Quick Hits: July 23, 2022
1) Like many other people, I woke up this morning to the news that the Florida Panthers made a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames late last night. The Panthers acquired 24-year-old left winger Matthew Tkachuk from the Flames and immediately signed him to an eight-year contract at a $9.5 million AAV. The Panthers also received a conditional 2025 fourth-round pick.
In return, Calgary received 29-year-old left winger Jonathan Huberdeau, 28-year-old defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, 21-year-old center prospect Cole Schwindt and a conditional (lottery protected) 2025 first-round pick. Both Huberdeau and Weegar are potential unrestricted free agents next summer.
Some thoughts on this from a Flyers' standpoint:
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The Flyers simply could not compete with Florida's trade offer. They didn't have a comparable NHL roster forward to Huberdeau to offer. Huberdeau is coming off a career-best 115 point (30g, 85a) regular season, although his playoff run (one goal, five points in 10 games) was a bit of a disappointment after he had 10 points in six games during the 2021 playfs. Philly also did not have a comparable 1st-pair caliber defenseman to the right-handed shooting Weegar.
The only thing the Flyers could have offered Calgary that was better than what Florida offered would have been the Flyers' own 2023 or 2024 first-rounder. However, after losing both Johnny Gaudreau and Tkachuk in the span of a week, Calgary's top priority understandably was in immediately bolstering their NHL lineup. Huberdeau will step right onto the Flames' first line. Weegar, who played left defense in Florida alongside fellow righty Aaron Ekblad, can move to right side for the Flames if asked to do so.
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This should not affect the 2024 first-rounder acquired in the Claude Giroux trade. The Florida 2024 first-rounder sent to the Flyers has a condition that, in the rather unlikely event that the Panthers' 2024 pick is a top-10 lottery pick, Florida can keep the pick and defer the first rounder to Philadelphia to 2025. However, Florida just traded its 2025 first-rounder to Calgary on a lottery-protected basis (with a 2026 deferral). Either Florida has to remove the condition on its 2024 first-rounder or they have to impose an additional condition to Calgary that if the pick to Philly defers to 2025, the pick to Calgary would defer to 2026.
In all likelihood, though, this will end up with the Flyers getting the 2024 pick from Florida and the Flames getting the 2025. It's hard to imagine the Panthers finishing the regular season in Draft lottery position any season in the near future.
Some other thoughts: For better or for worse, Florida general manager Bill Zito -- who interviewed with the Flyers for the GM job in the late fall of 2018, shortly before Chuck Fletcher was hired -- has shown himself to be an extremely aggressive GM. The Panthers have come to rival the Pittsburgh Penguins in their willingness to trade first-round picks (from 2013 to 2022, the Penguins have only selected in the first round in three Entry Drafts). Florida did not have 2022 first-round or second-round selections. They've also traded their 2023, 2024 and, now, 2025 first-rounders and also dealt Owen Tippett (selected 10th overall back in 2017).
Specific to the trade with Calgary, I think it's a good deal for both sides in the short-term. Florida has Tkachuk locked up for the prime of his career, and he brings not only skill and scoring to the mix but also adds snarl. Considering that Tkachuk already made clear to Calgary that he would walk as a UFA next summer under any circumstances, Calgary got themselves an outstanding short-term return.
The big challenge for the Flames now is to convince Huberdeau (who apparently did not have Calgary on his eight-team no-trade list for 2022-23) and Weegar to extend in Calgary. Neither Gaudreau nor Tkachuk, both of whom are American born and raised, were swayed by the facts that the Flames were a legitimate contender in 2021-22, that they were linemates on the one of the NHL's most dynamic combinations or that the Flames were willing to spend top-dollar to keep them. Perhaps Quebec native Huberdeau and/or Ontario native Weegar will feel differently and opt to stay in Alberta rather than hitting the open market next summer when Huberdeau will be 30 and Weegar will be 29.
If neither Huberdeau nor Weegar will proactively extend in Calgary, the Flames will have brutally tough decisions to make near the 2023 trade deadline if they are in playoff position (which they realistically should still be even without Gaudreau but with Huberdeau swapped in for Tkachuk). If they hold the players, they could try to load up for all-or-nothing playoff run because they'll have plenty of cap space to do so. Or else they can bite the bullet and get some value (although not full value back) by dealing potential high-impact rentals. In terms of 2022-23 cap impact, Huberdeau will count $5.9 million against the cap while Weegar will count $3.2 million for a toal of $9.1 million. That's still less combined than the $9.5 million AAV that Tkachuk will get in Florida.
2)
July 23 in memoriam: Mickey and Tertyshny
July 23 is one of the saddest historical dates on the calendar in Flyers history. In 1982, Larry Mickey took his own life at age 38 at his home in Buffalo.
By all accounts, Mickey was a nice guy with a big heart. He cared deeply about helping the community. He cared about children, especially those with special needs. He had a passion for youth hockey. Sadly, Larry Mickey also led a very troubled life.
The well-liked Mickey had
become despondent over issues in both his personal and professional lives. With a divorce impending and unable to realize his dream of becoming an NHL coach after his playing days, Mickey ended his life by starting his car inside the closed garage of his house and ultimately passing away from carbon monoxide poisoning. He had previously attempted to take his own life in a similar manner six weeks earlier, overdosing on valium and then starting the car in the garage. He survived the first suicide attempt but not the second.
Mickey, who was one of the co-founders of the Buffalo Jr. Sabres after his NHL playing days ended, had been a popular player among teammates and fans alike during his career. He played 292 games in the NHL. for the Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Montreal Canadiens, Kings, Flyers and Sabres. For his career, he notched 39 goals and 92 points. He was a much more prolific scorer in the minor leagues but did manage a 15-goal NHL season for Buffalo in 1972-73.
On July 13, 1971, the Flyers acquired the right winger from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Larry Hillman. Mickey dressed in 14 games for the Flyers. He scored one goal and three points. On Nov. 16, 1971, the Flyers traded Mickey to the Buffalo Sabres for Larry Keenan.
"Mick wasn't with us in Philly for very long, but I played against him for years in junior hockey and the NHL. For the short time we were teammates, I enjoyed it," recalls Flyers Hall of Famer Joe Watson.
"My favorite memory is that he livened up the road trips. He was a master at the 'dollar-bill-on-a-string' prank when we'd travel. He'd attach a dollar to a fishing line and leave it on the floor in the lounge in the terminal. When someone would try to pick the dollar bill up, he'd yank it away just out of their reach. He didn't invent that prank, but he pulled it off better than anyone I ever saw doing it. Always cracked us up. Beyond that, he was just a real nice guy and a good teammate. I'd have liked if he'd been with the team longer. Just a solid, no-frills player but he worked hard and he competed."
Mickey was still a member of the Sabres in 1974-75, the year they played the Flyers in the Stanley Cup Final as Philadelphia won its second straight Stanley Cup. However, he dressed in no playoff games.
The Flyers were not yet a top team in the NHL when Larry Mickey passed through the organization. Fred Shero was in his first year of coaching the team and was just beginning the process of installing what became his signature system. In the meantime, Keith Allen was still in the nascent phases of building what would eventually become a two-time championship roster.
Given this context, it would understandable if the Philadelphia Flyers had no particularly special meaning to Mickey apart from being just another team he played for during his career. Nothing could be further from the truth, according to his son, Cory.
"I am proud that my dad played for the Flyers, and it was something he was proud of, too," Cory Mickey said in 2018. "His only regret was that it didn't last longer."
Mickey was part of Shero's first camp and earliest games with the Flyers and he was in Philadelphia just long enough a little taste of what Shero was all about a coach and what the Flyers were building as an organization. He got to be a teammate of young Bobby Clarke right before he started to become an NHL superstar.
It made a big impression on Mickey and, in turn, on his son.
"My dad was not surprised when the Flyers won the Cup two straight years. He could see what they were building and the leadership they had. He saw how much being a Flyer meant to the players they had and how much they hated to leave. He saw what they did in the community, too, and that impressed him. For the rest of his life, as much as he came to love Buffalo, he also considered the Flyers to be a model NHL organization," Cory Mickey said.
The news of Larry Mickey's passing in 1982 hit many of his old friends and teammates hard.
"I guess he never talked about his problems with anyone. I just remember that everyone was surprised and sad to hear about it. We all liked Larry. I wouldn't say we'd got to be close friends but we were friendly. I was always happy to see him and say hi. It was just such a shame, especially for his children," Watson said.
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On July 22, 1999, 22-year-old Flyers defenseman Dmitri Tertyshny passed away from injuries sustained in a horrific boating accident in Okanagan Lake, British Columbia.
Tertyshny spoke almost no English when he arrived at Flyers training camp in Sept. 1998, but he was eager to please, both on and off the ice. Unfailingly respectful to coaches and older teammates alike, he immediately impressed everyone around him with how eager he was to learn the North American game and to fit in on the club. He soon acquired the nickname "Tree" as a play both on the name Dmitri and his tall, lanky frame.
Tertyshny was steadfast in his commitment to earning an NHL job. When the team conducted its preseason fitness testing, he was unaware of what was going on. That morning, wearing no socks and shoes that weren't meant for long-distance running, he followed a group of players aboard a bus. He ran the six-mile course without uttering a complaint. It was only after he finished and removed his shoes that others noticed he had blisters all over his feet, some of which had burst and were bleeding.
The young player's dedication paid off. He won a place on Roger Neilson's roster and appeared in 62 games during the 1998-99 regular season, chipping in 10 points (two goals, eight assists), a minus-one rating and 30 penalty minutes while showing promise as a puck-moving defenseman. He made his Stanley Cup playoff debut on April 22, 1998, skating 12:52 in the Flyers' 3-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Game One of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
After the season, Tertyshny and Flyers minor league prospects Mikhail Chernov and Francis Belanger attended a summer power skating camp in Kelowna, British Columbia. Taking a break from camp, they decided to go out for some boating late in the afternoon of July 23, 1999.
With Belanger piloting the rental boat, the other passengers were seated aboard the 17-foot vessel. At about 7:25 pm, the boat hit a steep wave and Tertyshny, kneeling on a seat on the bow, was thrown overboard.
His friends watched in horror and anguish as the 22-year-old was run over by the power boat's propeller, which slashed his neck and jugular vein. Bleeding uncontrollably, an unconscious Tertyshny was brought back onboard as the boat returned to shore and an emergency crew arrived three minutes later. The young player was rushed to Kelowna General Hospital, but it was already too late. He bled to death at around 7:30 p.m. while still on the boat.
Perhaps the biggest tragedy of the entire situation was the fact that Tertyshny and his wife, Polina, were expecting their first child at the time of the accident. She was fourth months pregnant with a boy the couple had already planned to name Alexander.
In the wake of the horrific accident, the Flyers and their AHL farm team, the Phantoms, held a benefit game to raise money for the still-unborn child's future education. For many years, the Traktor organization kept Tertyshny's memory alive by holding an annual 3-game preseason tournament in Chelyabinsk named in his memory.
Polina and Alexander "Sasha" Tertyshny made their permanent home in the United States, primarily in the Philadelphia area. Sasha, who bears a strong facial resemblance to his late father, played for the Flyers Quebec International Pee-Wee team. He later played NAHL hockey for Corpus Christi and the Northeast Generals. In 2021-22, he made his NCAA debut for American International College. As with his father, Sasha Tertyshny is a defenseman, although he's a right-handed shooter while "Tree" shot left-handed.
3) July 23 Flyers Alumni birthday: Randy Jones (1971).
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