Rick Tocchet opens training camp pairing Michkov with Couturier, Zegras with Konecny | PHLY Flyers

Rick Tocchet opens training camp pairing Michkov with Couturier, Zegras with Konecny | PHLY Flyers

Get [Music] out. [Music] Hey everybody, how you doing? Well, that’s good. Welcome to PHLY Flyers presented by your local Ford store and Bet 365. My name is Bill Matz. I’m your director of fun and games for the evening. Joining me live in the Xfinity studio, it is Philly’s number one hockey beat writer, Charlie O’ Connor, and Broad Street Hockeyy’s own Kelly Hickle. She keeps trying to get away from us, and we keep making her come back. Uh, welcome back. Has it been I don’t I feel like it hasn’t been that long. It hasn’t been that long. It hasn’t been that long, but it’s more like me constantly pestering you to see when I can come hang out and you being like, uh, the answer the answer is whenever. That’s that’s pretty much it. All right, we have a bunch of stuff to get to today because it’s the first day of camp. Hockeyy’s here, man. It’s not just captain scrimmages. It’s not just the rookies. It is everybody. There’s like 150 guys out there today. Uh we are going to get into everything that went on at day one. But first, couple of things I got to tell you about. Uh let’s start it with Big Brothers Big Sisters. Listen, we are trying to raise $50,000 here across the All City Network and you can help us do it. Uh you can see right below the chat box here on YouTube a link to donate to Big Brothers Big Sisters. Uh do that. Help us out. Help us reach this goal. It is a tremendous cause. Mentorships for the youth of I guess youth of today, the future generation, whatever you want to call it. One-on-one mentoring. It’s a tremendous tremendous cause. So, anything you’re thinking about, spend it on super chats over the next couple weeks. Perhaps spend it on Big Brothers, Big Sisters. And now, all right, 41. That is pretty good for a minute 55 into the show. Let’s boost that up. Let’s We have the whole gang here. It’s day one of training camp. This needs to be 200 minimum by the time we are hitting super chats today. All right, let’s get to it after all that. Charlie, uh, day one, you’re down at the Flyers Training Center. We laid out earlier in the week like, “Yeah, Wednesday is the rights holders day. They’re doing all the, you know, like the B-roll and everything for broadcasts and taking pictures, all that.” Today they are on the ice. It is Rick Tockett’s first official day coaching the uh the entire organization pretty much. Um I wanted to ask this just to get started. Okay. You’ve been doing this for a while. It’s several different coaches, so it’s not just a what did Tordella do, what did Taka do, but like overall, what was the difference uh your first day of a Taka camp versus things you’ve done in the past camps you’ve covered in the past? Yeah, I would say the big difference for me is how much it really just felt like a normal practice. It did. It had the vibe of normality of these are the types of drills that you would expect to see them doing middle of November, middle of January. Tors day one obviously was unique. It was the There was no rope today. There was no rope. No rope. There were pucks. Pucks were on the ice. So the tors was unique. But even thinking back to like AV first day, Dave Hackto first day, they sort of felt more momentous. It just it felt like it’s like, “Oh, this is the first day. Welcome. It’s okay. We’re getting ready and this was just like hit the ground running.” Exactly. It very much just felt like a practice. It felt like a normal practice except longer because there are three groups rather than just one. See, that would kill me because my thing in college was like, I don’t got to go the first day. It’s syllabus day. This was not syllabus day. This was a regular day of class. It felt like a regular regular day of class. again longer because you have, you know, triple the amount of people that are normally on the team at this camp, but beyond that, they were doing the types of drills you would expect to see normally. And it was it was interesting as to how unspectacular it felt. Now, I guess like we don’t have the benefit of knowing what Taka did in the past, but like not only is it just not Tortoella, so there’s no rope skate where he’s just trying to torture you until you throw up. There’s also just no more conditioning tests. I think that starts this year, it’s in the CBA. Was that one of the things? It’s definitely kicking in the CBA. I do not know off the top of my head if it kicks in. Bill, you have to stop throwing these like CBA things at me. I didn’t memorize it. This is just a question I have that I thought of. I memorized it. I know some things begin. I believe this year there were no more conditioning tests even though the CBA doesn’t take effect and like it’s a three. I know there were some things they they added in a year early because the NHLPA and the NHL were able to agree to it kicking in a year early. I just I don’t remember off the top of my head if that was one of those. I’m almost positive it’s this is an across the board thing. So we we don’t have the benefit of knowing what Tocket normally did because you know you weren’t at Vancouver training camps. Um who knows if Phoenix could even afford to host training camps. I don’t believe he’s ever done a skating test. No. Sort of. Okay. So, this is I I think this is not a not allowed to and this is more of a just not a talk thing. Not a talk thing. He wants to get right into it and get down to business and business was today. Um I loved right away that we got line pairings. Charlie, it was I I was I was going to say I saw the tweets and I was like we are following your Twitter. Uh while I was in here, we had like a meeting I had Philadelphia to do. So, I got in early and I got to uh follow you covering camp this morning, Charlie. And very first thing I see is, “Oh, yeah. We have line pairs.” And group A uh I found group A interesting because Jack Nesbbit is with a bunch of guys who’ve all played at least one game in the NHL. Did you find that interesting? You mean the entire group? Yes, the entire group. Yeah, I think they really like Nesvid. I do. Um, I don’t think he’s going to make the team, but they are talking him up as if he’s going to be in the mix. And I thought he was impressive today. Honestly, look, you’re not going to gaslight me because I’ve seen some people do this on like our Discord and even in in on social media of like, Nesbet’s actually a good skater. Like, no, you’re not going to gaslight me into saying he’s a good skater. He’s not. He’s still real slow. But the passing, the vision, it’s there and you can see it when you’re watching. Like, he’s impressive. And I can see why they are excited to see him. Look, Lane Peterson’s a guy who’s battling for an extra spot in the lineup. Garner Hathaway, he’s going to make the team. He’s going to be in the lineup, but he’s a fourth liner. It’s not like he’s getting put in the same spot that Alex Bump and Nikita Gerbank are being put with where they’re being put with like legitimately the stars of the team. But Nesbet’s still getting put with two guys that have a legitimate chance or are locks to make the team. And that’s not worth. Everybody on this list is someone yesterday we said is either a lock or someone who could make the team. They all have NHL experience. Now like you know Kaplan it’s a couple of days. Ables it was a couple of weeks. Gocha was a couple of days but they all played a little. Lane Peterson played he’s played like some I think like 70 total games we said yesterday over few seasons. um maybe way less than that, but regardless, he’s played in the NHL and it’s all guys. And then you see the top six, it’s like, oh, a bunch of dudes that are going to play in the NHL. I guess Bump has no NHL experience. He’s the other one, but we assume he’s going to within the first month of the season get NHL experience. It’s interesting because I feel like obviously early days you can’t really glean any actual information from this kind of stuff. But I it does kind of get you thinking like okay banking like okay maybe they’re going to be like you know because you guys talked about it yesterday the guys that are probably more likely than not to make the team and you talk about Bump probably needs to be in a top six role if he’s going to make it. Gbankin could definitely play fourth line and that would be pretty cool. Um, but that that grouping makes me think that at least for the most part they’re kind of thinking that these guys are going to be at the very least on the bubble roster. Absolutely. Yeah, that was the that was the first real thing I actually wanted to talk to you about was Bump and Grabbankin and their placement here. Now listen again, it is freaking day one. It’s practice one, group A, the first guy like we shouldn’t read so much into it, but I think it does say something that at least the team is on the same page we are with the chances of these guys to make the team. Like Couture and Mish Mishkov, yeah, man, they’re going to make the team and they’re probably going to play a ton. Zegris and Kknney, they’re making the team and they’re going to play a ton. These are This is like your first line. This is like your four forwards of the power play and then okay the two rookies who we think have a real good chance to make it they are out there with them. Yeah, this is Kevin Kerr tweeted out today something to the extent of like I know lines don’t matter the first day of camp and I disagree. I think lines actually matter a lot the first day of camp. Now doesn’t mean that they are the ultimate predictor of what’s going to happen because ultimately that’s going to be decided by what these guys do on the ice. But they do matter in the sense of this is all intentional. This is something like these lines and these combos, the organization, not just but primarily Danny Jonesy, everybody in the organization, they’re the ones who put this together. And if they’re if they have Alex Bump on a line with Trevor Zaggers and Travis Kne, that’s because they think Alex Bump can make this team. If they have Nikita Kbankin on the line with Cou and Mishkov, it’s Nikita Corben because they’re not going to waste the reps. Like the reps with those guys, that’s valuable. You’re either learning something about somebody or you’re giving the opportunity for early chemistry to uh to to be created. If they’re putting Bumper Bankin with guys that are going to be at the top of their lineup, there is a reason for that. And the reason almost certainly is these guys might be on this team. Maybe these aren’t going to be the lines they would play on if they make the team, but this makes it easier for them to evaluate their NHL readiness because it’s not like they’re playing on a line with Devin Kaplan and you’re trying to figure out like, okay, is Gerbankin really struggling or is that line just not good because Devin Kaplan isn’t NHL ready. If Gerbankin looks bad with Couturier and Mishkov, he’s probably not ready. If he looks good with Coutur Mishkov, then you’re thinking maybe he could make it. All right. now like after that, okay, let’s see him like in a game situation where maybe he’s the best player on his line and not the third guy. But like for first day, I’m just thinking what have the coaches actually been allowed to do? You know, like the captain’s skates are one thing. It’s Snowden running rookie camp. The NHL coaches, yeah, they get to meet with the players. They’re planning what drills and stuff they’re going to be doing. How are we going to attack day one? But this is one of the things they’ve thought most about like how are we going to set these groups up and who are we going to put with who? It sets the tone for the rest of camp. And uh for that reason like maybe this isn’t what the lineup is, especially the top six here. Like this isn’t what the lineup is on opening night against the Panthers. I would I would be shocked. But but you giving them that opportunity, it matters. like it at least matters that they are in the conversation, right? And I think that’s pretty cool. And the other part I took from this is uh something you tweeted a little bit later, Charlie, about Rick Tockett and how he says uh Takett noted that he likes the Scotty Bowman strategy of having go-to forward pairs and then being able to cycle in a third forward and the duos of Zegris Kenkne, Coots, Meech, uh Kates Brink, and Luchenko Tippet are kind of those pairings. They kind of operated like this under the uh like during the Hextoall regime where it was all right, we have these duos. Yeah. And then we kind of go from there and how we’re going to set up the team. And I found it interesting that right away, all right, Coots and Meech, they see what we saw kind of like it feels like they shouldn’t fit, but they do. I was most intrigued by the fact because I know a lot of people want this. I was intrigued by the fact that they didn’t start out with Ziggress Mishkov because I know people are clamoring for it and I have been saying all summer that I prefer to put Keeping with Couturier. So that was noteworthy because again not saying that this is the way it’s going to be forever but they had all summer to talk about this. They had all summer to be like where do we think who do we think is the best fit for Ziggress? Who do we think is the best fit for for Mishkov? And it became clear talking to Kknne that Kknney it seems like was told in advance that you’re gonna be with Ziggress because we interviewed Kknne today and Kenkne strongly implied that like yeah me and him have been talking for the last couple weeks about this. It seems like this might be a thing that they’re going to try to make a thing at least in the beginning of the year to try to give Ziggers the support of having the top scorer on his wing. And I asked Ziggress today after practice like, “Does it feel good coming from a place that like traded you away that first day of camp you’re on a line with the top scorer on your new team?” And he’s like, “Oh yeah, it feels real good.” I mean, you have to one I said yesterday like maybe it’s not the whole year if it’s just a disaster. But to me, it’s you play center all year and if after 82 games it doesn’t work, we’ll figure something else out. But you have to sink or swim at center this year. Yeah. putting him with the most productive forward on the team, at least for right now. Like that’s his best opportunity. And I I’m not saying Zegris and Tippet are similar style players, but we saw with Mishkov and Tippet last year, there is only one puck. And if you’re G like Kknney while he scores a ton and he’s very productive, scores a lot on the rush, he’s not a guy who has the puck on his stick all game. We need Ziggris to kind of be the puck dominant player. And with Meech, I don’t know if that’s in the cards at least at like even strength. You know, you have possession of the puck hopefully, you know, for a minute 45 of a two-minute power play. You can figure out how different guys have it. Yeah. But at even strength, you don’t you’re under pressure. You want your point guard to have the puck, you know? Yeah. And that’s what Zegris is. I think this makes a ton of sense. And I like the idea of those two as the duo. And then, oh yeah, we got we got Bump in there and he’s going to be the the forchecking fiend who kind of loosens up pucks for those two. Yeah, it’s it’s an interesting mix. I think my only my concern with that couturier line right now, the Gerbanka Couturier Mishkov line is I just don’t know where the speed’s coming from. Slow. It’s a slow line. I mean, Gbankin’s not a bad skater, but he’s not a burner, but there I don’t there’s no way that that would be a line in an actual game. Like, I can’t imagine them playing Grabbankin up that high. It would be surprising, but I think it’s theoretically possible that he could be in the top nine. There is that one top n spot open, especially if you’re pulling Borak down to the fourth line like some people have projected. If he’s going to stay down the middle, he kind of has to. It’s a little slow. And the thing I worry about that top trio, the bump zenne trio is Zegris not real good at defense. Kknney never been real good at he tries but he’s just not a his underlying numbers on defense real bad. Eye test not the best. Bump might be good at defense at some point, but as a rookie, most rookies aren’t. Do I want do I do I expect that Bump is going to be Tyson Forester as a rookie where you’re like, “Wow, some of the best defensive metrics in the league.” Like, no, I don’t. It would be cool, but I don’t really think that. So, I like these lines as showcases for Bumpinger Benin. Yeah. I don’t know if either of these lines make much sense to me as game one lines if one or both of them make the team. I know. I love the idea of a no defense line, Charles. You would, Kelly. I would I could very much see a world where no matter what, like if Zegris is the center, maybe he gets a lot of ice time, but it’s going to be sheltered in some way. So, you know what? Let’s just try to score as much as humanly possible. Let’s put him with Kenkne. Let’s figure out whoever the left wing is and they’re going to take every offensive zone face off and we will figure out the rest. We have Coots to take all the defensive zones. I mean, I’m fine with the I I like the idea of Ziggger’s connect. Yeah, it just I’m just like maybe Tyson Foresters that other wing or maybe D’vorak’s out of their wing to help with faceoffs. Like I just don’t know if I love the idea of uh pushing the defensive responsibility of that of that line onto a rookie. Just, you know, there’s the defensive responsibilities of that line are going to be none. Go score, Trevor. Go score, Trevor. It’s going to be on the defense and the goalie. Yeah. All right. Uh and with that, let’s take our first commercial break. Listen, you want the place you watch to be you want the place you watch all of your sports to be the best possible environment. 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For more information, visit your local Ford store. All right, training camp day one. Um, so Trevor Zaggress, how uh he from, you know, the highlights I’ve seen, he’s as advertised when it comes to hands and the highlight stuff. Yeah, the hands are obvious. And I wouldn’t say that I saw him do anything extraordinary. He wasn’t dropping a Michigan on the very first day of camp, at least not to my eyes. But he’s a fun player. To your own guys, he’s a fun player. I like the fact that at the end of practice he was practicing with Mishkov. They stayed out late to do some uh some passing for one-timers. That strikes me as more of prepping for the power play. Don’t know if they’re going to be working together too much at five on five at least to start, but on the power play, hey, could be a real good fit there. I would expect they’re going to be on the top unit together at least to start the year. Yeah, it’s exciting to have Trevor Seagars here. It’s exciting to have another really hyperskilled player aside from Maf Mishkov on this roster. And I guess connecting to a I loved seeing that uh them practice that off angle one-time because it was the Edmonton game last year. His first goal he’s just stuffing it in. Maybe it should have counted, maybe it shouldn’t have. They gave it to him. Uh the second one though, it was that he’s down low like on the bad angle but on his strong side so that he can actually direct it towards the net and hits that one-time and that’s his second career goal. And I feel like I saw maybe five of those the rest of the year. He’s like, “This is the first way he like legit scored in the NHL and we never went back to it.” So, I really like that. But with uh with Zegris, this this quote that you got, Charlie, uh about the video game is tremendous. He says, “Ziggress noted that in the new NHL video game, Couttori’s X factor is faceoffs.” So, as soon as he could, he went up to Coots and said, “What do you have for me?” This just kind of speaks to Now, listen, it’s such a zoomer. It’s the best. It’s very funny that like it’s not that Couturier’s like gotten Selky votes almost every year of his career where that you can just pull up his percent and be like, “Oh, he’s near 60%.” It’s that Oh, his X Factor in the video game. No, me and Yeah, me and Dale were playing Chel and I noticed that that Shanki is really going to face off, so I wonder if he can teach me something. So, that’s funny. But at the root of it, I think it really speaks to the thing you’ve been saying and like you’ve been repeating what you’ve been hearing. He is attacking this with the right attitude. On day one, he goes up to the faceoff guy and goes, “I know I’m bad at them. What do you got?” It wasn’t even day one. It was during the captain or the informal skates. We were seeing the two of them working together on faceoffs. I think they did a little bit more work today, but it doesn’t seem as if this is going to be a one-time thing that look, Trevor Ziggers wants to play center. He feels most comfortable there. He’s played center his entire life. And now last season, he was told by his coach, “No, you can’t play center because I don’t think you’re good enough. I think other guys are better. He wants to stick at that position and he knows one of the reasons why he hasn’t stuck at that position, why Cronin decided that he didn’t want him there, why they picked Leo Carlson and Mason McTavish over him to play center is because Ziggress is terrible at faceoffs. If Ziggress can get to the point where maybe he’s not even good, but he’s just not 40% bad. He’s 47 48%. That’s enough. Danny Berier was like that and he was able to stick down the middle for large portions of his career because he just wasn’t getting obliterated in the dot. That’s the like there’s not good and then there’s 40%. Yeah. Like it’s a 5050 puck battle and you’re minus 10. That’s bad. You know, like the best guys in the league are 58 60. It’s not as if you know, okay, you win one more, you’re even. You win two more, you’re one of the best at 60. But like when you’re at 40, you’re so much worse than basically everybody. And I can’t imagine he’s only lined up against like Berseron and Couttori in his career. Like he he’s had some other opportunities to win some and he’s just basically winning the ones that the guy whiffs on. Um I really like though that he is like, “Oh yeah, man. I am attacking this because listening to what Anaheim people, people who follow the Ducks say about Trevor Zegress, it’s that him carrying the puck, him being in the middle of the ice, making plays from the middle to the outside, that’s when he’s good. Yeah. If he’s on the wing, he just doesn’t have that opportunity. He can be as skilled as he wants. That’s not his style of play. He might be undersized. He might not be great at faceoffs, but you want him in the middle using his vision and his skill. If he’s not that, he’s not Trevor Zris. I like that he’s doing what it might take for him to stick. I just hope Sean Couture is as good as Claude Drew was at teaching people how to do faceoffs. That would be great. And look, some of faceoffs is is learning how to cheat, getting more slack from officials. I mean, that’s what Noah Kate said, like, “Hey, I’m getting a little bit better at face off because it let me get away with more because I’m not a rookie anymore.” Yeah. So, that’s kicking me out of the dot when I move a quarter second earlier. So, that’s part of it. But Zagris clearly needs to get better. You know, looking at his career faceoff numbers, first full season, 39.9%. Second full season 41.4. Third season where he missed most of the year, 38.4. Last season, where he was mostly a wing, 36.6. These are horrific numbers. And they’re they’re a big reason why if you talk to people who are a little bit more on the traditionalist side, they express serious skepticism that Trevor Zaggers can stick down the middle. As much as you think it’s the defense, look, we’ve seen some centers be not that good at defense and stick down the middle for a long time, but pretty much all of them at least were decent at faceoffs. Faceoffs is a big thing, especially for coaches. If Ziggress can get that to 45%, maybe Rick Tock’s a little bit more willing to let this experiment play out the whole year rather than be going up to Danny Breier’s office a month in the season and be like, I can’t do this. Yeah, that’s the to keep everyone on the right track, he has to do his part. It looks like he’s at least working at it, improving from what is real bad. Uh, all right. I want to look at the group B lines and pairs now, Charlie. All right. And what stuck out to me about this is Kates and Brink not automatically with Forester. Now it’s a rotating wing. I assume Forester got his opportunity. He really he really did. Interesting. So to explain the way they had this set up the D’vorak so the Forester D’vorak Barky line and the Gendron Luchenko tippet line. Those lines were stable. They ran those two lines pretty much every single time. It was Kates and Brink were always together. But then like Tua got some some shifts there. Anthony Rashard got some shifts there. Like they were cycling the third guy. Okay. And I do think in no small part that may have been driven by the fact that So this was like this kind of I know a lot of people aren’t super hyped up about this guy, but he is in the mix. Carson Dor left practice and he was in that group. He left practice. I think he took like a weird hit. He looked like he was favoring maybe his arm, his wrist. He left practice and I think they were rotating lines because suddenly six guys became five. So they started rotating but it’s clear that Kates and Brink were always going to be together and Forester was not going to be the third guy on that line at least to start camp. I don’t know who the projected third wing was going to be because they did so much rotating because Dorward was not out there for the line rushes. Now listen, there’s it’s a big group and there’s guys like I do not expect Barky in the lineup night one, you know, I don’t expect Gendron in the lineup night one, but I do think I wonder like not having Kates with Brink and Forester right away. Do you think it’s well, we already know that works, so let’s see something else or it’s we want to move some things around? Unclear. I I do think that you have to account for the fact that Forester is not yet 100% cleared. So, it’s hard for me to make any meaningful observations on who he was with when he’s wearing a purple jersey. It could just be that. Well, we don’t know if he’s going to be ready for the start of the year. So, let’s see these two guys with other people just in case. I have to think that their start of season plan is that Forester with the line that worked so well last year. But, this is ultimately going to be Rick Tockett’s call. He sets the lines. We’re gonna see what he decides by the end of uh by the end of camp. It did seem like based on what Taka said today though that these day one lines, this was more Danny and Jonesy. They’re the ones who put together these lines. Tit he basically said, “Look, I’ve watched tape this summer. I’ve talked to these guys, but I don’t know these guys that well yet. I’m going to be learning about who these guys are, what my view of these guys are as we go through camp. for now. If Jones and Danny want Alex Bump with Trevor Zagris and Travis Kaknne, sure, let’s take a look at it. And I want to talk about the defense for a second, but just looking at these groups and we talked about the um the idea of the duos, Luchenko and Tippet together is very exciting. Um just speed, let’s let’s move, baby. Like, you know what? We we want to play a certain way. We want to be a possession team and all that, but maybe Owen Tippet’s not going to be able to play that way all the time. Maybe that’s not going to be a specialty. Let’s just go zoom with them. Let’s just do the run with us 76ers thing. Like, yeah, man. We’re going to have a duo. If these two are together, it’s just going to be like just go, man. Just go. It’s It’s the go line. Who’s the third fastest guy that we can throw on that other wing and just really let him get out there and just buzz around? I mean, I guess it would be connecting. My my idea last year was TK. Like, then that’s just the rush line. Like, that’s all we’re doing. That’s it’s just just a drum solo the whole time. Um, well, what I will say though, I mean, look, the speed aspect of matching Lucheno and Tippet is exciting. But there’s also the fact that Luchenko is at his core a pure playmaker. The question for him is, is he going to score like any goals at the NHL level? Is he ever going to shoot the puck? Tippet is at his core a pure shooter. It does make stylistic sense to put those two together. It sure does. No, like the Luchenko thing now is, yeah, okay, you’re a playmaker, but are they going to be able to defend you like Ben Simmons speaking with the Sixers? Like, yeah, I’m just going to be over here cuz you’re not going to shoot. You’re never going to shoot the puck. Like, I’m just going to take away the pass. Can will he be effective shooting enough? But I do like the idea of all right, man. We got a guy who generates offense by passing. Let’s put him with the dude whose only thing is shooting. Yeah. Well, I mean, like, would you be disappointed if like Luchenko’s the primary assist on 35 Owen Tippet goals this season? Like, I don’t think I would be upset by that at all. No, I would in fact be quite enthusiastic that he had 35 primary assists as a 19year-old in the NHL. I feel like you’d be more enthusiastic that Owen Tippet finally broke 30 goals so that you don’t have to we don’t have to crap on him all the time anymore. I would love to to not uh have Owen Tibet be the guy I pick on all season. That would be tremendous. I’ll have to find somebody else. Oh, and you will, I’m sure. Speaking of that, who that guy could potentially be uh now like York and Zamula are not the same thing. We don’t see them the same way. I mean, they’re locks to make the team. They’re both, but the way like the top six forwards in group A were. And then it’s like, oh, bumping Gankin with those guys. We’re giving them a chance. The fact that it’s Gronz and Andre with the two definite NHLers, I think says, “Okay, we’re you’re the ones we’re given a chance.” I would say that it implies that those guys are at the top of the list to start camps and Andre battling at least a start for that sixth spot, that replacement of at least for the start of the year. Now, I very much think that guys like, you know, you have Noah Jules here next to Hunter McDonald. Um, you had Dennis Gilbert was was in group one. I think those guys are in the mix, but I do think there’s an element here of those guys maybe get the spot if the young guys don’t step up. If they because we’ve seen camps before where you’re waiting for a guy to to establish himself and to say like, I want this spot and everyone just looks okay. Maybe if that’s what happens, if we’re four games into the preseason and Gronz has been meh in his two games and Andre struggled in one, had a decent one the other, then maybe they’re like, “Well, maybe we have to go with Noah Jules.” But this does imply to me that at the very least the younger guys, the prospects are getting first chance at taking that spot while Rristan’s out. If if Risto was healthy, do you think Zamula is a lock to be one of the six defenseman on this team opening night? Do I think he would be a lock? No. Like as compared to the guys who are clear-cut established NHLers? No. Right. He could be theoretically pushed to the number seven spot. Andre out plays him. Now though, I think he’s I think he’s Yeah. With the extra spot. Um, something we’ve talked about is the transition from Brad Shaw to a new defensive coach in uh Todd Rearen and how like we’ve talked about how that may affect Ddale like Dale we saw taking such strides but clearly has a lot more to go before he becomes the guy we want him to be and how is this going to affect him and you had this tweet earlier uh from Cam York saying uh Cam York says he thinks there’s a lot of similarities between Shaw and new assistant And Todd Rearen said he thinks Rearen will be a perfect fit for the group in terms of coaching the Dmen. Does that give you I mean I don’t think Cam York’s going to be like this effing guy. Like I you should see he is a he’s an idiot. Like obviously but I do think like he straight up says similarities between the guy we were worried about losing and the guy we have now. That has to make you feel better than worse. Yeah. But I mean, like, is he talking about like vibes, like attitude? Totally vibes. Just like, you know, how he talks to them? Like, I don’t I seriously doubt he’s talking about like how he coaches X’s and O’s defense to guys that need assistance with it. You know what I mean? Yeah. So, like it obviously it makes me feel better than if someone were to come out and say, “Actually, this guy sucks and I hate him.” Like, that would be bad. That would actually be awesome. Which, you know, Cam York might say, “Yeah, if there’s anybody who would someone was going to say it, that would be so great.” Yeah, I know. This guy sucks and I start a new war with a new coaching staff. I mean, obviously this is this is better than that, but like I I’m I’m still a little bit nervous about the fact that we lost the guy that fixed Rosalin because I do feel like that was a herculean task and he did it very well and I don’t know that it would have happened without him. Um, so that just thinking about how far Risto has come. So, uh, our our sister show, I guess, what chaos, right? They are doing a stream where last year they all like picked a jersey and like unveiled it and it was like a fanatics thing and uh they picked their own and this year it’s every showmate is going to pick one for the other person. And last year it was going to be a joke that uh DJ Bean got a Risto jersey. And this year they were like, “Okay, we’re all going to lay down one guy that you don’t get for us.” And he was like, “The Risto thing isn’t funny anymore.” So like, it’s not a good joke. And I was like, “If it’s reached the national level of they all realize like, no, he’s actually pretty good. It’s not funny to own a Risto jersey.” It’s Yeah, man. Brad Shaw did some work. Brad did some work. He’s pretty okay now. Now it’s just he can’t stay healthy, but when he plays he’s fine because we can’t have anything. I just thought that was funny. Wet chaos. Very good. I I agree. I agree. But going back to the uh the Shaw rear comparison, Kelly, I I’m with you in that, you know, it’s nice to hear, but also what else is he going to say? He’s not going to want to get off on the wrong foot with who is essentially his direct like he’s not the boss, but he’s his direct supervisor. He’s his manager. His direct manager. Everything I’ve heard about Todd Rear and I do want to try to have a conversation with him like for an interview at some point during camp. We’ll see if I can get that done. Um it seems like he is in the vein of Shaw in the sense that he’s also a teacher first. Okay. And that’s what likes about him. Pocket mentioned that today. the real question because the big thing with Shaw and I think what made him so well-liked by the younger generation of players and it’s kind of just it doesn’t even seem like doesn’t seem like he was putting on airs. It just seems like this is who he is and now younger players are more open to this. Shaw is an explainer. Shaw is a very cerebral, intelligent guy who wants to give you all of the info and explain exactly what he was thinking and break down all the details of a play. And maybe 20 years ago, players would just tune that out. These younger guys, they want that. They dig it. They want to know everything. They want to know why that that formation is is being set up, why I’m on a pairing with this guy, you know, why we play man-to-man versus zone, and what the strengths and weaknesses of our approach is. And Shaw gave that to them in a way that Tors definitely didn’t. Yeah. But Tors was just like, I’m John Torrell. You do what I say or else you’re going to be in the press box. Tough crap. They like Shaw because Shaw was willing to do that. What I’m intrigued to see is if Rearen has the same approach or if it’s a little bit more like My Way or the highway. And if the dynamic like Rick Tocket seems to like to talk, and I’m not saying this in a bad way, he does. like John Tortoella liked to hear himself talk and and then would get mad that you asked him questions. It’s like, well, you like you clearly have something to say, but anyway, like there will be less, I guess, just resistance from the head coach that, you know, one of the assistants has to come over and be like, “All right, so this is what he’s saying.” So maybe it’s not as necessary that he is exactly like Shaw because the head coach while maybe intense and intimidating still a decent enough communicator that the players are like I don’t know he just yelled at me for 5 minutes and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do still. And there’s an element too and a couple of guys because I think I think Jackie from the Inquir is writing an article talking like her framing of day one it seemed like based on the question she was asking was about you know is it important that Tocket is a former flyer and like you know that he knows like the the the market and he knows the team and the crest and all that stuff. And she kind of asked that question to a couple players and the response that they more or less gave was it’s less important that he’s a former flyer but more important that he’s a former player that he understands us in a way that some coaches don’t. And it was very clear what they were getting at was like Tors was never an NHL player. So he would go and and rip us a new one. And in the back of our heads we’re thinking like what the hell do you know dude? That’s, you know, like guys have played at different levels and everything, but I used to say this about several different coaches. I can’t imagine sitting there being Claude Jaru and being like, “What are you going to tell me about playing in the NHL?” Like, really, you’re the coach and I got to do what I got to do. But let’s be honest here. One of us is an all-star and the other one was never close to that. Yeah. Like, well, it’s like that old the old truism about teachers, like those who can’t teach. Well, Tak could and now he’s teaching and now he teaches too. And that’s probably John Cooper was a lawyer fan. It’s fair. Listen, there it can come from a lot of different places. I’m just saying like if I was an NHL player and like things are going poorly and you’re putting it on me, I want to know what your credentials are. I’m not saying it’s right or wrong. I’m just saying that I do believe that players, not all players, but a lot of players, it gives that extra bit of credibility to their observations. Like I think it was connect today who was basically like yeah like there are some things that I might not have to explain to Takit because like he knows what it’s like to be in the second game of a backto-back when you had travel the night before that like if if Torell is screaming at me like how could you be so terrible in this game and it’s like come on man like I have no legs I’m dead back hurts. Yeah. And and I think their thought is like Tocket might get that in a way that Torts didn’t. It permeates from ownership to fans in the NHL. Did you play the game? If yes, then you know more than somebody who didn’t. That is generally a feeling of people in the game to be sure. All right, and with that, let’s take our next commercial. Listen up, fam. It is the fall. I know it’s not like actually the fall. We have a couple more days, but football’s back. Hockey training camp is open. School is in. And that makes it kind of like its own new year, right? 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Dream Mark Financial Credit Union. It’s fedally insured by the NCUA. While we’re here, let’s talk about Game Time. I’m trying a new thing and it’s not going well. Uh if you can’t tell, Game Time, you know, Game Time is my absolute favorite ticketing app. There’s so many different secondary market uh places to buy tickets, but the Game Time app gives you gives the advantage back to fans. Uh, it’s the hack for unlocking amazing tickets and experiences in just a few taps. It’s incredibly easy to use and the game time guarantee means you can trust. You can trust Game Time 100% and your tickets will be authentic and at the best price. Plus, fees are always included. So, what you see is what you pay. They have the all-in pricing, and when you get to checkout, there’s not any surprises at the end. So, make sure you check out Game Time. Check out the zone deals. Save even more money when you choose a section and let Game Time choose the seats for you. And check out that seat view. Get a pan panoramic view of your seat in the app before you buy so you know exactly what you’re getting. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account. Use code PHLY for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, all you got to do create an account and redeem code PHLY for $20 off. Tap, ticket, go. Download the Game Time app today. Also, 197 likes. I’m loving it. Let’s just Let’s Let’s pray 200K. Three more. It’s so easy. Just so easy. There’s probably plenty of you out there. You can hit the like button. It’s not difficult. I’m looking I’m looking at a good live viewership number right now, but there are a lot of people haven’t hit the like button yet. So, hit that like button, folks. Hit the like button. Damn it. As Bill has said before, if you’re watching the show, you can hit the like button. Like you’re a damn fool if you’re sitting here watching us for any amount of time and you don’t like it. Like just show like confirm that you’re not a fool. Oh, I do like this. That’s why I’m sitting here watching it. It’s very simple. Someone’s going to hit the Someone’s going to hit now. This guy keeps calling me an idiot. Hey, you’re already at 204. Way to go, everybody. Do is shame people and then you get results. That’s Yeah, it’s simple. Um bullying works. Yeah, exactly. It’s always working. All right, so I want to talk a little about some injury updates, Charlie. Okay. Uh, the only one I could find was Tyson Forester, who seems to be okay. Yeah, Forester obviously was on the ice today. He’s still wearing the purple non-cont jersey, but the hope based on what we heard two days ago from Danny Breier is that within a week he will have the non-cont jersey removed and he’ll be wearing the normal jersey and then he’ll be able to get into preseason games. And Forester seemed very optimistic that he’ll be ready. He did note that because I asked him about how much the the elbow issue, the infection, how much it affected his training. He said, “Look, it it it it affected it, but he was still able to skate. So, he’s just got to get himself back into uh, you know, maybe a little bit better upper body shape because he wasn’t able to do the kind of lifting and gains that you would normally make in the in the offseason. But, he seems pretty confident he’s going to be ready. Oliver Bon not on the ice. That’s a bummer. He’s dayto-day with an upper body injury. That’s a bummer because I don’t think he was likely to make the team, but he would have been in the game. Yeah. And he is he’s dayto-day. Hopefully, he’ll be back at some point, you know, in the next few days, maybe next week. But even missing, even if he only misses, let’s say, four or five days, I think that’s enough to basically, you know, put the stake through the heart of his chances to make the club out of camp, seems unlikely he would. It seemed like they were giving him like at least trying to motivate him with, oh yeah, you can make it. Like, yeah, you’re gonna have to have a great camp. You’re gonna have to have some really good preseason games, but we’re not just telling you you’re going to play in the AHL no matter what. And now, maybe he can, but like he’s going to have to go out and freaking dominate like the two regular or the two preseason games he may get into. By then, it might be too late even. Um, I want to get to uh, so a few weeks ago, going back to some what some of these line pairings were for a second. Okay. Uh, a few weeks ago, we got a mailbag question. I can’t remember if Kelly was here, if it was one of my solo days or whatever the hell it was, but the importance of a, uh, potentially another Russian pal for Matt Vishkov, basically. Okay. And I said like, listen, yeah, I’m sure like couldn’t hurt, but the ultimate goal is like he doesn’t need just that. He’s social with all his teammates and he’s comfortable and I think already he’s way more comfortable socializing with them than he is like speaking directly to the media. Yeah. Um but it probably couldn’t hurt. But they do have Zamula, you know, all this now that Fedotav’s gone. We’ll have Capri off soon. Yeah, we’ll have Capri off probably in a couple days. Uh but the fact that they have Grabben with them and uh we actually got a pretty nice highlight of them together in a uh in a twoonone. Now I know we’re not expecting like and as you said with uh with Coots and those two like all right it’s not as if Mishkov’s the worst skater. It’s not as if Grabankin’s the worst skater but there ain’t no one that’s fast on that line by any means. But do you think maybe the Russian factor gives him a little bit of an opportunity to play with Mishkov some? Yeah, I do. If he makes the team to be sure. I mean, I could see a whirl and maybe this is more going two, three years down the road, but I’d be intrigued by a Grabbankin Luchenko Mishkoff line. Oh, there you now. You’ve got the speed, you’ve got the defense, Ganka brings the size, Mishkoff brings the star power, and the finishing ability. That’s an intriguing combination to me. Yeah, I I do think Rebankin and Mishkov might have something going there. Look, it’s helpful when you’re playing with somebody from your country, especially when we’re talking about Russians because number one, there’s a language barrier, but number two, like they come up in a way where like there is a Russian style of play. Yes, there particularly for forwards, there is a Russian style of play. There are things that Russian players that came up through the Russian developmental system, there are things that they do differently than North American guys. And to have another one of those guys on your line, yeah, you might you might be able to recognize things when you have a countryman, a fellow Russian on your line that even somebody like Travis Connectne who is way more talented than Nikita Gankin that he might not pick up because he just might not have the same shared experiences. I’m not talking about life experiences, but I’m talking about like what you learned when you were 10 years old being coached by, you know, a an old 70-year-old former Red Army player. I’m sure like it just it couldn’t possibly hurt. And I do like beyond the Russian factor like they understand each other. Maybe they could develop a short hand like they just get each other’s style of play and what he each is going to do. And then you add in Shawn Coutureier who seemed at times last season despite his physical limitations at this point in his career to be the only one who could play off a Meiche for long periods of time like because he’s just smart that way. Having Grabbank out there who’s 6’2, 210, has skill, but also like is gonna get down low, do some dirty work, get to the net. Yeah, it could be a decent, at least offensively combination. Now, the other two zones, who knows how that could work, but I don’t necessarily write it off as, oh, we’re not going to have group banking in the top six, so it doesn’t matter. Yeah. I I I mean, the thing is, too, like, and I’ I’ve mentioned this so many times, lines change a lot. They change all the time. They change a lot. But there’s the duo thing. It does seem like they’re leaning on um they’re leaning on this couturier Mishkov duo, at least for now, which I am totally cool with. I like that. But Gerbankin could fit in there. Like somebody just asked in the chat like how would you describe the Russian style of play? It’s a little bit more fluid. It’s a little bit more motionbased that as opposed to the North American style which is a little bit more like crash and bang forche based. I know that a lot of Russian players are more pro-ont controlled entries. Yes, that comes from the idea of puck possession which dates all the way back to the, you know, the red army team. They they were a puck possession team. A lot of times they would when they would change lines, they would make sure that they kept the puck. They would have one guy stay on the ice while everybody jumped off the ice so they retained puck possession. And those are things where, you know, is it the exact same as it was in the 70s and 80s? No. But there are parts that still continue to this day. And you can see it in the way Mishkoff plays. It’s not just that he’s super talented. He plays a different game than guys are North American. He plays a different style. It’s a little bit more creative, a little bit more free flowing. We always talk like hockey is such a small world. Hockey is passed down from generation to generation. So even a coach in the 2020s learned from someone who learned from someone who won a freaking gold medal in the 70s, you know, like and that’s kind of just the way it is. And in Russia, I’m sure it’s the exact same thing. So I I can just see that. All right. Uh we have a few more things I want to talk about today, but right now I want to tell you uh just thank you uh for being part of the PHLY community. We’re always looking to improve our shows. We’re trying every single day to put on a better show than we did the last time. Uh and we want to better understand how you listen and what you most value, what you like about our shows or even what you don’t like, which I don’t want to hear, but you know, the higherups do. Um, that’s why we’ve launched that’s why we’ve launched this that’s why we’ve launched this quick survey. Uh, your feedback helps us shape the content you love and make it even better. Uh, it only takes a few minutes, but it will make a big impact. It’ll make a big impact for us and the company as a whole. So, just take a moment if you have it, head to allphy.com/servey and let your voice be heard. This is your chance to influence what it is we do here at PHLY. And all respondents have a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card just as a little thank you. So, it’s very simple. Take the survey. You’re entered to win the gift card. Who couldn’t use a hundred bucks? I might take one myself. I was going to say, are we eligible to win? Can I take the survey? I don’t know. I got thoughts about this show. I got thoughts. Yeah, there’s no there’s no fine print uh on the information they gave me. So, I don’t think there’s anything stopping you, Kelly. I don’t think Charlie and I are eligible, but you know, as a freelancer, like what who would know? You know, how could they stop you? All right, Charlie. Uh I think we have a decent number of super chats now that people have figured out how to hit those again. Uh all right, four from Adams. A lot of Adams. Um anyway, uh is there any like was there anything else that really popped up today at training camp that you’re like that’s different or I want to make sure I note that on the show? Uh yeah. Well, I will be having a lot of this stuff in my postract. Read the article. I’m I haven’t written the article yet, Bill. No, I but I I that that’s that’s for later tonight. You’ve been back here for 20 minutes. What’s your problem? Um but uh but anyway um I do have my postpractice notes video which will be up probably in a few hours so keep an eye out for that. Um honestly like do did we talk about the couturier uh that he um that he’s talked to more in three months than he talked to in two years. I I didn’t see that that that was the big one. I heard you two talking about it but I didn’t actually hear getting spicy. I didn’t hear what the quote is but Coots is basically like Yeah, I hated that guy. Like that’s basically what he’s that’s basically what has come out in the last couple of weeks, right? Well, I wouldn’t even say last couple weeks. I think he made it pretty clear right after Turtz got fired, too. Yeah. But now he’s just like, why wouldn’t he? Yeah. I didn’t like he has told us many times now like, oh yeah, we didn’t speak, which is kind of insane. It is bonkers. I don’t like the captain and the coach need to have a relationship of some kind. Sean Cat seems like a nice man. He is. I can confirm. Why would you just not like I could see like even if you dislike his the way that he plays like you don’t like you wish he was a little bit faster couldn’t you still be nice to him? He’s a nice guy. Tortoella for whatever reason from the from the jump just decided I don’t like this guy. So weird because there was nothing he could do about it. He basically and this is Listen, I’m not a psychologist. I just play one on this show. Um Dr. He was given basically other than you know Travis Sanheim who they tried to trade anyway. He was basically given all right tell us who you want and who you don’t and we’re going to try to make it work for you. And there was nothing he could do. Whether he wanted Couttoriier or not is inconsequential because he didn’t get a say because his contract and his injury status and his no move clause and all of that prevented anything from being able to be done. I think that’s the biggest factor more than anything. Him on the ice. You might be on to something. The way they talk to each other. I think it st stems with that because he didn’t have control of the situation. That’s just me guessing. I don’t know. Already had some really good conversations with Taket. Probably more over the last three months with Titan than over two years with Torts. It’s fun to just go back and forth and get to know each other. It’s funny because today’s day one of camp and so like in their off season in between their vacations they’ve had more conversations than he had in years with the other coach and it’s just like apparently it’s just little things too because Kevin Currus had a good interview with Taka came out yesterday and one thing that Taka mentioned that interview was that he’s talked to Coutur and this is just like little things that a coach can do to build a relationship with a captain. He said, “I’ve talked to Couturier about like, you know, after this game when we’re on a road trip, do you want do you want us to leave that night or should we leave the next morning? Like what would the what would the guys prefer?” Just those little things like, “Does it matter that much?” No. But it makes the captain feel like he’s important. Makes him feel like he’s being listened to. It definitely makes the locker room feel as if they are not fighting the guy who’s in charge. Adversarial relationship. Adversarial. I was trying to think of that word earlier. All right. Um, did either of you watch The Flyers Way episode one? Because I have not seen it yet. Um, real quick and then we’ll hit super chats. Biggest takeaway, Kelly? The the amount of kind of like little chit cchat about everyone being so big and so mean. Yeah. Um, and there was one specifically related to Nesbit that gave me flashbacks to that video when they were talking about Samaran. I had like a fl like a PTSD flashback about that video and I was like, “Oh god.” Because I think it was Jonesy was just like I called somebody and he told me he’s real big and he’s real mean or something like that and I was just like, “Oh, oh, Jonesy.” I I definitely got the sense and I I always thought this was the case, but then like then you interview them on the like, “Oh, no, it was just a coincidence.” I absolutely a got the sense that it won’t wasn’t no coincidence, but number two that Keith Jones was the the big voice in the room to say we need bigger players. Keith Jones wanted big boys. He wanted big boys and he got them. Um you had a tweet about it, I think last night just about the uh draft room dynamic. Yeah, I thought that was the most interesting stuff for me. It was interesting. Yeah, the the fact that when they were deciding on who to take with the uh the second of their four second round picks, they ultimately take Jack Mr. But they were very clearly between Merrtag and Vanagi. They take Merrtag and then eight picks later, Vanagi’s still there. And I think like at one point Brent Flair was like, “We’re going to get him, too. Cool.” No, listen, these things are always like, “Oh my god.” Yeah. Like we see it every year, you know, like oh man. Yeah. how he got uh Jiad Campbell, he would have taken him in the top 10, you know, and it’s but it does seem as if this draft unfolded in a way that they were very pleased. Yeah. I I also thought they they tried to to mask because there’s one part where I think it’s um it might be Flare. It was either Flair or Jonesy like whispers to Briier like if and they blurt out the they they they cut out the first word but it’s like or Martone is there are we taking him and it seems like people have read lips enough to think that it was Dooy. Kurt figured out it was Dy that it was DO. It was it was basically like DOY and Martone were the two guys they were like we’re going to take if they’re there. Not Brady Martin. Another thing it it it seemed like Danny was getting called on the sixth overall pick. Did it not? He was absolutely getting called on the sixth overall pick. Teams are trying to trade up. It’s just my whole argument with that is that no one ever trades the picks. Everybody calls. Everybody tries to get them. It’s just ultimately when the chips are down, teams want to make those picks. All right. Um, do we have to hit overtime? Is that something we All right, let’s hit overtime and then uh and then we’ll do the uh we’ll do the super chats. Go to all phy.com. You know the drill. All right, first one here from our pal Gary B. Saysary, three of my favorite Flyers fans together. Let’s go Flyers. What’s up, Gary? Great to hear from uh great to hear from Gary B. And now, Adam S, the first of four. Uh does anyone know if MSU started camp yet? And if so, how Truck and Martone are doing? I mean, I’ve seen pictures of Martone wearing the jersey, so I’m guessing that they’re at least like on the ice. Now, whether they’ve started the formal camp, I’m not sure, but classes have started. It’s September. He’s clearly enrolled in college. But no, I have not been following the Michigan State training camp. Is there any way to follow Michigan State’s training camp other than going to Michigan and watching it? Like there is like I don’t really think they have to have like at least one beat writer, right? I mean probably the student. They’re like in the Big 10, right? There’s got to be like I’m sure they have people they have kids cover in the team. I’m sure. Yeah. But I’m not like actively going my way to try to read like the Michigan State Spartan. Oh, I don’t mean for us. I just mean for like others. Yeah, I I I’m sure I’m sure it’s there somewhere if you want to stop. Yeah, go find their uh their college newspaper. All right, next one here from Adam. It says, uh, do we know how involved uh Johnny Garach is with teaching the team how to fight? How serious is the organization teaching? That is a very selfiliated teaching the boys how to brawl. Uh, like I don’t I don’t think it’s I think it’s kind of like a self-defense seminar more than anything. I don’t think he’s gonna be Well, he’s in training camp. That would be very surprising because you would first have to teach one of them how to skate, right? Like that’s that would be the first thing because if you can’t do it on skates, then it’s kind of pointless. Yeah. Correct. I would be very surprised if they’re at training. It’s a goon situation. I will say that I I really don’t think I think this is more of a like fun social media thing than like an actual important initiative for the Philadelphia Flyers for the season. And I do think Bill was on to something I think when we talked about this initially where it’s just more of like here’s how you don’t get yourself killed. Mve Mechov like more of that and less of like this is how you become Delore. Probably some good crossover and just like again self-defense at where you position your arms grappling to not get knocked out. I’m sure there’s something to be learned there but otherwise like I don’t think yeah Mav Mishkov is going to become Rick Tak. I don’t think this is like remember remember years ago we I’m sure you both remember this. Remember when Donald Basher like spent a summer like with the actual boxing coach? I don’t think it’s that. Everybody else during the lockout like went and played somewhere to get a paycheck and he was like I’m going to fight more. I don’t think it’s that. Me neither. All right, next one here from Adam. uh seems like a nice enough guy, but why does this front office continue to force the fans to watch Jaor Zamula play hockey? Cuz they think he’s good. They they believe he is at the very least a quality third pair defense. And by the numbers last year, he was he may not have been by the eye test, but by the numbers last year, he was. As a six or seven, I’m totally fine with him. I would rather someone better, but like I would say that about literally every position. So, uh, you know, first line right wing, I think we’re pretty good at. We have two guys who can do it. Beyond that, I I would like a better player at every single position, including six defenseman. I think he’s fine as a six or seven. All right. And last one here from Adam. Uh, Brad Shaw is overrated. Our defense was terrible last year and Dale was a minus 32. I disagree with I mean I obviously I can’t disagree with the facts that Dale was a minus 32. What I’ll say about Dzel is like, did you watch him last year? Like he clearly got dramatically better from the start of the season to the end of the season, he made obvious strides if you were paying attention to him. I did an article on all phy.com breaking it down. I think Brad Shaw, while the defense maybe was not as good as it could have been last year, did a really good job improving Ras line. I think he was making real strides with Dale. I think Travis Sanheim has never been a better all-around defenseman other than the times he’s been working under Brad Shaw. So, I think there have been Nick Caler kind of came out of nowhere and became a really solid middle to bottom half of the lineup defenseman. So, there’s a lot of real success stories under Brad Shaw. Yeah. That’s not to say he was perfect, but I think he was a good defense coach. Yeah. The three goalies combined for an 879 save percent. Do you think that has something to do with the minus 32? Maybe. Who’s to say? I’m just saying they got outsc scored a lot and quite a bit of it was because every the goalies could shot in like you know when we’re not when we’re talking about sub 880 here it’s not just bad it’s the worst and historically bad that’s just the shots those are just the goalie shot and save statistics that’s not even the empty neters and stuff 879 save percentage rebat not great hopefully it’s better this year I don’t think I can deal with watching goending that bad again If it could be worse than 879, they might need to fold the team. I will honestly be so impressed if it’s worse. Like, I’ll honestly be impressed. I’m not even kidding. Go six guys. Go with an empty net and see if you can just outnumber them. That’s that’s a line that has popped up quite a few times in the press room over the last couple weeks with regards to the goalending and the power play, which is, “Well, it can’t be worse.” And I always respond with, “Don’t don’t challenge them, Philly, baby.” Like, it it sure could be worse. It could always be worse. All right. And that is all the time we have for you on PHLY Flyers today. Thank you all for listening. Thank you for hanging out. If you haven’t already, you got to hit that subscribe button. Follow us right here on YouTube. Non-game days. We are live at 4:00 every day all season. Obviously game days we will have pre and post. We will figure out a pre and post schedule for preseason based on what we think is going to be aired on TV. But as of right now, like the first game is Sunday and there’s no broadcast information, which leads me to believe it won’t be. But we’re going to figure it out. It might be streamed on a website. But in which case, we might not be doing a pre-in post. Um, I want it to be on a television network and then I will do pre and post. Otherwise, we’ll see if I Yeah. If we can’t watch it on the television. Yeah. No. All right. Give us uh follow us on all the socials. We’re phy_flyers on Twitter. Follow the podcast wherever you get those. Just search phyflyers and check out broadstrehockey.com while you’re at it. All right. My name is Bill Matz. That’s Charlie Oconor. That’s Kelly Hinkle. Till tomorrow, be excellent to each other. [Applause]

It’s day one of Rick Tocchet’s first training camp as the head coach of the Philadelphia Flyers and we’re talking all about everything going on at camp.

How are the players adapting to a new coaching staff? What line combinations have Tocchet & Co. put together? How are the injuries progressing for Oliver Bonk and Tyson Foerster?

Charlie, Kelly & Bill discuss all the Day One goings-on at the Flyers Training Center.

00:00 – Intro
1:34 – BBBSA MONTH
2:19 – HIT THE LIKE BUTTON!
2:35 – Day 1 of Training Camp recap
5:55 – Lines and pairs of Group A
19:50 – Trevor Zegras & Matvei Michkov
25:54 – Lines and pairs of Group B
32:58 – Cam York on new assistant coach & coaching defense without Brad Shaw
41:36 – HIT THE LIKE BUTTON
44:03 – Injury updates: Tyson Foerster, Oliver Bonk
45:55 – Matvei Michkov & Nikita Grebenkin
52:35 – Sean Couturier comments on relationship with Tocchet vs Tortorella
56:13 – The Flyers Way: Biggest takeaway from episode 1 of docuseries

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