Flyers training camp opens Thursday: can Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, more rookies win roster spots?

Flyers training camp opens Thursday: can Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, more rookies win roster spots?

[Music] Yeah. [Music] Heat. [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 today live in the Xfinity studio, it is Philly’s number one hockey beat writer, Charlie O. Connor. What’s going on today, Chuck? Getting ready for tomorrow. It is This is truly the first day of school. It is training camp eve. Happy holiday to all who celebrate Flyers training camp. Uh we wish you a very merry hockey season as it is really we had the little appetizer like the those half days uh that you start your school year with uh the you know back to school shopping as you called it but now it’s it’s freaking here man. It’s here. Um the season not yet beginning but training camp I would say is the unofficial beginning of the season. Preseason starts Sunday. Sunday. Yes. Yeah. Sunday the 21st is the first uh is the first game. I don’t believe this one’s going to be on television. The broadcast schedule uh once again for the preseason leaves much to be desired, but we can get into all of that. Uh what I got to tell you about right now though, it is the PHLY supporters club. That’s right. We want you to sign up and uh support us directly. Really, listen, it’s it’s just a cool thing. Uh, we have launched another way for you to support us here at PHLY. We’ve launched this supporters club and you sign up right on our YouTube channel. You can see it right below the chat box. For $5 a month, you get a badge next to your name and it denotes how long you’ve been a member. It updates over time, one month, six months, a year, all that. It is a badge of honor. You can be one of the first people to become one of these supporters and show you’ve been down since day one. And you know, you get a bunch of emojis and fun stickers to use in the chat. We start with four, and as more and more people join, it unlocks more. And then there is the $15 a month hall of fame tier, which unlocks bonus content, including behind thescenes vlogs, experimental content, things like content, things like that. Uh, it’s just a fun new way to support PHLY. It’s not a payw wall. You’re not going to miss any essential content if you don’t sign up. But if you already send super chats, this is the next step to uh, you know, be on the inside. Just be a little tighter with the community. We’re kind of calling it die hard for YouTube. So check it out. You can sign up right here. We just filmed our first behind thescenes thing and it was, I thought, hilarious. So um, I had a good time. Yeah. So make sure if you are so inclined, you uh, sign up and do that for us. All right, Charlie. So, we have been talking kind of in circles about today’s specific topic, the camp battles. Well, this guy can make it in this situation if this happens. So, you had the idea, hell, camp starts tomorrow. Let’s actually look at each individual battle, who is up for these spots, how they can win it, and what has to happen for that to occur. Um, let’s let’s just kick it right off. There appears to be one spot at top nine forward. You wrote down the locks here amongst the forwards and we definitely have eight. Uh you see with the entire um the entirety of the Ross of the forward spots perhaps. Now I kind of have D’vorak in my mind in the top nine on a wing with Zegris to help out and and he could and that’s that’s a real possibility. Uh but he is a center. He’s a center and if you’re putting him at center, there is a spot in the top nine. At the very least, there’s clearly one sp at least one spot in the lineup. Yeah. Available. There’s definitely one forward spot and we’ll kind of get into each one, but right now let’s say Christian D’vorak is going to be a center. That leaves a wing spot open in the top nine as you kind of lay out here just in terms of the depth chart. It could be any number of uh any number of the players we have talked about. So, let’s just look at the wings and start with Alex Bump. I thought Alex Bump definitely had a leg up and he probably still does. But you look at the next candidate down in Nikita Gbenin. Do you think Greben has closed the gap with Alex Bump? Because I know we talked, oh yeah, they’re not going to just give it to Bump. It’s not just his. he’s gonna have to earn it. But the trajectory he was on, national championship, AHL development camp, it was like he’s gonna win this job because he’s been the best player all all along the way. Do you think the gap is closer than it was following rookie camp? I do. I do. I think Benin’s performance at rookie camp and not just the fact that he produced, you know, he scores uh he scores points, he has the goal, the game-winning goal in the first game, two primary assists in the second game. It’s not just the production, it was the way he produced. It was the fact that he was playing a style that is very, very easy to see translating to the NHL level. Even when he’s not going up against, you know, 18, 19, 20, 21 year olds, he’s going up against NHL veterans. It was a physical style. It was a an assertive style. It was a style that saw him be at his best below the goal line and in dangerous areas. But it was also a style that showed that he can battle through physical contact. He’s clearly physically ready for the NHL. So, yeah, I think he absolutely closed the gap. That’s not to say Bump was bad, but Gerbankin obviously had better production in the rookie games than Bump did. Bump had zero goals, zero assists. Gbankin finished with three points in the two games, but also Gbankin played in a way where you’re like, hm, yeah, he could he could play in the NHL, which again shouldn’t be a surprise. He has played in the NHL. He got in games with Toronto last year prior to the trade. He has extensive AHL experience. These are two things that Bump doesn’t have. He has more experience. And the thing, and we’ll get into this a little bit later, the thing that Kbankin has going for him is I do believe that Bump is more of like a top ner bust. He’s got to be in a scoring role. Gbankin could make this team as a fourthline winger. And it could be a thing where if both Bump and Gbankin at the end of camp are around even, maybe Tai goes to the more versatile player who already has pro experience. Yeah, that’s what I was looking at here is like when you just break it down this way, let’s say it’s going to be Deloreier on that fourth line. If it’s a top nine spot, definitely I think Bump has the edge there because they want him in that role. Sure. Whereas Grabbankin, like you straight up asked and they said on the record, yeah, man, we’re fine putting him on the fourth line because we think he can do that. So, if it is, let’s say D’Vorak is on that uh third line wing roll or something like that. All right. Now, we have a fourthline spot open. Who gets it? Yeah, it could very well be Nikita Gbankin. Whereas, I think I could justify bump on the fourth line if you’re able to get him on a power play, use him in different situations, make sure he gets 14, 15 minutes a night, not eight. I don’t know if that’s the way they’re going to want to go. And depending on how that fourth line is set up, it’s like he’s we’re not putting him in position to succeed. You know, if it’s just, oh yeah, it’s going to be Ables and Hathaway and Bump, like all right, is this really putting Bump in the best position? Whereas, yeah, we think Graben could play any number of roles and we’re kind of okay with that. Yeah. Yeah. I I think I think they would like Bump to earn his way onto the scene. That is probably the most exciting possibility for them. They are extremely high on him. That said, it does seem like Gerbankin is building some momentum here. They obviously liked what they saw in rookie camp. They really like the fact that he uh he had a really good summer. I I had heard that a little bit ago, but he lost some weight and I think there was maybe some concern in some online circles about that, like, oh, he’s play he plays big and he dropped 10 lbs. My understanding is that in Toronto there was some concern about, you know, him carrying some extra unnecessary weight that was more fat rather than muscle. And it seems like this summer he just cut that. So now all the weight that’s on him is worthwhile weight if you want to put it that way. Like yeah, he’s a bit leaner, but he didn’t lose any strength. It’s just that now he’s not carrying around baby fat anymore. And they were very impressed with that because that was one of the concerns that they had heard out of Toronto was that yeah, well, he could be in better shape. I don’t think that’s a concern anymore. So that’s exciting to them, I think. And I think they just like him. I think they like him. He’s not a guy that they drafted and developed, so he doesn’t come with that excitement, but they like him. He’s got pro experience and it will be easy for them to look at Alex Bump at the end of camp if he hasn’t blown the doors off and say he’ll benefit from some AHL time. It won’t hurt him. It probably will help him. We don’t need to rush this guy up. He can play 25 games in the AHL before he gets the call up. And that he might be a better player for that. Whereas Gbankin, he’s got a couple years in the AHL. He’s got experience in that league already. That’s not to say he can’t learn more. I’m sure he could. But we’re not talking about a situation where they feel like he has to play AHL tie. He’s developing still. We like and just the size element. He’s listed on the uh the roster this season, the training camp roster at 6210. So it’s not as if he’s down to like 192, right? Like 210 is still well above. It’s 10 pounds over the average NHL player. NHL players like 61, 62, about 200. That’s pretty much the average right now. He’s well above that. So, it’s not as if he’s, oh yeah, he’s he’s not he’s he’s gonna lose something physically. Um, when we look at these locks, and we’re going to get to some of these other guys earlier, do you think any of them like um Kenkne, Mishkov, these guys aren’t going anywhere, right? Obviously. Do you think any of them could potentially become expendable in this training camp or is that something more like is Bobby Brink or Owen Tippet or someone like that even Noah Kates capable of Yeah, we we found someone who can replace you like or do you think that’s that would have to happen December or later off season? I I don’t see it. The only thing I could theoretically see is maybe them dropping like a Noah Cage, which I don’t think is going to happen because he was good last year. He centered their most effective line. There’s a good chance they may just want to keep that line together, you know, and have that kind of be because Tet had a line like that in Vancouver. His his play driving line functionally, Connor Garland was on that line. So, they very well might just keep that line together. But I could see a world where like, let’s say a bunch of kids play really well in camp. were like, “Well, we got to find a spot for Lucenko and Bump was real good and Gerbankin like maybe they bump Noah Kates down in the fourth line and that opens up another top nine spot.” I could see that. I don’t see a world where they rush to trade anyone at the end of camp just because Alex Bump had a good two weeks. Yeah, that’s the I can see it happening. And Danny even said like listen that this is one of the things like the internal competition. We’ll see who gets to stay now and there’s another wave behind this wave coming even. But I don’t think in camp, even though it might seem a little crowded and we want to get a look at all these guys and again, injuries happen. They might be have four rookies in the lineup because it was they they played a couple especially physical games against Boston and suddenly, you know, we need two top nine forwards. Uh but like I I don’t think it can happen that quickly. I just wanted to get your Yeah, I I I think it’s unlikely, but injuries to me is the more likely way. I mean, obviously, we’re not even sure that Tyson Forester is going to be ready for game one. That could open up more spots if if that plays out and somebody could get banged up in a game. We talked about it at the time when the Forester injury first got announced. It was like, well, now Bump basically can’t not make the team because there’s we think a spot open and now another. And then there’s fourth line questions. If Forster’s on pace, it does. Listen, he’s going to be in the freaking lineup. He was second on the team and goal scored last under the assumption he’ll be in the lineup for game one, but I can’t deny there’s a possibility he’s not. It feels like if it’s not game one, it’s week one. Like, okay, he we didn’t get the contact jersey off him as quickly as we wanted, so maybe he’s not ready for the opener, but that third game where we play Florida again, yeah, he’s in there. Like, I could see that being the possibility. Yeah, I I definitely think though, and Danny more or less hinted at this yesterday, he didn’t straight up say it, but he basically said it, that this battle, this o this theoretical open top nine spot, I think this is primarily a three-man race. This is Bump, Gerbankin, and the third guy, Jet Lucenko. Jet Luchenko. Now, my question with Jet, because we have in the top nine, we we’re thinking of ways we can move some things around and D’vorak can play some wing and we’ve seen I guess Noah Kates they can move Kates over to Wayne, but do you think Jet Lucenko has to make it as a center like his primary position or question? I I don’t know. Yeah, I I would think that they would like to make him make it as a center just because like that’s why they’re so high on him because they think he can be a really good NHL center. But when I talked to Brent Brent Flair a few weeks ago, he noted that look, a lot of times centers break into the league as wingers and then they become centers, you know, midway through their rookie season or their second season or their third season, whatever. So, if the only way to get him on the roster that he’s earned, if he’s earned his way on is to put him at wing, maybe they would put him at wing. I would guess he’s probably a center if he makes this team probably. But I don’t think you can rule out the possibility entirely that they slide him in at wing. That’s like even a 19-year-old breaking into the NHL who wasn’t, it’s not like he was a top three pick, you know, like he’s taken basically in the middle of the first round. It’s not crazy. Hell, Connor Baddard spent a ton of time at wing last year. Now, that’s kind of because it wasn’t going so well at center, but I’m just saying like ultimately I think they still want him to be a center and it’s not as if they were like, “Oh, well, we have to keep him there.” They figured something else out. I can see it, but if I had to guess, it’s he’s going to play center. I would guess that if he makes the team, someone’s going to give way. That would be my guess, but I don’t know for sure. The other thing with Lucenko that you need to take into account and we’ll get into this in a few minutes unlike Bump I think there is a world where Lucenko makes this team on the fourth line. That’s the other thing we’ve talked about is if this fourth line is say Haway I think is a given. Yeah. Oh yeah he’s he’s starting game. He’s healthy. Yeah. He’s the he’s one of the wingers. But if it is like Grabben and Luchenko that is a fourth line I am comfortable playing 13 14 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. And then it just and figuring out ways to get but then it just becomes you have two third lines rather than a fourth line and then whichever lines going better on a given night gets the minutes. I think that’s that might be to me Lucenko’s best chance of making the team simply because Couture can only play center. There’s no reason to have him at any other position. It’s stupid. It’s the thing he does. We need to give Ziggress a full year at center. I don’t care if he goes 0 for his first hundred in the faceoff time. We’ll see if they give him a full year, but I think at the very least they’re going to give him the beginning of the year at center. I just you have to see if you can make this work somehow in my mind and then after that, all right, D’Vorak Kates, there’s some leeway there, but that 4C spot to me does seem like a place where you could put Luchenko comfortably. Well, and you mentioned it earlier, the possibility of D’vorak being a wing in the top nine, maybe giving Ziggler some support because Ziggress, as we know, struggles with faceoffs. D’vorak is good at it. Maybe you put them on the same line. D’Vorak can take some draws, you know, when when it’s a tough draw, when he’s against a when when, you know, a 56% faceoff guy is out there. Maybe D’vorak takes it instead of Ziggress. If that’s the way it plays out and and D’vorak jumps up to the top nine to start the year in a wing roll, then yeah, then you need a fourthline center and maybe Luchenko’s that guy. Yeah. So, I can see that and maybe that’s his best path. But it really feels like after they held him out of rookie camp and then were like, nah, nah, it’s all good. They want Luchenko with the main club at main camp making a push for the NHL. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. But it’s not going to be for lack of opportunity. I I think they I’m unconvinced that Luchenko is going to make this team for the entire year, but I think there’s a real good chance he at least gets the trial where they at least give him a look. They let him they they see where he’s at in comparison to where he was last year in actual NHL games. Now, obviously, if he just struggles in camp or if he reinjures his groin or whatever, that’s a different story. But I think there’s a good chance he gets the trial at the very least. I would be maybe Yeah, I’d be a little disappointed if he doesn’t at least earn we need to see more. Like you didn’t maybe knock the door down like we always say, but you have earned more of a look much like the way it was last year. It’s not like he was crazy good last year in the preseason. It was just I don’t know, we need centers and he looks like he can hold his own. Let’s see if we can get him into games and maybe he shows us something more. Maybe he gets a little more comfortable and then all of a sudden he’s way ahead of schedule. Yeah, the positional knee last year definitely played a role. One theory that I’ve had and no one has confirmed it to me, but I do think it may have played a little bit of a role in their thinking was if he makes the NHL, suddenly he’s definitely going to make Team Canada World Juniors because there’s no way Team Canada is going to pass on putting a guy on their team that’s already played NHL games. How do you feel about that? I’m just saying. No, no, no, no. Just like Charlie O’Connor is named AGM under Danny Brier. Phone rings. It’s Hockey Canada. They want to see if you’ll let Jet Luchenko go for a few weeks. You let him do it this year. Maybe depending upon how many how many minutes he’s getting, what his role is. If we’re in a playoff race, if the team’s good, then probably not. Then I’m thinking, no, we need to win games. We’re trying to get a wild card. we’re trying to break this playoff list drought. If the team is bottom of the metro and he’s playing well but not overwhelmingly so getting 12 13 minutes a night, I probably do. I’m just going back to last year him making the game. I think that played a role. I also think and this is something that no one will confirm on the record or or off the record for that matter. I have to believe that a lot of it was at least from Tors’s perspective was driven by bitterness towards Shan Couturier. I was like him him wanting Luchenko on that roster was definitely tied to the fact that he was unconvinced that Shan Couturi was an NHL caliber center. I don’t think you need that confirmed by anybody because you’re not a stupid person. We remember it is so clearly obvious that was part of it. The home opener he played at fourthline wing. He put him on the fourth line as a wing for the home opener. He did not like this guy. Yeah, that was and just like the style difference what he wanted. What do I want down the middle? Speed. What is Shan Couture? When Shan Couttoriier was Jet Luchenko’s age, he was not fast. Now he is in his 30s and he’s had major back surgeries. Like he didn’t want it. He just straight up didn’t want it, but there was nothing he could do. And when he’s out of control of a situation, he gets mad about it. like he’s got a no move and he’s making almost $8 million. He’s a fourthline winger. Like if you really wanted to get rid of him, this isn’t the way to do it. True. Oh, yeah. Well, no one’s going to trade for him at this price. Well, I’m going to make him even less valuable. Like, all right. Thanks, John. Thanks, John. Um, all right. We can I I I wonder why Danny eventually got fed up with the John Terrell experience. I wonder why. I would love to like get to talk to even that like not even Danny now because now there’s some room. He can be like, you know, John did some good things. It’s like when Danny gets home from work, the Flyers just lost 4-1 to like another not very good team and he just had his conversation with with John. He’s like I I like I would love to know his minds his mindset immediately after that like oh my god how many more games do we have left? and they’re like, “It’s it’s not Thanksgiving yet.” Yeah. Like we got like 60, Danny, got like 64 of these left. All right. Uh there’s a couple more guys I want to bring up in terms of this top nine forward conversation, but first we got to take our first break. Just a few days until another birds game. Like we were just saying, only a few days until the puck drops in the hockey preeason. 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Uh the cab options include regular, super cab, and super crew, plus bed lengths to fit whatever your needs are. For more information, it’s super simple. Just visit your local Ford store. All right, Chuck, this next wave of guys, because I don’t think I don’t think Denver Bark’s a serious contender for this. I don’t think he is, but you can’t rule it out entirely. His name has come up. He was great in his rookie game. Listen, there is just this distinct possibility that this guy who has shown us, I mean, back to two years ago when he was like 18, he was really good in the rookie game. He was really good in the rookie game he played this year. He was at two points a game in the Memorial Cup. Like maybe this guy who’s been awesome at every level is just going to continue to be a really good player. The possibility exists. The possibility exists. And this is what I’ve said about guys of his size and profile. I said it about Masimo Rizzo like going into last year’s camp where I was like, look, those guys, you don’t really know how if it’s going to work at the pro game until they get to the pro game. With Rizzo, it didn’t. And it was very obvious from the jump that like, oh, he can’t do the things he did at Denver in the AHL. He’s probably not that great of a prospect. Some guys they Shane Goss Barrett where it’s like there’s no way he’s gonna be able to do the stuff he did at Union in the pros and then he gets to the pros like he’s still doing the same stuff. He’s toepicking fools and it looks ridiculous. Like how’s he doing this? I don’t know. He’s just really good. Just can do it. Like maybe and like I don’t think Denver Bark is going to be a point per game player. I don’t think he’s going to put up a playoff. Seems unlikely. It seems very unlikely. But his level of skill does seem high enough where maybe he is an outlier where it’s like yeah man Shane Gosspar bas like took union all the way to a national championship and beat a blue blood with Johnny Gudau on it. Was he that in the NHL? Well, his rookie year he was like definitely that was insane. Then he got hurt and was kind of never the same. But like maybe Barky is just good enough that is a third line energy guy with a ton of skill. He can be a 50 60 point player. Like it the the possibility exists. Possibility is there. And when we talked to Riley Armstrong at um at the rookie game he basically said look unlikely but if he goes out there in preseason games because he’s going to get NHL preseason games. He was already going to, but that rookie rookie game performance that locked in. He’s getting a couple preseason games. Definitely. If he scores some goals and is still doing the same stuff he was doing in the rookie games, he’s going to make them think. Will they do it ultimately? I’m unconvinced, but he’ll make them think. He wants to put them in the same spot they were in a couple years ago with Bobby Brink where he was so good in those preseason games that the Flyers could not walk into that locker room and tell the vets you can’t have this guy. That’s where they were they were at with Bobby Brink where they didn’t expect to have Bobby Brink on that team. They weren’t planning for that. But if they would have said, “Yeah, that guy who’s been lighting up in every single preseason game, yeah, you can’t have him.” Sean Couturier and Owen Tippet and Travis Connect were like, “What the hell, man? Is this not a meritocracy? It’s like, isn’t this supposed to like he did everything that was asked of him? We have to. And maybe Bark’s just in that exact same spot. Maybe um of these other guys like especially when we’re talking about a top nine spot. I don’t know. Maybe to Amala if he just has an absolutely insane uh preseason. And listen, he was really good in the rookie games. Liked what I saw out of Tua a lot. I just don’t think any of these other guys are serious contenders for a top nine spot if that’s the spot that’s opened. I think it’s unlikely, but you can’t like Jacob Gocha, Carson Dorbert, Rodri Wobbles. I don’t look at any of those guys and see top nine NHL upside. So, I think it’s unlikely, but strange things can happen at camp. You can’t rule out the possibility of one of those guys just going crazy in preseason games, scoring a ton of points, and then being like, “Yeah, you know what? You earned the right to be our opening night third line left winger, whatever.” It could happen. I don’t think it’s likely, but it could happen. Guys like Tu and Kaplan, they have the talent to do it. It just kind of comes down to are they going to be able to put it all together at a camp because right now they are pretty low in the pecking order. But in theory, I mean Devin Kaplan had the weirdest rookie games because I would say for 90% of his shifts, he was underwhelming and invisible, but when he was good, he was awesome. He had one shift where he basically danced around the entire offensive zone, sets up the game tying goal on Friday. Then on Saturday, he had another ship where he basically did the same thing. And you’re like, man, if this guy could put it all together, he could be a third line winger in the NHL. A second line winger maybe. Now, am I expecting him to do that? No. But it’s in there. And maybe it happens at camp. I can’t completely rule out the possibility that he goes crazy in preseason games and makes them think about it. It was. And I may think maybe Danny during his press conference when he was asked about guys challenging kind of veered more into, oh, this guy would looked really good at rookie camp, looked really good in the rookie games, but he did mention Jack Nesb. He did. He did. Now, was interesting. We were just talking about like this is a long-term project, but is there any chance? You know what? At some point, you have to take them at their word. if they keep saying something about a guy because Danny said it, Riley Armstrong said it the day before about like I think he’s gonna make them think. This is the same stuff they were saying about Luchenko this time last year and they put him on the freaking roster now. Dude, I did I think they should have done that. No, but they did. They’re the people making the decisions. And if they keep telling you over and over again, he’s going to make us think we really like him. Sometimes you just have to take them at their word. Can you imagine just the response if and listen it’ll be really cool because that’s really freaking fun. But like the idea that on draft day now ever since then I think people for the most part have really come around on the pick or at least are willing to see how it plays out. People are willing to they’re keeping an open mind. Like I don’t I already think people have come around on it way more than at least some have with Lucenko. like they’re far more accep and listen they got Mone first and like Luchenko was the only pick of that so it’s a little different but if like the energy that fell out of the room when Neesbit was taken and then a few months later he is announced on opening night like that is that is an alltime turnaround in a short period of time I think that ultimately even if he has a really good camp even if they’re talking him up ultimately they send him back because The conversations I have with people in the organization is it’s less we need to get this guy in the NHL right now. He’s Sean Couturier 2.0 and he got he made the team right out of campus first year. So why not him? And it’s more this dude is going to be awesome in like two three years. And if that’s still how the people at the top are thinking, then why why throw him even in for a trial? Especially when you’ve got another guy in Luchenko who is in the same boat and already has NHL experience and is more physically developed. Like obviously is a much better skater, but I would say Luchenko overall, despite the fact that he’s shorter than Nesbit, he is much more physically developed than Nesbbit is at this point. That is the interesting thing that’s come up about Nesbbit skating is like they like him because he’s a big guy and he’s a mean guy, but they think the issue with his skating is mostly he needs he needs to hit the freaking weight room. He needs to never skip leg day. Every day needs to be leg day for him. True. And then once his lower body is as strong as it needs to be, his skating will be at least acceptable. That is 100% what they believe. They don’t see any major issues with his stride. They just see issues with his speed. He ain’t generating enough power. Yeah. He’s just not fast. And that was my big issue watching him play in juniors in the leadup to the draft and why I gave his skating such a poor grade was that usually with a guy when you say like he’s a poor skater there’s like things you can point to like well he’s good at that like oh well he his first few steps are okay his burst is good when he’s along the boards he finds ways to win win races with Bobby Brink it was like yeah his top end gear ain’t great but his edges you know he can he can do the mohawk he can slide around like laterally real well he’s not overall all a bad skater. He’s just flawed in certain areas. The problem with Nesbbit was it was like, “Okay, his edges aren’t great. He doesn’t have a good top speed. His acceleration isn’t good. His balance isn’t great.” It was like, there’s nothing you can point you to say he’s good at that. He was bad at everything. But their view is that, well, him being bad at everything is tied to just this one thing. He’s not strong enough yet, and when he gets strong, he’s never going to be a burner, but he’ll be passable. And if he’s passable, everything else is good enough to make him a top six center. That’s what they believe. We’ll see if they’re right. We will see if they’re right. And now it’s time for the future is bright presented by Shady Rays as we make our way through the open roster spots. We kind of touched on this because it’s hard not to combine the top nine conversation with the fourth line left wing spot because there’s so many ways it can go. But it there are ways this is configured where you’re really not sure. Now, there is the possibility that all of a sudden new coaching staff, we’re going to be more of a possession team. Is Nick Deloreier leading a rush? No, that’s not happening. But if we want someone crashing and banging down low, perhaps he is more suited for that. And if that’s the case, all right, two of our fourth line wingers are set. Now we’re only looking for a 4C. There’s no more conversation. And also Rick Tocket. I Rick Tocket is at his core an old school hockey man who fought a ton. He very well might see the value in having Nick Deloreier play 60 games this year. It’s possible. I don’t know. I just don’t know. We don’t know. We have to see how camp works out. But if that is not the case, then we can see Deloreier kind of sliding back into the role he was in last year where Yeah, man. If Ryan Reeves is in the lineup, you’re playing otherwise we’re going to have someone else out there. The 13th forward. That is your role this year. opens up the fourth line wing spot. Now, we talked about I think that’s kind of where if Greben’s going to make it, I see him making it. There’s the there’s the possibility of playing Jed at wing, which I don’t hate. I don’t hate that idea. If it’s like D’vorak and him kind of doing what I thought he and uh what D’Vorak and Zris would be doing, but in reverse, I don’t see that as the worst uh like the worst case scenario. After that, which of these guys do you think has a real chance at We’ll call it fourth line wing spot, but it could be fourth line, wing, or center. I think Gerbankin is the one that jumps out at me as yeah, this could very well be his spot if they are willing to move Delore out of the lineup for game one. And basically be like, yeah, he’s going to get spot starts, but it’s mostly your job, Nikita. You’re good. It gets more complicated though because like guys like Gocha, Dorward, Obles, I think they they all have real chances of making this team. They’re all centers. So that would probably mean that D’vorak is playing wing. Yeah. whether it’s on the fourth line or more likely getting moved up into the top nine to play with somebody like Zegris because I could easily see a world where Jacob go who was one of the people that uh that Danny Breier highlighted by name yesterday as being kind of in that second tier of guys battling he could win that fourth line uh that fourth line center job if D’vorak isn’t playing center or if you move Kates over to wing to start the year something like that I don’t know if any of those guys are going to make the team at wing but if the 4C spots opened up for whatever reason for the way that they structure the lineup. Those guys could very well be in the mix. They are fourthline caliber players. They really like Carson Dor when they convinced him to come here. There are people in the organization. They’re very high on him. Rodrigo Ables played 4C for stretches of the season last year, so he’s NHL maybe not like I don’t know if I want to go so far as to say NHL caliber, but he’s NHL tested. He showed he can do it and not look totally out of place. A lot of times you’re going to want to deploy your fourth line in some sort of sheltered role. To me, one of those is a lot of offensive zone faceoffs. If you want to be a possession team, he won 66 of 113 faceoffs in the NHL last year. He was over 58%. Not bad. Now, it’s a 22 game sample, but like that’s way better than pretty much anyone else. Talk about 20 faceoffs. Yeah, it’s still 113. Like I think he has a nonzero chance to be this team’s 4C. I I like Rodrigo Abbles a lot. If it’s the fourthline winger, man, I am really rooting for Anthony Rashard. I just liked watching him play. Now Tony Dick, I do think with the change in style, the change in coaching staff, like all right, Tony Dick really fit what we were doing. Like, yeah, man, take off, get a pass, rip a shot. That’s kind of who he is. And if we’re gonna be more of a possession down low cycle team, maybe that’s not what he does. But I I liked what I saw out of him in limited time last year. He didn’t put up the points we were hoping for when he did make it up. But he’s he could be a fourth liner. He could be. He could be. And if he has a good camp, he had a good camp last year. Don’t forget, he was impressive in preseason games. He stayed in the mix until the end. Obviously got uh got games throughout the year. So he’s he’s around. He’s definitely going to get NHL games this season. Does he make the team out of camp? Unlikely. But he also could be in this other spot where maybe he makes the team as a healthy scratch. Because if they’re in a world where number one, Deloreier does start the season on the fourth line. So there isn’t an open spot on the fourth line. I can’t imagine they’re going to have Gerbankin make the team to sit. But Anthony Rashard could make the team to sit. Hey, Jacob Gocha could make the team to sit. Carson Dorward even, even though he doesn’t have extensive AHL experience, he’s on the older side. Maybe they’d be okay with him being like a you get one game a week for now type of guy. Those guys could fit as potential scratches because look, there’s a world where they carry two extra forwards. Danny mentioned like, hey, we might have 14 forwards, we might have eight defenseman. We’re not sure. It’s going to depend upon who plays well in camp. They start the season on the road, so they’re going to want to bring extras on that road trip. And Danny Brriier did say in explaining the Fedotov trade, one of the driving forces behind us making this deal is we want to give ourselves the ability to carry 23 players. That would imply they’re either going to keep two extra forwards or two extra defenseman. If they keep two extra forwards, opens the door for somebody like Anthony Rashard to make the team as a scratch. It does. And that’s again I like I like Anthony Rashard a lot, but he’s an AHL veteran at this point. He’ll be 29 in December. I think him being a guy you get in for certain matchups. Okay, we want a little more offense this week. Maybe this game maybe he slides in and we move things around. Like that is a completely acceptable role for him and on his end he gets an NHL paycheck. Yeah, exactly. That that works well for him. He wants to be in the NHL. All these guys want to be in the Obviously, they’d rather be in the NHL and playing every night. He gets to fly on a plane and not take a bus everywhere. That’s probably fun. He gets to say, “I’m an NHL player. Hey, I’m an on I’m on an NHL roster and I’m going to get games. Maybe not every single game, but I’m going to get games because hey, somebody might have a stomach flu one day. Somebody might get banged up in the first game, but back to back. He’s going to play. So, I’m sure given the choice between being a firstline player in the AHL and being a 13th, 14th forward in the NHL, he’s going to pick being an NHL player every time. Absolutely. All right. And with that, it is time for our next commercial. Whether your favorite team wins or not, there’s always another way to win. On the Bet Parks Online Casino app, you got to check out brand new games like Huff and More Puff and the Bet Parks exclusive Fire Blaze Sky Queen. It’s the only app I ever use to play all my favorite casino games right in the palm of my hand. They’ve got Blackjack, they’ve got Roulette, they’ve got Craps, Poker, Bakarat, and hot online slots like Cash Eruption, 88 Fortunes, and Cleopatra. They’ve also got online slots based on your favorite streaming shows like The Walking Dead and Peaky Blinders. 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All right, before we go to our next segment, we’re at 104 likes. It’s not bad, but I see we have over 300 people watching this show right now. I see no reason why we can’t we can’t get that up to at least 150. Get Let’s Let’s get it going, people. Why wouldn’t everyone watching hit the like button? Exactly. You got to be a fool. So, you’re sitting here. You’re sitting here watching the show like I don’t like it. Turn it off. Don’t don’t don’t tell people turn off. Just leave it off. Leave it on and just walk away. Go do something else. Uh but like you probably like what you’re seeing. How could you not hit the like but this guy’s a handsome guy. Hit the like button. It’s super easy. All right. Jesus. This two show a day thing, man. I am just loopy by the time we get through the second. I’m just making stuff up. All right. Um, so the scratch it forward this spot we’ve we were talking like, yeah, I think that could very well go to a Tony Dick type someone like that where you work them in the lineup. Maybe it’s Deloreier playing all time. Maybe with a couple extra forwards. There’s a little bit of a rotation in the fourth line. They move some stuff around, but there are some uh there are some other interesting names. And Lane Peterson stood out to me as somebody I wouldn’t mind see get a shot. Charlie, he’s 28 years old now. He’s only got four goals and 11 points in 71 career games, but he is right around 50% on faceoffs for his career. Um, I could see him potentially getting some 4C time. Two years ago, he put up 22 goals and 52 points in the AHL. I don’t see him as, oh yeah, well, we got to see more. He’s 28, limited to only 18 games last year, but in 2022 23, he started the season with 17 goals in 18 AHL games. Now, not just a stupid hot streak. No one is that good. Uh, but I I could see him as somebody who you bring in for a little bit of that fourthline offense. I could see him as a guy who, no, he doesn’t play every day, but we have an injury. We’re okay putting him in the lineup, and we think he could keep himself above order. Look, do I think it’s likely that Lane Peterson makes I don’t think it’s likely, but it’s worth noting that they signed him on July 1st. Yeah. You know, no, he wasn’t a Dan Vladar or Christian D’vorak, an established NHL player who they’re depending upon, but they valued him enough to lock him up on the first day of free agency. Clearly, Danny or somebody in the organization sees something in this guy, so he’s going to get a chance. these types of like AHL guys, they usually don’t sign right away unless they are told by the general manager, we think we could see a path for you to get NHL games. They probably see something in him. Now, he has to have a good camp to be sure. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, I could see a world where he’s he’s in a in a rotation where he starts the season out as an extra forward, goes on that first trip to Florida, maybe gets in the the third or fourth game, they see what they have in him, and then hey, can always send him down. I could see him like the way Tony Dick really stood out. It’s because a lot of times, especially the road like or especially the home games when the other team like doesn’t send their a squad. Well, this guy can clearly score at the AHL level. He might stand out a lot in some of the games he gets into. I could see that being the case for him. And it’s not someone I would mind giving a shot to. I think the July 1 thing is a really important fact. Like not only did the Flyers value him to be like, “While we’re trying to find our 2C or whatever, while we’re trying to find our goalie, we also gave this guy a call, every single AHL affiliate would want Elaine Peterson.” Like, “Yeah, man. We need we need guys to score for this team. Like, they can’t just never like we need some of these AHL pros.” He had his pick probably. I bet you the Flyers weren’t his only call. So, like you said, there’s probably a reason. a little bit of NHL uh you know, a little bit of NHL carrot perhaps. You have come in and have a good camp, you could make this team. Yeah, exactly. I think he’s going to be in the mix. He’s not a name that a lot of people know, but this time last year, not a lot of people knew Anthony Rashard and then by the end of camp, he was the guy we were all talking about cuz he was impressive. Like Peterson could be impressive in these games. It’s possible. He’s one of my favorite players in the organization. There you go. Yeah, Tony Dick. You love Tony Dick, man. How do you not love Tony Dick? We are big Tony Dick supporters on this show. Yes, we are the biggest supporters of TD. Um, anyone, if you had to guess, if you had to guess, do you think they go? This might just be totally it’s all the competition. Maybe we go eight defenseman, maybe we go 14 forwards. If you had to guess which way, it feels like they have more potential NHLers at forward. To me, I would agree with that, especially if we’re talking about prospects. The the prospect battle at forward is much more compelling than the prospect battle on defense. We’re talking about, and we’ll get into the defense, now we’re talking about like Helga Grants. Like, people aren’t excited to see Helga Gr the same way they’re excited to see Alex Bump and Jet Luchenko and even Nikita Gbankin for that matter. And then Emil Andre, while I still in my head kind of view him as a prospect, he was called her elig eligible last year. He’s not a prospect anymore. He played enough NHL games that he’s no longer a rookie. That was his rookie year. So, we’re talking about a guy in Grimes who doesn’t get people excited. A guy in Andre isn’t even a prospect. And then the other two guys in the defenseman battle are Noah Jolen and Dennis Gilbert. I don’t think anybody is super excited about either of those guys. I want to go the other way with Dennis Gilbert. The way I turned Anthony Rashard into Tony Dick, I’m going to call Dennis Gilbert. Denny Gilar. Denny Gilar. Yeah, I like it. I think that’s fun. I like it. Um, the thing about this spot in the NH on the blue line, Charlie, is there’s an opening night roster spot, there is a beginning of the season. It could be through Thanksgiving spot open for Rasmus the line, who Danny said not going to be available for a month or two. Um, I guess it’s got to be Grz has the leg up there cuz he’s right-handed and they think he can hold his own. And I liked what I saw. Looked like a guy who could keep himself afloat. But where do you think this ends up? If I had to bet, I would bet Gronze wins the job because he just is the most seamless fit and he had a good year in the AHL and he finished the AHL year well, whereas Andre tailed off as Danny Brerier mentioned, he tailed off. wasn’t as good in that second uh stint in the NHL, but then when they sent him back down to the AHL, he wasn’t really that impressive in in the in the post NHL season run either. So, he’s got to kind of rehabilitate his stock in the organization a little bit. He certainly could. I still really like Emil Andre. And if he shows up to camp and he’s the guy who he was in, you know, November and December of last year at the NHL level, he’ll earn that spot and they’ll just be like, well, I guess we have a small defense to start the year. But I think they might be more positively predisposed towards the idea of slotting in a big right-handed shooting defenseman who did everything they asked him to do last season and just is a more like no he’s not wristan. He doesn’t have the meanness of wristan but he does bring a lot of the same stylistic elements to the table. They can put him with Zamula on the third pair and that’s easy. All right. Now, I’m glad you mentioned Zamula um because I we probably shouldn’t read anything into it. It’s probably an oversight when you asked yesterday Danny Brriier about the roster excluding Jagor Simula. He made a couple of faces that were very funny. That is awesome. I love the fact that you got this. We are We are now looking at a screenshot for those listening uh on podcast streamings. We are looking at a screenshot of Danny Brier. It is a very confused. He’s really confused. Confused look. So what happened was when they released the first list of uh of training camp, Jerger Zamula was not on the list. And then the explaining like yes, I don’t know what happened. Just thinking who do we got to fire? I am sure he didn’t fire anybody. Very nice. I know. Yeah. But no, that’s he his for some reason or another Jagor Zamula’s name was left off of the training camp roster. And it’s funny now because they have re-uploaded it to the website and like the PDF file says final like they they had to redo it and they had to change the name and Danny was like what the hell. So that’s uh so his name is left off and Joramula I guess he could be traded or waved or something. I don’t see that happening. I think he’s making the team. I think he’s making the team. He’s one of the seven or eight defenseman. Is his spot in the starting six though a lock? No, I don’t think so. I think the thing that probably helps him this year is that again, it’s not like the competition is that daunting. This is not a this is not a team that is again throwing a bunch of top tier defense prospects at these spots. I could easily see Zamul getting pushed out in a year or two. I’m not sure it happens now, but it could. Let’s say Emil Andre has a great camp, okay? And he he plays well in the preseason games. He’s right there up until the end of camp. And they’re like, “Yeah, but we really don’t want to have a third pair of Jagger Zul and Emil Andre. That doesn’t work for us. They played together at the end of last season. Really wasn’t very good. Wasn’t a good pair.” And maybe they look at it as, well, Andre is now the the third the the three left defenseman, three LD, and Zamul is a scratch. I could see that. and then they go with an Andre GR’s third pair to start the year or an Andre Jules third pair to start the year. I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility, but I do think Zul is making this team. Yeah, I would be really surprised if Zamula doesn’t. They’ve invested a lot of time in him. Um, but last year, unless he was paired with Rasmus Alignan, it went really poorly for Zamula. Now, maybe it was a down year. Guys have bad years, especially, you know, depth guys, bottom of the roster guys. Like, not every year. It’s not just linear like this. They have peaks and valleys in their career. Maybe it was just a down season for him. But I think it’s worth noting that when he wasn’t with Risto, he was bad. Yeah, that’s a really good point. It’s true. And Risto ain’t going to be there. Yeah. At least not for the first couple of months. Yeah. For for at least the first month, I would say. Maybe the first two months. We’ll see. It’s a fair point. And Zamul is interesting because he’s never passed the eye test for me, but his numbers last year were very good. Now, maybe some of that was the wrist line and effect that wrist align was carrying him. But the fact of the matter is you look at Zamul’s numbers from last year, they are a lot better. His underlying five on five numbers a lot better than you would think. A lot better than even I buy. I am a stat guy through and through. And I look at those numbers and I’m like really because that’s that doesn’t match my eye test even a little bit. I love that so much that there’s a guy that Charlie questions the numbers like you might want to recalculate. It’s more it’s more just that like especially for defenseman, defenseman sometimes have out of nowhere really good underlying number years and then the next year they’re trash. And over a large sample size of two, three seasons, I do believe that defenseman their their true talent level comes out. It comes out in the stats. In one year, you can have a fluke year where a bad defenseman puts up really good underlying numbers, but then you look at the three-year stretch and he’s around where you expect him to be. Um, like Jules and Gilbert, I don’t think anyone’s like crazy about that conversation. Maybe they’re the extras. Maybe they get waved to the AHL. We’ll see how the camp battle works out. Oliver Bon, I think this injury kind of Yeah, we were trying We were hoping to like motivate you to make you think you could make the team, but if you’re not going to be ready for camp, like you have a real slim margin to say the least. Exactly. If if Bon can’t play to start start camp, he’s not making the team. Now, someone who I just always keep talking about, I you’re I think you’re over this guy. Um Adam Jenning. Oh, yeah. Jinn is going to be I just had it in front of me. He’s going to be 26 in January. He is in the prime of his career. Uh he has played a total of 11 NHL games. Uh couple of years ago, three years ago, one two years ago, nine. Last season, one. Um at this point, could you see him making it as one of the extras? I guess because like what’s the I’m just getting the sense that they don’t care anymore. I I’m just getting the sense that the the organization has passed Adam Jinning. He’s Ronnie Adard. Yeah. That he’s a guy who maybe at some point this season gets traded to another team if he wants to continue to stick it out of North America rather than just go back to Sweden and be a really good defenseman in the SHL. That’s just the sense I’ve been getting. But maybe, you know, he’s clearly capable of playing in the NHL. He’s done it before. He’s held his own. He hasn’t loo looked totally out of place. He was bad when he played. He hasn’t looked totally out of place. I just feel like, you know, we’re we’re now talking about a guy in Adam Jinning who was drafted by Ron Hex. Yes. He was a second round pick in 2018, which like in my head 2018 not that long ago, but the first round pick that year was uh let’s see, Joel Farabby and Jay O’Brien. Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s been a while as as as our good friend Steve Viper would say. I I just kind of want to see if he can do it because like I don’t know. I’ve been hearing this guy’s name for seven years. Let’s see what he can do. But I do kind of get the impression like time’s up. Well, it’s, you know, in the end he’s at camp. He’s going to have his chance to change the narrative. If he has a really good camp, I don’t think they are going to bury him out of spite that he was a Ron Hexaw draft pick. I just don’t think he’s going to get the same kind of looks that, you know, even compare him to guys like Jules and Gilbert. No, they’re not homegrown guys, but Danny Breier brought them in. He saw something. Noah Jules was a favorite of Rick Tocket last season in Vancouver. Those guys are going to get more looks, more favorable looks than an Adam Jinn will. If Jinn is going to earn his way onto the roster, he is going to have to play really well because he ain’t one of their guys. I think there’s kind of at forward there’s some rotation they could be doing, but it’s basically going to be all right, is Deloreier a regular or not? And then based on that, we’re going to have the same 12 guys basically every night on defense without wristtoion. Do do you see a world where they carry eight and it’s like the top three or four? Yeah, it’s going to be the same every night, but third pair, we’re running a rotation, especially for that first month. Cuz I could absolutely see that happening. I could see it. Yeah, I could see a rotation, especially if like, let’s say they keep on the roster both of Jules and Gilbert and those two guys are the extras and then you have Helg Gr as the the six functionally on a pair with Diego Zamola. I could certainly see a war where where Jules pops in, you know, for a game here and then Gilbert pops in for a game there. Maybe Sabula sits occasionally. Yeah, I could see a world where that happens. Now, a lot of this is going to come down to how all these guys do in camp. Certainly, it’s going to come down to how long the line is out. But yeah, I could see a rotation because none of these guys are like, “Oh my god, Noah Jules has to be in the lineup every night.” Like, I don’t even think Rick Taka believes that and he loves the guy. I don’t think Noah Jolson believes that. I would hope Noah Jolson believes he should be playing in the NHL. I I am sure he does. Uh, all right. We have five super chats today. That’s how you know the season’s upon us. Charlie is the super chats. Now, it looks like a bunch of them are Adams. Adam S. Heavy on the super chat today. That’s fine. We’re at 157 likes. So, good job getting to 150. Maybe we can get to 200. 43 left. 200. Damn it. Um, all right. From Purple Crayon, our pal per. What’s going on? Uh, this summer felt like a loading screen that should go faster. You know, Chuck, all summer like I am, oh man, can’t wait for the season. Like July, end of July, August gets here. I’m like, what the hell are we gonna talk about? We had like a three or four week stretch where you and I were on the show together maybe once or twice. Like, it’s started to become But now it’s here and I am kind of like, take me back, you know, but now we are very much looking forward to this season. And it’s going to be a different kind of season than we’ve seen over the last few years. And that can’t be bad. You know, I would agree. I mean, I’m excited to see how they’re going to do. I’m excited to see what Mishko can do. I’m excited to see how Trevor Zeers is going to perform in a new environment. There’s a lot of things about this season. I’m excited to see about how Rick Tocket is going to be in an organization that isn’t a dumpster fire. I’m intrigued. It is an intriguing story of like, oh, when he’s not coaching um a team that just had the first overall pick, a team that doesn’t exist anymore, and a team where the two best players hated, two best forwards hated each other. Yeah, that’s it. Yeah. And now we are headed to overtime. Go to allphy.com to keep watching. No, that is the like I am I don’t know how good of a coach talk it is because like the accomplishments outside of one Jack Adams aren’t there. But it is undeniable that like the Coyotes don’t exist anymore because they’re one of the worstrun organizations in North American sports. That’s like unequivocally true. You know, Van College arena. They played it for multiple years. A 5,000 seat college arena. Like a pro team. That’s a joke. But it happened. It happened. It actually happened. It happened. Now there don’t exist. Uh Vancouver. Yeah, man. They had some good talent, but it was a kind of I think stars and scrubs roster. And two of those stars couldn’t stand each other to the point that the whole rest of the locker room was like every day at work is weird. And the ownership ain’t great either. They don’t even have a practice facility. They don’t have a practice facility as we’ve heard. So I am I I do think like there’s so many things we keep talking about that just the Ricktot experience is going to be interesting this year. All right. Uh first one here from Adam S. He says, “Habucko Flyers.” Sure, man. Um I don’t have anything personally against the the Canadians, but it does seem like they are becoming online. They are the object of a lot of online Flyers fans. I in large part because of the demodoff Mishkoff stuff. I haven’t seen the odds actually at uh bet 365 or bet parks, but I have heard that if you want to bet um the forer it’s you have to put down a million dollars to win eight. He’s like heavy favorite like you the odds are just so stacked against you. You could probably bet the field and make more than you would just betting him. All right. Uh another one here from Adam. Uh hope cuts ice time to guys who don’t play physically enough. Seems like he really wants to make the team mean again and I’m here for it. Go Flyers. I mean I don’t I don’t know if Look, Rick Tocket is was obviously a very tough guy in the NHL. I’m sure he appreciates meanness, but I haven’t I haven’t one of my takeaways from his many availabilities this summer was not, oh, I’m going to make these guys play tougher. Like, I think guys will play tough because they want to impress Rick Tocket. But I don’t get the sense that it’s one of his like driving goals. I think the playing style of this team will just be more physical because that’s the only way to maintain possession the way he wants to. That’s fair. But like I mean he’s not going to cut Travis Sanheim his ice time dramatically because he’s by far the best defenseman on the team. Yeah. If he’s not cross-checking fools every single shift, I don’t think that means he’s only going to play 20 minutes instead of 24. Like I’ll be very annoyed if Trevor Zager starts seeing his minutes cut because he doesn’t hit enough. That will be annoying to me. Yeah. Like he needs to make plays and score. Now, the other guys out there need to make room for him, and that’s how you maintain possession, but like that’s not the metric I’m judging everyone by. Exactly. I want a physical mean team. I wish everybody was Mkachuck, but like that’s not the cards we have, unfortunately. All right. Uh this next one here, what is this? It says ballsy dynamite. Is that what Balls Dynamite? Balls Dynamite. Uh Denver Clarky. I’ll say it until it’s true. I like that. I like that. It’d be fun. Be fun if he’s real good. Maybe he’s just that guy, man. It’s just real good. Uh, all right. Another one here from Adam. Uh, who wins in a fight, Bill or Charlie? I think Charlie could stay away long enough for me to just get tired and go to sleep. Yeah, I I think I would I I would have to play the uh the avoid Bill game. Just like dancing around the octagon, eventually fall down. Um, and finally from Adam S. I’m the better twin, Dave. Oh, that’s right. It’s Yes. I always forget. Yeah, they they watch the show and trash talking trash chats. I like it. I I love it. Yeah, Dave, step up. Spend some money to tell us you’re the better one. Adam has you here. I got a side with Adam. 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, I need you to check out the ultimate PHLY Sports Quiz. It’s a five-part 100 question challenge to determine how much you know about Philly sports. We have quizzes for the birds, for the Sixers, for the Philills, and the Flyers, and a me a special mystery quiz to cap things off. First three people to complete all five quizzes will get their choice of t-shirt from the PHLY locker. Everyone who completes it will have their name and score listed in Rich Hoffman’s excellent PHLY Sports Daily newsletter, which if you haven’t signed up for that, there’s a link for it right below in the show description. Get Rich’s newsletter if nothing else. It’s freaking great. uh shows you all the headlines you need to know the schedule every day. Check it out. All right, that’s it. Uh make sure you’re following us right here on YouTube. We’re pushing towards I think 40,000 subscribers. 50,000 50,000. We are close to 50,000. So get us there if you haven’t already. Hit the follow button on YouTube. Follow us on all the socials as well. We’re phy_flyers on Twitter and follow the podcast wherever you get those. All right, I am Bill Matz. That’s Charlie Oconor. Till tomorrow, be excellent to each other. [Applause] [Music]

Today is Philadelphia Flyers Training Camp Eve! Happy holiday to all who celebrate!

On today’s show, Charlie & Bill are detailing each potential camp battle and which rookies have a chance to push for roster spots.

Who are the locks to be in the opening night lineup, and could rookies like Jett Luchanko, Nikita Grebenkin, or even Oliver Bonk force veterans to the press box or out of town in trades?

00:00 – Intro
1:56 – Supporters Club!
3:18 – Open roster spots & candidates: top-9 forward
24:10 – Open roster spots & candidates: top-9 forward continued
33:23 – Open roster spots & candidates: 4th line wing?
42:38 – HIT THE LIKE BUTTON!
43:28 – Open roster spots & candidates: Scratches at forward
49:51 – Open roster spots & candidates: Could Zamula get pushed out/Ristolainen’s injury?
58:48 – Super chats
1:04:19 – Ultimate Philly Sports Quiz

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