BobbyClarkeFan16

Seriously. Does this franchise not read medical reports or do their own medicals? Christ sakes. Now, I feel for Drysdale because he's literally been the definition of good soldier, but this franchise and their lack of due diligence. This should lead to people getting fired. The only good news about this is that it isn't a shoulder or a knee and that this sort of core/sports hernia surgery is routine and that he'll be off his feet for three to four weeks in terms of exercising. At this point, if I'm GM, I'm sending Drysdale to go see Gary Roberts.

Elick is a Jacob Trouba type player, but with an even meaner streak. I want a mean, hard nosed, elite shut down defender. The Flyers haven't had a defenseman that puts fear into the opposition in quite some time. Elick fits that bill.

I'm looking at things and I'm thinking they might just draft defensemen in the first. Yakemchuk and Elick might not be so bad of decisions in terms of starting with size and meanness on the backend.

In fairness, if the Flyers stay at 12, Catton and Helenius are the same size and Iginla is only one inch taller than Perfetti. There's no real standout center that's 6'2, 6'3 in the top half of the draft this year. I mean, there's Cayden Lindstrom, but he's more of a winger. Even looking around teams and top prospects, there's nobody really standing out who has that size and who would be available. The Flyers might end having to look for size on the wings instead of down the middle.

In fairness, Tuomaala had crap for linemates in Lehigh Valley after Lycksell was called up. I'm not worried about him at all because he's a goal scoring winger. I'm not asking him to carry a line. I'm asking him to finish and Laperriere failed at finding players who can get him the puck. I'm interested in seeing how Tuomaala plays with a legit center, not a Cooper Marody.

The site was just updated and now they think the Flyers will select Cole Eiserman at 12. That scares the **** out of me. He can finish, but everything else about his game screams Robbie Schremp. There are major questions about his compete factor, his defensive play, his hockey iq, and his skating. The second first round pick Charlie Elick is still the same. At this point, if Iginla, Catton and Helenius are all gone by the time the Flyers select at 12, I hope they either move down a few spots and draft a guy like Sacha Boisvert (who's really growing on me as a smart and complete player) or Michael Hage (a young bull of a center who has really good hands). Hell, I'd love for the Flyers to find a way to draft both of one of the big three aren't available. But yes, avoid Eiserman at all costs.

He's probably going to cost pick 12 and a young player (Tuomaala).

My only hope is that the organization doesn't double down on "we were this close" and end up abandoning the rebuild and go with a quick fix. That worries me the most because this is a franchise that does not want to do a proper rebuild - they refuse to take their lumps that other teams had to take.

I think the power play issues are fixable. For instance, I'd probably put Farabee, Foerster, Tippett, Frost and Drysdale on the first unit. I'd have Farabee on his off-wing, Foerster on his offwing, Tippett in the slot, Frost near the blue line and Drysdale at the top. I'm not sure I'd use the standard 1-3-1 that's being used. I'd also probably go back to the Joe Mullen days of when he was the power play coach and see how to utilize the guys. I look at a guy like Farabee and I'm astounded that one of the NHL's best 5 on 5 scorers can't get things going on the power play. That's a warning sign to me that something is off. I'd also probably use Frost for the defensive zone entries and then use the size guys like Foerster and Tippett to bully their way through the opposition to clear lanes and then set up everything. I don't know. I just see that there is some viable talent there and they're used in the wrong places. I think it's something that's fixable, but I'm also wondering if Tortorella wants guys to be used that he likes, not what's necessarily best for the team. I'm really at a loss as to why things are the way they are. No matter how hard this club tries, they just continually go back to the well of things that don't work. I guess maybe having a true offensive guy on the coaching staff might be the key to unlocking things. I'd be interested to see what the power plays were like for Thompson in junior and the AHL and who his power play coach was. That might be the key to unlocking what's broken with the Flyers power play.

For me, it depends on how long the contract is. If it's a 7 or 8 year deal, I'm skeptical because then we're looking at 35 - 36. In most cases, forwards are usually done by that time. They simply don't have the wheels anymore or the hands aren't what they used to be. Now, you might be able to dump the contract off to a team that needs to hit the salary floor, but then you're giving up a huge asset to make that move. If the contract is a 5 to 6 year deal, that's a little more palatable. You've got someone who will be 34 - 35 by the time the contract finishes and maybe you can get them to sign a team discount deal for another two years if they have something left in the tank. Part of the problem with Konecny is his style of play leads to injuries and time on the injured list. The thing is, I don't know if you can tone him down. Do I think you move him? Hmm, I'm not sure. You could make a case for both moving him and keeping him.

It's not just he's a terrible power play coach here, he was also a terrible power play coach in San Jose, and at the time, San Jose had Timo Maier, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Evander Kane, etc.....and they finished with the worst power play in the league as well. Common denominator? Rocky Thompson. I'm looking at teams with better power plays than the Flyers this year: Columbus Chicago Buffalo Montreal Anaheim Calgary Ottawa San Jose Seattle Arizona Let that sink in for a moment. Teams that the Flyers finished ahead of, had better power plays. It is a farce that the Flyers, a team with better talent than those clubs, had the worst power play in the league. I'm sorry, but that points to one thing - the coach of the power play. If the Flyers would have a 15 to 17 percent power play, they would have made the playoffs. I'm not going to slag Thompson as a coach because he's had success in major junior and the AHL. Quite frankly, I hope that when Laperriere gets fired, Thompson goes to Lehigh Valley and replaces him because Thompson can actually coach. Just don't ask him to coach a power play because his offensive concepts on the power play are truly terrible.

If it's a wing, someone is getting moved. I'm hopeful that one of Iginla, Helenius or Catton is the first choice and one of Beaudoin, Luchanko, Artamanov, Gridin or Elick is the second first round selection.

Looking forward to the Salt Lake City Utes!!!!

I only keep a handful of players. I'd keep Ersson and Fedotov as the goalies. I suppose you could add a third goalie to the mix, but those two should be fine. In terms of defense, the four I'd keep would be York, Sanheim, Drysdale and Attard. As for the forwards, Tippett, Brink, Lyksell, Couturier and Foerster would be the group I'd build around. I know some night be shocked about Couturier, but this was a guy who hasn't played in two years and the coach ran him into the ground. If his minutes would have been limited to start the year, I didn't think he would have been in as bad of shape as he's in. Now that the first year back is pretty much done, I think we see a different Couturier next year. And the beauty thing with him is that he can be a Bergeron type as his career winds down. You can use him as a checking center who can pop 20 goals/40 points. Everyone else is up for sale.

What a mess. They should have offloaded at the trade deadline, but they chose to keep Laughton, chose to give a shot blocking defenseman with no other discernable skills a four year deal and then dealt for another 35 year old defenseman instead of playing regulars who had put in their time in down at Lehigh Valley. This blew up spectacularly on management and coaching.

I hope it doesn't turn into a case where the GM says "we're close" and the head coach saying "we're not." This doesn't feel like Fletcher and Tortorella all over again. Not sure if anyone watched the Tortorella after game interview tonight, but he didn't sound animated at all. He sounded very subdued. It certainly feels like he knows that this club needs major changes if they expect to contend. We haven't heard from Briere and Jones has been quiet. I honestly think there's going to be a major blood letting this summer.

2024 NHL Mock Draft with Lottery Simulator | Tankathon I'm even more convinced than ever that they end up with one of Iginla, Catton or Helenius. And if Artamanov turns out to be our second first round selection, that's a home run. Adding Julius Miettinen in the second? Love it. Dude was an offensively gifted player in Finland (watch his junior video from over there), but he became perhaps the best two-way forward in the WHL (31 goals and was the best defensive rookie this year). Not only that, he's got some much needed size to him in that he's 6'3, 207 pounds. That's an imposing figure who will probably top out at 220 pounds as a grown man. Yeah, sign me up.

They sank. This off-season should signal that there's going to be no more band-aid solutions. This should be nothing more than a full teardown and rebuild. Briere might have talked last year about how they weren't going to strip things down, but remain competitive and rebuild at the same time. That's no longer an option. Let the blood letting begin this offseason. As what Tortorella said, don't get attached to anyone. Other than maybe Foerster, Brink, Tippett, York, Sanheim, Drysdale, Ersson and Fedotov, everyone else should be getting shopped.

Absolutely. I'm looking back on the drain and I'm wondering if maybe they should have acquired a veteran over the summer and let Ersson play a full schedule in Lehigh Valley. He's never played more than 40 games in his career and between last year and this year, he's played in 100+ games. I also think with this year, he wasn't expecting to play more than 35 games. It's too bad that things have come off the rails like they have, but at the same time, I'm glad they did. The management of this team simply can't provide band aid solutions anymore. They really need to tear it down and build it back better.

Filling Tortorella's veteran quota. After scratching Johnson and Staal, he couldn't scratch his beloved Cam.

They've fallen completely off the tracks. They're gassed and out of steam. As for the goalies, Kim Dillabaugh is such a ****** goaltending coach that I'd kill to have Jeff Reese back to work with the guys. And I'm not worried about Ersson turning into Sandstrom. Ersson is burnt out. Fedotov is getting acclimated to his new surroundings. There's major changes coming again this off-season.

Foerster is going to stay on the left side, I think. He's gonna score a lot of goals from his off wing. Tippett just signed that long term deal, so he's going nowhere. Then it comes down to Konecny and Brink. Brink fits closer to the time line that they're looking for. So yeah, I think Konecny will be the guy they move. It also makes sense from an asset standpoint. He'll return the most in any trade, at the very least the Flyers could get a roster player, a first and a good prospect.

I'm hoping the same. I mean if they aren't going to make the playoffs, let's at least try to draft some more high end talent.

The Flyers would currently pick 13th this draft. If they lose out the season, they could fall even further. But if they stay where they are, yeah, they're in a position to grab one of those three.

Iginla can play all three forward positions, but he's most effective at center. I'm really hoping that the Flyers can end up with either Catton or Helenius though. I want the pure offensive dynamo. I'm tired of good reliable two way players. Give Michkov a high end offensive guy to work with as well.