Good Tuesday Morning, City of Champions,
I haven’t felt like this or written like this since late November. I truly do not know how I feel about this hockey team. The Flyers rattled off their third win in a row last night to improve their point total on the season to 71. Hooray (sarcasm). The season was over 7 weeks ago when I told you it was, and now we are just squandering the opportunity to improve the team. If the season ended today, the Flyers would have the 7th overall pick in the draft, thanks to this death rattle at the end of the campaign. This is not ideal.
I do want to mention that despite my love of the Flyers subreddit and similar corners of the internet, you 100% can’t blame Danny Briere for firing Torts when he did and the resulting rebound. He had to fire Torts after the confrontation with Cam York. It wasn’t the only reason he was removed, it was just the causation that required it to happen immediately afterward. He butted heads with Danny and Jonesy at the trade deadline which was probably the beginning of this rift that finally ended with the spat with Yorkie.
Moving forward this team has off until a Hockey Night in Canada meeting with the Habs in La Centre Bell (which I will be providing coverage from live, in the building). And even though I will be there, I’m still hoping the Habs avenge their loss from last week and get this tank back toward the top 5 (albeit with Michkov scoring a hatty and Hutson doing fuck all). The Flyers have six games remaining this season, and depending on how you view the Islanders, they are facing 4 (or 5) teams that are in contention for a playoff spot and, frankly, better than the Flyers. They should regress after playing a terrible Nashville team. If I was a betting man, and I am, I would say that the Flyers finish with the 5th most lottery balls in the hopper.
So, with all of that being said, how do I feel? How should you feel? That’s a tough one… I like Brad Shaw and I think the team is responding to the change well. I also enjoy that the younger players are responding positively to the change and increase in minutes and responsibility. I don’t like meaningless wins that prevent us from a potential game-changer in the draft. That’s why I’m kind of in love with what the Sixers are doing. They are ensuring that they have the best possible lineup on the court each night to keep the odds in their favor to maintain this upcoming draft pick. Now, when Adam Silver decides to forcibly Colangelo them (ie screw royally with extended collar) that’s a different article but as of now you have to appreciate the Sixers making chicken shit out of chicken shit.
As the Flyers season wraps, I’ll have coverage from Montreal, going in detail about hockey’s greatest arena and how the Flyers need to take a few moves from the Habs playbook for this new building they are building with the Sixers in (checks watch) 6/7 seasons. Then, after the last game, I will begin going in-depth on the draft. What should they do, where will the (most likely) pick be, and what other off-season moves need to happen? I’ll be honest: this is going to be the most important offseason in over a decade for the Orange and the Black.