SCFlyguy

He's not signing for one year for the qualifying offer. He'll negotiate a multi-year RFA deal like Sanheim and Konecny did last year.

Ultimately, prioritizing character would seem to be a conservative, risk averse approach.

Prioritizing character might improve the odds that they become a pro, but if you prioritize speed, it might improve the odds that they become a game breaker (while possibly increasing the odds they don't make it).

I got family in NY over 120 years computer cowboy. Citation needed.

I know you hate facts, but here you go: States by Life Expectancy States by Violent Crime Rate Violent Crime by Year 1990-2019

The best part was all those Cups we won.

At a minimum, we would need one of Frost, Ratliff, etc. to become a superstar and Hart to be the best goalie in the game before I would even begin to think contender.

I really hope you are right, but I don't see the window opening. I see a mix of declining veterans and under-baked middle six prospects who won't be ready for another 2-3 years, combined with half of a very good defense and a potentially great goalie. Things would have to go extraordinarily right for this team and prospect pool to be contenders instead of perennial 4-5 seeds who never make it.

I'm not against the pick because all I am going on is the scouting reports I read after we picked him. But some of the same posters complaining that MTL and NYI were so much faster than us are the same posters making excuses for this pick. The idea that you can fix skating and have it go from being a weakness to the player being a burner seems like magical thinking.

I admittedly don't know anything about most of these prospects, but I would love for once for the Flyers not to draft someone with a scouting report that contains the phrase, "if he can improve his skating."

I think it's always been obvious JVR and Voracek are going to be on the Flyers' opening night roster. Any other conclusion is wishful thinking.

The timing is that Niskanen told Fletcher the day after Game 7 v Islanders and Fletcher was shocked.

He was decent, if still overpaid in his first, year. I can't wait for all the posts wanting to get rid of him in another year or two.

Laine is supposedly on the trade block. I have reservations, but would anyone trade Sanheim for Laine? It would take something like that to get it done. If you move, JVR, you could then do: Laine/Coots/Voracek Lindblom/Hayes/Konecny Giroux/Patrick/Farabee ???/Laughton/NAK Provorov/Niskanen Ghost/Myers Hagg/Friedman I would prefer to move Ghost, but you could also flop Niskanen and Myers.

Are you on acid?

Like 5% of this is going to happen. Zamula is not going to go from the minors to the NHL. Laczynski isn't going to go from the NCAA to the NHL.

Having said all this, I do think they need to make changes. I just think it might make them worse in the short run and maybe even in the medium run.

So G, V, and JVR are players who aren't performing up to snuff AND no other team knows this AND the Flyer's are going to be able to get picks and prospects back AND the Flyers are going to be able to trade the picks and prospects for NHL ready top talent. Whether or not I want this to happen, I don't see this happening. And if they are able to move them, who is going play on the first line? Konecny appears to be more of a second line player at this point. He's going to love seeing the other team's #1 line and D every night.

I am not saying don't move them; I probably would try. I am saying that I wouldn't assume this move would immediately make them better.

I don't even disagree that they need to make some changes, but I think if you do you are going to see a big step back before you see any step forward (similar to trading Carter and Richards).

I don't disagree that there is some sort of leadership/effort issue, but a far bigger issue is that the team just doesn't have as much talent was we thought. G, V and Hayes are decent players at this point, but none of them are game breakers. Our D has a lot of potential but is still kind of raw. We have to hope one of our young guns turns into a star (not sure who this would be other than Frost) and our D takes another step.

I am not arguing against trading G and V in the offseason, but I guaranty if the Flyers do they will be in the lottery, because nothing that will help them next year or replace their production will be coming back in the trade. The Flyers' best hope for next year is that (1) G and V and Hayes don't take big steps back next year, (2) Konecny. Lindblom, and/or Patrick (yeah, right) find another gear, (3) Sanheim and Myers take another step, (4) Hart gets a bit more consistent, and (5) one of their prospects, such as Frost, explodes. Unfortunately I think they're going to find themselves in the middle of being good enough but not good enough. The good thing is I think Pittsburgh and Washington are due to take big steps back.

I predicted Islanders in 6, so I expect the Flyers to win next game and lose in Gm 6. The Islanders are playing and winning exactly the way they always do and I expected them to. They always play hard with a high motor and forecheck you like crazy. They are great in transition. On D they give up a ton of shots but not many from the dangerous areas and they control the middle of the ice and front of the net. They were one of the best teams in hockey until they got hit with injuries on their D that healed during the break. We had trouble with them all year and all the contortions why that wasn't going to matter now were laughable.

I've said it before, but the flaw in Hextall's approach was not in relying on draft picks, it was believing that the draft picks were going to be ready on a timeline where Giroux, Simmonds , and Voracek were going to be able to play on a high level.

The bottom line is G is not getting benched and he is not getting traded. Deal with it.