Rumor: Things Not Left Unsaid 3 - Flyers Rumors and Media Mentions: Never Ending Circles

[flyersnorth]

Good post. I can't see Tortorella going along with a tank season. He will push all the buttons that he can to make the POs. This is his legacy job which makes all of the difference in the world to him.
Unless DB makes significant moves to upgrade this roster, the club isn't going anywhere this upcoming season. Last season was the one where the breaks went the right way for the Flyers to have a shot at the POs. NJ had a run of terrible injuries; Buffalo had its usual coaching issues; the Flyers weren't taken seriously by opponents until it mattered and then they did, with the Flyers getting bombed and so forth.
None of that will help them this season and they'll easily be in the bottom ten teams of the League. When Torts sees this happening, he will flip out (dickish decisions) and it will be time for him to go. The only question will be when-Thanksgiving; New Years; AS game; TDL; or end of the season? DB needs to be aware that the longer he keeps Tortorella around, the more damage he does to the players. No player needs to be put through the head games that Tortorella plays on them when he gets on a roll.

I really have no idea where they will end up this season. If you say bottom ten, that is worse than last year. For that to happen, that would probably mean that the goaltending falters and the defense relied on Walker more than we thought.

I'm just excited for the season to start already. I love early season Flyers hockey, when there's still hope and excitement

 

[VladDrag]

Johansen is less than what they got from the Habs but remember, CBJ added a 2nd round pick in 2026, which will probably be a very high 2nd round pick, so not that surprising that Montreal's player being offered was better than Johansen (the Habs also needed to trade a left D as they have a ton of those).

They got a better player, who comes with more control, and an additional pick. Now the value of the pick is somewhat fluid, but it's basically has the equivalent of a 2025 3rd rounder.

So there's no way they were going to only get Johansen back -- there had to have been another player/pick going along with it --if the details are to be believed. I'm not 100% sure I believe those details TBH - it sounds kind of fishy.

**I'm an idiot as realized below**

 

[ponder719]

I really have no idea where they will end up this season. If you say bottom ten, that is worse than last year. For that to happen, that would probably mean that the goaltending falters and the defense relied on Walker more than we thought.

I'm just excited for the season to start already. I love early season Flyers hockey, when there's still hope and excitement

Not necessarily. All we need to finish bottom 10 is to tread water, while a couple teams below us get their act together. I don't see the Devils being the disaster they were last year, frex, now that they're healthy and have a better option than a Shooter Tutor in net.

 

[deadhead]

Sounds more like they threw crap against the wall, they wanted to dump Johansen, so they'd be willing to take a flyer on Laine and maybe flip him.

If Hart wasn't an alleged rapist, Flyers make the playoffs last season.
If Ersson/Fedotov are average or better, Flyers make the playoffs this season.

NJ did not have a lot of injuries, they lost Hamilton after 20 games, Meier was banged up, McLeod missed half the season. J Hughes missed 20 games. They also had a goalie meltdown but still finished 7 points behind the Flyers.

Now they're doubling down on veterans, Markstrom (Bahl, 2025 1st), and had traded 2025 3rd for Jake Allen. Bought Haula (2yr/$6.3M), Tatar (1yr/$1.8M), Pesce (4yr/$22M), Dillon (3yr/$12M).

5 forwards 30+, 2 more 29 years old, 2 D-men 30+, Pesce 29. Both goalies 34.

 

[The Last Red]

They got a better player, who comes with more control, and an additional pick. Now the value of the pick is somewhat fluid, but it's basically has the equivalent of a 2025 3rd rounder.

So there's no way they were going to only get Johansen back -- there had to have been another player/pick going along with it --if the details are to be believed. I'm not 100% sure I believe those details TBH - it sounds kind of fishy.

The Canadiens got the pick. CBJ only got Harris.

 

[VladDrag]

In general, there's a tier of teams, and I'm not exactly sure where it is, where most teams fall. It's something like this IMO:

1-3 Very good
4-8 good
9-16 slightly better than average
17-24 slightly worse than average
24-29 bad
30-32 very bad

The intention when building a club should be to try and get your team to the top of that group for as long as you can to give yourself a chance to compete for the cup. I had the team somewhere in that 9-16 grouping - I thought they were good enough for the playoffs (which isn't a huge accomplishment), and were a bit unlucky to not...But here's the thing, you run that 'simulation' 100 times and who knows where the Flyers end up on average.

I think they had a lot go right last year -- they had great growth from players who needed to grow/recover. In order to see better results than last year, you need everyone to take another step forward. There are still a few players that might have some meat on the bone to get better, but at some point, development stops.

The Canadiens got the pick. CBJ only got Harris.

Oh damn -- then I take that all back -- I have been unplugged from Hockey for a while!

 

[Beef Invictus]

Sounds more like they threw crap against the wall, they wanted to dump Johansen, so they'd be willing to take a flyer on Laine and maybe flip him.

If Hart wasn't an alleged rapist, Flyers make the playoffs last season.
If Ersson/Fedotov are average or better, Flyers make the playoffs this season.

NJ did not have a lot of injuries, they lost Hamilton after 20 games, Meier was banged up, McLeod missed half the season. J Hughes missed 20 games. They also had a goalie meltdown but still finished 7 points behind the Flyers.

Now they're doubling down on veterans, Markstrom (Bahl, 2025 1st), and had traded 2025 3rd for Jake Allen. Bought Haula (2yr/$6.3M), Tatar (1yr/$1.8M), Pesce (4yr/$22M), Dillon (3yr/$12M).

5 forwards 30+, 2 more 29 years old, 2 D-men 30+, Pesce 29. Both goalies 34.

A thin defense becoming cheesecloth because they lost Hamilton for 62 games is a very big deal.

 

[BringBackHakstol]

The fact the flyers were interested in Laine is not surprising at all. He's right up their alley

 

[blackjackmulligan]

Sounds more like they threw crap against the wall, they wanted to dump Johansen, so they'd be willing to take a flyer on Laine and maybe flip him.

If Hart wasn't an alleged rapist, Flyers make the playoffs last season.
If Ersson/Fedotov are average or better, Flyers make the playoffs this season.

NJ did not have a lot of injuries, they lost Hamilton after 20 games, Meier was banged up, McLeod missed half the season. J Hughes missed 20 games. They also had a goalie meltdown but still finished 7 points behind the Flyers.

Now they're doubling down on veterans, Markstrom (Bahl, 2025 1st), and had traded 2025 3rd for Jake Allen. Bought Haula (2yr/$6.3M), Tatar (1yr/$1.8M), Pesce (4yr/$22M), Dillon (3yr/$12M).

5 forwards 30+, 2 more 29 years old, 2 D-men 30+, Pesce 29. Both goalies 34.

if this, if that, amazing.

What would you like to wager on they do not if they are average or better. What are you defining as average, league average in GAA and Save %?

Would you trade the Flyers roster/prospects for the Devils roster/prospects? Yes or No?

 

[usahockey22flyers]

the interesting thing in all of this is… if Laine came, who would have been moved? We have literally 0 open spots as is

 

[freakydallas13]

NJ did not have a lot of injuries, they lost Hamilton after 20 games

Losing their #1 defenseman for 75% of the season seems pretty significant.

Edit: using "if the goalies were average they'd be a playoff team!" excuse for the Flyers is hilarious. Both because, yeah, duh, if they were a better team they would be better. And also, because NJ also had horrific goaltending. Markstrom gives them a much more solid starter than the Flyers have.

I'm willing to bet that NJ finishes with more points than the Flyers this season. Loser can't post here for a month, want to take that wager?

 

[freakydallas13]

Also, chalk another name in the list of players who don't want to play for this team. Turns out no one wants wants to play for a team where the coach is the face of the franchise.

Laine
Krug
Gauthier
Sedlak
Kolosov (likely)

Who am I missing, did Hayes or Provorov request a trade I'm forgetting about?

 

[Beef Invictus]

Losing their #1 defenseman for 75% of the season seems pretty significant.

Edit: using "if the goalies were average they'd be a playoff team!" excuse for the Flyers is hilarious. Both because, yeah, duh, if they were a better team they would be better. And also, because NJ also had horrific goaltending. Markstrom gives them a much more solid starter than the Flyers have.

I'm willing to bet that NJ finishes with more points than the Flyers this season. Loser can't post here for a month, want to take that wager?

To be fair, losing a #1 dman can be worked around. Some teams have the depth to work around that to a degree. But the Devils are not one of those teams. Losing Hamilton was a massive blow to them. Not a thing they could shrug off, and if they had then that's Jack Adams coaching.

 

[freakydallas13]

To be fair, losing a #1 dman can be worked around. Some teams have the depth to work around that to a degree. But the Devils are not one of those teams. Losing Hamilton was a massive blow to them. Not a thing they could shrug off, and if they had then that's Jack Adams coaching.

Oh for sure, some teams could survive that, but like you said NJ isn't one of them.

It was comparable to two seasons ago when the Flyers didn't have Couts all season and their position in the standings suffered because of the lack of center depth.

 

[deadhead]

if this, if that, amazing.

What would you like to wager on they do not if they are average or better. What are you defining as average, league average in GAA and Save %?

Would you trade the Flyers roster/prospects for the Devils roster/prospects? Yes or No?

All situations (GA - xGA)/60. NST. Other sites have similar metrics, goal is to factor out your defense, etc. so you can compare across teams.
Last season Flyers goalies were actually worse than NJ.

Markstrom was -0.35, so if he holds up, he'll help NJ.
But he's pretty inconsistent, last five years: -0.35, +0.18, -0.24, +0.39, -0.07.
And at 34, that's a risk in and of itself.

I'd take NJ over the Flyers b/c they've added a lot of veteran talent the last six months, they have a 2-3 year window before it falls apart. This isn't a young team that added a couple veterans, this is a team with a young core (Meier (27), Bratt (26), Nico (26), J Hughes (23), Mercer (23), L Hughes (21), Nemec (20)) but no young depth.

NJ has no 1st rd pick in 2025, 2nd rd from Edmonton and Winnipeg
Flyers have 3 1st rd picks, 2nd rd picks from CBJ, Anaheim and their own.

 

[Magua]

I'd take NJ over the Flyers b/c they've added the a lot of veteran talent the last six months, they have a 2-3 year window before it falls apart.

You always brighten my day.

 

[DAVIDE1333]

All situations (GA - xGA)/60. NST. Other sites have similar metrics, goal is to factor out your defense, etc. so you can compare across teams.
Last season Flyers goalies were actually worse than NJ.

Markstrom was -0.35, so if he holds up, he'll help NJ.
But he's pretty inconsistent, last five years: -0.35, +0.18, -0.24, +0.39, -0.07.
And at 34, that's a risk in and of itself.

I'd take NJ over the Flyers b/c they've added a lot of veteran talent the last six months, they have a 2-3 year window before it falls apart. This isn't a young team that added a couple veterans, this is a team with a young core (Meier (27), Bratt (26), Nico (26), J Hughes (23), Mercer (23), L Hughes (21), Nemec (20)) but no young depth.

NJ has no 1st rd pick in 2025, 2nd rd from Edmonton and Winnipeg
Flyers have 3 1st rd picks, 2nd rd picks from CBJ, Anaheim and their own.

I would take the Devils' roster without the vets. In 2-3 years the young core will be in their prime and could still sign a couple vets. The Flyers will still be 5 years away

 

[freakydallas13]

All situations (GA - xGA)/60. NST. Other sites have similar metrics, goal is to factor out your defense, etc. so you can compare across teams.
Last season Flyers goalies were actually worse than NJ.

Markstrom was -0.35, so if he holds up, he'll help NJ.
But he's pretty inconsistent, last five years: -0.35, +0.18, -0.24, +0.39, -0.07.
And at 34, that's a risk in and of itself.

I'd take NJ over the Flyers b/c they've added a lot of veteran talent the last six months, they have a 2-3 year window before it falls apart. This isn't a young team that added a couple veterans, this is a team with a young core (Meier (27), Bratt (26), Nico (26), J Hughes (23), Mercer (23), L Hughes (21), Nemec (20)) but no young depth.

NJ has no 1st rd pick in 2025, 2nd rd from Edmonton and Winnipeg
Flyers have 3 1st rd picks, 2nd rd picks from CBJ, Anaheim and their own.

Finding depth players is actually easier than finding core players. The Devils are more likely to find depth players than the Flyers are to find core ones.

 

[trostol]

My fear is they indeed compete for a PO spot...just to become that middling bubble team that year in and year out either just miss...just make it or are 1st or 2nd round fodder...

 

[Flyerfan4life]

I would take the Devils' roster without the vets. In 2-3 years the young core will be in their prime and could still sign a couple vets. The Flyers will still be 5 years away

ahh the good ol 5 years away from being 5 years away...

#rinserepeat..

 

[Chicken N Raffls]

My fear is they indeed compete for a PO spot...just to become that middling bubble team that year in and year out either just miss...just make it or are 1st or 2nd round fodder...

Like the last 10+ years? Don't worry my man, I guess you haven't heard the good news. It's a new era!

 

[blackjackmulligan]

All situations (GA - xGA)/60. NST. Other sites have similar metrics, goal is to factor out your defense, etc. so you can compare across teams.
Last season Flyers goalies were actually worse than NJ.

Markstrom was -0.35, so if he holds up, he'll help NJ.
But he's pretty inconsistent, last five years: -0.35, +0.18, -0.24, +0.39, -0.07.
And at 34, that's a risk in and of itself.

I'd take NJ over the Flyers b/c they've added a lot of veteran talent the last six months, they have a 2-3 year window before it falls apart. This isn't a young team that added a couple veterans, this is a team with a young core (Meier (27), Bratt (26), Nico (26), J Hughes (23), Mercer (23), L Hughes (21), Nemec (20)) but no young depth.

NJ has no 1st rd pick in 2025, 2nd rd from Edmonton and Winnipeg
Flyers have 3 1st rd picks, 2nd rd picks from CBJ, Anaheim and their own.

Can't wait to see what they do with them. Whatever it is you will defend it.

Flyer's 2nd rd drafting isn't all that good.

 

[TCTC]

I really have no idea where they will end up this season. If you say bottom ten, that is worse than last year. For that to happen, that would probably mean that the goaltending falters and the defense relied on Walker more than we thought.

I'm just excited for the season to start already. I love early season Flyers hockey, when there's still hope and excitement

I'm excited for the Russian dwarf to show what he's about. Could elevate several players if he's as good as advertised.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Laine
Krug
Gauthier
Kolosov

List of guys refusing to play here is growing.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Laine
Krug
Gauthier
Kolosov

List of guys refusing to play here is growing.

Likely Johansen.

These are just the ones we know about! There are certainly more.