BobbyClarkeFan16

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.

Alex Ciernik is going to be a star. Great set of wheels, great hands and was all over the ice. Dude can play.

I wanted the Flyers to draft Ethan Bear his draft year. Good defenseman who goes about his job quietly.

If they don't end up with 1 or 2 and if he's available, I want Sam Dickinson. Give me another defenseman from a real good program in London. He's got size, skating, physical ability and incredible hockey IQ. He's going to get a huge role this year and he's going to play in all situations. He and Bonk will make great cornerstones.

I don't worry about that at all. Scouting isn't an exact science. Teams have different criteria for the players they draft. Watch Andrae and you can see how well he thinks the game on the ice. His positioning is flawless, excels at moving the puck with ease and falls back into defensive coverage with no problems. Here's the thing with a number one defenseman - they don't need to be a potential Hall of Famer or perennial all star. You just need them to be good enough to lead your defense core. That's it. Just let them play their game and figure things out. It's too bad that there isn't a good veteran presence on the back end that could help them grow into their roles (a defenseman like Brian Dumoulin would have been great in that role here), but things are what they are. Hopefully Briere and Tortorella realize they need a veteran who can point and direct and help the young players because we know that Stinktolainen and Seeler certainly aren't the answer.

We're going to agree to disagree. Number one and number two defensemen don't just appear out of thin air. It involves careful development. This franchise knows nothing about development. The way they handled Provorov should speak in volumes. He had a superb rookie year and then it was pretty much downhill after that. They ruined Gostisbehere and they're actively ruining Sanheim. Tortorella seemed to handle York and his development much better and tutorials also has a history of developing defensemen. I'm guardedly optimistic.

Pietrangelo is a legitimate number one in the league. I'm willing to bet that you could poll every team in the league and every team in the league would want him.

There's a number one and number two in the system. York and Andrae are those guys. The big question is if there's a coaching staff and development process in place that can get them to that level. Tortorella has a history of knowing how to develop defensemen, the question is can he do it in Philadelphia and does he have enough support in place to ensure they make it to the next level.