The New Unending Flyers thread

[zambonir]

Can't even blow it properly

The #1, like you say, would be a huge long shot, but would be nice to up the odds of moving up in general. Just won't be by very much (and still wouldn't be even if they somehow "passed" those three teams.

Expect one win in any case right?

[Austinfan]

The team is actually playing well through the 8 game losing streak, leading the league in HDCF%,5th in xGF%, 2nd in expected GA on the PK. The PP sucks, but it has sucked all season and they were in a playoff spot.

The goalies have been putrid and they can't finish to save their life.
And this snowballs, when you don't trust your goalie to keep you in a game, you press to score, make mistakes that lead to goals against, fall behind, press more . . .

[zambonir]

Yup, with those strong peripherals, just give them a little bit of a breather and they can probably turn it around in another 10 games.

[Austinfan]

Welp, it's a good sign that they've bought in, given they're starting 8 forwards 25 and under, TK (26), and 2-4 D-men 25 and under (depending on the night, Zamula, Attard and Ginning), and Sanheim (27).

They need more talent, but having a young core playing the "right way" is a good foundation.

Still two more years of rebuilding ahead, the goal should be to have a team in place when Michkov comes over (barring injury, an elite forward who'll be 21 with 3 years of KHL experience when he arrives) and players start reaching the NHL from the 2023 and 2024 drafts.

Kid to watch the next couple years, Sotheran, RHD, 5th rd pick in 2023, 6'3 198 with a June birthday (very young for his draft class), good mobility, great in transition, may be the steal of the draft.

[zambonir]

As predicted by various lawyers since the story first broke.

Trial for charged Canada players likely pushed to 2025

Pre-trial motions aren't until the end of this year, thus it is certain to carry over into '25.

Honestly the NHL is going to have to take some kind of action here. While it's unlikely any team would do it, right now there is actually nothing stopping any of them from playing in the league next year. They either need to be suspended indefinitely or not, and if the former, their RFA status will have to be clarified. While I'm not necessarily arguing for it as an ethical or good PR move, if you think there's a chance that Hart will be found not guilty or the case will be dismissed and you don't actually have to pay him while he's not playing why not QO him? You already had no problem having him on the team for the past five years while presumably knowing most of this stuff even when it wasn't public.

It would just be very NHL if A) some team went ahead and signed one of these guys if they become a UFA and B) only then does Bettman bother to suspend them.

[bkeich]

The 1964 Phillies at least ended their season with 2 meaningless wins. Just saying.

[zambonir]

They would not necessarily be meaningless!

Can the Flyers still make the playoffs? Making sense of a congested Eastern...

Scenario #2: If the teams above the Flyers beat the teams below them in the standings and lose to the teams above them in the standings. That means Detroit goes 2-2-0 (88 points); Pittsburgh goes 1-3-0 (86 points); Washington goes 2-2-0, including a win against the Flyers (89 points); and the Flyers go 2-1-0, with the one loss to the Capitals (87 points). Flyers are officially out.

Scenario #3: All the above in Scenario #2 happens BUT the Flyers beat the Capitals and win all three of their remaining games to finish with 89 points. The Flyers are in.

[Docs]

The interesting draft implication scenario and one of the flyers three remaining opponents are the devils first rounder, which has complicated protection language but is top ten protected. They are currently sitting at ten, while the players won’t care as much you know the front office would prefer not to fall to 11th place. It will be interesting to see if they start Jalen Hurts in goal against the flyers.

As for the flyers down the stretch, at this point based on how poorly things have gone lately, losing out is not the worst thing with a potential draft position window from 9-18 still in play, with 12th being most likely.

[Aquapong]

Here they go again…giving us hope.

[zambonir]

honestly settling for signs of life. I think that's probably worth more than another half percentage point in the lottery. Plus, you never know.

[Docs]

Maybe the rangers are hoping to meet the flyers in the playoffs and trying to help?

[Austinfan]

Shows what happens when you get competent goalie play.
I think next season, with Ersson and Fedotov in set roles with a summer to prepare will give them solid goaltending.
Just a bit of chaos this season with Hart leaving and Ersson thrust into a starter's workload.

[VoteForKalas]

They will need.a better backup goalie to allow Ersson to develop at a proper pace.

Fedotov may get better with an off-season of work at the NHL level, but he is not there now. Hardly surprising since he has had no time to adjust.

[zambonir]

Fedotov may not even be on the team next year. But if he is he's probably the back-up. Both his presumed salary and the fact that he would still be the likely #2 would limit the kind of goalie the Flyers can sign on top of that (not to mention they still currently have Peterson).

Kolosov could just as easily be the NHL back-up before next year is over. Either way, playing time could be scarce in Allentown.

[VoteForKalas]

The point is the Flyers attention should be focused on developing Ersson and one of the most important ways to help that process is to have a capable and reliable backup who will allow the Flyers to manage Ersson's work load and avoid injury.

None of the current backup options they have now is good enough for that role IMO. Therefore, that should be on Briere's list of tasks to accomplish before next training camp. If that means cap management and/or trades and/or other roster moves, so be it.

Get it done. There really are no more excuses. This is what the rebuild process entails; evaluating talent, making hard choices, maximizing what assets you have and putting the team on a track to success. There is no bigger aspect of a NHL team than goaltending as all of us Flyer fans have known for over four decades now.

[zambonir]

Yeah but is Ersson really even the goalie of the future? Three months ago the idea of him being better than a back-up would have been in the category of "good problem to have." Now it feels more like a two-year bake-off to see which one of several youngsters ends up sticking. Maybe two.

But you're right. Had they traded Hart they presumably would have brought in a veteran to mentor and soak up playing time (while not necessarily being so good that he'd win a ton of games) in partnership with one young goalie. Two unproven goalies was probably never the plan.

Flyers history aside I feel like goalies have never been more like baseball relievers, however. Hot youngsters fade (and sometimes come back); journeymen end up going to the Cup final (as with Vegas last year) or becoming part of top league tandems (Stolarz, though his partner is certainly someone who has been good for years!), the right slightly above average vet on the right team can be enough. Flyers are obviously not the right team yet but when they are their guy might not be someone who's already in the org now nor anyone they add in the next two.

[Austinfan]

Fedotov is a good goalie, two years ago he carried his KHL team to a championship,
22g 1.85 GA, .937 Sv%.
Then spent a year in the Arctic circle, so not surprising he wasn't as good this season
44g 2.37 GA, .918 Sv%, PO 5g 2.57, .916 Sv%
131 KHL games, 31 KHL PO games, so he has plenty of experience.

The adjustment to NHL isn't as tough as in the past, half the KHL teams now use NHL sized rinks.
Give Dillabaugh a summer to work with him and he should be a solid backup next season.
They're working on an extension, hopefully it'll be announced shortly.

[zambonir]

Well, they said they were hoping to extend him but I reckon it would have been announced already if both sides were ready to just do it on mutually agreeable terms. Unless he feels like he owes the Flyers something Fedotov may want to take advantage of the leverage he has, while the Flyers may not want him if he's too expensive (or if he can't be sent to the minors w/o going on waivers, which, I have no idea about that).

[Austinfan]

What kind of leverage does he have? He's an unproven Russian goalie.
No one is offering starter money, or even top backup money.

His best move is to get a 2 year deal or so at NHL wages, play 30 games a year, establish himself as a top backup, then hit free agency (or a bigger money extension).

[zambonir]

Being a fully unrestricted free agent despite having just two weeks of NHL experience is leverage. It's like he gets to sign an ELC all over again except all 30 teams have a shot, and there's no restrictions on the $. No, he won't get paid like a proven player but he'll probably double or triple his current salary.