If you agree, drop a like or a comment. 🔸🖤

• Briere is not going to do something that makes no sense. He's trying to be smart and not walk himself into a bad move because of the pressure.

• On Di Marco's article about Konecny, Elliotte isn't disputing the reporting.

• Elliotte's broadcast partner, Craig Simpson, sometimes looks at Elliotte and asks "Someone told you that?" As a former coach/player, his sensibilities get offended by some of the things that get reported. The Konecny report reminded Elliotte of that reaction.

• Elliotte has been on the end of calls where he checks in on a rumor, and the person on the other end is steaming that somebody leaked it to him.

• When you're losing and something like this gets out, you know there's a lot of people who are going to be furious to see that written and know somebody told them that.

• Even when you're not winning, you want all your guys pulling together. When you see something like this get reported, you're not pulling together. People are getting thrown off the bus.

\* long post warning , google Gemini used to compile everything*

I see people starting to whisper about a potential rift in the locker room, nervously drawing parallels to the absolute trainwreck in Vancouver between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson under Tocchet. Let’s stop looking for mysterious attitude problems or blaming "bad vibes." We don’t actually know if the locker room is divided yet—but if it does end up fractured, it will be the entirely predictable byproduct of one thing and one thing only: Rick Tocchet's absolute refusal to adapt his tactical blueprint to fit the personnel on his roster.

1. The Broken Physics of the Tocchet Blueprint

Rick is stubbornly copy-pasting the exact same high-safety, risk-mitigated dump-and-chase system (dumping on ~54% of entries) that he uses everywhere. He is trying to force us to play like the Florida Panthers—a team built on pure physical mass, heavy wall battles, and baseline intimidation.
But here is a fundamental lesson in hockey physics: For a heavy dump-and-chase to work, it requires massive, relentless cumulative physical attrition.

When we dump the puck into the corner, we are literally giving away possession for free unless someone goes down deep to run a defenseman through the boards. People look at fourth-line enforcers in a vacuum and say, "Why does a grinding line matter to a skill guy?" Because when an opposing defenseman spends 40 minutes getting continuously plastered into the end-boards, it creates "happy feet." By the third period, those defensemen are bruised, gassed, and looking over their shoulders. That is when they panic, blow a breakout, and turn the puck over. That is when a fresh, skilled player like Michkov or Zegras steps into an open lane and capitalizes.

2. The Hard Evidence: The Post-Deadline Spikes

Don't believe me? Look at the exact tracking data from last season.

Last year, we finished the season with a massive +16 third-period goal differential, which ranked 4th overall in the entire NHL. Before the March 6 deadline, our third-period differential was a modest +5.

Then Danny Brière traded Bobby Brink to Minnesota (which concentrated our top-six skill lines into sheltered, possession-heavy roles) and claimed Luke Glendening off waivers. Glendening and Garnet Hathaway anchored a pure wrecking-ball unit heading into the playoffs.

They didn't even need to play the most minutes against opposing top lines to make an impact—it was pure physical attrition. Look at how the team's data responded across those exact post-deadline intervals:

Average Hits Per Game:
Jumped from 21.8 pre-deadline
to 26.9 post-deadline.

Team Takeaways:
Went from 5.4 per game
to an elite 7.1 per game.

Team Giveaways:
Plummeted from 15.2
down to 11.4 per game.

5-on-5 Corsi (CF%):
Rocketed up from 49.8% to a dominant 54.2%.

Expected Goals (xGF%):
Surged from 48.9% to a top-tier 55.6%.

Shots Against (2nd & 3rd Period):
dropped down to just 7.4 SA in the second and 6.1 SA in the third.

Because those defensemen were softened up so fast, our second-period goal differential post-deadline jumped from a -6 to a +4, and our third-period differential spiked by an extra +11 in just 18 games. It completely insulated our skill core and kept the front of the net clean for Dan Vladar, who was playing like an absolute god because his workload was incredibly predictable.

3. The Vancouver History Lesson

This is exactly how Tocchet won his Jack Adams Award in Vancouver. He had elite grinding depth like Dakota Joshua and Elias Lindholm playing a heavy, bruising, puck-retrieval identity that made a deep-dump system function.

But look at what happened the very next year in Vancouver: They completely sucked and missed the playoffs. Did Tocchet change his system? No. The front office stripped away those exact heavy forecheckers. Without them, his dump-and-chase system collapsed into a total surrender of possession, and Pettersson's offensive game completely cratered under the defensive grind.

Brière did the exact same thing to our roster over the summer to usher in a youth movement (trading Hathaway, letting Glendening walk, and Deslauriers leaving at the deadline). The roster's muscle has been completely removed, but Tocchet's rigid playbook remains completely identical.

4. The Sportlogiq Verdict: Surrendering Possession for Free

Look at how our retrieval execution has completely collapsed now that we don't have the size to play Florida's style:

Puck Retrieval Rate (PR%): Last year post-deadline, we recovered an elite 39.6% of our dump-ins. This year? It has cratered to a pathetic 22.1%. We are losing the race to our own dumps nearly 4 out of 5 times.

Contested Corner Battle Win %: Fell from a dominant 56.8% down to 39.0%. We cannot win body position along the wall anymore.

Pressure-Induced Turnover Rate: Last year, our heavy forecheck forced defensemen into panicked clearing errors 21.2% of the time. This year, it’s a microscopic 7.8%.

Because our dump-ins are failing, our 5-on-5 Corsi has cratered to a pathetic 44.5% and our xGF% is sitting at 45.4%. We are spending a staggering 46% of every game trapped in our own defensive zone, meaning our total shots against has exploded up to a horrific 39.5 shots against per game.

5. The Systemic Death Spiral (The Blue Line Abandonment)

As we are currently constructed, this roster is built for the Carolina Hurricanes or Dallas Stars game—systems optimized for high-tempo transition, dynamic speed, and close-support short passing layers that let elite skill players keep the puck on their sticks. Instead, we are caught in a systemic death spiral:

Tracking data shows Michkov and Zegras carry the puck across the line roughly 70% of the time because they are elite possession players. But under Tocchet's rigid 1-2-2 lock, our defensemen are explicitly instructed to stay back and hold the red line.

When Michkov encounters a wall at the blue line, he is structurally abandoned. In Vancouver, Tocchet at least had Quinn Hughes trailing the play to take an automated drop-back pass and reset the angle. We have great puck-moving defensemen on this roster, but Tocchet's system keeps them locked in the garage. Because there is no trailing support, Michkov gets choked out in a 1-on-3 bottleneck, tries to make a high-skill play to save possession, turns it over, and gets benched.

The Verdict and Final Judgment tldr

We lose our relentless physical forecheck attrition ➔
Our forwards can’t win dump-ins ➔
Our retrieval rate craters ➔
Our giveaways skyrocket ➔
We then spend 46% of the game pinned in our own defensive zone ➔
Our mobile stars are forced to grind out 200-foot defense ➔
Our puck-moving defensemen over-commit out of pure desperation to help ➔
The system completely abandons them without low forward coverage, and those gambles backfire into a non-stop parade of 2-on-1s ➔
And finally leading too an unmanageable 16.3 High-Danger Scoring Chances Against per game.

Last year, the Flyers had the second-fewest high-danger shots on goal in the entire NHL (only 529 over 82 games, averaging just ~6.4 per game)

If a locker room divide happens, this is why. Following the playbook means giving the puck away for free, and trying to create possession means getting isolated and benched.

We aren't heavy enough to bully teams like the Panthers anymore. We are built like Carolina and Dallas, but Tocchet won't let us play like them. If the coach refuses to adjust his entry system to provide layered support for our skill carriers; instead of continuing to force a square peg into a round hole, the season is over before it begins. Change the system to fit the personnel, or get out of the way. Period.

With a team on a big losing streak, and the game tied in the third, with the team actually showing some sort of signs of life, Tocchet had Michkov on the bench for most of the last 10 minutes of the 3rd. 2 shifts, and one of those shifts was 8 seconds long.

Haven't we seen enough of the Tocchet shit show? Worst start in franchise history, 12 straight losses including being swept in the playoffs. Why would you have your most talented guys parked on the bench? He really is a dumb-ass.

Since everyone in this sub is in tear-it-all-down mode, I figured I’d offer a longer term perspective where we don’t trade every asset in a blind panic.

First of all, fire Tocchet, but not yet. It’s honestly a little late to gamble on turning around and getting a playoff spot this year (obviously be happy if they did tho), so let him burn. Then fire him at the end of the season, maybe right after the trade deadline, when the drafting order is easier to predict.

Then Danny can go into contract negotiations with the ace of promising a more offensive and youth-focused coach in the next year, potentially keeping Michkov (an absolute must at this point).

Additionally, while everyone wants to sell Risto, nobody wants to buy him. I think they have to let him walk at the end of the season, but that lets them call young guys up next season. Will they be good? Who knows. But I bet they’d be worth something in a trade vs Risto who is basically just a guaranteed IR.

Seeler, love the guy great warrior, is getting up there ( for a hockey player). His contract is up the year after Risto.
Same thing, I think, or maybe a trade or two year extension. He’s so far a lot less injury prone.

Then the year after is Coots. Poor ol’ Coots. What a champ, and honestly the only center on the ice actually doing anything right now. But his contract is up the year after Seeler.
Love the guy, let him retire please.

So timeline wise, we looking at three years before our slowest vets are gone. Complain about it if you want, but that’s the reality.

Which gives three more years for the current young guys to hit their stride, pride and prime.
Which they could absolutely do (with a better coach).

And it would let Tippet and TK slide down the line a little, maybe third or fourth pair. Which I, personally, think could be lethal.
Does anyone else remember a couple years ago, the last time TK was actually healthy, when Torts had those two on the same PP and line all the time? I thought at that time they were better than the sum of their parts. Which is what you want for a forward pair.

Plus if we keep losing TK probably doesn’t feel the pressure to come back way too early and might actually be able to recover from the injuries that have been obviously plaguing him for a full year at least.

TLDR; don’t panic sell, even when it goes bad. Keep Tippet and TK as they’ve got NMC/NTC anyway and would be a killer vet line in a few.
Fire Tocchet, but at the end of the bad year not the start, especially bc there’s three years left before the old slow vets move on.

I think we all (mostly) could've handled some regression as a team as long as the younger guys were being developed & blossoming into stars..

This is a genuine disaster. Top down. Tocchet very clearly straight up dislikes Michkov. He did everything he wanted this summer and he's been arguably their best F for actually creating chances and he still refuses to play him an appropriate amount.

To see Michael f'n Bunting on PP1 tonight was like being hit with a flash bang of holy shit we are absolutely fucked. That is simply not serious.

Martone looked like a legitimate superstar his first 15 NHL games. Now Tocchet has him barely playing, low on confidence & not looking ANYWHERE near the same player we saw even vs Carolina in RD2.

Heck even Noah Cates looks like a shell of himself. What the hell happened?! He's not even hounding the puck like he has since day 1.

What happened to the pride & heart this team played with? Martone gets headshot 0 response. Zegras is getting cheap shotted by a goalie & nobody even flies in? The team is being walked all over & nobody can do ANYTHING? Seeler? Couturier? Benoit? Acciari? Bunting? We've seen those guys (last 3 on other teams) be the kind of players to try & spark the team by dropping the gloves.

The team looks so defeated. They have since pre-season frankly when 2 full lineups struggled vs Bostons B team and got destroyed by Washingtons B team.

I have 0 faith they are gonna fire Tocchet. It would be Briere & Jones waiving the white flag & saying they blew it which is something I don't see them doing.

Shit just sucks.

Filthy stuff. Wish one of the other shooters came through, especially with how Vladdy played.

1. "The coaches did a hell of a job, we had a day off yesterday, but they came in and put a video together of what we could get better at," Tocchet said. "I think every guy watched it last night and hopefully it transpires in the game."

A video of what we could get better at. Wow. Inspirational.

1. I really loved listening to Bouch talk about how awesome Seattle’s center pipeline is while we’re playing Michael Bunting on PP1. How about someone just fucking kill me.

2. Also, lol, JJ: “and the puck just kind of slithers to the neutral zone” in fashion sad enough to be a fucking eulogy.

3. Sanheim is a warrior but he looks sad, like this horror show that has transpired thus far has already broken him

4. I’ve been fully on board the trust in Danny train but if he doesn’t fire this hockey terrorist goon (Michkov and Martone combined for 5 less minutes TOI than Sanny BY HIMSELF WHAT THE FUCK) then he should resign because it implies that he has even less answers than Tocchet.

Sorry for the novella. Go Flyers, fuck you Tocchet this is unforgivable.

The season is cooked it’s time for the flyers to go all in on the tank/rebuild this year. Play as many young guys as possible and get rid of the guys you think or thought would match the timeline. Risto, sanheim, TK , tippet, can all go. I like all of them but this team is obviously still a couple years away and they’re not going to be the players they are now when this train arrives at the station.

I’ve seen a lot of people repeatedly point to Briere’s comments about how the team needed to be prepared to take a step back this season, using them as some kind of defense of this disastrous start. Where is this coming from?
That’s not what Briere said at all. To put his comments into context, where Danny himself cleared up his statement:

In this context, Briere clarified an earlier comment he made during the offseason. It’s not OK for the team to take a backward step after last season’s progress. Rather, there’s a danger that comes with not understanding how pressure increases along with greater expectations and attention.

“The part that keeps me up at night is having some of your players feel complacent, feel like they’ve made it,” Briere said.

The general manager’s comments echo something head coach Rick Tocchet told Flyers Daily host Jason Myrtetetus during the pre-camp coaches’ symposium: Things only get harder – not easier – once there’s been a taste of success.

As such, Briere said increased teamwide maturity – in the form of mental toughness – is the first step toward improving from 2025-26. That will be measured in areas like playing from ahead more often (scoring the first goal), record against Metro Division teams, coming through on must-score power plays (even if earlier ones didn’t go well), and winning more games in regulation rather than in 3-on-3 or especially by shootout(!). (From NHL.com)

It’s obvious that we were never supposed to take this step backward, and that has been the case since last season. We didn’t hire Tocchet to get a top-five pick, and we weren’t willing to give up four unprotected first-round picks just to not be a playoff contender for Leo. We’re not one player away from anything this season.

Now we have Kurz and the similar talking up last nights game because, at the very least, the team has shown a little bit of life. Do they really think the fans are that stupid? There were maybe 20 minutes of something resembling hockey last night. At most.

Through eight games, we’re on pace for a whopping 31 points over 84 games, 105 goals for, and a goal differential of -220 over a full season. This season has been an absolute disaster from the start, yet there seems to be complete silence from everyone around the team.

But can we at least stop gaslighting people by pretending this is something DB had anticipated? Because that’s about as far from the truth as you can get.

Both DB before the season and Tocchet since the season started have talked about their fear that the players have become too comfortable. So what’s the plan? Are we going to keep punishing Michkov and Martone for mistakes or other things while the veterans continue to get opportunities regardless? Or is TK on IR the coaching staff’s new target?

Why is Michkov not on the PP1 for fucks sake.

The players are still speaking highly of Taco, and I genuinely believe they want to play well for him. But when so much keeps going wrong, where exactly is it breaking down?

It’s well known that Tocch got help from DeBoer with the team’s defensive play last year during the Olympic break, but now it looks like other teams used the summer well, and most opponents seem to have figured out how to shut down our style of play effectively. What adjustments are we going to make in response?

Ziggy talked about how he doesn’t think that the team is afraid after the Kraken game, but it sure looks that way. We’re playing scared with the puck, we don’t like playing through the middle, and we’re easy to shut down along the boards.

When we do create something, it comes through east-west play rather than north-south play.

Is this roster even suited to Tocch’s system now that the rest of the league has adjusted to it?

We’re not fast enough, we’re not heavy enough on the forecheck, we make obvious passes that are easy to intercept, and half our shots don’t even come close to the net.

It seems obvious that Tocch isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but DB has said that this is supposed to be a team competing for a playoff spot.

So what’s the plan? Is a major trade coming? Is Knuble the next attempt at a savior?

Because right now, we’re not only losing games, but young players like Michkov and Martone aren’t getting the opportunity to develop on the ice. So how comfortable are we supposed to get before we finally see something happen here?

The flyers forwards have 16 total points through 8 games

Connor Mcdavid has 17 total points in 6 games

One guy has out scored our Entire offense combined in 2 fewer games.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Have a great day my fellow Flyers fans!

The result was all too familiar. The Flyers lost to the Seattle Kraken 3-2 in a shootout at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Tuesday night, extending their franchise-record winless streak to start a season to eight games. The hole they’re already in only got deeper.

But that sequence late in the second period — which ended with the team taking back-to-back penalties by Zegras and Noah Cates — seemed to provide some fuel for the third. Christian Dvorak’s goal off a slick feed from Oliver Bonk made it a 2-1 game at 6:07 of the final frame, and Zegras’ score from Travis Sanheim just 1:13 later tied it.

The Flyers’ first multi-goal period of the season at least gave them a chance to earn the extra point in overtime or the shootout, but alas, Bobby McMann’s conversion past Dan Vladar in the fifth round dropped them to 0-5-3.

“We’re battling. We’re trying. I think you saw that,” said Sanheim, who skated 31:04 in the game. “It was nice to get rewarded in the third and push it to overtime.”

“To come back (from two down), you take the positives from that,” Owen Tippett said. “Losing in a shootout stings. I liked our effort, and our energy even on the bench tonight was good.”

Zegras has really stepped up tonight..his back and forth with Grubauer got the building alive and the team playing better.