Exit Interviews and Injury Updates

[Rebels57]

I’m not going to defend his decision on keeping Laperrière, if that’s what he ends up doing, but youre expecting results to quickly.

You lost me on this one. How long should it take for the PK to not suck?

Especially when its so obvious to everyone that their scheme, which they are coached to use, is one of the main reasons it sucks. It's not like they are playing a great PK scheme and just dont have the players to execute and that is why it sucks.

 

[Lindberg]

This team could have a top 5 penalty kill and they wouldn’t be ready to do anything in the playoffs. Not defending keeping Laperrière. I don’t think Hextall is perfect but he’s done much more good than bad.

Having a better PK could have had far fetching different results. Playing Washington instead of Pittsburgh in the first round.

 

[duffy9748]

You lost me on this one. How long should it take for the PK to not suck?

Especially when its so obvious to everyone that their scheme, which they are coached to use, is one of the main reasons it sucks. It's not like they are playing a great PK scheme and just dont have the players to execute and that is why it sucks.

I meant more in terms of team success, not the penalty kill.

 

[Lindberg]

Didn't he actually said he wants less emotion fromt he players?

He said that he saw wasted emotion and wanted to get rid of that. Said that emotion can be a huge part of the game.

Side note : I can respect Hakstol's respond to "fire hakstol", he handled it really well.

Hakstol seems like a likable coach but inexperienced and doesn't seem to actually read the game very well. Chases bad match ups, deploys the wrong players, turtles/hak shell's too often and etc.

 

[tucson83]

Having a great prospect pool is nice. It doesnt guarantee anything though. Especially in an organization that is hesitant to promote them and then limits their roles until it's absolutely necessary not to.

and this is where being a good gm matters, if you feel like the prospects arent working and have value then you trade them to get players that can play. holding on to them for too long, decreases the value and you basically get nothing out of them.

 

[Striiker]

Having a great prospect pool is nice. It doesnt guarantee anything though. Especially in an organization that is hesitant to promote them and then limits their roles until it's absolutely necessary not to.

I think you're seriously downplaying the importance of it...

Nothings a guarantee, but this is proven to be the most important part of building a contender. What team has won a cup without drafting and developing the core of their talent. Making trades and signings are an option, but prospects are the thing that MUST be properly done if you want to compete.

And even if they're a bit overly patient with the prospects, it's not to an extreme and it isn't hurting anyone. Ghost probably could have made the team earlier, but it's not like he didn't become a monster because of a little extra time outside the NHL. Same with Provorov or Konecny. They didn't send Patrick back either, so it's not like they have a set requirement of CHL/AHL time. And now that more placeholders are gone, they'll have more room bring up guys, if ready. He didn't even rule out Frost (if he gets stronger) or Hart (if he looks ready) making it.

 

[WIP CALLER]

I've always maintained that Hextall is/was just another medicore GM. He's good at drafting and understanding the cap but he can't get past this notion of loyalty/character/etc.

Hakstol isn't a good coach and he's way too tied to him. Hextall isn't the best at professional player evaluations either. Hextall not dropping Lappy is just flat out awful.

Great post. I was on the fence coming into this year but this year has sealed my opinion of Hextall.

It was year 4 of the hextall era and the flaws of the team from year 1 are still largely the flaws of the team year 4. Too many mediocre vets that don't help the team in the present or the future. The bottom 6 is still a dumpster fire. The PK is still bottom 5. The #2 powerplay still cannot generate points even close to the league average. A team that doesn't have an identity in 4 years. All of those things can no longer be blamed on Holmgren after 4 years.

When hextall took over, my expectations were that the team would need to rebuild and that meant likely 2 wasted seasons to clear the trash out but with the young core in place hitting their prime by year 3 they would be a young playoff bubble team with at most a trash vet or 2 leftover and probably goalie issues but overall much more positive than negative and a clear direction. Then heading into year 5 we would begin to enter our cup contention window with our main weakness being our young players inexperience and perhaps still goaltending. But 4 offseasons would be enough imo to get rid of the trash vets by either trade buy out or burying in the minors and replacing them with young either drafted or undrafted talent. Giving a gm 5 years to take out the trash and overhaul the roster towards youth is not an unrealistic expectation IMO

Instead, we are heading into year 5 of the hextall era and are still at least 2 years away from being a cup contender based on our playoff showing. We still will have at least 3 useless veterans on the team next year that will hurt our chances at playoffs and serve no purpose for the future. So at what point is it acceptable to be upset with the lack of progress? Year 7? Year 10? Year 15?

 

[Flyerfan4life]

hextall should say, i understand the frustration of the fans and we are going to do everything we can to get this team to win a stanley cup, i will hold everyone accountable if it doesnt happen.

except he clearly isnt.. and that includes himself

 

[Rebels57]

I think you're seriously downplaying the importance of it...

Nothings a guarantee, but this is proven to be the most important part of building a contender. What team has won a cup without drafting and developing the core of their talent. Making trades and signings are an option, but prospects are the thing that MUST be properly done if you want to compete.

And even if they're a bit overly patient with the prospects, it's not to an extreme and it isn't hurting anyone. Ghost probably could have made the team earlier, but it's not like he didn't become a monster because of a little extra time outside the NHL. Same with Provorov or Konecny. They didn't send Patrick back either, so it's not like they have a set requirement of CHL/AHL time. And now that more placeholders are gone, they'll have more room bring up guys, if ready. He didn't even rule out Frost (if he gets stronger) or Hart (if he looks ready) making it.

When you are a team that did not do a full scorched earth rebuild and instead are trying to rebuild before the primes of your veteran core are over, the approach Hextall is using is far from a sure thing.

There's a very real chance that the depth and goaltending of this team is not good enough to do any playoff damage by the time the veterans primes are over. Then you have more holes to fill. It becomes an endless cycle.

How many placeholders are really gone? One full-timer (Manning) and one late season call-up for the 4th line(Read). That should really open up some big opportunities next year for another wave of youth!

Oh and since we don't have an NHL calibre coaching staff, you can tack on a few more years of not being a contender until we get one.

 

[duffy9748]

Having a better PK could have had far fetching different results. Playing Washington instead of Pittsburgh in the first round.

He isn’t building a roster to contend for 2-3 years. He wants a core in place that can contend for 10 years.

This is really the only way to put it. Hextall has not cared one bit about where this team has finished in the standings the last few years. It has all been about the future. Sure, I wouldn’t have minded moving a 3rd round pick for a penalty killer, but everything he’s said since he has come here has pointed to him not doing that until he feels it’s time to make a push.

I feel this is the first offseason where he’ll actively try to improve the team. The drafting and developing stage is over for the most part. They’ve all pretty much graduated to the Flyers except for Frost, Hart, and Myers/Morin. If this is the offseason he wants to make a move, he has more ammunition than any GM in the league to go out and get that done. He has the cap space to add whoever he wants via free agency.

He signed Couturier and Ghost to extremely valuable contracts. He drafted the best defenseman this organization will have seen since Mark Howe. He got extremely lucky with Nolan Patrick. He signed Phil Myers when 29 other teams could have. He drafted a goalie that everyone in hockey is in love with. Sanheim, Frost, Lindblom all look like they’ll be significant contributors.

There are legitimate gripes to have with him over a few topics, but most of us would have signed up for 2 playoff appearances between 2016-2018 if you asked us 3 years ago.

 

[CutOnDime97]

Wait was it confirmed that Lappy will be back next year? That's absolutely pathetic if true.

 

[BernieParent]

I disagree with not going after an elite talent like Tavares/Doughty/Karlsson. I’d love a player like ROR to a lesser extent as well.

Hextall said in his press conference that they have a good idea of who will be contributing to this team moving forward. I think it’s clear he meant Frost, Hart, and Morin/Myers. He also would not commit to Simmonds which I think is being a bit overlooked. If he moved Schenn, he has to know that moving Simmonds is the smart move. There isn’t enough room for both 1st round picks moving forward on top of Simmonds/whatever you get for him.

I really don’t understand how anyone can be against adding Tavares. He makes this team so much better, won’t cost any assets, and fits the cap structure moving forward even if you have to give him 11 million per. Players like him don’t fall off after 30 years old either. He’ll be an elite player for most of the contract that he gets.

The difference with a big-splash trade by Hextall versus Holmgren is that Hextall has developed a huge array of options. He will not be negotiating from a position of desperation or necessity. I feel comfortable in hoping for a trade / signing of significance because I am confident that Hextall will ensure it is within his methodical building of the club.

Hextall and Holmgren with a handful of assets are night-and-day different: Holmgren was the kid in the candy shop with his allowance burning a hole in his pocket. Hextall has slowly built up his wad of cash and can move at the right time for resources that will fit with the Flyers' development curve.

 

[Rebels57]

Wait was it confirmed that Lappy will be back next year? That's absolutely pathetic if true.

Yep. Confirmed. Nobody knows the coachs better than Hexy.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Wait was it confirmed that Lappy will be back next year? That's absolutely pathetic if true.

"All coaches will be back, roles could be reevaluated."

 

[duffy9748]

The difference with a big-splash trade by Hextall versus Holmgren is that Hextall has developed a huge array of options. He will not be negotiating from a position of desperation or necessity. I feel comfortable in hoping for a trade / signing of significance because I am confident that Hextall will ensure it is within his methodical building of the club.

Hextall and Holmgren with a handful of assets are night-and-day different: Holmgren was the kid in the candy shop with his allowance burning a hole in his pocket. Hextall has slowly built up his wad of cash and can move at the right time for resources that will fit with the Flyers' development curve.

Agreed 100%. In the press conference, he talked about adding Carter and Richards to the Kings when the time was right. He also said multiple times that this time around, he has way more assets to play around with then what they had then. He is going to target several players of interest, and he is going to get them because he has the cap space and assets to add whoever he wants.

 

[Striiker]

He said that he saw wasted emotion and wanted to get rid of that. Said that emotion can be a huge part of the game.

Side note : I can respect Hakstol's respond to "fire hakstol", he handled it really well.

Hakstol seems like a likable coach but inexperienced and doesn't seem to actually read the game very well. Chases bad match ups, deploys the wrong players, turtles/hak shell's too often and etc.

I don't think he's a bad human being at all and I've never cared that he doesn't show emotion on the bench.

I just think he values aspects of hockey that we don't and that causes huge problems.

I also wonder how much of the personal component of knowing the players effects him. Obviously he knows them off the ice and none of us do. Maybe Manning has the best personality and it causes him to be biased towards him. Obviously that's not a good thing if it is true, but I wonder if it's a factor.

 

[FlyersMania2]

When you are a team that did not do a full scorched earth rebuild and instead are trying to rebuild before the primes of your veteran core are over, the approach Hextall is using is far from a sure thing.

There's a very real chance that the depth and goaltending of this team is not good enough to do any playoff damage by the time the veterans primes are over. Then you have more holes to fill. It becomes an endless cycle.

How many placeholders are really gone? One full-timer (Manning) and one late season call-up for the 4th line(Read). That should really open up some big opportunities next year for another wave of youth!

You did a great job in summarizing things I try to say but haven't said adequately. This is very much an endless cycle. We've done a "revamp," rebuild and another rebuild all since 06-07. Perpetually rebuilding is always going to result in this. There is the option to push what you have to the full capacity of its potential, knowing there will NEVER be a roster that is 100% what you want. I mean really there is no cup-winning team in the past 8 years that has been without its flaws; you have to play to the strengths and minimize the weaknesses. This is true in all professions.

 

[deadhead]

When hextall took over, my expectations were that the team would need to rebuild and that meant likely 2 wasted seasons to clear the trash out but with the young core in place hitting their prime by year 3 they would be a young playoff bubble team with at most a trash vet or 2 leftover and probably goalie issues but overall much more positive than negative and a clear direction. Then heading into year 5 we would begin to enter our cup contention window with our main weakness being our young players inexperience and perhaps still goaltending. But 4 offseasons would be enough imo to get rid of the trash vets by either trade buy out or burying in the minors and replacing them with young either drafted or undrafted talent. Giving a gm 5 years to take out the trash and overhaul the roster towards youth is not an unrealistic expectation IMO

Instead, we are heading into year 5 of the hextall era and are still at least 2 years away from being a cup contender based on our playoff showing. We still will have at least 3 useless veterans on the team next year that will hurt our chances at playoffs and serve no purpose for the future. So at what point is it acceptable to be upset with the lack of progress? Year 7? Year 10? Year 15?

What? It takes five years just to build up the young talent base.
But look at Toronto, they have great young talent, but then it takes years to teach them to win.
Winnipeg is a great example, five years ago they replace Noel with Maurice, he turns them around the next year, 99 points and lost in the first round, followed by 78 and 87 points seasons - no panic, this year they hit their stride with 114 points.
The team was build with drafts from 2011-2015, with Laine in 2016, but it took to 2017 for the talent to jell.

We're being built with drafts from 2014-2018, and it'll probably take until 2020 to jell.
Meantime the team will improve every season and be younger, faster, more skilled and more fun to watch.

 

[duffy9748]

Having a great prospect pool is nice. It doesnt guarantee anything though. Especially in an organization that is hesitant to promote them and then limits their roles until it's absolutely necessary not to.

He has a great prospect pool that he can go out and make trades with. He doesn’t need them to hit. They had enough draft picks hit already. Outside of Frost, Hart, and Myers/Morin, everyone should available via trade. That’s not even factoring in the picks at 14+19.

He’s drafted extremely well and got lucky with Patrick.

 

[Rebels57]

Agreed 100%. In the press conference, he talked about adding Carter and Richards to the Kings when the time was right. He also said multiple times that this time around, he has way more assets to play around with then what they had then. He is going to target several players of interest, and he is going to get them because he has the cap space and assets to add whoever he wants.

We will see about that one

Not that it really matters when you have probably the worst coaching staff in the league anyway.

 

[deadhead]

We've done a "revamp," rebuild and another rebuild all since 06-07. Perpetually rebuilding is always going to result in this.

We never did a rebuild, that was the problem under Holmgren, he never wanted to admit the party was over.
Boston did a reload by trading veterans when they still had value and picking up a bunch of draft picks to go with their remaining veterans.
Hextall got the most he could, but imagine if Kimmo was traded at the 2013 TDL, the haul he could have brought.

You reload when you have lots of talent but need to reshape the roster to get younger, you rebuild when the cupboard is bare and you'd rather burnout than fade away, because "rust never sleeps."

 

[Tripod]

"All coaches will be back, roles could be reevaluated."

Yeah until I hear what fate Lappy has, I won't smash anything.

 

[BernieParent]

When you are a team that did not do a full scorched earth rebuild and instead are trying to rebuild before the primes of your veteran core are over, the approach Hextall is using is far from a sure thing.

There's a very real chance that the depth and goaltending of this team is not good enough to do any playoff damage by the time the veterans primes are over. Then you have more holes to fill. It becomes an endless cycle.

How many placeholders are really gone? One full-timer (Manning) and one late season call-up for the 4th line(Read). That should really open up some big opportunities next year for another wave of youth!

It is a given that Giroux, Voracek, and Simmond's primes are gone, career season for Giroux notwithstanding. I can't see any way around that; however, Couturier is in his prime and the emerging core will still be hitting theirs. As others have posted, having Giroux and Voracek take on secondary roles over the next couple of seasons is not a bad thing for their competitiveness. Couturier / Patrick as the 1/2 can still benefit from their presence and if any of the highly touted prospects successfully wins the 1LW from Giroux, that's a great problem to have.

IMHO, depth is about the easiest thing to accumulate because they are the most readily available, especially at discount rates for non-competitive teams. These are the only types of TDL deals that make sense. And that is considering that the wealth of prospects vying for bottom-6 positions all don't make the grade.

Goaltending remains my biggest concern. Hart looks fabulous and I remain high on Sandstrom, but goaltenders are the most difficult to project.

For your list of place-holders leaving, you omitted the strong possibility of Filppula not being resigned.

 

[Rebels57]

It is a given that Giroux, Voracek, and Simmond's primes are gone, career season for Giroux notwithstanding. I can't see any way around that; however, Couturier is in his prime and the emerging core will still be hitting theirs. As others have posted, having Giroux and Voracek take on secondary roles over the next couple of seasons is not a bad thing for their competitiveness. Couturier / Patrick as the 1/2 can still benefit from their presence and if any of the highly touted prospects successfully wins the 1LW from Giroux, that's a great problem to have.

IMHO, depth is about the easiest thing to accumulate because they are the most readily available, especially at discount rates for non-competitive teams. These are the only types of TDL deals that make sense. And that is considering that the wealth of prospects vying for bottom-6 positions all don't make the grade.

Goaltending remains my biggest concern. Hart looks fabulous and I remain high on Sandstrom, but goaltenders are the most difficult to project.

For your list of place-holders leaving, you omitted the strong possibility of Filppula not being resigned.

With Hakstol as coach, what is more likely to happen is that once Giroux and Voraceks play and productivity has dropped off and the kids look like they should be taking over the featured roles moving them down to secondary roles, he will continue to give them more ice time because "veteran."

This is a guy that just used 34 year old Val Filppula as a 1C in some huge games.

 

[deadhead]

He has a great prospect pool that he can go out and make trades with. He doesn’t need them to hit. They had enough draft picks hit already. Outside of Frost, Hart, and Myers/Morin, everyone should available via trade. That’s not even factoring in the picks at 14+19.

He’s drafted extremely well and got lucky with Patrick.

My suspicion is that is what he'll do next summer, prospects have the most value when they've proven themselves in juniors or AHL. It's not worth trading Rubtsov or Allison or . . . right now because their value isn't great enough to land you top talent.

Better to marinate them because for players who aren't elite prospects, their value goes up as they are close to being NHL ready, since they can help a team win now, if they're a couple years away they aren't worth much.

Some of the worst trades are when teams give up on prospects before giving them a chance, for depth players or middle round picks, Patrick Sharp and Justin Williams, for example.