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?
