The New Unending Flyers thread

[zambonir]

Congratulations to Chuck Fletcher for finally maxing out the old one!

Continuing the discussion from The Unending Flyers Thread:

@Austinfan

Pure speculation.

Hayes - traded with money retained/bad contract back
Provorov - traded b/c they won't want to extend him at 29
Laughton - probably traded, Torts favorite, but is 29 next season with 3x3, so attractive trade bait

TK - tough call, 2 years left on his deal, do you trade or extend?
TDA - hard to move this summer, easier at TDL next spring (teams would rather gamble on 20 games with him)
Risto - Shaw has done a great job cleaning up his defense, if they move him, next summer (3 years left) is more likely
Allison - 26 next season, he's managed to stay healthy, would have a solid market
Laczynski - 26 next season, injuries mean his value is low
Sandstrom - a few more games like Carolina and he'll have trade value

Farabee - coming off surgery, would be selling low, lot's of upside, only 23 next year
Sanheim - bad season, big contract, doubtful he's going anywhere
Tippett - "you ain't going nowhere"
Frost - getting chance to nail down 2C role rest of season
Cates - "you ain't going nowhere"
York - "you ain't going nowhere"

Hart - they may wait a year, see more of Ersson, whether Fedotov escapes the Gulag, how Kosolov is progressing

[Aquapong]

Yeah Hayes or Provorov could be traded if we retained some money or took back a nonperforming contract to offset some of the salary. I’d be surprised to see anyone else go.

[zambonir]

Well, now it sounds like Briere's move to permanent GM is all but inevitable. The bigger change is now you have an ownership group that is ready to rebuild, and, it's hinted, sweep out the old guard. He's basically talking like he has the job already, including keeping Flahr as his assistant.

'I'm not afraid to use the word rebuild': Daniel Brière delivers his long-term...

Per multiple team sources, he’s the heavy favorite to get it.

Brière checks a number of boxes for ownership, after all. First, he has a strong working relationship with John Tortorella, who the organization very much wants to keep. Second, he’s viewed both internally and externally as an intelligent hockey mind — he made it to the final round of interviews for the GM position in Montreal just last year. And finally, he has a strong relationship with the business side of the organization, having been their hire first to manage the Maine Mariners of the ECHL.

[bigegypt0417]

Sources: Three Flyers legends had no say in Danny Brière’s promotion or Chuck...

[zambonir]

Feels like a press release but that's okay (inasmuch as the company understands how important it is to put this sort of message out there).

It's also so typical of Hayes to get something (probably) so wrong, either because he just misses things or because as a general columnist he doesn't follow the team closely enough. I do think any time you get a new GM the incumbent coach may not survive in the long run but the early indication is Briere and Torts get along, Scott probably still has the coach's back for now as well.

To their delight Fletcher in the following spring hired old-school coach Alain Vigneault, which was unwise. After Vigneault’s inevitable firing three seasons later, he hired Clarke and Holmgren favorite John Tortorella, which has been even less wise.

Will this last? Brière is a mini-computer geek and the most analytics-friendly executive the club has had. Tortorella carries a rusty abacus and says, “Most analytics are trash.” Hmm.

[Aquapong]

Zamula has been recalled…not sure why though. Attard should be up if any D. Denoyers and Lycksell should be here auditioning and Bellows and Laczynski should be in LHV.

[Docs]

12 games remaining, and the Flyers have 5 points in their last 3 games, a very Flyers thing to do at the end of a terrible season when we're all just watching the lottery count. They are currently sitting in the 6th position, 5 is in reach but so is 10.

[Philsmania]

Clarke's, Holmgren's and Barber's roles with the Flyers should be like Bowa's, Manuel's and Gillick's with the Phillies--honorary, more for PR than anything else but no real influence.

[zambonir]

Well it certainly took the Phillies a long time to get to that point. Bowa was only forced out when Kapler became manager and Charlie still managed to become the hitting coach during that time. And I would say Gillick remains influential (and, I believe, still has his tiny ownership share) but less so now that Dombrowski is here. He certainly recommended MacPhail (and MacPhail actually did play a key role in recruiting Dombrowski and was still allowed to run that entire search, easy to forget that now!)

I think Barber's influence is actually the most shocking thing. Apparently he has been Scott's most trusted guy in that role behind the scenes (whereas Clarke and Holmgren's influence was always explicit).

What's dumb is Briere really is just Hextall 2.0, part insider, part outsider, younger and less experienced than Hextall but not necessarily a out-of-nowhere person. Obviously Hextall had his shortcomings but we also know he wasn't truly allowed to do his job, and was forced out in part for not sucking up to that trio... so now we're hoping they will finally do what they should have in the first place.

[Aquapong]

According to CSN, Zamula and Foerster may be sent back to the Phantoms after today’s game to help with the playoff push. I’m not sure what sense that makes. The Phantoms are an ok team this season and aren’t likely to go deep in the playoffs. The only other real prospects there are Attard, Desnoyers, and Brink.

[zambonir]

They seem to place some value on simply playing games that matter (and more ice time too) even though it's a lower level. Plus, what if they help the Flyers win?

[Docs]

Flyers with 9 out of a possible 10 points in their last 5 games (eye roll), sitting in the 7th spot and only 3 points out of 10th. I predict that they will catch the 12 spot which will prevent them from getting the first overall pick.

[flyers19rw]

Nah. Their upcoming road trip will take care of that. It’s the last two games of the season that are must loses-Chicago and Columbus

[Aquapong]

I can personally confirm from Hershey that Zamula and Foerster were sent down to the Phantoms.

[zambonir]

Works out good for you. Though I think I would have gone to Allentown today.

[Squire]

Dave Scott retiring, New CEO of ComcastSpectacor

https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1640355794766921728

[zambonir]

Wowza. I really thought the fact that they didn't just do it when Hilferty got hired (a mere month ago) meant it wouldn't happen for another year or two. I wonder if he made the decision himself or if the fallout (and continued agita about the old-guard advisors, particularly Barber who was apparently the most hands-on and closest to Scott) forced his hand.

I'd say that President of hockey operations hire is more important than ever though. Hilferty's a power player in Philly (and he's also the World Cup chair) kind of like David Cohen was but I think I would have preferred to see the NHL governor role go to that person or Camillo.

[Docs]

Best of luck to Dave Scott and this is great news for the franchise to move forward. I'm keeping a close eye on the remaining schedule - unfortunately the Flyers have a few games in hand over the teams they are currently racing with for draft position. If you believe tankathon's big board, there is a drop off after the top six in the draft so hopefully they can position themselves in the top six with a chance at the top 2. That said, there are lots of young players getting quality minutes down the stretch which is more important to build on.
1.
5. MTL 66pts 8 Games Remaining
6. Ari 67pts 7GR
7. Phi 68pts 10GR
8. Det 71pts 10GR
9. STL 72pts 9GR
10. Van 73pts 9GR

edit: I numbered them 5-10 and it renumbered on display 1-6 unless I add another number before

[VoteForKalas]

Dave Scott retiring, New CEO of ComcastSpectacor

https://twitter.com/JClarkNBCS/status/1640355794766921728

Great news

[zambonir]

I guess it is probably a positive that Hilferty is a lifelong Flyers fan. Will be very interesting to see what they do with the President job, and who else actually does get swept out.