All of this makes sense. I just hope they don’t trade Brink.

Spot on.

While it is true that they have improved upon their performance last year in terms of points, I think that “14 point improvement” is a bit misleading.

They had pretty good metrics all of last year as well – and the year before – and it was league-worst goal-tending that sank them. That, and losing Laughton, Farabee and Frost with virtually no replacement.

In terms of development – Drysdale is arcing upwards, Michkov took a step back and the rest of the team is pretty much exactly where it has been for the past 2 years, except maybe Foerster, who was looking very good before he got injured. All the gains have come from having a functional middle 6 C in Dvorak and better goaltending.

They have a solid supporting cast right now – what they need to do is add talent, Martone will be a big help. But the second top 6 C? If/when they add him, that’s when they will get the boost – both in center scoring and also in unlocking Michkov. He’s being wasted right now with Cates as his C.

Danny is going to sit on his hands.

Please just commit and trade people. The fans are so sick of the mediocrity. The flyers need to plan for the future if they actually want to turn things around. Blow the team up, trade people, and try to get back into the top 5 / top 8 so we can get another young guy for Mortone and Michkov to team up with down the line.

Great arguments on why the Flyers need to be sellers at the trade deadline! I especially liked this line: “if the Dvorak extension did nothing but make them play worse, maybe a Ristolainen trade will conversely make them play better.” You never know what a move does to a team, the Dvorak extension had the opposite effect one would think.