Philadelphia Flyers

[newper114]

I traded for frost this summer And was hoping for the C2. I knew talks that he could be sent down bc of last years injry but this went very quiet. Gotta think he gets called up pretty quickly?

[GTX]

Any guesses how the Phila powerplay lines would look like this season, when Ellis returns? Will he mostly run the PP1 and Yandle PP2 and Provorov will be out?

[stevegamer]

Honestly, Yandle shouldn't be on the ice - but he will be until they get a new GM. I'm really hoping that happens soon, but I'm not expecting it.

I'd expect some combination of the 3 guys you mention, but realize that Ellis is so injured at this point, it wouldn't surprise me if he gets shut down mid-season, as this year is lost.

[tweetdrivr]

Vigneault has been fired.

[PenguinHunter]

Vigneault has been fired.

Oh wow!

[2014olympicgold]

The assistant coach who runs the PP has been fired too. Therrien.

[Grapes]

I don’t follow Philly, however I watched last nights game against Tampa Bay. The Flyers looked like Vancouver of late. Not engaged at all in their play. Hope a coaching change turns both teams around.

[stevegamer]

Wrong guy got fired, but firing the coach is the first step. The Flyers peak was the Covid season, and they won't truly contend until Fletcher is gone.

They haven't been healthy, but Yandle & Ristolainen was a bad idea when they did it, and it's gone worse than I thought it would.

[saucelife90]

Bobby Clarke on Hextall & drafting...

"None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick. I don’t know where Patrick should have gone, after his performances in Brandon – he’s a pretty good player. But certainly, they wanted Makar. Of course, he went next. Now, he’s a superstar and Patrick hasn’t played. But Hextall made that choice himself, and there were other choices that were made at our drafts that we’re paying for."

"We have two or three first-round picks that are never going to play, and that’s why we’re struggling. Hextall made some huge mistakes.”

Hindsight is 20/20, and it's easy to say you wanted Makar now, 4 years later, but Patrick was the overall top prospect in that draft. I'm sure their scouts were ecstatic with getting him @ #2 when Hischier went first overall.

Final Rank	Midterm Rank	Player	Position	Amateur Team	League
1	1	Patrick, Nolan	Center
2	2	Hischier, Nico	Center
3	5	Mittelstadt, Casey	Center	MINNESOTA	BIG10
4	3	Vilardi, Gabriel	Center
5	6	Rasmussen, Michael	Center	GRAND RAPIDS	AHL
6	8	Glass, Cody	Center
7	4	Tippett, Owen	Right Wing
8	7	Tolvanen, Eeli	Right Wing
9	10	Makar, Cale	Defenseman	UMASS	H-EAST
10	16	Suzuki, Nick	Center

[Axeman33]

Actually, Bobby misspoke because apparently the player the scouts actually wanted was Heiskanen, not Makar. Either way, hindsight.

[stevegamer]

Bobby Clarke on Hextall & drafting...

"None of our scouts wanted Nolan Patrick. I don’t know where Patrick should have gone, after his performances in Brandon – he’s a pretty good player. But certainly, they wanted Makar. Of course, he went next. Now, he’s a superstar and Patrick hasn’t played. But Hextall made that choice himself, and there were other choices that were made at our drafts that we’re paying for."

"We have two or three first-round picks that are never going to play, and that’s why we’re struggling. Hextall made some huge mistakes.”

Clarke needs to look in the mirror, and probably stop trying to cover up some of his awful moves over the years. Everybody makes mistakes, and it's not like Patrick wasn't highly rated.

Honestly, Clarke & Holmgren remaining employed by the Flyers in a role which has anything to do with players on the ice is a problem.

[4T2]

I was thinking the same thing when I heard this. I remember it being a debate whether Hischier or Patrick would go first overall. I don’t remember a lot of talk about Makar being drafted ahead of either of them.

I thought it was big of Hextall to choose not to respond when he was asked about the comments.

[tweetdrivr]

It’ll be a barn fight later...

[kovalchuk17]

Few (if any) GMs wont pick the consensus top guys that high in the draft. there is some wiggle room if its not clear who number 1 is but for the most part they pick based on the rankings. It was supposed to be Nico/Nolan for top 2, Miro #3 then it was a bit unclear who should go #4 and #5. Fortunately, Colorado and Vancouver made the right picks as the picks following them havent done as much.

The revisionist blame game are symptoms of poor management. Say Hextall picked Miro/Makar and it DIDNT pan out even though the scouts wanted it while Nolan went #3 and turned out to be stud expected of him. Hextall would still get all of the blame anyway, not the scouts and he didnt even go with the guy he preferred.

[2014olympicgold]

Clarke just doesn't like Hextall and took this as an opportunity to insult him. No other reason for it. It's just a guy who saw an opportunity to insult a guy he doesn't like.

As for if the comments are true, it's def a potential for it to be true. But who cares if it is. Burke did something like this with Morgan Reilly. It likely happens a lot where a GM takes the guy they like and it just doesn't come out. No one has a crystal ball, and a GM should take a guy they like since it's more often than not their job on the line not the scouts.

It also wasn't too long ago that the Philly prospect pool was one of the top ones in the leagues and Hextall was the one who built it. So it's quite the timing that Clarke says this once his teams sinking (and ownership likely looking at management like whats going on)and Hextall's is rising.