Isaiah and Chef are back with Steve Kournianos of thedraftanalyst.substack.com , with a WJC primer, including an update on Flyer prospects Cutter Gauthier, Oliver Bonk, Alex Ciernik and draft eligibles; A look back at 2023 and the New Era of Orange; the latest with Flyers out west, Matvei Michkov & more!
Perimeter with a minute 15 left on this five minute major Puck put in front W the save rebound lose back scores and he shot that one between his legs did mitov hatrick watch this here folks this is unbelievable Matt feay mitov with the incredibly quick hands nice Puck work
Around by the Russians as number 17 keep your eyes on him here the puck pops out it’s rolling on him as it comes out here and he is going to just put it right between his legs hey everybody it’s Isaiah and I’m here with Chef be who’s going to tell us
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Going to carry on with the rest of our show and we are back it is Isaiah welcome to the OMB podcast episode number 206 brought to you by Flyers nitty-gritty decom we hope everybody had a great Christmas and we are recording our final show of calendar year 2023
We’re going to look back a little bit on 2023 and some of the big events that ended up in the new era of orange we’re going to take a look at where the Flyers are at as they are on the west coast for a slated games out there I think they
Got four scheduled but first we’re going to going to take a look at the World Junior Championships they’ve just got underway we kind of wanted to do this a little bit earlier but hey everybody understands this this time of year the scheduling is really tough with the
Holiday and everybody coming in from out of town so we have a very special guest for you to talk about that and some of the Flyers prospects and maybe just maybe some targets some players that you’re going to hear about coming in the draft but before that let’s introduce
Our panel now tonight speaking of scheduling conf the Great Dan silver could not make it him and the wife are are away and from what I hear they might be actually be on Horseback which would not be a surprise but I’m not sure but we do have to my
Left Chef B what’s the good word my man well good word is you know back to work back to hockey uh you’re gonna get you’re gonna see some great young kids in the in the junior championships here and then and uh after that we’ll get
Back to the Fly Guy and then before you know it maybe just maybe Santa brought some meaning meaningful hockey to Philadelphia again this year we haven’t seen it in a while so it’ll be a nice present for us wouldn’t it be yeah absolutely and despite all that there’s
Still the prospect of what could happen at the trade deadline and there’s a lot of things we’re going to get to a little bit later but but without any further Ado let’s bring in from uh the draft analyst .s substack docomo Steve how are you Isaiah Chef what’s going on thank
You for having me on H it’s our pleasure so this time of year is kind of like that first little Peak at these draft eligibles and some of the returnees and and we look at these draft plus Oney year players like the Flyers have cutter gotier and Oliver bnk
And Alex chernik who’s with Slovakia but before we get into particular players what’s your general feeling about this tournament and things that you’re looking forward to well it’s always exciting uh it’s definitely hyped up uh if you’re a hockey fan I think uh it’s kind of strategic that they have it during the
Christmas break because the NHL takes time off and the NHL definitely cares about the event because they put the world juniors on their uh preseason dates of Interest calendar whatever you want to call it so the NHL acknowledges it is a big deal you know the teams have
Plays that might be eligible uh so it just combines it basically lets I think every hockey fan become a prospect junkie just for like a couple of days at a minimum uh so everyone’s kind of scrambling for information how good is this kid you know so and so so I I love
That about it uh but the uh the bigger deal for me is that it’s in Sweden and Sweden hasn’t won a gold medal in a very long time time and uh it’s the first games that they’ve hosted I think since 2012 uh I think uh I think Canada won it
That year but it’s been a while and there’s a gold medal drought and Sweden they’re talking about it so they have a a whole bunch of first round this on this year on this year’s team as well the swedes do so that’s that’s the storyline of course Canada uh being the
Defending Champion as well celebrating the number one overall pick presumptively at least in the upcoming draft so there’s there’s a lot like different story lines here and there 10 teams uh but thus far it’s been kind of business as usual yeah sure now they say this might be the single most talented
Roster and potentially the greatest USA team in wjc history what’s your thought on that well that’s that’s going to be tough uh with the uh the team that they had in 2021 and of course the 2010 team was phenomenal I mean you look at that Ross
Had a whole bunch of 30 goal 50 point 30 goal NHL scorers uh defensive so we’ll see but in terms of where they’ve been drafted you you’re right like th this this lineup is full of not just first round picks like high first round picks H and so expectations are high you know
USA uh you know has had issues the last couple of years no one like seen Canada uh win consecutively uh but you know uh we’ll have to wait and see they struggled a little bit against Norway to start uh but that third period was the Team USA
We expected so we’ll see how they Faire uh in their next game so looking at what’s coming up Canada just wiping out lvia I think 11 nothing yeah and you had mentioned the struggles that the USA had with Norway but of course that doesn’t really mean anything until they get into
The next rounds and this is each team has about five or six more games to go if they advance and go beyond that so what are the maybe the under kind of under the radar narratives or players that you’re thinking about when you talked about melini right now looks like
A short shot for a number one overall pick of course that can change between now and draft time and has in the past yeah well one of the big ones from a draft standpoint is that this year’s tournament does not have a lot of Top Flight prospects uh so we know that the
2024 draft is going to be defense heavy we’ve talked about it for several years uh but this year’s group only had I think like 16 or 17 combined for year draft eligibles and that was the lowest we’ve had in the last 10 years so uh is that a like necessarily a referendum on
This the quality of the draft I don’t think so uh at least to a degree because you’re looking at what celebrini is doing um but it gives a chance for Le lesser known guys or you know a guy like let’s say soberg the defenseman on on
Norway that some is saying he could be a first round pick but that’s the kind of draft it is where you know we’re really not sure we we know celb is probably going to go number one as of right now but after that it’s kind of up in the
Air uh some of the things I wanted to bring up uh that that I’m paying attention to is you know I already said the Swedish drought they’re at home you’re looking at uh Finland now with two losses they have to worry about being relegated relegation is a one one
Game uh uh playoff so if they lose that game they’re not gonna be in next year’s wjc which is nuts uh to think about uh the American defense has been suspect Canadian goal tending was questionable heading into the tournament so far it’s held firm so there’s a lot each team has
Their own let’s say stories that they brought in um you know let’s I’ll say about the Americans although they’re one and0 Slovakia is now two and 0 and they play uh who do they play next I think they play Germany tomorrow uh yeah no they play Norway so
Slovakia is gonna be three and0 when they most more than likely three and 0 when they meet the Americans on New Year’s Eve so if the Americans aren’t three and 0 if they’re two and one uh there’s a good chance they can get eliminated that night uh not eliminated
I’m sorry not win the group which would be unheard of considering the Rost that they have so there’s a lot of things to pay attention to uh over the next let’s say three to four days of H Group Play yeah Chef uh all right uh we we know we talked about everybody talked
About how this is going to be a draft d d dhey draft okay yeah and uh if there is there a couple legitimate number ones out there or what looks like to be number ones because with the Flyers obviously they’re getting their goal tending standing on their head right now
With the two two the pair that they have that tandem is great probably quite possibly one of the best in the NHL now then you look down the roster and they’ve got guys that are going to make their their way eventually but they’re they’re what they are lacking and I know
Keith Jones talked about it too I’m just looking at what is in this draft that you’re sitting there if you’re if if you’re somebody like the Flyers and you’re looking or any team in the top 10 I guess looking for that guy to to be your number one day who you rolling the
Dice on I mean there there’s like 25 30 defenseman and and they come in all different shapes and sizes like I think everyone at least every fan would probably have like a different definition of what a number one is right and from a flyer standpoint we’ll say
Like okay marow he was like a prototypical two-way defenseman he could do it at every Zone then you have like an offensive minded guy uh further down the line like Tony D’Angelo where that’s all he could do and I’m not comparing Tony D’Angelo to maral I’m just say I’m
Say dangel was D’Angelo was a one- trick pony but he was a point producer almost a point a game uh you know very Pro prolific on the power play not point a game on the power play so this draft has a bunch of those you’re gonna have like Quinn Hughes types potentially you’ll
Have sanheim types potentially you’ll have like Ryan mcdunn potentially so it it really all depends on what the the organization needs uh you know when you look at the Flyers there’s a lot of like good siiz defenseman two-way types they could carry the puck but you don’t
Really have like a off the charts Adam Fox kale mcar Quinn Hughes type who’s just a point scoring machine and you have a couple of those guys one of them being Quinn Hudson and uh you know he’s Lane’s younger brother he’s playing for the ntdp uh Lane was like a late second
Round pick people going nuts that he lasted that long because of how well he’s doing in College the size is not really an issue but you know the central scouting going give him an a rating but this kid just tore up a tournament uh last month and you know if the Flyers
Make the playoffs so they’re picking 20 22 he’s probably gonna be in that range so that would be an option now he’s a left shot I know the Flyers kind of want to bulk up more in the right side but they kind of addressed that last draft
With three of them so they ask you a question like this draft has all types of defenseman I’m not saying they’re all going to go let’s say uh you know top 15 or 20 because you know there’s pretty good forwards as well and teams know that Elite forwards
You could find or really only in the upper half of the first round or mostly at least so uh from a flyer standpoint put it this way if if the if the Flyers are saying that we need a high-scoring offensive defenseman or a franchise caliber two-way defenseman right or left
Side chances are there’s going to be a guy they could take a chance on and it’ll be valid it’ll be like a credible Prospect uh who paid his dues and has a pretty good resume uh and that’s the type of draft that you know that we have
This year it’s just one of those rare ones you got to take advantage of it yeah I I I know that Keith Jones like like shef was alluding to really likes the idea building from the goal and the defense out and he seems to prefer a defenseman with a lot of length yeah
Players kind of like in the mold of sanheim but maybe with a little bit more of a nastier Edge so and I don’t know if handedness is as important right now especially when you see sanheim looking like he’s going to be on the right side even as a left-hander so I think they
Would just go with the best best player and that could be a forward for all they know because they have in my mind they hav’t as much if not more of a need at onec sure and but there’s they’re not as plentiful in this draft or so it would
Seem yeah I mean they are good centers they just like the elite ones are probably going to be gone by the time the fers are picking if they stay on the course that they’re on um so I know that you know they’re experimenting I don’t want to call it experimenting but
They’re using goate and uh you know does he really fit that one C mold like what we’re seeing this year is he’s shooting nonstop from everywhere I know so I don’t know if that’s by Design if he’s like you know he’s going to treat every year of his development differently like
And we’ve seen a top end prospects do that you know where it’s like a pitcher almost learning a new pitch uh so the fact that he’s the most prolific score shooter in college uh after a great season last year probably means that you know he he could be one of those
High-scoring one sees like a aanad or shley where you’re gonna get 35 40 goals out of it more than Matthews um where but scoring goals I guess becomes more the priority but uh as far as the draft goes yeah the Fliers could could address the center ice position uh with the best
Player available heght but I strongly advise to to take advantage of the of the of the defense because you know I don’t know if you’re going to get a crop like this again for quite some time the last time we had it was 2012 so it’s
Over a decade you know I could see them acquiring yet another first round draft pick at the trade deadline somehow someway and then they would have three and they would have options they could either take a couple of those to move into a higher range maybe get into that like 12 to 15
Range okay or they could just play the numbers the percentages and draft three different players in the round and two of them maybe could be defenseman going by BPA but it if youve seen the higher you go the percent what what other percentages like in the tiers like one
To 10 11 to 20 you know I mean percentage depends on the position like for forwards like if you look at all the the heart Trophy winners the Ross winners the the top 50 scores in NHL history they were mostly like 85% were drafted in the top 10 of the draft it’s
So it’s like if you want a a legit yeah you have your Jamie Benz and you have your Joe pavelsky who who weren’t uh you know High round picks and became you know know Pavel is gonna go to the Hall of Fame this phenomenal second half of
His career um but for for the most part though like I know in you know Flyers fans have a bad taste of their minds with the Nolan Patrick stuff but that being said like it’s just no with defensely they not the same Lars Trophy winners second third round picks Yosi
Leang PK suban uh you could go down the list uh but at the same time you have guys like highkin and Macar uh Hughes were basically top 10 so I I would definitely like the way I’ve I’ve been you know I’ve been stting the draft now
How long I forg like two decades if the if the if I’m going BP a in in the top 10 it’s going to be on the forward uh and I’ll take my chances with defense but it also ties into like play development in that team’s history and
Staff how they’ll how well they do when it comes to drafting the later rounds um but uh again I think the Flies right now you guys probably don’t want to hear it but uh what surprised to hear that they should be probably thinking about the play playoffs and uh you know
Potentially uh maybe even moving down and accumulating more draft Capital uh while they use that to potentially you know let’s just say hypothetically speaking that this is the beginning of of a new Flyers era that they are going to be good from now on again hypothetically speaking you want to
Accumulate as much draft Capital as possible so you could use it at the trade deadline and we’ve seen teams doing that before so the fly is in a really good spot right now um you know but uh you know to the this draft there’s there’s a little bit of a drop
Off when it comes to forwards like there’s an elite like group uh after lebrini maybe like seven to nine players deep but for the most part after that that all those Elite tiers are going to include mostly defenseman yeah Chef oh no I was just thinking like I was gonna answer the
Same question if you if if you were gonna package uh like I guess that’s how you would do it you would try to you know so assuming they can move one of the goenda deal to get that first rounder then I’m I’m assuming that the best way to get that is probably maybe
Package two first rounders and jump up and try to trade with somebody at the top I’m guessing probably that’s the only way you’re going to break that top 10 at this point the way they’ve been playing yeah not only the way they’ve been playing but just that their history
On the tours how they’re gonna when they lose that it’s either gonna be like by like a goal or they’ll get the losers point so and then you gotta factor in all the teams that are way behind them that at some point reality’s going to set in they’re probably looking at
January as as the the decis point or the deciding point where and I’m talking about teams like Columbus Ottawa Buffalo like Buffalo was supposed to be in the playoffs this year that was the expectation they’re probably not making the playoffs now uh so uh you know
There’s gon to be again you know you have the extra first round pick uh you know you have veterans now that you’ve been kind of showcasing if you want to call it that but at the same time you have a really deep collection of wings and goalies and go tending stinks in the
NHL and who to say that there’s a scout on let let’s say a a rebuilding team who’s like hey this fedotov guy I love him you know when he played for Cy he almost won the he won the KL cup so we want him let’s get let’s call up uh
Brier and see what he says you know the this this is a really good spot for the Fliers to be in uh from really multiple directions right and they have some leverage they don’t have the desperation that they’ve always been dealing with in the past where the Flyers are just
Screaming that we need this we need that we’re desperate we don’t really have Assets Now some of these things are all coming to fruition they’re winning and they could take or leave winning this year they want the cultural aspect of it but of course from an asset perspective
They’re I don’t think they’re going to alter their plan that much but I do see the possibility for a second or third round pick they might add something particularly if they traded a walker and got a first round pick which I think is definitely a possibility if he maintains
His level they might want to add another defenseman and this way they they swapped assets and came out on top you at least you would hope but getting back to wjc who are there any particular players that are draft eligible even though there is a somewhat of a dir compared to
Other years that we should be watching from here on out well like I said there aren’t that many I would say outside of celebrini there’s probably only one guy who would be like top 10 caliber and that’s the cona helenius on Finland and he’s really he’s been their number one
Center he wears the bird cage so he’s easier to spot number 19 but uh he’s been phenomenal in the SM leuea this guy he’s almost like in a way he plays exactly like celebrini he’s not overly physical but he gets involved physically uh he’s he’s aware in his defensive Zone
He’s not let’s say a speed demon straight line speed wise I mean he’s fast but it’s more about he could beat you Deli L as well break your ankles moving at a very slow pace phenomenal stick handling he had you Canada kind of ke on him in the opener and and he was
Really he had a very quiet game uh whereas today against the the Germans where he was more up and down you saw what he can do uh with the puck specifically he’s an inside player he attacks with speed and always his passes are always on the money so uh you know
He he’s the guy that people cutting into the into the tournament well like he’s a potential top five pick after that though uh the kid neard or nyard on Norway he’s he’s great he’s a big fast physical power Winger he loves to shoot if you saw the game against the
Americans he every time he got it in the right Circle he was just one after the other it was always like a like a replay Loop and um so he he’s he’s done really well in the uh in the in the Swedish league so uh you know playing in the wjc
No one expected nor to do much but he’s definitely standing out as a like he’s the other thing I like about him is he’s like 62200 he doesn’t stop skating doesn’t really run out of breath you could tell he has a reserve tank uh that’s usually full so at the end of his
Shift um but after that I mean look Z boam know he was playing really well as a freshman for Denver as a first year eligible and uh in the nchc college hockey and in this tournament it’s kind of been a struggle for him uh in many
Areas so I don’t know if it’s gonna quote unquote hurt his stock uh but uh and then you got the guy soberg I talked about he came out of nowhere people like he’s gonna be a first round pick uh number 10 on Norway big lanky kid he’s a
Great skater he’s physical uh what I love about him is how he treats every shift like it’s it’s his last shift on the planet and he is everywhere looking to hit people he just mean in front of the net uh quick stick he’s also got some really good shooting mechanics and
Shot accuracy um Adam jerich is another defenseman who was supposed to he got hurt yeah but he ended up getting hurt uh and then I’m trying to think uh Sweden doesn’t have any uh Germany didn’t bring any uh I think Slovakia didn’t bring any they had like eight a
Couple of years ago uh and I think the Swiss have a handful Mugi Reber the energy kid uh is pretty good A forward and then the two defenseman Mugi and um htin Co they’re not bad you’re probably looking at middle round round picks uh as defenseman so you know you’re looking
At maybe five of these kids in the first round but you know outside of CBR and maybe helenius and I would maybe even say knard to a degree there’s really not a let say uh a collection of potential top 10 picks like we had last year last
Year we had basically you know the first four picks in the draft five if you count Ryan Bacher and uh if you count Ryan Bacher so we’re not gonna have that this year it’s just one of those tournaments yeah yeah I mean and so so this is this we really feel
The loss of Russia because they they have a lot of kids um yeah I mean and also the the you know kind of just the rivalries are historic and so but uh you know Russia like Canada and Sweden they they rarely uh uh like to add first year eligibles
Just historically but having them there I think the level of competition helps future draft prospects if that makes sense like you know you want to play tougher games with the against tougher opponents absolutely yeah yeah yeah absolutely so cutter gotier a shooting machine and his at first game eight
Shots and and he missed a whole bunch of them he was just like you were saying it’s almost like he was trying some stuff out he’s been doing a lot of that this year there are concerns that he doesn’t necessarily have the kind of game that translates to
Center and might be more of a Winger in the NHL especially his play away from the puck although he’s been good on faceoffs so it’s a mixed bag and of course look he’s got to take coaching and if he shows the willingness he certainly has a talent yeah it depends
On here’s the thing the flyers I I I support his decision to play Center Ice I don’t know if it was his decision or if it was the Flyers decision but with the ntdp he rarely plays Cent like playing in his pre-draft he rarely played center he was playing mostly on
Wing uh and so what was seeing him as a freshman in Boston College we saw a little bit of a different wrinkle to his game uh but now that he has the support you know those three first round picks from last year Smith Leonard and uh uh
Perau maybe it seem and again I’m just speculating but maybe it’s like okay I wanna you know I don’t have to worry too much about carrying the team I can really just let my own skills stand out but his is my take on it really is that
Like to be a a two-way or a dual threat Center you have to show glimpses in the beginning of vision and pass accuracy and he does do that he just doesn’t do it as frequently so I wouldn’t say he’s gonna be the next Jack Hughes or Matt barzal like those pure playmaking
Centers but he has the ability to make nice passes he just chooses not to he just chooses to shoot and so the question is like it’s about incorporating his linemates and then the other piece to that is the Flyers have a ton of Shooters in their system and
Mitch kov being the best of them these guys like to shoot now Mitch we are seeing the playmaking wrinkle the last couple of Seasons uh you know so now do do you say Mitch you go to Center and have go play Wing I mean I guess it’s a
Nice problem to have but from a the way I’m watching go these last well from the exhibition game against Canada and the game against door way he’s not looking like a a real pure Center he’s looking like a wing who’s playing Center and he’s looking a shoot but at the same but
Also you know contributing other areas as well but that’s just like I said my my my observations based off his Boston College play and what we’ve seen at the tournament sure sure uh what can you tell us about what you’ve seen from Oliver Bon he got his first point
Today um he’s a he’s a steady 8 yeah I love him I love man even K he doesn’t get too high doesn’t get too low I I I’m loving this you know when when people question this pick from the Flyers but the good thing about it is you needed like you said a
Steady edit you needed that safe pick at defense because of what you’re doing and what what what they were showing what defense to be this year before they actually started playing so uh I’d love to hear some insight on this too yeah I love him I love his tournament I don’t
Care he could put up no points uh he this kid there are so many things if you just key in on him and you forget about the points yeah it’s all fun to brag about your prospects having more more points than your Rivals Prospect I get
It but what but what I love you know we got we have a running joke in the army that if you put a hundred Generals in a room and you close the door and leave Malone within 30 minutes they’ll act like privates well it’s the same thing
With with Checkers with top players when they go to these best on best tournaments where if you put a top flight center on his League team as a fourth liner on the International Tournament team he’ll act like a checker with bnk like you know Canada had like major issues on defense heading in
Because they lost their arguably their two best defensemen well two of their best defenseman in luno and moland DIY so they had a scramble to replace them I think they replac them with Ty Nelson and uh Donovan so but still even still with that Bon who’s the number one on
London there’s no doubt about that Bon was basically like said like hey you’re going to be on the third pairing uh with Donovan uh and he has not behaved like a bottom pairing defenseman he’s confident he’s clean he’s rushing the puck not with speed but like but above all
Everything else I love the way this kid is handling pressure and it’s if you’ve been following me on Twitter like I’ve been the defensive turnovers are a major pet peeve like easy breakout passes major pep peeve and we’re seeing a lot in this tournament from pretty high-profile guys not the case with Bon
At all like he’s reliable there was one play today that blew me away it was a 50-50 battle the the uh Lan kid dumped it in again this is a blowout game Lan kid dumps it in so it’s a foot race he gets there first only by a hair he looks
Up he sees a second lvan coming so he basically absorbs two lvans shifts his body position and skates away up the boards to the uh through the open Lane and that’s kind of had a breakout and then celb scored on like the next shift so little things like that like so you
You you want to see him score and shoot the puck and be dynamic explosive but no he you he could play for my team any day of the week he is exactly safe I think isn’t doing him Justice he’s incredibly smart great great Alex chernick I’ve seen him flash a couple times for
Slovakia that’s a a pretty good lineup got some high-profile players like dorski and and such but he’s had his moment I don’t think he has any points yet but he shows a lot of speed and creativity when he does have those standout moments and and also too like
He had a really good camp with the Flyers too and he was somebody that actually stood out at Camp uh amongst everything that they had going there so that he was in my notes as being somebody good that what do you you know your opinion on his play so far
Phenomenal passer can this kid pass the puck or what his vision like the plays he I think he knows that forget about the points with with chernick as well he’s on a line he’s on basically one of Slovakia’s two top lines because he’s with uh dorski and the other guy that
Black hws for missak so that’s that’s a top line on on on a couple of teams in this tournament but because Slovakia has um patrai and I forgot the sakur uh the then mesar on on the other line those are two top lines but with with so with
Chernick like he a very unselfish player sometimes too unselfish so I like the fact that it seems like he knows that his job is to bail out his teammates uh whether it be on the puck or off the puck you there there was a play today
Where he was the the lone guy back on a two-on one or a three on two eventually his support came and joined him so incredibly smart player uh I think there was also sequence where he had a couple of two-on ones and they just Mis connecting but it seems like he’s the
Guy that he’s like kind of lurking in the weeds he’s waiting for some trouble to happen and then the puck always finds him and he wastes no time passing it to someone who’s in a in in a safer position so that that to me are major signs of uh high IQ and playmaking
Ability it’s just that he’s not being selfish and he’s he’s and he’s he’s a beautiful skater as well great great what what how do you see this tournament going or do you don’t really have any idea about how who you think’s going to win or I I I think Canada they they’ve
Proven that they could win ugly you know they have they don’t have the the the the flashes roster as in previous years but but they they could win ugly they they have that system where it’s the heavy forward check but what I really like too about Canada is their
Discipline they know how power plays can really change the the the momentum and turn the tide and the IHF FS called every penalty so that they’re physical but in a clean way they’ve been they they’re not really getting involved after the whistle they’re playing a professional style so I think until even
With their go tending issues I think that just the chemistry is there that other teams aren’t showing Sweden is the other one though now and they’re in the same group uh and they play on Friday so they’re not even playing on the New Year’s Eve game so you know once we get
Into seeding I really Slovakia to me is is the danger is the dangerous team um because they have balance everywhere and they got the goalie guy in who who could you know basically steal games so you know the American slovaks Canadians and sweds to me right now and I’m just
Saying that because the records that’s going to be the collision course if I’m G to pick anybody to make any noise uh you like like an upset you can’t count out the checks because they have uh rull even though he’s stunk in the first game he could steal games by himself if he
Gets hot which was the case last year interesting interesting the USA plays Switzerland tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. and CIA on Friday and we’ll know a lot after Friday’s game definitely sure yeah yeah between that and Canada and some of the other teams that are playing
So one last thing for me what about what the Flyers are doing and some of the changes they’ve made from a development standpoint did you’ve heard some of the things they’ve done and some of the placements you know because you can draft and have the best Scouts and all
That but we saw over the last half decade how it all can just just turn sour if you don’t follow these kids and bring them along properly well I think it one of the first steps that they made was like during the uh the one that stood out to
Me was hiring Le perier to coach Lehigh Valley because you know you bringing torch and I forgot who was hired first torch LA perier but they they’re both very similar coaches where they they don’t play Mr Nice Guy and that you know uh it’s it’s a merit based system so
When you’re playing in the AHL uh and we knew that the fliers were gonna have competition down the farm because of all the drafting that they had so uh you know they they they seem like they hung out hung on to the same guys year after
Year after year but then once the once they brought Le perryan and then torella and I I think they brought in the guy what’s the guy’s name uh Armstrong is he the Riley yeah yeah okay so like you’re seeing I guess my take on it from an outsider’s perspective is that they’re they’re
They’re telling these kids hey You’re Gonna Play in Philly if you deserve it because take a look at the roster and so that has kind of like energized the the the competition level unfortunately you’ll have casualties like you know a Radcliffe or a shusko or a you know
Maybe even a Zade wisdom where like they’re G to get they’re gonna get bumped down so but I think think I think it’s great what they’re doing and it’s it’s paying off in the standards yeah Lappy had been here for a couple years so he kind of just fell
Right in that Chef you go ahead yeah yeah I was just goingon to say but I want to piggy back to LA uh uh Lappy thing because you’re on the outside looking in for us we saw the player here when he was a player we seen it when he
Was an assistant coach and a lot of people didn’t you know didn’t appreciate him like they do now let’s just say that because when he was he’s worked for two other head coaches you know when he was on the bench I do believe and then after
That he sent down to you know to uh Lehi and he’s got to work a system he’s not allowed to work his own system or whatever he’s got to work on a system so that when supposedly the Phantoms come up they they know what the hell they’re
Doing or whatever and that and and that seemed to go totally in the wrong direction so now with torz in here he’s like pretty much do what you do do be the best development coach that you can and it seems to be working out but us us
Us Philly fans remember him as a guy that took a couple pucks to the face and now felt like a Pity higher you know what I mean but uh on the outside you’re saying you know you really see some raw good coaching skills there I guess well
Listen I mean I listen I’m kind of old school and I was in the military so I’m I’m I’m okay with discipline on on as long as it’s fair and and uh not uh OV excessive uh but what I liked about from a a hockey you Prospect standpoint point
In covering the game is that his interviews he’s he’ll tell you the truth it like so he gets asked well how’s this play he’s like he’s not playing really well he has to work on his speed and I love that because I write scatter reports so I’m likey if the coach is
Saying it and I see it too all right you know two and two uh yeah had one in one it makes two so um as far as like tactics go and like how good of an in-game strategist he is I don’t know it seems to me though that the intent was
To toughen these kids up like uh necessarily in a to toxic or corrupt way but cover them up like hey like the realities of the NHL could be harsh and we invested a lot of time and money and draft uh Capital into you so we want you
To kind of like pay it forward and like I said I mean if if Lehigh Valley’s who cares really what they’re I guess necessarily doing down there stats wise the reality is there you got a lot of Lehigh Valley graduates on the Flyers right now and they’re part of the reason
Why they’re not in the basement which which is someone like myself expected uh based on their lack of offseason activity so if it ain’t broke don’t fix it let it let it go and then hopefully you don’t hear like oh the coach was mean to me and you have like Mike Mike
Babcock like weird scenario uh you know but uh like I said it’s working it’s just working and it didn’t work for a while yeah yeah by the way before you leave uh could we could I see your phone no only kid yeah yeah yeah that’s just weird that’s just weird
Very strange but you know what’s not strange is if you go to the draft analyst. substack docomo there Steve just like like in-depth draft analysis uh I’ve kind of like changed from doing like the basic you know like profiles and mock dfts like I still do that but I like to kind
Of take like a you know more Del approach to covering the game there’s no need to like I have to release something I’m on Deadline I need clicks like that’s not why I I moved to substack I moved it because I wanted to take my time so you have a lot of research
Projects there I just did one on the uh first year eligibles at the wjc uh I’ve been covering each team’s uh top prospects um stuck on the ranges while I finish the ranges now I have to move on to the Islanders but I cover the
Flyers plenty so you get a mix of NHL prospects and and draft coverage and draft history and uh over the next couple of months so it’s going to be mostly 2020 if not all 2024 draft coverage with you know in-game reports scatter reports profiles mock drafts rankings everything
Fantastic and people can find you on the app formerly known as Twitter uh atth draft analyst yes brother thank you so much for coming AB board we have to get you back again sometime very soon sure thank you for having me on appreciate it thanks again take care man
By yeah that that was a fun segment it’s I you know I caught his article about how few actual draft eligibles there were at the wjc this tournament compared to Prior years so it was interesting that you saw a lot of rores but that doesn’t take
Away from the torney and given the fact that the Flyers are doing better than we thought yeah you know unless they kind of fall just outside the playoffs and and by a fluke and get a Nolan Patrick kind of number two overall kind of thing
Chances are the fers are not GNA get a guy like mlin celebrini or one of the the Top Flight players in the top you know five or 10 well no and and I I don’t know there’s always a chance I guess something crazy to happen we’ve seen weirder stuff you know crazier
Stuff but more more importantly uh I I think is it what you’re creating I mean if you get somebody you’re gonna get somebody good in this draft and D somewhere they got two picks in the first round already they might end up with another one depending on what they
Trade and all that and but anything but they’re going to get a couple good players in this draft in the first round anyway so you take that you build on that if it matches what you’re doing right right here great even better that’s fantastic I I really do believe
That they’re building something and look we talked about at the beginning before we even there there’s what 49 games left still you know uh who knows how long they can keep up this pace to how well they’re playing I mean we want them to we don’t want the B the bottom to fall
Out of it because they’re so much more fun when watching your team win and lose but in this case if you know I I thought they were going to finish like two points shy the playoffs and that be be creeping around and I thought they would
Be a great team f team to watch so so far I’m getting my money’s worth I’m getting exactly what I expected out of this season you know uh a turnaround with new ownership New Hope and all that so I’m gonna stay with that I still think they could you know they’ll be out
Of the I I still think they might just be out of that playoff thing uh the playoff hunt there miss it by two four points whatever but it’s so hard you lose a game here and there everybody’s all bunched up in the Metro and in the
East so you you could you could be in second you know second place today and eighth place tomorrow you know it depending on how how many games you lose you know in two days so I can see that I mean since our last show the Flyers went 31 and one they are
134 and three since the San Jose loss that kind of turned things around for them in a in a manner of speaking that’s a 725 winning percentage they are 181 and4 overall currently in wild card spot with as you mentioned 49 games remaining 30 games until the trade
Deadline March 88th so you know there’s a lot Brewing here there’s a lot going on and chances are they’re going to be they’re GNA have it’s going to be tough holding off Carolina who’s got a better roster and holding back New Jersey I’m thinking is New Jersey currently yeah New Jersey is currently
Not in a spot right now I I just don’t see that and I don’t see Washington holding on either but they’re playing very well defensively and they when you have experience versus guys on the Flyers that don’t have as much experience I’d still favor Washington if they’re playing a good defensive game
And they have some better players like Carlson and oetkin and and even Tom Wilson so we’ll just have to see how that turns out yeah but ask yourself this with all those numbers would any of this have been possible if we didn’t look back let’s
Take a look back what happened and I was looking at my notes from past shows because the calendar year 2023 is about to end and we know a lot of things in the runup to the season that were important for them to get to where they’re at now which is overachieving I
Think we’d agree with that much right yeah I I’ll give you that yep I look at my notes from December of last year and there were rumors that were swirling about front office shakeup and how remember they were saying Fletcher could be kicked upstairs and that was a
Possibility and then Danny could take his job and that was like something I totally opposed I think we all opposed it if a guy failed you don’t just you don’t give him a promotion no you don’t fail upwards you know so finally on our January 18th show this is when Freeman and
Marck seem to allude to the Flyers making a break with the past that could change provide them a change in organizational structure and the acknowledgement finally of saying that word they would wouldn’t say before until torella came on board with the rebuild and then you had
That what was it March you had the Rangers game with the Rangers fans just kind of taking over was in the Press Box at that game that was horrible yeah that’s all they were we were talking about up there yeah it wasn’t game it was it was it was what where they were
Situated as a franchise that Rangers fans just come in there take over yeah it was a big deal was kind of like a Demar a line of demarcation and then you had the trade deadline Fiasco they couldn’t get rid of jvr which is unbelievable then the town hall
And and what was it what you was saying something about well they have an app that like they that assesses value and they this is one of the tools they used to make sure they get proper value and trades and Fletcher said something to the effect of um it’s been kind of like
Really a rebuild all along but he didn’t want to say he more or less didn’t he say he was afraid to say the the word yeah yeah yeah you go yeah how much of that was Dave Scott probably a lot I’m going to guess a lot because that there
Well well we never heard from Dave Scott and I’m glad we didn’t because I think we’d be even more mad if we did so and then you sit there and go you know what though I’m gonna turn the page with everything right now I’m looking at what
We got now and it it just the whole feel is different and I’m very happy about that the team feels different the games feel different when you watch it you know uh it it’s just a whole it’s a whole different if you you know you’ve been down there this year you can feel
It it’s all over the building too right so the culmination of course is Fletcher getting fired and then you look at some of the moves they finished what 3128 and 13 for 75 points they could be they could be like 10 15 points better than that this year
Yeah maybe even more I I don’t know I don’t see them more than 90 but maybe I could May wrong but by miday you had the whole new era you had Jones hired you had hilford taking over for Scott who thank guy like you said he retired and then we
Had the big moves and a lot of it was more addition by subtraction with the Prov trade you got everybody all hyped up that the Flyers going to get all all kinds of assets the sanheim trade that fell through the first round draft pick we almost had and then it got pieced
Together kind of haze for not much yeah but they drafted meof that then it was kind of like it was like a stock index up and down and they drafted Bon some people wanted them including myself to you know push a little higher but we we’ll see how that
Works out with with bnk and he I mean we’re not gonna know about Oliver bnk and his contributions for probably like two three years anyway and then of course getting rid of Tony D’Angelo who’s having a rotten year in Carol Olina as a trade candidate we get massim
Mo Rizo who probably is a tweener at best but that’s okay again more addition by subtraction and it led us to where we’re at now we had all remember going in we had all these questions about the defense I thought for sure that’s gonna
Be a train rack yeah and now now now you it’s it’s it’s arguably one of the most steadiest part you got the you know the people talking that you know they want sealer and uh brain fart Walker Walker thank you I almost said wheeler I don’t
Know why I said wheeler but well Walker and him they want them together that’s how good they’ve been as a second pair people are asking apparently asking about it and I sit there and I’m very happy with this defense you know what I there is one question I wanted to posee
To you because I know you had it was one of your major concerns you didn’t know if it was going to work out and I think Dan might have been on the same page the three-headed monster you’re worried about how how could you hire Brier
Before you had a president you know a GM before a president and he’s gonna want to change his coach but I’ll be damned if if if something didn’t work out in this situation here where they all seem to be now we don’t know all the inner
Workings but they all seem to be like they’re on on almost on the same page right it seems like they’re in sync I think like any regime they’re going to have a testing moment that could come with an injury some kind of controversy they don’t have a pro Rob situation on
You know on flag night or whatever uh so there is going to be something that comes up and that’s that’s when you find out what you’re made of right so we’ll find out but so far so good I have no complaints yeah they appear to be very
Committed to the long term and building it right I was listening to Bundy just uh that one that was yesterday on snow the goalie was talking about that they’re not going to take shortcuts they may be happy about what they’re doing but they know they need a lot more than
What they have right now and they’re going to do it the right way but that that doesn’t preclude the idea that this won’t take five years I never thought it needed to take five years because that means all the players they’ve drafted and some of the kids that even we saw
Even last year and we knew would be here this year that means they all would have had to have fail yeah yeah yeah oh I’m sorry but I think I mentioned on like remember three years ago you know two and a half years ago when we started you know one of the
Things I remember about Dan when he when he came on to our onto the show with us his thing was like all these players they can’t all fail at one time can they all these guys they had to take a step up eventually and you know it took two
And a half three years but he was right so that’s a good thing I mean you know B you know you look at some of the guys they having to waiting with Mitch Golf and and all that that that’s two years away but also at the same time you want
To be ready for when they get here for when they’re two years away you know two years goes by pretty fast and if you’re not ready you know it’s gonna you know hinder your rebuild even more but right well if you had the the cultural expectations already in place
And these guys have to conform because the whole room is a certain way you’ll know right away whether the player can adap to that but you’d rather have that than a room where this new guy has to be the one that picks them up that doesn’t work that’s why you have situations like
Edmonton Arizona Buffalo because you you you haven’t insisted upon that so maybe you know there is another way to do this and maybe the Flyers are indeed doing it right and it can be done where in in two years they start looking like a team that contend for something but I contend
Using that word in a different way that the flers will more than likely have to make some trades or a big free agent signing to fill out this roster so this is the I don’t know if it’s necessarily A Bad Thing the bottom line is to get to
That point where you have a window of opportunity where you have four to five or six years where it’s possible well see my my my whole contention is this if you’re G to get like a second or a third for sealer or Walker or or if you’re not
Getting a first for or whoever you know there’s got to be a floor and you got to be ready to walk away because the Flyers right now are dealing in some high Capital they have the power they don’t have to take crappy deals at this point there will be people knocking like that
You know like Steve said you know that they got great goalies right now too and that their Capital that’s draft Capital that that that money we talked about in the drafts and all that you you unless you’re getting a one for certain players you don’t have to
Cave in you have they haven’t dealt with this kind of power in a while said the they the Lage The Leverage yeah I I I just want to make sure I’m not not one of those guys though I Seer second second for Nick seeler that’s fine would
You would you do it for a third round I don’t think so because now you got to replace somebody that you could probably sign for a million dollars a year for two years to fill in the gaps I think you know go back to our Shane our show
Of Shane yeah but if you think if you think adder or or jinning or Andre are ready then you can say yes if they’re not and you want to delay that and you’re not really sure where you’re at you might have a different answer right now from what I understand adder and
Jenning aren’t really playing that well and neither is Andre Andre is playing okay but I would say this if if if you know we we talk about how defenseman take more and Bon’s not ready for two year so if these guys aren’t ready for another year or two you don’t you don’t
Don’t get rid of guys that are on the cheap because remember Shane with the show with Shane that always rang true to me he said you’re going out there you’re trading away a third line Winger or or a fourth line Winger and you’re going out there and you’re overpaying for a guy to
Bring back and then you don’t you wonder why you don’t have it when you could have just kept the guy you did for half price so I I don’t want them to I guess over out position themselves by doing putting themselves in a situation like
That again if you have to hold on to one more year then I’m fine with that yeah but next is not going to sign for 700,000 again that’s the thing he’s going to make about $3 million $4 million maybe three I’m just saying that in mind too you got it’s look this is
Why Danny is and and Keith Jones are gonna have some decisions to make going forward but I do believe you can get a second round pick for Nick Steeler and it might behoove you to take that but again you makes some good points to the contrary you mentioned mitchoff I just
Wanted to mention this thing some Russian agent talked about how the Russian president wants to keep young players in the KHL and it would keep Mishka like they want to keep him four or five years mov signed a contract in 2016 yeah so War years people were kind
Of like going crazy about it making a big deal uh Philly hocky now has a new writer who seems to attract a lot of controversy and he’s I think he’s having a little fun with that gets it gets you clicks and I’m not saying that’s what
He’s all about don’t get me wrong but I would just kind of calm a little bit and if if somebody like Russ Cohen said no big deal and Bill Meltzer says Nah not really a big deal just you know we’ll see I hope get here when it get here
Yeah yeah two things two things about it one one being it you it hasn’t been mandated from what I looked around and I could search that that it’s actually going to be something that’s going to be implemented uh a five-year contract before they get shipped away or whatever
They can go but even if it’s so uh mitchoff is in it is you know he’s already in his five-year contract so by the time he would have been able to come over it fits right in with the timing of his contract anyway so it doesn’t
It’s a non-issue for him at least I know they have other prospects that they’re concerned about that’s the one you know I just want to put that out there everything I saw and I looked it up and I couldn’t find where it was mandated yet and I do believe other podcasts have
Talked about that as well that there is no mandate that they could find either so no no it’s it’s it’s not like this Proclamation or mandate or anything like you said so so before we close out tonight I did I did want to give the Flyers credit for that 31 and one close
And this is like a team at the end of a good streak they didn’t look good versus the PRS they kind of the PRS I think I I tweeted that the PRS look like a better version of the Flyers and with higher level proven Talent like forsberg and Roman Yosi and some of
These other guys they have on the team and Ryan O’Reilly and styros has been playing very well especially when we he plays the Flyers so coming off of that game they go to Detroit and they lose a wild game seven to six in overtime they were down five
To one and Chef you had some uh I guess some views about that game and what it kind of culminated as a statement for the team in their first you know 30 some games here yeah if we’re we’re gon to look back if we’re GNA talk about where they
Were a year ago where they where they are now and I I guess we didn’t real realize man how soft they were last year compared this would have never have happened this team would have folded up and we would have had that Rangers blow out that you were talking about earlier
Uh and this this team unbelievable it was unbelievable that they were back in it and I I have a friend that’s a a Detroit Red Wings fan and he was just like yeah where your Flyers now blah blah you got lucky and that one off them
Win he goes they suck and all of a sudden you know this team granted you know they Carter hard out to dry in the first period a little bit but and he gives up that weak one at the end but the team never stopped they never stopped fighting and then all of a
Sudden you have that thing where all right you know what hill are we gonna die on today it’s going to be the Nick seeler Hill so when he gets that he gets thrown out for arguing about about a uh a penalty because a major wasn’t given
To the other guy when it really was they just never announced it and he gets thrown out they don’t resend yeah so all that stuff so they showed a lot of they showed what they were the medal of this team was they showed what they were made
Of and I loved it I loved how they all you know came back and said you know what this isn’t how we’re going out you know that easily that could have been such a trap game to him like I were talking about because it’s the last one
Before the holiday you lost to the PRS the night before you want to get get get away and get get get back to the family and you get this lash Road game and then all of a sudden like this happens and I don’t know what the hell torch said to
Them in in in in that first intermission but whatever did it got them back up and playing and it was it was just a phenomenal game to watch it deserved to go to O OT uh it deserve to go to shootout just because why not because
That you know it’s one of those things you know I would love to see Carter Hart sto that you know that last freak one but who knows I mean you can’t ask for a better break before the holiday and it was just fun and entertaining and that’s
What you want your hockey to be yeah well he’s kind of screwed up what they call the uh rvh reverse vertical horizontal the the what do they call the po um when they’re hugging the post there’s a there’s a technical term for that post integration and to kind of screwed that
Up and that you know you know what really helped too let’s not we we’re a podcast it keeps it real I know a lot of shows out there have kind of taken that moniker but we’ve been doing this now seven years now and we’ve watched this
Game a little bit longer than even some of those guys James Rhymer was fumbling the puck all night I thought about Mike from Buffalo you know Michael Jello who writes for uh hockey Buzz does the hockey buzzcast is on off the post radio and he’s always busted on ryer when he
Was when Rymer was playing for Toronto and just he’s a classic backup and he’s not even that good of a backup and he was brutal he just couldn’t catch the puck yeah so what the Flyers did in that game is they just said we got to get
Puck to net will try to deflect it and and or get it at his feet because he he doesn’t have very good feet but you know if they did that more often against even better goalies some of these games where they just can’t generate offense I think
It’s almost like might be the best thing that comes out of the game not only showing their medal but also being a little bit more resourceful when they come into situations where they’re playing too much on the perimeter just get pucks to net Drive the net get the
Deflections get the rebounds and and they’re able to and they probably deserved to win the game when it was all said and done yeah except for that weak goal but then again again probably about four of the goals the Flyers got were probably stoppable but I’m not
Complaining no no no yeah yeah you’ll take it they get a point and you know like I said earlier in terms of their their record they were 31 and one since we last spoke and they’re 1811 and four overall and they have a wild card spot
But 49 games remain in a lot of hockey only 30 until the trade deadline as we mentioned before so tomorrow night we’re recording us on Wednesday they have backtack versus Vancouver and then they go to Seattle and then Sunday they have a night game versus Calgary then two
Nights later they finish up their trip versus Edmonton then two nights later they’re back home against the blue J jackets and they have a Saturday and is that a matin yes uh oh watch those Maes against the Calgary Flames from January the 6th and I’m betting that we will have
Spoken to you before then with a new show and hopefully the Great Dan silver will be back with us so with that Chef before I do that let me just remind the folks it’s really important if you could rate and subscribe to the OMB podcast subscribe follow whatever your platform uh is
Indicating and if you could follow us on Twitter or the app formly known as Twitter OMB OMP we’re also on G atom podcast om podcast we’re on Apple Spotify iHeart TuneIn Amazon audible Google and many other podcast platforms you can give us a fstar reading and maybe even a review or apple will
Mention your name that’s for sure it moves us up the charts when people are looking for Philadelphia Flyer podcast and it really helps us with the algorithm we appreciate that of course you can also find us on YouTube just plug in there OMB podcast and we have a
Facebook page as well so keep that stuff in mind when you’re looking for the OMB podcast throw us a f star we appreciate it Chef what is the last word for the night the last word is let’s go Flyers man I want to get some back I know we’re
Enjoying a little bit of the the Junior stuff now and I I got the DVR I got so much a 60% full of hockey it’s all like the Junior game so uh I’m looking forward to maybe catching up watching some games I know I know the outcomes
And it’s really hard to sit through it when you know what’s coming but I still do it I’ll still do it but I’m I’m looking forward to to getting back to some hockey this has been a long enough break it’s funny when you last year when
We were doing this it became it was like a chore it was like homework and we were like that kid that didn’t want to do homework you know and now I’m like I’ll stay up I’ll stay up on Flyers after dark these take 10 o’clock games my ass
Will be awake I’ll be there following him following my team because fun again and you gotta love that if you don’t love that tell me you can uh tweet at me or tweet against me or whatever or X against me that just sounds runchy I
Can’t say I don’t know I don’t know what to say anymore so don’t go triple x yeah yeah yeah uh but you can argue with me about that on the app forly known as Twitter uh Chef Tob BR uh Chef to left B fantastic and you can follow the great
Dance over at D Silver 88 at d88 you can follow me if you wish my eclectic musings on the app formerly known as Twitter _ 5 to0 Isaiah don’t forget the underscore 5 to0 and with that folks enjoy your New Year 2023 has been challenging for many
It started out very challenging for the Philadelphia Flyers and it looks like we’re headed toward the 2024 with some optimism and here’s hoping that you have a happy and safe New Year and that 2024 will be even better for everybody else so until then take care
3 Comments
I want 6’7 defenseman
Flyers need big center 6’5
I’m actually disappointed in phantoms
Should be cup contenders by now
Seen them win 2
Want phlex back
Want original jerseys back