Would you trade #1 overall for #5 and #9? Because the chart says it's a fair trade. I would disagree.
- jmatchett383

You know, that's a great freaking question. I agree that I wouldn't do it, more often than not. But I bet if we looked back, say, 25 years, it probably checks out

If that was the team you saw on Sunday then I'm pretty sure you didn't watch.

- mayorofangrytown

They were a playoff team last season. 2 main additions to the line up, JVR and Sanheim, 2 subtractions, Flip and Manning

Are you telling me that Val Filpula was that important to the team last season? Manning?

Hextall was thrown under the bus cause The Flyers are now seen as a line item on Comcast's P&L Statement.

3 Months ago everyone was down with Hextall's plan. The biggest gripe going into the season was the coach.

You know, that's a great freaking question. I agree that I wouldn't do it, more often than not. But I bet if we looked back, say, 25 years, it probably checks out
- AllInForFlyers

It's all relative. If you have a guy like Stefan/Hischier/Yakupov/etc. as the #1, and it's a deep first round, then maybe you do it. But more often than not, you keep the #1.

They were a playoff team last season. 2 main additions to the line up, JVR and Sanheim, 2 subtractions, Flip and Manning

Are you telling me that Val Filpula was that important to the team last season? Manning?

Hextall was thrown under the bus cause The Flyers are now seen as a line item on Comcast's P&L Statement.

3 Months ago everyone was down with Hextall's plan. The biggest gripe going into the season was the coach.
- corduroy

So you dont think Hextall had any responsibility to address the goaltending and center ice position. The JVR signing was great to see but it didnt address any critical weaknesses.

He came into the year hoping Jordan Weal would be his solution for center depth and the goaltending would hold up for another year after falling apart last season. Oh and a terrible PK was just going to magically improve?

They were a playoff team last season. 2 main additions to the line up, JVR and Sanheim, 2 subtractions, Flip and Manning

Are you telling me that Val Filpula was that important to the team last season? Manning?

Hextall was thrown under the bus cause The Flyers are now seen as a line item on Comcast's P&L Statement.

3 Months ago everyone was down with Hextall's plan. The biggest gripe going into the season was the coach.
- corduroy

The big gripe going into the season was the goaltending and the coaching.

They've been a bubble team since he became GM (and before). A couple more wins they're in a couple less they're out.

This season they're in the bottom 5 and they've earned every loss. If they retained him he was already pushing back they're window another 2/3 years so that's nearly a decade of rebuilding and praying that his draft picks were actually going to turn out and make the team a contender when his best draft pick so far is arguably TK.

They were a playoff team last season. 2 main additions to the line up, JVR and Sanheim, 2 subtractions, Flip and Manning

Are you telling me that Val Filpula was that important to the team last season? Manning?

Hextall was thrown under the bus cause The Flyers are now seen as a line item on Comcast's P&L Statement.

3 Months ago everyone was down with Hextall's plan. The biggest gripe going into the season was the coach.
- corduroy

Manning meh. But it has been beaten to death in here that the role Filpula filled was huge. He did a lot of the heavy lifting for last years team whether or not anyone wants to admit it.

If he was watching Sunday he was thinking they should have laid off the pizza and wings on Saturday.
- mayorofangrytown

FTFY

Hextall himself said this team needed to take a step forward after July 1. So whether it was his own promise to the fans or direction from others, he failed to deliver that.

Another 1/4 season of the team battling itself as much as the other team was not a step forward.

FTFY

- FlyerFan16

So you dont think Hextall had any responsibility to address the goaltending and center ice position. The JVR signing was great to see but it didnt address any critical weaknesses.

He came into the year hoping Jordan Weal would be his solution for center depth and the goaltending would hold up for another year after falling apart last season. Oh and a terrible PK was just going to magically improve?
- Baxter27

Didn't he try to sign Statsny? He looked at other options as well. Did the fans really want 4 years of Antoine Ruossel? Jay Beagle? What other reasonable options were out there?

He was hoping on Weal, and what happened? Vorobyev. Everyone on this board was slobbing on his knob during the preseason.

I'll give you the banking on Nuevwirth as a back up but who saw Lyon getting hurt in pre-season? Elliott, who doesnt have an injury history going down?

Put Price, Lundvquist, Broduer, or Parent in front of this team and the results are the same.

Again Hextall is the fall guy for comcast's P&L

You know, that's a great freaking question. I agree that I wouldn't do it, more often than not. But I bet if we looked back, say, 25 years, it probably checks out
- AllInForFlyers

Yeah all depends on the year. This summer no way. Hughes is that good

Didn't he try to sign Statsny? He looked at other options as well. Did the fans really want 4 years of Antoine Ruossel? Jay Beagle? What other reasonable options were out there?

He was hoping on Weal, and what happened? Vorobyev. Everyone on this board was slobbing on his knob during the preseason.

I'll give you the banking on Nuevwirth as a back up but who saw Lyon getting hurt in pre-season? Elliott, who doesnt have an injury history going down?

Put Price, Lundvquist, Broduer, or Parent in front of this team and the results are the same.

Again Hextall is the fall guy for comcast's P&L
- corduroy

So, what's the upside of keeping Hextall? When and where is the payoff?

I think this is where I saw Pietrangelo’s name:

TRADE CHATTER
Kyper certainly made a big headline, tossing right-shot defenceman Alex Pietrangelo’s name into the rumour mill and attaching it to the Toronto Maple Leafs during our “Headlines” segment.

It would take some doozy of a trade for the Leafs and Blues to make that one work — although with the teams going in opposite directions there’s at least the motivation to explore a potential fit.

Elliotte Friedman keyed in on the larger league-wide trend, which is the fact so many of these conversations are being had right now. December is not typically a big trading month in the NHL, but there’s plenty percolating.


The Anaheim Ducks are actively searching for scoring help, even after acquiring Daniel Sprong earlier in the week. The Carolina Hurricanes want a top-six forward. Jim Rutherford is hamstrung by cap issues in Pittsburgh, but there’s no way he’s going to sit idly by with his Penguins out of playoff position.

Chicago, Los Angeles and St. Louis are at the very bottom of the standings and in need of a refresh. They’ve each got assets to sell. Boston could use some offensive help while weathering a steady stream of injury issues. Friedge is hearing that Philadelphia, Minnesota and Florida are actively exploring the trade market as well.

Basically, if you come across an NHL general manager these days, don’t be surprised if he’s got an ear pressed tightly to his cellphone.

“Teams are starting to make deals earlier in the year now,” Ducks GM Bob Murray told reporters on Saturday. “Things were really quiet because of the Toronto-Nylander situation. Since that has been put to bed, there has been a lot more chatter since that time.”

Expect some trade action before the NHL’s holiday roster freeze comes into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 19
- J35Bacher

When looking at a rumor like that, have to ask where is it coming from? Is it the Blues looking to move Pietrangelo, or is it Toronto approaching the Blues trying to pry him away.

Didn't he try to sign Statsny? He looked at other options as well. Did the fans really want 4 years of Antoine Ruossel? Jay Beagle? What other reasonable options were out there?

He was hoping on Weal, and what happened? Vorobyev. Everyone on this board was slobbing on his knob during the preseason.

I'll give you the banking on Nuevwirth as a back up but who saw Lyon getting hurt in pre-season? Elliott, who doesnt have an injury history going down?

Put Price, Lundvquist, Broduer, or Parent in front of this team and the results are the same.

Again Hextall is the fall guy for comcast's P&L
- corduroy

Great he tried to sign Statsny. For the record, I think that wouldve been horrible. But its not about what he tried, what did he actually do?

You can quote all the hall of Fame goalies youd like but the fact of the matter is Hextall has had the time to re-work this roster from top to bottom. He needed to put a team on the ice that could compete this season. Sitting on his hands was no longer acceptable.

The big gripe going into the season was the goaltending and the coaching.

They've been a bubble team since he became GM (and before). A couple more wins they're in a couple less they're out.

This season they're in the bottom 5 and they've earned every loss. If they retained him he was already pushing back they're window another 2/3 years so that's nearly a decade of rebuilding and praying that his draft picks were actually going to turn out and make the team a contender when his best draft pick so far is arguably TK.
- mayorofangrytown

I know Homer and Scott said they wanted to spend to the cap and win now. What kind of time frame do they give Fletcher?

Just curious because if you're going to give him 2-3 years, I would have preferred to let Hextall have at least next year (or at least the rest of this season). I've said before on here that this GM fell into a dream situation. I should also add that it will be a short honeymoon if this team isn't in a significantly better situation this time next year.

This team should be better right now, imo.

Didn't he try to sign Statsny? He looked at other options as well. Did the fans really want 4 years of Antoine Ruossel? Jay Beagle? What other reasonable options were out there?

He was hoping on Weal, and what happened? Vorobyev. Everyone on this board was slobbing on his knob during the preseason.

I'll give you the banking on Nuevwirth as a back up but who saw Lyon getting hurt in pre-season? Elliott, who doesnt have an injury history going down?

Put Price, Lundvquist, Broduer, or Parent in front of this team and the results are the same.

Again Hextall is the fall guy for comcast's P&L
- corduroy

I def had sloppy Vorobyev seconds on this board preseason

They got railed, but the Flyers outplayed Winnipeg for the first 28 minutes. So it wasn't a matter today of the Flyers not coming ready to play. The big issue was that Hellebuyck was outstanding and Neuvirth was completely ineffective. Thereafter, the Jets dominated the rest of the way without much pushback.
- bmeltzer

Hey, Bill: I agree with you, actually -- they could've gotten something out of that game if they had maybe gotten a save when they should've. I understand that some might feel like they should have pushed back harder, and I won't argue that point, but I get it: They're not robots. You see a couple of those go in and you're just like "come on, man"

I know Homer and Scott said they wanted to spend to the cap and win now. What kind of time frame do they give Fletcher?

Just curious because if you're going to give him 2-3 years, I would have preferred to let Hextall have at least next year (or at least the rest of this season). I've said before on here that this GM fell into a dream situation. I should also add that it will be a short honeymoon if this team isn't in a significantly better situation this time next year.

This team should be better right now, imo.
- FlyerFan16

I have no idea what kind of leash Fletcher is getting but it better not be 7-8 years.

Hextall was relying too much on his draft picks which IMHO are still pretty questionable (far better than we're used to but still maybe his opinions of his picks were misplaced).

I don't think Hextall saw the potential in the "dream situation" the way the people around him saw it.

Are we at the "trade everyone for all of the other ones" portion of our day yet?
- johndewar

Yes but I'll define it further. Were at the trade all the players we don't want for the best players on the other teams.

The big gripe going into the season was the goaltending and the coaching.

They've been a bubble team since he became GM (and before). A couple more wins they're in a couple less they're out.

This season they're in the bottom 5 and they've earned every loss. If they retained him he was already pushing back they're window another 2/3 years so that's nearly a decade of rebuilding and praying that his draft picks were actually going to turn out and make the team a contender when his best draft pick so far is arguably TK.
- mayorofangrytown

The Fletcher interview on the Athletic with LeBrun was insightful for this reason: Fletcher said that you have to give yourself a chance every year by doing whatever you can to fill clear roster deficiencies, because while you won't win every year, you have to be in it to win it

He said that you want to make sure you keep some assets and have young players coming, but you do have to fill clear weaknesses

To me, see, that's what I want to hear. I get that maybe it was hard to fill goaltending and another center. But at some point, when even casual fans know you needed that, when you know your PK has been hot garbage for years, it's malpractice to roll into a season like we did

I think Ron Hextall did good things. But I also think that if you wanted to fire him for where this team is right now, you had reasons to do it

Hey, Bill: I agree with you, actually -- they could've gotten something out of that game if they had maybe gotten a save when they should've. I understand that some might feel like they should have pushed back harder, and I won't argue that point, but I get it: They're not robots. You see a couple of those go in and you're just like "come on, man"
- AllInForFlyers

That's the story of the season

I have no idea what kind of leash Fletcher is getting but it better not be 7-8 years.

Hextall was relying too much on his draft picks which IMHO are still pretty questionable (far better than we're used to but still maybe his opinions of his picks were misplaced).

I don't think Hextall saw the potential in the "dream situation" the way the people around him saw it.
- mayorofangrytown

If you have access to Fletcher's interview, he's not waiting 7-8 years. He's not gonna burn down everything Hextall built, but he's not gonna go into a season counting on Mr. Glass, either

The Fletcher interview on the Athletic with LeBrun was insightful for this reason: Fletcher said that you have to give yourself a chance every year by doing whatever you can to fill clear roster deficiencies, because while you won't win every year, you have to be in it to win it

He said that you want to make sure you keep some assets and have young players coming, but you do have to fill clear weaknesses

To me, see, that's what I want to hear. I get that maybe it was hard to fill goaltending and another center. But at some point, when even casual fans know you needed that, when you know your PK has been hot garbage for years, it's malpractice to roll into a season like we did

I think Ron Hextall did good things. But I also think that if you wanted to fire him for where this team is right now, you had reasons to do it
- AllInForFlyers

We couldn't agree more.

The Fletcher interview on the Athletic with LeBrun was insightful for this reason: Fletcher said that you have to give yourself a chance every year by doing whatever you can to fill clear roster deficiencies, because while you won't win every year, you have to be in it to win it

He said that you want to make sure you keep some assets and have young players coming, but you do have to fill clear weaknesses

To me, see, that's what I want to hear. I get that maybe it was hard to fill goaltending and another center. But at some point, when even casual fans know you needed that, when you know your PK has been hot garbage for years, it's malpractice to roll into a season like we did

I think Ron Hextall did good things. But I also think that if you wanted to fire him for where this team is right now, you had reasons to do it
- AllInForFlyers

Amen

That's the story of the season
- mayorofangrytown

Everybody certainly gets a share of the blame, but early on when the PK was getting torched and you're giving up 8 to San Jose and 6 to the Isles, you'd have to be the strongest person alive mentally to not get disheartened

The forwards and D aren't blameless, but FFS. Sometimes, you need somebody in net to give you a chance