BobbyClarkeFan16

Lyksell flubbed at least three sure fire goals and that knocked the wind out of Frost. I still don't understand why they removed Foerster from the line when they were all playing well.

I'll own up to it. I fully plan on the club being bad for a few years. All what I care about is if there's effort and if they're continually getting better. Last night was a good example of just how much of a mess Briere has on his hands getting this straightened out. Good luck to him because there's going to be A LOT of long nights.

I thought it was great because it exposed just how disorganized this club is with regards to building a team. They don't have enough goal scorers, offensively gifted players and the defense is a mess and it's not going to get better anytime soon, especially with Brad Shaw as the coach. There were a few positives though. Couturier playing was good to see. He can still win draws and once he gets his game legs back, he'll be a force again. Frost also played well and quite honestly, should have had three or four points if he had a legit finisher on his wings. The defense scares the absolute hell out of me and Brad Shaw gives me legit nightmares that he doesn't know how to develop defensemen. Part of me wishes a guy like John Stevens would have been brought back because he knows player development. That is his strength. Cal Peterson is done. He'll never play another game at the NHL level again. Either bury him in the minors or buy him out.

I'm going to be 50 in February and I've decided I'm going to do 15 more years at work and then retire. I work at a nuclear power plant (didn't start there until 41) and I hope to maximize my retirement benefits, especially because my wife and I plan to relocate to Playa Del Carmen or Puerto Morales for six months of the year. I'm done with snow.

Build the pipeline and oversaturate it with as many good prospects as possible.

Sandstrom is terrible. He's barely an AHL goalie. Preferably, I'd love to see Sandstrom and Peterson in Lehigh Valley and Ersson in Philadelphia. However, if Peterson can get off to a hot start, hopefully they can move him with salary retention and get a draft pick out of the deal.

I'm fine with the forwards. If anything, I think some of the forwards are underrated. The defense should be better and the goaltending will be interesting.

Incredible how this organization has constantly **** the bed with regards to players and coaches. I'm hopeful that Briere and Jones get this mess straightened out.

I totally forgot about the Rangers. They have a superb coach in Hartford with Kris Knoblauch. He should have been the guy in Lehigh Valley and not Scotty Gordon. My only hope is that Laperriere tanks the Phantoms and Briere and Tortorella decide it's time to move on. Bring in a good coach from major junior that has a track record of winning and development.

You all need to see the conditions on the Detroit first. It's Detroit who chooses whether Ottawa gets the Detroit pick or Boston's pick.

I'm hopeful that we see familiar pairs put together. I'm hopeful we'll witness some serious thinking outside the box. Everything is on the table.

If Michkov is a point pretty game player or more at the end of the year, I can see him and his immediate family being smuggled out of Russia and coming over to North America.

As it should be. This franchise for the longest of time has had a large number of players that had an attitude of complacency and entitlement that it's good to see a coach come in and say "not gonna happen - you need to earn your spot." It's kind of refreshing.

Tampa Bay and Nashville have the best development programs, but Buffalo is closing in. Tampa Bay just has incredible luck with forwards who are able to jump in and contribute. Nashville has defenseman development down to a fine art. Buffalo understands that young players need to play, they're going to make mistakes and they're going to learn. If not, that's when coaching comes in. All three understand that before you assign roles, you develop the skill first and the skill determines what role a player is assigned. Unfortunately, puckhead in Lehigh Valley only understands checking and has no interest in skill development. He needs to be replaced in the worst kind of way.

It's too bad because none of those defensemen were actually bad defensemen. Morin was injury related, but everyone else on that list was a victim of poor skill and role development. That's the single biggest thing that haunts this franchise. And it won't change until a number of defensemen hit. I'm confident though that after watching numerous young players blossom last year, we'll see that change. As much as I dislike Tortorella's system and methods, he really does have a good eye for talent and development. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and that he can develop players.

I'm convinced that there are three defensemen on the roster that won't be there at the end of the year.

Wisdom scored 59 points in 62 games his draft year and then 38 points in 43 games in his D+2 year with Kingston. Add in an incredible physical presence with superb forechecking and two-way skills, plus a work ethic like no tomorrow, and he was at the very least a potential 20 goal, bottom six, two-way winger with a very heavy physical game. Yeah, there's legit 20 goal upside and incredibly underrated hands. Once again, it's going to come down to Flyer development. Do they concentrate on developing the skill he has or do they focus on Wisdom just playing a physical game? To me, it's a no brainer that you develop the skill because he knows how to play physical, but this is the Flyers we're talking about. Development over the years has pretty much ignored developing skill. It was all role based. If they allow Wisdom to develop his skill in Lehigh Valley, that adds another dimension to his game. I'm hopeful Briere and Alyn McCauley understand this. I think Wisdom can be a very good player for us.

His name is Sam Dickinson (yes, I'm a HUGE fan of the London Knights program that Dale Hunter has put together).

I'm not a Ginning fan, not at all. He's big, but that's about it. He's a poor puck handler and his hockey play decisions leave a lot to be desired. He seems to be an ok skater, but I certainly wouldn't use him on a shutdown role and honestly, that's where a player like him with a limited skill set should thrive. It's too bad that he didn't have Luke Schenn's brain because Schenn should be who he models his game after (but as mentioned, Ginning is a better skater). I think Hunter McDonald might end up being that shutdown guy with size and skating that the team is looking for.

I fully expect that they'll end up moving a number of young defenders as well. I don't think Zamula has a future here and I'm not entirely convinced Attard does either. You could possibly at Ginning to the list as well. In the case of Attard, he's already 24 and Zamula and Ginning both turn 24 in 2024. They're aging themselves out of the lineup. The Flyers could end up being even younger next year.

The 2024 draft is at least 15 defensemen deep. They're getting a real good one regardless.

I really don't believe the Flyers know how to handle a pure offensively skilled forward. Everyone has always been handled as a two-way forward. They don't utilize and build around a player's strength. They just continuously try to shove them into a role and if it doesn't fit, well it's the player's fault. And here's the kicker - when Briere was here, he was a terrible defensive player, but his acumen was scoring. That's how they should be modeling Frost.

I don't think they're going to be as bad as people think they'll be. The forwards are going to have to carry the defense and there's going to be a lot of high scoring games, but I think they'll finish eighth worst.

Ottawa can pound salt if they think Frost is going the other way.

https://phillyhockeynow.com/2023/09/16/flyers-rookie-alex-ciernik-opens-eyes-vs-rangers/ Looks like others thought the same. Bonk also had a good game. Kid's gonna be a gamer as well.