For Acciari are those number just based off last season? My basic view of his stats seemed to show he had an extremely good year for his age & it has me wondering if he just got the Muse system really well. What does a three year sample of Acciari look like?

Charlie – loved the cap hit retrospective for Vladar. I’d like you to lean more into stats, you do a great job with it. Think the Forrester contract is an absolutely steal if his health holds – as our talent grows it’s a rising tide. Adding Giroux would make for a deep roster. Patient Danny will eventually make a move. Doesn’t have to happen this year.

I see this team as still being a work in progress.

Like most fans, I am bummed that we didn’t pull off a big acquisition or two. But that’s just my need for instant gratification.

From a team building point of view, each of the two major adds are accretive – one boosts the 4th line and one likely adds 6-10 points to the total number.

As long as the trajectory is upwards, that’s a good thing. Obviously, they will need to take a swing at SOME point. But that point of no return isn’t here yet.

Also, my gut feel is that in a year or so, you will see teams use up their cap fully as salaries go up to match the increasing cap, and there will some team or two that needs to make some movies to free up space. That’s when the Flyers will need to pounce.

Other than the Foerster extension, it was a very boring opening to free agency. And a solid one, too.

Job 1 is obviously finding our 1C and 1D. Since our contention window has not yet opened, job 2 is not creating any Darnell Nurse-type problems while we look for job 1 opportunities.

Briere is not like Hexy—total fear of taking swings. He’s not like Holmgren and Fletcher, either—fear of not taking swings.

He’s like Schwarber. If you throw him a ball in the zone, he’ll take a rip. Otherwise, ball 4 is fine and he’ll look for his pitch on the next AB.

Some see Briere’s patience as a fault, but I do not. Cap hit, roster composition, and player ages have to all be optimized at the same time to open a contention window. See Hurricanes, Carolina and Panthers, Florida. We are still a bubble playoff team unless Martone and Michkov pot 40 each this year.

I’m good with a patient DB. The East is gonna be that much more competitive next year with Florida adding/getting Barkov back, Washington’s adds, and the fact that there aren’t any thoroughly bad teams in the EC. But I still think the Flyers will grab a spot in the 6-8 range. Figure Car, Fla, Mtl, Buff pretty sure bets, especially if Buffalo gets Hellebuyck.
Toronto will be on everyone’s minds given the draft pick in play. Definitely a stronger team after the draft/moves, and could see a wide variety of outcomes for them. Their goalie situation could be surprisingly good or a total grease fire.

Charlie, My view is that the additions to the team will include through the seaon up until and including the Trade deadline. I expect Martone to continue to grow. He is a future Star IMO. I look for a motivated Michkov to have a bounce back season. I see a healthy Foerster playing a full season. On my hopeful side I see Bonk or Jiricek showing they can be contributers on D. And, as the season progresses and we see a need, then we have the assets to address that, if and when a player becomes available. So, I am not participating in the “we may take a step back” club. It is Danny’s job to keep us in the Playoff hunt and adding if we need to.