The same goes for Ratcliffe, although to this point he hasn’t shown anywhere close to what even Frost has done. He dominated in his last year of JR. I watched a bunch of games that year…he’s not a one trick pony. He see’s the ice really well and despite his size gets around pretty good and always seemed to find that scorers area The guy scored 50 in the O….that’s not an easy thing to do. It requires a ton of skill. The fact they aren’t sure what they should develop him into at this point borders on incompetence. Let the kid go to another organization and at least give him a chance.
- landros 2

I had mentioned in a previous thread how it's bizarre to draft a guy and yet can't find a role for him. Like why in the heck even bother drafting him?

4+ years of Fletcher as GM gets you the 26th ranked team in the league, and the lowest scoring team in the league. And yet he doesn't even appear to be on the hot seat.

Why are the standards of the people running the Philadelphia Flyers so damn low?
- Feanor

Because the stench of Hextall still lingers, depending on who you talk to…

He could. We say that every year though lol

Have the flyers even offered him a contract yet?
If he hits then that's wonderful but I won't hold my breath
I mean.... something good has to happen for this franchise eventually, right?! Right?!?
- Bob Habib

as of now I don't see O'Brien getting offered a contract unfortunately.

The Flyers were .558 in Mason's four full seasons as a Flyer. Part of that was because they had a goalie who started 50+ games and had a .917 SV%.

Since Hart was called up on 12/18/2018, the Flyers are a .500 team, partly because they have a starting goalie who only has a .906 SV%.

If you want to defend Hart you can say he was younger than Mason was when was a Flyer. But in terms of performance on the ice, Mason was a much better goalie for the Flyers than Hart has been so far.
- Feanor

Is a young Steve Mason on a bad Jackets’ team more comparable to Carter Hart on a bad Flyers team?

Let’s give Sleepy Joe a pat on the back for his latest publicity stunt. Que the interview tour and Netflix Doc for Griner. Wonder how Paul whelan and his family feel about this
- ClaudeFather

Why? Just…why??

Who asked for the politics??

Hell of pass... Hayes should have buried that.
- Tomahawk

Not only do Frost's scoring attempts fail to go in disproportionately, his setups have the same problem (not saying its his fault).

as of now I don't see O'Brien getting offered a contract unfortunately.
- jd250

but "the goods"!!!

as of now I don't see O'Brien getting offered a contract unfortunately.
- jd250

O'Brien doesn't bother me as much as others. I guess because we also got Farabee in that draft and most of the players taken after him haven't been all that spectacular. Some decent NHL players like K'Andre Miller and Rasmus Sandin, but nothing on the level of Jason Robertson.

What DOES bother me was that even at the time it was called a reach, Hextall (or the scouting staff) trying to prove to everyone how smart they were.

Hart hasn't had a great group either, but at least Mason's Flyers had some scoring ability.
- Scoob

Flyers were bottom third in the league in goals per game during most of Mase's time here.

Hart had league-average goal support until the past couple of seasons.

Now he gets nada lol.

Not only do Frost's scoring attempts fail to go in disproportionately, his setups have the same problem (not saying its his fault).
- backfire

Aye. He's missed a lot of point blank chances himself.

The fact that he's routinely creating dangerous chances is encouraging tho. Just a matter of time before some of them start going in.

The pick # is irrelevant it is about recognizing & drafting talent. As you said Hextall failed miserably at that & that is why this team haz zero offense hexy was horrific at identifying skill opting to go for “200 foot players” instead. As previously mentioned look up the last 5 nhl drafts many players drafted after the top 5 & even a good amount drafted past 10 have turned out to out produce the #1 pick that year
- Fopa21

Agree...making good selections by competent people who understand that talent wins is the key. Last year so much talk about drafting Shane Wright. Bedard may be the next generational talent, but there are no guarantees, especially with the lottery. The hockey draft is such a crap shoot...these guys develop their rep as 16 or 17 year olds. NBA and NFL players selected high in the draft generally get to play at a consistently high level in NCAA competition. Even there mistakes are common. Hoping to lose for a higher pick still seems a poor way. NEED A BETTER ORGANIZATION FROM TOP DOWN!!

Agree...making good selections by competent people who understand that talent wins is the key. Last year so much talk about drafting Shane Wright. Bedard may be the next generational talent, but there are no guarantees, especially with the lottery. The hockey draft is such a crap shoot...these guys develop their rep as 16 or 17 year olds. NBA and NFL players selected high in the draft generally get to play at a consistently high level in NCAA competition. Even there mistakes are common. Hoping to lose for a higher pick still seems a poor way. NEED A BETTER ORGANIZATION FROM TOP DOWN!!
- DANCER

To add to your point, you can’t ask competitors to not compete and throw games, then after a couple of season of losing, expect them to turn it on and be competitors again. Athletes must always play to the best of their abilities. They’re paid handsomely to do so. A bad team is gonna pick high in the draft no matter how many games they win because bad teams normally lose the majority of their games.

I wouldn't point fingers solely at the franchise. The problem IMO is not that the Flyers are screwing up the development of players, its that they are not drafting the right players to begin with. Certainly this was true with Hextall. This next season will be critical to see what has come from Fletcher and Flahr's picks, given York, Foerster and Andrae and Brink should all be ready for prime time.
- jd250

I think the issue is split across 3 main buckets (IMO):
1) drafting / and talent assessment
2) player development
3) scouting department - which also ties into the 'company culture' that exists in Flyerland.

Agree...making good selections by competent people who understand that talent wins is the key. Last year so much talk about drafting Shane Wright. Bedard may be the next generational talent, but there are no guarantees, especially with the lottery. The hockey draft is such a crap shoot...these guys develop their rep as 16 or 17 year olds. NBA and NFL players selected high in the draft generally get to play at a consistently high level in NCAA competition. Even there mistakes are common. Hoping to lose for a higher pick still seems a poor way. NEED A BETTER ORGANIZATION FROM TOP DOWN!!
- DANCER

I would hope we can all agree that the team performing badly and finishing top 5 two years in a row is the most realistic path for true organizational change. Anything less could give credibility to the notion that Scott/Fletcher were right- injuries were the real reason the team sucks. Not that any of us truly believe that premise. For me, the only hope of true organizational change will only happen with enough regulation losses which guarantee another top 5 pick.

but "the goods"!!!
- corduroy

O'Brien has the goods. He's going to be a player. I watch a lot of hockey and live in Boston. Short time later. I don't think he's going to be signed.

Don't worry about that though. Boston is going to trade for Hayes because he is a hometown guy.

Time to sell high on Hayes, even if you have to eat a little salary. Get ahead of the curve. Start acquiring additional draft picks!
- Dave21Brown

very reasonable thing to do

O'Brien has the goods. He's going to be a player. I watch a lot of hockey and live in Boston. Short time later. I don't think he's going to be signed.

Don't worry about that though. Boston is going to trade for Hayes because he is a hometown guy.
- MJL

he looks like a mbumhole

I think the issue is split across 3 main buckets (IMO):
1) drafting / and talent assessment
2) player development
3) scouting department - which also ties into the 'company culture' that exists in Flyerland.
- Pixote Andolini

The only counter I have to blaming the scouts is that most of the NHL, the hockey writers, etc had the Flyers prospects ranked pretty high.Was everyone snowed and rated these players higher than they should have been pre draft or have the Flyers just destroyed them them with their archaic development strategies? Probably somewhere in the middle but in my opinion, it seems like they draft players and then proceed to prevent them from doing what it is that got them drafted to begin with. Draft an offensive skill kid and proceed to try to turn him in to a checker..etc etc

Many of these prospects seem confused about what it is the team actually wants from them. They seem to be getting mixed signals and almost punished for doing what they do best. And instead of accentuating what they do best, they are told to stifle that aspect of their game and work solely on what they don't do well. Until the point where everything in their game suffers.

The only counter I have to blaming the scouts is that most of the NHL, the hockey writers, etc had the Flyers prospects ranked pretty high.Was everyone snowed and rated these players higher than they should have been pre draft or have the Flyers just destroyed them them with their archaic development strategies? Probably somewhere in the middle but in my opinion, it seems like they draft players and then proceed to prevent them from doing what it is that got them drafted to begin with. Draft an offensive skill kid and proceed to try to turn him in to a checker..etc etc

Many of these prospects seem confused about what it is the team actually wants from them. They seem to be getting mixed signals and almost punished for doing what they do best. And instead of accentuating what they do best, they are told to stifle that aspect of their game and work solely on what they don't do well. Until the point where everything in their game suffers.
- MBFlyerfan

The Flyers are literally experts in killing a young players confidence.

An American citizen getting released from a Russian gulag is a weird thing to get mad about, especially considering the elections have been over for a month already so there's no real benefit to the President or his party. Maybe you're still bitter that Doctor Oz got his New Jersey ass beat.
- Feanor

I’m happy for Griner and her family. Also not a right wing nut, very neutral come politics

Kjell Samuelsson was promoted to head of player development after developing absolutely no one on defense for years. There’s your issue.

Comcast let the front office turn into a complete joke and the country club has run the franchise into the ground unsupervised.
- hereticpride

A lot of what a development coach is NOT on the ice. They have on-ice coaches. They work with the mentality, the professionalism side and make suggestions (but not demands) for on-ice adjustments.

Sammy helped Robert Hägg, failed offensive-minded defenseman, find a different niche and get to the NHL for 300+ games. Laugh and roll your eyes all you want at "take the body, handle the puck less and go off the glass with the puck" as advice but for players like Hägg who seemed in danger of not rising above the NHL, adopting a different approach to find a role player spot in the NHL is a career-saver.

He was part of the development process with Travis Sanheim. He helped Phil Myers (whose later regression came at the NHL level after a promising start) early on. In fact, the Flyers have had quite a few homegrown defensemen in recent years who've become NHL lineup regulars or are knocking on the door.

It's the job of the development coaches to help prospects become pros. The rest is on the player himself and his direct coaches to utilize him in a way that puts him in position to succeed.

Flyers were bottom third in the league in goals per game during most of Mase's time here.

Hart had league-average goal support until the past couple of seasons.

Now he gets nada lol.
- Tomahawk

So more than 50% of his career so far.

An American citizen getting released from a Russian gulag is a weird thing to get mad about, especially considering the elections have been over for a month already so there's no real benefit to the President or his party. Maybe you're still bitter that Doctor Oz got his New Jersey ass beat.
- Feanor

Trading “the merchant of death” for a women’s basketball player who bad mouths her country is not a good deal.
It has nothing to do with politics in my view but for the Biden admin apparently that’s what it’s all about.

"Lindgren catches with his right, somewhat rare". It just means that he's left handed.

LOL. Hextall drafted Provorov, Sanheim and Konecny in the first round.
- MJL

Serviceable guys.