I Tried to be A Calm, Rational, Philadelphian
Suppose you’re like me and you decided to hunker down last night and poorly attempt to wrap gifts while simultaneously watching that “hockey game”. In that case, you’ll understand when I say I would have rather gone to the King of Prussia mall and bought every gift last-minute instead of wasting three hours on whatever that was.
The defense was porous, sloppy, and practically non-existent around the crease for Ersson but did snap to attention when the switch was made to Kolosov (albeit probably a little too late). That does not mean the blame is off the tendy however, Ersson let in 2 soft goals along with 3 more to give the Flyers a massive deficit that they almost worked through, but it was too much too fast as the Shitbirds onslaught was seemingly endless in the first.
Is This a Secret Tank Job?
But, you’re not here to listen to a well thought out game recap, you came here for the ranting psycho take that might taste delicious, but might also burn your insides worse than a Carolina Reaper. So here it is, I think that Torts, Briere, and Jonesy know what they have and are attempting to “secretly tank” (boy I’m using quotation marks a lot in this one huh?!)
(Here come more quotes!) “JJ, how the f*&% do you ‘secretly tank‘?” Easy, with three below replacement-level goalies while also letting your young roster get the experience they desperately need to develop while also maintaining your stalwart Captain in Coots, your serial killer assistant C in Laughton, and 2, not 1 but 2 members of Team Canada in TK and TS. The Flyers will be entertaining, flashing brilliance at times, but we are still a lottery team that will finish the year with 3 first-round picks in a deep draft. I personally subscribe to the belief that if you’re going to be bad, be bottom out, trust the process, and show me a top 4 pick bad. But that’s not good for business, especially when the building actually has some life in it due to the emergence of MM39, our very own Comrade Calder, but more on him in a second, I want to finish this point on the team knowing what they are and accepting it quietly. Ersson has not been good in his return, Fedotov has been sent to the prison that is the Press Box (although the food is better than than his last stint in the clink) for the crime of being a sub .900 save percentage tendy, and Kolosov has looked okay in spots and potentially is the best of the three.
DISCLAIMER: THEY ALL HAVE SAVE PERCENTAGES BETWEEN .870 and .877 so any argument about which one is good is stupid, don’t be stupid. If you followed along with my psychotic live-tweeting of the game last night you’ll recall I mentioned an old adage about quarterbacks, if you have 2 then you really don’t have 1. Same thing here, 3 goalies, 1 net and they all are showing us why the countdown until Yegor Zavragin and Carson Bjarnason get to Philly is officially on.
The Wildcard Race
Moving on, the Flyers are in a dead heat from a points-percentage standings perspective with the floundering New York Rags in 5th/6th for the Wildcard spots in the East. That’s actually worse than their position through 35 games last year so as we sit here at the precipice of the holiday break in the show, we’re teetering on the brink of basically being eliminated well before the 4 Nations Face Off break in February. In short, the boys either need a run or they need to realize they are sellers so we can properly capitalize on the market instead of having one foot in and one foot out of the trade deadline. It’s shit or get out of the outhouse time… which brings me to why I am still deeply invested in this season, and what would mark it as a success in my pessimistic eyes…
CALDER OR BUST BAY BEE
Matvei has brought people back to this team like moths to a flame. He is as good as advertised, yet he’s been noticeably quiet these last 5 games, to the point that a rookie defenseman in Montreal is now only 1 point off of his lead for rookie scoring. The reason for this dropoff is severalfold. First, they play way more games at this level than even the KHL, kid’s gonna get tired but he’s also a specimen so he should come out of it. Two, Torts is messing with his linemates, I get it, you’re trying to see what works and who is a long-term member of this team, fine, but can we get MM39 more than 10 minutes a game and maybe paired with someone on his level hockey-wise (TK, Tipper, Coots, yeah that’s kinda it). Third and finally, he’s not going to be able to be under the radar anymore, everyone knows, so he’s got to adapt a bit. But as I wrap up here, Matvei winning the Calder is the goal this season. Anything less is a disappointment, and anything more is Christmas gravy.
Also, check out our socials as I’m going to start giving away a few Comrade Calder shirts in January so that the boys and I aren’t the only ones enjoying the silky feel in the barn. Cheers.
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