

Well, our PP almost gave them a goal. We need greasy stuff against Lindgren.