good lord he said everything that was expected. All talk.

No it is not clear he will be fired.
- hello it's me 2050

This is not true IMO. Fletcher for one doesn't even have to have a presser? Go ask Bruins fans the last time they have heard from Neely and Sweeny! Secondly, in the presser, Fletcher could have had the questions submitted ahead of time and picked and chose the questions he wanted to answer. He didn't do that, he answered all the questions put forth in the 30 minutes, and some of those questions were pointed questions, not cup cakes. Thirdly, Fletcher might have just stuck to clichés and blamed injuries and Covid, but he didn't. Instead he took responsibility and clearly highlighted what he thought was wrong with the team and what he has done to try to address this. He went into details about changes he has made to his staff, his process, the voices in the room and the direction of their drafting. He was candid about what is lacking on this team and what he wants to do to fix it. I was very happy with the presser because unlike a lot of you, I don't believe this franchise is a clown-show, but more importantly, I DON'T WANT this franchise to be a clown-show, which unforutnately a lot of you do!

At his contract for what he actually brings??? Count me in the hard NO camp.

Physicality can be taught with the right approach. I think we have a gap in our strength and conditioning program. As an example, Sanehim shouldn't have got this far without someone being completely up his rear about strength training and dieting for lean muscle gain. When players have the strength to knock some guys around...it's shocking how much easier physicality becomes.

Edit....and conditioning doesnt equal strength training. Yes they need the cardio to go....but we also need to identify who has to mass up and put them on a very stringent program
- juiced

Exactly my point w Sanheim. It can’t be tought. It’s either in you to play with edge or it’s not

Every NHL player plays to win a Stanley Cup. That isn't happening for Giroux in Philadelphia. He will want to get as far away from this disgraceful, dysfunctional franchise as possible.
- PLindbergh31

He will be able to do that this summer. The question is does he separate himself from his family for the next few months and does he limit the teams he is willing to go to.

And Vegas.

But 2 things:

1. First MTL lost, as Tomahawk points out. They were not competitive in the finals. Why exactly do you want to emulate a non-competitive final team's model again?

2. Montreal up front was a tenacious, fast, strong counterattacking/forechecking team. Of the turnovers the physical hits/avoidance produced, they went racing the other way. We don't have that forward corps. A single player is not going to change a team's nature of play. More likely, he will be an ill fitting part.
- PT21

I didn’t say emulate their entire d… but does that mean you have no physicality on the back end? When has a team ever won a cup with that recipe? As far as what we have up front in comparison to Montreal, it’s really not relevant.. I’m simply making a case for why a guy like Risto is an important ingredient to a solid d… I’m not saying we need 4 of him, but his type of d play wins hockey games.

So what did he do, call them names? All we hear about is hearsay. What's crystal clear is that Hextall upset the apple cart because he wanted to control everything and change everything with regards to how a dysfunctional organization was run. It becomes clearer every day that he was right to do that. The old school country club has pouted and rebelled.
- MJL

Your Dad was in complete control and in charge of everything when he was the GM. so what is the excuse for what he is responsible for?

At the end of the day his grade is at best and average andy GM while he was in charge of the Flyers.

Didn't do anything one would classify as very well in terms of drafting, NHL team construction, AHL development, NHL development.

If Ristolainen want to tests the UFA market, he absolutely needs to be dealt ahead of the deadline. Fletcher wants to resign him -- and made that clear yesterday -- and said that's because the team has a need for physical/competitive players as well as adding more high-end skill. I agree with both, and he put Ristolainen in the correct category, too. He's not, and never will be, a "stats" guy. Doesn't mean there's no value there. I think he's done OK. But certainly hasn't addressed what Plan B was for a workaround if Ellis got injured.

To me, it's a matter of cap hit. I'm fine if they want to give him a three-year deal. But not at a higher cap hit than he's already pulling down.

If he moves on, fine. But he's filled a role the Flyers haven't been able to address since Gudas was here, and he's also better when up-ice than Gudas, although not better in the angles/gaps when defending and more prone to gambling.
- bmeltzer

dont disagree with what RR is and in what role he can play. You DONT give up the direct and indirect assests it took to acquire him. the thought process of the gm is flawed and is endemic of his talent evaluation. the move was malfeasance but Scott was probably rubbing his nips when it was made

Very! Many! Exclamations!

(And btw... everything is great!)
- Tomahawk

Everything is awesome!

When you work in a team.

This is not true IMO. Fletcher for one doesn't even have to have a presser? Go ask Bruins fans the last time they have heard from Neely and Sweeny! Secondly, in the presser, Fletcher could have had the questions submitted ahead of time and picked and chose the questions he wanted to answer. He didn't do that, he answered all the questions put forth in the 30 minutes, and some of those questions were pointed questions, not cup cakes. Thirdly, Fletcher might have just stuck to clichés and blamed injuries and Covid, but he didn't. Instead he took responsibility and clearly highlighted what he thought was wrong with the team and what he has done to try to address this. He went into details about changes he has made to his staff, his process, the voices in the room and the direction of their drafting. He was candid about what is lacking on this team and what he wants to do to fix it. I was very happy with the presser because unlike a lot of you, I don't believe this franchise is a clown-show, but more importantly, I DON'T WANT this franchise to be a clown-show, which unforutnately a lot of you do!
- jd250

said what any gm would say in any sport. Marks like you eat it up.

It already is a clown show. Are you really this blind?

This is an example of what Hexy needed to learn as a GM. It’s not about building a team w 20 of the same player.
- Joe Nardone

Exactly, Hexy cared about 200 foot players much more than highly skilled players. He had no balance in his drafting which I think hurt his chances of finding those Kucherov type players.

Montreal lost. They rode Price as far as he could take them. How's that big, beefy, old d corps doing this season? How bout the Isles and their beefy old team that Chuck is so fixated on?
- Tomahawk

from a leafs fan, cant see the difference between regular season hockey and playoff hockey. Either can dubas....

And you also need physical defenders to go with your puck movers. Would you take Trouba here? Defensive d man & physical d man aren’t necessarily the same. Braun is a defensive d man but certainly not physical
- Fopa21

Trouba has been a beast last 2 yrs. Would be the best dman on this team

You want your top defenseman to play physical and do well in puck battles. Teams that have a defenseman in their top 4 that are physical but doesn't bring those other elements will be a weaker team. Players like Ristolainen are niche players. The more well rounded a player is, the better they will be.
- MJL

What does RR not bring? He isn’t elite at moving the puck but certainly not horrible. He qb pp’s in Buffalo. Skating ability again not elite but good. What is he not bringing? Say he’s not elite but he clearly brings a bit of everything w the physicality being most recognizable

He has schitt for brains. You need hockey sense for playoff hockey. He is a mistake prone dman. He bad outweighs the good
- hello it's me 2050

I would agree if the team had other physical D. If you don't, then you would need a RR....just wish he wasnt so expensive

Thank goodness Dave Scott trusts his hockey department. Sounds like he has four great advisors still in his ear as well.

The future is bright. Heck, next year even! We will be in it next year

Exactly. The scary part is that they say CF is collaborating with the other executive advisors. So these are group decisions, and they aren't working out. That means we can't just blame Chuck. The entire group is rowing in the wrong direction. The only way to fix that would be to get the brooms out. They've already shot that down. Unfortunately this is going to continue on for some time.

I'm excited because from what I heard in yesterday's presser, and I am going to listen to Jason Myrtetus' podcast today because he is having a 1 on 1 with Fletcher also, I believe Fletcher has his finger on the pulse of this franchise and what it needs to move forward. Now I say this because its completely aligned to what I think, so if you don't agree with me, which I am sure you don't, then you're going to hate what Fletcher wants to do and what he said. But for me the key things were:

1. We need more top-end talent on this team!
2. We need more voices in the room when selecting players in the draft, more player development, more analytics, etc.
3. We need to build through the draft to get top-end talent
4. We have a good core of veterans to build around
5. We need to do a better job of player development
6. We don't need to do a complete rebuild, just an aggressive retool

As you know I am completely aligned to these key points and thus I am excited about the future and to give Fletcher a shot to fix this. If he doesn't have a good deadline and off season, its clear from Scott's comments Fletcher will be fired.
- jd250

youre a disgrace


BAAAAAAA BAAAAA

What gets old is the hyperbole and inaccuracies. He didn't suck. Give a fair and accurate analysis. Can you leave it at that?
- MJL

Sure, just like the fair and accurate analysis you give on Fletcher every single day, right?

He will be able to do that this summer. The question is does he separate himself from his family for the next few months and does he limit the teams he is willing to go to.
- hfc355

Can't he take his family with him where ever he goes. Or is there a covid thing keeping them away?

watch and learn young man
https://bleacherreport.co...3f-4e47-90bf-286c2df13c69
- bradster

Take the first hit on that sequence. To me at least, the guy who makes the play there is JVR. After shooting the puck, he no longer curls around lazily like he used to. Instead, he dogs it back to cover the pass up center ice and has his stick down. Perfect backchecking. The forward who Risto checks expects that pass to be there and ends up too close to the boards. There is no need for Risto to angle in there ass first. He is putting himself in a bad position if that pass is there or the forward has a bit more space along the boards to accelerate or go around him. He could simply seal the guy off. Why go for that sort of backward skating check?

The last guy in the playoffs I saw that consistently work for is Kronwall. Others may remember more recent vintages.

So what did he do, call them names? All we hear about is hearsay. What's crystal clear is that Hextall upset the apple cart because he wanted to control everything and change everything with regards to how a dysfunctional organization was run. It becomes clearer every day that he was right to do that. The old school country club has pouted and rebelled.
- MJL

Wow, this is defending is absurd. You inferring how they were alienated is ridiculous. You pick and choose what you want to hear. How about all those other statements I made during his tenure?

I didn’t say emulate their entire d… but does that mean you have no physicality on the back end? When has a team ever won a cup with that recipe? As far as what we have up front in comparison to Montreal, it’s really not relevant.. I’m simply making a case for why a guy like Risto is an important ingredient to a solid d… I’m not saying we need 4 of him, but his type of d play wins hockey games.
- landros 2

It may be a necessary ingredient, yes, especially later on in the season.

It also happens to be the kind of ingredient you can easily pick up any time for peanuts. See: Luke Schenn, Zach Bogosian, Gudbranson, etc.

The focus should be on finding a 2RD who can carry the mail when Ellis inevitably gets hurt. RR has proven incapable.

And what exactly do you see Fletcher doing, with this resume?
- PLindbergh31

As I said yesterday, I don't think he's the guy that can turn this ship around. I get it if they keep him on because that's how business works sometimes. But were I in charge I'd be looking for a replacement.

Take the first hit on that sequence. To me at least, the guy who makes the play there is JVR. After shooting the puck, he no longer curls around lazily like he used to. Instead, he dogs it back to cover the pass up center ice and has his stick down. Perfect backchecking. The forward who Risto checks expects that pass to be there and ends up too close to the boards. There is no need for Risto to angle in there ass first. He is putting himself in a bad position if that pass is there or the forward has a bit more space along the boards to accelerate or go around him. He could simply seal the guy off. Why go for that sort of backward skating check?

The last guy in the playoffs I saw that consistently work for is Kronwall. Others may remember more recent vintages.
- PT21

well we can disagree that teams need physical come the playoffs. I'm in the belief watching good teams easily get bounced that it is very important come playoff time.

You want your top defenseman to play physical and do well in puck battles. Teams that have a defenseman in their top 4 that are physical but doesn't bring those other elements will be a weaker team. Players like Ristolainen are niche players. The more well rounded a player is, the better they will be.
- MJL

I completely agree. What Im suggesting is we aren't doing enough to indoctrinate physicality into the skill set of our players who have the other tools. York is an example of someone who gets that and makes sure his lean muscle mass is functional without being overburdening to his skating and general mobility.

Im not in favor of a Risto in the top 4. Honestly given our current cap, time horizon to become completive and current personnel/prospects I'd advocate the following.

Provy - Ellis
York - Sandhiem
FA/Zamula - Attard

Save the $ on trying to ram Risto and focus on figuring out the top 2 lines. We have a ton of what should be considered very strong middle six players coming (perhaps some make it to first line). Noah Cates, Forrestor, Desnoyer, Allison, perhaps a healthy Lacyncki. Save the cap space for when they season and we know where we have specific gaps to fill.

Take the first hit on that sequence. To me at least, the guy who makes the play there is JVR. After shooting the puck, he no longer curls around lazily like he used to. Instead, he dogs it back to cover the pass up center ice and has his stick down. Perfect backchecking. The forward who Risto checks expects that pass to be there and ends up too close to the boards. There is no need for Risto to angle in there ass first. He is putting himself in a bad position if that pass is there or the forward has a bit more space along the boards to accelerate or go around him. He could simply seal the guy off. Why go for that sort of backward skating check?

The last guy in the playoffs I saw that consistently work for is Kronwall. Others may remember more recent vintages.
- PT21

Kronwall would pick his spots. Stevens would pick his spots.

RR goes for it every, single, time. 😂

Not to mention, Kronwall would time it so he got.you right as you were receiving a pass. RR hits guys after the puck is gone mostly.

Trouba has been a beast last 2 yrs. Would be the best dman on this team
- hfc355

Okay. Exactly. I’m not disagreeing. Trouba is definitely better thn RR right now. How much better tho?? Trouba makes 8 million for the next 5 years. I expect RR to get something like 5x5 or 5x6 maybe 6x5 but see the first two more likely could be wrong tho.

RR career totals: 581 48 207 255 -175
The minus sticks out but be fair never played on a good team ever.

Trouba totals: 559 59 180 239 36

Trouba is better no doubt but obviously you see the market is the market & RR won’t be overpaid

Even through in another similar player in my opinion like Jake Muzzin who makes 5.625 million

667 67 223 290 66

The market is what the market is & those guys aren’t significantly better thn RR. Better yes