How about 15 minutes a night per line & just mix them up.
71 – 18 – 39
22 – 27 – 11
15 – 14 – 10
74 – 25 – 44/19/callup/signed college kid

The idea of we are trying to win & still doing the things that are losing is wasting time.

Couple of thoughts. First, good article Charlie. But, The truth is, the Farabee trade was a salary dump for cap purposes, and getting players back with expiring contracts was intentional, because signing them was not ever the plan. So playing him or not is irrelevant for the future. Second, the kid is small and Flyers as a group roster are small, and the roster has to get bigger and stronger. This has been a problem for a decade. Players are getting bigger and stronger and Flyers are not following this trend with their player acquisition approach. Third, Torts has no business being the coach of a rebuilding team that needs to tank into the top five of two or three drafts in a row to get a young elite 1-C, 1-D, and Elite goalie. Torts wants badly to win, no matter what the team’s player acquisition needs are. He belongs coaching a team that has already built an elite roster, not one that is building one, and can be argued is in the infancy of a rebuild. He cost them dearly last year, when he coached a dreadful roster into overachieving into a mid round draft pick that likely will end up being at best a second line center, and more likely a third liner. In other words, Tort’s objectives are in conflict with the best interests of the organization’s attempt to rebuild.

If the standings are reflective of how the draft lottery will turn out, Flyers are now in 5th spot of first round. They must lose out, every game, and stay in the top five. This is where elite talent is found. Time to get real. Tank. Enough focus on developing 3rd and 4th liners.

I think it’s far more likely that Farabee’s ice time was due to Torts knowing what he had in the player and giving him ice time to get better. One thing I’ve seen with him is he evaluates more heavily on process vs outcome.

As for the “why don’t you play him more to see what you’ve got” argument – have heard fans talk about this for 30 years now. Yet all the actually NHL pro coaches and GMs believe that it is better to let a player develop in asomewhat sheltered role vs letting them get blitzed due to be outclassed by opposing talents.

I am pretty sure the Torts and Briere are both aware of the need to evaluate Pelletier and aren’t missing something as obvious as ice time.

I reckon it’s some combo of these two things:

– they want him to earn additional ice time with his play – and I am pretty sure they can evaluate what he does with the ice time he has

– they aren’t really interested in keeping him on: there isn’t a lot of space for him in the top 2 ones, atleast once they get the pieces they are hoping to get, and he isn’t big enough for bottom 6. Torts did say he wants more size on the team and for a checking role, that makes sense.

Here, I’ll explain what’s happening:

Briere: John, I’ve traded for Pelletier.
Torts: I don’t want that player.
Briere: Well, we have him.
Torts: Well, I’m not going to play him.
Briere: Fair enough! You’re the coach.