The New New Unending Flyers thread

[Docs]

In other trades that affect the flyers 2025 first round picks, Colorado paid a lot to remake their offense and look much better on paper after the trade deadline.

[Austinfan]

We'll see. Nelson and Coyle are good centers, but they're also old.
Question is whether they'll fade down the stretch.

Not sure Colorado or Edmonton have enough horses to overtake teams ahead of them.

[zambonir]

Listen, as long as they lose in the second round. Or beat Edmonton.

[Austinfan]

I expect neither to make it to the CFs, so picks will probably be in the 20-25 range.
Which is fine.
Normally three cutoffs in the first rd, 1-5, 6-15, 16-25. Dropoff after 25.
You can get good players in the early 20s, TK, Foerster, for example.

[zambonir]

It's also unlikely to make a huge difference when they trade one or both of them, however that works out (package both to move up, include one in a trade for a player, trade one for future year pick or picks).

[zambonir]

Another big loss

I have Kraken fans in my family and had been planning to go today for weeks, hadn't thought about what a weird meaningless game it was going to be with the trade deadline on top of everything else.

[zambonir]

After yesterday's game I was thinking that if things really started to spiral - which would be fine in terms of the draft lottery - it could also ease Tortorella out. Last thing I read suggested the idea that he would simply move upstairs is far-fetched, as he will want another coaching job if the Flyers don't extend him (which also seems far-fetched).

Notes here:

• York, who was scratched for Andrae, is the current on-the-fence guy. I do still think there's really no way to keep all three of the smaller dmen in the long run.

• Briere said they may still be interested in Kuzmenko as a UFA.

• The talking point about how well the Flyers treat its player persist in that Colorado was the only place Johnson wanted to be traded to, and of course Toronto was Laughton's top choice.

Are the Flyers playing chess or checkers coming off the NHL trade deadline? Time...

[VoteForKalas]

It was a beautiful loss to Seattle, a team with a worse record than us. Keep losing and improving chances for elite talent in the draft.

Not sure what the plan is with Torts. I think the Flyers like having an experienced and respected HC.who is clear in his expectations and vision.

[zambonir]

The suspense now is, can they lose seven straight games at home?

I'm basically pro-Torts but I don't think you can let him finish his role in the rebuild as a lame-duck. They'll either have to give him another year (even if he never actually coaches under it) or at least confirm he's going to be become a front office advisor in 2027. And he'll have to be ready to cut loose one assistant coach.

I imagine he would like to be the coach who gets them into the playoffs even if he knows he's not the coach who gets to truly finish the job. It may or may not be too soon to bring in a new voice and a new system, though that also depends what they can do with the roster this off-season. It's unlikely they'll make another Hasktol-type hire (I have seen Matt Carle suggested as a good choice, in fact) so maybe whoever the next guy is will be similar to Torts anyway.

[Austinfan]

I still think they're waiting for the Pens to move on from Sullivan - if they're rebuilding, he'd probably prefer to take a year off then take over a team further into that process.

This team is spiraling downward b/c Briere traded 3 of their top 10 forwards without replacing them. Hathaway being out just makes it worse. And some players are struggling b/c they've been asked to do too much (York/Sanheim, Cates line).

There isn't much a HC can do when he doesn't have the horses.

And I think next season will also be a struggle, there are few prospects ready to step in, they'll probably give Jett a few games (up to 5 before his ELC kicks in), send him to LHV on an ATO, then make a decision whether they think he's NHL ready. Bonk, Barkey, Sotheran and Bjarnason are likely to start next season in LHV, along with Grebenkin. We'll see if Bump or Knuble go pro. So probably sign a couple FAs to short-term deals, maybe 1 year deals for TDL bait.

[VoteForKalas]

They were already spiraling before the trades. It Is not a good team especially when the goal tending stinks. Their PP is also again last in the league. Really hard to win when you struggle to score at all, cannot score on the PP and your goalies are inconsistent at best.

[el-pietro]

I'm in Seattle this week and hoping to go to two Kraken games. I will be wholeheartedly cheering the Kraken on, while wearing a Flyers cap, all for improved lottery odds!

[Austinfan]

They had a string of injuries when they traded Frost and Farabee. So wrong time to reduce depth.
Which tells me Briere had already written off this season (and probably next season).

Think the trio sat down, realized Torts had gotten as much out of the current team as possible, they were still at best a marginal PO with good goaltending, So take one step back, start garnering more picks and prospects and "tank" without using that word. Frost and Farabee could have helped them win a few more games, but keeping Frost would have cost $4+M next year, so $9M in cap room for two players not in their future plans (too soft).

Which is why I expect limited action this summer, some FAs on 1 or 2 year deals that can be traded at the TDL or next summer. Basically patch things while a bunch of prospects marinate in LHV and push for jobs by spring. Unless a young top 6 center falls into Danny's lap.

[VoteForKalas]

Agreed, there is a lot of work to do and I was glad they finally started getting to it with more urgency.

[bkeich]

The suspense now is, can they lose seven straight games at home?

I am thinking we should have made a bet in Vegas​

[zambonir]

the bet pays off on draft day, just not in our pockets

[bigegypt0417]

Nashville and the Pens winning games.

Good for us!

[zambonir]

The lottery odds swings are so minimal and they are pretty unlikely to catch the two worst teams, so I would settle for just being worse than the Pens. Rising to 3rd or 4th would be pretty wild though.

[bigegypt0417]

I would imagine the best they can probably fall to is 5 but that would be ok...

If they get really bad they could fall anywhere between 3 and 6

One crazy thing is that buffalo at #3 has played 3 less games.

[Docs]

I would like the flyers to drop in case someone jumps past them in the lottery, top 8 after the lottery is minimum ask, so being bottom six secures that