ok, i just gotta lol

8 first round draft picks, how many 1st line players drafted? I don't think just stating someone is an nhl player means the drafting was well done lol. who wants a team full of 4th line players, your goal should be better than just an nhl player when drafting. But it doesnt suit the narrative that your dad drafted well if you use that as the goal.
- bradster

Exactly, he didn’t draft any game changers. You can’t win in this league without top end talent

Remember years and years ago during hexy era how I kept saying it was always a 10 year rebuild? And I got called crazy and no team or fan base would ever accept that? Are we seeing the picture now or nah? When you have no top prospects and bad nhl contracts to do rebuild properly it’s a 10 year process. Guess what…. We’re here again!!! Well almost. I’d say 7-8 years because we do at least have a few pieces and not completely saddled with tons of horrible contracts… YET. DO WE SEE JUST HOW BAD COOTS EXTENSION IS NOW? Hopefully fletch fired and new gm doesn’t sign risto long term.
- Stayin alive

Oh wow.. you've posted here before? Interesting...

So, Farabee, Hart, Provorov, Sanheim, and Konecny all look terrible to you? Is that also true for Ersson, Sandstrom, Fedotov and Usti? What about Noah Cates? When this leadership trades some of these folks, we will be adding to the list of former Flyers who go somewhere else and win cups etc... Hexy was not perfect but this criticism misses the mark.
- iamscore2day

Ahh the Internet where people argue against things you didn’t say. I never said they were terrible, I said they weren’t first line talent. Do you consider Konecny and Farabee 1st line wingers? Provorov has proved he isn’t a #1 defenseman and needs a good partner to be effective as a 1st pair guy. Sanheims 2nd pair. Is Noah Cates a 1st line center? Hart is a legit starter but let’s not anoint him as the next Bernie when he hasn’t finished in the top 20 in save percentage the last 3 seasons.

It is funny you mentioned how former Flyers go on to have more success. Have you noticed they play supporting roles to the top line players on their new teams. Richards and Carter played behind future HOF Kopitar in LA. Schenn was the 2nd line center behind ROR (should of been here but for some reason the brass though he was more of a winger) on a team with Pietrangelo and Taransenko. That should show you the importance of slotting. Imagine if Provorov played behind Makar or Heiskanen.

Anything short of Cuck committing hara kiri at today’s presser will be an epic fail

Travis Sanheim stinks
- ClaudeFather

He's pretty terrible.

Any chance Chuck steps down today?

Exactly, he didn’t draft any game changers. You can’t win in this league without top end talent
- ClaudeFather

This is so true! 42 draft picks in the 5 drafts Hextall had with the Flyers and the best player he drafted was Carter Hart, a goalie! No top end talent on defense or at forward. These are facts and as I mentioned, its a results oriented business!

My prediction is a bunch of losses that'll get us in a position for a top pick but then a sudden 10 game winning streak in meaningless games at the end of the year to knock us out of reasonable chances for a good pick. Management will think this means the team is headed in the right direction and all of the staff are retained.

That'd be Flyers hockey right there.

Any chance Chuck steps down today?
- arichardson22

Everyone thinks this is a Bud Dwyer press conference.

This is so true! 42 draft picks in the 5 drafts Hextall had with the Flyers and the best player he drafted was Carter Hart, a goalie! No top end talent on defense or at forward. These are facts and as I mentioned, its a results oriented business!
- jd250

trading schenn for picks and Lehtera, and hartnell for umberger(and we had to add a pick). Should of been a sign to go all in for a rebuild. But hey, lets sign JVR instead lol Make up your mind man, you want to rebuild? or want to win some games, which is it.
I didnt think Ronnie was really that bad until i started to analyze all his moves together, and they really didnt make sense.

Everyone thinks this is a Bud Dwyer press conference.
- atibus

hooooooo boy.

trading schenn for picks and Lehtera, and hartnell for umberger(and we had to add a pick). Should of been a sign to go all in for a rebuild. But hey, lets sign JVR instead lol Make up your mind man, you want to rebuild? or want to win some games, which is it.
I didnt think Ronnie was really that bad until i started to analyze all his moves together, and they really didnt make sense.
- bradster

Folks will just blame the country club for making him sign JVR. The fact that the next GM to take over was Fletcher and has someone done a worse job sums up this organization. Complete incompetence.

trading schenn for picks and Lehtera, and hartnell for umberger(and we had to add a pick). Should of been a sign to go all in for a rebuild. But hey, lets sign JVR instead lol Make up your mind man, you want to rebuild? or want to win some games, which is it.
I didnt think Ronnie was really that bad until i started to analyze all his moves together, and they really didnt make sense.
- bradster

Best part about the Umberger move is he thought RJ could still play. Also never mind he was going to be bought out.

Come on he was forced to sign JVR. that fits the narrative better.

Toronto got rebuilt during Hextall’s time. So that’s one team that did it.

How long do most top 6 forwards and top 4 defensemen play in the AHL league wide? The answer will surprise you (less than a year) but I guess the Flyers prospects just need way more time then other teams. Or perhaps they aren’t good enough.


- psuhockey

It helps to draft a couple of elite players like Matthews and Marner. What have the Leafs won?

Most high potential players start off in the NHL. Example for the Flyers would be Provorov, Konecny, Patrick, etc. Sanheim needed a little over a season. Farabee played 5 games for the Phantoms. Frost was a different situation due to the injury and needed some more AHL time after missing a full season. So what are you talking about?

Hextall had 42 picks in those 5 drafts with 8 first rounders (2 in the top 10 plus another lottery pick) and 6 second rounders (5 being in the top 50). If you think getting 10 NHLers, none of the skaters being top line players by the way, is good drafting then no wonder you think Hextall just needed more time.


- psuhockey

Yes, getting a top pair defenseman, a 2nd pair defenseman, 2 top 6 level forwards, a #1 NHL goalie as well as drafting a total of 10 NHL players not counting Allison who is definitely an NHL player but can't stay healthy. Outside chance that O'Brien might make it. That's good drafting. Not great but good. He obviously was not able to add an elite player.

And again you as an anti tanker refer to only Edmonton or Buffalo yet never mention Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, LA and Tampa. The only team, just one team, to win a Stanley Cup without top 5 picks in the last 13 years was Boston. One team. St Louis got Pietrangelo at 4th overall and he played kind of a big role in their Stanley cup win. And how did Boston do it: they did it with two unicorn free agents who actually got better in the 30’s than they were in their 20’s. Do you think that’s a reproducible model compared to the other tanking teams that have won 11 of the last 13 Stanley cups?
- psuhockey

Like most fans, you don't seem to understand what tanking is. Tanking is not trading players who aren't in your future to acquire draft picks. Tanking is purposely fielding a non-competitive team to get a higher draft pick. Trying to consciously lose. An example is back when Pittsburgh was in the running for Lemieux and the first overall pick. They sent a goaltender down to the minors who was playing well and called up an absolute stiff to play goal. Stating that they wanted to see what they had in him. They did that to purposely lose more games to try and get Lemeiux.

AHL’ers Willman & Mayhew have has many goals as offensive defenseman Travis Pukeheim. Just waiting to round into form. Any day now

Yes I can, I just did it!
- jd250

Well of course you did. It's not at all surprising.

Ahh the Internet where people argue against things you didn’t say. I never said they were terrible, I said they weren’t first line talent. Do you consider Konecny and Farabee 1st line wingers? Provorov has proved he isn’t a #1 defenseman and needs a good partner to be effective as a 1st pair guy. Sanheims 2nd pair. Is Noah Cates a 1st line center? Hart is a legit starter but let’s not anoint him as the next Bernie when he hasn’t finished in the top 20 in save percentage the last 3 seasons.

It is funny you mentioned how former Flyers go on to have more success. Have you noticed they play supporting roles to the top line players on their new teams. Richards and Carter played behind future HOF Kopitar in LA. Schenn was the 2nd line center behind ROR (should of been here but for some reason the brass though he was more of a winger) on a team with Pietrangelo and Taransenko. That should show you the importance of slotting. Imagine if Provorov played behind Makar or Heiskanen.
- psuhockey

Sorry but the ones I mentioned all seem to fit your description. Since you think that all IP needs is a competent partner to be a 1st pair guy, it seems like you agree. I did not anoint CH but he also seems to meet your test unless it is now whether he is an HOF goalie. You may have missed this, but Carter is looking like an HOF guy and it would have been nice to have him do that here. Sort of like RBA, Williams, Forsberg. Players we had and made the wrong call on. I agree about Heisky but NP was a consensus top pick Clarkie's revisionism notwithstanding. You failed to mention our surfeit of great goalie prospects. Having 3 guys like that is a little better than just having Stolarz in your farm system, wouldn't you agree?

What about the next GM? Wouldn’t it be better to get someone in now to evaluate the situation instead of in the offseason. It would also be better if the new GM made the trades at the deadline instead of lame duck Fletcher.
- psuhockey

I don't think the Flyers are bringing in a new GM.

trading schenn for picks and Lehtera, and hartnell for umberger(and we had to add a pick). Should of been a sign to go all in for a rebuild. But hey, lets sign JVR instead lol Make up your mind man, you want to rebuild? or want to win some games, which is it.
I didnt think Ronnie was really that bad until i started to analyze all his moves together, and they really didnt make sense.
- bradster

And the thing is he probably wouldn't have been fired if he simply treated people within the organization better.

Folks will just blame the country club for making him sign JVR. The fact that the next GM to take over was Fletcher and has someone done a worse job sums up this organization. Complete incompetence.
- ClaudeFather

Ronnie didnt make deals with input from others, in fact he'd rather not listen to his scouts, or anyone and make deals all on his own. No one told him to sign JVR to that contract.

Hextall had a pathetic drafting record.
- Just5

You're entitled to your own opinion but not your own facts.

I saw a team with 6 ahl players starting and a team missing 3 of its top centers. So yes I believe I saw a competitive game. With all the talent the Islanders have, they could only put up a three spot on an old backup goalie.
- WhiskeyMan

How good were Giroux, Atkinson, Konecny, Provorov, Sanheim and Ristolainen last night?

So, Farabee, Hart, Provorov, Sanheim, and Konecny all look terrible to you? Is that also true for Ersson, Sandstrom, Fedotov and Usti? What about Noah Cates? When this leadership trades some of these folks, we will be adding to the list of former Flyers who go somewhere else and win cups etc... Hexy was not perfect but this criticism misses the mark.
- iamscore2day

Provy had been up and down. Konecny has been very disappointing for the last calendar years. Farabee has a chance to be very good. Sanheim is bad more often then good, his inconsistency is beyond alarming…he’s just not very good. Hart has a chance to be a franchise type goalie, but after last years debacle is it really the time to anoint him as that? It has been a reassuring year for him.
Those other names have shown to be AHL ceiling talents…if that’s your idea of solid drafting then your probably correct, Hextall did a bang up job.

I agree but he wasted it. It’s not enough in todays NHL just to pick bottom half of the roster players or even middle of the roster types. You need to get top line players in the draft because they are seldom available thru trade or in free agency. When they are available unfortunately for the Flyers once their money advantage died under the cap, players are essentially getting paid the same everywhere and make their choices based on other things like weather, city life and taxes for which Philly can’t compete.
- psuhockey

Exactly.

Yes, getting a top pair defenseman, a 2nd pair defenseman, 2 top 6 level forwards, a #1 NHL goalie as well as drafting a total of 10 NHL players not counting Allison who is definitely an NHL player but can't stay healthy. Outside chance that O'Brien might make it. That's good drafting. Not great but good. He obviously was not able to add an elite player.





Like most fans, you don't seem to understand what tanking is. Tanking is not trading players who aren't in your future to acquire draft picks. Tanking is purposely fielding a non-competitive team to get a higher draft pick. Trying to consciously lose. An example is back when Pittsburgh was in the running for Lemieux and the first overall pick. They sent a goaltender down to the minors who was playing well and called up an absolute stiff to play goal. Stating that they wanted to see what they had in him. They did that to purposely lose more games to try and get Lemeiux.
- MJL

On the flyers they fit that description. Cant say they do for every NHL team.

When you trade away those players for picks you are then fielding a non competitive team at that moment are you not? Are you then not looking to get a higher pick? All semantics Cliff.