mojo1917

/\ I think this type of thinking fails to consider the importance of getting it right with Michkov. /\ By all accounts Matvei is a generational type offensive player. He carries himself like a star. He seems to love the game, at least that was my take away from the media availability. He is the most hyped prospect in PHI since Lindros. Bringing him into a situation where there aren't any established veteran players would not be good for his development. He will have to adjust to new... everything; language, culture, expectations, coaching. So on top of that, let's put all the expectations for success on the ice on his shoulders too? He's going to want to win. He said it about 20 times in his presser. If the Flyers hand the team over him and he's it? they aren't winning anything for the foreseeable future. Where is his incentive to hang around? To me it seems like that's a sure-fire way to **** the kid up for his Flyers career. Any future team success will depend on the Flyers handling MM's entry into the league correctly. Or at least in a manner that fosters growth and maturity. Getting rid of everyone who is good at hockey and saying welp, kid, go get 'em isn't that. So if an extra year of Scott Laughton and entrenched team leader like Travis Konecny is how the management wants to keep the kid invested? I'm okay with it.

I don't know, they got pretty close last year. If the goaltending hadn't crapped the bed last year's team is a playoff team. It's debatable if that's because the Metro stank or if that group was just extra frisky. Goaltending masks a lot of deficiencies, see :Jets, Winnepeg from last season and all those middling Canadiens teams from the Carey Price era. If the Flyer tandem is just "good", .910/2.8 --the team has added Michkov and will get a healthy Jamie Drysdale to start, those two additions could mean curtains for the dream of tanking. It's possible. I'm not going to put any money on anything but the team could be better than last season. They could be better but finish lower in the standings, they could make the playoffs, they could totally pooh in the sheets...who knows. I am entertained though and right now that's enough.

Or, he is able to find a few more goals and points from an improved powerplay and the contract becomes a value in the near term, making the later years less onerous. You're not all the way wrong. TK is an >8 million per year player though. This is the Dom Luznskzyn model for contract value. TK is overpaid but not by a whole lot right now. He's nearly a point per game with sub-par centers and a historically bad powerplay, a slight improvement on the PP could make this contract a value. There's a couple of guys that could help with that on the team this year.

Thanks for saying this. The thing about the Chicago cycle is everything has to go perfectly for that work. It did once and good for them. Things need to go perfectly to win a Stanely Cup even when a team is good- a key player could get hurt, they could be stifled by a hot goalie, they could run into a bad match up early in the tournament. There are plenty of teams that try to cycle and then never return to relevance. An underappreciated aspect of this signing is what it says about the Flyers organization and the culture they're saying is so important. Konecny is a home-grown talent, who bought in, matured and is being rewarded...young players this can be you. I think being able to use TK as an example for a young guy is helpful. I know you didn't type this but.. the contract is an overpay? maybe by like 400k. It's not going to kill the team in any fashion. Now that there is potential help on the power play, TK could score 6 more goals and get 10 more assists, then he's a value. ' Good hockey teams need good players and Konecny is a very good player

That contract was signed 11 years ago. I mean, you're not wrong. Superstars are signing for >10m .aav today. @pilldoc I have beef with that contract poll. The way it's constructed there is no option for ambivalence. I don't think the contract is terrible, but I do think it's too much for too long. Honestly, it's about what I was expecting.

Couple of things for me. I was expecting this. That means my hopes of somehow management turning him into something other teams aren't giving up, even though he's the best asset are not dashed. So, whew, bullet dodged there. The management has said repeatedly they are not going to tank. I would say they are keeping their word. Funny how this thread has nearly as many posts as the Michkov arrival thread in less than 1/8 of the time. Thank god the cap is expected to rise. That's a lot of money. I hope he lives up to the contract in the near term especially. He's a good player, he's fun to watch, he is young enough that he can be a bridge to and member of teams that are in the top 6-8 in the league. The management is all in on this culture business, he's going to be a good person to have around for that. He brings guys into the fight, he stirs things up. Michkov can't be expected to come in and Gretzky, so why not have some good players for him to play with immediately? My hope now is for Ristolainen to make himself useful and get off the payroll for a pick or someshit.

sometimes this reads to me like it's been 50 years sucking. For about 3/5s of that time the Flyer were pretty good. The 80s and 90s had some near misses. The 2000s to 2013 had some fun and good teams too, I know you know this. I think along with your diminished expectations you could add some recency bias too to make that post feel even more hopeless.

Going to give this Kolosov situation a bump. I wonder if he were to get the Michkov treatment how far that would go towards easing his concerns about playing in North America? Could the answer with Alexis be, "look we'll pay for your mom and dad to immigrate" and set them up in Quakertown or Chalfont or some ****. The Comcast Flyers have all kinds of dough, put a couple of that kid's family members on the payroll too, executive in charge of pierogies, maybe having a little support network for Kolosov is the answer there too.

I like the excitement the player is generating. The Flyers haven't had this kind of ...hype/hope for a prospect in a long time. Maybe going back to Lindros? He's no Jon Sim but...

It seems like he understands some. But he does not speak it. The Flyers had a translator for him during the presser. The Flyers said they will provide a tutor for him. Interestingly Briere mentioned he didn't speak English when he was drafted and said the 'hockey talk" was helpful for him to get a grasp on the language. Michkov said he wants to learn the language so he can interact with the team, press and fans. He seems pretty smart, he kept saying he wants play good hockey and win-- and that's catnip for this fanbase.

@Howie58 thanks, this is fun. Q.1: Can We Improve the Power Play? Some would argue it can't get worse. Seriously--it is hard to see us improve in standings with the PP we've had the last few years. I think it can improve. I mean it could improve 15 % points and still be next to last in league. There is kind of no way to go but up. I wonder if healthy Drysdale and new Michkov will act as rocket fuel for that group and all of the sudden Rocky Thompson is just a guy with a bad haircut and no longer a terrible at his job coach. Also, maybe run some plays for/with Konecny below the goal-line? That worked pretty well in the Vigneault years at least in spurts. TK could look for Tippett cutting into the slot...there's things to try. Q.2: Which Sean Couturier Do We See? Paying 8 million for a player who scored 38 points and went -10 isn't a value proposition. He started well and got worse over time. Does the hernia fix help? Does a better supporting cast help? One way or the other, his performance and cap hit can't be ignored. I just don't know about this one. I hope the Couturier that started the season and played pretty damn well is who we get to see all season. That guy was pretty good, and it's not like he can get much slower of foot. If he's healthy I think we won't mind the contract. But it's a big if, I like 14 a lot, I hope it works out. Q.3: Whither Goaltending? Ersson and the Fedotov may be hot, cold, or indifferent. This will be interesting. And I am not sure if we have a fill-in on tap. If one of the two NHL guys gets hurt it's the Cal Peterson show and that show sucks. I don't know what to make of the Kolosov situation. If he's balking at playing in Allentown then maybe he doesn't really want to play in the NHL. If he saw the steaming pile of pooh that started in front of him for a month last season and doesn't want to take that guy's job?...do we even want him? Personally, I think Ersson has "it" . But that's because I like how he has a little **** all to his personality, it shows itself after he plays badly, he hates that and I think he's got the goods to take the next step and become a good tandem goalie. I like the Fedotov story, even though his contract is a little high, the team is spending less than 5 million on it's goaltending. So if giving that poor bastard a bone after being kidnapped and conscripted into mother Russian Navy, I'm fine with it. I hope he can play a little too...he's shown he can be good for stretches and has played well in big world tournaments. Q.4: Will a Cam York-Jamie Drysdale First Pairing Live Up to Potential? On the upside, this could be a good pairing, if a bit undersized. Until Bonk or "other" join us, I don't see another first D pairing among the current crew. I think they don't play on the same pairing. I think Sanhiem/York is the top pair. I want to see Drysdale play and begin to develop. He's got a lot of skating talent and puck skills, I want to see him learn to play defense a little better, but really I want him jumping passes in the neutral zone and playing offense. I think that needs to be his game. If he's defending like Adam Ginning, that's a loss IMO. Q.5: Will We Have a Surprise Upside (50+ Plus) Scoring From a Young Gun, Including MM? I hope so. We need the scoring. Right now, the bookies have Michkov's season total at +46...that's a couple of cheap assists away from 50 I think he does it, maybe Ol' Foerster ? Maybe Farabee? Honorable Mention: Q.6: Do We See a "Big" Cap Clearing Trade? In essence, does one a usual suspect (Risto, Farabee, or Laughton) or even a re-signed Konecny go? It seems like the right thing to do if under-25 is the desired player age Anything is possible. If Risto plays hockey this season anywhere near as well as he was playing when he was injured, a hockey-man GM will trade for him. I do think there are some moves that can be made, I don't know if Danny ever makes CoachX's and everyone else's dream come true and trades Scott Laughton. But i do think guys will be moved and new guys are coming in. I'd be so curious to know who they are targeting. The pivot to winning may start after this season depending on how this season goes. If these young guys near their ceilings...who knows right? They were telling us 2026. Michkov's presence may cause a downshift in the pursuit of more talent.

I think this is great. Slogans and ******** aside. This is easy to get excited about. I really like that he's here now. I think his "early arrival" will be helpful to him as far as figuring out life in a new country, and allowing him time to pal around with the Farabee crew with low stakes. It should ingratiate him to Torts, I like that he wanted to get on the ice. This may seem stupid but I like that he's wearing a Phillies cap, whether that was his idea or not, I like that he seems to care about how we think of him. For me it projects the image that he wants to be here and he wants it to go well. I don't care if he went to the Bryce Harper school of pandering, I don't think it's a bad thing to ingratiate oneself to their city, especially this one. Show us you care. If the organizational results are similar to Harper's Phillies story, the love will come and it will be reciprocated x 1000 from the fans. FWIW I think Harper is down for this jawn now.

LFG

this was a good one.

@FD19372 Yeah, it's an interesting exercise. I think that Richards/ Carter team with Pronger was better than I think a lot of our forum wants to give them credit for being. They were toss up with the Bruins and Rangers. I don't think Tampa was quite there yet. And the Penguins,while better, were inconsistent also. 5 mil in cap space still would have enabled Jagr to sign with the team. Could they have beaten the Blackhawks again? Or the Canucks or Sharks. Probably. I don't think the Kings get over the hump without Carter and Richie. It's interesting and maddening that the team is still paying for that decision almost 12 years later. Anyway thanks for thinking about it.