I had heard rumors of Jagr fitness level before he came to the team. But when he was here the levels he went to stay in shape were legendary. That alone raised him so high in my view. The way it rubbed off of other players elevated the whole team. It was a shame they jerked him around after that season.
- MBFlyerfan

Yeah, most Eastern bloc guys had insane training regimens, but Jag just took it to another level.

I forget who it was (maybe Simmer or Hartsy) who told the story about how they were coming back from the club at 3am or something, totally poopfaced, and they bumped into Jags (who lived in the same building) as he was on his way to do on-ice workouts or something.

That's not correct. The correct equivalence of Hextall as a lawn guy is that he was clearing out the debris at your house from years of lack of care and you fired him before he could finish the job because you thought it should only take an hour.
- MJL

his job was clearing debris and planting new shrubs, but after 5 years only cleared some debris, brought in some new debris and didnt plant much of value

Does anyone know if Fletcher and Flahr's meeting to speak with the press today will be live streamed/broadcast anywhere?

That's not correct. The correct equivalence of Hextall as a lawn guy is that he was clearing out the debris at your house from years of lack of care and you fired him before he could finish the job because you thought it should only take an hour.
- MJL

Cliff is always 100% correct. Everyone else is wrong.

Hexy was asleep at the switch. He really did nothing special in his tenure as GM here. He fixed Homer's cap issues, but that's about it. He was caught between a total rebuild and trying to keep the NHL team competitive and we ended up in never never land.
- Phillywhiteout

isn't that where they are now?
Could Hextall and Fletcher have had the same demand from management, build a winner without stripping it completely down?

Does anyone know if Fletcher and Flahr's meeting to speak with the press today will be live streamed/broadcast anywhere?
- Flyerfan2868

They flyers official twitter page usually has a live stream.

Anyone watching Nasty Knuckles podcast. I love the Lupul episode. That hot dog stand story was pretty funny!

Anyone watching Nasty Knuckles podcast. I love the Lupul episode. That hot dog stand story was pretty funny!
- SuperSchennBros

NK is pretty good. John Scott's podcast is the best IMO. It's like Spittin' Chiclets level funny w/o the douchery.

No he won't. Fletcher is Bobby's boy.

https://thehockeywriters....ntroversy-flyers-failure/

Elliotte Friedman dove deeper into the motivation and timing behind Clarke’s comments. On the Jeff Marek Show, he pointed to a moment of discontent during the 2006 NHL Entry Draft when Hextall was with the Los Angeles Kings front office. Clarke, the Philadelphia GM at the time, felt the former Flyers netminder had swindled him and sabotaged his draft strategy.

Friedman explained the public criticism as a way for Clarke to protect Fletcher from taking the blame for the current struggles of the franchise.

“If you know anything about Bobby Clarke, if you are his friend, or you’re on his side, he will go to the end of the Earth and back to protect you and fight for you.”

-Elliotte Friedman
- Feanor

That "sabotage" helped the Flyers so Clarke should have thanked him.

I don't know. I actually think Holmgren did pretty well. Yes he never got the ultimate goal but he only missed the playoffs twice from 2007 to 2014.
- J35Bacher

Holmgren started very well, but then could never dig them out once Pronger went down.

Anyone watching Nasty Knuckles podcast. I love the Lupul episode. That hot dog stand story was pretty funny!
- SuperSchennBros

I like that they felt they needed to come clean to the team and that Holmgren said privately “I love that poop”

Holmgren started very well, but then could never dig them out once Pronger went down.
- rayc16

Yeah, Homer did a good job getting rid of dead weight and swinging that big trade to get Kimmo and Hartsy in the beginning.

After that, it was just death by a thousand cuts. So many mistakes, mismanagement, bad trades, etc. 2010 was a total mirage, and Homer spent the rest of his tenure chasing after that mirage. His teams were always half-baked, tragically flawed.

In Hextall's last season as GM, the 2018-1019 Flyers finished in 6th place, had several older players on the roster, e.g. Jori Lehtera, Dale Weise and Andrew MacDonald, and had the following cap situation.

FINAL CAP HIT: $70,814,220
FINAL CAP SPACE: $8,685,780
LTIR USED: $0

The 2012-2022 Flyers finished in 8th place and have $5.1M in cap space. Are things really that different?
- jd250

Hextall was fired in November of that year.
2017-2018 Flyers were a 98 point team, how much cap room did they have at that point.

NK is pretty good. John Scott's podcast is the best IMO. It's like Spittin' Chiclets level funny w/o the douchery.
- Tomahawk

For those who didn’t see it.

The Flyers headed over to Carolina for a 3pm preseason game. So I guess Joffrey Lupul, Aaron Asham and Glen metropolit (which I had to spell his Metropolit’s name to remember him because his name sounds like an ice hockey arena to me) were walking around the area and of course they were suited up because the players suit up to work. They walk over to the a hot dog stand to grab some food and a guy from another group yells out “Look at the Reservoir dogs”, which Lupul thought was funny but Asham didn’t. So Asham is chirping back and forth with these guys until one goes after them and Asham one punch knocks out the first guy. Than a second guy comes over and he one punch knocked out him. Brawl breaks out in the middle of the afternoon of the corner of a hot dog stand and the cops show up. So the cops let the 3 Flyers go but they decided to confess to Holmgren. Holmgren’s response as an old school hockey guy? “That just gave me a chub”.

I like that they felt they needed to come clean to the team and that Holmgren said privately “I love that poop”
- Dave21Brown

Hilarious eh?

Holmgren started very well, but then could never dig them out once Pronger went down.
- rayc16

After watching the Lupul interview, as much as I love Pronger, I wonder what could have been if we didn’t make that move. We were a good young team. I guess everyone was close.

Anyone watching Nasty Knuckles podcast. I love the Lupul episode. That hot dog stand story was pretty funny!
- SuperSchennBros

It's one of the better podcasts. I loved Richards episode when they were discussing Voracek calling one of the writers a weasel.

Any idea why Derek was let go from the team?

It's one of the better podcasts. I loved Richards episode when they were discussing Voracek calling one of the writers a weasel.

Any idea why Derek was let go from the team?
- rayc16

No idea. Chris Therien had issues with management and I guess him time as a broadcaster was short lived.

No idea. Chris Therien had issues with management and I guess him time as a broadcaster was short lived.
- SuperSchennBros

Yeah, Therien doesn't mask his hatred for management at all.

Yeah, Therien doesn't mask his hatred for management at all.
- rayc16

My issue is with Fletcher. As much as I believe Hextall should have been allowed to see his vision through, this mess is a Fletcher/Hextall tossed salad…all over the floor.

You know, there’s a saying in life…”what’s in front of you in life is more important than what’s behind you”. In most cases if you’re smart enough to learn from the past this sentiment holds true.

In the mysterious case of the Philadelphia Flyers they appear to be mired in the same spinning cycle that got Hexy fired, well that and apparently he was a bit of a dick, in that they simply won’t get out of the competitive re-tool mode because Comcast is more concerned with gate and TV revenue than winning the Stanley Cup.

Now, I’m sure the hockey ops guys are 100% committed to trying to win but when you’ve got one hand tied behind your back your chances of winning a fight are really reduced.

Until the organization commits to a full-scale rebuild, which is no guarantee either, you’re going to have to just accept things as they are or pray for luck to be on the teams side.

My issue is with Fletcher. As much as I believe Hextall should have been allowed to see his vision through, this mess is a Fletcher/Hextall tossed salad…all over the floor.
- SuperSchennBros

love tossed salad

A caveat to your comparison is that Briere was the TOP free agent in that year and was a much better player than Hayes. Second, Timonen had a history of being a durable player while Ellis had/has a history of the exact opposite.

Yes luck always comes in to play in any situation, but the bottom line is that they over payed for Hayes out of desperation and he rolled a stacked set of dice on the Ellis trade. Everyone knew it was stacked, even Fletch.

And don't get me started about the Ghost trade, which IMO was directly related to the fact that AV did not know how to use him, or more accurately, did NOT want to use him.

At the time I hated the trade and still do.

And compound that with the insane Ristolainen trade, to me Fletch has been an abject disaster.

Where this team is now, even with the stipulation that Ellis and Hayes somehow live up to their deals, I would still rather have Hagg, Ghost, the first pick we lost and the 2nd pick we don't have this year (AND NEXT YEAR) over Ristolainen and his poopty 5 year deal.
- MBFlyerfan

Yes, I think the biggest mistakes Fletcher has made have been influenced by AV as coach. Hayes was definitely an over pay and I hated the deal when it happened. I liked what I saw from Hayes in the 2019 season and I feel if he can get back to that level it will vey good for the Flyers, but his contract will always be viewed as an overpay. I also agree that Ghost was shipped out because he was pointed to as one of the causes of the malaise over the team. Ghost openly challenged AV on his unfair criticism of Hart, and I think AV pushed him out the door. Then there were the FA signings of Brassard and Yandle. As GM, I think Fletcher made a mistake in letting AV have so much influence on the roster.

So you are saying Chuck failed as well. I agree.
- hello it's me 2050

Look it hasn't been good and that is on Fletcher. I think there were circumstances here that were completely out of his control with Covid and injuries, but now this franchise needs to take a step forward, and if they don't Fletcher will be the next casualty.

Ron Hextall is the GM equivalent of a lawn care guy that came and cleared debris at your house but didn’t actually mulch or plant anything new. Thanks I guess Ron.
Fletcher is the one that put the Kubota through the side of your house.
- ClaudeFather

Love it!