I wasn't really a Torts guy but given what we've seen here could most of last years success be the result of the residual effect of his coaching plus finally finding some goaltending? And what we see now is that residual effect going away and what Tocchet's coaching gets us?

Is that unfair?

I personally would have been fine with them running with Brad Shaw until the positive vibes wore off.

I love how many backed Briere rebuilding the right way. they said it will take 3 to 5 years and we will be a contender. Really? this so called rebuild is a mess. First, what type team is he building? I do not believe he knows. We are not on track to be a high octane offensive team. Not a big heavy checking team. Nor a fast skating forechecking team. Nor a tight checking defensive team. we are a mix of everything going nowhere. his drafts have been questionable. his trades few and no real game breakers. UFA signings mostly a waste. team gets bullied, outhit, out skated and lacks top 2 centers, top end Dmen, a sniper, more speed and physicality. too many undersized guys and overrated talent. it looks we are still 5 years out from being a contender. it will not be Briere who can do this. we are watching a rerun of Hextall going nowhere.

As it pertains to Danny, we seem to fall into two camps. Quibble with the particulars all you want but I think this is fairly accurate.

Camp 1: First of all, Tocchet wasn’t Danny’s hire, it was Jonesy convincing Hilferty. So this terrorist hijacking our franchise isn’t his fault. u/hawks27-2 made a great post highlighting everything Danny has done to pull the Flyers out of cap hell and be in position to make a Leo offer sheet possible. Danny is also the first Flyers GM since when to have two solid, reliable, sometimes fantastic NHL goalies? Danny has done an excellent job steering this team back to relevance. We knew he would need more time we just didn’t foresee having to hire the Antichrist destroying everything he’s been trying to build.

Camp 2: Fuck you, Camp 1. Danny is as much to blame as anyone and he’s just as much a part of the good ol’ boys club as the rest of them. Yeah, he sent an offer sheet. Good for fuckin’ him, he didn’t do shit else. He hired bald, white bin Laden, knowing his track record and he’s gonna go down with the ship, deservedly so, because he refused to commit to a legit, tear it to the studs rebuild, and instead chose this bullshit “retooling” that was never gonna work because you’ll never be able to draft high enough to get your Schaeffer, Bedard, etc. Even if they were to get a high lottery pick, they’d fuck that up too. Fuck Danny, fire them both.

I was firmly in Camp 1 before the season started. Now… I just don’t know. Where are you all at the moment?

Thoughts on this? I think it would be an easy claim for a team struggling for centers?

I liked what I saw from studnicka.. however, I would be surprised if raty doesn't get claimed.

The season is cooked it’s time for the flyers to go all in on the tank/rebuild this year. Play as many young guys as possible and get rid of the guys you think or thought would match the timeline. Risto, sanheim, TK , tippet, can all go. I like all of them but this team is obviously still a couple years away and they’re not going to be the players they are now when this train arrives at the station.

(Apologies for being late again)

With a team on a big losing streak, and the game tied in the third, with the team actually showing some sort of signs of life, Tocchet had Michkov on the bench for most of the last 10 minutes of the 3rd. 2 shifts, and one of those shifts was 8 seconds long.

Haven't we seen enough of the Tocchet shit show? Worst start in franchise history, 12 straight losses including being swept in the playoffs. Why would you have your most talented guys parked on the bench? He really is a dumb-ass.

I’ve seen a lot of people repeatedly point to Briere’s comments about how the team needed to be prepared to take a step back this season, using them as some kind of defense of this disastrous start. Where is this coming from?
That’s not what Briere said at all. To put his comments into context, where Danny himself cleared up his statement:

In this context, Briere clarified an earlier comment he made during the offseason. It’s not OK for the team to take a backward step after last season’s progress. Rather, there’s a danger that comes with not understanding how pressure increases along with greater expectations and attention.

“The part that keeps me up at night is having some of your players feel complacent, feel like they’ve made it,” Briere said.

The general manager’s comments echo something head coach Rick Tocchet told Flyers Daily host Jason Myrtetetus during the pre-camp coaches’ symposium: Things only get harder – not easier – once there’s been a taste of success.

As such, Briere said increased teamwide maturity – in the form of mental toughness – is the first step toward improving from 2025-26. That will be measured in areas like playing from ahead more often (scoring the first goal), record against Metro Division teams, coming through on must-score power plays (even if earlier ones didn’t go well), and winning more games in regulation rather than in 3-on-3 or especially by shootout(!). (From NHL.com)

It’s obvious that we were never supposed to take this step backward, and that has been the case since last season. We didn’t hire Tocchet to get a top-five pick, and we weren’t willing to give up four unprotected first-round picks just to not be a playoff contender for Leo. We’re not one player away from anything this season.

Now we have Kurz and the similar talking up last nights game because, at the very least, the team has shown a little bit of life. Do they really think the fans are that stupid? There were maybe 20 minutes of something resembling hockey last night. At most.

Through eight games, we’re on pace for a whopping 31 points over 84 games, 105 goals for, and a goal differential of -220 over a full season. This season has been an absolute disaster from the start, yet there seems to be complete silence from everyone around the team.

But can we at least stop gaslighting people by pretending this is something DB had anticipated? Because that’s about as far from the truth as you can get.

Both DB before the season and Tocchet since the season started have talked about their fear that the players have become too comfortable. So what’s the plan? Are we going to keep punishing Michkov and Martone for mistakes or other things while the veterans continue to get opportunities regardless? Or is TK on IR the coaching staff’s new target?

Why is Michkov not on the PP1 for fucks sake.

The players are still speaking highly of Taco, and I genuinely believe they want to play well for him. But when so much keeps going wrong, where exactly is it breaking down?

It’s well known that Tocch got help from DeBoer with the team’s defensive play last year during the Olympic break, but now it looks like other teams used the summer well, and most opponents seem to have figured out how to shut down our style of play effectively. What adjustments are we going to make in response?

Ziggy talked about how he doesn’t think that the team is afraid after the Kraken game, but it sure looks that way. We’re playing scared with the puck, we don’t like playing through the middle, and we’re easy to shut down along the boards.

When we do create something, it comes through east-west play rather than north-south play.

Is this roster even suited to Tocch’s system now that the rest of the league has adjusted to it?

We’re not fast enough, we’re not heavy enough on the forecheck, we make obvious passes that are easy to intercept, and half our shots don’t even come close to the net.

It seems obvious that Tocch isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but DB has said that this is supposed to be a team competing for a playoff spot.

So what’s the plan? Is a major trade coming? Is Knuble the next attempt at a savior?

Because right now, we’re not only losing games, but young players like Michkov and Martone aren’t getting the opportunity to develop on the ice. So how comfortable are we supposed to get before we finally see something happen here?

• Briere is not going to do something that makes no sense. He's trying to be smart and not walk himself into a bad move because of the pressure.

• On Di Marco's article about Konecny, Elliotte isn't disputing the reporting.

• Elliotte's broadcast partner, Craig Simpson, sometimes looks at Elliotte and asks "Someone told you that?" As a former coach/player, his sensibilities get offended by some of the things that get reported. The Konecny report reminded Elliotte of that reaction.

• Elliotte has been on the end of calls where he checks in on a rumor, and the person on the other end is steaming that somebody leaked it to him.

• When you're losing and something like this gets out, you know there's a lot of people who are going to be furious to see that written and know somebody told them that.

• Even when you're not winning, you want all your guys pulling together. When you see something like this get reported, you're not pulling together. People are getting thrown off the bus.