BobbyClarkeFan16

I thought the Canucks were sniffing around Walker earlier this year. If they're still interested, I wonder if instead of a first, if the Canucks would offer Vasili Podkolzin instead? They would be a fantastic player to add. I think he'd be the perfect fit on a line with Frost and Tippett. Tippett and Podkolzin could be the physical, shooting wingers while Frost is the setup man.

I also think another big move is on the horizon as well. They've got momentum after the Drysdale/Gauthier swap (I marvel at how Briere stole Drysdale and that 2nd round pick is a top three pick in the 2nd), so does Briere do something shocking like moving Konecny or does he play it safe and move Atkinson? What if he does both? I think it's something that bears watching.

The team is on a downward spiral now, especially after the news with Carter Hart. It's time to do some more removal. Move guys who deserve a shot at a championship and play more young guys. 

12 minutes ago, GratefulFlyers said:

Why do you think it won’t work for him in the NHL? I know almost nothing about the kid but hockeydb has him at 6’2” 179lbs. Is it his relatively light weight that’s a concern or something else?

It's because he won't be playing the front of the net on the Flyers power play. From everything I've read with the Flyers, the expectation is that Bonk will be an elite shutdown defender. Any offense we're seeing now is a 'bonus.' This is a problem with the Flyers. They predetermine what a player will be and try to fit them there, rather than develop said strengths and let them develop accordingly. Hopefully this changes, but I'm not holding my breath, especially when you consider Puckhead is still the coach in Lehigh Valley. If they fire him this offseason and replace him with a real development coach, I'll change my stance.

Bonk will succeed in Philadelphia though because he's a good player. 

Formenton just turned himself into London police.

1 minute ago, Lunatic said:

And just like that the Flyers loose their franchise goalie. Poof, Gone!

I guess it's good then that Ersson is up to snuff and the pipeline has some good goaltenders in it. I fully expect that they'll probably draft another goalie or two this upcoming draft.

I don't think anyone will be filling a defamation suit against the woman if the men are found not guilty. 

This was a criminal matter that the police investigated and obviously the police thought that there was enough evidence to warrant charges.

We'll have to wait for court to hear evidence, unless it's decided that there will be a publication/broadcast ban, which might be the case here.

41 minutes ago, Howie58 said:

One of the things that has surprised me about coverage/discussion is whether charges (if made) will be strictly related to sexual battery or "other," which might include withholding of evidence, conspiracy to withhold evidence (i.e., they colluded in cover-up), or even intimidation of witnesses?  My read of several pieces says that as is so often the case in rape, this mess centers around the consensual/non-consensual issue, particularly when it became, if I can be polite, multi-partner after it was one-on-one.  Proving those charges may be tough, and God only knows what that puts the alleged victim through.  The other angles might be present, and speak to what must have been a really awful organizational climate.  I might add that from an employment perspective, these kinds of charges might be as bad as battery charges.  

 

That is one guy's take...and I am not a lawyer, so take what I say with a poop load of salt. 

 

Howie

What's going to make this really ugly is that there's apparently video of the sex and there's all the text messages between a player (I think it's Formenton) and the woman and the woman admits she had a good time and was sober. Regardless of whether they guilty or innocent, I think it's safe to say that their NHL careers are probably over. 

Briere is in a no win situation here. He gave the only answer he could give (and you can bet the legal department from birth the league and the team provided him with what he can/can't say), he couldn't move Hart because of the investigation and he can't terminate the contract because Hart hasn't done anything wrong (he hasn't been charged yet and there's no criminal conviction).

Gut feeling is that all of these guys go on a suspended/inactive list and they've probably played their last games as NHL players, even if they're going not guilty. The league won't want them and the scrutiny that they'd bring with them. 

These guys should have known better. They put themselves in this position and they need to look in a mirror and do soccer real serious self assessment. 

7 minutes ago, Podein25 said:

 

This is important context and also a matter of public record, in case people are wondering. It's not necessarily well known outside of Canada. 

 

I mean let's be honest with ourselves here, especially those of us who played junior hockey. Boys will be boys and all but the culture is *rife* with behavior that crosses moral and legal lines and has been for a long time. This is a reckoning moment, both for these young men and for Hockey Canada.

And it's all throughout hockey in Canada. It's just a toxic environment that has been allowed to fester for years. 

As previously mentioned, you'd figure that Hockey Canada would have started the clean up process after Graham James, but they brought in people who talked a good game and continued burying all the horrible stuff that was going on behind the scenes.

And it's important that it's not only hockey players that have had issues. Executives also had issues and buried things. I'm ashamed that a good hockey guy like Dave King was actually one of the scumbags that buried things.

My hope is that a forensic and thorough investigation of Hockey Canada, it's executives, players, programs, etc....is done. I could go on and on about hockey, especially hockey in small town Ontario. The stories are horrific.

34 minutes ago, CoachX said:

they need two weeks to figure out what to say about charges it took them five years to come up with?

 

whos the chief up there, Chuck Fletcher?

 

why do I hear "yakity sax" in the background?

Pretty sure that everyone is getting time to dot i's and cross t's. The London Police screwed this investigation up initially, so I fully expect that they don't want anything to go wrong this time around. 

Having lived in London and having seen their work first hand dealing with Jacob Hoggard (look up what that creep did), I can understand why they're going to take their time on this. 

I'm also fairly certain that the defense attorneys are going to have a field day with the evidence here and with the six years of open, closed and reopen investigation, this is not only going to get ugly, but it's going to show just how incompetent one group is and how the lawyers are going to be front and center of everything.

February 5 is the expected date for charges and a press conference by London Police.

You'd figure Hockey Canada would have learned their lessons after Graham James. 

On the flip side, hockey in Canada is incredibly scummy. The amount of sexual deviancy is something else. Go to any arena after a junior b hockey game and you see the girls lining up and the boys literally having their 'pick of the litter.' I remember in high school how the 'boys' bragged about what they did to the girls and how a lot of the teachers doled out high fives. It was horrifying.

I was reading that Dube is currently in the care of health professionals. He's in seriously bad shape.

Just now, jammer2 said:

My 1st question...does this have anything to do with the world jrs investigation?

Nah. Maybe if there was something coming down the pike, but I don't think they're ready to release anything anytime soon, if at all.

I think Hart is in a bad way health wise and that he's going to stay away until he gets healthy, if he gets healthy.

Bonk is excellent defensively. The reason for his jump in offense this year is that Dale Hunter has allowed him to be more of a roamer. He's still one of the first players back on defense and only jumps into the attack of the play allows it. Seriously, Bonk is very good defensively and that will be his calling card in the NHL. 

Just now, OccamsRazor said:

My defense in 2024-25

 

6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale
8 Cam York - 26 Sean Walker

36 Emil Andrea - 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

 

I am open to trading Walker too but i wouldn't be shocked if they brought him back either.

 

I am trading Seeler and Staal.

 

Seems to have been a great shepherd so far for the sheep the quicker Michkov comes the better.

 

My aggressive defense would look like this.

 

 

6 Travis Sanheim - 9 Jamie Drysdale
8 Cam York - 3 Ronnie Attard

36 Emil Andrea - 23 Adam Ginning

 

trading Walker (1st), Staal (4th), Seeler (3rd) and Risto (2nd picking up half his salary).

 

Any way only on my first bourbon of the day we'll see how it finishes....at least the Eagles can't lose today.

Don't be surprised if Bonk makes a real run at making the team. He might end up playing his way out of the OHL with how well he's played this year. 

If the Flyers move Seeler, Walker and Staal, my hope is that they bring in a free agent. Brett Pesce and Brandon Montour are both free agents. They wouldn't look bad at all on the right side. 

21 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

Damn Jamie Drysdale can skate.

WOW.

Right?!?!?! His skating is other worldly. Niedermayer is still my comparison.

40 minutes ago, flyerdog said:

So i guess what this does is shift the rebuild in a different direction, Jonesy always said he wanted to build from the blueline out...now they have that piece, i suppose, and they have to find another Center , problem is that it seems unlikely that we are picking top ten in 2024, so it seems we will be in no mans land again: mid to late 1st round...where a franchise C will not be...

 

 

Button just released his new list. I expect that someone like Berkly Catton is going to fall, plus guys like Ryder Ritchie, Tanner Howe and possibly Trevor Connolly will be available. The Flyers will get a center. Not worried about that at all.

1 hour ago, mojo1917 said:

Which is what they have now and...

I haven't seen any of the "deciders" saying the job is done.

One thing that I think many aren't considering about building a team is free agent signings. 

I think the Danny Jonesy® don't view the draft as the be all end all to team building. I think they view it as a big piece but not the only piece.

They both have spoken about turning things around so players will want to play in Philadelphia, I think they mean to spend some of Dan Hilferty's money to bring some of the top end talent to the team.

Both guys are Ed Snider disciples that's how the Chairman liked to do it. They seem pretty serious about bringing back those vibes.

I have no problems with using the draft for your franchise cornerstones and free agency to compliment the cornerstones. The difference in the past was that free agents were used to be part of the cornerstones, which is never a good idea. I think that's something Briere and Jones understand. It would really surprise me if they go big game hunting in free agency to land a cornerstone. 

3 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

Didn't see that what happened?

He got injured at the wjc and it's been confirmed that he's done for the year.

43 minutes ago, JR Ewing said:

 

So, not to say that he won't work out and be an NHL player, but I would definitely put aside though of him being at the top end of the RW depth chart... My experience with watching young players says that pretty much everyone who is in the AHL past 21 has some issues and may spend time meandering. He turned 21 yesterday, so this is a very important season for him. Last year, the offensive production just wasn't there. This year has been an improvement, but the best AHLers in his age group are scoring a lot more, and he wouldn't be getting the PP minutes in Philly that he gets in the American League.

 

He has two-way ability. I think he's tracking more in line to be a below-average NHL 3RW, above-average 4RW.

 

My opinion, anyway, and I would love be wrong about that.

 

 

Tuomaala's career was saved by playing in the Metsis league in Finland last year. It got his game back on track.

As for the Phantoms, I'm not worried about Tuomaala's production there. Just watching the games and it's clear that Laperriere has no clue what to do with those guys. The coaching is poor, the team is undisciplined and you can see how disorganized they are. This is one area where Briere should have addressed things, but didn't. I

6 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

If Aron Kiviharju is there with the 2nd 1st rounder that would be a nice pick!

 

Just go BPA and they can't go wrong.

Yep. Your first round picks should always be BPA. Any round after that is drafting for need. 

I think Kiviharju is going to go a lot higher than most people think. He's going to be back in February, so he'll still have from February to May to get games in. Honestly, that's enough time to recover his draft ranking and get back in the top 10. Don't forget that Brian Burke took Morgan Rielly 5th overall and he had his ACL tear and surgery and only played 18 games his draft year. 

Didn't they also say that Adam Jiricek was done for the year as well? Seems that the injury big has bitten some of the top prospects this year.

Just now, RonJeremy said:

Oh, ok. Center ,defense and LW are the biggest needs.

I don't know if defense is a big need any more. I think the best thing this club can do now is sit back, evaluate the current roster and pipeline, see what moves can be made at the deadline and then reassess when the season is over. I'm still not sure if this is a playoff club and now that some guys are starting to come back to earth, we'll get a better sense of who stays and who needs to go.