Frequent Flyer #303 "Rocking Back and Forth"

0:00Checked at 345 traffic 2 miles, final without the way. Cross runway 30 left, runway 30 right, clear for takeoff. OK, cross 30 left, clear for takeoff, 30. Wow, all right, welcome to Frequent Flyer here, it is Thursday, January 22, 2026. We're back, I told y'all we'd be back, it's going to happen sooner or later. And uh, been a minute since the three of us have been together and we got a lot of shit to talk about. So I'm not going to waste any time here tonight, so let me introduce my cat hosts for the evening

1:02Michael Sito is back, Mike has a going gentlemen, great to be with you as always. We've got a full docket tonight of some crazy flyer stuff going on flyers already a successful road trip at least three out of six points that that's fantastic, you know, they beat Vegas, they got one from Utah and they should have got two, but garnered half the way, had a brain fart, massive brain fart. So yeah, yeah, I'm riding high after this road trip, guys, so let's do it. Thank you, talking, I wasn't watching it, it was busy, but I checked the score and there were up like two, late in the third, I'm like, they're going to blow this, right? And then in the morning, when I checked the score and they blew it, I was like, yeah, that's fucking nitracks. And you know, we'll dive into that, but many better be it as well, many, how's it going? Gentlemen, salutations and greetings, it has been a while. What has been a while? The flyer's making the playoffs. Sharky Tury's last goal, our last recording, the flyer's power play not being dead last

2:03in the NHL so much to talk about, great to be with both of you tonight. Yeah, so since it has been a while, probably about a month or so since you guys have been on, while we just catch up on some of your general thoughts, we've witnessed the flyer's spiral out of control here after, you know, they beat the ducks, they've lost what, seven of eight now, I believe, and you know, the devorak thing and everything, a whole lot of shit has happened. It's a mule of trade since, since you guys have been on so Mike, why don't you just lead us in here? How have you been feeling about the flyer since the last time we got together? Yeah, sure. So I think that probably the most significant thing that we talked about throughout the season has occurred and that is Ladar and how excellent he has been for the team and you see what happens to the team when he is on IR. They are a sieve in net for the most part and I think it's safe to say that he has largely been carrying them the entire season and is personally responsible for the relatively good start. I mean, you know, at the end of the day, this team is basically smack dab in the middle

3:06of the league from a points standpoint. They are within striking distance of being a top three team in the division also within striking distance of being a bottom tier team, but that's the parody in the league right now. And I think that, you know, I kind of have maybe an interesting perspective on it. I think that this has been an excellent season for them. I think that this team is getting close to where their ceiling is. You know, we've had great seasons, obviously, from Ladar, like I mentioned, but also, you know, Travis Kineckney, Christian DeVore, Actravers Eager, Travis Sanheim, they're all having really good seasons for the most part. And, you know, this is about as high as we're going to get from this group. And that's even considering they have some of the worst special teams in the entire league. They have probably the worst center depth in the entire league. They're very injured overall with, I think, three or four starters on IR at this point. But overall, like, this is a successful season for this team.

4:08And I think that they're approaching where their ceiling is. And that's how they were constructed. And I think that's the frustration that is really bubbling up on social media now is that people are pissed off because they see that we're hitting a dead end with this. It's like, there isn't anything more to come. This is the maximum or close to it that we're going to get from this style of team with this style of players and this coach who runs this style of play. So, you know, that's where I think we're at right now. I think that the organization thinks it's a success and it's certainly not good enough for me. And this is kind of, you know, our fear is that this team will top out as a playoff bubble team. And they're getting close to where they were built to go. You know, that's where I see them right now, even with, you know, losing the seven out of eight. They're going to have those. They're going to have those sort of streaks. And then when Vlodar comes back, they'll probably rise up in the standings a little bit if he continues with this play. So yeah, yeah, that's my take on where they're at right now.

5:10Man, he would see you. I mean, listen, they're not a bottom feeder. They're certainly more competitive than I think most people thought they would be given Vlodar and that and, you know, not knowing what Zegris was going to be. That said, I agree with you, Mike. I think we've talked about it before when we last were together. They're experiencing career years from a bunch of players. So where is the next step going to come from? One would assume it would be Porter Marton making the team next year. One would assume it's Mitch Kov getting, you know, back on track to what he's supposed to be. But then you have the Christian Devorak thing. Can he possibly keep this up for, you know, another year or more? I don't know. Can Vlodar keep this up for another year next year? I don't know. Are we going to keep seeing, you know, guys like Cam York and Drysdale and Sanheim, whatever

6:10play the way that they've been playing? I don't know. There's a lot of still what ifs and things that are kind of murky right now. But I think that overall, I think your assessment's right. I think we're seeing a good indication of this is kind of where they're at. And you know, what for all of the folks that we're screaming about, you know, we were making the playoffs and everything else, you know, literally three weeks ago, my, my, how things have changed. Like all it takes is, you know, our annual, you know, seven, eight, nine game losing streak. And that's kind of been a theme for the last, you know, couple of years. And for the most part, there's a lot of the pieces here that are still here from all those teams from before, which is kind of interesting. You know, there's the, there's the new coach bump, there's talk it. You know, are we going to see a further regression from him? And, and the results there, they, they are now the injuries are piling up. This is something that happened with John Torrella too.

7:14Is this an indication of, this is the players that we have? Or is it an indication of the playing style, the balls to the wall, block all the shots, go event hockey, defend till you're dead, you know, kind of, kind of a style, I don't know. Like I, I think there's still a lot of questions that are just unanswered at this time. And you know what, we're more than halfway through this, this season here. There's still a lot of questions left. There's a lot of hockey left. They still can make the playoffs right now. There are four points back to the Islanders and Pittsburgh. The problem is, is they had a nice little cushion and they've squandered that with that losing streak. And then need a little bit of help and also have some good results go their way. Yeah, they're, you know, the east is so congested right now. Everybody's within a few points of each other, essentially. And that, you know, these little bit of losing streak here could make or break your season. But we're still within, within the piss and distance of everybody here.

8:14So, it's not the end of the world, but yeah, I mean, the general picture is they've been fine, kind of despite what's been going on here. Target, I am not a fan of this guy in the slightest. I was not a fan of him when they hired him and seeing his him in execution. It's just fucking John Twitter, a little bit worse somehow, which is impressive. That, that, that this is the case. I know the, the continued bastardization of Matt V. Mitchkov, I don't even understand the fact that the media, particularly Kevin Kurtz, I think he's the one that harps on this the most. That of his way to talk about a shitty as no fucking fatty is now to shape from, you know, now six months ago when training camp was like, this is a problem, the Devorak extension can just fuck off. It, you know, it's very rare you can get flyers Twitter to unite on something. And when the Devorak extension was almost universally hated, the five year term and the no trade in the, in the, along with the, got the term and the trade protection because

9:16a fucking course he did, he's got the top center right now. And according to Mike called it, Mike called it into, after all the stuff came out with the term and everything, Mike tweeted, oh, he goes, I can't wait for the next suite that tells us about the NMC and sure enough, it came out, yeah, it's always all that's a cherry on top, baby. Yeah, so he's there, he's there one C for the first seal of the future, along with Sean Couturier, who's there to see? And there were multiple tweets today from the mark that I was ranting on Twitter about just before we started here, but, you know, Shane Wright's name is popped up in the trade mill over the last few days. And he said pretty much categorically that they're not even going to make an attempt at him, which of course not. And then Robert Thomas was the other one who basically said the price is too high and the flyers wouldn't do it. So it seems like this is your center group, Couturier Devorak and Cates for at least four more years. I believe Cates is four and then Couturier and Mark now have five, five years. So there you go, all of which are 30 or I believe Couturier is already three Devorak is just

10:20about to turn 30 and I believe Cates is 27 or something like that. So yeah, there's your center depth and, you know, run regobbles on one leg now. Yeah. So, you know, get ready to win cups with center depth like this. Yeah. And I think they're okay with that. That's the thing is they think, oh, is like once we get our goalie back and the goalie is having, you know, in all star caliber season, then it really doesn't matter who our centers are. You know, we are able to play a target style and keep things close and step out points and overtime and, you know, that's that's getting us to where we want to be. Like this formula is working for the flyers goals. As sad as that sounds, it's kind of working and, you know, it sucks because it's not the kind of team that anyone really wants to watch. But I think, you know, if they, if they tighten up on defense a little bit and they get really, really great goal tending and rely on that, everything else is whatever, you know, our special

11:22teams can suck all they want. We don't really need to improve the centers. We've got some young kids coming up that we're going to integrate and probably stunt their growth like we have Michikovs and we get into that later. But I think they're happy with this. I mean, I think that they're reaching their goals from a front office and management with what the team is doing or what it can do if you get Dan Villardare as the linchpin in all of this, you know, as we've seen, as I mentioned, without him, this is largely falling apart, but you put that one guy back in that erases a lot of the mismanagement and a lot of the problems that they have let, um, let continue on the roster for years and years and years. So like, it sucks, but I think that's just the way that they view it. Is that a good thing that this team hinges on Dan Villardare of all people? Like, you've probably got bigger problems if this is the guy holding this ship together as fucking Dan Villardare. Yeah.

12:22And I mean, just to piggyback on what Mike was, was talking about there. I mean, the devorac thing was symbolic for me for all in a lot of ways. And the first question that popped immediately into my head after hearing about that signing is, do you really think that it's true that if you jump off of the roof of a skyscraper that you would die of a massive heart attack before you hit the ground? And then I realized after, you know, getting all the news for the NMC and everything, the timeline of this was like tremendous because you're committing to this guy for five years. And as it started, there was like whispers of, you know, all the flyers are interested in talking to possibly resign Christian devorac. And you're like, okay, well, when he signed in the office season, it was one year, 5.4 million. He's going to be trade bait at the deadline. Then as the season progresses and all the big free agent fish get, you know, pulled,

13:23you know, and signed with the exception of penaren who's the only one left. It became pretty clear that, okay, the centers are drying up and then that leaves the flyers with two options. Option one is you resign devorac. Option two is you dangle him and you can see what's out there for a trade knowing that because the centers are so rare, you can actually fetch probably a premium price for him. And that teams that are in a playoffs would want to pay that price. They obviously opted for signing him. The interesting part about that was the player, who's the player that resigned the day before? Three years, six million. Was it Tampa Bay? Tampa Bay? Who was that? I got to tip my tongue. Yes. It's on the tip of my tongue too. And a three year, six million A.V. Was somebody on San Jose or something?

14:24No. Anyway, they didn't come up for the, I remember hearing on 32 thoughts. Because it's a one year deal, the flyers can only start negotiating in extension after January 1st. And not a lot of time progressed after January 1st for them to jump in and sign devorac. So it's pretty certain that they as a collective unit decided this was the way to go. The interesting part about that is with all of the Robert Thomas rumors and everything else now that are coming up, you resigned them back then and it was, it started out with, oh, it's going to be two, maybe three years. Alex Wenberg. Yes. Thank you. And then it was like, it's going to be two or three years and they're like, okay, interesting. Then all of a sudden, you know, Anthony DeMarco was the first one to tweet out and he goes, I'm hearing it's a five, sorry, it's a five million A.V.

15:25And then you're like, okay, so it's like two or three years, I guess at five million A.V. Okay. And then Kevin Kurtz chimes in and gleefully says, I just got off the phone with someone. It's actually five point one, five A.V. And it's like, thanks Kevin, you fucking buzz kill, joy kill, kill joy. And then it comes out that, you know, it's not two or three years anymore, it's five. And that's really the straw that breaks the camel's back. And then to dad, the cherry on top, it's the NMC and everything else. And people were in disbelief. The whole thing with this Robert Thomas and Shane Wright and anybody else that's out there in the thing in the ether is you've now resigned him. So you're committed to this guy. They're not trading them. I know that there's time before the no move clause kicks in. They're not trading this guy. So you could have dangled him out there, fetch something for him, a first rounder and

16:26maybe a prospect or something, you know, maybe a later round pick to an in addition, you never know. But then it gives you more ammunition for that high asking price to go get a Robert Thomas, especially if you don't make the playoffs. And let's say you don't get lottery luck or whatever and okay, you're drafting ninth or tenth. If you get lottery luck, then you can use that top five pick or whatever on a center. And you're okay, at least theoretically. If not, you can use that first round pick and other things to try to unload and get a guy like Robert Thomas in the off season. But you took yourself out of that realm of possibility when you jumped the gun and re-signed Christian to Vorak. That became now a non starter and that's why they're not even going to go after any of those two guys. Actually, that's a great point, Manny, because one thing that's also been taking place on X is Chris Pronger's involvement in terms of commenting on the flyers and making some

17:30incredibly astute comments. And he said this recently, you don't want to hear this, but being patient and finding the right trade, UFA or draft pick that can fill that void is what is necessary at this time. One C and or one D, do not grow on trees, a little lock plays a part in it too. Compiling assets for that one opportunity will matter. That is absolutely critical because exactly like you said, Manny, when you start to lock in players like this, you are eliminating your ability to compile assets and focus in on obtaining and acquiring that one or two really star level player, whether it's through the draft or through a trade or through anything like that, you have no trade capital to move around and get those players. And so they're just putting themselves in constant gridlock by doing stuff like this. And you have guys, now like Chris Pronger's comment on this crap. And it's at a level of frustration for sure.

18:33You know, Pronger's had a lot to say about this team over the last few weeks, largely stuff that I agree with. I don't think he wants to be in the front office game, but if he wants to come take over, I'd allow it. I had someone message me on a DM me on Twitter about that. You said Chris Prong, I mean, the guy's got front office experience, he was at the panthers for a while. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I don't think he's going to do it. I think he's been involved in his wine or all of business, whatever the fuck he's doing these days. Travel business, whatever it is. Yeah. High end travel business trade out. Yeah. Yeah. Whatever he's doing. I don't think he's coming out of a, you know, front office retirement anytime soon. It's the guy that seems to know what he's talking about, at least, you know, on Twitter there or some. Yeah. I've been largely agreeing with his comments and I just, the flyers could make a trade if they wanted. They've got plenty of draft picks and assets that is just, I don't know where that helps coming from. And it's just, we're just watching things kind of slowly but surely spiral out of control

19:34with this stuff. Yeah. I tried to go into this year with some hope and it just has been nothing. You know, I think we all knew Devarabra's coming back. I mean, I called this like October. I didn't even call it as soon as they got him. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't expecting such a goddamn shitty contract, but it's the flyers, I guess I should have been. But like, it's not the fact that he's here that surprises me. It's the fact that they are so averse to everything else. You're not going to win with this kind of lackluster notion, you know, at this point the only way you're going to get this help is via trade. And you know, every time this conversation comes up on Twitter, everyone comes out of the woodwork, all the positive, positive fans like, oh, Danny, now Danny Breer is going to make a move this summer. We just got to wait. I'm like, okay, that's great. And all that you can say that who the fuck is the going to trade for? Where are you getting a center this summer? Nick Schmaltz? You're going to pay him $15 million in free agency to show up.

20:36He was also authority like, I don't know where your answer is here. And if they're going to turn their nose up at Shane Wright and Robert Thomas, well, then they're not going to do it anyway. And I mean, the flyers have a history of doing this. This is not just a beer problem. This is the flyers of the last 15 year problem of being, you know, they did one David Year check. They didn't want to mark a Rossi because he's small. They didn't even throw their hat in the fucking Quinn Hughes trade circle. And now they're too good. No, we got to for it. We don't want anybody else down the middle. It was the point that I was making when the Devorek extension first happened on this show, which is like, you can bring Devorek back all you want, but resigning your own players is not roster improvement. That's just making sure nothing changes. If Devorek's here or not, you still need to fix your center depth. You still need help in that category. And I don't know where they're getting that from. And you know, these recent tweets about, we're not going to consider Shane Wright and we're too scared to pay the price for Robert Thomas. It's like, you don't want to draft your talent. You don't want to trade for them. You don't want to sign them.

21:36They just want replacement level depth guys in free agency, in overpay them, and then just keep doing that forever. That is not a winning sustainable fucking strategy and that's all they want. And that's why the whole Christian Devorek signing really was a gut punch for me. Because it materializes and it really reinforces that this is what they're going with. Yeah, this is what they were going to go with those centers and that's it. Like they could people could talk all they want about trades and everything else. And you know what, he mentions you all the time. So now I'm going to mention him. But Jason Martinez once tweeted out, he goes, well, they can always move Devorek to the wing. It's like, yeah, I mean, theoretically, that is true. The problem is is that we're overstacked with winners. So unless you actually trade one or two of them and keep in mind, we've got one that's supposed to make the team next year in Porter, Martone.

22:37So you got to trade at least two of them. I mean, where we can't always keep moving guys to the wing. And you also made that resigning, not actually testing Trevor Zegris at center for any specific length of time. You basically went into this season going, how are we going to win the most games? Well, so and so Devorek's good at face offs. So he's going to be the face off guy. Zegris is going to the wing. Mitch Cobb's going to play the off wing to make everything fit. And you're fucking everything up. And it's like a dog's breakfast. It's just a hodgepodge. And you're not actually getting concrete answers for really big questions that have been plaguing this team. And it's like the tires are spinning in the mud. And it's like, you're not actually going anywhere. It looks like the car is moving, but it's just going rocking back and forth. You're not actually moving anywhere. And that's the big frustration for me is it's a culmination of a bunch of different things that we don't have answers to because this team went gung ho to try to make the playoffs

23:43and win as many games as possible as Frank Zeravali predicted was the wrong thing to do at this particular point in time. Yeah, then also with the Devorex signing, I mean, now you have him and Sean Caterier as you what your veteran centers essentially, even though like you said, you could move Devorex to the wing, but there's no room. But is that really what you want to be doing going into the future here is getting two low skill guys that are usurping, you know, all that playing time on the team, like, and they're both here for a while. I mean, what could Terry has got another four years or something and then Devorex now on a five year deal. So 20 30 for Sean Caterier and 20 31 for Devorex. That's pretty long time. You know, that's a that's a while with these guys. So it's just why you're locking like are these the veterans like you said, man, these are these are the guys you're going to battle with like this is it.

24:44And, you know, pivoting to the trade market here and those discussions, you know, the flyers don't historically, at least for the past 13 to 15 years, they don't give up anything big in a trade to bring back anything big. They want to squeak in there and give up shit and then get a diamond back. And it kind of worked with the Trevor's Egrist deal so far and few between, but they're not going to trade something of substance to get set of substance in return because it's too risky. At least that's when their behavior, they don't have an appetite for that sort of trade. And that's what it's going to take to potentially bring in, you know, a center or defensement. It's not going to be a blue chip player. It wouldn't be anybody that is above probably a light to see it absolute maximum and a light to the absolute maximum. That's what they're going to do.

25:45They're not going on the trade market and going to make a math you could chuck type of trade. That's just not in the DNA of this franchise at all. So it's just like, what the hell are they really doing here? But I also wanted to get into this is an interesting thing that Scott Wheeler from the athletic who does a lot of commentary on prospects and the NHL generally had a really interesting quote about the flyers recently when they were talking about the status of teams in the league. And he said this and I'd like to get your reaction to it guys. He says quote, I'm worried about the flyers and what the flyers rebuild looks like. Porter Marton's awesome. Had they Mitch coughs still going to be awesome, they've used two top 13 picks on two kids who might top out as third line centers for them. If neither of those guys, and he's talking about Luchenko and Nezbit, become an actually

26:45impact move the needle type, they are still so, so, so far away. And I know they're getting better results at the NHL level this year and frankly last year, they kind of hung around the playoff race longer than maybe people were realized, but they feel almost as far away as any team in the league to me right now. I thought that was very daffodil. Why can't all the national media come on and just, you know, speak the obvious truths and this fucking local media here has their heads so far up their own ass, they don't know what's going on anymore. Sir, Volly can come here and call like it is and Scott Wheeler can call because like, I mean, God, every fucking time I sit down for one of these shows and just look at the fuck media, you just realize how fucked they are. You look at this draft pool and with the exception of our tone, you got fucking nothing going for you. Like, what's the plan? Well, we're just going to throw Luchenko in one day, straight into the deep end. He's going to be your one C with Cateri and Dvorak as you're two and three C. Great

27:47awesome. Well, that's not a plan. Listen, I, I hope the best for Gently Chank, I hope he shows up and he's, you know, the greatest fucking hockey player that ever played, but at this point, he feels more like a Morgan Frost and he does a goddamn Sidney Crosby, right? I just, I don't get it. I don't understand what the plan is here and, and this pretty much goes for any position. Well, they got a trade-a-way here. Who the fuck are they fucking trading? Oh, and Tipens here forever. They just resigned Connect and he's not going anywhere. Zegers isn't going anywhere. That guy's going to get a long-term extension. Forster, they love Tyson Forster. He's their fucking Eric Lindross these days. Get the way sucks ass, but he's under contract for another fucking year. I guess D'Lorea is gone, brings an RFA. Mitchkov, they may trade Mitchkov quite frankly, just talking to hates him because he came out of fucking camp out of shape and send what, Barkey and Gribenkin back to the AHL, cut the legs out of your young guys for other potential young guys like, what's happening here?

28:48How are you even going to get it more tone, let alone anybody else? You're going to throw your hat in the Jason Robertson sweepstakes. Ball fucking shit they are. We know they're not going to make a big trade. They all but set it out loud. If you're not going to do it for a senator, you're not going to do it for a winger, they're just going to run this shit back. That was the thing when they were signed to fork. Oh, that means they have to trade Chunkatoria. That means they have to trade Nookate. No, they're all under contract forever. Recently signed contracts. They're not going anywhere. This team as constructed is what it is now. There's no willingness from the front office to make these monumental shifts because they're the ones who resigned most of these guys and the ones that Brear didn't resign like fucking Chunkatoria. They're totally complacent in keeping him here and being the captain, they got to go to fucking bad for him. Chunkatoria had the best analytic still in 2020 thick. Thank you, Charlie. We're still pulling the fucking analytic debate here in 26 and Chunkatoria's analytic

29:50darling. Great. We've got five goals, most slower than a fucking glacier. Piece of shit, captain, terrible leader, through Matt Vimitch, cover to the bus a few fucking months ago. Remember that? But thank God, his coursy floor is good here. Woo. I thought it was 2017 for a minute arguing these shit heads on Twitter. God, what are you doing? How do you get out of this? How do you get better? Is this just what it is? They just want to catch lightning in a fucking bottle and have their 2010 moment make the playoffs against all odds and succeed against all the win, that one cup against all, they don't want to build properly. If they wanted to build properly, they wouldn't have done half the shit they've done with this team. I don't like, I have no hope anymore. And none. I've never been so checked out of the flyers. And it's not just this year, it's the last 15 years that have slowly been surely crushed my hopes and dreams and sanity. But this product, this like we're going to win three to two in over time.

30:53And that's like a good thing. That without a Vlodar and Zegers, the only two fucking players that are keeping this shit from completely sinking. Then why? You can't even play Matt Ray Mitchkov in a meaningful capacity because the coach fucking hates him. What are we doing here? Like what do you, I'm supposed to believe Marton's going to show up next season. And be given the keys to the castle and play 30 minutes a night. With what prospect have they shown that kind of respect to? They're going to trade Bobby Brink for like a fifth round, pick some Marton can make the team. And then he and Mitchkov can play in the third line together, centered by fucking no accades because they refuse to add centers. They refuse to deploy these players in a meaningful capacity because they don't know what they're doing. This red talking thing isn't new. They like, I'm surprised how angry most of the fan bases at him already.

31:55But like we all knew what talk it was when they hired him because there's nine years of history that looks fucking identical throughout his entire track record as a head coach. He made the playoffs legitimately once with Vancouver. And that was because Demko and Hughes had elite seasons. And that was virtually it. I believe that may have been before the Peterson fell off a cliff to the L.I.'s Peterson fell off a cliff. But like the only he made the playoffs with the coyotes. But that was because the pandemic shut the season down early and they were not mathematically and but they were in because of the expanded format. They didn't do anything there. They not taking shots on goal. Vancouver had some of the lowest shots on gold totals the entire time he was there. This team fell fucking apart. Did the Kanox last year when JT Miller and Elias Patterson were throwing fucking doughnuts at each other and the goddamn dressing room would or the fuck. Oh, the history of this coach with the low ceiling of this team.

32:56Being held up by one singular gold tender because without Vardar holy mother fuck. This is a disaster. Colossal of his shit. God damn, Sam versus a head case. That guy can't, that literally you hear the term can stop a beach ball. That guy may not be able to stop a beach ball. What do you do here? I put that on to it. You know, they even drafted a goal in two years. No one's freaking out about it. Well, Daniel, you didn't point out your 23 draft. Will you draft your PR? He said, it's a Reagan to everything's fine. Fuck you. Everything's not fine. Carson Beardison's an average guy in the A.H.L. and Zavraygan hasn't fucking stepped foot in North America. I don't give a shit if that guy posts a shut out every single night in Russia. He ain't doing it here. And after all the same fucking hyposamers, the crazy Sam, he doesn't even eat A.H.L. time. He's going to come over and be our starter. How that fucking workout for you? I even fed it off the nine foot tall fucking giant all these records and international

33:58accomplishments. How'd that workout for you? Well, let's say Colossal of this young up and coming shut out machine in the fucking K.H.L. How'd that workout for you? I don't give a fuck about Zavraygan until he's shutting people out here. And he's not even under contract yet. Fuck those and that guy's even showing up if he does it all. You just cannot everything, every fucking aspect of this team. It has been a long time since I've been this fucking worked up with the flyers, but I haven't got to rant about this in a little while. Every aspect of this team is fucked. Yeah, they're playing a little better right now. Yeah, they're getting their asses handed to him by some of the elite teams. Great. What's the ceiling here? The ceiling is a bubble team. If there wasn't this level of like parody in the league right now and the fact that everyone in the east is like four points apart, this team would be a disaster. This losing streak would have sunk them and now it only minorly sunk them. Now they just got to get through. They got to get the fucking Colorado tomorrow. Good luck to that shit. They've lost like one game all year.

34:59They're fucked. Everybody. They are fucked. And you have a front office that doesn't want to get the job done. And at least the fan base is waking up to this one. This is the one thing about Twitter that I think is interesting. And like this is like, Brear had the world at his fucking fingertips when he took over. He had the love of this team, unquestioned love of the fan base. And he found a way to piss everybody off because he's no different than his predecessors. And I think Charlie was the one going off on Twitter about this the last few days of being. You know, they're different era. Hextal was different. Did Fletcher. And Fletcher's different. Brear. Bull fucking shit. Okay. There's minor differences there. But largely from the day run, Hextal took over in 2014 to right now on January 22, 2026, fucking nothing has changed between the three of them. They're the same fucking people. I would argue ownership was weird. I mean, Hextal, you got to look, you got to the end of the Snyder era and the early

36:00Dave Scott era, Fletcher and Dave Scott just ruined this fucking franchise. And then you got these clowns and fucking Keith Jones and Dan Hilferney that have no collectively idea what they're doing here. They're just pandered. That's all they want to do. With Brear, like the heaven made the moves. If you don't have the history of making these moves and to a point where they're flat out saying, we're not going to pursue Robert Thomas or fucking Shane Wright of an app. Not even going to do it. Not even going to throw our fucking hat in the ring a month after not pursuing Quinn Hughes. How am I expecting that they're going to get better? They're just going to magically show up for Jason Roberts in the summer. It's not going to fucking happen. They'll panic sign whoever this summer's Christian Devorak is to throw them out there just in case to replace Rodrigo Abel's to say, oh, see, we tried something. Make that one move so everyone can say, see, Brear did something this summer. It's the same old fucking shit. They are fucked. And like I'm glad people are waking up to it. Like Flyers Twitter has been like refreshingly on my side lately with some of this shit

37:00because we're just reaching the point where it's painfully obvious now. Right? I mentioned this before. There was a time in the Fletcher era when everyone knew that ship was sinking. And I think we are kind of getting to this point now where Brear is a, Brear's days are numbered. I don't think he's getting fired anytime soon. But if they, if they miss the playoffs this year and then go into the summer and don't do anything substantial and run this team back, he's done. He's got to be done because you just at least she can't do it. He can't build. Now I don't know how you get out of this one. Fucking God bless the next guy that takes over. I'm sure he's some fucking former flyer that's sitting in the front office somewhere. Chris Van Develle is going to be next goddamn GM of the flyers. But like, this is such a mess. The only thing you can hope is that somebody had fucking nuts up eventually and either buys that or moves on from Sean Couturier. And you have a chance to add some shit here, but they're just going to draft 15th overall this year and draft somebody who was projected to go 40th, but they just really, really love. They have to take him in the first round, just like they did with fucking LeChanco and

38:02Nezbit and watch a blow up in their fucking face right now while all these guys around over there. Somebody wrote an article in the day that's a constant who's the earliest you weekend. We can't overhipe him yet, even though he had a good play with Buffalo. Fuck you. You people are on your knees, gargling the cock and both balls of Jell and Chanco, trying to convince me that he's some fucking superstar in the making, but we can't compare anybody yet. Days after the York and Coffey argument bubbled up again. Oh, Co Coffey, they should have. Cam York is like one of their more successful, but listen, I realize I don't hate York nearly as much as most people do, but of all the people that argue about draft, we can't question LeChanco pick, but we can't sit on Cam York who's one of the few fucking people that have ever made the NHL that they drafted in the first round. God, damn it. Am I fucking sweating? It's 10 degrees outside. I'm drenched in sweat right now. God, God, I hate this fucking team. It's going to be back, boys. How you doing? 20 minutes. I apologize. Scott Wheeler, quote, really got you going dead.

39:03That's good stuff, though. God, I hate this team. I'm on Puck PD right now, and now I'm getting you more angry. I'm looking at all the anchor, anchor pictures that show the no move clauses. It's appropriate that it's a fucking anchor, isn't it? Travis Kineckney, Sean Cateri, Owen Tippett starts this summer. Christian DeVorac, no traded clause. Travis Sanheim, Nick Sealer, apparently goes away next year. Dan Vladar has a modified no trade. I wasn't aware of that. What? God. Of course he does. 18 no trade lists. Again, to get Dan Vladar to sign here. A guy who had no other options, all the other goalies were taken off the board, remember? And they had to give him a modified no trade, 18 list, to get him to sign here and give

40:07him 3.35 million. I mean, that's like that's that's the way that they just do business. Yeah, like there's no other way that they can do business appropriately. That's their big tool in the, you know, in their toolbox, like, oh, and we'll give you a no move. Like it just, it puts that extra pressure on this summer, like for any meaningful change to happen, Owen Tippett has to be traded. Yes. Like, I don't even hate Owen Tippett. There's, he's looked a lot better this year. I get it though, he just becomes surplus to requirements with all of the wing depth on this team. And the only other guy that name keeps coming up is Bobby Brink. Yeah. Right? And it's like again, so that's going to be the, what moves the needle here. That's going to be what propels us forward trading Bobby Brink and or Owen Tippett.

41:09I hate to break it to you, but you're not going to be getting like a monster return for either of those guys. And really the idea is to get Porto Martona spot, right? I mean, and hopefully put Mitch Cobb on his proper wing, which is ridiculous, and it hasn't happened yet.