Confirmed with Link: TB claims Martel from PHI

[eramosat]

I think it just shows the lack of depth TB has. Yes, they have great top-end talent (one of the best in the league for sure), but it thins out when you look at their bottom-6 and beyond. It's the main reason why I can't see them winning the Cup

TB is 30th of 31 in the Athletics's prospect ranking by Pronman. And like you say, Martel is a an excellent gamble for where their bottom 6 NHL roster stands.

 

[eramosat]

Getting a chance in the nhl. That’s why he had no intention of signing with the flyers. Wonder about Allison and laczynski.

Add this to the list of new types of problems Hexy has to start managing as well...my NCAA guys don't like the competitiveness of the NHL roster.

All in all, a better type of problem to have than those he had in the past.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

You don't think Ron tried to get someone to give a pick for Martel?

You're asking us? Do one of your mind melds and tell us exactly what he is thinking.

 

[deadhead]

I'm sure Ron is constantly talking with other GMs, listening to hypothetical offers, gauging interest in various players.
The same way baseball teams put almost their entire roster on waivers after the TDL, just to see if there's interest going into the offseaon.
Most of these go nowhere, but they do enter into final roster decisions.

Say if the last spot comes down to Weal, Knight or Leier, all must pass through waivers, and Ron has them rated equally, but only Weal has garnered interest by other teams - who do you keep, who do you trade, who do you expose on waivers?

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Say if the last spot comes down to Weal, Knight or Leier, all must pass through waivers, and Ron has them rated equally, but only Weal has garnered interest by other teams - who do you keep, who do you trade, who do you expose on waivers?

Weal's the best player of that bunch. There's no logical decision tree that arrives at sending him down. If you lose either of the other two, you shrug your shoulders at the loss of Phantoms depth and move on.

Even with Vorobyev looking ready, I don't think Hextall spikes his Center depth by trading Weal unless they like Laughton or Raffl in the middle more than seems obvious from the outside. If you do that and both of those guys are Wings, you're one injury away from Lehtera at Center again. Do not want.

I would take a mid rounder for Weal if there was somehow interest because he's a pending UFA without an obvious lineup spot going forward and as such, I strongly prefer a Raffl-Laughton-NAK 4th line to any other reasonable option. I don't think they agree with almost any of that, though.

 

[deadhead]

Just saying as usual, there's no black and white answer, do you keep Weal for a year on the bench and give up potential trade value (this is different than Simmonds who could be a key element in a playoff run), do you send NAK down for more seasoning, do you play Knight for his PK skills, or keep Laughton at center even though they think he's a better LW.

In the end, you won't know which was the right decision until ex-post.
And it may depend on how fast Rubtsov develops in LHV. Which is another unknown variable.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Why Danick Martel could be 'the next Yanni Gourde' for...

Martel turned down the Lightning and other teams’ offers of an AHL deal, picking the Flyers’ three-year, entry-level pact. His first pro game, coincidentally, came against the Lightning’s AHL Syracuse. Opening night.
BriseBois was there.

“He was very good that night,” BriseBois said. “I remember him scoring. I remember leaving going, ‘Ohh, he’s going to be really good.'”

Martel made sure of it. When he arrived in Lehigh, he was a strong offensive player, but a liability defensively, according to Phantoms coach Scott Gordon. But to Martel’s credit, he worked on his puck management and awareness. He got better in his own end without losing his scoring touch, racking up 25 goals in 59 games last season. And that, Gordon points out, is without getting much power play time. Martel became responsible enough that Gordon was going to put him on the penalty kill this season, had he stayed.

Year 4, why not? I guess if NAK clears waivers next year he might get his chance in Year 4 too.

 

[deadhead]

He's a smaller than even Gourde (an inch shorter and 10 lbs lighter), file this under "wishful thinking."
And Gourde was a once a decade fluke. He spent almost 5 full years in the AHL, and didn't break out until 2016-17 when he turned 25.

No loss for the Flyers, if he makes the NHL and actually produces, more power to him.
We had no place for him and couldn't trade him for assets, so who cares?

 

[Deadpool8812]

remember when people whined about losing Nodl on waivers?

Where is he now?

 

[Rebels57]

Why Danick Martel could be 'the next Yanni Gourde' for...
Year 4, why not? I guess if NAK clears waivers next year he might get his chance in Year 4 too.

I absolutely despise this organizations handling of some of our prospects. This philosophy of his that "the NHL is not a developmental league" is flat out wrong.

 

[FLYguy3911]

A) Martel probably won’t amount to much
B) Hextall didn’t manage his assets well

I think it’s OK to acknowledge both of these things.

 

[wankstifier]

He's a smaller than even Gourde (an inch shorter and 10 lbs lighter), file this under "wishful thinking."
And Gourde was a once a decade fluke. He spent almost 5 full years in the AHL, and didn't break out until 2016-17 when he turned 25.

No loss for the Flyers, if he makes the NHL and actually produces, more power to him.
We had no place for him and couldn't trade him for assets, so who cares?

That would literally amount to a loss for the Flyers.

 

[Tripod]

Let's just pretend we traded Martel for Pickard.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

A) Martel probably won’t amount to much
B) Hextall didn’t manage his assets well

I think it’s OK to acknowledge both of these things.

Seriously. I'm 100% annoyed we lost him. Losing a 23 year old that was one of the best 5v5 goal scorers in the AHL for nothing while not having given him a proper trial is an issue. Will it come back to bite us. Likely not. It's still not a good philosophy to follow.

 

[Cootsfanclub]

Anyone remember losing Akeson? Similar loss

 

[deadhead]

That would literally amount to a loss for the Flyers.

No it wouldn't.
Name all the forwards he'd play ahead of the next couple years.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I like Martel and had hopes for him. I got those hopes back up after his insanely hot start in the AHL last season.

But, as much as I like him, he's just not quite good enough. He's a tweener. Not able to be effective enough offensively against NHLers to compensate for being a defensive liability at that level. There was no spot for him on the Flyers with Giroux, JVR, and Lindblom as the top 3 LWs.

 

[Rebels57]

Seriously. I'm 100% annoyed we lost him. Losing a 23 year old that was one of the best 5v5 goal scorers in the AHL for nothing while not having given him a proper trial is an issue. Will it come back to bite us. Likely not. It's still not a good philosophy to follow.

BUT WE STILL HAVE LEHTERA AND WEISE THOUGH.

 

[deadhead]

Weise was waived, just like Martel. So was Leier.
Lehtera could have been waived, would have been the same result as Weise.
Six of one, half dozen of the other.

 

[Hakroach]

BUT WE STILL HAVE LEHTERA AND WEISE THOUGH.

Veteran presence. Trust the process.

 

[dats81]

remember when people whined about losing Nodl on waivers?

Where is he now?

Not much of a loss. But to be fair: Nödl's career has been derailed by multiple concussions.
Just for the record: he is in the EBEL now where he sports a 0.5 PPG. Chris Vendevelde is in the same league now.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

Anyone remember losing Akeson? Similar loss

Yeah, it is nice to have these guys around in case of emergency, but not a huge loss if they are snagged on waivers. He wasn't making the team and I doubt we could have gotten something via trade for him other than a bag of pucks. Just like if Leier had been claimed. We have plenty of fringe NHLers in our system that losing one of them is no big thing.

 

[Curufinwe]

Anyone remember losing Akeson? Similar loss

If Akeson had Martel's speed he wouldn't be in Germany.

I'm not saying Martel is guaranteed to stick in the NHL, but he has an attribute that most teams are looking for, now more than ever.

 

[deadhead]

If Weal had Martel's speed, he'd be our 3C and Vorobyev our 4C.
But we have players coming up with similar speed who can bring more to the table in Frost, Sushko, O'Brien, even Rubtsov is no slug, and if Laberge ever gets healthy he's got some wheels.
Martel has good speed, but he doesn't have great speed, someone like TK not only has 20 lbs on him, but a stride or two as well.

I'm not against smaller guys with speed, but to me TK or Frost are what you're looking for, not Martel. Now you're not going to find guys that talented in the later rounds, but 5'8 180-190 with speed works a lot better than 165 lbs because those kinds of players have the leverage to handle themselves in the NHL. TK is actually a pretty effective forechecker, just has to learn that trying to check a 240 lb D-man is an exercise in futility (obviously, he slept through Physics in HS). Watching him bounce off someone like Byfuglein is like looking at a human pinball.

 

[macleish1974]

Again, Danny had an infectious smile, got in the dirty areas, got the crap knocked of him and got up.
He was always in a scrum. He is a fun player to watch. We loved him in LV. He was moderately fast top end, but had really good acceleration. With Hak's system he would not have worked well in Philly. On a wide open system NHL scheme, I guess we will find out.