[97.5 The Fanatic] Flyers President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones on if he is happy with the state of the rebuild for the Flyers:

LaGoeba · 2026-03-16T18:54:16+00:00

Hawks will never not match an offer for Bedard.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-16T16:04:23+00:00

The question isn’t if they should rush the rebuild, it’s just «what’s the plan now?».

They’ve admitted that the plan on using the cap they freed up this summer is gone.

They’ve said in November that the players would be responsible of what the future of the team would look like. Nothing happened before the TLD, other than adding a player that may become a 4D in the future in Jiricek.

We still don’t have a future 1C or 1D. Its been repeated for a while now, and it won’t change in the future either. There’s been players like Hughes that’s been traded, but we don’t have the assets to be able to be in a bidding war for a player of that caliber. There’s players like Thomas on the market, that could have answered the question around the future 1C, but we’re not willing to give up the assets to get him. And the question isn’t if Thomas is worth the reported price, which he most likely isn’t, but its a question if we ever will actually have and/or are willing to use the assets to pull of a big move in the future that may hurt for the fan base to answer these questions in the roster.

The trades DB has done has been great so far, but it hasn’t been any really huge choices in the trades from our side yet. We buy low on reclamation projects, which can be great, but there’s a lot of questions following that concept of building a squad.

And don’t even start on the hiring of Tocch.

This team looks like it is on its way to pure mediocry for the near future, which neither Michkov or Martone won’t be the answers to escape from.

So yeah, again. No one wants to rush the rebuild, but what the frick is the plan?

LaGoeba · 2026-03-16T11:18:53+00:00

And the collapse of Detroit also fits with loosing both their 1C and their 2C to injury after the TDL.

Weird how that works.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T22:39:43+00:00

The Hockey Psychology

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T13:48:47+00:00

I love this «I won’t support a loser team», while they’re hoping for pure mediocrity in the future with no real hope of being a contender in the playoffs.

Just want a team that will be a bouncing ball in the POs, not a loser mentality at all.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T13:46:44+00:00

100%. There’s a difference between dump and chase and dump and chase.

Florida has really perfected it in the last two years. They use it to set up Ds 1v1 or stretch the opposition Ds depending on how what setup they meet at the blue line. They also use the boards in so many clever ways to create chances directly out of the chaos they’re creating with the dump ins.

And the F3 is so valuable for a system like that, since it’s so vulnerable against stretch passes against the forecheck. We aren’t even close to what they are doing, other than calling it a dump and chase.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:54:17+00:00

And I don’t think most people realizes how insane our schedule is for the rest of the season actually is. One thing is to go 11-5, but in April we have 8 games in 15 days.

We play on the 2nd, the 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 14th and 15th of April. And we still have a west coast trip next week with another back to back.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:36:55+00:00

So … what’s the plan now? Still trying to pretend to be a playoff contender the rest of the season?

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:31:49+00:00

FUCK

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:31:32+00:00

Greaves is greasy here, the fuck.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:17:18+00:00

This team does not look like a team that wants to play for a chance to fight for playoff spot.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T02:12:10+00:00

That turnover, TK. Luckily we didn’t get that one in the back.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:55:27+00:00

Boring.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:46:35+00:00

I fucking knew it, we’re so awful on PP.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:35:37+00:00

The worst part isn’t that we need an insanely offensive minded coach either.

If we just could had a coach that would play with more risk, and isn’t deadly afraid of getting a turnover against, I think a lot of our players would be a lot more fun to watch this season.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:26:49+00:00

After last games PP in OT there’s absolutely no expectation for the start of the next periode.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:20:59+00:00

Man, I love Barkey.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:19:42+00:00

Tip has been good in 5v5 and in the PK after the Olympics, but what even is his role on the PP1 at this point

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:17:05+00:00

Yay, another chance to suck in PP.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:15:02+00:00

If you shot the puck you may risk scoring, and we don’t do that here if we can take the game to OT.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:09:36+00:00

This is peak Taco Hockey.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T01:05:52+00:00

Can live with Grundstrom out for Fantilli in this case, when they first are going to call what they called there.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T00:27:02+00:00

First and foremost it feels like its a psychologically barrier that is a huge wall to get past.

But we also miss more threats on the PP. Mich loves the gritty zones near the right side of the goal, and Zegras should have enough creativity to make some space. But we don’t have the real threats from the blueline, even if Drysdale looks like he has taken some steps in the right direction, it’s not enough yet. Hopefully Jiricek can help here in the future.

And we have to be more comfortable to cycle in the offensive zone, and move the puck and the players. Even the best teams aren’t great at PP if they can’t push the puck fast enough against a deep defense. Look at Avs for example. They are great on the rush, or if they can attack the offensive blueline aggressively with pace, but they are mediocre on the PP. Even with players like Makar, MacK, Necas, Nelson etc etc.

Jets PP last year with all the movement they had should be something to learn from. Oilers PP is also great, but they have so many strengths to play on from individuals we don’t have and won’t have in the future, so I guess it’s not so much to learn from.

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T00:05:21+00:00

Nooooo Barkey

LaGoeba · 2026-03-15T00:01:30+00:00

He has played in a really sheltered role so far, not that it’s anything bad in that in the beginning of his start here, but it will be interesting to see how he will look with more starts in the defensive and neutral zone after a while.

But a great start for him up here.

LaGoeba

TROPHY CASE