The '25-'26 Philadelphia Flyers thread

[Austinfan]

Actually, Colorado had more shots, but Flyers won the xGF and HDCF battles, they had better scoring opportunities.
Still too many penalties, but the PK was much better.

[bigegypt0417]

feels more like an internet rumor but still fin to imagine...

What a Trade for Pettersson Might Cost the Flyers

[Docs]

I was actually saying to myself this weekend the flyers seem to be linked to way too many players in these kind of articles

[zambonir]

Athletic already wrote a story about this saying there is no chance this happens. Flyers aren't interested (per team sources), and Canucks wouldn't want to deal him to Tocchet. Of course one never knows....

[bigegypt0417]

The article seems to argue against itself which seems to be the modern day "rumor"

It would be a good player to target if it was based in reality.

[zambonir]

I just don't know that he's actually good enough to take on the six years and the $11.6 million cap hit and what the Canucks might want for him. Or if Tocc would want to have him again.

The key part of the Athletic story:

Elias Pettersson a Flyers target? Rasmus Ristolainen on the move? What I’m...

The Flyers are not interested. Full stop. That possibility was strongly denied to me by multiple team sources. Essentially, the Flyers don’t believe Pettersson is the type of core player who could eventually lead them to a championship.

The Pettersson-Flyers discussion, which seems to me to be mostly online, doesn’t even factor in that he has a full no-trade clause and might not even be keen on joining the Flyers. And, there’s also this tidbit we’ve learned: When the Canucks were chatting with teams about Quinn Hughes before dealing him to the Minnesota Wild, the Flyers were quickly informed that Vancouver would not entertain the idea of trading him to Philadelphia.

[Austinfan]

I think Briere has a strong opinion about how he wants to build the team.

Seems to want 2 way centers with size (explains no interest in Rossi) who can play in a box and one and be almost like a 3rd D-man. Jett (5'11 200), Berglund, Nesbitt, Gard. Ruohonen (listed at 6'2 205), Only Quinn is undersized (5'11 177) and he might move to wing.

Scoring is more of an emphasis on wing, where the Flyers have a deep group, Zegras, Michkov, Martone, TK, Tippett, Foerster, Brink, Barkey, Bump, Grebenkin. Of this group, only TK and Tippett are older than 25.

One reason is the growing emphasis on attacking with D-men on the cycle, which means you need smart forwards, especially centers, who can cycle back to the blue line and protect against odd man rushes. Which is why I think Briere's big acquisition is going to be an offensive D-man who can move the puck, set up the offense and shoot.

As far as Buium being that guy, 51g 2-6 8 at ES. With 15 hits and -17.
Andrae 39g 1-9 10 at ES. With 44 hits and +12.
And they probably are looking to upgrade over Andrae as the 2LHD.

[Squire]

I do not know what level of delusion is required to believe in this Flyers rebuild but I do not have it. Also, right now the 2025 draft looks like Martone who is a stud and then a bunch of profound disappointments in their D+1 season (Nesbitt, Murtagh, Vansanghli, D'Amico, Gard)

[Pat_Burrell]

Amico was and still is a long term project. If he hits he can be really good since he possesses traits few others have. I have no issue with his being drafted where he was. Gard is also a swing for the upside who will take a few years. Vansaghi was drafted for a specific role and will never be a big points guy. Murtagh i would like to see more from but again its tough to break in on a tough college team as a freshman. We should see a big step up next year for both Amico and Murtagh and if we don't then we can question their selections. Finally they admitted Nesbitt was a project and while it was earlier than i would have liked to see him picked, he can be really good if he hits. If they took safer picks with lower upsides then people would be killing them. They took several chances and i would just say its too early to give even an early evaluation. Lates wait till at least next year before giving out grades

[kmc1019]

Amen, Squire. Not to mention the 2024 draft in which Luchanko is on track to be a devastatingly consequential whiff. The end goal of the rebuild cannot possibly have been to use high draft picks on players who - if things break right - have 4th line potential.

[bigegypt0417]

Well clearly...if they haven't hit it big in what, 3 months? We're doomed.

I get it...you hate the ownership but man...relax.

Also...Luchanko since being traded to a good OHL team has 13 points in 14 games.

Nesbitt is also almost at a point a game.

[bigegypt0417]

Again...you're basing this on 3 months.

[flyers19rw]

The lack of talent on the ice is due to poor drafting. The guy that is in charge of acquiring it has been in that position for almost eight years. Before that he was in Minnesota with similar results. When you fail at your job in a couple of places over a long period of time, you're not good at the job and need to be replaced. Nothing will improve until that happens. The question is how long will Comcast sit on the sidelines and allow this organization to flounder in failure before it steps in and cleans out some of the non performers in the front office?

[bigegypt0417]

Briere has been the GM since May of 2023.

I havent been a fan of everything Briere has done but his moves so far have been fine. His biggest draft class is 3 months in to their careers.

[kmc1019]

I am basing assessments of Luchanko on 2 years of consensus by objective national scouting and prospect analysts or writers conveying the same message: Luchanko has severely limited offensive skills and no one outside of the Flyers organization views him as more than a 4th line Center.

With Michkov as the exception, sadly the current front office regime is continuing what is closer to decades than years of drafting "strong 2-way players", which has and and will continue contributing to an astounding lack of high-end offensive skill for a franchise that has been so mediocre, for so long.

Believe me, I want the Flyers to succeed, but there is no evidence that chronic organizational plague of poor drafting paired with poor cap management has improved.

[bigegypt0417]

Luchanko still seems to rate as a prospect.

this list is two weeks ago...

The NHL's Top 100 Prospects - Midseason Update - The Hockey Writers Editor's...

If the basis of your argument is to pick one guy as your proof...that's low hanging fruit for any organization.

Luchanko may not end up a star but he still may end up an every day NHL player and closing the book on a 19 year old seems premature.

Flyers have 4 players in the top 50 and all drafted by Briere.

[LegoDoom]

I don't like the way that the Flyers have drafted for a while (although obviously Michkov and Martone are great picks), but bige is right that it's too early to write off young/newly drafted prospects. Having said that, it's also too early to look at top 100 prospect lists with newly drafted prospects as their draft position gets weighted more than maybe it should.

[Docs]

I was not psyched how many draft picks didn’t play in world juniors but agree that it’s still early to assess. Another observation is of the three centers, their second round picks Berglund seems like he is leading currently over Jett and Nesbitt, as well as players picked after those two being further along with higher ceilings.

[bigegypt0417]

At some point we'll have enough information to make a judgement but using ten years to judge the last two and a half is trauma more than anything...we all suffer from trauma when it comes to being a Philadelphia sports fan.

[Austinfan]

I'm patient with prospects, especially bigger players (often develop later, especially D-men) and late birthdays (often a season behind their draft class, Jett didn't play top 6 role until D-1 season).

Briere and Sharp didn't become full-time starters until 24.
Cates was a defense first college LW who didn't score much.

They don't have to hit on every pick, just enough to fill out the roster.