EMB Blog: 2022 Off-Season

[CouchKing]

3 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

You're correct, I was just talking about recent guys. Hextall drafted a bunch of defenseman from 2013 - 2015 and they were supposed to create this amazing defense that would help turn the Flyers into cup contenders.

They should move the Flyers to Quebec . . . because they have No'diques.

[Infam]

Haha Dan Sileo is high today.. 😂

[NCiggles]

15 minutes ago, Sack that QB said:

Feels like there is still one more shoe to drop. Whether it’s safety or corner who knows. There’s just no way in hell Howie goes into the season with these safeties. I would’ve believed it was possible several weeks ago, but they’ve since shown that they’re trying to win now while also building for the long term. And adding all these players and then just neglected the secondary like this wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I think the Eagles will make a trade for a player just prior to or in the first 2 weeks of Training Camp.  I think that's when teams will be looking to fill holes.  Dillard and Reagor will have more trade value.  

[Texas Eagle]

Just now, Infam said:

Haha Dan Sileo is high today.. 😂

What’s he going on about

[St0nedsk8er]

Just now, NCiggles said:

I think the Eagles will make a trade for a player just prior to or in the first 2 weeks of Training Camp.  I think that's when teams will be looking to fill holes.  Dillard and Reagor will have more trade value.  

Plus there’s always those training camp/preseason injuries..Hate to see it, but it’s a part of the game and teams will have holes to fill as a result..including us.

[T-1000]

2 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Yep.  Amazing me that people ish on the job Hextall did.  He did a hell of lot better job at drafting than Fletcher.  It's just they didn't develop anyone, coaching was bad.  And they held on to Voracek and Giroux way too long. 

 

The biggest problem is the lack of a front man.  Owned by an entity with no real figure head to hold others accountable.  I am afraid they haven't hit rock bottom yet.  

Hextall was terrible at drafting. He passed on Makar and Heiskanen for Patrick. He passed on Debrincat for Laberge. Wasted a second round pick on Ginning and countless other examples. Beyond that his hire of Hakstol was terrible, signing JVR for 7 million was terrible, etc etc. Don't even get me started on his half assed rebuild which set the team back years. Had he just went all in on rebuilding and traded Simmonds, Giroux, and Voracek they would likely be in a far different spot. Hextall tried to have his cake and eat it too and win while rebuilding and it burned the franchise.

[RLC]

3 hours ago, downundermike said:

For those who care about such things, AJ Brown contract now on the books.

Eagles have 10.84 million in cap room, Will be 7.5 million after rookies are signed.  I don't remember what the June 1 savings of the Cox release are, but will be added to the 7.5 million

2023 - before rookies are added ( the have a first year cap hit of 7.4 million, so more than that obviously), Eagles have 10.8 million in cap room with 44 players under contract

2024 - before rookies are added ( the have a first year cap hit of 7.4 million, so more than that obviously), Eagles have 29 million in cap room with 20 players under contract.

The Eagles don't have a ton of future flexibility in terms of big signings. However, we all have signed impact players at premium positions (LT, WR, EDGE). The only premium positions that are not signed long-term are CB and QB. Slay is here for the next 2 years, so a young CB breaking through with help. Our draft assets will go to QB.

Easiest way to have 2023 cap flexibility, especially post draft, is to do the following.
- Trade Hargrave or Cox. We should honestly do one of these given the Davis pick.
- Trade Seumalo. This is especially true if Driscoll or Jurgens can play. It'll be harder to accomplish with Issac's injury history
- Trade Reagor. Even if we get a 7th to save about 2.5M in cap space . Adam Caplan thought the Eagles should get a 4th for him. I think that's crazy personally. I'd jump on that. 

Those moves hurt us in 2022 (except Reagor), but make 2023 much easier to navigate from a cap perspective.

Now, I don't think Howie will do this unless he gets a great offer. 

[Iggles_Phan]

19 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

Not at all. He wasn't very good before all of the injuries. Zero puck handling skills.

Still on the team.  They drafted him, he didn't draft himself.

I don't blame Reagor for his selection, I blame Howie.   I only blame Reagor for his juvenile behavior on social media.

[Saltpeter]

Thanks to whoever posted the Pickens video. What a Twitter goldmine. Been laughing for like 10 mins straight

[Infam]

10 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

What’s he going on about

"Howiewood” can slap his xxxx all over my face if he wins a SB the next two years. -Sileo

To give just one nugget. I don’t even agree with him making fun of Roseman ‘taking victory laps’ but it is funny. Still Sileo is off the rails tonight, more than usual.

Seriously he sounds high as f—

[T-1000]

Just now, Iggles_Phan said:

Still on the team.  They drafted him, he didn't draft himself.

I don't blame Reagor for his selection, I blame Howie.   I only blame Reagor for his juvenile behavior on social media.

Morin is a different case because of injuries. Reagor deserves plenty of blame though in addition to Howie. It's obvious to anyone who follows the team that the kid is immature and overly sensitive which isn't going to cut it in the NFL. Instead of getting motivated by the team trading for AJ Brown he scrubbed his social media and asked for a trade. He basically said he can't beat out a 6th round pick and undrafted guy for playing time as the 3rd or 4th WR on the team. Howie made a bad pick but Reagor is plenty accountable for his career going the way it has since he showed quite clearly as a rookie that he has talent.

Just now, Saltpeter said:

Thanks to whoever posted the Pickens video. What a Twitter goldmine. Been laughing for like 10 mins straight

Whats the video of him doing/saying.....

[NCiggles]

5 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

You're correct, I was just talking about recent guys. Hextall drafted a bunch of defenseman from 2013 - 2015 and they were supposed to create this amazing defense that would help turn the Flyers into cup contenders.

 

Just now, T-1000 said:

Hextall was terrible at drafting. He passed on Makar and Heiskanen for Patrick. He passed on Debrincat for Laberge. Wasted a second round pick on Ginning and countless other examples. Beyond that his hire of Hakstol was terrible, signing JVR for 7 million was terrible, etc etc. Don't even get me started on his half assed rebuild which set the team back years. Had he just went all in on rebuilding and traded Simmonds, Giroux, and Voracek they would likely be in a far different spot. Hextall tried to have his cake and eat it too and win while rebuilding and it burned the franchise.

Hextall was not the roster builder he was billed as for the Flyers when he came from LA.  I don't know how much of that is on him or the scouting staff.  I do think the Flyers have had biases in player evaluation that seem to stretch back decades.  I mean the head scout is Dave Brown.  The same Dave Brown that was the enforcer for the team in the 80s.  He's been with the team since 06 in that role.  

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

30 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

Ghost - Put up numbers in Arizona but still plays zero defense, is soft, and he had lost his offensive game in Philly

Sam Morin - Bust

Travis Sanheim - Finally put it all together this year

Ivan Provorov - Disappointment. Seems to have 1 really good season followed by 2 bad ones. Rinse, repeat.

Phil Myers - Was supposed to the greatest undrafted D prospect ever, got waived this year with no takers

I remember when these guys were supposed to be the anchors of a cup contending team in Philly. Quite honestly you could throw some forwards into this group as well as major disappointments. Hextall's drafting/rebuild was nowhere near as good as some people thought it was.

die hard flyers fan always overrate our prospects. Before the injuries fans were calling for Morin to be the next pronger. Even before he had the injuries he his trajectory wasn’t of that ilk besides his sheer size. I’ve heard how Morgan frost was going to be amazing. By the time we see anything happen with him it might be 2030. 

hextall’s rebuild wound up being a dud. That said i believed they should’ve traded giroux 3 years ago. Not cause giroux sucks or i hated him. The team around him was never good enough to actually be a legit contender. The season they had 3 seasons ago was a fluke. 3 out of 4 years you are bad it likely means you are bad. If you dealt him then you would’ve gotten a great package back. The fact the waited til now and basically cause they told them they weren’t bringing him back this offseason he only wanted to go to Florida. 

that said i have no clue how fletcher still has a job. He’s been terrible since coming here. He should’ve been canned and let the new GM make the coaching hire. Good chance fletcher is fired next year and the new GM wants his own guy. 

[NCiggles]

43 minutes ago, RememberTheKoy said:

Jalen practicing handing the ball off to AJ Brown. 

[Texas Eagle]

11 minutes ago, Infam said:

"Howiewood” can slap his xxxx all over my face if he wins a SB the next two years. -Sileo

To give just one nugget. I don’t even agree with him making fun of Roseman ‘taking victory laps’ but it is funny. Still Sileo is off the rails tonight, more than usual.

Seriously he sounds high as f—

Lol I just hopped on and yeah he’s on one today for sure. If I wasn’t mucho drinks deep I probably would turn it off.

[Saltpeter]

12 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

Whats the video of him doing/saying.....

Few pages back. He's watching himself get drafted in the most psychotic way you can imagine lol

[Alphagrand]

5 minutes ago, NCiggles said:

 

Hextall was not the roster builder he was billed as for the Flyers when he came from LA.  I don't know how much of that is on him or the scouting staff.  I do think the Flyers have had biases in player evaluation that seem to stretch back decades.  I mean the head scout is Dave Brown.  The same Dave Brown that was the enforcer for the team in the 80s.  He's been with the team since 06 in that role.  

While this is amusing, it's also true Craig Berube is a Stanley Cup winning head coach in St. Louis.  Maybe these goons have more going on upstairs than just CTE.

[austinfan]

21 minutes ago, 4for4EaglesNest said:

Yep.  Amazing me that people ish on the job Hextall did.  He did a hell of lot better job at drafting than Fletcher.  It's just they didn't develop anyone, coaching was bad.  And they held on to Voracek and Giroux way too long.

The biggest problem is the lack of a front man.  Owned by an entity with no real figure head to hold others accountable.  I am afraid they haven't hit rock bottom yet.  

Fletcher's first draft:  York, Brink, Attard - all three finished the season with the Flyers

Second draft:  Foerster, Andrae, Wisdom, Desnoyers, McClennon

Foerster was injured but played well in the AHL last year, Wisdom also played well last year, was injured but back in the CHL and tearing up the OHL playoffs, Andrae was the best defenseman in Allsvenskan (league below the SHL, his team was regulated there), Desnoyer was a defense first player who's been tearing up the Quebec Jr league.  All four are legitimate NHL prospects. McClennon is a mighty mite, big goal scorer in juniors but remains to be seen if his game translates to higher levels.

Third draft: traded 1st, rest of draft has more questions than answers right now

Drafting is not the issue, Risto trade/extension was a bad move, other than that, pretty much a wash. But Hextall wasn't much of a wheeler dealer either, and his big FA signing was JVR.

A big problem has been Holmgren, GM, then VP then senior advisor to Scott, he of the "bias for action," which worked before the salary Cap became a hard constraint and you could buy out your mistakes. He fired Hextall and hired Fletcher with the mandate to win now. Thus the "name " HC in AV.

 

 

[T-1000]

Just now, e-a-g-l-e-s eagles! said:

die hard flyers fan always overrate our prospects. Before the injuries fans were calling for Morin to be the next pronger. Even before he had the injuries he his trajectory wasn’t of that ilk besides his sheer size. I’ve heard how Morgan frost was going to be amazing. By the time we see anything happen with him it might be 2030. 

hextall’s rebuild wound up being a dud. That said i believed they should’ve traded giroux 3 years ago. Not cause giroux sucks or i hated him. The team around him was never good enough to actually be a legit contender. The season they had 3 seasons ago was a fluke. 3 out of 4 years you are bad it likely means you are bad. If you dealt him then you would’ve gotten a great package back. The fact the waited til now and basically cause they told them they weren’t bringing him back this offseason he only wanted to go to Florida. 

that said i have no clue how fletcher still has a job. He’s been terrible since coming here. He should’ve been canned and let the new GM make the coaching hire. Good chance fletcher is fired next year and the new GM wants his own guy. 

I agree with all of this. Morgan Frost is a great example. Kid was drafted FIVE years ago and hasn't done a thing. He hasn't even been that great in the AHL. There are some Flyers fans who still insist he is going to be some great player. The organization has been a mess for a very long time. I grew up watching the Flyers with the legion of doom and then to the next phase where they had Roenick, Primeau, Gagne, and the phase after that with Briere, Pronger, Timonen. For a good 15 years there it was a terrible year if the Flyers didn't win a couple of playoff rounds. Now they can't even make the playoffs at all. It's a total embarrassment and mess. EVERYONE should be fired and they should start over.

[Outlaw]

32 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Pickens & Claypool should be a fun locker room

Imagine if JuJu was still there.

30 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Add 2 players to this team to make them SB contenders. I choose Herbert & TJ Watt.

Josh Allen and Jonathan Taylor. Puts us in the top 5 offenses in the league.

[Saltpeter]

 

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

24 minutes ago, T-1000 said:

Hextall was terrible at drafting. He passed on Makar and Heiskanen for Patrick. He passed on Debrincat for Laberge. Wasted a second round pick on Ginning and countless other examples. Beyond that his hire of Hakstol was terrible, signing JVR for 7 million was terrible, etc etc. Don't even get me started on his half assed rebuild which set the team back years. Had he just went all in on rebuilding and traded Simmonds, Giroux, and Voracek they would likely be in a far different spot. Hextall tried to have his cake and eat it too and win while rebuilding and it burned the franchise.

See this is what really irks me. They should’ve just done a complete rebuild and not try to do it on the fly and build a contender. It wound up they couldn’t build a sustainable contender nor do a very good job rebuilding. They held onto giroux way too long. And they should’ve dealt voracek and simmonds earlier too. It would’ve helped with the guys they drafted and got prospects and picks to blend with them. Instead now we lack prospects due to poor drafting. And got little in return for giroux, voracek and simmonds. Plus made stupid deals last summer for Ryan Ellis who’s always hurt. 

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Texas Eagle said:

Add 2 players to this team to make them SB contenders. I choose Herbert & TJ Watt.

Josh Allen and Tre’Davious White

[e-a-g-l-e-s eagles!]

4 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Fletcher's first draft:  York, Brink, Attard - all three finished the season with the Flyers

Second draft:  Foerster, Andrae, Wisdom, Desnoyers, McClennon

Foerster was injured but played well in the AHL last year, Wisdom also played well last year, was injured but back in the CHL and tearing up the OHL playoffs, Andrae was the best defenseman in Allsvenskan (league below the SHL, his team was regulated there), Desnoyer was a defense first player who's been tearing up the Quebec Jr league.  All four are legitimate NHL prospects. McClennon is a mighty mite, big goal scorer in juniors but remains to be seen if his game translates to higher levels.

Third draft: traded 1st, rest of draft has more questions than answers right now

Drafting is not the issue, Risto trade/extension was a bad move, other than that, pretty much a wash. But Hextall wasn't much of a wheeler dealer either, and his big FA signing was JVR.

A big problem has been Holmgren, GM, then VP then senior advisor to Scott, he of the "bias for action," which worked before the salary Cap became a hard constraint and you could buy out your mistakes. He fired Hextall and hired Fletcher with the mandate to win now. Thus the "name " HC in AV.

 

 

Ryan Ellis was another awful move by fletcher. He was injury prone prior to coming here. It’s why Nashville wanted to deal him. Now we are stuck with an injury prone older player for a few more years and compounded with the risto trade and extension. I’d add he also signed Kevin hayes to his contract. Everyone in the nhl laughed saying he wasn’t worth it. He even said only way he was coming here was an overpay. They overpaid and he’s not nearly worth what they are paying him. 

[T-1000]

2 minutes ago, austinfan said:

Fletcher's first draft:  York, Brink, Attard - all three finished the season with the Flyers

Second draft:  Foerster, Andrae, Wisdom, Desnoyers, McClennon

Foerster was injured but played well in the AHL last year, Wisdom also played well last year, was injured but back in the CHL and tearing up the OHL playoffs, Andrae was the best defenseman in Allsvenskan (league below the SHL, his team was regulated there), Desnoyer was a defense first player who's been tearing up the Quebec Jr league.  All four are legitimate NHL prospects. McClennon is a mighty mite, big goal scorer in juniors but remains to be seen if his game translates to higher levels.

Third draft: traded 1st, rest of draft has more questions than answers right now

Drafting is not the issue, Risto trade/extension was a bad move, other than that, pretty much a wash. But Hextall wasn't much of a wheeler dealer either, and his big FA signing was JVR.

A big problem has been Holmgren, GM, then VP then senior advisor to Scott, he of the "bias for action," which worked before the salary Cap became a hard constraint and you could buy out your mistakes. He fired Hextall and hired Fletcher with the mandate to win now. Thus the "name " HC in AV.

 

 

Lol, Holmgren is not the problem. His tenure ended badly basically on one move which may or may not have been the owner's call and that was Bryzgalov. Under Holmgren's tenure they were in the playoffs every year, made it to a SCF's, and made it to another ECF's. Not only was Holmgren not the problem his reign as GM was the last time the team was relevant.

The biggest problem was Hextall and he ultimately set the team back a decade. He tried to rebuild while also keeping the team's best players and winning at the same time which doesn't work. The result was a mediocre team that made the playoffs one year, missed the next, and never got high enough picks to get cornerstone talent for a rebuild. He also made a terrible coaching in Hakstol that he refused to fire, and the one big splash he made in free agency was to massively overpay JVR. Fletcher inherited a mess and tried get out of it way quickly and the problems just got even worse. Both Hextall and Fletcher are to blame and Fletcher shouldn't have a job. Make no mistake about it though, everyone's Flyers hero from 80's goalie Ron is by far the biggest reason this organization is in the absolutel mess that they are in.