Again I have to point out that no one cares this team is bad, and anyone (not you specifically) who complains and counters with "Well you wanted to tank, what did you expect?" Is arguing in bad faith.
What we care about is the fact that a "bad" team is holding onto Scotty "Franchise" Laughton instead of trading him for the first that was offered. We care that this team resigns ever player it can, players like Seeler and Hathaway instead of trading them for assets. We care that players that line up poorly with the rebuild timeline (4 more years according to some) are being reigned to max years like Konecny. We care that the cap is being wasted giving inconsistent middle six wingers like Tippet max term. We care that contracts like Fedotov's are being handed out based on nothing but vibes. We care that young players like Frost and Brink are being scratched for washed vets like Johnson or Deslauriers. We care that this organization bleeds huge amounts of value going for "fit" (Drysdale, drafting Luchanko). We hate that the GM shows zero patience at all (resigning Hathaway day 1, dumping Hayes immediately instead of waiting). We hate that young players who play here for any amount of time inevitably regress (look at Farabee or Foerster this season). We hate that we have a pathetically mean coach who is vindictive against certain players for no reason other than he doesn't like them. We hate that said coach has no clue how to coach a modern offence. We hate that the organizational power structure runs through this dinosaur coach, and that he was only hired because the ancient advisers who have a stranglehold on this team can't let go of their glory days from 50 years ago. We hate that incompetency in coaching (rocky and the PP, Lappy in general) is not only not punished, but seemingly rewarded. We hate that the GM thinks we already have enough elite talent on the roster to win a cup.
But most of all, we hate that this team is pegged to be nothing more than a first round playoff speed bump for actual contending teams for another decade, because we just finished watching exactly that for the previous decade and we've had enough.
I don't disagree with any of that, and I was just pointing out that they look bad because they are bad. I know, how very tautological.
I'm not an NHL team builder. I'm also only a Flyers fan, not a hockey fan (as in I don't really watch any other hockey, no time or desire) so my knowledge of other teams and players is almost 100% through reading about them here, seeing news about them, or watching them when they play the Flyers.
So with that caveat out of the way, I do feel that if they can be organically bad yet still have some talented veterans on the roster (TK, Coots, Sanheim) that is a better supporting development environment than one stripped to the studs and devoid of talented veteran leaders.
Still, I felt like trading TK would have been a smart move to capitalize on a high-value asset who would likely age of out of the competitive window. But they felt differently, so whatever, I will enjoy watching TK here instead of somewhere else. Same with Laughton. The time to trade him was just before they re-signed him. But they didn't.
Not a huge fan of the Tippett extension. I don't think he's a max term core player kind of guy.
I think Torts has some strong parts to his coaching style, and some downright petty elements too.
I felt like they should have taken Caufield instead of York and Brink. Buium instead of Luchanko. Those are the two biggest head scratchers.
So are all these "miscues" fatal? I have no idea.
I do know that a team that drafts #2, #5, #7, and #7 overall in a short span should have more to show for what we have now. The only one of those four players on the Flyers is Michkov. They blew their high picks, plain and simple. And by "blew" I mean they did not provide the Flyers with a high-talent core.
We had a franchise goaltender, and he turned out to be not who we thought he was.
They've been mired in mediocrity and bottom-third for over a decade now.
At the very least, they have Michkov. He is a legitimate elite talent you can build around. But they have so many organizational holes. If they can hit on a top 5 pick this year, maybe that starts to build momentum in the right direction.
Just my $0.02.
