Diehard Exclusive
Unlock Your Full Philadelphia Flyers Experience
This premium content is a Philadelphia Flyers Diehard exclusive.
DIEHARD MEMBERSHIP
$79.99
/year
As a Diehard, you'll get:
Plus
Join Now
Cancel anytime. No questions asked.
Manage Membership
You're already a Diehard! Manage your subscription from your dashboard.
Already a Diehard?
Sign In
8 Comments (3 conversations)
MarioD
So when does all this start?
They’re not playing a modern style.
They all but explicitly said Deslaurier’s contract was a mistake, yet he’s still on the team.
Player development starts with the actual coaches. No coaching changes were made.
The most confusing part of all is this line:
“In the end, it’s not going to be a traditional Flyers team from the ’80s that wins the Stanley Cup. We’re gonna build a team to win in today’s game,” he promised.
Those mid-80s teams were playing hockey ahead of their time. And they were built a lot like modern hockey teams. They actually are the Flyers teams to emulate! So it’s either really terrible history on his part, or really concerning to pick out those teams as the contrast to today.
And then, if that’s the antithesis of what they’re trying to be, that’s a real head-scratcher; read this short article:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/23/flyers-mike-keenan-no-more-mr-nice-guy/37e1d3aa-08ce-40c7-b489-74295360961c/
and tell me you couldn’t replace “Keenan” with “Tortorella” and and not even notice the difference in head coaches.
Just everything Jones and Hilferty say seems to make sense on the surface, but when you give it two seconds of thought, there’s no real evidence they are able/willing to actually do those things.
At heart, there’s still the same problem as always: “It’s not a tank, but we want star players.” HOW!????
They’re obviously not signing anyone next summer given that they’ve got $9mil in dead cap space (so far, we’ll see if they ever get around to using those other cap retention spots) plus Ryan Ellis’ contract. So what are they doing for the next two hockey seasons? How does any of that fit with any of the six points laid out in this article?
Charlie O'Connor
AuthorI think you’re doing what I rail against on the podcast — getting angry at things that haven’t happened yet.
Also, obviously they’re hoping Michkov can be one of the stars, probably the biggest one. Gauthier another. They’re likely getting a top-10 pick in this draft. Taking a swing at Michkov — a risk, but a worthwhile one — strikes me as a clear indication that they’re serious about chasing stars.
MarioD
“Getting angry at things that haven’t happened yet”.
Well, yeah. The first sentence was “When does this start?”
They’ve had an entire offseason to start doing these things, and they haven’t even hinted at them yet.
Nothing on this list said “Get rid of the guys that don’t get along with the head coach and sign some dudes who will get along with the head coach” yet that was the only thing addressed this summer.
And you know well that a top-10 pick is not getting you another star player.
But, if you’re right that Gauthier and Michkov and [2024 1st] are the stars, then what are they doing with Konecny and Laughton for the next two-plus seasons? Like, if that’s the plan, they operate the organization like that’s the plan. But they’re not operating like that’s the plan.
jcheim90
I think we can start judging them if the lineup isn’t being modified to give the youth playing time. So maybe US Thanksgiving would be the time when we can look at how players are being deployed & decided if they are living up to their words. Obviously the trade deadline & next offseason will be judgment points. I don’t think the first offseason did much to show a change but we have to let some of the season play out.
Chad
Thanks for this article, Charlie. Answers a lot of things I’ve been asking since the Jones and Briere hirings were announced. I actually appreciate that Jones is saying the right things – things I wasn’t sure he was even capable of thinking, in some cases. I’m trying to let this season play out before I make any judgements. I am skeptical that they can really get out of their own way on some stuff, but I am trying so hard to be optimistic. I’m tired of being so hopeless as a Flyers fan.
Chris Roberts
Drafting guys like Barkey and Ciernik in the mid-rounds instead of Tyrell Goulbourne demonstrated a step in the right direction with some bigger swings in the draft.
Todd Shannon
Exactly. I thought this past draft was pretty balanced as far as taking a swing at the skilled guys you mentioned along with some two way, size, grit guys. And let’s not forget adding to their goaltending pool.
Todd Shannon
Exactly. I thought this past draft was pretty balanced as far as taking a swing at the skilled guys you mentioned along with some two way, size, grit guys. And let’s not forget adding to their goaltending pool.