The Stars & Flyers Have New Head Coaches, But VERY Different Expectations | DLLS Stars Podcast

You ever heard of the Broad Street Bullies? You ever heard of Dave the Hammer Schultz? Have you ever sat on a hockey bus and had meals with the Hammer? This guy has. It’s another story for another day. But today is Philadelphia Flyers Day. The other 31 continues with the Flyers right now on DLLS. Get ready, boys. [Music] [Music] [Music] Hey. Hey. Hey. This is the DLLS Stars podcast for Tuesday, August 5th. And we are in the lounge today. Sam in the lounge. Heyday. Sam was mad at me yesterday because I read the schedule wrong. Told him we were all in the lounge. And I made Sam wear pants because we’re in the lounge. You don’t want to just show all the inner thigh. And then it turned out yesterday we were in the podcast studio and he hasn’t forgiven me yet. Unacceptable. Making Sam wear pants is a unforgivable offense. Right. Capital one. I just got to call it. Burned Oil says Sam is the light of this podcast. I mean, so thank you. Usually wearing two short shorts and flip-flops. That’s okay. Alongside Sam Nestler, I’m Owen Newkerk. No Luds today. Uh he will be back on the show tomorrow. And of course some guys like to call him offscreen queso, others like the prophet. We call him Elijah. Elijah Smith, our producer, is here. And we are ready to go flyers day today. A little bit later, we’ll be joined by Kevin Kurs from the Athletic. But it we are really excited with our headliner today. It is none other than the Philadelphia Inquirer Flyers beat writer. Please welcome Jackie Spiegel to the show. Jackie, Bravo, welcome in. Thank you very much. Yeah, we all the all the drops. Yeah. Wait, wait. I’m a little I’m a I’m Thank you for having me first off, but I’m also I’m a little upset Cred Lwig is not on. I I know. I’m I’m I am a child in her 40s and obviously I grew up watching him play. I think I have his hockey card somewhere buried in my stack of books. So, uh but very excited to be here. Thanks for having me. Well, the only reason Lighty’s not on today is because of a a bereavement leave. So, it’s not anything personal and he wants to be here. He would rather be here in the show. The question I have for you on your hockey card is, can you see his shin pads on that Craig Lewig card? Oh, of Well, of course. I’m pretty sure. Yeah, he had the big He had the big shining guard. Big giant. It was a little flowing. Yeah. Oh, yeah. It hasn’t changed. The hair is still there. Okay. So, Jackie, let’s let’s make a date of this. Let’s have you on when we’re close to when the Flyers and the Stars play during the season and we’ll let you go to town and talk to to Luds about all the crazy things when you were growing up as a Flyers or watching him play and I would guess it probably would have been Canadians or stars, right? For what? Do you remember when Luds played for Montreal or was it he already in Minnesota Dallas by then? I think the cars are Minnesota Dallas. Yeah, that makes sense. 80s like I don’t remember. He was definitely late 80s I would say. Right. And then yeah, he was what 83 84 I think his first year. Yeah. In Montreal. Yep. We should know this. We’ve only had him on the show for a year. He tells so many stories I forget what’s real and what’s not real. He does. I’ll look through my cards before we go the next time to see what I Well, everybody knows the shin pads and we are thrilled to talk about it at all times. In fact, I was on vacation a couple weeks ago about the 4th of July and Sam and Luds were on a show by themselves, which was really dangerous. And he held up a framed shin pad. Like they were the shin pads. They were nice. Crazy. Framed and everything. It looked like what what are those fish that are really flat? Are they groupers? Are they really wide or I some kind of I know what you’re talking about. That’s what those shin pads look like. the ones that are just as wide as they are thick. It’s crazy. Okay, well, let’s talk about the Flyers because that’s obviously the genesis of this today. Let’s start with coaching because both the Stars and the Flyers made a coaching change, but it seems like for very different reasons. One because they’re trying to win a Stanley Cup. Well, I guess both are in that regard, but yeah, one because they’re getting close and one is they haven’t been for a while. So, what was the sort of in your beatw writing sort of view of it, the end of the John Tortoella era and why they went to Rick Tocket in Philly? Well, I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I think Tortoella’s personality just kind of wore out um towards the end of it. I think, you know, it was getting to a point where they kind of knew the end was coming for him. And obviously, there was the issues with Cam York that we all know about. there was other, you know, things that were going on behind the scenes. It just seemed like he kind of had reached that point where it was kind of the end was near. And I think with Rick Tocket, you see a little bit of a change, but there’s a lot of similarities. So, it’s kind of still building on what Tortoella did when he was with the Flyers. I was just going to say they’re they’re not necessarily opposite coaches, right, Jackie? I mean, you you you just talked about the personality wearing out. Tak’s a pretty fiery guy as well. Were you surprised at all that they went that route or was it because they wanted to keep similar type of things still in the organization? I think I mean I had heard Rick Taka’s name mentioned back in February as as a potential possibility for the Flyers uh head coaching position. Uh I wasn’t surprised obviously then because they went did go for him. I think they they like that he still has that fiery personality. I think they like that he’s someone who can push but not in the in a bad way, guys, if that makes sense. And I’m not saying Torella did it either in a bad way. Everyone has their own way of doing things. Um, but I will say that I think they liked how Takit kind of talks, he’s very open book. Like I talked to a lot of people like Wes Walls. I talked to, you know, a lot of people about to talk and his way of going about things. And it just seems like he’s very open door. And even like me speaking with him, like we did a one-on-one for the Inquirer after he got hired and it’s just you see like he’s he’s very detailed. He’s very exact. Like there was things he was saying that I was like, “Oh, this this sounds good.” Like this like how he looks at the power play or how he looks at defense or how he looks at power uh for um offense. like you could see that he kind of has the right steps that maybe where this team is looking to move towards now. I guess the only person that would make more sense than Rick Tocket would be Rod Brymore. And I know the Hurricanes don’t want to let him go, but it felt like it was inevitable that Tet was going to end up in in Philly just because of the history whether he was drafted by them. I think he played parts of 11 seasons with the style of play. It it all feels very Flyersesque, doesn’t it? It does. And I and but I don’t want it to, you know, every team kind of hires guys or that have played for their I mean look, you have um uh Ryan Husker was with the AHL team in Calgary. You have, you know, Marty St. Louis from Quebec. You have um Marco Sturm who’s now the head coach in Boston that played for the You know, you have guys that have all played for teams. I think with Takit though, it’s Yeah, he understands the history and he understands kind of the mindset of the fan base. He understands the mindset of where they want this team to go. I think you know everyone always said and even Rick Tockett said when he was the Conucks coach that the Flyers are a very hard to play against team they work hard you know they they play hard and I think he will just continue that because that’s who Rick Tockett is my the interesting thing I uh found in my conversations about Rick Tockett um after he was hired is that he’s someone whose strategy kind of really helps goalies out. Um he’s very hyperfocused on not making his own goalies move north or east west too often. Um which I think is going to be something that’s going to be really important for Sam Ersen and Dan Vadar this year when they step into net. I want to talk about Vdar, but I’m I’m going to push that back for a second because I do have one more question for about Jackie. Being a fellow beat writer, I know how often the coach you have to speak with the coach. So it’s really important to have a coach that’s somewhat open, right? I mean, I we I’ve been through three different coaches. It’s it’s a very different experience when you have a a grumpy Pete Dbor, for example, versus a happy Pete Dbor. It’s it’s a different lifestyle for us. So, I’m curious, Taki, it’s an interesting one because he’s not just someone we know as a coach. You’ve also seen him on the desk at TNT and in the media. What have you kind of learned about his personality and are you excited to deal with him every day? I’m I’m excited to deal with him. You know, I actually had a very good relationship with John Toorella. Um, I do think he made me a better, you know, question asker, asker of questions, let’s say. Uh, you know, he made me I thought he he definitely, you know, helped me grow. I mean, it was this is my first beat job, so it was definitely an experience. I’m someone who’s on the road at every road game. I’m on pretty much at every home game. So, I think I went to like 77 games last year. And that was only because I missed a couple because of uh I went to the Frozen Four. Um, so I missed a couple games towards the end of the season. So I’ve been at every game pretty much and I’m there on the road. I’m there for practice. I’m there for you know train every day of training camp. So it’s I think it’s really important to have someone who kind of understands a little bit your role. Um because yeah you might get the same question like every day you might get or same line of questioning or you know I think it’s just it’s it’s good to have someone who kind of understands the role I think a little bit. um because maybe they won’t push back too much um when you ask certain questions. Uh it’ll it’ll be good. I think it’ll be good. I’ve seen a lot of his stuff that he’s done since he got hired. You know, I talked to him one-on-one. It was it was a fantastic. We talked for like 15 minutes. Learned a lot about him and his strategy and his systems. Um yeah, I think it’ll just be it’ll be a different it’ll be different. It’ll be different to deal with uh for sure, but you know, don’t want to really go viral again like I did like four times last season. Well, that that’s the tricky part. And I want to ask you about Torch real quick now since we brought it up because I’ve interviewed him before and there he can be illuminating and fascinating. It just depends on what the topic is. I’ve always found that he sees himself as a teacher of hockey and so if you can get him talking about how he’s teaching or how he’s helping people learn or whatever or getting into philosophical disc discussions, he’s really good. He he’ll give hilarious answers and really insightful stuff. Then there’s other times where there are certain things he just doesn’t want to talk to. I’m guessing over the course of a season, you’ve learned what he’s when he’s in the mood to talk and when he’s just he’s not going to answer that, right? I wish I could tell you that I did learn that. No, I think you know what? It’s actually funny. We had some really good conversations like after the camera shut off just like breaking down like why why do you guys do this or why do you guys do that? Um where I I’m a I’m a I like to learn. I’m a student of the game. So I it it was it was interesting because Yeah. Like I was always told, you know, be careful. He’s he’s he’s he’s very hyperfocused on like the game itself and you know he got very intense for it. So you know the closer to game time it was a he was definitely like just I need to focus on the game and focus on what we need to do to win um versus you know wanting to have to talk to us. I could appreciate that, right? Like you’re as a co someone who’s coached like I can totally understand that like you know you you just want to focus on your game and not you know get stuff in your head that maybe somebody’s going to ask you kind of thing. So, you know, like is it even like when I talk to players before depend if I talk to them at 10:00 in the morning, it’s different versus when I talk to them at 5:00 at, you know, like you don’t want to be like, “So, um, your struggles lately, you know, what do you think?” You don’t want to ask that at 5:00, but you maybe want to ask that at 10 o’clock, you know. So, um, I can kind of, you know, I can kind of get it. And like I said, he and I had a very good relationship. Uh, a lot of respect between the two of us. Um, you know, I I do Yeah, you’re right. He was a good teacher. He was someone who was very he had his opinions and you kind of respect that someone who isn’t you know John Torella is John Torella like he hasn’t changed since he first walked in the doors of a hockey rink uh you know with the Sabres or or you know I I I used to live in New York I used to work at SNY so like I saw him all the time uh you know all his pressers and everything so he’s he is who he is and he never changed and I can appreciate that. What do you think? You mentioned talk kind of giving you some layouts of what the structure is going to be in systems. What are the biggest things you took away from that in terms of, you know, maybe the Flyers biggest weaknesses that you think he could help? Well, one thing and I talked to Kevin Woodley who’s in in Vancouver. He’s a goalie goalie guru. He’s amazing. Um, and he obviously watched a ton of talk at teams and one thing he said to me and kind of talk it kind of kind of hinted at it a little bit was just that he’s very he he wants to simplify things for his goalies. Um, and I think you know even Sam Ersen talked a lot about during the year that blocking shots maybe it wasn’t the amount of shots the Flyers block maybe wasn’t the best thing for him because he likes to see the puck and he likes to feel you know he when he didn’t get a lot of shots is when Sam didn’t feel like he was in the game as much, right? because he’s a goalie that likes touches. Um, and I think what the one thing that really struck me with with Tak and we all know the Flyers power play struggles and I think he’s he was very much, you know, be creative, right? Like we give you a simple structure and then do your thing out there. He’s like, but don’t fall don’t don’t feel like you need to follow X, Y, and Z, if that makes sense. So, I thought that was very interesting and I kind of like listening to him and I’m like, “Oh, yeah. This is this could be good.” Because you have like a Mafe Mechov who’s so creative. You have Travis Connectne who has his creativity. You have, you know, maybe a Cam York back on the power play finally. Um, you know, like you have got Jamie Dale like you know, he walks the line so well like comes down from the point so well. Like if you’re in the structure and you don’t feel like you can maneuver around the structure, it takes away that creativity. And I think that’s one thing that the Flyers power play kind of missed was that ability to just do and just go with what’s available. And and it was interesting when I talked to him, he’s like, “How do you practice a power play?” Right? Because he’s like, you know, when we’re in practice, like no one’s going to, you know, you don’t want to hurt someone. You don’t step in front of shots as much. You don’t play as hard. He’s like, “How do you practice stuff?” And I thought that was interesting to me because, you know, like he’s right. If you think about it, it could look great in practice, but then you go up against like, you know, Tampa’s power or penalty kill or or the Stars penalty kill, it’s like, well, what do you do now? Because they’re going to be in your face and they’re going to try and stop you, but in practice, maybe your own teammate isn’t going to do that. So, I thought it was just interesting his belief in allowing creativity. And I will say it’s not just the power play that he believes in creativity. He believes in it, you know, in the offensive zone regardless. Well, be after the break, we have a creative player to ask about in Trevor’s. That was such a perfect uh We got a lot of players to get to. Plenty more with Jackie coming up here on the DLS Stars podcast. But first, we’re in the lounge. So, you know, we got to talk about Empire today. Empire Today is the best in flooring. 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DLS listeners can receive a $350 discount when using code DLS. You heard that right. That’s a $350 discount when using code DLS. Restrictions apply. Visit Empire todayls for full details. See, I could just dunk on you and not do any of the read because I actually have a personal testimony. So, last night we’re getting ready to make plans for a Labor Day weekend trip with the family and we want to take the kids to a game at Fenway Park in Boston. Why not? I’ve been It’s been a while. Kids have never been to see the Socks at Fenway. So, I go to the Red Sox website and I’m looking at tickets for this particular game night and it’s Labor Day weekend and the Socks are winning right now. And so, suddenly tickets aren’t as easy to find. So, I pop up the Game Time app, right? And I find a really good deal where I want to be. And so, I downloaded the app. I created an account just like I talk about in the ads and I bought Red Sox tickets. And I got I used the code DLSS at the bottom there and I got $20 off. And I’m not kidding you. I actually did it. I have them. And we’re gonna go see the socks play at the end of August at Fenway Park thanks to Game Time. I need Miami tickets. So definitely worthwhile. Game time was super easy to use. Let’s bring Jackie back on. Jackie, we have a lot of personnel questions for you. Let’s start with the goalie. I know you tease Ziggris, but I want to go back to goalies for a minute because there’s been some interesting outside of Philly criticism of going after Dan Vadar saying that the Flyers have a goalending issue and I saw one saying maybe the worst option of the open market, something like that. I think it was from the Athletic. And I see him as a guy that’s there to compete with Sam Erison and Ivan Fedatov. But who’s got the job right now? like who who do you think uh a month and a half out of camp or maybe actually we’re almost about a month from training camp. Who do you think has the upper hand of actually maybe being the Flyer starter if they’ll have one as opposed to like a 1A 1B? Well, I think Sam it’s Sam Emerson definitely will be given the opportunity to be um the number one goalie. That’s for sure. I don’t but I don’t think Dan Bular is going to do that lying down. I don’t, you know, is that is that too much of a goalie pun there? Um, but I think, you know, I think I I I’ve heard a lot of the criticisms about Dan Vadar. Um, you know, I used to I used to work at Sporting News Canada. I’ve watched a lot of Calgary Flames games. Um, by the way, big fan of Glenn Gulson. I’ve in the past. I like that. I like that hire for you guys especially. Um, but uh, yeah, I I don’t understand the criticism necessarily for Dan Bodar because of what I’ve seen. And I think he hasn’t really been given the opportunity yet to kind of take charge and to, you know, he was really hurt. What was it like a year and a half ago? He had the hip injury that required surgery. His his season was shut down last year. I mean, it was always going to be Dustin Wolf that was going to be the number one goalie in Calgary. There was no arguing with that. um he was always gonna be the guy. So, it really wasn’t like Lazar had even a chance um in Calgary, but I I don’t I don’t see him as being this like guy who’s going to fall apart and net. Um you know, again, talking to Kevin Woodley, we we talked a lot about it. He obviously saw a lot of Dan Vlo 2 being in Vancouver in the Pacific division also. So, you know, he he said that he thinks the systems that Rick Tocket employs will really help Dan Ladar. It’ll really help um Sam Ersen. You know, it it gives maybe Ivon Fedotov a little time in the minors if needed um if he makes it through waiverss um because he has to go through waiverss to go to the Phantoms. But I think I I I see a lot of the criticisms of Dan Dan Ladar and I don’t know if I agree with them. All right. Can I talk about Zus now? Yeah, go ahead. All right. So, I I have about 50 questions about Trevor Ziggus, but I’m just gonna start with the basic basic simple one. Your take on the trade and what he brings to Philly. I I think it’s a it’s a great move. I think, you know, he he knows guys on the team, so there’s a comfort level immediately uh with the organization. You know, he’s best friends with Jamie Dale and Cam York. Um I think, you know, I I’ve actually spoken with both of his parents. They’re very excited for him to be back on the east coast. Uh I think there’s a comfort level for him then being so close to home compared to being all the way out west. Um I think you know he he just when you said creative guy though I was I was thinking originally you know Mitchkov because obviously you know he’s everyone talks about with being creative and everything but I think you know I think it adds another element. I think he’s someone who’s who has a lot to prove especially down the middle as a center. I think he’s excited for the opportunity to get that chance to go back to playing a center position. Um, and I think, you know, it’s it’s he brings he’s like he’s got like a very like light personality. Like he’s fun. He he enjoys the game, you know, and I think it’s a great locker room to begin with. And I think he’s going to fit in like perfectly in that regard, which is important if you think about it, you know, like you don’t want to go to work and not enjoy the people you’re around. So I think like and and that’s for any sport. That’s for any sport. So, you know, like I think it’s important to have that like comfort level. Um, I think it’s a good I think it’s a good, you know, it gives he has one year left on his deal, so he’s got to like prove himself a little bit. And the Flyers love those, you know, prove yourself deals as we’ve seen with Ryan Paling and and and some other guys. So, I think um yeah, I think it’ll be a it’s a good move. I think it’ll it’ll be interesting to see who he’s paired with or, you know, who his linemates are. Um what he could do in the power play. Speaking of, you know, the power play, you know, obviously potentially having him with Matt Fay and and and KKnne could be really interesting. Um Cam York potentially then maybe will be or Damy, you know, there’s obviously those connections there, but he also like him and Cam York were very like good on the power play for USA hockey back when they play together. So I think gives him the opportunity to get back on the point. Um this I think it’ll be good. I think we’ll see. I mean, you never know. You never know. But I think I think it’ll be an interesting move for sure. Yeah. You just mentioned the position. That was the main thing that that as boring as it sounds to a lot of people, that interests me the most because I’ve I’ve read about all the stuff with his kind of move to the wing because of his defensive issues and to learn kind of some other stuff. But from all the sounds that I’m hearing, it sounds like he really wants to play center and Breer really wants him to be to help them out down the middle. So, what does he have to do to reestablish himself at his natural position? Well, I think, you know, I think there’s there’s already like this thought that he’s not like maybe the best defensive center, which is fine. You have Shankron Couture to do that. You know, you have um uh Christian D’vorak now to do that. You have guys, you know, Noah Cates is probably a, you know, he’s a Selki trophy contender at some point in his career with how he’s been playing lately. Um, I think, you know, with with Zegris, I think he just needs to play. Like, I think he just needs to have that that opportunity and he’ll seize it. Uh, I don’t see why he wouldn’t. He’s always been a center. Uh, I know he’s didn’t enjoy playing wing. He’s mentioned, you know, that he’s really excited for the opportunity to play center. I think he just needs to play smart. Um maybe they’ll sit him with a guy like uh maybe like an Owen Tippet or you know if Tyson Forester is back uh healthy guys who are a little bit maybe more def maybe one person who’s a little bit more defensive minded to take that pressure off of him. Um I think him and and or maybe Travis Kknney who’s also you know a little bit more of a you know he does the penalty kill so he’s well known about playing you know a little bit more defensively. I think given the opportunity, he’s just he’s looking for the chance. Like he wasn’t happy playing um playing wing for the past two years. And I think it’s going to be interesting to see him just kind of seize the role. You mentioned Tyson Forester. He had such a great year last year. For those that don’t follow the Flyers anywhere near the level that you do, what happened at the World Championships and is he healthy for the training camp coming up here in about a little over a month? We we have no like update right now on Tyson Forester. He did have the injury at Worlds and then he developed an infection in the elbow. So I think there’s still, you know, the last we heard was July 1st about him. So, you know, they were waiting for the infection to kind of tamper down a little bit before they could really figure out because obviously that will muddy any vi, you know, uh, x-ray or MRIs or anything that you need to get done to like see the extent of things. Um, so there’s not really any update on him. The, you know, the last we heard was that he wouldn’t be ready for training camp, but we’ll we’ll see, uh, I guess in a couple of weeks, uh, what the status is with him. And obviously, you bring in Zegris, you bring in D’vorak to balance things out a little bit. Feels like a healthy Forester is a pretty important part of this Flyers offense for Rick Tocket. He is, but there’s there’s guys that’ll definitely seize the opportunity. I mean, you have Alex Bump, who I I project will make the roster opening night. Um, he is I w I went to Frozen 4, so I saw him play there. He’s he’s something. I mean, I was sitting there in the press box and people were coming up to me because they knew I covered the Flyers and uh they were like, “Oh, that kid’s special.” kind of thing. So, I think he’s someone who will automatically take that spot, but there’s also other spots available available because you remember they traded so many guys away, you know, with Lton and with um now Ryan Paling’s gone. So, you have opportunities for guys. Um I think there’s potential for Nikita Gbankin to make the roster opening night. Um he was the one who the Flyers got for Scott Lton, including a first round pick um in the upcoming draft. Um, but uh there’s I mean there’s it’ll be interesting to see. It does give a little bit more opportunity, but also there is there’s no denying the line of Noah Kates and Tyson Forester and Bobby Brink and what they all did together last year. Um, you know, I mentioned it to Rick Tocket about them and and how just fundamentally sound they are with the, you know, they’re very big on the triang. It’s a very basic like hockey concept, but they’re so big on the triangle. They’re so big on just making sure that they’re always, you know, backing each other up, playing together, playing connected. It’s kind of interesting to watch. I mean, I I found it fascinating to watch them play together like that because it’s such like it’s almost like you want to like pop in the tape for like any team you coach and be like, “Hey, this is how you do that kind of thing.” Um, so not having him could add some It’s a It’s a hole, but you know, it gives other people opportunities. You know, Carson Dor can play wing and center. Um, which also gives Tak some flexibility in the lineup itself. Um, so it’s a whole, but it’s interesting to see kind of what maybe has the potential of coming up when with him out. Jackie, I want to get really serious with you now. No, he doesn’t. All right. I was in Philly in January, I believe, for that game against the Stars. And I usually do a good job of eating before I get to the rink, just because I don’t You never know with medium meals. Sometimes they charge you. You don’t know what you’re apparently in Detroit. You’ve got to go. You’re not like this guy where you just Detroit’s the best one. That’s what I’ve been hearing. We heard it from Molly Walker on New York just amazing. Uh but Philly, I went upstairs and I was like, let me just see what they have. Philly pretzel factory hot dogs, ice cream, soft serve layout. Got me on soft serve. Where does it rank for you? You’re the perfect one to ask because you just said you go to pretty much every rank. Where does it rank for you among the uh not necessarily medium meals, but in terms of press box availability? Press box well press box availability. So the the soft serve downstairs and that’s not really available during the games I will say. Um the hot dog is new this year, but um I don’t know. I’m trying to eat healthy, so it’s it’s definitely it’s definitely not high. Um I’m trying to think. There’s one arena that has like fruit cups and stuff. Um that’s pretty good. Yeah, the other ones all have dessert carts, right? Those trays. It’s pretty bad. Like there’s some places I will eat whatever’s in the pro box because the meal the meal downstairs is just so atrocious. Um like where I’m trying I I usually eat in the train area. There’s like a huge like um food court underneath like Toron Scotia Bank in Toronto. So I like they have like really good meals down there. But their pizza they have pizza and I’m and I’m a pizza snob because I’m from New York. So like that’s like you know but Edmonson pizza is not bad and their food is pretty bad too downstairs. So, um, trying to think. Yeah, I don’t know. Like the press box itself. Um, I mean, the hot dogs are actually pretty good. They’re not Montreal hot dogs. Like, nothing’s a Montreal dogs. Let’s just say it right now. Um, uh, also, if you ever get a chance, did a fun video with Sam Ersen on the hot dogs in Montreal during Four Nations. But, he puts ketchup though. It’s No. No. If you watch the video, he’s like he’s like, “Uh, yeah, I was told ketchup is not good.” And I’m just like trying to keep it together because we had the conversation like right before we did the video. You didn’t want to scold him about it, did you? A little bit. Okay. So, uh, we’re almost we’re out of time, but I want to ask you before you go because we asked each one of our guests during this series about your take of the Dallas Stars. And it’s not a pop quiz. If you know, that’s the great thing. If somebody says, “Oh, I don’t really follow much.” That’s okay. That’s the point. But from your perspective as a Flyers beat writer, what your feelings, what’s your reactions when somebody says, “What’s the deal with the Dallas Stars right now?” I think it’s like a very unknown, right? Because you have Glenn Golton walking in the door kind of as the head coach now. Um, they’re a team built to win, but whether or not they can get there is the question, right? Um, you know, I think they have a good young core. Is Jason Roberts is not still signed, right? Or he need or is he extension? He needs an extension. Yeah, but he still has another one more year. He’s got one more year. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with that. Um because, you know, and and I know Jamie Ben just signed a one-year deal, right? That’s right. To stay. So, I think it’s kind of almost like this is the year and if not, maybe then they start to dismantle a little bit. Um I don’t know. It I don’t know. It’s kind of interesting. Like I I if you ask me like who are my top five teams that I think will win the cup next year, I mean Dallas has to be one of them, right? Even though Glenn’s new, um I’ve seen what Glenn can do with the team and I I I kind of like what he what he brings. Um, I think he’s is it fair to say he’s a little like Rick Tocket with like you know he’s stern and you know he kind of like gets to the he he’s he he could be a little like stern but you know he’s got like such a good personality that you know he’ll like yell he’ll be like the dad who yells at you but then will like apologize. I feel like that’s perfect. I love it. Well Jackie we could talk to you for the whole hour. Unfortunately we are out of time but it’s really a privilege. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, you got me hungry just talking about food and press boxes. So, we really appreciate you joining us today. Thank you so much. Thanks, Jackie. Thanks for having me. Appreciate it. Jackie Spiegel, check her out at the Philadelphia Inquirer. Her stuff is great covering the Flyers. Up next, Kevin Kurs from The Athletic will join us here on DLS. Hot Sam Cam. Hot Sam Cam. Get him the hot Sam Cam right there. And now I know which one it is, too. DLSS is heading to Las Vegas, in case you didn’t already know, with True Fan Travel for the ultimate fan experience in November. DLS has taken over the strip for an unforgettable weekend in Vegas, and you need to be there. Join us as the Cowboys take on the now Las Vegas Raiders on November 7. Would not be happy with that. Was it bad? The Raiders. That’s better. But you got to look at the hot stand. Sorry, I forget. Uh, I’m actually trying to read this part cuz I messed it up. This all-inclusive trip to Vegas includes a three-ight stay at a luxury Vegas resort, game tickets, VIP parties, exclusive events with the DLS crew, which that’s a crew, man. I’ll tell you. You got John Anderson, Clarence, I don’t even know who they’re sending, but if it’s the full crew, that is Jesse Holly, Jeff is a is a man full of shenanigans. Jay Anderson makes his way out there. Uh, you got to be there. So, exclusive events with that crew, fellow diehard fans, and much, much more. This is how Dallas does Vegas. So, book now at truefantravel.com. In case you’re wondering, the Cowboys are still a seven-point favorite in that game. We are a little bit early in there, but I had I did hear November of Monday Night Football. I did hear I don’t know if this is as sensitive as the Luca situation. I’m looking at you, Elijah, because you might know more about football than I do, but Mika Parsons. M Parsons. M Parsons. What What was the guy’s name that I couldn’t pronounce earlier in the uh I talked about Oh no, you mean Otani Otani Otani Tua was a tongue of Aloa Tigawa, but the Cowboys the Cowboys will still be there. Dak Prescott’s going to have a big year. Um the other players on the Cowboys team that I know uh uh Dez Bryan is is a big guy big player for them. I know um Ezekiel Elliott, is he still there? You’re doing great. Wrap it up. We’re good. We got Tony Romo, they’re all going to be there. Cowboys, Raiders, be there. truefan.com. Thank you, Sam. All right, now let’s welcome in our other guest today. He is the hockey writer based out of Philadelphia. Of course, he’s focused on the Flyers, but not just that. Please welcome in from the Athletic, Kevin Kurs. Kevin, how you doing today? Good. We got you loud and clear. Can you hear me? Yeah. Can you hear us? Yep, I got you. Y All right. Thank you for joining us today. You know, you have an interesting one. As Jackie mentioned, she hadn’t been a beatw writer, but had been in hockey for a long time. You actually worked for the Flyers way back in the day when I also sort of by extension was working for their AHL affiliate up in Glenn’s Falls with the Aderandac Phantoms. And then you went to the West Coast, but now you’re back. What brought you back? Could you just not get away from the icy clutches of Philadelphia? Well, um, I I worked for the team. That was a long time ago. I left in 2010. Um, I wanted to try media after I basically had been running the Flyers website and doing all their content for a few years. Um, so, you know, because the Flyers were owned by Comcast, um, that was my sort of door into going to work for Comcast Sportset out in the Bay Area. Um, so, you know, I I’d never been in media since college. Um, so going out to cover the sharks in a little bit of a smaller market uh was was a good entry point for me to to get into the media side. And uh so I stayed out there for six years working for NBC Sports Comcast Sportsnet. Um then uh I moved to The Athletic in 2017 and I’ve been there ever since with uh a quick two-year stop in New York before I came back to Philly uh almost two years ago now. You want me to keep going? I’m ready. Okay. So, I got a lot for you. So does Sam. Kevin, I was going to ask Jackie this, but we ran out of time because we got talking about press box food. But the Flyers, so then we’re going to save for the hard balls for you. The Flyers have missed the playoffs 5 years in a row now. They haven’t been since the 2020 Toronto bubble. That was I I was going to say they haven’t had a 100 point season since the 20112 season. But to be fair, that COVID shortened season, they were going to have 100 points. They had 89 points in 69 games. Unless you have some big off-the-cliff moment, that’s like 105 point pace. So that relatively recently there was a team that was probably 100 plus points Flyers team. But it doesn’t feel like as we approach nearly 10 years since Ed Snyder passed away that this team has been a constant threat. And I’m curious, what’s the patience level of the fan base of the Flyers? And yes, I know I’m asking about Philadelphia f sports fans being patient when I ask you this. Well, my impression is that they re recognized that a rebuild was overdue when Daniel Breier and Keith Jones and Dan Hilfrey took over, took the reigns. Um, that was a little more than two years ago. So, I think they were encouraged by the fact that the new leadership came out and said, “Hey, we need to rebuild. It’s time. We’re going to do this the right way. It’s going to take some time.” Uh, so I think that the majority of fans that have been paying attention to Flyers for that long now. Listen, a lot of casual fans have jumped ship, right? They are watching the Phillies make long playoff runs or watching the Eagles win Super Bowls. Uh, sorry to mention that for to a Dallas crowd. Um, so you know, hockey is a little bit off the radar right now, but I think the fans that have stuck around and they’re still, I think, a pretty hardcore portion of this fan base that does pay attention to the the minutiae that that’s gone on the last couple years. I think they recognize that uh a rebuild takes time. The current regime has taken steps to uh to to to rebuild to to, you know, trading players that are still effective players, veteran players. uh in order to gain, you know, gather assets for the future, whether that’s draft picks, prospects, whatever it might be, and that there was going to be some pain along the way. And and clearly there has been. So, um that said, I think now that the first two years are over and the Flyers have pretty consistently subtracted from the current roster, now’s the time where you need to start to see some results. So that’s why this season coming up is so important because you know and and Danny Breier doesn’t shy away from it. They want to start improving now. They hope that the last season when you know they finished fourth from the bottom in the league standings they hope that was rock bottom. So uh we’ll see how it goes this year. They they have to make some progress this year or or I think patience will start to really start to wear thin. And that’s my followup is where is your take right now on the job that Brier and Jones have done? I I’m a huge Keith Jones fan personally. Uh I don’t know Danny real well. I He’s a phenomenal player, but I I’ve met Jonesy a few times and he couldn’t be a cooler dude. Great guy. I want things to go well for him. I you know, you’re rooting for a guy like that. But what’s the grade if you have not a grade, but just the evaluation of their performance as the Flyers hockey ops front office so far? I would say it’s been mostly positive because they have stuck to the plan that they really laid out from the start. Um, you know, you trade Scott Lton and you get a first round pick back. You find a taker for Joel Faraby’s contract in Calgary. That takes some some money off the books and gives you a little bit more flexibility. Um, Shawn Walker, you trade him for a first round pick a couple years ago and um, you know, that pick helps you get get I’m trying to think what they traded that for, but it really started with the Ivan Proof trade. If you go back, Danny Breier’s first trade was trading Ivan Prover off to Columbus. If you look at sort of the trade tree from from that deal just two years ago, that was such a huge home run and it really set them up to to to kind of speed up the rebuild and and and gain further assets. So, um, you know, you look at this year’s draft, it was kind of the culmination of a lot of that subtraction where you are able to get two first round picks and four second round picks, uh, all in in one draft to help restock the system. So, um, I think that’s all been pretty positive. I think the culture they’ve put in place has been pretty positive. Um, you bring in guys like Garnet Hathaway, Nick Cer, veteran players that I think help establish that culture, that work ethic that John Tordella was trying to instill. Um, I think that’s been a positive. Now, that said, there have been a few mistakes. I look at the goalending first and foremost. Uh, they brought in, they had two guys playing regularly in goal this season that shouldn’t have even been in the NHL, an Ivan Fedo and Alexi Kolasov. Um Sam Eerson, you put a whole lot on his plate as a young player and he hasn’t been able to handle it quite frankly. Uh the the increased playing time and and the increased responsibility as basically the only NHL caliber goalender on the roster. So that’s that’s been a mistake. At the same time, fan other fans will point to it and say, “Hey, the the crappy goalending ended up helping us get the sixth overall pick in this year’s draft.” So maybe it ends up being a benefit in the long run, but um that was certainly not the plan. uh you know they they brought these two goalies over hoping they were going to gonna be able to contribute and they didn’t. So um but that’s really been I think the only true blip on the radar so far. Um but again, you know, it’s only two years into it. Um it’s been all about subtraction. It’s a whole lot easier to subtract from a roster than it is to build one up. They’re reaching the buildup phase now. We’ll see how that goes. I couldn’t remember. I had to look it up. The Shawn Walker trade to the Avalanche was for Ryan Johansson and that conditional first in 25 which I believe was top 10 protected. And I remember at the time going, why the heck would the Flyers want Ryan Johansson? But it had nothing to do with that. It was all about that first round pick. Yeah, they had to take on that deal uh in order to to procure the first round pick, which um you know, they ended up using to you know, they packaged their two late first rounders in this year’s draft to move up to 12th overall and take a big center that they liked. So, um, you know, we’ll see how that plays out. But, uh, if you if you do go back and look, I mean, you know, all the veteran players, all the established players that they moved were for future assets. Um, and they ended up using a lot of those future assets uh, in the draft and and you know, they used one of them to to trade for Trevor Ziggress, which I think is a pretty good gamble. I promise I’m going to let Sam ask questions, but we’re at an ad break, so we have to take a quick one and then I will let Sam ask Kevin a question here about the flyers. Well, first, let’s talk about being a diehard. It is still on sale. You I think this is the best deal you get, right? It’s $36 for your first year. If you haven’t been a diehard before, you can get the full year. So, like from today, it’ll be the entire 2526 NHL season of coverage with DLSS if you get if you sign up now. If you haven’t been a Die Hard before because it’s the training camp, Dallas Cowboys NFL football training camp special going on right now. That’s $36. It is over 50% off the normal annual rate. And again, because we’re in August, there’s not going to be Stanley Cup games in August next year. There better not be. So, you’ll get the entire year, the full seed, and you’ll get the full NFL season. You’ll get the full NBA season, and you’ll get all the coverage going into uh baseball playoffs and maybe the World Series because the Rangers had a pretty exciting walk-off home run last night in extra innings over the Yankees. I’m actually going to the game tonight. Yankees. Yeah, I’ll cheer against the Yankees tonight. I’m actually going to Globally see the Yankees. I said, “Katie, do you want to go to a baseball game? Yankees are in town.” She said, “No.” Did you tell her it was indoors and air conditioned? No. That maybe that would mean glo. Yeah. So anyway, sign up to be a diehard. Not only do you get all of the access to the writing that Sam and Shawn do for the Stars, but of course we’ve got Cowboys, Mavs, and Rangers coverage with Clarence Hill, who’s out in Oxnard, California for training camp with the Cowboys. You I just saw Tim Ko with the Mavs. He was here for the Mavs show today. And we’ve got Jeff Wilson doing bangup work with the Rangers. But you get a free t-shirt for signing up and you get discount on further merchandise. Well, check out the captain shirt that Sam is wearing today behind his microphone. The hot Sam cam right there. I’ve got one of the really lowkey dos flag shirts where it’s just in the upper crest. That’s kind of a cool one. And then of course we’ve got the Dallas collection. We’ve got the there’s the Wyatt Johnson mo finisher from the playoffs, the ones we just rolled out a couple weeks ago, the Robin Ventura. It was literally yesterday was the 30-year anniversary of the Nolan Ryan feeding him the knuckle sandwich. So, get all that. Become a diehard today. You can’t have a better time to sign up now. All right. Let’s bring Kevin back in. And Sam, before I dive in again, please. The floor is yours. Okay. Thank you, Kevin. You just mentioned before in one of Owen’s questions about Flyers needing to take a step, right? It’s an important year to show some progress. Mate Mitchkov is a pretty big part of that. Uh, how big is he in this this situation and taking a step? And then what is his next step after finishing I believe it was fourth in the Calder voting? Yeah, I think you can make the case that he’s the most important at least at the moment. Um, you know, the the next step for him I think is to be able to is to be able to deal with the rigors of playing an 82 game schedule. And if you listen to some of the Russian language interviews that he’s given, um, he’s admitted that the schedule was a grind for him, right? He was he he that was the first time going through it. Um it it it did wear on him at times. I think uh that was something that John Tortoella recognized. Uh reduced his ice time at times. Even scratched him once I believe in November it was for two games. Um, so, you know, I I think now that he’s gone through that, he’s the kind of kid that’s going to really do everything he can in his power to to to prepare himself for that this season. I I think that’s that’s the most encouraging part about Meechoff is that you can see this kid is driven to succeed uh individually and on a team from a team perspective. Um I I I think he’s got that that special kind of fire in him that that is going to really result in some some special things going on. Um, but you know, he he he has some he he obviously has some some steps to take, but uh what what’s going to be interesting to me is to see how much Rick Tocket plays him because I think the one complaint that I I think I think John Tordurell was very good for Matt Veov and I and Mechoff himself has said that he valued that relationship. At the same time, I think he would have preferred more ice time. And I think that’s going to be something that uh he and Takit are going to Rick Tocket are gonna have to get on the same page about because it was interesting to me as soon as John Torrell was fired and Brad Shaw was put in charge as the interim coach, Mitchoff’s ice time went up, I think about three or four minutes a game on average. Um, and that was only it was only a handful of games, but I I would guess that that was something that was directed down from the front office to to Brad Shaw, who’s interim coach, is just let Mitchoff run a little bit. Let let’s let’s give this kid a pretty long leash. He wants to play more. Let’s let him play more. Um, so that that’s going to be interesting to me to see how much of a rope Rick Tocket gives him, how much ice time he gives him. Um, but you know, remember too, Mitchoff led the led all NHL rookies in goals and that was with an awful power play. I mean, the Flyers power play was just terrible under John Torella for the duration. Um, and obviously Mechov’s a part of that, but I think having Rick Takit, uh, now who has overseen a successful power play, I think he’s going to recognize that the power play should run through Matt Bay Mechoff and you should let him run the power play and uh, we’ll see how that goes because clearly there’s a lot more, not just not just Meechoff uh, in terms of production from Mikov, but the teamwide they can do a whole lot more in the power play. So, you know, to me, I I I I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the 70 to 80 point range uh going forward, so long as they improve the power play. Even a few points would help. What did you make of the Mechov video that if for those that aren’t familiar, there was a video that came out not long ago in Russian and the to paraphrase the short of it was he said, “I don’t understand dump and chase hockey. Why am I giving away the puck and then I might not get it back?” But from someone who actually covers him and knows him a little bit, I again I I don’t know how with as he his the language barrier how easy that is. But what did you take from that? Because he clearly had some stylistic concerns compared to what he’s used to versus what they were asking in Philly and in the NHL in general. Yeah. Well, listen. I mean, everyone wants to wants to put wants to put everything in this neat little neat little package, right? That the Rick Tocket wants to play this way, but Meiche doesn’t want to play that way. I mean, listen, there’s going to be push and pull throughout the course of a season, and coaches are going to utilize their players. You know, it’s it’s it’s to me it’s a little bit uh it was interesting, right? I mean, he’s an offensive player. He certainly has uh had enough success to know, you know, to to have to have uh opinions as to how he should play and how certain teams should play. Um it was funny. I was listening to a podcast. Rick Tocket was on a different podcast the other day and he said he watched the video with Keith Jones and they, you know, they kind of got a kick out of it, right? That’s something that uh obviously that relationship with Mitchkov and Taka is going to be vital to the to the team success. And that’s why like I just said, I’m interested to see how that how that goes about. You know, in terms of of us getting to know Mitchkov, the Flyers did such an awful job get not getting a legitimate Russian translator. Um, which was one of the more disappointing aspects from from my perspective last year is, you know, they had a Russian language staffer, but he’s not trained as an interpreter. They didn’t give us a a legitimate interpreter all season long, so we didn’t really get uh as much insight into his personality and and his thoughts as as I would have hoped. Um, that’s something I hope is is better moving forward. I just wanted to get that off my chest. But uh yeah, I obviously uh Mitchkov is going to be one of the central pieces of this rebuild. I mean, you know, it’s it’s hard to see this rebuild becoming, you know, being successful without him achieving star level player status, but I I do think he’s also on the way to doing that. Kevin, the the Trevor Zaggers trade and him as a player fascinate me. I think from his whole career coming in being that highlight reel flash player guy. He’s on the cover of the NHL video game. He’s everything everyone can talk about with his Michigan goals and everything like that, then it kind of drops off, right? His production goes away a little bit. Uh he gets moved to the wing. He has the injuries. Kind of a two-part question, I guess. What What do you see what do you see Trevor Ziggus as? And what does he have to do in Philly to not only be a impactful player, but get back to center, which is what it seems like both sides want from him? Well, they definitely want that. That that’s the hope. Um is that he does play center and play it well. Um and obviously if you look at Trevor Zaggress’s career, his best seasons were his first couple in the league where he eclipsed 60 points as a center as a you know, 20-year-old or whatever he was. So, you know, he he got moved to left wing, right? uh with with Mason McTavish and um you know Leo Carlson going into Anaheim. So listen, the Flyers, they they don’t have a number one center in the pipeline. I mean maybe they Jet Luchenko potentially or Jack Nesbbit who they just drafted. I guess you know the potential is there at some point. Maybe they become a number one center but they were always going to have to get creative at least in the short term to try to find an effective high-end center. So, you know, you go to Trevor Egress, who’s been playing left wing for the last few seasons, and you hope he can move back to the middle. I don’t think anyone knows if it’s going to work just yet. Um, Rick Tocket doesn’t know when I talked to him about it. He he he’s he confirmed that they want to try him in the middle, but he he he certainly uh was not making any assurances and and Trevor Ziggress’s faceoff percentage in his career, I think, is something like 40%. So, that’s going to have to get a lot better uh if he’s going to if he’s going to be a center. Um, but I do expect them to start that way. I think they expect him to give him a shot. Um, Pat Verbeek, when Zegris was traded, even admitted that Zegris wants to play center, right? And and going to Philadelphia gives him that chance because there’s there’s such a hole in the lineup down the middle. Multiple holes in the lineup down the middle. Um, that they bring in Ziggress, they bring in Christian D’vorak as as another depth center. Um, but I think you’re going to see a lot of mixing and matching. I think you’ll see Zegris at the wing at times. I’m sure you’ll see D’vorak out there at least early in the season when they’re trying to protect a lead and they need to win a faceoff because D’vorak is a good faceoff guy. Um so so you’ll probably see a lot of a lot of movement amongst the forward lines at least early on. Um but you know Zegress it’s he wanted that chance. The Flyers are going to give him that chance and it’s it’s going to be up to him whether he takes it and runs with it or not. You had an interesting comment about the goalending earlier in our interview and I Sam and I were laughing before the show started because we both found the same line in your publication in the Athletic about the Flyers offseason and it I’m going to read it just cuz it’s hilarious. Said, “Sorry, but it was really funny to see the Flyers address their biggest problem goalending with one of the worst options around.” So my question to you is who wrote that? Because you may even have written that. What do you think of the addition of Dan Vadar and will he help Samuel Eerson that way? Yeah, I didn’t write that. Who was that? That was somebody else. That was uh Is that Dom? Yes. Was that from Dom? Dom. Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, listen, there there are varied opinions on Dan Var. There’s no doubt about it. Right. I I know. I mean, I even had someone in the organization tell me that that even internally some some people on the Flyer staff believe he’s an he’s there’s untapped talent there and some others don’t even know if he’s an NHL goalender, right? Um I I can tell you I called Marty Baron who I have a good relationship with and I said, you know, what do you think of Dan Vadar and according to Marty Baron, Vadar was the second best option after Jake Allen in terms of free agents. Um, now obviously it wasn’t a hu it wasn’t a very deep pool for the Flyers to choose from, right? I mean, we all saw the names and no one really stood out as being any sort of future superstar, but um, you know, I think if you’re being an optimist, you look at BDAR and you say he finished the season strong last season. Uh, he got a lot of difficult matchups in Calgary. He was usually getting the tougher the tougher games in Calgary is my understanding. Um but you know then on the flip side he’s never started more than 29 games in a single season. Um so we’ll we’ll see what what what I what I am confident in saying is that Dan Var is is many levels better than Alexi Kolaf and Ivan Fedo who again not to be too harsh on them but neither of them belonged in the National Hockey League last season. Uh, so, so Vadar is an upgrade over those two. And frankly, all he needs to do with the Flyers is he had an 8.98 save percentage, I think it was last year. If he just hits that mark again, the Flyers probably it’s probably worth 10 points in the standings for this team because it was that big. It’s been that bad. And if if if you want to look at it from an from an optimistic point of view, you know, Sam Ersen has shown or at least he did show throughout his first full half season in 2023 24. He can be an effective tandem goalender. When when he was with Carter Hart before Carter Hart went away, he was he was taking starts away from Hart because he was playing that well. And you go back and look at his numbers when when Hart left the team, he had Sam Erson had solid numbers. now because there was no reliable option underneath him for the last season and a half, you know, he’s been forced to to it’s it’s been sink or swim with Sam ES, which to me is it it wasn’t fair for the Flyers organization to put him in that position where he had to know he was the only guy that was going to win them games. If Samerson wasn’t winning them games in goal, no one was going to win them games in goal. So, I wonder if that weighed on him a little bit and and maybe compounded some of his problems when because, you know, he’s he’s still learning. He’s still developing himself and um I think he’s got a good head on him. I think he’s I think there’s some potential there, but he’s not a number one at this point. At at this rate, I think you can count on Sam ES to play, you know, 35 to 40 games and Dan Larard is going to have to play 35 or 40 games. Um you know, or maybe 41 each, I guess, if we’re going to be mathematically correct about it. So, Kevin, last one for you here. Uh, as part of this series, we’ve been asking our guests about the the Dallas Stars. And as Owen likes to say, it’s not a pop quiz or anything like that. If you don’t know much about the team, say that. We’re we welcome that. But, uh, from your Philly perspective, what do you see in the Dallas Stars heading into this season? That’s a good question. You know, I I I worry a little bit about sometimes there’s teams that all of a sudden their their veteran players collectively look old, right? And and I I worry about that a little bit with Dallas. I know they’ve got a good young core. Um, but you know, you’ve still got a lot of veterans there that are that are counted on to to sort of lead the way, right? I I think, you know, I covered Pete Dbor and Joe Pavevelski for a long time. I think they lost something when Joe Pavevelski left and I think they’re going to lose something with Pete D’Vorah not there anymore and I know there was the whole thing with Jay Cotton and whatnot and and maybe that was maybe that was the right move, but but Pete’s a good coach and um you know there’s some been some mixed results, right? when he left San Jose, that team went straight in the tank. When he left Vegas, they won a Stanley Cup. So, so, you know, we we’ll see. I uh certainly I I I consider Dallas one of the, you know, I still think they’re a top six or seven team in the NHL. So, um you know, as long as as long as some of those veteran guys that that Seans and the Benz can give them good minutes and um you’ve got a you’ve got a good goalie there, obviously that’s the hardest thing to find. Um I I certainly expect them to be in the mix next year. Well, Kevin, I wish the time didn’t disappear so quickly, but we are out of it. Uh, it’s been a pleasure to catch up with you. I remember when you were running the Flyers website when I was running the broadcast and PR for the AHL Phantom. So, it’s been a long time since then, but uh, great to see you doing so well with the Athletic. And, uh, hopefully we’ll have you on again, but sincerely, thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks, Kevin. Yeah. Okay, guys. Take care. Good to see you. There he goes. Kevin Kurs from The Athletic. Check out his stuff. It’s great. Uh, and of course, big thank you to Jackie Spiegel as well, who is from the Philadelphia Enquire, our first guest. Tomorrow’s show as we wrap things up today, Sam, will be another fun one because we are sticking in the Metropolitan Division to your old stomping grounds in New Jersey with Mike Moriel from the NHL.com and Christy Flannry from the Hockey News. We’re going to talk about the Devils tomorrow. Ah, or whatever. Do you remember? Do you remember that, Seinfeld at least? No. Oh my god. David, they put Seinfeld on the screen a lot, so I know that. Is he his face painted? Oh yeah, he did the whole word of the devil’s in front of the priest in his car. Oh my god. LS will have a a heart attack when he finds out. LSDs will be back tomorrow for Sam and for Elijah Owen. Thanks to Kevin and Jackie. Hope you enjoyed today’s show. We’ll be here tomorrow for Devil’s Day on DLLS. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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Today’s DLLS Stars Episode continues the “The Other 31” summer series as we highlight the Philadelphia Flyers, with special guests Jackie Spiegel from the Philadelphia Inquirer and Kevin Kurz from The Athletic. Something the Dallas Stars and the Flyers have in common, they both hired new head coaches this offseason, with Glen Gulutzan returning to the Stars’ bench, while Philly hired Rick Tocchet, who was drafted by the Flyers in 1983 and played parts of 11 seasons, over two stints, with the franchise. Goaltending still remains a major question mark for Philadelphia, with Dan Vladar signed in free agency to compete with Samuel Ersson and Ivan Fedotov for playing time. The Flyers haven’t made the playoffs since the 2020 Covid-19 Bubble Playoffs in Toronto, having missed out for the last five straight seasons. Plus, as always, we’ll get their outside perspectives on the Dallas Stars

00:00 – Intro
1:30 – Jackie Spiegel Joins The Show
18:29 – More with Jackie
35:20 – Kevin Kurz Joins The Show
46:15 – More With Kevin

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