13 hours ago, vsptroops said:

For his first job, he took over a Tampa Bay club in 2008-09 that was months removed from picking No. 1 overall, and days removed from the disastrous and abbreviated Barry Melrose tenure. Then, after a very successful run as assistant in Pittsburgh (winning two Stanley Cups in the process), he took over a mess of an Arizona club bereft of talent on the ice and in the midst of an ownership change and arena squabble off of it. As for Vancouver, he joined an organization that had missed the playoffs in seven of the previous eight seasons and was flailing in the mud.

Dinging Tocchet for not putting up a stellar record in those circumstances is supremely unfair, the thinking goes.

Not buying it at all.

You can't give Tocchet credit for Steve Stamkos; he was a #1 overall pick who scored 50 goals as a 19 year-old, and credits Gary Roberts for getting him into better physical condition and honing the elements of his game that needed improvement. After Tocchet was fired Stamkos produced just fine under Guy Boucher. Did Tocchet do a better job with the Lightning than his replacement, Guy Boucher? Probably not. Did he do a better job than Jon Cooper? Not even close.

In Arizona would they tell you Tocchet is a better head coach than Dave Tippett? I seriously doubt it. Is he a better coach than their current guy, Andre Tourigny? I'm betting most Coyotes fans (5 out of the 9 of them) would tell you there isn't much difference.

48 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

Not buying it at all.

You can't give Tocchet credit for Steve Stamkos; he was a #1 overall pick who scored 50 goals as a 19 year-old, and credits Gary Roberts for getting him into better physical condition and honing the elements of his game that needed improvement. After Tocchet was fired Stamkos produced just fine under Guy Boucher. Did Tocchet do a better job with the Lightning than his replacement, Guy Boucher? Probably not. Did he do a better job than Jon Cooper? Not even close.

In Arizona would they tell you Tocchet is a better head coach than Dave Tippett? I seriously doubt it. Is he a better coach than their current guy, Andre Tourigny? I'm betting most Coyotes fans (5 out of the 9 of them) would tell you there isn't much difference.

Yeah I get it. To be honest, my biggest fear is that he turns them into a dump and chase team, which would be horrible for Michkov. It's almost comical how the Flyers can't seem to help themselves from being talked about as being the same old Flyers.

1 hour ago, vsptroops said:

Yeah I get it. To be honest, my biggest fear is that he turns them into a dump and chase team, which would be horrible for Michkov. It's almost comical how the Flyers can't seem to help themselves from being talked about as being the same old Flyers.

I've listened to a few podcasts since I don't follow the team nearly as closely as I used to. The consensus seems to be he coaches a system nothing like he used to play and that he values an offensive system where the centre has increased importance, as well as wanting the defencemen joining the offensive rush more frequently to contribute points.

That sounds fine for Drysdale and Andrae -- we'll see if they can develop in Tocchet's system. The Flyers have nothing at centre, though, which will pose a big problem. Are they using 32 year-old Couturier as their #1 centre full time? Do they have any cap room to attract a top 6 free agent centre? One can assume they'll be drafting C at #6 overall (barring a trade-up), but there is a lot of work to be done with the roster before they can play the system Tocchet apparently wants.

Meh. Whatever.

Provide me with Talent, then after you get that, Coaching matters.

Note -- I am an idiot who knows nothing about anything.

16 hours ago, LacesOut said:

Meh. Whatever.

Provide me with Talent, then after you get that, Coaching matters.

Note -- I am an idiot who knows nothing about anything.

Yep, they need what they haven't had in over a decade. Elite level talent. Michkov looks like the real deal and hopefully Luchanko can be a high end scoring guy as well. It'll be interesting to see who they get at 6 this year.

4 hours ago, vsptroops said:

Yep, they need what they haven't had in over a decade. Elite level talent. Michkov looks like the real deal and hopefully Luchanko can be a high end scoring guy as well. It'll be interesting to see who they get at 6 this year.

The board actually sets up for them pretty well in that the top 10 prospects are riddled with centres. It'll be a matter of picking and developing the right one. I'm coming around on James Hagens -- really good passer as well as having a heavy shot; I think he has 1st line centre potential. Frondell scares me a bit due to a lower level of competition.

Of what was on the coaching market, we probably did about as good as we could do. We went outside the org once for a GM and twice for coaches. Didn't really work out too well.

I think we all got a little burnt out from the Homer years, but IMO Homer's disastrous moves late in his tenure were more for Snyder pushing him to try and get one more cup before he passed. Before Snyder started pulling the strings more, Homer did put together a few pretty good teams and we had good coaches.

Briere isn't Homer nor is he Hextall, so we're not going to see a whole bunch of crazy moves and offer sheets. He spent a bunch of time getting rid of players to get picks and cap space.

This team is going to be rebuilding for at least another season or two. FA in 2026 is stacked, so we're not going to know what kind of a team we have until we go into the 26-27 season. One thing going for us is that Briere set us up to have a really big chunk of cap space available for the summer of 26.

In other words, the dish is in the oven and we're not going to know what we're eating for awhile.

On 5/17/2025 at 11:09 AM, Bill said:

Of what was on the coaching market, we probably did about as good as we could do. We went outside the org once for a GM and twice for coaches. Didn't really work out too well.

I think we all got a little burnt out from the Homer years, but IMO Homer's disastrous moves late in his tenure were more for Snyder pushing him to try and get one more cup before he passed. Before Snyder started pulling the strings more, Homer did put together a few pretty good teams and we had good coaches.

Briere isn't Homer nor is he Hextall, so we're not going to see a whole bunch of crazy moves and offer sheets. He spent a bunch of time getting rid of players to get picks and cap space.

This team is going to be rebuilding for at least another season or two. FA in 2026 is stacked, so we're not going to know what kind of a team we have until we go into the 26-27 season. One thing going for us is that Briere set us up to have a really big chunk of cap space available for the summer of 26.

In other words, the dish is in the oven and we're not going to know what we're eating for awhile.

I’d have been much happier with Gerard Gallant, but we’ll see how this goes. The Flyers have committed 5 highly paid years to Tocchet, so he’ll be the guy for at least 3 years — one would think.

I’ll take an interest in the draft for the first time in many years. If they stay at #6 my preference is Hagens, or Desnoyers if Hagens is gone. I assume Schafer, Misa and Martone will be taken already. Not too excited about McQueen or Frondell as picks.

They have enough draft capital to make a splash and move up. Would have been a lot easier from the #4 spot but the lottery kind of screwed them on that.

On 5/14/2025 at 2:24 PM, Blazehound said:

I cannot describe how much I hate the Flyers front office. Tocchet is a bonafide below average coach with no measurable success and tons of baggage. But sure, give him $25M to coach the team over the next 5 years. Same as it ever was.

I'm thinking trade-up at the draft is the way to go; make two picks in the top 10. Stay at #6 overall and take Desnoyers or Frondell for C (Hagens would be even better), then package up picks 22, 40, and 45 to move back up to #9 or 10 overall. Take the best available d-man on the board. I'm hoping Jackson Smith is there; excellent skater with size who would fit Tocchet's system of activating the defenseman into the rush to create offense.

Come out of the draft with one of the top 3 centres and one of the top 3 defensemen. Still have picks 30 in the first round, and 36 and 48 in the 2nd round to work with. Need a trade partner, of course, but I'd be surprised if this isn't the draft strategy.

44 minutes ago, iladelphxx said:

ESPN.com

Email error causes Caps to address Ovi's future

The Capitals say no decision has been made on Alex Ovechkin's future in the NHL after an email was sent to season-ticket holders calling next season his last.

2 hours ago, iladelphxx said:

He’ll be 25 already at the start of the season, and just tiny — 5’8 and 159 lbs. If he was 18 that wouldn’t be as concerning, but for 25? Yikes.

He’s a spin of the wheel. Hopefully not too big an investment because the odds are against him being a top 6 forward.

@e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! @Freshmilk

Is this an accurate representation of the Flyers current depth chart?

C — Couturier, Cates, Poehling

LW — Foerster, Tippett, Pelletier, Deslauriers

RW — Konecny, Michkov, Brink, Hathaway

D — Sanheim, York, Ristolainen, Seeler, Drysdale, Zamula

When you consider Couturier turns 33 in December, centre and defense need a ton of work. Is York a top 4 defenseman? If not, that blueline is a mess.

15 minutes ago, Alphagrand said:

@e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! @Freshmilk

Is this an accurate representation of the Flyers current depth chart?

C — Couturier, Cates, Poehling

LW — Foerster, Tippett, Pelletier, Deslauriers

RW — Konecny, Michkov, Brink, Hathaway

D — Sanheim, York, Ristolainen, Seeler, Drysdale, Zamula

When you consider Couturier turns 33 in December, centre and defense need a ton of work. Is York a top 4 defenseman? If not, that blueline is a mess.

Based off what cbs has. Looks pretty accurate

4 minutes ago, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

When healthy he’s pretty good I’m ok with it

3 hours ago, RoadToHell said:

When healthy he’s pretty good I’m ok with it

Microsoft Co pilot believes this is big shift for Briere

Not Smith???