Sanheim moving up Flyers rankings, Luchanko may be moving back to Guelph | PHLY Flyers Podcast

Hey, hey, hey. Hey everybody, how you doing? Well, that’s good. Welcome to PHLY Flyers presented by our friends at 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 reporter Charlie O’ Connor and Broad Street Hockeyy’s own Kelly Hinkle. Gang all here two days in a row back by popular demand. We have the three of us and this time Brena behind the glass even though there’s no glass. It’s just the same room. Uh but this is gang is all here. We have all four. We have the it’s it’s basically the Beatles. Uh we’re all together. Charlie probably hates the Beatles or something. No, I like the Beatles. I just like the Beatles. I don’t know. Kelly just likes the Beatles. I can see that. I don’t get it. All right. Anyway, anyway, we have a lot to get to today. Want to talk about basically all the stuff we didn’t get to yesterday cuz I had like a 90minute show planned. Um, but first I got to tell you Dave P is going nuts in the chat. There’s like nine messages in a row. Anyway, first I got to tell you about the California takeover. That’s right. We’re going to Anaheim, baby. March 17th to the 22nd, you got to come with us out to California. We have tickets to the Ducks game, tickets to the Kings game, and there will be a watch party for the San Jose game. Not only will the four of us be in attendance, so too will Johnlair. You got to book this trip now. Go to allphy.com/events. Nobody does a better event than Philly Sports Trips. They knocked our draft party out of the park. The Montreal trip was one of the best trips I have ever taken. Anaheim is going to blow it all away. Two games, a watch party. Johnlair, us. What else could you ask for? All phy.com/events. Okay. Jet Luchenko. Um, is he already back? I right before we went live. The Flyers because I get tweet notifications for the Flyers because you know, well, I mean, you just hit a little bell. I hear you. Uh, sure. I uh was like, “Oh, here it is. Right before we go live, it’s going to be announced.” But no, it was just wishing the 76ers good luck. Uh, but I I always I always felt bad like I didn’t I didn’t put two and two together here until maybe like about three or four years ago. But the people who have notifications set for me, like the real the real diehard sickos, and I just like it’ll be one of those nights where it’s 2 a.m. and I’m listening to music and just drunk tweeting through it. Oh, that’s my favorite time. Charlie, I cannot wait to find out Charlie’s thoughts on F1 and NASCAR right now. That’s my favorite stuff. But yeah, so uh the Flyers weren’t tweeting about sending Jet Luchenko back, but um he’s played four games. He has played over eight minutes and 50 seconds one time in those four games. He has one shot on net in two attempts. He’s going back soon, right? Like maybe they give him the full nine. Maybe they try to extend this thing as we talked about like keep their hands on him as long as possible. He’ll get to practice with the NHL team, all that stuff, but like they’re not playing him. You would assume that he’s going to go back at some point. And we can talk about the logistics of that, how we think it might play out. I think the more intriguing question here though is whether we’re okay with how he’s being used or whether we think that he should be given a bigger opportunity just how we feel about the whole situation because yeah I mean if he’s getting under 10 minutes a night on the fourth line when he plays presumably at some point they’re going to be like yeah that’s the not the right way to develop him he’s got to go back. It’s a much more interesting question to me as to whether we are annoyed by the way he’s being used. And this is I wanted to point this out because Charlie will get into some advanced numbers and we’ll talk about the time on ice and all that, but you go to his hockey reference page and the first like six columns are identical in his two seasons as a professional hockey player, which I just uh find hilarious. four games played in each of the seasons, no goals, no assists, no points, minus three, two penalty minutes. uh then there you know shots on goals the first uh first time there’s like a deviation but I just I found it very very funny the symmetry and I wanted to point that out funny um because the counting stats exactly the same but the usage has been uh considerably different and that’s I guess in terms of the usage and are we okay with it and getting sent back based on how they’ve used him and what we saw in camp in the preseason Was there ever any other possible outcome than he eventually goes back to the OHL? The way they’re using him does not feel as if this was anything but yeah, let’s get him in for a few games. Like that’s just what it seems like right now. And listen, he’s played in four of the six. Cool. He’s they’re not finding the extra shifts like we talked about. Like, okay, he can be the 4C, but get him out there on the penalty kill. Maybe get him on power play too. Bump him up in the lineup like you know when there’s a fighting major for Nick Deloreier. Now he didn’t play in the Deloreier game but just saying like Gbenin the other day has that fighting major and it’s yeah I don’t think they they really were like let’s get Luchenko a few extra shifts even though one of his linemates is in the even though one of his linemates is going to be out for the next 17 minutes. Doesn’t seem like it’s priority. It doesn’t seem as if it’s a priority perfect uh to get him out there the way we talked. Okay, if he is the 4C, this is how they need to do it. And so it kind of feels Does it feel to you as if they’ve even given him a chance to earn more than a try out? No. I mean, in hindsight, I I do think that this was the inevitable conclusion to his little stint this year because, as you said, there doesn’t seem to be a priority placed on him getting minutes. And I think this kind of goes back to what we talked about with Meechov yesterday. Like I don’t want to bring take it all the way back to that, but Rick Tocket has decided that his focus is winning hockey games. It’s not developing players. So he doesn’t care if Jet Luchenko gets a lot of minutes. He cares if his hockey team wins. And he clearly doesn’t think that Jets ready to be a contributing factor to this team winning hockey games. Yeah, I think this situation because we we kind of sparred a little bit yesterday about the Mishkov one. I think this situation is a lot more like I’m much more open to your criticism of Takit’s handling of Lucenko as opposed to how open I am to the like the serious criticism about the Mishkov stuff because the Luchenko stuff like it does feel like what would you say you do here kind of vibes at the moment. Yes, he’s getting in some games and he’s getting to spend time around the team. He’s getting to practice. He’s getting to learn from the coaching staff. He’s getting their direct feedback rather than, you know, Riley Armstrong having a call with him once a week and things like that. And I’m sure that helps to a degree, but it sure would be nice, and we talked about this last week. It would be nice if before they send him back, they would just give him one game. Just like one game getting 16 minutes with scoring wingers and see what he can do. Because until then, you’re just left with watching this usage and being like, what what can he even do? What can he actually even do? like how is he supposed to prove that he can stay here the way that they’re using him now? And like to the point of yesterday’s argument like about Mishkov where I was kind of in the middle. Um I think it’s a lot on Meech to like Yeah, man. You’re supposed to be the star of the team. Maybe it’s not fair to ask that of a 20-year-old, but plenty of 20-year-olds that have all-star potential are all stars in that time. It’s kind of on him. Luchenko. Yeah, you would want a first round pick uh who you’ve now, you know, who’s made the team out of camp two years in a row to show you a little more and like, yeah, we have to put him up in the lineup because he’s earned it. But I I feel like it’s just that was never realistic, especially in the usage and everything. Like, no, you got to just see what happens if you’re going to try to keep him around and everything. And we’re in a situation now where I’m looking at it and going, if he played for London, does he make this team? Yeah, I don’t think so. I don’t think he does. What I will say though, in the Flyers defense, and it’s not I’m not really defending. I don’t think they’re doing anything terrible here. I don’t think this was a case of they put him on the team knowing that this is how he was going to be used. I don’t think that they’re like, “Yeah, we’ll keep him up the team and he’ll get eight minutes tonight and that’s exactly our plan.” I really think all You mean like Brier and Yeah. Even Rick Taketta for that matter. I don’t think Rick Taka came into the season being like, well, I’m just never going to play this kid because I want to win. I really think from the start they were just taking this day by day. It was very much a well, we’ll keep him with the team and then let’s see what happens. And had a top nine forward gotten hurt, had okay Shan Couturier looked terrible to start the year rather than really good, you know, had Trevor Zegris fl completely flopped and then you’re scratching him after four games because he’s a mess. Like had those things happened, maybe Jet does get a look in the top nine. But none of that has happened. Everyone has stayed healthy. Jet hasn’t like blown the doors off in any of his shifts. Now, it’s a fair point to say like, well, what do you expect? He’s not getting many minutes, but there is a world where in eight minutes maybe he does he does score two goals and then you’re like, well crap. It’s like Nikita Gbankin where Gerbankin’s doing things and then you’re like, well, we got to get this guy more minutes. I don’t think Jets’s been bad, but he hasn’t done anything in his minutes to make me be like it is a travesty that he’s not getting more. I want to see I want to see him get more minutes because I want to see the kid, but I don’t think he’s blowing the doors off either. And I think like that maybe was part of it. It’s like, well, we’ll keep him and if he blows the doors off, then maybe we’ll think about keeping him longer. He hasn’t. Part of that is situational, but part of that is I really do think they were taking this day by day from the start. So, he’s played four, which means they have five more games to play with. They can extend this thing as long as they want. Um, if he misses one more game this month, he can play into November. This is what I’m looking at. And now, this is just a stupid idea that I have, so bear with I love those. They’re the best. Sean Coutureier is in hockey terms old. He has also played well, but not not the youngest guy. No, we have a back-to back November 1st and 2nd. Home against uh home against the Leafs, home against the Flames. Let’s rest Coots Sunday, November 2nd against the Flames. Put Luchenko between Tippet and Kknne. Have the speed chaos line. see how it goes. You are gonna beat the Flames. They stink. Hopefully. Uh like you can’t say they’re going to beat anybody. It’s, you know, they’re the Flyers and it’s hockey. But like that’s a game right there. It’s not like there’s a huge matchup issue that you got to ah I don’t know, man. Well, we going to do this against Vegas. Like that’s not what we’re looking at. Yeah, I want to see it. I want to see him get that one opportunity. That would potentially be game nine. Let’s see how it goes. I would love that. Let’s see how it goes. That would be fun. I think that would be a lot. They’re not going to sit just for funsies. I don’t think they’re going to do that. It would be fun. I just think it’s a good idea. Uh but we know they listen. So, hey, let the team give it a shot. Team one time, see what happens. I don’t think this is going to help him. I think I think that’s the other thing that’s that’s probably driving their decision is like they’re looking at it as this isn’t going to hurt his development. They think it they think it helps to have him around and learning from the coaches directly and being around talking and being around the boys and getting integrated to the NHL in that sense and developing because and as you mentioned G ain’t that good. Now they’re not as bad as you might think. They’re seems like they’re a bit better this year. Um what if he’s the problem? But they’re not. Yeah, it’s it’s obviously Jet Lenko’s fault. Exactly. Stripped to the sea. But I think they look at it as it’s not hurting him. Eventually, we’re probably going to send him back, but we do think there’s value in him being around, even if he’s only getting eight minutes a night. It’s frustrating. It’s not how I would do it, but I’m not I don’t think it’s it’s hurting him overall. So, if they want to play this game and give him a couple more games before sending him back, like, sure, do what you want. Yeah, that’s the if I hope they extend it the full nine this time, like last year, and last year he was playing five more minutes a game when he was getting in there. He was like over 14 minutes. He’s under 10 here. Like I would like to see him get all nine and give himself the opportunity. I guess the other qu like given the preeason he had, are we shocked at all that this is what we’re getting out of it? No. No. Because he wasn’t stand out in preseason. He had some good shifts. He had some decent games, but it wasn’t oh my god, he needs to be on this team. So no, I don’t think it’s a major surprise. The other factor here, and look, I I don’t want to go the appeal to authority route because often authority is wrong, but it does seem like this is kind of becoming a thing in the NHL. Like they just Nashville kept Brady Martin and they just sent him back. You have like Seattle played what five, six games before they gave Berkeley Kenton one. He was just like made the team and was just sitting for the first two weeks of the year. Now, that doesn’t mean this is a smart way to develop young guys, but it does seem like it’s something that more teams are doing. Like more teams are taking this like slow play the 18, 19 year olds in the NHL for a few weeks and then send them back thing. I’ll tell you when I saw it was like, oh yeah, Berkeley Catton’s making his debut. It’s like, but then they have like a delay to the seat. What? Yeah, exactly. What happened? Why didn’t he What are you doing? like just and then like he comes and they you they finally play him and I was very confused by it but yeah it does seem it’s not the make it or don’t the nineame try out is actually a try out it’s like well we get to mess with it why not like it’s basically free player like you know what we get a we we get a free roster spot for a couple of weeks we’re going to use it and then we can figure something out from there and I’m not saying it’s the worst thing in the world I don’t think this is hurting his development playing in a league he clearly isn’t ready to like excel stand out. But but he can hold his own. I don’t think he’s getting killed. I’ll tell you what’s encouraging. The one stat that is better than last year’s. He’s over 52% in the faceoff circle. Now, he hasn’t taken a ton, but the fact that a 19-year-old is over 52% tells me he can hold his own physically in this league and can be at the very least a good role player with his speed and work ethic. He’s going to be, and like this isn’t the most exciting thing, but like he’s basically already Ryan Paling. Like give him the minutes, give him the opportunity on the PK and stuff. He’s basically already Ryan Paling. You want a higher ceiling than that? I’m going to need more. But like, but that’s 24y oldenko that I need the higher ceiling on, not 19year-old Luchenko, who we were like, “Yeah, I guess he’ll make the team, but he’s he hasn’t he hasn’t shocked us yet.” I’m not discouraged. I guess that’s where I am. It’s all right. Wanted to see more. Hope they keep him around a little longer, but I am not discouraged and I won’t be when we get the eventual tweet or press release. Hey, Jets going back to the OHL. It’ll make sense. And you mentioned about the growth in in faceoffs. It might not be growth. It might just be a small sample, but hey, he’s not getting killed as a 19-year-old in faceoffs. Like, we’re watching Trevor Zagris, who’s been playing center for multiple seasons in the NHL, still getting killed in faceoffs. below that. Yeah. And and Jets winning more than Zegres is, at least on average. That’s cool. The one thing that is a little bit not concerning, but at least like disappointing is that he’s shooting less now than he did last year when he had his NHL look. I want to take this break and come back, finish the Luchenko thing, and talk about the shot rate and what that actually might mean. But first, I got to tell you about our presenting sponsor. Whatever the moment, it’s never ordinary at Bet 365. From their 90 million users worldwide to their almost 800,000 live stream events each year and the early payout offers across the NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, pro, and college football. You know, I love that early payout. 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It’s like again we’re dealing with very small samples here, but it bashes the eye test, too. The sample is he doesn’t shoot ever. He got in game four of this season, his fourth, the Flyers sixth, but his fourth game. His first shot on goal to that celebrated audibly to that point. The only other players without a shot on goal were Erien and Vadar. Beautiful. Uh like that’s that’s a little like what it’s Ben Simmonsish a little. And like I it’s a joke and everything, but the idea that you have a guy who okay, we know he’s a good playmaker, he’s got the speed, the speed is going to force teams to back off of him. That’s just going to happen. That’s true. If he’s resistant to shoot ever, then it’s basically, yeah, we’re going to use five guys to defend your other four, and go ahead, take a shot. We know you don’t want to. I realize basketball is not hockey, but that is pretty much what could happen if he just never freaking shoots. I’m glad that he did. He finally got one on. It was nice. He now has two attempts. He has one on that, but he was shooting more last year by a pretty wide margin. Yeah. And he still wasn’t shooting enough. Like looking at these numbers, I mean, 4.18 shots on goal per 60, that’s not good. 9.76 attempts per 60, not good. But it’s better than 1.69 69 shots on goal per 60 and 3.38 attempts per 60 where that essentially means he’s never shooting. Now look, you made the basketball comparison and it’s not an apples to apples thing because I I think like well no one plays man defense except Carolina. Exactly. And basketball like you have a point guard who you know you the point guard needs to at least like have the threat of shooting or else like he has to be the single greatest passer in history. when you’re in the offensive zone and you’re cycling, like I don’t think teams are just gonna like give him a shot. I think what it probably hurts him the most in is rushes. Is the rush game. Oddman rushes. Like if it’s a twoon-one and you’re the defenseman and Jet Luchenko is one of the two guys like why would you even worry about him shooting? You’re just going to play the pass because you know that’s all he’s going to do. And defenseman are smart. Like they’re going to figure that out quick. Yeah. And we’ve we’ve talked about like their defensive zone strategy, the Flyers, like, okay, this year it’s not just take the freaking shot away, block it at all costs, let the goalie defend half the net, take the passing option away, be on the back door for the rebound. That’s real easy to do when the dude that has the puck ain’t going to shoot. Like you you’ve made the you’ve made the job of the defenseman incredibly simple. What do you think this is about? Like because obviously last year wasn’t great, but we’re at less than half this season. Do you think it’s like a confidence thing? Do you think he’s like afraid that he is going to make a mistake and then you know he’s out of the like I I just there has to be something behind it. I would think it’s wild because I know from talking to Rick Tocket that like the only thing Rick Tocket is telling Jet Lucheno right now is shoot the puck. Like the coach is pulling his hair out and he doesn’t even have any hair to pull out and he’s pulling his hair out about this kid not shooting. So it’s not like he’s not being told to shoot the puck. Some of it’s stylistic. Jel Luchenko, even if and when he becomes a quality NHL player, fans are always going to be frustrated that he passes the puck too much because fans love when players shoot and Jets’s always going to be a pass first guy. But you can’t be this pass first. Like there’s being pass first and there’s pass only. Right now he is pass only. It’s not that he’s not being told to shoot. It has to probably be a combination of number one, he likes to pass. Number two, it’s probably just in his head a little bit. like now he has the puck and instead of thinking like instead of just doing he’s thinking when he has the puck and he’s like well I should shoot and then he doesn’t see oh I I what do I do? What do I do? I guess I’ll just pass because what else am I going to do? That’s what I’m good at. I have to think it’s probably in his head a little bit and that’s what’s driving it. But he’s going to have to learn how to shoot at least sometimes. There’s nothing worse than when these dudes start thinking like Yeah. Don’t think just go out there and just be do hockey. Just do hockey. Yeah. All right. Do that hockey. That is the best advice we can give you, Jet. All right, it is now time for the big deal presented by Cherry Hill Kia. Uh something that was a real big deal the other night. Two power play goals in one game. One game. I was I didn’t know it was allowed. Barely aware that that was well within the rules. I know. Um, listen, I I think this power play is obviously still a work in progress, but I have a reason, and it is a math-based reason. Once again, I didn’t invent math. I’m just using it. Thank you, Raada, John. Um, I still don’t really know who that is. Um, the power play with their two power play goals on Monday is three for 19, 15.8%. Not great. It’s getting up, but they have also I mean it’s above 10, that’s good. Uh they have also scored on a delayed penalty. So let’s call it a pretty nice four for 20. Hey, four for 20 is one for five. 20%. They’ve done it. 20% power play. Rick Tac and Jack Adams. William, I’m just impressed that you know how to do math. I There was some math done there. I asked chat GPT. I don’t know how to use chat GPT. Reduced a fraction. Yeah, I remember. Shocking. I was good at the uh the like the symmetry stuff where you just had to like do that. I was good at that cuz it was like visual. Okay. Yeah. When you have to like start like the stat stuff, that’s when I gave up. Right. I remember to inform the audience. You’re very smart. Yeah. But they’ve broken 20% and that is I mean by my math, not by real math. I think it counts. Yeah. I’m going to count it because they scored. Penalties are power play. Yeah, it was six on five. I’m going to count it because they they scored and they normally don’t. But listen, obviously it’s going to be a little while before we can go, “Oh yeah, they have a good power play.” Like, and 20 is the bare freaking minimum in this league now. It used to be, “Oh, yeah, one for five. Cool.” Now it’s one for five. All right, you don’t stink. You know, that’s that’s basically the line. You rank like 20th. I think I think 27 teams were at like 17 and a half or better last year. So like you’re the worst if you’re below that. And they were. Yeah. and they absolutely freaking were. Now, the one thing I will point out, Cam York, three assists in the game, two on the power play. We think that’s pretty much his job now. I mean, yeah, it might change throughout the year, but it was like, will it be Sanheim? Will it be York, then York gets hurt, and it was like, yeah, it’s probably his in preseason, but then Sanheim takes over. Feels like, at least for the short term, York’s the guy on the power play. Oh, he looks good on it. He does look very good. So I I don’t think you have a choice but to keep giving him reps when hey right now that’s you might call it power play two because it doesn’t have Maf Mishkov or Travis Kknney on it but hey it’s looking more like a power play one thus far this season that’s looking like the more effective unit and York looks good on it. Number two and this is an important point to make about Sanheim. Like Sanheim’s getting 30 minutes tonight even without power play time. Like you don’t want to pump more minutes onto the guy. You do you do need to at some point rein it in with him and it’s well you know we do have other guys who might be better than you at this or at least as good. So like why don’t you take one rest take a couple minutes off. This is a good opportunity for you to sit for two minutes. It might be the only time in the game where he’s on the bench for two consecutive minutes. Like you get a couple stoppages in there. It could be three and a half, four minutes, you know. But I am at least I guess looking forward to seeing if they can build from here. Now it was one game. They did like have a couple times last year two power play goals. We are talking about I am talking about two power play goals in one game. Like it’s some tremendous feat. It is team. It it does feel like it is a big breakthrough for them. Now uh last year uh they did do it five times. two in October, two in January, one in March, uh the year prior, four times, five times in 2022 23, three in 22 2021-22. They have not had a three power play goal game since the 201920 season. They did it uh in December and they did it on March 1st, 2020 at the Rangers. That is the last time they scored three power play goals in a game. And it was like weeks later that the entire world 10 days later shut down the season was ended. Um, which I’m telling you, man. I think there’s probably some correlation, but causation. I am I am I’m hoping we can get one three power play goal game for the first time in six seasons. Predictions right now. I want everyone on the record. Do they have a three power play goal game this year? Yes. No. I mean, no little fake going with no is the safety. I think they’re going to be pretty good on the power play this year. I do think they they’ve legitimately improved it. It’s just it’s hard to score three goals in a game on the power play. You get a lot of power plays. Pretty good by like league standards or their own we need to be better standards. Let’s say by their own we need to be better standards. I I agree. I agree. I think they get to 20. I think they’re around 20. You think they could be at around 20. Listen, if they’re one for five for the season, we should have a party at that is basically their Stanley Cup this year. If they have a if they have a team save percentage over 900 and a 20% or better power play, they’re a wild card team. They might be. You’re not wrong. They might be. We’ve been saying it for three years. You know, it could actually work out that way. But the power play scoring twice in a game. That is the Cherry K Cherry Hill Kia. Big deal. Check out Kia of Cherryhill.com. All right. Uh let’s Yeah, we’re actually on time. So, let’s hit the next break and then we will go on to talk about a few other things with the rest of the show. All right. And now I have to tell you about our friends at Cherry Hill Kia. 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Like I said, it’s not just another finance app. It’s a tool real professionals and experts actually use and love. And that’s why it was named the best budgeting app of 2025 by the Wall Street Journal. So don’t let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code phymononey.com in your browser for half off your first year. That’s 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with code phy. All right, before we get back going, we’re not even at 100 likes. We’re at 97. I want this to be at 200 by the end of the show. We need to blast past 100, though. That’s just embarrassing. What are we doing? Numb numbers. I We might just end the show out of sheer disappointment in all. And I don’t mean for today. I mean forever. No, I can’t I can’t do that. I I need this job badly. So, that’s the uh we just we talked about the power play. We talked about Luchenko. Uh won a I don’t know if we can call it a pleasant surprise. They had one power play going five games before the other night, but one a work in progress pleasant surprise. the other kind of a wait and see situation like I don’t know Jet I don’t think he’s staying maybe he gets a good opportunity but I I do just hope he gets the one but now I want to talk about someone who’s been here a while and honestly has been on an upward trajectory for the last few years Travis Sanheim you know Ron Hexall’s very first draft pick it’s still crazy it’s wild and now he’s an assistant captain he could very well be like an Olympian and an Olympic medalist, maybe even an Olympic gold medalist in a few months. The other night, uh he recorded, I think, uh one of his goals or an assist, and it like started moving him up the franchise rankings. And after thinking about it, like, you know, he’s he’s actually been here a long long time. And it’s not as if the uh Flyers history is flush with franchise defensemen, particularly not ones that were drafted and developed by the team, been here a long, you know, guys that stayed here a long freaking time. So, I wanted to take a little look at where he ranks uh among some different statistics in Flyers history. I thought that this would be just an interesting little exercise here. First one I wanted to check out was games played because he sits at 585 games played in his career. He just passed Wayne Simmons for 26th overall and he’s averaged 81 games over the last four seasons. If he plays 81 games this year, he’ll be at 660 for his career, one behind Lton for 14th. In terms of defenseman, he’s seventh among defenseman all time in games played. like he’s got a lot of time left on his contract. Uh he’s nine behind Marcal for sixth. He’s 168 behind Chris Tarion. Sanheim, unless like something happens. Yeah. Is going to be the franchise leader in games played by a Dman in a short period of time. Yeah. Yeah. I’m I’m lucky that I don’t believe in jinxes because that makes me feel not bad about saying this, but it’s worth pointing out just how good Travis Sanheim has been at staying healthy. I mean, you’re talking about a guy, okay, 82 games last year, 81 games, 81 games, 80 games. That’s what four games missed in three seasons. Then the season before that, 55 games. You might look at that and be like, “Oh, he missed in time.” No, that was that was the season where they played 56 games. Season before that, 69 games. Nice. Again, oh, he missed time. No, that was a season where there were 69 games. He played 69 games. And the season before that, 82. Like, it’s wild that he’s missed that little time. It’s wild that he’s been able to stay healthy this efficiently throughout his entire NHL career. Five games in six years or something. Is that what he’s missed? So, maybe like sometimes it’s good if not everyone is big boy smash. You know what I mean? And he plays more physical now. He does. He’s not he’s never going to be the kind of guy who’s going to be throwing the big hits, but he definitely plays more physical now than he played five, six years ago. Those cross checks he got called for the other night, Charlie, take that penalty every single game. I don’t care if you serve a cross-checking penalty like that every single game. I was very pleased. I was very I don’t usually get annoyed with penalties. I was extremely annoyed by that because my point is, was he cross-checking him? Of course he was. You could call that penalty every single every single shift. Like that is just what defenseman do. That was just some official just decided like, “Oh, I need to hit my quota for the game.” It was that and the uh the Luchenko hold where it was like, “Yeah, he had one hand on the stick, but he wasn’t using the free hand. Like he never actually grabbed him. It was like a like a preemptive penalty. Like I know what he’s going to do.” And then he never actually did it. It was it the officiating has been odd this year in terms of what they’ve let go and what they’ve actually called but whatever management boys look it up. Yeah. It’s like listen we could in every sport. I just think sports weren’t meant to be watched in HD or in slow motion or anything. That is true. And now that we’re here it’s like you see everything and they’re fast and the refs let a lot of things go, you know. But that was Yeah, that’s uh something that just kind of happens. He It was like one or two too many. That was the thing. It was like four or five like machine gun in a row and it was like you needed to take a break. You needed to you needed to go do something else for a second and then come back to to But fine, whatever. So here here’s my question and I I’ll open this up to just general discussion about Travis Sanheim. How much do you guys think that him getting on team Canada for for four nations and being one of the I wouldn’t say favorites, but he’s very much a a likely starter for Canada in the Olympics. How much of that do you think has changed the perception from Flyers fans of Travis Sanheim’s quality? Because I feel like I get significantly fewer people complaining about him in my mentions now. And I wonder if it’s because he went on team Canada. So it’s like, well, they think he’s good, so I guess he must be good. Honestly, we you mentioned the appeal to authority and like listen, under John Tortoella, we saw him take steps. It’s not It’s another one of these, well, he was always this good. No, he wasn’t. No, he wasn’t. He’s gotten better. Like, he’s gotten better. And so, like, we’re always slow to react to things like that. We have an opinion about a guy, and that’s the truth until proven otherwise. Uh, but I do there there is a part of me at least that’s like I have to defer to them a little bit like I can’t be like no actually I don’t think he’s that good at all and it’s he’s playing for the Olympic team and it’s not a Chris Kunit situation like it’s not as if he’s not playing for team Latia. Yeah. Like no and that’s the other thing like Germany. Yeah. Yeah. Like Rodrigo Abbles is going to make the Olympics because who else is right? It’s Canada. I do have to take that into account a little. Like, do I think he’s the number one defenseman on a Stanley Cup team? No. But also, he’s a really nice player. He’s he’s how am I how am I going to argue with the guy who’s likely to be a gold medalist in a few months? And again, yeah, like Crosby’s buddy makes it. We don’t have a Crosby advocating for for Travis Sanheim. He’s making it on merit. Yeah. Yeah, it’s true. I think he’s gonna benefit from the talk at impact because now because Taka is an assistant coach. Yeah. That said, he made four nations before Ray Taka was his coach. Exactly. If anything, John Tordella, you know, if if Johnella thinks Travis Sanheim’s good, it’s in his interest as assistant for Team USA to be like, “Nah, he sucks. Don’t put him on the team.” No. Bad attitude. Yeah. I mean, I would wager that it’s just that he’s been so much better. Like, I’ve I’ve always thought that he was a a good defenseman. He’s obviously been better the last couple of years than he was in the past. And I I think that’s probably what’s doing it for Flyers fans. I think outside of the Flyers sphere, the Canada stuff is definitely boosting his image a bit. Like he’s in that commercial now, which as soon as I saw that I was like, put Travis Sanheim in a commercial and he can make jokes. Yeah. Yeah. He’s pretty good in it. He’s good. Um, but yeah, I think it’s just he’s good and he’s our number one defenseman and he plays half the game every night and I think it would be hard if you’re a sicko like us and you’re watching every single one of these games. I don’t know how you could come away from them thinking anything other than, hey, you know what, San’s pretty good. So, uh, I want to take a look at some of these other franchise ranks we did get. Uh, but he’s tied with Joe Watson for fifth by a Flyers Dman all time. He’s two away from fourth. Uh and then like the top three are the top three. Uh Teean in 232, DeJardins 3 303, Hal 342. Like yeah, a while away from those guys. And those are literally the guys who lead in every it’s going to be tough to catch them just because they’re the only offensive defenseman we’ve ever had for any length of time in the history of this organization. So, it’s it’s that, but it’s a still like, okay, so he’s going to be fourth this week and then like has a chance to move up again, a long contract with plenty of time remaining, has a chance to make his way through. Yeah. And and one thing this list also shows you speaks something I said a few minutes ago, how bad this organization has been at drafting and developing their own defenseman. Like Mark Hal, Mark Howal, they got him from elsewhere. Eric Dejardans, that was a trade. Kimotan and they signed him. Bladen was a was a drafted guy. Obviously Joe Watson is Joe Watson. He’s a franchise legend. Shane Gosbear was drafted and developed and then they kicked him out of town. He’d be way higher if they kept him. Certainly certainly would be in first place. But my my point is is that like Travis Anime is a rarity. Yes. In this franchise in that he is a successful drafted developed and kept defenseman. I realize we are two GMs removed uh now from the guy who actually drafted him, but how much do you think that weighs into like treatment or just the idea like this is a guy we want to keep around because we want to have these dudes who like we’ve invested all this time in. Like I don’t know like I I feel like that kind of means something especially when you look at that list and it’s Oh yeah. No one uh no no no one on the list was like spent their whole career here or you know like we actually brought them along the whole way. Like do you think that means something to this front office? Like he signed long term so it’s not like they can get rid of him if they wanted to but I feel like they don’t really want to. No, they definitely do not want to get rid of Travis Sam. Obviously they they almost did you know because he didn’t click with Tortoella that first year. They almost trade him. Tory Krue nixes the deal Kevin and then the very next year Sanheim takes that leap and part of it probably was a little bit of f you to to the Flyers of like I’ll show you that you don’t want to trade me. Sanheim always wanted to stay. I thought that contract at the time was extremely dumb because it’s an organization that at the time very much needed to rebuild. Needed to rebuild and we knew that we were firing the guy that gave him the contract. Yeah. and they let Fletcher give him this long-term deal when it’s like, “No, he should be the guy you trade.” In retrospect, like, you know, Chuck Fletcher kind of mistaked his way into a good contract. Sometimes you do a dumb thing that works out. I like the thought process behind that long-term contract was not smart. No, but it ended up working out. And that’s what I wanted the next thing with points 217. He’s tied with Ivan Provolv for sixth. Uh Gostas Bear uh is at 219. Tom Bladen is at 230. Teaming in 270. Dejardan’s 396 and how 480. That’s your top five. Yeah, he’s catch. Yeah, that’s Yeah, he’s going to need to play two careers to do that. But you look right there. He’s tied with Ivan Prover. Do we ever like we never ever get this version of Travis Sanheim. is the combination of keeping Sanheim, although it was, you know, really Tory Krug that kept Travis Sanheim, and moving on from Prover. Is that like the best decision? Whatever the previous regime was made. I mean, I guess it was it was it was Danny made the trade. Briier made the trade and it was still tors. But yeah, like so far, is that their best decision? We absolutely would not have this version of Travis Sanheim if Ivan Prover was still here. No chance whatsoever. So, in terms of Travis Sanheim’s development into this version of himself, yeah, it was definitely the best move that they could have made. I mean, that move was good for a number of reasons. The return was great. He sucked in the locker room. He wasn’t very good. All the things like there was a great trade top just got $9 million. Yeah. But also, we got to see Travis Anheim become the guy rather than being the guy behind the guy. And we’re it’s for the betterment of the team. Like this version of Travis Anheim is better than what we ever got from Ivan Prov. I’d like to to point out I’m going to give Kelly Hinkle her props. Kelly Hankle for years before they even traded Ivan Prov swore that Travis Anaheim was the better defenseman. And I believe she has been proven right on BSH radio 150 years ago. Yep. Yeah. This is like dating back to like Yeah. 2019. You were saying this the last proven right again. I’m writing my analysis. Since the last time the Flyers scored three power play games saying this every now and again I get one fam. Uh and finally goals 55. Again don’t think of him as a big goal total guy. Eighth all time by a Flyers defenseman. He’s one behind Bob Daly. Five more goals puts him at 60. He tied with Shane Gosspar for fifth. By the end of this season, he is going to be like fourth or fifth in everything for Flyers defenseman. Yeah. Like total minutes is tough cuz that hasn’t been like that only started being a stat in like 98 or 99. But like goals, assists, points, and games. He’s going to be top four or five in literally everything. He’s going to be the leader in games definitely by the time his contract expires. Like what a freaking awesome draft pick that honestly even just a couple of years ago we were like yeah all right he’s all right. Yeah, it’s this is one of those things like I feel like Couturier and Sanheim are the two big ones. Connect to to a degree, but I don’t know. I just have different feelings about Coutur and Sanheim in this regard. It’s these guys where it’s like man I really really hope that in the next like three, four, five years this team gets good because they are going to become they are going to be like their 10 years as Flyers will be remembered so differently if this team like gets to a cup final in like four years and they are the elder statesman on a true contender. Suddenly they’re going to be viewed like and I don’t want to make it. Yeah. They’ll be like Pat Barl type. Suck it out. Exactly. They made it through the tough times. have the best relationship with the fans. There are times we booed them, but you know what? They were here through it all. And then when they win, they get to, you know, ride the Clydesale with their dog drinking beers and everybody effing loves them. Almost dropped an F bomb. I really I really hope for for their sakes in particular that this team turns the corner because they’ve been through some stuff. They I mean, think about how long we’ve been doing this and like goes back to with Sanheim 2014. That’s sons of pen. Yeah. Like that’s you guys coming into Dave Katai’s dad’s attic. Yeah. To do to guest on our show to talk about these dudes. They have been along around a long freaking time. I would I badly would like it for them. It would be really really cool. All right, we have one more break to get to and then we will finish up the show with super chats. If you’re someone’s phone’s ringing. If your home needs a little TLC or you’re dreaming of that next big vacation, hey, maybe you want to come to Anaheim with us. Listen up because True Mark Financials Heliloc Select just got even better. Rates just dropped, making it more affordable to put your home’s equity to work for you. Maybe you need a new kitchen, some big repairs, or you just want to knock out some debt. Well, with Heloc Select, you can access all your cash at once or just when you need just when you need it. 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Well, you get the uh the fees are included, so you see what you’re paying right up front with the all-in pricing. You get the zone deals. You can save even more when you choose a section and let Game Time actually choose the seats for you. And you have the low price guarantee where Game Time will credit you 100% of the difference if you find tickets in the same section and row for less. So, take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use code PHLY for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account. Redeem code PHLY for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Download the Game Time app today. I just love saying today like that. Today. Um, how many super chats do we have, Bin? Two. All right, so we can do some Zerris first. Let’s talk some Trevor Z. And also, hit the like button. 146. Let’s go. Come on. Okay, we blasted past 100, but let’s talk about 200. 200 likes. Uh Charlie wrote a great article about Trevor Zris and this uh this wing center hybrid thing he’s doing right now and we’re gonna talk about that. But first, like we were all curious how Rick Tocket and Zegris would get along. Now he is not Takett is not the taskmaster that Tortoella or Greg Cronin, but he has listen he wants big physical dudes as does pretty much every coach in the league. has old school tendencies as does again every coach in the league if given the choice wants a big physical guy over a small skilled guy. Now they want the big physical guys to be good for the most part. Want the big physical guys to also be skilled guys. Yeah. But like Ziggris is not most coaches dream number one center or whatever. I think Ziggress has done a pretty tremendous job of endearing himself to the coach with some of his play thus far. I looked it up. He’s only been on the ice for one goal against this year and it was the uh the goal I’m calling the double dough from the Winnipeg game where one Brink has a chance to clear it and it just bounces away from him and then they work it back around and it hits two things before it just sits in the in the crease for uh what was it Morgan something Morgan Baron to just kind of poke in like I don’t even think it I don’t even think it did. I think it bounced off. What? Bounced off Yining and then Yin and Kates and Kates. I thought it just sat in the crease and barely. No, no, I think it bounced right in off of Kates. I think correctly. Yeah, it was total luck. That’s the only goal he’s been on the ice for. And I think he’s worked hard. He’s not like, “Okay, I’m doing this wing center hybrid thing.” He’s not complaining about his role or anything. And I think he’s endeared himself to the coach a little bit because Rick Tocket had this to say about his relationship with Trevor Zaggress. I mean, I pick his brain. Um, he’s a smart kid, but he’s uh, you know, he’s what I like about him, he he knows there’s more. Like, he’s he texted me last night, you know, you know, I want to watch some video with you. Like, he wants he wants it. Like, you can tell. So, um, cuz he feels there’s plays out there that he can make even more. And I and I agree with him, but, you know, it’s like I said, you just chip away. Fiveame assist streak, five points in six games. uh two on the power play, three at even strength. He’s producing and he’s still texting the coach, yo, let’s yeah, let’s watch some film and let’s figure out what other plays I can be making, what other responsibilities I am sherking or could be doing better at or whatever it is. He is showing basically that the narrative about him, if it was true, it no longer is. or he’s been misrepresented by a coach in an organization that never really wanted him in the first place. He’s working hard and he’s coachable and I don’t know what else you can ask for from the guy. Yeah. You know what immediately popped in my head when I heard this when when Taka said this, we were all there on uh the second day of the draft and we interviewed Rick Tocket and I think I forget if it was your question or Kelly’s question, but one of us asked him, you know, it seems like you have really good relationships with star players. you know, guys like Sydney Crosby, Hughes, and Phil Kessle, they swear by you. You know, what distinguishes a star player? How do you handle the star players? Well, and he said, you know, one thing is you always got to be ready to respond to their texts. You know that Sydney Crosby, I’ll be eating dinner, I’ll be eating a steak, and I’ll get a text from Sydney Crosby who’s watching a game on television. He’s like, “Did you see that play that San Jose did?” And he’s like, “And I got to watch it and be ready the next morning to be able to talk intelligently with Sydney Crosby about that play.” And when he was talking about Zerris, look, Trevor Zagris isn’t Sydney Crosby, but Trevor Zris is doing the thing that Rick Takus straight up told us, separate the good players from the great players. And that’s a really encouraging thought. It absolutely is. And that’s where we get to the uh the Wing Center discussion. And if you want to read all about what this team is doing, you got to check it out at allphy.com. And right now is the time to do it. become a diehard. 55% off for our boy BG. BG is back and because of it, you can get a diehard membership 55% off. Check it out at all phy.com. But this Wing Center hybrid thing, um, Tocket addressed it and he said, you know, um, he’s he’s doing this hybrid thing and the first quote, and he follows it up with something good. But the first quote from Zegris, yeah, I’m not sure. I don’t really know what that means. Oh, I love this guy. He’s such a hockey player. same just such a hockey player. Like, I don’t know, man. I I I play hockey, not school. Uh but then follows it up like, you know, you can find yourself uh down low in situations if you’re the first guy back. Uh but I’m not really sure what he means because uh Christian D’vorak usually takes the faceoffs, but I can play center, too, when I’m the first guy back. I can switch with him and all that stuff. So, Charlie dug into it. Charlie really took a look at what this hybrid idea is because first game of the year, Zegris is playing center and then they have him with D’vorak and it’s all right. Is he the center? Is he the wing? D’vorak’s taking all the face offs are they alternating responsibilities and right away it was no. Uh D’vorak is playing center and Ziggris is playing wing. Yeah. And since then Charlie it feels like that’s not the case. It actually is a hybrid. It is a hybrid. And look, there’s a natural hybrid situation in the defensive zone for anybody. You know, there were times when I was going back through tape, there were times when Owen Tippet was functionally playing center in the Dzone because he happened to be the low man and it didn’t make sense at the time for them to switch and it’s just like, well, he’s there, so I guess that’s his role because that’s just the way the play went. But it does seem like more than usual Zagers is playing the center position. And what it seems like is really going on here at its core is it’s less because as you mentioned when I asked Ziggris about it Zus is like well I don’t really know what he meant about that. It seems like this is less about what Tak is telling Ziggress and more about what Tak is telling D’vorak. And he is telling D’vorak, look, there are going to be times where Ziggris is going to end up down low. And normally as the center, D’vorak might be like, oh, let’s do a switch so I can get back to my spot. When we have a chance to rotate, like, yeah, man, you’re first one back. You’re down there for like 5 seconds. When the puck’s on the far side, I’m coming back down. You get up to that wing. Exactly. And basically Taka told D’vorak in those situations just let Trevor be center. Let him be center. Let him do his thing. Take the wing spot and then maybe eventually you know 30 seconds down the road you might switch back but let him play center more than you normally would for Owen Tippet. Whereas if Tippet’s down low look Tippet can handle it for a little bit. But D’vorak’s going to want to take that role as quickly as possible. It seems like Takets’s made it clear to D’vorak that look like there are going to be times that Ziggers is going to be the center. Just let him do it. Let him be center because we want him to get the reps. We want him to at least be getting some experience in that center role in this system. So the way it ends up shaping out about on average, at least in the two games where they were really doing this hybrid thing, probably about 33% of the time, Ziggress is playing the center role, which certainly isn’t 100. It’s not all the time, but he is getting some reps at center in the here and now, even though he is nominally the wing. I hate this. Um, okay, here’s the thing. We went into this season saying, “We gotta see if Trevor Zris can be a center in this league. We got to see. We got to know. We got to make sure he can do it because a lot hangs on him being a good center in the NHL. We had one game and then they were like, you know what? Nah. Too F. It just seems like too like why are we giving up on it already, fam? Like why can’t we just let him be the center? If you want D’vorak on his wing and he takes face offs, okay, whatever. If it’s an important face off, let D’vorak take it. That’s fine. There’s not something in the rule book that says the center has to take the face offs, right? Like can anybody take anybody took it on face off when he’s on? So I just don’t understand why. And this goes back my overarching thing where we’ve decided that winning the games is more important than developing the talent. Taka has decided that Trevor Zris right now maybe not an NHL center. All right, cool. But we got to make him one, dude. So like you got to let him do it. And 33% of the time not enough I think to get him there. And yeah, and and it’s fair. That’s and that’s in your article like is this ideal? Probably not. Probably not. No. Like if you’re going to teach someone to excel at center, because it’s not like he needs to be taught how to play center. He played center his first couple years in Anaheim, played center his entire career, like he knows how to do it. The thing is is that they don’t think he does it well enough. So the idea is like, okay, well, we got to teach him to be good at it. We got to teach him how to be better at faceoffs. We got to teach him how to be a more effective player down low in puck battles, you know, serving as that support outlet for breakouts. 33% of the time is better than zero, but it’s not 100% of the time, which I think is what probably the majority of the fans want. What this really boils down to, and Kelly, you hit the nail on the head. Tocket thinks that playing Ziggris at center almost exclusively makes it less likely the Flyers are going to win games and he wants the Flyers to win games. So, he has identified that, yeah, Ziggers is going to play the wing. And I guess this is just the pushpull of fans look at this team and they say, “Okay, this team probably best case scenario, we’re going to overtime by the way, going to overtime. Go to all phy.com to keep watching.” But that best case scenario, the Flyers have a ceiling of like they make the playoffs and they lose in round one. So for fans, their primary focus here is how do we get the team to the point where they are contending for cups? And they look at it as well probably the best way to increase our odds that way would be to develop Trevor Zers as a center. He sticks a center and then becomes an 80 point a year 1C 2C top six center. That’s what fans are thinking of and I totally get that. Fans should be thinking that because they want their team to win a championship. Rick Tocket is looking at it as I’m a head coach. My job is to win games. Not only because that’s what I’m primarily being paid to do, but also because if I don’t win games, there’s a good chance I won’t be the head coach forever. So, it’s just it’s just it’s competing incentives. But like, what is Danny Brier thinking of this? Like, you didn’t bring Trevor Z in here to just like be a good wing and then maybe sometimes take a face off. Like, that’s not what we got him for. I am going to choose to believe for now that this is if not an organizational decision because the lineup is the coach’s purview. Yes. Um Rick Tocket has at least laid out a plan like the best way to make him a center and have it stick and work is to do it this way and gradually build upon the responsibility. Now you know what camp I said we have him under contract for this year. Let us give him 82 games at center and see how the hell it goes. See how it goes. They appear to be doing something different and it’s not how I would like to see it done. But I am going because things are going fairly well right now. Mhm. I am going to lay out this scenario for you, Kelly. Okay. Would you rather? He is at center. His wings are D’vorak and whoever the hell else they decide can help make up for his defensive deficiencies because their center isn’t very good defensively, at least in their mind. Or he’s hybrid wing center, D’vorak and Meech. Both not an option. Why not? Because this is my scenario and I know what you would choose if it was a ice cream and pizza. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Obviously, yes. Give me all the fun things at the same time. I think if this is how I’m going to get in with Meech, I can live with it. If the hybrid was, you know, 67% Zegris center and 33% D’vorak center, I’d be more on board because we’d be having more of the development thing happening than we’re getting right now. If we’re if he’s going to be playing center like this little amount of time, yeah, give me Mitchkov and let’s have fun. But like, right, I I mean, I understand that Rick’s hockey’s job is to win games, but like organizationally, they have to be thinking what we’re thinking. We want this to be a contender. We don’t want to trip our way into the first round and then lose to Carolina and four. Like, what’s the point of that? This is very much like what they’ve said out loud. Yeah. I mean, here’s the thing. Like, would making the playoffs this year be fun? Yeah, it would be fun and they can probably do it if a lot of things go right. But that’s like the bonus fun. Sure. The real fun is these players getting better. Yeah. And I think, you know, going back to what you said, Bill, about I have to believe that there’s a plan that that that has laid out a like developmental plan to make Trevor Zer Center. I don’t know if that’s true. Cool. All right. But here but here’s here’s why I don’t know if that’s true. I think that you’re taking the wrong framing here. What I think is going on, and I think this speaks to Kelly what you’re saying about like, well, the organization has to step in. I think this is kind of that where if Rick Tocket had his way, Trevor Zaggers would be on the wing and not getting a single rep at center, third line, left wing, and it would just be like, yeah, he’s a point scorer who’s going to be on the wing and he’s a winger and I don’t want to be bothered with this center crap. I think the reason why he’s getting 33% of the reps is because Danny Breier is like, “All right, I get it. You don’t want this guy at center, but you got to do it sometimes because the organizational plan is to have him at center. That’s the hope. I think this is more this is less talk at having this big plan of development at center and more that this is a compromise. This is a compromise. He gave you these quotes so you could do this story so that Danny Breier could read it and be like, “All right, he’s playing him a center.” Yeah, I’m sure they’re actually talking. Yes. I I I don’t think this is like Taka trying to pull the wool over the eyes of Danny, but I bet it’s more I bet it’s more Tak compromising a bit rather than Taka being like, “Oh, I have this Mchaveli and plan to turn him into a center. This is just part one of seven.” We’re six games in. If the coach is trying to fool the GM, we’re That’s very true. I just don’t I mean, again, we’re only six games in, so whatever. I don’t think Rick Tucket has any interest in developing anybody. I think he just wants to win hockey games. I think I think it’s more nuanced than that. I think Takett’s belief is probably that us winning games will help develop guys. That by that by putting the focus on winning that guys are going to naturally develop better because we’re trying to win games. So, I think that would be how would probably respond to that. All right, let’s hit those super chats. Uh we have three now. All right, from JH. Uh, two days in a row with the full gang. Wow. Wow. Is Is that a like like wow or is that a uh Wow. It’s Owen Zippet. Owen Zip. It’s Owen Wilson. Owen Wilson Owen Wilson. We’re gonna We have a fun week. Uh, just in terms of scheduling because we have the full gang for these two non-game day shows. And then pre and post tomorrow, me and Charlie in studio. Yeah. Not in Ottawa. Yeah, he’s not in Ottawa. He is in fact here. This is not a hologram. How cool would it be if we had holograms? Great. Uh, all right. Uh, next one from Da Ersen, man. Changed his name. Uh, so is Sanheim an actual one D now. If not, then first pair. He’s definitely a first pair. He’s definitely first pair. I would not like he’s a one D on this team. Yeah, he is obviously nominally the one defenseman by the definition of first defenseman. There’s 32 of them in the league. Yeah, but like I think it’s pretty clear unless you are, you know, one of these teams with Norris contender and then guy who’s just as good as Sanheim on your first pair, he’s a first pair guy. Um, I obviously still want someone better than him. That would be really cool. But they have a decent enough foundation. It is very much I don’t want to compare him to Kimotan because Kimotin was awesome and I he’s one of my favorite players ever. But very much like Yeah. 08 had him as the one and then in 2010 we got Chris Pronger and we went from losing in six. Yeah. In the third round to getting to the cup final, you know, like that’s the difference. I I think he’s on the same plane as like a Devin Taes where Yeah. Look, Devin Taes really good defenseman. Every team in the league would want him as a top pair defenseman, but on Colorado he’s the number two and that’s perfect. Could he be the number one on teams? Sure. But that team probably isn’t winning a Stanley Cup. And you put him with Kale Mar and it’s like, oh, look how little he has to do and he’s awesome at all of it. Like that’s really it’s a really good pair. All right. From uh what the hell does this say? So Nata NF. Sure. Sure. Um I’m sorry if that’s your real name. I’m illiterate. It’s just it’s hard to tell where like the where the where you would stop, right? Which flyer will be the next to score a hat-tick? And why will it be against the Penguins next week? They play the Penguins next week. Oh, that’s good. That’s Yeah, the Penguins are like winning games. They’re winning games and their fans are big mad. Got to be furious, man. Are real mad about it. Listen, uh they do it two years in a row with it. Like if the Penguins are 10th and win the lottery, like Gary Bman might be in physical danger. Like I’m coming for threatening him. That’s not me threatening him. It’s just a discussion of what could potentially happen. Like you know how like yeah man people are going to climb the greased poles even if you grease them if we win a championship. Just one of those things. Uh who will be I mean Mkov does that would be cool if breaks out of the early season with his first hat. Score all of our hat tricks. I feel like it’s going to be Shan Couttori because he always scores the hatticks. That’s true. He’s like the guy who scores hat tricks for this team. You know what? Owen Tippet it against the P. Yeah, let’s go. I’m going to I’m going to go Mishkov. I like the idea of breaking out with three explodes with a with the hat. It’s that stupid team that we That’s stupid team. I That would be cool if it was the Pens though. All right. Uh another one here from JH. It’s Jubilation Charlie. Wow. Wow. All right. And finally from Da Erson. Man, I love that we have This is great. Amazing. Uh got to give my boy Sammy some confidence. Do we know who it’s going to be tomorrow? What did they say? Well, they didn’t practice today. They didn’t practice. Oh, right. It’s Wednesday. We just talked about this. Uh, all right. We’ll find out tomorrow morning. Skate and when uh because I I would assume that the only person up in Ottawa is probably Jackie. I don’t think any of the other writers are traveling. So, Jackie will find out tomorrow morning when Ottawa Kelly or Var. I’m going to guess. All right. I’m going to say Vidar. 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 the YouTube page. We are over 51K on our way to 100,000. And we broke 200 likes. And we broke 200. Way to go. Slow start like Matt Fe Mishkov. By the end, you get the numbers. That’s what you like to see. All right. Uh, make sure you’re following us on all the socials. We’re phy_flyers on Twitter and follow the podcast wherever you get those. Just search PHLY Flyers. Go to bsall hockey.com as well. All right. I am Bill Matz. That is Charlie O’ Conor. That is Kelly Hinkle. Thank you to Brena. Be excellent to each other. We all like the

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12 comments
  1. In fairness to Jett, has he gotten a rush chance yet where he could choose shot vs pass? And he's not only being told to shoot – puck possession is also a Tocchet point of emphasis.

  2. Saying Tocchet doesn't have an interest in developing players is absolute insanity. Hinkle, did you listen to anything Briere jonesy Hilferty said in the off-season about Tocchet? The two biggest reasons he was hired, his communication skills, his ability and willingness to teach.

  3. I like most of what Danny has done, and admittedly it is too early to say but passing on Buium to pick Jett may turn out to be a huge mistake. Once again it gets back to taking the best player available and at the time a very big deal was made about how the organization had a huge hole at the center position both on the roster and with their prospect pool. So did they pass on Buium as the best player available (and someone everyone thought would be long gone) to try to fill a perceived need.

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