August 12, 2025 • 35 mins
SteelFlyers All Sports Network presents
Brought to you by steelflyers.com
The Hockey Writers Ink EPS 201: "The Hockey Writers Ink welcomes Mike Fink!!!
The Press Box is closed, but the mic is just getting warmed up!
Welcome to the Hockey Writers Ink, a Philadelphia Hockey Podcast!
Join your host Ron, as we talk all things Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms!
This week's Topic:
Mike Fink from HockeyHotStove.com and TheHockeywriters.com has just released his latest article "NHL Rebuild Rankings: Which Teams Are Closest to Contention – 2025-26 Preseason Edition"
Check it out right here:
https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-rebuild-rankings-which-teams-are-closest-to-contention-2025-26-preseason-edition/
BIG THANKS to our friends Lower Case Blues for the awesome tunes:
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Check out Mike Fink here:
X - @Finks_thoughts
The Web: thehockeywriters.com &
HockeyHotStove.com
Get all your Hockey Writers Ink information at
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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs5gTIpBqPsoG-B_cPMLey0J68hxSouAN
https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-hockey-writers-ink
Also catch us at Sports Spyder - https://sportspyder.com/
Follow the show on X @HckyWritersInk
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Please hit the "Like" and "Subscribe"
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Brought to you by steelflyers.com
The Hockey Writers Ink EPS 201: "The Hockey Writers Ink welcomes Mike Fink!!!
The Press Box is closed, but the mic is just getting warmed up!
Welcome to the Hockey Writers Ink, a Philadelphia Hockey Podcast!
Join your host Ron, as we talk all things Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms!
This week's Topic:
Mike Fink from HockeyHotStove.com and TheHockeywriters.com has just released his latest article "NHL Rebuild Rankings: Which Teams Are Closest to Contention – 2025-26 Preseason Edition"
Check it out right here:
https://thehockeywriters.com/nhl-rebuild-rankings-which-teams-are-closest-to-contention-2025-26-preseason-edition/
BIG THANKS to our friends Lower Case Blues for the awesome tunes:
Web: lowercaseblues.net
FaceBook: www.facebook.com/lowercaseblues/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lower_case_blues?utm_medium=copy_link
Check out Mike Fink here:
X - @Finks_thoughts
The Web: thehockeywriters.com &
HockeyHotStove.com
Get all your Hockey Writers Ink information at
https://steelflyers.com/links/hockeywritersink/
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs5gTIpBqPsoG-B_cPMLey0J68hxSouAN
https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-hockey-writers-ink
Also catch us at Sports Spyder - https://sportspyder.com/
Follow the show on X @HckyWritersInk
Co-Host SteelFlyers on X @SteelFlyers52
Please hit the "Like" and "Subscribe"
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-hockey-writers-ink--4748032/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Press boxes closed, but the mic is just getting warmed up.
Welcome to the Hockey Writers, Inc. Join your host Ron,
as we will talk all things Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh
Valley fans. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the next episode
(00:32):
of The Hockey Writers, Inc. Hey, I'm your host, Ron
Steal Flyers, and man, I'll tell you what. We got
a very very special guest sitting in here with us
on the show today. That's right, folks, we brought in
a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hey, what do you know? Rod? How about that?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And oh my gosh, man, he posted out his latest article,
which you can go check out on Thehockeywriters dot com
or Hockeyhotstove dot com. Check that out right and check
out his latest article about the.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Entire league rebuild uh and their rankings of where each
team is in their rebuild right. And well, y'all realize
that the Flyers are doing a rebuild, right, and there
was three as deep into theirs now and we've gotten
a new general manager, we've gotten new ownership, and we've
(01:29):
gotten a new coach.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And now we're gonna sit down and talk to the
special guests we have in here for you. That tonight, folks,
that's right, Mike Fink from the Hockey writer dot com.
How you doing, Mike, thank you very much for hopping on.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Brother, I'm doing good. That was quite the uh intro.
Not used to uh all the uh all the extra
the extra curriculars there, but uh, but yeah, it's great
to be on. I feel like this was a few
a few months in the making. Glad that I'm glad
that we're finally able to be together for a podcast,
and hopefully I'll be around for more of them. So
(02:06):
I hope so too chatting with you.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, man, I hope so too. Uh got to meet
Mike at one of the games that we were both covering,
uh for the Fantoms, seeing them at some of the
Fantoms games, and then UH song them for some of
the semifinal games there for the uh for the Frozen
four and then the playoff games between the Fantoms and
the Bears, And got to see him there in Hershey,
(02:30):
and then got to see him down there in Allentown.
So we kind of hit it off, and we both
kind of have some of the similar things here, so
you know, you'll kind of see as things go along here.
But we're gonna have Mike on again for sure, for sure,
So thank you very much Mike for hopping on, and
thank you very much for writing that article. And I
know it was like this huge conglomeration of of folks,
(02:53):
So who all can who all contributed to that article
that you did, And and it's it's the Rebuild rankings,
is what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, So it's the Rebuild Rankings. This is the sixth
edition of this, or my third year doing the Rebuild Rankings.
Every year it gets bigger because fortunately I know more
people in the NHL and hockey circles. This edition. I
think the big difference between this one and the other
ones is that, first of all, there are more people
I reached out to, and second there are more people
(03:25):
who don't who I asked questions about. Who I reached
out to about teams. They don't cover our teams, they're
not a fan of or rooting for. Because you cover
a certain team, you're gonna have this bot biased you
no matter what, whether it's over over the top fandom
or a little bit of cynicism. That's a so I
kind of I used to be I was the person
(03:47):
that would try to balance things out, but now I
had twenty over twenty five writers I reached out to
through through whether it's the Hockey Writers or Hockey Hot Stove,
the two size right four or through sites that are
around the hockey in the hockey world, but a lot
of them who cover not just specific teams but other teams.
(04:09):
Want to ask them about some of the rebuildings, like
what they think about them or what's the outsider perspective
on them, and that's kind of with everyone's opinions. It
kind of put together this UH, this ranking of the
twelve rebuilding teams and UH which where each one stands,
where each one is in their rebuild and which ones
are closest to contending. It's one of a quick thing
(04:30):
is that Hockey Hot Stoves releasing the one through twelve.
They're in the middle of that. So we're gonna you're
gonna see some of the teams UH come out, come
out this week and next week where where they stand
UH one through twelve. The Hockey Writers just came just
released theirs with the UH with the twelve, but in
different categories to put them into different right area. Right.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I'll tell you what, man, this was a very concise article.
It was very well thought out. I mean the fact
that you brought all these different opinions from all these
different people together and was able to pretty much piece
it together into something that was very cohesive, something that
was very understandable, and a lot of it I can
(05:17):
kind of see where y'all were coming from, and some
of it I was like, well, okay, but you know
that's the purpose, right, I mean, was that the inspiration
for I mean, you said you've been doing this, what now,
three years?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, it's been. I mean this is my third season
doing it. It's my sixth edition of it. You learned
something new every time with it, So the first time, yeah,
the first time. Over time, I think you I've noticed
the differences between not just how much a rebuild will fluctuate.
It used to be the first edition versus like the
(05:54):
second edition. The rebuilding teams that I thought were really
good were really not that close at all, and had
they dropped a lot in the rankings, And over time
you start to see less of this fluctuation. You start
to kind of you learn not to overreactor. Sometimes you
learn what what works in a rebuild, what doesn't, what
to be excited about, and maybe to pump the brakes
(06:16):
on some things.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
There you go, there, you go, okay, and uh, I
gotta tell you, like I said it was, it was
very very well put together article. And of course, with
this being a Philadelphia Flyers centric podcast here, I did
kind of focus in on the Light at the end
of the Tunnel section that was in this article because
(06:39):
it mentioned not only you know, the Philadelphia Flyers, but
I think you also mentioned the Detroit Red Wings were
in there as well as Light at the end of
the Tunnel for that one too.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think they're in that they're in the same categories
like the Ducks, i'd say, which is like you look
at the Ducks rebuild it kind of it's kind of similar.
You look at a lot of the parallels between the
two teams, which we probably get into, but overall, you
look at an established head coach who's kind of been
around a bit, but both her first year head coaches
(07:09):
there and a young core that's starting to make an
impact at the NHL level. So I think they're both
in that same category. But I guess you want you
probably want to dive deeper into why the Flyers are
there compared to maybe starting from scratch or something.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, I see now, look now, let me let me
just throw the the the the ron view of things
at you, Okay, And getting Danny Breer in as the
general manager, I think has been a huge step in
(07:44):
the right direction. As it turns out, getting Keith Jones
has been a really good major addition to the Philadelphia
Flyers front office staff, not to mention the additions of
Patrick Sharp and John McClair to kind of help with
the player development and and things of that nature. The
way that the Philadelphia Flyers have drafted over the last
(08:06):
three seasons now has been very much different from what
we've seen in the past with Chuck Fletcher and then
with Ron Hextall and things of that nature. So you're
seeing a whole different attitude of player that Danny Brier
(08:28):
is getting compared to what the last regimes were getting
in Philadelphia. So you're kind of building a different team
out and they're building it through the draft, which I
think is the right way to do it, right, which
is where all the good teams do it, like the
Anaheim Ducks, like the Detroit Red Wings, like what you're
seeing now the Chicago Blackhawks are doing. You know what,
San Jose is doing. Now all these teams realize, hey,
(08:49):
you can't buy your team, right, seriously, you Nork Rangers
figure that out. You can't buy your team goes look
where you are now? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Right?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You got to be able to get these guys from
the draft and build out your farm system and build
your core. You know, like you point out in your article,
you know what I mean. And you pointed out that
the three big players for Philadelphia that's going to be
their young core, which you said, uh, Mitchkoff and Martone
(09:22):
and Luchenko. I believe you said was the three players.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well there's they have the players on the roster now
you'd probably say, are mitchkov Jamie Drysdale's another name to
keep in mind, just like he's shown flashes maybe where
you could see him as part of that core. And
then you have players who are coming up through the
pipeline like portamartone who is at least well at least
(09:48):
a year away. He may not he may see sometime
in April at the Flyers, but it's unlikely he's going
to be at Michigan State this year. You have Jet Luchenko,
you have the prospects that are coming into the roster
now and the you also have some players that always
the question is with veterans is are they holding up
(10:10):
a roster spot slash are they Are they not a
part of the core. You need to move on from them.
And I think what you have with a player like
Travis Knnectney is a player who can, who will, who
has already helped out mitchkob just helped him ease into
the NAH. Yeah, and he's going to be around even
though he's not gonna be that star player to build around.
(10:31):
He's gonna be a key part of that roster, key
veteran to builder to just be around him and Sandheim.
You could say the same thing for the defense, which
is good, especially since the forward group is getting younger. UH.
And it's good because with when Mitchkov's come came into
the NHL, you needed someone there to just kind of
ease him into the UH into the league. You need
(10:52):
someone really to just take the target off his back.
And I think you're seeing with some of the other
teams who they get that generational talent, whether Chicago and
badarn and they don't have that player to help out.
When you have that target on your back. I think
one other name to keep in mind with all this
is the wild card, which is they brought in they
acquired Trevor Zigris in a trade, and he's that center
(11:16):
who if he if he hits that, if he's if
you see the upside in Anaheim where it's like okay,
if he can work out everything round out his game,
then you're looking at a top six center to build
around as well, and potentially a top line of Zigris,
Mitchikov and Marte which can be your your future, which
(11:37):
is also something to possibly be excited about.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I mean that's that's not bad neither.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, So, like you could see, you see the pieces
coming together. This is why they're in this category where
they're not starting from scratch. You see all the pieces
coming together here. Now it's about what you do next
if you're the Flyers, And I think that's why there's
a lot of optimism with what's been going on. Brierira
is taken a patient approach. Whether that's been gooder, whether
(12:04):
whether it's been liked or not, is a debate on
its own. But he hasn't he hasn't taken that gamble
yet where he's basically played it safe. He's drafted I
think with a lot of the more risk than I
think other gms do, because a lot of gms will
try to we'll try to get on base with their
quote baseball terms, I'll try to get on base. And yeah,
he's had no problem trying to take that home run swing.
So I think you I mean, Mitch Kobb's a home run.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
It was a home run swing all day. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, And and you're you're getting a player. And always
the players who are coming from overseas, especially from Russia,
there's always that unknown about how their skills are going
to translate Slash when they're gonna come over. But it
paid That pick paid off and a lot of the
picks you're seeing are our picks that have that high upside.
(12:48):
And it really it really makes what the core that
they're putting together. Slash have put together a promising court
to build the round. That's what and it's really why.
I mean, I'm more, probably more optimistic than most Philly fans,
which is crazy to say because usually I'm the one
who pumps the breaks on teams.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Well, I gotta be honest with you, man, with all
the things that you've pointed out. It's things that I've
been talking about for quite a while, is you're finally
starting to see these young core players come in that
have been drafted, are now starting to take that step
where you're gonna start to see the bumps, You're gonna
(13:28):
start to see the bunks. You're gonna start to see
some of these guys taking that next step. I mean,
I don't know if you're necessarily gonna see a gently
chanking because I think he was kind of a home
run swing as well too. I mean, now he's he's
shown leadership. He definitely has speed, but I like his leadership.
(13:48):
But what I talked about at the very beginning is
the types of players that Danny Brier is drafting, and
that is character guys. If you notice Jet Lichenko very
good at leadership, Porter Martone very good at leadership. All
these guys are character guys. Mitch Koff is a character guy, right,
(14:11):
because he's gonna set the tone for the culture that
you're trying to build there in Philadelphia, right, And all
these young guys now are gonna start to play together.
And at the time, I thought Tortorella was like the
best coach that they could have brought in and and
I'm I was a little bit questioning the fact that
(14:31):
they fired him, but okay, it is what it is.
But and then when they hired Rick talkin, and I
was kind of scratching my head because, like, well, man,
Rick Hackett styles like dump and chase, and you don't
have players on the team that can play dump and chase.
So how you're gonna bring a coach in that does
the dump and chase style without players that don't play
(14:52):
the dump and chase style. So I think what we're
gonna see in the first say fourteen games, I think
we're gonna see a very open style where you're gonna
see Rick Talckett letting. These guys have a lot of rain,
and I don't think we're going to see the dump
and chase that we've seen from Rick Talckett in the
(15:13):
last couple of years with Vancouver. Okay, he had the
kind of players there in Vancouver to do that. If
you don't have the guys there that can win the
races and get to them board battles, then you might
as well not even bother, right, And that's kind of
where I think Philadelphia is right now. With this young
core coming up, a couple veterans sprinkled in here, the
Zegris trade. I mean, I'm elated at that, Like, Okay, look,
(15:38):
you got Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and Zegris. They're all
from California, and they all hung out and they were
all buddies and they were all friends. And then everybody
got drafted and went all their separate ways, right, So
now you got all these kids back together now on
(15:59):
the scene. I mean, okay, you know what I'm saying.
So that's kind of where I'm at. I'm like, all right,
maybe maybe Philadelphia, But I'm more with you though on
this Mic. I'm kind of pumping the brakes on this
because there's still areas of suspect, which you pointed out
(16:21):
very rapidly in your article, which is goaltending and defense.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, I think defense is more of an issue also
because you just look at the future as well, with
the position where you don't have that young blue liner
who you can build around is gonna be party or
core per se, you have a lot of good defenseman
who I mean, Drysdale's the big one where it's like, okay,
maybe he could become that type of player, especially since
(16:49):
he has that upside, especially offensively, and he's a good skater,
he's a good stay, he has the skill there and
obviously he's got to stay healthy. The question is do
you have do you have one of those players? And
you don't really have that when you look at their
farm system as well, and maybe that's a position they draft. Uh,
(17:11):
it's it's gonna be interesting you have that issue. You
still the roster right now is not good. Is not
good up the middle. It's been an issue for a
while that they do not have the center. Uh, the
center position figured out aside from I guess what connected me?
And now it's now that you're bringing you're bringing Zegres.
You want to see that what's going on there? Uh,
(17:31):
Luchenko could potentially be another name throughout there if he's uh,
if he's ready at some point, he's the name that
he's one of those prospect prospects that really is intriguing there.
Then your center position is not really not really an issue.
And I mean defense is the issue. And then goaltending
obviously is a big is a big problem and still
(17:52):
is and I mean maybe Dan Ladar is a good backup,
but right now, it's still not promising, so you so
that's gonna an issue there, I think. I think the
big thing though that stands out well you're talking about
the draft class and who they're drafting. I think what's
interesting is that they're drafting physicality along with along with
(18:15):
the skill that comes with Portomarton is a good example
of that where obviously obviously he's got that skill, but
he's also he's a bigger player. He plays defense, he
can defend better than I think more most of the prospects,
and that in that range and your parent you have him.
They took jack Nesspitt, they took a few forwards later
(18:37):
who are bigger for it was size, and they're they're
building a ford that you could build frum the forward
group down and that can if that forward group can defend,
makes up for a lot of the issues. You you
see teams that have two way centers who don't necessarily
have a great defense, but it doesn't matter because those
two way centers make up for it. So exactly, I
(18:59):
think it's it's interesting because I think they are going
to draft defense at some point, maybe this class, or
maybe they make a move for a defenseman. If they're
in the in the playoff picture, but it's probably their
area of focus. But you could you could see the
pri I think that's why they're kind of in this
middle territory because you could see the progress, you see
(19:20):
the steps being made there. Now it's the next steps
for Brierre which are going to make the difference. And
and now with Tacket, they're seeing how his style translates,
which I think obviously is very polarizing in Philly. But
I think when you look at when you look at
his tenure in Vancouver, it was you could say he
just got a bad he without a bad hand last
(19:41):
season where so much went wrong, but overall he's going
to get the most out of out of that. Yeah,
he got the most out of the group in Vancouver,
especially that second season there, the first full season. So uh,
and he's gonna he's not gonna run He's gonna run
a balanced type of team. So I think that I think,
I think that that's where you stand when you look
at Philly and where they are as a rebuilding team
(20:04):
for that yea, for those reasons.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And man, I'll tell you what I think, but I
think you actually we're pretty much right on the hit
the nail on the head exactly with what Philadelphia. Your
assessment with Philadelphia, I think you were really spot on
as far as where they're coming from and things like that.
And you know, there's been a lot of flux with Philadelphia,
(20:26):
and then you know that also trickles down to the
Lehigh Valley Phantoms as well too. There's a lot of
flucks going on with that, where you know, Ian Laperrier
was like, Okay, well you took the team to the
playoffs two years in a row, and now you're done coaching. Now,
thank you appreciate it, and we're gonna bring in John
Snowed And it's like, wait, wait, wait a minute. He
(20:49):
was an assistant on the team, and you're gonna make
him the hand okay, okay, And and they're gonna put
Ian la Perrier up in the front office because he
still has no knowledge of all these players that you
know they're bringing back and all this other stuff. So
I'm like, oh, okay, what do you think of that
move right there? I mean, there was a lot of
(21:10):
things that changed in the age hell this past off season,
you know, especially like with the Hershey Bears getting they're
a new coach and and everybody moving on and stuff
like that. So what do you think about all that?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think, well, with Lehigh Valley we could probably focus
on them because the turnover turnovers common commonplace in the AH.
I mean that's yeah, it's like head coach is turning
over just part of the course. I think with Lehigh
Valley it's interesting. I think a few things are interesting
about their head coaching change because Leperier, in terms of
(21:42):
getting the most out of the roster, being a motivational
type of coach, he was good at that. I don't
think he was the excess to O's type of coach.
It wasn't from a system standpoint, and what they looked
very First of all, they looked very underwhelming from a
system standpoint, and second they weren't. He's not the type
of coach. He's not the type of coach's going to
run a style that's like, Okay, this really lets your prospects,
(22:04):
uh prospects get to work and get going. And what
you're what you're looking at with John Snowden is a
coach who ran the power play there and he you
could tell early on. I actually was at his opening
press so that he's his opening press conference that he's
very very detail oriented and very on the act, the
(22:25):
nitty gritty x's and knows the system there. And I
think what's interesting is that you're gonna see them, You're
gonna see Lehigh Valley. You're gonna see them play with
a lot more speed this season, but a lot more movement. Yeah,
and it's going it's gonna help players like Alex Bump,
who I could see probably starting the season out in
Lee High Valley. A lot of people are higher on
Bump than they are on other prospects. But a player
(22:48):
like Bump where he starts out in Lehigh Valley and
he you have a system in place that allows him
to allow him to to work on the to yeah,
to flourish with those skills offensively. And it's one of
what's interesting about the High Valley is that a lot
of people are quick to criticize the Philly organization or
(23:11):
the Flyers organization because it's a former It feels like
an internal hire or a former Flyer type of higher
where we're not we're not reaching out, we're not we
have such a big coaching search. In terms of the
Flyers are saying this are the fan base at least
and they we've seen this. That's what the criticism would
talk it too, is that it's a former flyer that
we're just kind of like trying to return to the
(23:32):
glory days. And I think and this internal hire has
those questions, has that question mark understandably, I think with
snowed In, though, there's a good chance that he's that
he leaves for another AHL job if they don't keep
him within within house. It's one of those situations where
(23:52):
you want to make sure you have that coach in
your system because you want to make him the head coach,
and you're willing to get rid of your head coach
because he's that type of head coach where he could
be a really good, really great one and you could
tell there's something there. He's younger, he's forty two. There's
the risks of him coming from assistant to head coach,
(24:13):
good classic good cop to bad cop type of situation.
At the same time, there's there's a good chance that
if he's not the head coach, he's gone and then
you lose uh, you lose a great you lose a
great coach in your system, and you don't want to
you don't want that to happen. So I think the
(24:34):
higher it's a good higher. I'm question. I don't there's
a few things. I'll wait until the season begins to
see really what Snowden is like as a head coach.
But it works well, especially if it's gonna work well
with the prospects that they're gonna come, they should be
able to come into Tacket system and just be ready
from day one, which I think is what you want
you want from them.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
And that's you said the key phrase right there, and
that's kind of what I wanted to bring up, and
that's why I asked you this question. And that's this.
For the first time in a long time, the Flyers
organization have come out and said that the Lehigh Valley
Fantoms are gonna play the same system that the Philadelphia
Flyers are gonna play. Go figure, Hey, what do you
(25:22):
Every single time last year when a call up came
into the Flyers, you could tell that they weren't playing
the same system because it took them a couple of
games to figure it out to get in the groove
of playing the style the Tacket or the that that
Tortorella was playing. Because it wasn't the same system that
(25:45):
the fans were doing. So that's why I think this
Snowden higher.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Is more to.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Follow up on that kind of because Snowden is in
a system. He already knows all these guys, and all
these guys all have a rapport with him because he
he coached the power play, right, so he knows the
offense guys, he knows the defense guys, and he knows
the goaltending. Right, you run the power play, you have
to know all those guys because all those guys are involved, right,
(26:17):
So to me, I think that's kind of the natural progression.
He already knows the guys, he already knows the team.
Now he's gonna get the system from the from the
big club, and he's gonna implement that system into the
farm team. And that's what these kids are gonna play.
And then when the time comes when the Alex Bump
gets called up, or when an Emio Andre gets called up,
(26:40):
or pick somebody a hell Giy Gronz gets called up,
then they don't take two or three games to figure
it out, and they can just go right in and
zoom that it's just about getting used to a different player.
It's not about getting used to a different system.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, I mean that's kind I mean a lot of
teams do this where you have so you run the
same system or you have the same style. It's still
going to be it's still going to be an adjustment.
That's an interesting thing. It's still gonna be that adjustment
where you have these young players coming in. I think
the other thing that always you look at these prospects
that they're getting twenty minutes of ice time at the
(27:17):
AHL level, all of a sudden they're got there down
to ten. It takes a while to kind of get
used to that too. So I mean they are running
they are running a similar stuff. I think the style
of play though, because of the way Snoweden is going
to run things, I think it's going to be faster
than the Flyers at the NHL level. I think the
(27:39):
and I think it's gonna it's gonna cater more towards
the four. Yeah, which I guess isn't is a question
mark at the NHL level and isn't the AHL level
to a point too. So it's going to be interesting
to see that part of that, that part of their
(27:59):
develop and how that plays in U with all this,
But but yeah, overall, I think overall, I think it's yeah,
it's a good higher Because of all that in mind,
it's UH one to one that fly Flyers and phantoms
fans should be excited about. They're gonna be an intriguing
team to watch this season in the HL where I
(28:20):
think because there's no clear cut it used to be
every year it's usually like, Okay, her, she's hers, She's
the team to be. They have the best record, and
then everyone's kind of trying to chop chase them, and
it's a little more up for grabs. I think you
could possibly see whether it's them or whether it's Charlotte
or another team that's at the top. For most of
(28:41):
these usons, there's gonna be a lot closer and I
think that's something which is UH, which is gonna be interesting.
I think We High Valley can very easily be in
that mix. I to add, but they were, they were
showing a lot of the a lot of promise at
the end of last season. They look like better team
the end of the last season than towards the UH beginning
of the season. No, I agree. I think you could
(29:05):
see that translating from early on with this with this group.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I agree with you one hundred percent, and I think
that is a pretty spot on assessment as far as
that's concerned. And you're right, I think I think Snowden
is going to kind of have It's going to be
the same system. It's just going to be run a
little faster. It's just going to have a little bit
of a different twist on it, just because it's going
to be Snowden running it instead of talking you know
what I mean. It's it's just going to be him
(29:32):
doing the system, his interpretation of the system, you know
what I mean. But it's still refreshing to see that
they're going to be running the same system, the same
kind of you know, concepts and and stuff that they're
going to be running with. The Flyers are going to
be running down with the Fantoms, you know. So that's
that's the thing that I'm really looking forward to this year.
(29:54):
I too, agree that we're going to see a faster,
uh more forward based style of play with the Fantoms.
I think you're gonna see guys like Richard or if
you're gonna see the Chanko start out there, I think
you're gonna see the team focus and feature those players,
because why not. They're good, they're fast, they deserve it,
(30:14):
you know. So we'll see how that's all gonna work out.
And with all the parody and everything that's happened in
the AGH, like you said, who knows, it's gonna be
up for grabs, you know what I mean? So yeah,
all good, man, all good.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I think I think by the way, my WiFi was
cutting out there, so.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, you kind of a little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
In case there's any awkward pauses, you probably uh will
pick up on that. Yeah. Yeah, my wife has been
going on. Okay, so I probably heard half the words
you're saying, so uh yeah, but I think we were
talking about the team that yeah, it's gonna be, it's
gonna be. It's gonna be an excite, exciting one to see.
(30:58):
I think sure. I mean last season I wasn't so
optimistic about them or slash like, it wasn't so high
on Lehigh Valley, and they really they clicked at the
end of last season. I think now you're kind of
seeing that now you could hear me, right.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're good.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Okay, I just want to make sure while you're no
you just faded in.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
And out a couple of times. But we're all good.
We're all good.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Okay, I'll tell you what it's gonna make for great
for great audio on No.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
But you know what, though, I think we got the
point across. I think we got the answers to some
of the some really good questions, and I think we
got a really awesome article. Man, you got to go
check out Mike think over at the Hockey Writers dot
com or the Hockey hot Stove dot com. Check out
his latest article. It's the Rebuild Assessment and the Rebuild Rankings,
(31:50):
his sixth edition, by the way. So Mike, why don't
you tell the folks where we can find you, where
we can get all your great stuff and all your
great articles.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
My man? Yes, So I'm at Hockey Writers articles called
the Rebuild Rankings. Which team is closest to contention? It's
the twenty five, twenty six edition, so the latest version
of it. H You can find my work at the
Hockey Writers or right about the NHL the AHL uh
pretty much like the big ideas around both those leagues.
(32:18):
So me and Ron are gonna meet up probably a
few times in Lehigh Valley along with I mean I
travel around to there's four cities that I go to, Bridgeport, Hartford,
wilkes Bury, Lehigh Valleys, another one Herschel. Maybe make a
few trips up to but yeah, you find you'll find
me there covering the NHL as well. They're mostly I
(32:41):
also recently joined Hockey hot Stove, which is another site
that we talked about the NHL there, and I also
host a podcast. Maybe we'll do a home and home
where I have you on we'll see uh maybe where
I talk it's called ice Time. We talk about some
of the big ideas there as well, so a lot
of the focus on big topics. So uh yeah, it's
(33:05):
you can. Yeah. I'm pretty much uh, always always thinking
of something, always fun to talk about stuff. So hopefully,
hopefully this is good. I know the audio wasn't great,
but at the end with my Wi Fi, but I
think it was good. It were good.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I agree, I think this was fun. I think we
were able to convey some really good information here. Especially Okay, look,
I I know that Mike covers the the NHL and
the HL, and it covers other teams and everything, but
I really wanted to focus in on what he wrote
in his article because I think he was very spot
(33:43):
on with his assessment of the Flyers. I I think
that it touches on exactly what the Flyers need and
what's going on with him. There is late at the
end of the tunnel. It might not be this year,
and that's okay, but the time is coming and it's
coming soon for the Philadelphia Flyers, and and and I
(34:03):
just wanted to bring Michael on because he wrote such
a great article.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
So thank you. That's an interesting point. You mentioned that
they're not maybe they're maybe not this year, but next year.
Is that that is that is the conversation with the
Flyers that maybe they maybe in a weak metropolitan division,
they could get close to the playoffs or sneak in.
But you're looking at next season. But other rebuilding teams
it's maybe two or three years away, and they're they're
(34:29):
a lot closer than that. So but yeah, so yeah,
thanks thanks for joining, thanks for having me, and uh yeah, man,
it was it was fun and uh uh definitely yeah.
It's good, good, good stuff. And glad we were able
to deep dive into the Flyers.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Like this, I know, so maybe we can deep dive
into something else the next time. We get on right. Yeah,
there you go, man, sounds good, awesome. Well, first of all,
I'd like to say big props and thanks to all
you folks out there For hoping to make The Hockey Writers, Inc.
A top ten Philadelphia flyers centric podcast. Thank you all
very much for that. All you have to do is
(35:07):
go to any one of your podcasting platforms type in
Hockey Writers Inc. And give us a five star rating
and we'd really appreciate that. If you like what we do,
please hit the like and subscribe. We would really appreciate
that as well. Big thanks to Mike for hopping on
and join us, and also thank you all folks out
there for watching us, and we will catch you all
in the next episode. The Hockey Writers, Inc.
Press boxes closed, but the mic is just getting warmed up.
Welcome to the Hockey Writers, Inc. Join your host Ron,
as we will talk all things Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh
Valley fans. Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to the next episode
(00:32):
of The Hockey Writers, Inc. Hey, I'm your host, Ron
Steal Flyers, and man, I'll tell you what. We got
a very very special guest sitting in here with us
on the show today. That's right, folks, we brought in
a writer.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Hey, what do you know? Rod? How about that?
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And oh my gosh, man, he posted out his latest article,
which you can go check out on Thehockeywriters dot com
or Hockeyhotstove dot com. Check that out right and check
out his latest article about the.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Entire league rebuild uh and their rankings of where each
team is in their rebuild right. And well, y'all realize
that the Flyers are doing a rebuild, right, and there
was three as deep into theirs now and we've gotten
a new general manager, we've gotten new ownership, and we've
(01:29):
gotten a new coach.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
And now we're gonna sit down and talk to the
special guests we have in here for you. That tonight, folks,
that's right, Mike Fink from the Hockey writer dot com.
How you doing, Mike, thank you very much for hopping on.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Brother, I'm doing good. That was quite the uh intro.
Not used to uh all the uh all the extra
the extra curriculars there, but uh, but yeah, it's great
to be on. I feel like this was a few
a few months in the making. Glad that I'm glad
that we're finally able to be together for a podcast,
and hopefully I'll be around for more of them. So
(02:06):
I hope so too chatting with you.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, man, I hope so too. Uh got to meet
Mike at one of the games that we were both covering,
uh for the Fantoms, seeing them at some of the
Fantoms games, and then UH song them for some of
the semifinal games there for the uh for the Frozen
four and then the playoff games between the Fantoms and
the Bears, And got to see him there in Hershey,
(02:30):
and then got to see him down there in Allentown.
So we kind of hit it off, and we both
kind of have some of the similar things here, so
you know, you'll kind of see as things go along here.
But we're gonna have Mike on again for sure, for sure,
So thank you very much Mike for hopping on, and
thank you very much for writing that article. And I
know it was like this huge conglomeration of of folks,
(02:53):
So who all can who all contributed to that article
that you did, And and it's it's the Rebuild rankings,
is what we're talking about here.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
Yeah, So it's the Rebuild Rankings. This is the sixth
edition of this, or my third year doing the Rebuild Rankings.
Every year it gets bigger because fortunately I know more
people in the NHL and hockey circles. This edition. I
think the big difference between this one and the other
ones is that, first of all, there are more people
I reached out to, and second there are more people
(03:25):
who don't who I asked questions about. Who I reached
out to about teams. They don't cover our teams, they're
not a fan of or rooting for. Because you cover
a certain team, you're gonna have this bot biased you
no matter what, whether it's over over the top fandom
or a little bit of cynicism. That's a so I
kind of I used to be I was the person
(03:47):
that would try to balance things out, but now I
had twenty over twenty five writers I reached out to
through through whether it's the Hockey Writers or Hockey Hot Stove,
the two size right four or through sites that are
around the hockey in the hockey world, but a lot
of them who cover not just specific teams but other teams.
(04:09):
Want to ask them about some of the rebuildings, like
what they think about them or what's the outsider perspective
on them, and that's kind of with everyone's opinions. It
kind of put together this UH, this ranking of the
twelve rebuilding teams and UH which where each one stands,
where each one is in their rebuild and which ones
are closest to contending. It's one of a quick thing
(04:30):
is that Hockey Hot Stoves releasing the one through twelve.
They're in the middle of that. So we're gonna you're
gonna see some of the teams UH come out, come
out this week and next week where where they stand
UH one through twelve. The Hockey Writers just came just
released theirs with the UH with the twelve, but in
different categories to put them into different right area. Right.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
I'll tell you what, man, this was a very concise article.
It was very well thought out. I mean the fact
that you brought all these different opinions from all these
different people together and was able to pretty much piece
it together into something that was very cohesive, something that
was very understandable, and a lot of it I can
(05:17):
kind of see where y'all were coming from, and some
of it I was like, well, okay, but you know
that's the purpose, right, I mean, was that the inspiration
for I mean, you said you've been doing this, what now,
three years?
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Yeah, it's been. I mean this is my third season
doing it. It's my sixth edition of it. You learned
something new every time with it, So the first time, yeah,
the first time. Over time, I think you I've noticed
the differences between not just how much a rebuild will fluctuate.
It used to be the first edition versus like the
(05:54):
second edition. The rebuilding teams that I thought were really
good were really not that close at all, and had
they dropped a lot in the rankings, And over time
you start to see less of this fluctuation. You start
to kind of you learn not to overreactor. Sometimes you
learn what what works in a rebuild, what doesn't, what
to be excited about, and maybe to pump the brakes
(06:16):
on some things.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
There you go, there, you go, okay, and uh, I
gotta tell you, like I said it was, it was
very very well put together article. And of course, with
this being a Philadelphia Flyers centric podcast here, I did
kind of focus in on the Light at the end
of the Tunnel section that was in this article because
(06:39):
it mentioned not only you know, the Philadelphia Flyers, but
I think you also mentioned the Detroit Red Wings were
in there as well as Light at the end of
the Tunnel for that one too.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I think they're in that they're in the same categories
like the Ducks, i'd say, which is like you look
at the Ducks rebuild it kind of it's kind of similar.
You look at a lot of the parallels between the
two teams, which we probably get into, but overall, you
look at an established head coach who's kind of been
around a bit, but both her first year head coaches
(07:09):
there and a young core that's starting to make an
impact at the NHL level. So I think they're both
in that same category. But I guess you want you
probably want to dive deeper into why the Flyers are
there compared to maybe starting from scratch or something.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
Well, I see now, look now, let me let me
just throw the the the the ron view of things
at you, Okay, And getting Danny Breer in as the
general manager, I think has been a huge step in
(07:44):
the right direction. As it turns out, getting Keith Jones
has been a really good major addition to the Philadelphia
Flyers front office staff, not to mention the additions of
Patrick Sharp and John McClair to kind of help with
the player development and and things of that nature. The
way that the Philadelphia Flyers have drafted over the last
(08:06):
three seasons now has been very much different from what
we've seen in the past with Chuck Fletcher and then
with Ron Hextall and things of that nature. So you're
seeing a whole different attitude of player that Danny Brier
(08:28):
is getting compared to what the last regimes were getting
in Philadelphia. So you're kind of building a different team
out and they're building it through the draft, which I
think is the right way to do it, right, which
is where all the good teams do it, like the
Anaheim Ducks, like the Detroit Red Wings, like what you're
seeing now the Chicago Blackhawks are doing. You know what,
San Jose is doing. Now all these teams realize, hey,
(08:49):
you can't buy your team, right, seriously, you Nork Rangers
figure that out. You can't buy your team goes look
where you are now? You know what I mean?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Right?
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You got to be able to get these guys from
the draft and build out your farm system and build
your core. You know, like you point out in your article,
you know what I mean. And you pointed out that
the three big players for Philadelphia that's going to be
their young core, which you said, uh, Mitchkoff and Martone
(09:22):
and Luchenko. I believe you said was the three players.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well there's they have the players on the roster now
you'd probably say, are mitchkov Jamie Drysdale's another name to
keep in mind, just like he's shown flashes maybe where
you could see him as part of that core. And
then you have players who are coming up through the
pipeline like portamartone who is at least well at least
(09:48):
a year away. He may not he may see sometime
in April at the Flyers, but it's unlikely he's going
to be at Michigan State this year. You have Jet Luchenko,
you have the prospects that are coming into the roster
now and the you also have some players that always
the question is with veterans is are they holding up
(10:10):
a roster spot slash are they Are they not a
part of the core. You need to move on from them.
And I think what you have with a player like
Travis Knnectney is a player who can, who will, who
has already helped out mitchkob just helped him ease into
the NAH. Yeah, and he's going to be around even
though he's not gonna be that star player to build around.
(10:31):
He's gonna be a key part of that roster, key
veteran to builder to just be around him and Sandheim.
You could say the same thing for the defense, which
is good, especially since the forward group is getting younger. UH.
And it's good because with when Mitchkov's come came into
the NHL, you needed someone there to just kind of
ease him into the UH into the league. You need
(10:52):
someone really to just take the target off his back.
And I think you're seeing with some of the other
teams who they get that generational talent, whether Chicago and
badarn and they don't have that player to help out.
When you have that target on your back. I think
one other name to keep in mind with all this
is the wild card, which is they brought in they
acquired Trevor Zigris in a trade, and he's that center
(11:16):
who if he if he hits that, if he's if
you see the upside in Anaheim where it's like okay,
if he can work out everything round out his game,
then you're looking at a top six center to build
around as well, and potentially a top line of Zigris,
Mitchikov and Marte which can be your your future, which
(11:37):
is also something to possibly be excited about.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
So I mean that's that's not bad neither.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, So, like you could see, you see the pieces
coming together. This is why they're in this category where
they're not starting from scratch. You see all the pieces
coming together here. Now it's about what you do next
if you're the Flyers, And I think that's why there's
a lot of optimism with what's been going on. Brierira
is taken a patient approach. Whether that's been gooder, whether
(12:04):
whether it's been liked or not, is a debate on
its own. But he hasn't he hasn't taken that gamble
yet where he's basically played it safe. He's drafted I
think with a lot of the more risk than I
think other gms do, because a lot of gms will
try to we'll try to get on base with their
quote baseball terms, I'll try to get on base. And yeah,
he's had no problem trying to take that home run swing.
So I think you I mean, Mitch Kobb's a home run.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
It was a home run swing all day. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Yeah, And and you're you're getting a player. And always
the players who are coming from overseas, especially from Russia,
there's always that unknown about how their skills are going
to translate Slash when they're gonna come over. But it
paid That pick paid off and a lot of the
picks you're seeing are our picks that have that high upside.
(12:48):
And it really it really makes what the core that
they're putting together. Slash have put together a promising court
to build the round. That's what and it's really why.
I mean, I'm more, probably more optimistic than most Philly fans,
which is crazy to say because usually I'm the one
who pumps the breaks on teams.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Well, I gotta be honest with you, man, with all
the things that you've pointed out. It's things that I've
been talking about for quite a while, is you're finally
starting to see these young core players come in that
have been drafted, are now starting to take that step
where you're gonna start to see the bumps, You're gonna
(13:28):
start to see the bunks. You're gonna start to see
some of these guys taking that next step. I mean,
I don't know if you're necessarily gonna see a gently
chanking because I think he was kind of a home
run swing as well too. I mean, now he's he's
shown leadership. He definitely has speed, but I like his leadership.
(13:48):
But what I talked about at the very beginning is
the types of players that Danny Brier is drafting, and
that is character guys. If you notice Jet Lichenko very
good at leadership, Porter Martone very good at leadership. All
these guys are character guys. Mitch Koff is a character guy, right,
(14:11):
because he's gonna set the tone for the culture that
you're trying to build there in Philadelphia, right, And all
these young guys now are gonna start to play together.
And at the time, I thought Tortorella was like the
best coach that they could have brought in and and
I'm I was a little bit questioning the fact that
(14:31):
they fired him, but okay, it is what it is.
But and then when they hired Rick talkin, and I
was kind of scratching my head because, like, well, man,
Rick Hackett styles like dump and chase, and you don't
have players on the team that can play dump and chase.
So how you're gonna bring a coach in that does
the dump and chase style without players that don't play
(14:52):
the dump and chase style. So I think what we're
gonna see in the first say fourteen games, I think
we're gonna see a very open style where you're gonna
see Rick Talckett letting. These guys have a lot of rain,
and I don't think we're going to see the dump
and chase that we've seen from Rick Talckett in the
(15:13):
last couple of years with Vancouver. Okay, he had the
kind of players there in Vancouver to do that. If
you don't have the guys there that can win the
races and get to them board battles, then you might
as well not even bother, right, And that's kind of
where I think Philadelphia is right now. With this young
core coming up, a couple veterans sprinkled in here, the
Zegris trade. I mean, I'm elated at that, Like, Okay, look,
(15:38):
you got Cam York, Jamie Drysdale, and Zegris. They're all
from California, and they all hung out and they were
all buddies and they were all friends. And then everybody
got drafted and went all their separate ways, right, So
now you got all these kids back together now on
(15:59):
the scene. I mean, okay, you know what I'm saying.
So that's kind of where I'm at. I'm like, all right,
maybe maybe Philadelphia, But I'm more with you though on
this Mic. I'm kind of pumping the brakes on this
because there's still areas of suspect, which you pointed out
(16:21):
very rapidly in your article, which is goaltending and defense.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Yeah, I think defense is more of an issue also
because you just look at the future as well, with
the position where you don't have that young blue liner
who you can build around is gonna be party or
core per se, you have a lot of good defenseman
who I mean, Drysdale's the big one where it's like, okay,
maybe he could become that type of player, especially since
(16:49):
he has that upside, especially offensively, and he's a good skater,
he's a good stay, he has the skill there and
obviously he's got to stay healthy. The question is do
you have do you have one of those players? And
you don't really have that when you look at their
farm system as well, and maybe that's a position they draft. Uh,
(17:11):
it's it's gonna be interesting you have that issue. You
still the roster right now is not good. Is not
good up the middle. It's been an issue for a
while that they do not have the center. Uh, the
center position figured out aside from I guess what connected me?
And now it's now that you're bringing you're bringing Zegres.
You want to see that what's going on there? Uh,
(17:31):
Luchenko could potentially be another name throughout there if he's uh,
if he's ready at some point, he's the name that
he's one of those prospect prospects that really is intriguing there.
Then your center position is not really not really an issue.
And I mean defense is the issue. And then goaltending
obviously is a big is a big problem and still
(17:52):
is and I mean maybe Dan Ladar is a good backup,
but right now, it's still not promising, so you so
that's gonna an issue there, I think. I think the
big thing though that stands out well you're talking about
the draft class and who they're drafting. I think what's
interesting is that they're drafting physicality along with along with
(18:15):
the skill that comes with Portomarton is a good example
of that where obviously obviously he's got that skill, but
he's also he's a bigger player. He plays defense, he
can defend better than I think more most of the prospects,
and that in that range and your parent you have him.
They took jack Nesspitt, they took a few forwards later
(18:37):
who are bigger for it was size, and they're they're
building a ford that you could build frum the forward
group down and that can if that forward group can defend,
makes up for a lot of the issues. You you
see teams that have two way centers who don't necessarily
have a great defense, but it doesn't matter because those
two way centers make up for it. So exactly, I
(18:59):
think it's it's interesting because I think they are going
to draft defense at some point, maybe this class, or
maybe they make a move for a defenseman. If they're
in the in the playoff picture, but it's probably their
area of focus. But you could you could see the
pri I think that's why they're kind of in this
middle territory because you could see the progress, you see
(19:20):
the steps being made there. Now it's the next steps
for Brierre which are going to make the difference. And
and now with Tacket, they're seeing how his style translates,
which I think obviously is very polarizing in Philly. But
I think when you look at when you look at
his tenure in Vancouver, it was you could say he
just got a bad he without a bad hand last
(19:41):
season where so much went wrong, but overall he's going
to get the most out of out of that. Yeah,
he got the most out of the group in Vancouver,
especially that second season there, the first full season. So uh,
and he's gonna he's not gonna run He's gonna run
a balanced type of team. So I think that I think,
I think that that's where you stand when you look
at Philly and where they are as a rebuilding team
(20:04):
for that yea, for those reasons.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
And man, I'll tell you what I think, but I
think you actually we're pretty much right on the hit
the nail on the head exactly with what Philadelphia. Your
assessment with Philadelphia, I think you were really spot on
as far as where they're coming from and things like that.
And you know, there's been a lot of flux with Philadelphia,
(20:26):
and then you know that also trickles down to the
Lehigh Valley Phantoms as well too. There's a lot of
flucks going on with that, where you know, Ian Laperrier
was like, Okay, well you took the team to the
playoffs two years in a row, and now you're done coaching. Now,
thank you appreciate it, and we're gonna bring in John
Snowed And it's like, wait, wait, wait a minute. He
(20:49):
was an assistant on the team, and you're gonna make
him the hand okay, okay, And and they're gonna put
Ian la Perrier up in the front office because he
still has no knowledge of all these players that you
know they're bringing back and all this other stuff. So
I'm like, oh, okay, what do you think of that
move right there? I mean, there was a lot of
(21:10):
things that changed in the age hell this past off season,
you know, especially like with the Hershey Bears getting they're
a new coach and and everybody moving on and stuff
like that. So what do you think about all that?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
I think, well, with Lehigh Valley we could probably focus
on them because the turnover turnovers common commonplace in the AH.
I mean that's yeah, it's like head coach is turning
over just part of the course. I think with Lehigh
Valley it's interesting. I think a few things are interesting
about their head coaching change because Leperier, in terms of
(21:42):
getting the most out of the roster, being a motivational
type of coach, he was good at that. I don't
think he was the excess to O's type of coach.
It wasn't from a system standpoint, and what they looked
very First of all, they looked very underwhelming from a
system standpoint, and second they weren't. He's not the type
of coach. He's not the type of coach's going to
run a style that's like, Okay, this really lets your prospects,
(22:04):
uh prospects get to work and get going. And what
you're what you're looking at with John Snowden is a
coach who ran the power play there and he you
could tell early on. I actually was at his opening
press so that he's his opening press conference that he's
very very detail oriented and very on the act, the
(22:25):
nitty gritty x's and knows the system there. And I
think what's interesting is that you're gonna see them, You're
gonna see Lehigh Valley. You're gonna see them play with
a lot more speed this season, but a lot more movement. Yeah,
and it's going it's gonna help players like Alex Bump,
who I could see probably starting the season out in
Lee High Valley. A lot of people are higher on
Bump than they are on other prospects. But a player
(22:48):
like Bump where he starts out in Lehigh Valley and
he you have a system in place that allows him
to allow him to to work on the to yeah,
to flourish with those skills offensively. And it's one of
what's interesting about the High Valley is that a lot
of people are quick to criticize the Philly organization or
(23:11):
the Flyers organization because it's a former It feels like
an internal hire or a former Flyer type of higher
where we're not we're not reaching out, we're not we
have such a big coaching search. In terms of the
Flyers are saying this are the fan base at least
and they we've seen this. That's what the criticism would
talk it too, is that it's a former flyer that
we're just kind of like trying to return to the
(23:32):
glory days. And I think and this internal hire has
those questions, has that question mark understandably, I think with
snowed In, though, there's a good chance that he's that
he leaves for another AHL job if they don't keep
him within within house. It's one of those situations where
(23:52):
you want to make sure you have that coach in
your system because you want to make him the head coach,
and you're willing to get rid of your head coach
because he's that type of head coach where he could
be a really good, really great one and you could
tell there's something there. He's younger, he's forty two. There's
the risks of him coming from assistant to head coach,
(24:13):
good classic good cop to bad cop type of situation.
At the same time, there's there's a good chance that
if he's not the head coach, he's gone and then
you lose uh, you lose a great you lose a
great coach in your system, and you don't want to
you don't want that to happen. So I think the
(24:34):
higher it's a good higher. I'm question. I don't there's
a few things. I'll wait until the season begins to
see really what Snowden is like as a head coach.
But it works well, especially if it's gonna work well
with the prospects that they're gonna come, they should be
able to come into Tacket system and just be ready
from day one, which I think is what you want
you want from them.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
And that's you said the key phrase right there, and
that's kind of what I wanted to bring up, and
that's why I asked you this question. And that's this.
For the first time in a long time, the Flyers
organization have come out and said that the Lehigh Valley
Fantoms are gonna play the same system that the Philadelphia
Flyers are gonna play. Go figure, Hey, what do you
(25:22):
Every single time last year when a call up came
into the Flyers, you could tell that they weren't playing
the same system because it took them a couple of
games to figure it out to get in the groove
of playing the style the Tacket or the that that
Tortorella was playing. Because it wasn't the same system that
(25:45):
the fans were doing. So that's why I think this
Snowden higher.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Is more to.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
Follow up on that kind of because Snowden is in
a system. He already knows all these guys, and all
these guys all have a rapport with him because he
he coached the power play, right, so he knows the
offense guys, he knows the defense guys, and he knows
the goaltending. Right, you run the power play, you have
to know all those guys because all those guys are involved, right,
(26:17):
So to me, I think that's kind of the natural progression.
He already knows the guys, he already knows the team.
Now he's gonna get the system from the from the
big club, and he's gonna implement that system into the
farm team. And that's what these kids are gonna play.
And then when the time comes when the Alex Bump
gets called up, or when an Emio Andre gets called up,
(26:40):
or pick somebody a hell Giy Gronz gets called up,
then they don't take two or three games to figure
it out, and they can just go right in and
zoom that it's just about getting used to a different player.
It's not about getting used to a different system.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, I mean that's kind I mean a lot of
teams do this where you have so you run the
same system or you have the same style. It's still
going to be it's still going to be an adjustment.
That's an interesting thing. It's still gonna be that adjustment
where you have these young players coming in. I think
the other thing that always you look at these prospects
that they're getting twenty minutes of ice time at the
(27:17):
AHL level, all of a sudden they're got there down
to ten. It takes a while to kind of get
used to that too. So I mean they are running
they are running a similar stuff. I think the style
of play though, because of the way Snoweden is going
to run things, I think it's going to be faster
than the Flyers at the NHL level. I think the
(27:39):
and I think it's gonna it's gonna cater more towards
the four. Yeah, which I guess isn't is a question
mark at the NHL level and isn't the AHL level
to a point too. So it's going to be interesting
to see that part of that, that part of their
(27:59):
develop and how that plays in U with all this,
But but yeah, overall, I think overall, I think it's yeah,
it's a good higher Because of all that in mind,
it's UH one to one that fly Flyers and phantoms
fans should be excited about. They're gonna be an intriguing
team to watch this season in the HL where I
(28:20):
think because there's no clear cut it used to be
every year it's usually like, Okay, her, she's hers, She's
the team to be. They have the best record, and
then everyone's kind of trying to chop chase them, and
it's a little more up for grabs. I think you
could possibly see whether it's them or whether it's Charlotte
or another team that's at the top. For most of
(28:41):
these usons, there's gonna be a lot closer and I
think that's something which is UH, which is gonna be interesting.
I think We High Valley can very easily be in
that mix. I to add, but they were, they were
showing a lot of the a lot of promise at
the end of last season. They look like better team
the end of the last season than towards the UH beginning
of the season. No, I agree. I think you could
(29:05):
see that translating from early on with this with this group.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I agree with you one hundred percent, and I think
that is a pretty spot on assessment as far as
that's concerned. And you're right, I think I think Snowden
is going to kind of have It's going to be
the same system. It's just going to be run a
little faster. It's just going to have a little bit
of a different twist on it, just because it's going
to be Snowden running it instead of talking you know
what I mean. It's it's just going to be him
(29:32):
doing the system, his interpretation of the system, you know
what I mean. But it's still refreshing to see that
they're going to be running the same system, the same
kind of you know, concepts and and stuff that they're
going to be running with. The Flyers are going to
be running down with the Fantoms, you know. So that's
that's the thing that I'm really looking forward to this year.
(29:54):
I too, agree that we're going to see a faster,
uh more forward based style of play with the Fantoms.
I think you're gonna see guys like Richard or if
you're gonna see the Chanko start out there, I think
you're gonna see the team focus and feature those players,
because why not. They're good, they're fast, they deserve it,
(30:14):
you know. So we'll see how that's all gonna work out.
And with all the parody and everything that's happened in
the AGH, like you said, who knows, it's gonna be
up for grabs, you know what I mean? So yeah,
all good, man, all good.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I think I think by the way, my WiFi was
cutting out there, so.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Yeah, you kind of a little bit.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
In case there's any awkward pauses, you probably uh will
pick up on that. Yeah. Yeah, my wife has been
going on. Okay, so I probably heard half the words
you're saying, so uh yeah, but I think we were
talking about the team that yeah, it's gonna be, it's
gonna be. It's gonna be an excite, exciting one to see.
(30:58):
I think sure. I mean last season I wasn't so
optimistic about them or slash like, it wasn't so high
on Lehigh Valley, and they really they clicked at the
end of last season. I think now you're kind of
seeing that now you could hear me, right.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're good.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
Okay, I just want to make sure while you're no
you just faded in.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
And out a couple of times. But we're all good.
We're all good.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Okay, I'll tell you what it's gonna make for great
for great audio on No.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
But you know what, though, I think we got the
point across. I think we got the answers to some
of the some really good questions, and I think we
got a really awesome article. Man, you got to go
check out Mike think over at the Hockey Writers dot
com or the Hockey hot Stove dot com. Check out
his latest article. It's the Rebuild Assessment and the Rebuild Rankings,
(31:50):
his sixth edition, by the way. So Mike, why don't
you tell the folks where we can find you, where
we can get all your great stuff and all your
great articles.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
My man? Yes, So I'm at Hockey Writers articles called
the Rebuild Rankings. Which team is closest to contention? It's
the twenty five, twenty six edition, so the latest version
of it. H You can find my work at the
Hockey Writers or right about the NHL the AHL uh
pretty much like the big ideas around both those leagues.
(32:18):
So me and Ron are gonna meet up probably a
few times in Lehigh Valley along with I mean I
travel around to there's four cities that I go to, Bridgeport, Hartford,
wilkes Bury, Lehigh Valleys, another one Herschel. Maybe make a
few trips up to but yeah, you find you'll find
me there covering the NHL as well. They're mostly I
(32:41):
also recently joined Hockey hot Stove, which is another site
that we talked about the NHL there, and I also
host a podcast. Maybe we'll do a home and home
where I have you on we'll see uh maybe where
I talk it's called ice Time. We talk about some
of the big ideas there as well, so a lot
of the focus on big topics. So uh yeah, it's
(33:05):
you can. Yeah. I'm pretty much uh, always always thinking
of something, always fun to talk about stuff. So hopefully,
hopefully this is good. I know the audio wasn't great,
but at the end with my Wi Fi, but I
think it was good. It were good.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I agree, I think this was fun. I think we
were able to convey some really good information here. Especially Okay, look,
I I know that Mike covers the the NHL and
the HL, and it covers other teams and everything, but
I really wanted to focus in on what he wrote
in his article because I think he was very spot
(33:43):
on with his assessment of the Flyers. I I think
that it touches on exactly what the Flyers need and
what's going on with him. There is late at the
end of the tunnel. It might not be this year,
and that's okay, but the time is coming and it's
coming soon for the Philadelphia Flyers, and and and I
(34:03):
just wanted to bring Michael on because he wrote such
a great article.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
So thank you. That's an interesting point. You mentioned that
they're not maybe they're maybe not this year, but next year.
Is that that is that is the conversation with the
Flyers that maybe they maybe in a weak metropolitan division,
they could get close to the playoffs or sneak in.
But you're looking at next season. But other rebuilding teams
it's maybe two or three years away, and they're they're
(34:29):
a lot closer than that. So but yeah, so yeah,
thanks thanks for joining, thanks for having me, and uh yeah, man,
it was it was fun and uh uh definitely yeah.
It's good, good, good stuff. And glad we were able
to deep dive into the Flyers.
Speaker 1 (34:46):
Like this, I know, so maybe we can deep dive
into something else the next time. We get on right. Yeah,
there you go, man, sounds good, awesome. Well, first of all,
I'd like to say big props and thanks to all
you folks out there For hoping to make The Hockey Writers, Inc.
A top ten Philadelphia flyers centric podcast. Thank you all
very much for that. All you have to do is
(35:07):
go to any one of your podcasting platforms type in
Hockey Writers Inc. And give us a five star rating
and we'd really appreciate that. If you like what we do,
please hit the like and subscribe. We would really appreciate
that as well. Big thanks to Mike for hopping on
and join us, and also thank you all folks out
there for watching us, and we will catch you all
in the next episode. The Hockey Writers, Inc.
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