As soon as the Av's went up 3-1, the Flyers took a penalty. They proceeded to let Cale Makar skate the puck 200ft uncontested and score. That right there epitomizes this team. No discipline, no sense of urgency, and zero compete. This franchise is a joke.
- PLindbergh31

This team has its faults but you don’t score 5 goals against the Aves if you aren’t competing.

First if the Flyers do decide to aggressively sell at the deadline, they will be able to recoup multiple high picks (rounds 1-3) and hopefully a few prospects. This would also mean they are going to finish in the bottom 1/3 of the league and thus be a lottery team. So my hope is they will have a top 10 pick, maybe top 5 depending on how hard they tank, and hopefully 2 other 1st round picks. With that I hope they land 3 players that can will be ready to play next season. Add in the vets already on the team, a few younger players from the AHL and a couple of smart signings and you have the basis for a fresh start next season. On top of that will be who is coaching the team. I like Mike Yeo, he is no worse than say Rick Tocchet based on his career so far so it will be interesting to see how he does this year. However if we truly want Barry Trotz's defensive system, he has an assistant coach in Lane Lambert that might be a nice choice. Also I am starting to hear rumblings that Bruce Cassidy might be wearing out his welcome in Boston and if so he would be an excellent candidate also. So picking the right coach to commit to is another important step this off season.
- jd250

Pixie sticks and unicorns. What happened to when we were discussing the moves the GM made this past off season and you downplayed the value of first round picks because they wouldn't play for 3 years?

This team has its faults but you don’t score 5 goals against the Aves if you aren’t competing.
- SuperSchennBros

The avs are one of the worst defensive teams jn the league & they had an ahl goalie in net. Take off the rose colored glasses

Ottawa just scored 6 & beat them
Toronto put up 8

I don't think he's mentally fragile. It's the culmination of having to play game in and game out, often without an equal top pairing partner on a team that lack defensive detail and support.
- MJL

No equal D-partner and night in and night out of leading the team in ice time. I don’t for the love of god understand how anyone can beat us on Provorov and talk as if what he does is so easy. He’s facing the toughest compilation of every team we face.

The avs are one of the worst defensive teams jn the league & they had an ahl goalie in net. Take off the rose colored glasses

Ottawa just scored 6 & beat them
Toronto put up 8
- Fopa21

Do you guys ever create your own dialog or is speaking in Clichés a must around here?

This team has its faults but you don’t score 5 goals against the Aves if you aren’t competing.
- SuperSchennBros

actually yea you can cause their defense is putrid this year

Prov is in a funk - right now?

Just how long is - right now?

Does - right now - mean longer than a month, 3 months or a year?

I can tell you the guy has not played well in a long while. I mean he has not played at the level he was at in 2020 since at least mid year last year. He is simply not the same player. He is now a guy that should be playing 20 minutes and on the 2nd pair. Exasperating the prob is the play of ex selke.

You can spend all day talking about Jake and Cam if you want. Cam is on a 32 goal pace and doing a decent job on the pk and Jake is piling up the assists. Who is surprised by that? People think Cam is not playing well then great I suppose he will increase his 32 goal pace coming up. That’s what we need. Risto has been ok. I agree they gave up too much for him and I would have preferred to go all in on a stud number 1 dman, but none of the subtractions or new additions are relevant until you fix 9 and 14.

We all agree Yandle is a mess in his end right now. An absolute dumpster fire, but so is our supposed number 1 dman. He has been for a hyll of a lot longer than - right now..

W all that said, at least our interim coach actually talked about puck possession. That’s at least a step in the right direction.
- Joe Nardone

Atkinson has scored 3 goals in the last 18 games. That's with 2 in the last two games.

The avs are one of the worst defensive teams jn the league & they had an ahl goalie in net. Take off the rose colored glasses

Ottawa just scored 6 & beat them
Toronto put up 8
- Fopa21

Yeah, this team is so poorly coached coupled with players that are fine collecting a paycheck only that they're unwatchable and so far away from competing for a cup you could fast forward three, four or even five years and we'd likely be having the same conversations that are happening today.

This is an organization in complete fail with not even a pin hole of light at the end of the tunnel.

I know I've stopped watching over a week ago, I read comments on some websites basically for a chuckle at this point.

The Flyers are now in the business of irrelevance.

I know the hindsight is 20/20 argument, but anyone who actually watched or scouted UMass games while Makar played there could see this guy was going to be a top end defenseman in this league. How Hextall could opt for an injured power center when there is an elite top tier defenseman like Makar on the board is just unthinkable IMO.
- jd250

Still trying to measure what you know now with what was known then. At the time Patrick was considered a future #1 NHL center.

Wait, come on ... this is just ridiculous. Are you trying to tell me that if the Flyers trade G at the deadline they are not going to get multiple high picks including a 1st round pick? Do you also think that Risto will not garner a 1st round pick if he is dangled at the deadline? Come on, history alone should tell you contending teams will trade their future for a chance to win now, and both these players can seriously help push a team over the top!
- jd250

Actually it's ridiculous to think that is what he said. It's also amazing on how you have totally flip flopped. Last off season, we didn't need the draft picks. Now we need to trade some players, one of them that we just gave up draft picks to get and that you raved about, to get some draft picks.

Here is the scoring breakdown of the Flyers first 22 games of season (does NOT include last night). Apologies for the lengthy post.

In the first 11 games…
Flyers score 3 or more goals - 5x with a record of 4-0-1
Flyers score 2 goals - 4x with a record of 2-1-1
Flyers score 1 or no goals - 2x (both shutouts) with a record of 0-2-0

Flyers give up 3 or more goals - 7x with a record of 2-3-2
Flyers give up 2 goals - 0
Flyers give up 1 or no goals - 4x (one shutout) with a record of 4-0-0

In the second set of 11 games…
Flyers score 3 or more goals - 2x with a record of 0-1-1
Flyers score 2 goals - 5x with a record of 2-3-0
Flyers score 1 or no goals - 4x (one shutout) with a record of 0-3-1

Flyers give up 3 or more goals - 8x with a record of 0-7-1
Flyers give up 2 goals - 1x with a record of 0-0-1
Flyers give up 1 or no goals - 2x with a record of 2-0-0

Some not so surprising facts:
1. The Flyers have obtained point(s) in every game this season in which they have held their opponent to 2 or fewer goals. (7x for a record of 6-0-1)
2. The biggest difference between the first 11 games and the next 11 games was that the Flyers scored 3 or more goals in 3 fewer games in the second set. (In total, 7x for a record of 4-1-2)

The most common occurrence is the Flyers giving up 3 or more goals. In the 22 games, this has happened 15x with a record of 2-10-3. Team defense in my opinion is still the biggest overall issue. Before the season started some posters expressed that with the significant roster turnover it might not be until after Christmas that this Flyers team starts to show who they really can be together. It matters if they can survive in the playoff race to see that point. Not everything has been bad. In looking beyond the way the games feel and waning confidence, it is clear that the margin between winning and losing is smaller than it appears.

Here is the scoring breakdown of the Flyers first 22 games of season (does NOT include last night). Apologies for the lengthy post.

In the first 11 games…
Flyers score 3 or more goals - 5x with a record of 4-0-1
Flyers score 2 goals - 4x with a record of 2-1-1
Flyers score 1 or no goals - 2x (both shutouts) with a record of 0-2-0

Flyers give up 3 or more goals - 7x with a record of 2-3-2
Flyers give up 2 goals - 0
Flyers give up 1 or no goals - 4x (one shutout) with a record of 4-0-0

In the second set of 11 games…
Flyers score 3 or more goals - 2x with a record of 0-1-1
Flyers score 2 goals - 5x with a record of 2-3-0
Flyers score 1 or no goals - 4x (one shutout) with a record of 0-3-1

Flyers give up 3 or more goals - 8x with a record of 0-7-1
Flyers give up 2 goals - 1x with a record of 0-0-1
Flyers give up 1 or no goals - 2x with a record of 2-0-0

Some not so surprising facts:
1. The Flyers have obtained point(s) in every game this season in which they have held their opponent to 2 or fewer goals. (7x for a record of 6-0-1)
2. The biggest difference between the first 11 games and the next 11 games was that the Flyers scored 3 or more goals in 3 fewer games in the second set. (In total, 7x for a record of 4-1-2)

The most common occurrence is the Flyers giving up 3 or more goals. In the 22 games, this has happened 15x with a record of 2-10-3. Team defense in my opinion is still the biggest overall issue. Before the season started some posters expressed that with the significant roster turnover it might not be until after Christmas that this Flyers team starts to show who they really can be together. It matters if they can survive in the playoff race to see that point. Not everything has been bad. In looking beyond the way the games feel and waning confidence, it is clear that the margin between winning and losing is smaller than it appears.
- NC Flyers Fan

all that shows is what has already been said. The Flyers won early with hot shooting and great goaltending. That dried up and look what happened. Best way to improve team defense is play with the puck more.

all that shows is what has already been said. The Flyers won early with hot shooting and great goaltending. That dried up and look what happened. Best way to improve team defense is play with the puck more.
- MJL

The point was really the last sentence. But I just sound like the eternal optimist if I don’t present the proof. As bad as games look or feel, these Flyers have shown the ability to be in the playoff race this season and improve from there. It isn’t doom and gloom if they can start winning again, and it isn’t as big of a reach as most seem to think.

Pixie sticks and unicorns. What happened to when we were discussing the moves the GM made this past off season and you downplayed the value of first round picks because they wouldn't play for 3 years?
- MJL

LOL

They went out and got a much worse version of Ghost.
- MBFlyerfan

Yandle is a worse version of Gustafson who was a worse version of ghost

The point was really the last sentence. But I just sound like the eternal optimist if I don’t present the proof. As bad as games look or feel, these Flyers have shown the ability to be in the playoff race this season and improve from there. It isn’t doom and gloom if they can start winning again, and it isn’t as big of a reach as most seem to think.
- NC Flyers Fan

You stop it with your positivity right now. There's no place for it as everyone knows this is the worst franchise in the history of sport. haha

You don't know these things for sure. Ellis is having his struggles with health right now, but who is to say he does not regain his health and plays well moving forward? Also, I don't know what York will be, but to say he is not number 1 caliber right now is a stretch. I mean McAvoy is a number 1, but who is to say York could not develop into a player like him? However overall I agree with you, this team needs a Cale Makar, and so does every other team that does not have one.
- jd250

Ellis has always had struggles with health.

And yeah, there's an outside chance York could be a #1. Same way that there was an outside chance that Sanheim could have been a #1. Or Morin.

They could really use a Makar, Hamilton, etc. But they're still stuck in this 20th century mindset that every top-60 D pick needs to be complete 200ft physical specimens. Hence Provy over Werenski, Morin over Morrissey, etc.

Yandle is a worse version of Gustafson who was a worse version of ghost
- THE BLACK HAND

It's really hard to reconcile the night and day difference between preseason Yands and regular season Yands.

Preseason Yands looked like a (frank)ing All-Star.

Atkinson has scored 3 goals in the last 18 games. That's with 2 in the last two games.
- MJL

That’s the point. He is still on a 30 goal pace with a rotating door at center and not really playing consistently well offensively.

The point was really the last sentence. But I just sound like the eternal optimist if I don’t present the proof. As bad as games look or feel, these Flyers have shown the ability to be in the playoff race this season and improve from there. It isn’t doom and gloom if they can start winning again, and it isn’t as big of a reach as most seem to think.
- NC Flyers Fan

When did they actually show the ability to be in the playoff race? No, they really haven't. Not when you dig deeper and look at what actually happened. The playoffs are pretty much out of reach. They could go on a big run and make it but there aren't any signs of that.

So, who would be the candidate to be the next captain? That's the biggest problem with this team. No leaders in the room when adversity strikes. Take Giroux out of the equation and who would make a viable captain. I just don't see anyone. People say Coots, but he is an introvert, so no go IMO. Next!
- Phillywhiteout

Imo. Farabee.

It's really hard to reconcile the night and day difference between preseason Yands and regular season Yands.

Preseason Yands looked like a (frank)ing All-Star.
- Tomahawk

I'd have to check but perhaps on top of it being real hockey that matters, they are using him more than planned with a worse partner than planned.

I'd have to check but perhaps on top of it being real hockey that matters, they are using him more than planned with a worse partner than planned.
- Hextall271

He looked like he should have been playing with a partner in the Inter-Ac last night.

I know the hindsight is 20/20 argument, but anyone who actually watched or scouted UMass games while Makar played there could see this guy was going to be a top end defenseman in this league. How Hextall could opt for an injured power center when there is an elite top tier defenseman like Makar on the board is just unthinkable IMO.
- jd250

I tried but didn't have good camera angles.

Imo. Farabee.
- Peter Richards

I would have said Coots last year but he looks terrible right now. I am guessing he is playing hurt. I still think he is the right guy because he will hold players accountable. The other guy is Laughton. He reminds me of that guy from Band of Bros who took over things at the end. Seems like he can be a scary individual and he always shows up to play.