This is completely revisionist history and hindsight. You act like Hextall should've known how Voracek was going to turn out in the future. I personally believe that Hextall signed JVR to appease upper management.
- MJL

big JVR fan and I would have been a fan of the signing if the Flyers didn't have similar players. I know he is unique in front of the net but they need was for some speed and skill. I get that was what available and top 2 FA but then they needed to add something else. You get Hayes, which I like on its own but again big and not a fast skater. It is easy to look back but speed is the one thing they haven't or couldn't address in the rebuild.

The proper usage in that sentence would be geniuses, snowflake
- BiggE

None of that changes the fact you are a fraud.

Look who never stopped posting. Sad
- KINGKENZO

Hey pal, how we doing today? Anything good on the lunch menu?

Eh, you know that is not true. We have gone over that. It was a tie between 3 players, 2 of whom happened to play D. Hextall broke the tie in favor of the player most outside ranked higher. It was not maverick behavior. It was not like Howie Roseman selecting Reagor over Jefferson. It was the conventional pick.
- PT21

Conventional pick..maybe....but appears to have been the wrong one. And that’s on the GM. Oh wait he was fired...never mind.

"Nobody" is OK
The travesty is salary Retention
25% for Raffl
50% for Gustafsson just to get a 5th and a 7th
Cant even remember a single Flyer drafted in 5th round playing NHL
- goenzoy

Why would the retention matter at all? Are you paying the bills ?

ding ding ding..winning comment. It's a farce and even worse when you take time to watch those games. Let's just say, it's far from playoff hockey.
- Hextall271

it's entertaining, but it's got a pond hockey element to it.

That one made me cringe, lol.
- countreeman28

OMG

Never made sense for a second. The fact Fletcher couldn't see that is mind boggling.

Fletcher being in charge of this "rebuild" is terrifying.
- PLindbergh31

I’m not a fletcher fanboy but he’s had to navigate some murky waters. How many other teams have Patrick and Lindblom situations going on at the same time in their top 9? These are highly unpredictable situations and even now you’d like to bank on Lindblom being a solid top 9 forward next year but how can anyone really know what you have in him? I see him moving on from Patrick Bc you just can’t have this type of uncertainty from the get go with 2 players. Maybe one headache you can deal with

Niskanen wasn’t on him either and there was no solution out there at the time. It was what August? Teams and rosters are basically set

Im basically giving him a pass so far. His hands were tied with this roster coming in and that hasn’t changed. I don’t know what you can do if ownership/management has given him an edict to make them a playoff team, that’s all they care about Im sure just the playoff revenue

No I don't know that is not true. I can go back and read what Bill wrote, but what I recall is the scouts were split between Makar and Hiskanen, but the overall feeling was Hextall should draft a D over Patrick. Since there wasn't true consensus Hextall played it safe and drafted the most hyped player, fearing that if it didn't work out he would be hammered. Well, his safe pick didn't work out and now he is being hammered anyway.
- jd250

Youre as dense as it gets, for (frank)sake

OMG
- login

Don't you mean OM'G?

I’m not a fletcher fanboy but he’s had to navigate some murky waters. How many other teams have Patrick and Lindblom situations going on at the same time in their top 9? These are highly unpredictable situations and even now you’d like to bank on Lindblom being a solid top 9 forward next year but how can anyone really know what you have in him? I see him moving on from Patrick Bc you just can’t have this type of uncertainty from the get go with 2 players. Maybe one headache you can deal with

Niskanen wasn’t on him either and there was no solution out there at the time. It was what August? Teams and rosters are basically set

Im basically giving him a pass so far. His hands were tied with this roster coming in and that hasn’t changed. I don’t know what you can do if
ownership/management has given him an edict to make them a playoff team, that’s all they care about Im sure just the playoff revenue
- Just5

He's inherited a partial pile of poop in his lap. So far his grade is an incomplete here. I'm more looking at his nearly decade body of work with Minnesota.

You should go back and read it because what you claim is not what was reported. The last few sentences you write are simply nonsense.
- MJL

its not nonsense, Patrick was the "safe" pick, there is no doubt about it then or now. Still, regardless of whether you think it was a the best pick or not, the end result is the franchise was set back big time, both in a lost opportunity to define your top pairing defense for years to come, and the down stream impact which caused Fletcher to sign Hayes, eating cap space and killing flexibility.

Honest question: How many NHL executives have a college degree? Do all these former players who become VPs and GMs go for an accelerated MBA after their playing days? Or is it a system more solely based on apprenticeship and connections?

lol Philadelphia Flyers losers at the trade deadline per Kevin Allen

"Nobody" is OK
The travesty is salary Retention
25% for Raffl
50% for Gustafsson just to get a 5th and a 7th
Cant even remember a single Flyer drafted in 5th round playing NHL
- goenzoy

I think it was smart to get something for these UFAs. Eating salary to get picks is just fine to make the deal work. It doesn't impact us going forward.

"Nobody" is OK
The travesty is salary Retention
25% for Raffl
50% for Gustafsson just to get a 5th and a 7th
Cant even remember a single Flyer drafted in 5th round playing NHL
- goenzoy

maybe we'll draft the next Joe Pavelski!

Don't you mean OM'G?
- countreeman28

no

no
- login

N'o?

Honest question: How many NHL executives have a college degree? Do all these former players who become VPs and GMs go for an accelerated MBA after their playing days? Or is it a system more solely based on apprenticeship and connections?
- countreeman28

google is your friend.

its not nonsense, Patrick was the "safe" pick, there is no doubt about it then or now. Still, regardless of whether you think it was a the best pick or not, the end result is the franchise was set back big time, both in a lost opportunity to define your top pairing defense for years to come, and the down stream impact which caused Fletcher to sign Hayes, eating cap space and killing flexibility.
- jd250

Your insinuation that Hextall wanted to make the safe pick because he didn't want to be criticized is complete nonsense. It's beyond the scale even for you. The rest is again, pure hindsight.

N'o?
- countreeman28

getting weaker and weaker. Please continue.

Listen closely next time you hear any NJ resident enunciate a long O (e.g. home, hoagie) and marvel at its bleating untranscribability.
- countreeman28

oa or o is pronounced hnau in NJ by the locals (nasal vowel, drawn out)

You guys are in no position to complain. There are parts of the UK where I often have trouble understanding a single word people are saying.

Oskar Lindblom, for one. Laczynski was a 6th round pick. Phil Myers wasn't drafted at all.
- bmeltzer

Bill thanks for whatever reason I thought Lindblom was a 4th
But are you not wondering about the team setup ?

Tyler Pitlick , Derek Grant , Ryan Hartman, Nate Thompson

All coming to Flyers by trade
Not a single one stayed and all opted to sign contracts elsewhere
I have only two scenario where that can happen
1) mis selling of team
2) not trust in leadership of team ( either players or coaches )

In my view you cant build a contender when role-players are unwilling to stay

The proper usage in that sentence would be geniuses, snowflake
- BiggE

oa or o is pronounced hnau in NJ by the locals (nasal vowel, drawn out)

You guys are in no position to complain. There are parts of the UK where I often have trouble understanding a single word people are saying.
- PT21

Spot on!! I love Lloyd Griffith's weekly EPL reviews and his take on the regional dialects. Hearing that coastal Brighton softness in contrast to, say, a surly Tyneside bellow is just phenomenal.