The '25-'26 Philadelphia Flyers thread

[bigegypt0417]

I really wanted to go looking for a Ron Burgundy "Boy...that escalated quickly" GIF

This turned in to quite a different debate.

[phillychuck]

The problem with freaky, consensual sex is that people change their minds midstream. That leads to all kinds of miscommunication problems and outright despicable behavior. I don’t know that there is a solution to this that is realistic. Maybe don’t have freaky, consensual sex with strangers?? This comment is a response to AF, not a comment on the Hart situation.

[zambonir]

The people who are really into that sort of thing are also very good at boundaries and communication (including rules for stopping). What happened in Canada was obviously not that, not did it involve people who were "freaky." And still IMO pretty clearly non-consensual (including due to the role of alcohol) even if it was not found to be criminal. It's also hardly the first time - nor probably the 100th - such a scene has likely played out in junior hockey (along with the sexualized hazing and the sex offender coaches).

[Docs]

Side stepping the moral discussion, it is annoying that the Flyers are not being compensated for losing a young NHL level player that would otherwise be under team control had the league handled this differently.

[zambonir]

Agreed, though there was nothing stopping them from offering the QO. If the league told them not to, they should complain. Otherwise, that was a choice they made to distance themselve.

Hart was the only one of those players where it was a no-brainer. And he presumably would have just not accepted it. It will be interesting to see what kind of deal he signs, which would also tell us what the Flyers would have gotten had he been an RFA.

And if he'd truly been suspended, his contract status could have remained frozen until he was unsuspended, though that might not have been allowed/legal.

[phillychuck]

Reports say the league told them not to offer QOs.

[zambonir]

Seems like the kind of thing Ed Snider would push back against, but Comcast not so much. Also, they'd clearly prefer to never see the words "Flyers" and "Carter Hart" in a news story again until he plays against them, or to see more stories about the whole situation. A grievance would just put it back in the news.

[phillychuck]

I agree 100% with Docs. The league chose a path with the incident that prevented the Flyers from pursuing the logical route to get compensation for Hart, and didn’t “freeze” the contract situation. Flyers should get compensation for the player. I’m not even remotely imagining they will.

[zambonir]

I think it's still logistically tricky though, depending on the CBA and the law. For example if Alvarado had been suspended for 162 games the Phillies would have had to exercise his option or QO him to retain either his services or his rights after it ended. They likely would have just let him go. The Flyers certainly can't say that they deserve to add Hart's leave of absence games back onto his contract. Saying his free agency status should revert is not that different.

But mostly I think the Flyers would be hard-pressed to say the league forced them to not offer a QO, or claim that they wanted to, or were led to believe they might retain his rights later.

And he's probably only going to be worth a 2nd or 3rd round pick. Not nothing, but not nearly as much as he would have been in a trade.

Really the only way they could pursue satisfaction is to immediately argue that Hart is not a free agent, and request an injunction preventing him from signing with any other team. I doubt that would get very far legally. Nor would it be good for the Flyers PR-wise. And you'd be battling both the league and the union

[Austinfan]

At this point, time to move on.
Hart is a good but not elite goalie, he's 27 and if he does bounce back, his next contract probably wouldn't make sense for a team in a middle of a rebuild.
Ironically, his "suspension" helped the Flyers draft Jett and Martone, so he may have inadvertently speed up the rebuild by imploding the goalies.

Briere pretty much implied the target is 2027-28, when he said in his interview they are not looking at free agents the next couple years, they're more interested in cap space and a winning environment to entice their own players to sign extensions. "Maybe in 3, 4, 5 years . . ." that is, when they're competitive, he might look at free agency to fill holes, but not as part of the rebuild.

At that point, Hart would be 29-30 and very expensive if he rebounds to his former level of play.

I think the plan is go with Ersson and Vladar the next two years, with Bjarnason and Kolosov in the AHL and Zavragin in the KHL, then in 2027, when Zavragin comes over, re-evaluate. I was suprised they didn't draft a goalie this summer, but if he had a commitment from Kolosov to go to the AHL, he might have wanted to wait a year to avoid a logjam.

[zambonir]

Kolosov is an RFA, but easy enough to keep him. I'm pleasantly surprised he's in the fold. I imagine the combination of Fedotov's age, performance and shock that he was likely headed for the Phantoms made it more important for the Flyers to try and work things out (and it certainly wasn't going to to be good for him to refuse to report. Odds are he'll get time in the NHL, though hopefully Erssson is healthier this year).

[zambonir]

In a bit of a quirk, the Sens still held his rights because they QO'ed him in '22 and he went to Europe. Both sides using the "fresh start" line but that means they can trade him. He's already back in Switzerland though.

My guess is none of these guys will play in Canada, and possibly not bigger US hockey markets either.

Alex Formenton, reinstated after Hockey Canada trial, will not be back with...