Frequent Flyer #309 "Orbit of Neptune"

0:00Checked at 3.45 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. Yeah, yeah, I've been, I don't know if you all have seen it with Sean Catery, it's just like, I've been watching some snippets games and stuff and just he is so, he's not just like, oh, he's skills, it's just like, he just can't, he's just lazy on stuff, like lots of physical stuff, the senators game there, you know, that turn over and they just watch the guy skate past them because he didn't even bomb it, so it's like, God, he received

1:03a pass and was just like, oh, I got all the time in the world and just like, no, you're in the middle of the ice, man, like at the blue line, like, you're going to get fucking stripped, which he did. So it's just sort of plays and he can, he can do whatever he wants, he can, he can get away with anything, he can go out on the ice and just start staring in the crowd for five minutes while everybody's scoring on them. It doesn't matter, it's Cooch, it stinks, we'll take over, it's like, the guy, the guy, watching him skate around, a lap around the ice is like fucking watching the, the orbit of Neptune around the sun. So how many years does that take? Good. He did make that one move redrope to the net and like put the putt between his own legs and almost scored. And I was like, I was rubbing my eyes, I was like, wow, that was Couturea, like seriously. It was last time we've seen him do something like that, 2013, 2013.

2:06Well, that's not playing the right way, that's, that's the wrong way. You need to make the safe pass right there and just, just go drop back on defense. That's a, that's the idea of thing to do. Oh, and you know, and you know, next year, Rick talk it will be beside himself, just talking about how in shape, Jet LeChenko is at training camp and all of this and it's going to be like, they're just going to be buttering this whole thing up all over again. It's unbelievable. Yeah. So what do you guys actually think they do with the trade deadline? I mean, Danny has said they're not doing buying or selling, I think, which is, yes, they're not buying or selling. And I was like, yeah, like in no sense, that makes absolutely zero sense. Like what, what are you doing then? You're just existing like, this is, this is a pro sports franchise. Are you, are you just there to hang out or not? So I don't know. What do you guys think?

3:07What's your prediction? What do you think they're going to do if anything? The only thing, I mean, they keep talking about moving wrist-to-line, but I just cannot fucking imagine that that guy has any real face, but like 10 games in the last year and has had surgery on the same arm at least twice and he's been injured multiple times since he came back from that injury. Like I just don't think, and apparently according to, they want the moon for the guy, which is like mind blowing to fucking here, but every opportunity for like three years now to trade him. And they keep saying, no, we got, he's more valuable for us. Now we want the moon for him, though, he's got one arm like, playoff wrist-toe, playoff wrist-toe, who still at 31 years old has not seen the playoffs yet, but like, maybe they buckle and move him, but it probably won't be for anything. Sealer's name popped up briefly, but he's got the fucking trade protection for some goddamn fucking reason. The only thing I think of is they get an early move on brink, but if you're moving brink by himself, what in the fuck are you getting back for that guy?

4:08Which is next to nothing. You trade Bobby Brink, like a third round pick, which is left to what, less to what you drafted him with? Like, I just, I don't know. I think it did not sign DeVaric. You probably could have flipped that guy for at least a first round pick, but now that's off the table. You're not going to move anybody with term at the deadline. So even if they were going to move tip it, that's not going to happen now. I genuinely do not know what they got up their sleeve, something like, nobody's going to want Sam Urson. That's sacking shit. Like, I don't know. I don't think they got a lot of selling. And if the flyers do what the flyers do, they're not going to add anybody. I would love for them to make a run at Shane Wright as a rehab project, but that doesn't seem like they have any interest there. They're not going to make a run at Robert Thomas or Jason Roberts and none of that's going to happen. So like, I don't know. They made genuinely not do anything at this deadline, even though they're sinking like a fucking stone when it comes to the standings and the playoffs are virtually nonexistent. And they should be getting a head start on offseason building and changes for next season.

5:09So I don't know what, I don't know what they're going to do. Like Danny Brear coming out and saying, they're not doing anything. I formally, I firmly believe that, but if I were him, I probably wouldn't have fucking said that part out loud because boy, does it make your organization look brain dead for working yourselves into such a quarter where you can't buy or sell at a trade deadline. Even though he said that they're not going to do much, if he actually follows through with it, people are going to lose their minds. Yeah. Because there's still a bunch of people are like, oh, he's just playing poker right now. He's holding his cards close to his chest. You know, those tropes that we use every year. Yeah. Everybody's at the Texas Holdham table and he's playing fucking hungry, hungry hippos. Yeah. Yeah. I think that if and when he doesn't do anything at the trade deadline, it really is very amateurish. I mean, how can it possibly be that the flyers are in the position that they're in?

6:14And there's literally nothing that you can do to improve the team. There's nothing. Not like that is, like that's Chuck Fletcher-esque, like really fucking bad, like absolutely inept bad. So I think it's, I think it's possible. I think it's possible. I mean, they're not going to, they're not going to do anything to improve the team. I mean, like for a playoff push, that's certainly not happening. I guess they potentially could try to unload somebody for picks. But I don't think subtraction is something that they're going to do. So it just, I'm definitely baffled on this one, guys. I cannot see. I know that we're very pessimistic when it comes to trade deadlines to begin with because the flyers historically have not done much of anything for many, many years. But even trying to be creative, looking at the roster right now, I just don't see what

7:17movement could happen. I mean, like you said, Dan, maybe a wrist-aligned thing, but like, they've been so unsuccessful with trying to move them in the past. And I think the injuries are going to be a massive issue. I mean, he's going to get injured playing for Team Finland, like of course, like you know that's coming down the pipeline here. So once that happens, he's completely off the table again. And yeah, I just, I just can't see anything happening with this. It's just, even a minor move. I can't even see a minor move happening. Yeah. I mean, there are still things the only thing that kind of makes sense that can happen. The only thing that I've seen, I don't remember who it was, it might have been Franco, who said something like, he has said he's not going to do anything at the deadline. I can only see that he's laying the groundwork for something in the summer. And again, we're going with this laying the groundwork stuff. The exact same excuse they use every trade deadline when they don't do it.

8:17Every year, this is what is the latest thing is, well, they're going to be laying the groundwork for a big deal. That actually puts even more pressure. If they do nothing, the pressure is going to be, it's going to be a pressure cooker. He's going to have to do something in the summer. The real big ballsy move is he brings everybody back, he extends everybody and goes and kicks the can with now with my tone. And then basically what you're basically saying is, that's it. This is the bed I've made. And that's it. This is what I'm going to go with. And then you're basically saying, I don't think any of my guys are going to get an injury. I don't think any bad luck is going to happen. I don't think my world-class goal-tending is going to regress. I don't think that my Zegris and Davorak and all these guys having MVP seasons in terms of like, sorry, career year seasons, not all of that's going to happen again.

9:19And it's like that's gutsy. If you can do that and get away with it, but just know if it fails in any way, it's gone. It is completely over if you do that. Their backs are so far against the wall, largely of their own doing with the exception of the free-gimpole drawing up, but the fact that they were relying on that and exclusively on that to begin with is their own fault. But yeah, that they have worked themselves into such a corner here that selling is impossible, buying is even harder, and you have this shitty, shitty main roster that's going to miss the playoffs for a sixth and second season, which is a franchise record. And there's just no way out. There's no like poison pill they can take to say, okay, we're going to do this and save our own asses. We are full on Titanic is at like 90 degree angle, we are taking on a water and going down bullshit right now.

10:20I just don't know, I don't, I have no idea looking at the way this roster is constructed and what we know of Briar's hesitancy to make these moves, how do you get out of this? What do you do right now at the deadline or the off season? Either one, this is going to make the change. They're not going to try and fucking connect me in some blockbuster we're putting our hands up in the air and waving and we're selling off everything, they're not going to do that because if they wanted to sell these guys, they wouldn't have resigned them in the first fucking place when they just did that. They want to sell them off, I don't know, I genuinely don't know what they're, I'm like, I'm almost excited, I'm excited for the summer to pass and nothing to happen, just to fire fucking everybody and start again with a brand new front office because I don't know how else you do it at this point. There's such a conundrum here that there's no easy fix, I got nothing. I got nothing, isn't it crazy though? I want you to think of this like alternative. I go back to the Christian Divorak thing.

11:21If you would have at least traded that guy, you would have probably got a first. First round pick, yep. Right? Good chance, good chance. At least you could have said at the end of the day, you know what, we traded Christian Divorak, we gathered another asset. This season isn't what we wanted, but at least you could tell your fans we got another first round. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And then people are saying, well, they're stuck because there's no centers available to sign. He had a gun to his head and he had to sign Christian Divorak. Okay. At that point, wouldn't you just say, fuck it, Nesbitt and Luchenko, you're both in and I don't want to hear it, Rick, talk it, you're making it work with these fucking guys and that's it. I'm putting all the young guys in now, the time has come, they're all coming to play and they're all playing right now, come hell or high water, it's go time, it's shit or get off the pot, Luchenko's in the NHL, Nesbitt, you're in the NHL and maybe one of them you could put in the NHL, if need be, but it's time, it's done.

12:26Now you sit there and it's like based on our conversation for the last of the wildhurt gents, I have a question for you. If Artemis Pinarin made it to free agency as a left winger, do you think the flyers would have gone all in and signed him, no matter what? Yep. Those rumors were so absurd that I fully believed him because it's a 35 year old winger that the flyers just don't need and would have been super expensive. It's like all of their fucking check marks of shit that they wanted, it's a big name that wouldn't, like listen, Pinarin even at his age is probably still the best player in this roster, which is, that's a fucking different problem for a different day. But like, it's one of those things that made so little sense, which is why I would assume they would have done it. If Pinarin hit for agency, I think they would have thrown the keys to the castle of that guy to show up and I guess it would have been a move, I suppose, but yeah, I'm almost glad L.A., I can extend it in because yeah, that would have been a disaster.

13:29Yeah, I think it's certainly possible because the flyers were so horned up to use the cap space on something that if they saw a shiny object, even if the object wasn't really that shiny and didn't really fit what they need, but still it's something they can grab. I think there was a decent shot that they would have thrown an offer out there and also it's potentially helpful for Mitch golf to have a guy like Pinarin, you know, for obvious reasons, but not anymore, not anymore. Nope. Off the table, baby. The flyers are like the drunk driver that swears, no, man, I'm fine. I can totally drive. I'm totally good. This is great. I'm totally going to do it. And then slowly, but sure, like your friend takes the keys away and it's like, no, you're not going anywhere. And like all the free agents signing, that's essentially what happened to the flyers. They were, I am fully convinced that even if our Pinarin was the last guy that was there

14:30and even though it's a position that they don't need, they would have totally said here. Here's 12 million a year. Here's 13 fucking come to Philadelphia. We'll give you whatever you want five years. We'll give you five years. They were not going to take no for an answer just to tell people, look, see what we did. We brought this shiny toy and he's great. He's great. And even though it didn't make any sense whatsoever because center and top pair D is the big holes, they still would have found a way to sell this to the fans. And everybody would have lapped it up and eaten it all up like it was nothing, like it was the greatest thing ever. That's the craziest thing it made no sense and they would have done it anyway. And that, that tells me about their plan. I don't think that there's much of a plan here. That's about what they feel like doing and what's possible. And now the problem is that the walls are closing in. There's not that much wiggle room to escape and you got to figure something out quick.

15:36Like they better get some really good fortune here in the next couple of months and into the off season because I don't know, I don't like the desperation and stuff that's going on. I'm glad that our Temmie Pinare and went to LA and he got to pick his shot. The other thing though that would be unforeseen to this front office was Seattle. Seattle going in and saying, look, we'll sign you. Whatever you want come to Seattle. Like we're going to roll out the red carpet for our Temmie Pinare and they were willing to splash the cash and all that. And that's the whole thing is the cap goes up for everyone. It's like, I know Winnipeg won't spend because they got a smaller building and some of the smaller market teams, Columbus and all that aren't going to spend. But when you've got a team like, oh, the fliers have all this cap space, we've got the calm cast money. Ha, ha. And it's like all of a sudden, a Seattle comes out of nowhere and throws 13 million on the table or 14 or whatever it was that it was.

16:40That's like, then it becomes a, oh man, now the money doesn't even matter. Like you're offering the same money that they were. It's about where the player wants to go. And in this case, Pinare is like, I'm going to LA. That's only place I want to go. He would have gone to Tampa or Florida, I'm sure. But other than that, like Carolina, no, he scoffed at them. So he doesn't even give a shit about winning the Stanley Cup or even trying. He's just going to go to LA and that's it. So it doesn't even matter. This new era, this new age of hockey that we're in with players and free agency and tax implications and all that. The flyers are still struggling with this while all we need is cap space and we can just spend our way and just get it. We'll get everybody. We could sell their soul and get them to come here. And it's like, no, everybody's willing to do that now with all this money available. You need to make yourself marketable. You need to tell people, here's why you need to come here.

17:43And now you can't even say, well, Matt Vmitchkov because he doesn't get played. Why would anybody want to come here? Do you play with Sean Couturier? Good God. It's so bad. I don't know where we're supposed to go. Well, according to Rick Tuckett, it's not that bad because he had that quote where he was like, we're a couple of points away from Edmonton and Florida. Everything's not a disaster. Everybody's saying, San Jose, how great they're doing. I think we have to save Matt of points. There are a lot of positives here. Yeah. That's another brilliant quote. It's just like, like you see, like people are that stupid? Like, oh, yeah, shit. Like, we're kind of nearing points to Edmonton and Florida right now. That means like, we're right there. Like, shit, it's not like they just won cups and have been to the Stanley Cup multiple times in a row. Like, we're right there. We're right way the look at the points right now. Like, what do you think we're idiots? Well, they do think we're idiots.

18:43That's the overarching problem here. Yeah. I mean, I think what happens with this team, and we kind of mentioned this little while ago, but I think it's like worth exploring, it's like, let's just say that that people get super pissed off. And the fan base is like, we're not showing up anymore. And they do start seeing some attendant step, which I think is really tough because like we've, like we've stated, there is a contingent of people that just go no matter what. So, so let's just say that changes. And let's just say like, he'll for these like, okay, well, I want to figure out, you know, what's going on here? How do I fix this? What do the fans want? He's going to hit a roadblock in his mind, because he's going to think to himself, well, we have, we have Briar and Jones and Tucket in here, isn't that what fans want? And our team is, you know, a playoff bubble team. What else can we do? And like, I think it's going to hit a wall with him, because he's not going to understand

19:43what the deficiencies are. He's just going to think, oh, well, we haven't want to Stanley Cup. The fans are being unreasonable. So I don't need to do anything like he's not going to understand what the actual issues are. That's my fear here is that we have an owner that isn't going to figure it out and can't judge his own management. Yeah, it rocks from the head down, right? You just, you have the inexperience of Briar and Jones. It's just a front office filled with people that lack any real experience outside of this. They were September Barney, who just fucking exists in the shadow realm for some reason. Oh, my God. Thought of him in a while. But like, other than that, and then Hillford, he's the first time, you know, sports manager owner. What are the fuck he's doing there? And it's just like he just, he walked down the hallway and picked both of these guys without doing any real work, you know, to the interview, bro. I wanted Briar from a day one, and he walked out of his office and down the C-suite Hall and saw Keith Jones exit into the TV broadcast, everyone, hey, God damn you want to

20:45be president? Be president. That's, that's all it took, you know, it just, how do you even go about change here of this? I guess Hillford is going to be even wanting to have to spark it, but he thinks everything's fucking great and peachy. He probably has people lying to him all day about what's actually going on here. Yeah, I don't think he's going to be able to think on this level. He's just going to like, he's not going to be like, oh, well, this front office failed to obtain a one C and a one D. And that is so, so grossly deficient that, you know, we can never overcome that. Like, he's not going to think like that, and that's really the core issue. So like I just think that they're in a, like they're in a shit storm here, like a lot of group thinking there and a lot of inexperience. And I'm not so sure, I have no confidence that there, that there's going to be, unless somebody actually is interesting too, is unless there is the white night that comes in and

21:51his name is Chris Pronger and, and just for, for whatever reason he is, he is, he is part of the club to some degree, but if he can get in there and just be like, no, I'm cleaning this fucking thing out. We are bottoming out for the next six years. Like he gets it. Some of his comments on X have been fairly revealing about his understanding of what the flyers are doing and how they, you know, have deficiencies. So I don't know. Maybe he's the, maybe he's the remedy here. Who does? Whether it's him or somebody else, like you need, I mean, fuck, we've used this term for a decade now, it's pick a direction, you know, you've had three consecutive GM's that refused to pick a direction. They've walked one foot and one foot out the entirety of their fucking times, but you're talking about a rebuild on Monday and then Tuesday comes out and talks about wanting them to play off. Then Wednesday he's talking about a rebuild again, but Thursday they're making the playoffs

22:52because they want two games in a row now, and just like that, they, they were never doing a rebuild, you know, and people, well, it's, it's a rebuild. It's just not the way you think of a rebuild. It's just not a fucking real rebuild, by the way, it's clear and proven now that it hasn't worked. They've been trying this for fucking three GM's now, whether it, you know, Pronger says a lot of the right things on Twitter, he does have some front office experience with the Panthers. He's never been a GM or anything like that, you know, but whether it's him or somebody else, like, fuck, come in and lose for a little while or come in and have the balls to trade for Quinn Hughes and Robert Thomas and Jason Robertson. You have to do one or the other. You can't just keep saying, well, we're going to draft 15th this year. Somebody who probably should have been drafted in the third round because we liked him. We were afraid Vancouver was going to take him. So we needed to make the pack. You got to have somebody that knows what the fuck they're doing in this front office. Brear didn't, Chuck Fletcher sure as fuck didn't, Ron Hextall didn't, like, Paul and

23:56Grant towards the end really didn't, like somebody, I don't even care who it is at this point. I don't want to fly or not. I don't want rookie people that are just here to fucking pacify themselves and that's it. I don't want this anymore. I want to pick a goddamn direction and do it. And yeah, rebuilding right now with how fucked they are with their roster construction, it's going to suck. It's going to take a long goddamn time, especially because your prospect pool, even though you've been rebuilding for all these years, is fucking empty outside of our tone. You got nobody worth the shit here. It's going to take a long time to redo this to wait till these contracts get small enough for you. You can easily trade them again. Kataria and connect me and all these fucking dudes. Like it is going to be a really, really painful process, but it's Philadelphia. You build it and they will come. Does anybody remember the bad era of the Phillies in like 2015 and shit when there was 300 people in goddamn citizens bank every single night? And then what do they do? They traded for real moot, they signed Harper and fucking that place is full every single

24:56night for three. Everyone's pissed off at them again because Debrosey was fucking up these off seasons, but those glory did those world series, you did that because you added the talent and you played some of your young guys, start a bomb come up and do their thing and it's like, that was the perfect mix of exterior and interior coming together to make it happen. And the flyers just refuse to do that. You don't play your prospects and when they're in the NHL, you'd play it for fucking seven minutes a night because Rick talking arbitrarily hates the guy and they just don't make these outside moves. We don't want to draft, you know, drafting high is bad. We don't want Matthew Schaefer. Okay, you don't want Matthew Schaefer fine. Then you can't turn your fucking nose when Quinn Hughes becomes available by a trade and they fucking did. Well, we don't want to draft a center, but goddamn, we don't want Robert Thomas either. What the fuck are we doing here then? Pick a goddamn fucking direction that's all I want. I would totally be willing to sit through 10 years of abject San Jose fucking failure

25:58bullshit. If it mentioned that you walked away with a Maclin celebrity, I forget if it was this group chat or somebody else we're talking about, I'll even care if they win. I just won a fun product again. I want a product that I want to turn the fucking TV on night. I come home every night and hope that the flyers aren't playing. So I don't even have to pretend to watch them so I can sit here and at least talk about it. This is miserable. This isn't any fun watching Sean Caterier, move it fucking glacial speeds out there. Watching Mitch will probably play seven minutes a night. Watching goddamn sermerson allow the most insane goals you'll ever see in your fucking life. This isn't fun. And there's nothing fun coming up with the exception of our tone. Nothing. There's not a single other prospect I'm excited to see. As a paying customer, as a fan. What are we doing here? And you know what? I had somebody apologize to me on Twitter.

27:01They said I typically disagree with you. I've been very vocal about it, but you were right and I was like, thank you. Now you probably shouldn't come to this conclusion like, you know, six years ago, like fucking normal people. But hey, this little mini revolution we got here with this talk and stuff, it's good because people aren't taking it anymore because they're coming to the same conclusion that we are. Hey, this team sucks. We were promised another bill of goods and we bought in because it's Danny Breyer and former Flyers and we love him on. We trusted him and we just took another fist up the ass. And it's like, hey, maybe it's not going to work. So at least people are coming around to this one. But like, without the action of the front office, nothing changes. If they just bring talking back and call up Marton and Lachenko next year. And they make the jump to the pro level and that's their off season. What do you think is going to happen here? Not much, not enough to save themselves, not enough for change. I just between their roster construction, between the lack of names, even available in

28:032026, let alone their willingness to pursue those big names. I just don't know how you get you out of this one. And like, listen, I am all for a firing Breyer at this point. Like the guy had his chance and he just didn't do it. He was like the perfect mix of Hextal of like, hey, we're rebuilding, we're not rebuilding. Don't question us about it though. And the arrogant and bullshit nature that Chuck Fletcher held of like, well, we'll figure it out. But we're not going to do it now. We've got to wait till next year. You know, the trade deal line's going to come around and soon we'll try it then. Oh, it's not the trade deal. It's the off season now. It's kind of, I just, this guy just was not it. And the sooner we can fire him and move on for everybody the best. But I unfortunately think we're at least another year, if not further away from that happening. It's torture. They want them to pay everyone. They're the Buffalo Sabers. They're the Buffalo. We don't want to be the Buffalo Sabers, except they fucking are because the Sabers are the same probably and they had a lot more talent over the years because they drafted higher. But they drafted these guys and they never built them a roster. They just thought they were going to solve all their problems through draft picks and

29:04that's it. How many top players did the fucking Sabers signed over the last 15 years? Anybody? Is there one? Because I did the same thing because fucking Pogool is an idiot. All the gyms they've had there, Kevin Adams, Goddamn that guy sucked. You know, they just constantly were making the same mistakes and then they would sell off their prospects for future draft picks. Flyers didn't do that. They would commit to all of those guys long term, but it's like you are the Sabers. I just, I think we talked about this last time we recorded, but like I would love to compare the Flyers attendance numbers to other teams. Like what San Jose is doing, what Chicago, Chicago is better example because it's a bigger market team. But like what they were at their Stanley Cup peak over the last 15 years to the fall off when they got batard and they're kind of rebuilding here and what they're going to look like now they're building back. I would love to see those stats and compare them to the Flyers and compare them to the Sabers and just see like how rebuilding team, you know, they're afraid they're not going

30:04to make money. But if you just commit to losing for three or four years, you'd more than likely walk out of it better than you are today. Instead they've refused to do that since fucking 20 God damn 14, if not earlier, and they've been stuck in this ugly middle because of it all this time, what all the fucking, if Ron Hextall showed up in Soldzeroo, Vorichek and Simmons in like 2015 when they were all in their fucking peaks and you drafted Austin Matthews and Jack Eichel and all this stuff. You want to want to fucking cut by now? And they didn't do that and they actively have fought against it ever since and you end up with what? A roster full of 30 year olds under lifetime fucking contracts and no hope. For what? For why? Yeah. With no hope. I just, I just, all they, they employ former Flyers as a gimmick. That's their load hope and that's all they got. I mean, I think, God, well, I'll stay to Dan and a lot of great points there.

31:04And I think that one thing that people are starting to do more often now and I think it's a good thing is they're looking back on the past several regimes and kind of looking at this holistically, which is what we like to do a lot and I think it's important to do that and you're seeing the same categorical mistakes over and over and over again. And that's really bothering people now. And then on the other side, you get some folks and they're like, oh, well, you can't judge this regime on what a prior regime did. And I think it's actually chapters of the story. I think that's totally false for a number of reasons. One is you got to understand your history, right? Because you don't want to repeat the mistakes of those before you. So so you can't do that and just ignore the mistakes of your predecessor. And number two, each regime is endorsing a lot of the players that the prior regime also endorsed. Like when Chuck Fletcher got here, one of the first things he said was like, oh, the table

32:05is set. Like they just needed a closer like a, you know, like he thought he was the closer that came in because hexed all set everything up for him. And while Brear made some subtractions when he got here, I think that he also endorsed a lot of the stuff that was left over from Fletcher. You know, he built his team around Travis Kineckney on purpose. He built his team around Sean Catery, even though Danny was an assistant GM at the time I think when that contract may have been signed or he was with the main mariners still. But still like we haven't heard anything about him going to Sean and saying, hey, you know, you're not really going to fit with what we're trying to do here. You know, there's been no, no discussion of trying to move him to get him to wave at NMC. So it's just these regimes are endorsing what their predecessors did. And I think you couple that with the fact that for whatever reason, there's no appetite for the team to just like suck or like bottom out for a little while because they're afraid

33:06of being seen as Sam Hanky or something like that. Even though other teams in the league for the most part have done that, that's how the ebbs and flow and the ups and downs of a franchise go, especially in this hard cap era that we're in. So I think that it is really important to look at all these regimes from the bird's eye view and understand the categorical mistakes that they each keep making one after the other after the other. And thank God a lot of people are starting to recognize that and make these comparisons and draw these parallels to these prior general managers. So I think that's a good thing. I think that the scrutiny that's happening now is helpful and hopefully it creates some sort of public outcry that holds the current front office to that kind of standard. But yeah, I think there's definite parallels and I think that those that ignore it are just being boneheaded and not thinking critically about what they're seeing.

34:06Yeah, Charlie's one of the big proponent guys of like separating the eras of front office. But like the entire reason that they all run together for me is because there's been so little difference between the three of them that it's impossible to tell, you know, there were minor tweaks and differences, I suppose. Hextal at his theory, Fletcher had his, Brear seems like a mixture of the two, which is, you know, he took the worst traits from Hextal and Fletcher and decided that's going to be his identity, which fuck, well, what I want to choice that was. But yeah, the entire reason I think of this is one giant, you know, now 12 years span of bullshit is because it's been so goddamn similar. And the problems are so repeated amongst the GMs that I can't separate them. It's not like there was one good GM in there that, you know, it was like, you had two bad guys and you hired somebody that was really good, but you know, it didn't work out and they went back to Brear and there was like, you know, if you want to pick and choose, like, that would be a problem, I suppose, but they're just consecutive shit. One after the other of the same mistakes for 12 years.

35:08So yeah, it is totally fair to point back to what Hextal did because Hextal's 2018 is shaping up to be very similar to Danny Brear's 2026. You know, it's just, it is what it is. It's the same bullshit over and over and over again. It's the same mistakes. There's just such a fucked up way to run a hockey team, but they keep trying it for something because they want to reinvent the real, right? They want to just put themselves in and we got a lightning in a bottle. They got a 2010 this bullshit and make it happen. They don't want to build a winner. If they wanted to rebuild truly what that definition of that word means and wanted to build a, you know, a perennial winner, they would do virtually nothing of what they've done over the last handful of years, if not the last decade plus, you know, it's just, they want to be that one off, you know, St. Louis Blues team. I just, it is such not a strategy in 2026 to build a hockey team.

36:09Nobody is doing that. And the few team like Nashville trying to bloop in their fucking faces, so much so that Barry trotts retired, you know, like, it just, you need to rebuild in this day and age. You need to do it through the draft in a high draft picks and you need to be unafraid to make these big swings when he was becomes available via trade. You know, you got to make this shit happen and they just don't and they haven't for a long, long, long time probably since fucking Shea Webber offer sheet was the last, I mean, who have they done since JVR and Kevin Hayes was the only two I could think about the top of my head and that meant anything to anybody. Dan Floddar, you know, I guess Trevor Zegers was their biggest trade and even that was a rehab project. You got for a fourth liner and a draft pick. Well, they just, they don't, they don't possess the strength in their nuts to make this stuff happen. They just don't. Big balls, Briere. Big balls, Briere. Yeah. That was, that was the slogan.