This is direct turnabout on Ristolainen. You seemed to like him earlier in the season.
- MJL

Are people not allowed to change their minds or revaluate after a certain time period Cliff?

Firing the pres/gm, asst gms, advisors, scouts, medical staff, and coaches before fixing the roster is the most important thing here. This management staff can’t be allowed to further devalue the roster.
- Shrike

Amen. Scorched earth.

We look so awesome...
Put the fear into nobody.
We are as soft as everything on earth that is soft.

I didn't ask you to get excited about anything. It's simply factual information that shows that he was not terrible in the game last night. Make it into something it's not all you want. Yes, the team just lost 10 in a row....AGAIN. So focus on the rookie Frost who has played 42 games or so in the NHL. The question is what did Giroux, Konecny, Farabee and Atkinson do on the PP? Or how about Provorov or Yandle? You know, the veteran experienced players on the team.
- MJL

Listen, I'm not blaming Frost for this debacle of a team, not by a long shot. I've have posted a thousand times now over the past 3 seasons that this team's top players are not top players in the league, and each and every game they prove me right. I hope Frost figures it out because this team needs young top 6 talent. I would like to see Allison stay healthy and get his career on track. And I believe Fletcher has got to move G, Risto and maybe even Atkinson if he can, cut ties with JVR and retool this roster around Couts, TK and Bee.

The stat line for when Frost was on the ice last night

CF% 66.67% Scoring chances 6-2 in favor of the Flyers. xGF% 61.91
- MJL

Meanwhile Zack "Huge Impact" MacEwen is CF% 29.41%, -5 in scoring chances, xGF% 35.93

(And he has more icetime than Frost)

Watched that game the difference in the skill levels between Flyers and Rangers is amazing. Rangers have a Vezina goalie...a Norris D man and a top 5 Hart guy in panarin. Not to mention Kreider and Zibanejad up front and a bunch of young high end prospects at foward and even more on D. All in 3 yrs . It can be done here but we need someone who knows how to orchestrate it and Fletch and the old Flyer croonies ( Clarke..Homer..Brown..etc) arent the answer. Has to start with a compete organizational flush
- hfc355

As others have said it wasn't just 3 years plus Fletcher stripped every asset the Flyers had to go all in this year. Traded draft picks, traded all cap space (they have what, $400,000 cap space), and have no high end prospects that aren't already in the NHL.

I can't believe there were still those this past offseason who loved Fletcher's moves. The Flyers pre-salary cap method of throwing money at every problem doesn't work and they brought about the things they feared most, irrelevance and apathy.

Hayes - his contract had Scott Hartnell's last contract with the Flyers written all over it before the ink was dry. 4 years to long.
Risto is a sunk cost, good luck getting back what the Flyers paid.
Ellis - The Preds really lucked out that the Flyers came along. I would wager that the Flyers have the record over the last 20 years in LTIR games due to having their over 30 #1 defenseman who they traded for going on LTIR and never playing again. Darien Hatcher, Chris Pronger, Ryan Ellis.

The Flyers can't guy their way out of this, they have one of the worst cap situations in the league (because they tried to buy their way out of this).
Draft - The flyers are missing their next 2 2nd rounders already and last year's first was wasted on Risto pending the return at the deadline for him.

Hextall's execution may have been lacking but he had the right idea. His biggest problem was not going far enough, most likely because comcast wouldn't allow it. The Flyers are one of the worst if not the worst teams in the league now and are spending the most resources in the league to be this bad. Let's be bad with a purpose.

No more bandaids. Whatever you need to pay the best talent scouts, pay it, that's where the money needs to be spent. If you can't hit on some draft picks nothing else matters. I think the Flyers only have 13 players that are under NHL contract for next year and all but one make over $3 mill a year. That is without resigning Giroux. The Flyers have one of the worst ROI per cap $ spent.

Some observations? If you didn't know any better and just turned on the game you would have thought that tonight's game was played in mid September(exhibition game). Place looked empty unless lots of folks were dressed as empty seats. Never thought I'd see such an empty arena for a regular season hockey game in Philly. Pretty brutal game for Provorov. This team just generally lacks top level skill. Did Frost play tonight? This kid is the epitome of invisible. Thanks!
- Phillywhiteout

Oh no Frost is fine.
Don't you know Frost missed a season and has only played in 80 games in the NHL.
Give him a chance to play with better players blah blah Fing blah....
not sure why nobody can see this kid is not going to ever be more then an AHLer or bottom six

Are people not allowed to change their minds or revaluate after a certain time period Cliff?
- hello it's me 2050

I still think he’s been ok here, but I had hoped this team would be a playoff team. It is clear that it’s a disaster of epic proportions. There is no need to sign a player like Risto right now with the direction things are going.
- ClaudeFather

Totally agree, i'm fine with Risto. But he doesn't fit the plan which is painfully obvious now, in what needs to be done. I thought different in October.

Four 1st round picks from the 2016, 2017, and 2018 drafts. Getting zero production from none of them in 2022.

Kid, make a play .. stand out ... do something that says you want to be on this team!
- jd250

He made a number of good plays, actually. Seems like you missed them.

Not sure why we are complaining. This team has been out of a playoff spot for a while. Losing is in the Flyers best interest and it is not like people here arent rooting for the losses.

The fact Fletcher has done nothing is telling to what he thinks of the team. He said he still hasnt been able to evaluate the team but that isnt it. At any point during the season Fletcher could have made moves to salvage the season yet he has chosen not to. That to me is a good sign.

Yeo is Interim head coach and should stay until the offseason. Status quo and get the better pick. Maybe we can win the lottery and get Wright. Only issue is many scout appear to think he is going to be a very good player but not great.
- xShoot4WarAmpsx

Don't you know it doesn't matter if we win lotto, we will destroy any kid into a mediocre middling player, exhibit A MF.

Hearing Mayhew was once Wild property after his goal, right away I thought to myself “why am I not surprised?”

Chuck is even worse a manager than I thought. I was all for Chris Stewart being signed here if he could offer some skill sets of ten years ago and fight. He could barely do either. I don’t know what the Hayes connection is, where we had to have him but trading and signing for all of his buddies (Yandle, Atkinson, Brown) is most certainly a bad sign. This isn’t a country club. If you need to bring in friends, bring in friends who have accomplished something. Not one’s who need favors.
- SuperSchennBros

I'm still in shock that CF hasn't found some way to bring Nate Prosser back.

It's hard. Enjoy total off-days on the schedule. Plan stuff to do with my wife and kids when I get back. Commiserate with colleagues and with Flyers Alumni guys (most of whom still follow and care about the team, even ones who say they don't care anymore). Watch the Phantoms, who have turned things around a bit although it's a fragile turnaround. Watch a junior game, alternatively. Work on the Joe Watson book a bit.
- bmeltzer

Hahah what a dunk, what a flex!

Meanwhile Zack "Huge Impact" MacEwen is CF% 29.41%, -5 in scoring chances, xGF% 35.93

(And he has more icetime than Frost)
- Tomahawk

As a true fourth liner, which he is, I like what he brings.

“Penn Medicine named official Health System of Philadelphia Flyer’s” 1/13/2020

I’m trying to decide if Penn being publicly associated to the failed surgeries and recoveries of players is worse for them than it has been for the Flyers who have suffered in the standings and loss of playing time by choosing this group to be in charge of their healthcare.

Say what you will about the Flyers draft history… I’m excited for trade deadline and the upcoming draft. We should be able to move some players for picks. I’d retain salary where needed or take back an RFA cap dump. We have some good depth pieces for contending teams. Here’s the what I’m hopeful for in return:

Giroux: a first, maybe a 3rd, big body D-prospect.
Brassard: 3rd round pick.
Risto: 1st (or second and prospect)
Braun: 2nd round pick.
Yandle: 3rd or 4th round pick.
Thompson(if healthy): 5th rounder
Jones: 3rd round pick.

Would anyone consider moving JVR to Calgary for Lucic and a 1st or high end prospect? I’d retain the difference if the picks or prospects make sense. I think JVR fits nicely on Calgary, and could fill in a large hole if Gaudreau walks. Flyers will not be competing for a cup next year, so I’m okay bringing in an expensive enforcer to watch the kids. Sign Morin too if he wants to play again… and let’s hope he stays healthy.
Maybe Bedard is on our radar next year!
- Cap437

Morin? the kid is made of glass and several major knee surgeries ok sure lets sign him, to fill in for Ellis as a forever IR spot.

Totally agree, i'm fine with Risto. But he doesn't fit the plan which is painfully obvious now, in what needs to be done. I thought different in October.
- bradster

Assuming there is a change in plans... I fully expect Scott and CF to double down again on win now.

I'm still in shock that CF hasn't found some way to bring Nate Prosser back.
- Tomahawk

Hopefully he stays retired.

I understand Frost's line mates are a joke, but at least with MacEwen I see a player that is trying out there, making plays, even 1 against 3 plays. What is Frost doing with the time he has? When has Frost made an assertive play like we see MacEwen do game after game? With Frost's supposed top 6 skills, at least get some shots on goal and create some scoring chances. He doesn't even do that. What kind of player are we talking about that apparently can't make an impact unless he plays with all stars? Is that what we are saying Frost is?

Kid, make a play .. stand out ... do something that says you want to be on this team!
- jd250

It is completely false that he doesn't create scoring chances. Here is the deal. I really don't care if you ever get it but I do care that the Flyers get it. The only thing that matters moving forward for this team right now, is developing the young players. Put Frost in the best position for him to succeed and be supported. He needs to play with top offensive players. Keith Jones knows it, Bill Meltzer knows and myself and others know it. You apparently don't. The Flyers need to get Allison up here, move Frost up and bring up any other young player that they think might have an NHL future and might be ready for it. Waive Brown, McEwen and Mayhew and get their heads out of their asses.

Is this team subtly “tanking” ?
- Angus4444

Don't need to be subtle when you suck as bad as this group.
They are doing just fine without even trying.

He made a number of good plays, actually. Seems like you missed them.
- Tomahawk

He misses them every game.

Although it's been said many times many ways I really think this doesn't get fixed until there is a total purge. That means all ex players gone with the possible exception of Briere. Homer should have been gone when his tenure as GM was up! Clarke needs to be told to take a permanent vacation. And get Lappy and Brownie out of here too....a purge I say!! This organization is badly in need of a forward thinker instead of all these old timer backward thinkers. Thanks! Oh, and Fletcher is just a puppet for these guys, so obviously he would be flushed down the toily as well....just to make that clear! Thanks again!

I was wondering this too.

The decision he made to put L4 out with 3mins left in the game was dumb -- of course they get hemmed in and waste a full minute.

Then he calls a (frank)ing TO after an icing when the Flyers were pressuring and the Jackets were completely gassed. There goes that advantage.

And MacEwen on PP2 backfired tonight. Provy looked like he had the game tier labeled top corner and MacEwen puts a stick on it and it goes over the net. Provy then glared at him and shook his head.

You really can't make this poop up 😡😡😡
- Tomahawk

Did you have to put this all in the same post?

He made a number of good plays, actually. Seems like you missed them.
- Tomahawk

Yes, I have missed them. Perhaps I will see them when he plays with G and Cam on the top line.