The New New Unending Flyers thread

[Florida_Sunshine]

I am a nobody and just enjoy reading here. I thought you were likely involved in hockey to come up with the names you did.

" Ryabkin and Brzustewicz are must picks." You are suggesting these two for the Colorado and Edmonton picks?

[LegoDoom]

I am a nobody and just enjoy reading here. I thought you were likely involved in hockey to come up with the names you did.

" Ryabkin and Brzustewicz are must picks." You are suggesting these two for the Colorado and Edmonton picks?

You mean #24 and #25? These are two players that are underrated and with all of the Flyers picks they should concentrate on. There is a non-zero chance that Ryabkin is the most talented player the draft and I'm not sure he will be available at #24. Brzustewicz is a fantastic skater for a defencemen, can lead a rush, understands spacing, and can score. Maybe he has a bit of fancy play syndrome to him, but whatever.

[LegoDoom]

I thought you were likely involved in hockey to come up with the names you did.

I don't want to give out my pathetic resume, but I think I already said I co-founded one of the most well regarded hockey equipment websites. However, it's not my day job.

[LegoDoom]

And if I haven't already said it, AFs contract debate is not good.

[zambonir]

Well, the Stars never win Game 1

[LegoDoom]

And I'm sorry, but it's not like the London Knights are an under the radar team.

[LegoDoom]

Zeev Buium to make his NHL debut in the playoffs. The Flyers traded the pick for Jett.

[bigegypt0417]

Briere says nothing is off the table this summer to improve Flyers

[Austinfan]

Briere speak: "I could do this or that, I have options, we'll see what happens."

Nothing wrong with that, he's cleared out the players he doesn't see as fits in the long-run, won't surprise me if Risto, Hathaway and Seeler are gone by next summer if their replacements are ready. Poehling is a tougher decision, I think they'll extend him at the right price but won't overpay.

But the timeline suggests he'll only make minor tweaks this summer, unless someone "makes an offer he can't refuse."

Flyers aren't ready to contend for a Cup, and a big trade or FA signing won't change that in the near future.
2025: Bump, Barkey, Grebenkin, Ciernak? Bonk, Grans, McDonald, Samson, Sotheran? Bjarnason.
At some point most will get an audition and a change to start in the NHL
2026: #4 will probably arrive, Gill to LHV, Berglund?
2027: Zavragin arrives, most of 2025 draft goes pro.

I'd expect gradual improvement, but there's no rush to make a big move unless a great deal falls into Danny's lap.

[zambonir]

The coach hire will tell the tale. You don't hire another veteran coach for a team that might be two or three years away, especially when that is the life span of almost any NHL coach these days, as Sielski pointed out today. He predicts the WMU coach gets the job, not because of Jones but because he has pro experience, where as Carle might be Hakstol 2.0 (and he might not want the gig anyway).

[LegoDoom]

Michkov changes whatever timeline you are trying to convey. As are multiple picks and a potential signing.

[bigegypt0417]

The idea that you wait to make significant moves until the offseason prior to being a cup contender isn't realistic...you start building the years prior. Banking on 17 year olds and mediocre veterans isn't really a plan.

Flyers should be focused on becoming a playoff team and build year over year.

[Austinfan]

Michkov is still a couple years from being a dominant player, and even McDavid couldn't make Edmonton an instant winner.

The draft picks are years away, #4 probably won't arrive until 2026, the others 2027-28.
So the next two seasons you're looking at Bonk, Bump, Barkey, Jett, Grebenkin, Grans, McDonald, etc.
They'll fill out the roster, but will need a few seasons to raise this team up a tier.

A trade for a young center will help, but it won't be enough to speed up the timeline.

I expect gradual improvement over the next 3 seasons, 85-90 points next season and 95-100 by 2027-28.
Once they figure out goalies (Ersson/Zavragin?) they'll be a 90+ team with average goaltending.
Fill out the center position and they have the wings.
Add another top 4 D-man and they'll have 4-5 top four guys.

To me the goal is building a team that is a plus 100+ point team every season, but built for the playoffs, not the regular season banner - that is, able to play a close checking, physical style of play with enough speed to match up against any skill team.

[bigegypt0417]

Michkov is still a couple years from being a dominant player, and even McDavid couldn't make Edmonton an instant winner.

The draft picks are years away, #4 probably won't arrive until 2026, the others 2027-28.
So the next two seasons you're looking at Bonk, Bump, Barkey, Jett, Grebenkin, Grans, McDonald, etc.
They'll fill out the roster, but will need a few seasons to raise this team up a tier.

Building the team with an emphasis on lottery tickets is not building a team...that's gambling.

The flyers should and will probably use their draft assets to begin adding younger pieces of NHL talent with picks and offer sheets. Will they do that all this offseason? No.

If they use those picks to add an above average goalie...they are a playoff team next year with a few veteran additions. Getting better is the key to actually making this team attractive to free agents.

The flyers will not take 7 players in the first two round this draft.

[Docs]

Getting better is the key to actually making this team attractive to free agents

This is 100% spot on. Briere said in his press conference that they have transitioned from the subtraction phase to the addition phase, so I expect them to start shopping this summer. I agree that the addition phase will span several seasons not just one off-season.

[zambonir]

Having a team that can win 100 games every year is what every club wants, and there's no club that only does that with its own drafted players. There's also no club that does that consistently for 4-5 years with the same group of players. And when you bring in other players you either actively subtract some of those incumbents, or the prospects you hoped would make it didn't.

Nobody here thinks they are going to sign a top-end FA to a max deal in 2025, but a short-term FA or a trade for a vet with only 1-2 years left on their deal makes sense. Trading a pick or two into next year also would make sense as they would lose a '26 pick if they did an offer sheet successfully. I think a young controllable center would be elusive so a veteran short-term FA might make sense there; a goalie obviously has to happen and there's a huge range of options there.

Probably one or two guys from last year's team will also end up in a trade (more if they can move one of the goalies, even if it's just getting something for Kolosov's rights).

[bigegypt0417]

Nobody here thinks they are going to sign a top-end FA to a max deal in 2025, but a short-term FA or a trade for a vet with only 1-2 years left on their deal makes sense. Trading a pick or two into next year also would make sense as they would lose a '26 pick if they did an offer sheet successfully. I think a young controllable center would be elusive so a veteran short-term FA might make sense there; a goalie obviously has to happen and there's a huge range of options there.

100% in agreement here. I think the moral of the story is that the work this FO has done has them in a situation to be able to do anything that could pop up.

[Austinfan]

Well run teams build a talent pipeline, then trade off it, keep the prospects you like best, trade veterans blocking them when they're ready, and trade the 2nd tier prospects who are blocked down the road.

You don't start trading draft picks until you're a perennial contender that expects to pick in the 20s, at that point your 1st and 2nd rd picks aren't as valuable to you as they might be in trade.

I think Briere might add an older veteran center, but he has Couts in that role. They're not going to get into the Marner sweepstakes (they don't have the money and he's too old for their timeline).

I'm not worried about the 1C or 1D issue, it's nice to have a 1C that can play 20+ minutes, but good teams are constructed more with two scoring lines a decent third line and a fourth line that's hopefully not a black hole. When you have a Michkov, you don't need a 1C next to him, he'll carry that line and elevate any center. Same if they end up with Martone instead of Hagens or Frondell. And if they go 3-4 lines deep, that compensates for a lack of a super star center.

Same with 1D, a lead dog who can play 25-30 minutes is great, but it really comes down to 2 solid pairs and a 3rd pair that won't embarrass itself for 15 minutes a night. If you have 4-5 solid D-men, they can all play 20+ and your 6th D-man can be a PP specialist who you can shelter.

More than one way to skin a cat.

The focus should be on adding good players, both for the team and as assets to make strategic moves.

[Austinfan]

Watched Buium last night, obviously one game doesn't tell you a lot, but it feeds off the WMU game.

He's smooth, good edge work, good passer, responsible defensively, but the pro game is definitely a little fast for him right now. Like the WMU game, he was forced into mistakes, I think he's not used to players on top of him quickly.

But I can also see why the Flyers didn't jump all over him, I think they were hoping someone would take him and Dickinson would fall.

Buium just isn't dynamic, he's a better version of York, but I didn't see the burst that makes Makar so dangerous - that is, he should be a very good D-man, but I don't think he's going to live up to the hype, and that's probably why he dropped in the draft. Now maybe he's the next Fox, but more likely just a solid guy who got drafted where he should have been.

[flyers19rw]

Well run teams aren't carrying almost $13M on their books for buyouts, dead cap space and LTIR. Granted that it has been worse in recent years but still it's a lot of money that inhibits possible moves.