UNLOCKING Tyson Foerster’s potential for the Philadelphia Flyers

0:00This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Thank you for making Lockdown your first listen every day. For your second listen, go find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey. Steal Rodin and Flip Living Stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your leaguemates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. Find Lockdown Fantasy Hockey on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Tyson Forster signed a new contract, came back from injury, but can we predict what his upcoming season might look like? For Lockdown Flyers, your daily podcast on the Philadelphia Flyers.

1:01Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey there and welcome to Lockdown Flyers. I am Rachel Donner. I'm here as always with Russ Cohen to keep up with our latest episodes and flyers news. You can find us at Lockdown Flyers on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky and Twitter. We are going to dig into Tyson Forster's last season and look ahead to this season for the Philadelphia Flyers. Forward plus it is Monday. We will have our new nemesis of the week and our single tier final off season poll question of this summer as rookie camp gets underway at the end of the week. We're finally here Russ. I am very excited. We are there. It's good. It's a good time of the year. I like it. Nothing but hope. Right? Oh yeah. Loads of hope. I like the working games. I always feel like there's something to gain there. So I'm good with it.

2:02Yeah. And of course we'll talk more about them later in the week. But Tyson Forster, as we know, signed a big contract extension on July 1st for $7.1 million years on an eight year deal of course, 71 being his jersey number. Love it when guys do that. He has one more year left on his current deal at 3.75 million. So he's locked in as a Philadelphia flyer for the next nine seasons, which is pretty crazy, but also pretty cool. I think as we talked about at the time of the contract extension, the other thing we talked about then or I guess more immediately thereafter is the fact that he signed this extension prior to the Carlson offer sheet, which kind of reset the market. Yeah, but he said he money wasn't as important to him as some of these other guys. He wanted the job security and everything else.

3:02So he knows he left money on the table and he's fine with it. And I appreciate that in him. Yeah. I think so. I think a lot of flowers are given to guys who do that sort of thing and take more team friendly deals for that job security. I do think it would be interesting to see how the value of that contract changes over the course of it because I mean, right? Oh, it's going to be a great contract. I know. That's the thing. It's right now. It's already looking fantastic. Like it'll look even better as the years go on because obviously he's still young. And so I think it is a really good time for Philadelphia flyers fans who love Tyson Forster. We'll say for sure. This past season, as we know, he only played 29 regular season games due to the injury that he sustained on December 1st. He had arm surgery and he did not return until April 2nd where he played eight of those remaining regular season games.

4:04And he played the 10 playoff games as well. In that tail end of the season in the eight games, he had three goals and one assists in that comeback and 16 minutes and 55 seconds average time on ice, which kind of checks out for his role, but also as you're like getting back into it after injury, right? Yeah. I mean, and the playoffs were even less effective. But I think for that kind of considering what he came back from, it was good. Right. So he had 10 playoff games. He had one goal and no assists, 27 shot attempts over the course of those 10 games, one game that was seven of those 27. So amongst nine games, he had 20 shot attempts, which is a little low for him. It is again, this was the thing where he came back. He tried to contribute like I'm not going to hold it against him. Right. And so I think it's really important, given that injury, to look at his career trends and

5:04not just how he performed last season and just talking about his shooting, I think one thing of note that we've always talked about with Tyson Forster is his shot. It's a hard shot and it's also pretty accurate, I'd say. Yeah, compared to a lot of guys on the team, especially, I feel like it's going to be more accurate. Yeah, what I noticed is I went and did like a deep dive on Insta and he does kind of like scoring in that area in the middle that kind of in transition can kind of be open. And he seems to do it well with Zegress. Now the question would be, everybody you want everybody to play with Zegress, like I get it. But my question would be, if you're really going to put Zegress at center, could you put Tyson Forster back on left wing because Torch had used him there. And based on his defense and the way he has pushed back and I don't know, maybe he can, because I think then that play opportunity that he seems to like would happen more, if

6:10that happened more, I think he could get 30 goals. Sure. And I think when you're talking about line mates, that line with him and Tyson and Owen and Tippett was the most effective line for Tyson Forster, albeit to your point with Forster on the right side as opposed to the left side. And I do think moving him back to the left side is a really interesting option that we'll get into when we talk about his usage moving forward. But that was certainly the most successful line for him this past season. Again, with like small data because of his limited game play, what we saw prior to his return, most often was him playing with Devorak. And then as the center and Zegress on the wing before they had moved Zegress to the center. And you know, that was a pretty solid line as well where we saw slightly less scoring

7:12production. But not, I would say significantly. So it was like just under those that initial line. Yeah, I think it was just under again. Yeah, I'm looking at him and I'm like, he's a guy that could play in a multitude of spots in the top six. And they do need some flexibility there considering Kate's really is in the top six guy. So I feel like he should almost be playing that role where because he is good defensively, let's get him set up defensively, but also set up with somebody that's going to keep looking for his shot to sure. And like I said, we'll talk more about looking forward in the next segment. Yeah, I do want to talk about a couple more things about his career trajectory here because there was some significant improvements that he has made over the course of his career that I think are worth noting. Just, you know, again, I said his shot accuracy is very good.

8:13If you look again, I know it was more limited number of games this past season, but the percentage of his unblocked shots that missed the net went down by 10%. That's good. That is a remarkable achievement when you're averaging, you know, 35, 30 to 35 ish percent of your unblocked shots, missing the net. And then it jumps down to 26%. That is really good. And especially when you have like an arm injury. Yeah. No, that is really good, especially since the arm injury. You know, the thing about Forster is he is a guy that rides waves and gets hot, then he's not. And so I'm looking for more consistency because I think that has plagued him as much as anything else. Got the great shot, sure, but he's never even gotten 50 points yet, right? And I think probably thought by now he would have. Yeah. And I think that's where the potential comes in. And I think you can also look at his own starts as an indicator of where he could be going

9:20based on where he's been. Obviously, as a rookie, you know, if you get a ton of defensive zone starts, that's a rarity, right? And so we've seen kind of, on average, his offensive zone starts decline for a couple of reasons. Number one, he's just getting better at his two-way game, right? So there's that. The other aspect of it is that his forechecking ability is so good that the flyers have recognized that he can start in the neutral zone, which is where he started the most often this past season. Or the defensive zone and still get up ice and forecheck and get puck possession there. And so looking at this past season, only 13.9% offensive zone starts. Like I said, 19% neutral zone starts and only 12% defensive zone starts.

10:22But that is still like, it's close to his high of 14.7 defensive zone start percentage in the previous season, which was his only kind of four-full season. Yeah, I feel like I have to kind of reset his numbers though. I do. Right. Because of what happened. I don't know how much of his career trend I could look at anymore, because I think there's a new coach. And he's now had this injury. And so, and because he didn't do well in the playoffs, I feel like I have to start with a fairly clean slate with him. That's just me. That's the way I kind of have to do this. Because now I feel like a lot of things have changed. And so, let's see where he is starting again, because he started a hot last year. And will he do that again? Probably. But I got to see now how it all looks after the fact, because he didn't finish strong. Right. In the playoffs. In the playoffs.

11:22And that's the only thing I have that keeps nagging at me. Like, OK, I get all these other things, but that's still there, too. Right. And it could be any number of things. It could be, he came back from the injury, and he only had enough gas for a short window. And that window ran out. It could have been, he's still adjusting to how he physically feels and whatnot. There's all sorts of things. There's also the unfamiliarity with playoff action. I could have had something to do with it. Something to it, because again, he's still a young player. So, yeah, I think it is really important that we do kind of a reset with him. But I think there are some important questions we can ask like where he is in the lineup to your point. And so, we will get into all of that coming up next. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever. Only on Fandall. How rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring. More rewarding than an 18 point comeback.

12:22More rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown. This season, Fandall's making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offers, surprises and more. Every week, check the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you. There's nothing like a game-winning play when everything comes down to the final seconds. That feeling is what makes football so much fun and Fandall's adding another labor excitement with rewards and surprises throughout the season. Take this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall as at Fandall.com to get started. All right. Tomorrow is Tuesday. So we will have a more prospect focused show as we usually have phantoms Tuesday. We talked about the phantoms a lot last Tuesday. So we'll keep it prospect focused as we get toward rookie camp here. Plus we're going to answer your mailbag questions on the Wednesday show. So make sure you get those in. You can email us at Lockdown Flyers at Gmail, send us a message on any of our socials or comment on our YouTube channel.

13:26So Russ, we talked about this reset for him. And I think there is this unlocked potential with Tyson Forster. Like we haven't seen what his scoring could actually be. And I think the contract he got was based on that unlocked potential to some extent. Yeah, I think I think they gave him like a newer version of what they gave to it. And I feel like now if I have to say who's the better player all around, it's Forster over to it. And so I feel like that's where the organization's kind of at right this minute too. And so I think that all aligns. There's still a certain amount of hope though in here. They know what his base is. Like you get 40 some points out of him pretty much every year, but they're needing more. Right. So I were like, should we be looking at 50 to 55 points for this upcoming season? Yeah. And I think it's reasonable to expect. I think, you know, when you look at his shots that we talked about in the first segment,

14:28the only people that take more shots than him are the aforementioned Owen Tippett and Travis Kineckney and Matt Baymitch Koff. And I think that, you know, as we saw Owen Tippett doesn't have the shot accuracy that Tyson Forster does. And with that accuracy improvement, like, should we be pushing Tyson Forster to take even more shots and maybe start matching Tippett and TK on where they are with shot attempts? Well, I mean, the shot map that you have and what I was looking on an Insta kind of a line in the sense that if I'm looking at the goalie, that right side of the dot spot he likes. And when I'm talking about him kind of finding that space and transition up the gut, it's just a little bit over from there. So it's still sort of like there. So that's sort of his area that you want to sort of find him in. And I think teammates should try and look for him there. Yeah. And that's the thing is that if you're using him on a line with Owen Tippett, he's not going to be the puck carrier coming into the zone, right?

15:31Tippett's going to be that guy. If he's on a line with Kineckney, he's not going to be the guy carrying the puck into the zone. It's going to be Kineckney, right? And if we move him back over to that left side, that's where we're at, right? And so if you're not the puck carrier and you're F2 coming into the zone like Tyson Forster, he's going to do one of two things. He's going to either be a puck retrieval guy because one of those guys will have taken a shot and missed because they do, right? Or they will have purposefully like dump the puck into the zone and Tyson Forster is the puck retrieval guy because he's the four-check battle who's then going to try and feed it back. So how do you then take advantage of Tyson Forster shot if he becomes the four-check or he continues to be the four-check retrieval guy? Like how do we get him on the board more? Well, I think if he is the retrieval guy and he's got the puck, he can move into the net. Again, one of the areas where you look at your shot map, if I'm looking at Insta.

16:34Yeah. So I pulled a shot map from Money puck and this is where we're getting. Like his heat zones are just to the right side of the goalie or net front, I said. Yeah. And that's the thing. Off to the side of the goalie is another area where he does well. And my mind's I kind of remember a good amount of those going in early. So I think he could do that. You can go right off the wall and do that. He has not to look for anybody. He could just do it. Yeah. Take it to the house. No, I think that's the right approach in that scenario, right, where he's the puck retrieval guy. Let somebody else worry about picking up the rebound if he doesn't get it in. Yeah. And then he can also rotate back around to the other side and do the same thing again, you know, if that rebound shot doesn't go either. Right. So I do think there's some real untapped opportunity there for him to take those additional shots himself. And maybe be a little selfish.

17:35Yeah, just on that. I mean, you're going to create for your team by doing that anyhow, because you're going to create havoc around the goalie. And you're going to create rebound chances. And then, you know, so I don't think it's all that selfish. I think it's one of those things where that's the role. Like if you're going to play that role, that's what I'd like to see him do is play that role. Then on the power play, it's a whole different thing. You know, we talked about that. Right. Exactly. I mean, he does have to be like your two way player on the power play. He does. And that does change things because he can't be that guy. Unfortunately, to always set up for a shot, but he is really good when you have him set up for a shot. Because initially early in his career, I used to worry about his feet. They never were sort of placed right. I think he's gotten over that. It's better. And so like, yeah, he's in position shoots quick. But if he has to be the guy to wrestle the puck away. Right. Then you don't have him as a feature shot. Right. He's either wrestling the puck away or he's like back checking because like when you lose the puck, right. Yeah. So he has to have that mindset on the power play to some degree.

18:35And so I do think he's going to have more limited scoring opportunities on the power play than maybe some of the other guys. But I'm willing to concede that because it's important that he fulfill that role. Yeah, somebody's got to do the hard work. Yeah. Yeah. That's the way it is. Exactly. So it's probably going to be him. Yeah, exactly. I do think, you know, you mentioned new coach, right. And so Rick talk it hasn't had a full season of Tyson Forster to work with. And I think we saw some real promising things at the beginning of last season. And Forster was like really well on his way, you know, for a really successful season. And I think like with the addition of Porter, Marton in the lineup. And I wonder like how talk it approaches like where he fits Forster in on a more consistent basis, given the addition of Marton, right. Well, and that's the thing like Marton kind of sucked up a lot of what he would have gotten or forced or got before March.

19:39And like the right side energy. Yeah. And so that does change things. So you're, we're presuming Marton probably is the top liner. So he's going to get more puck touches than, than Forster. And almost every way. Yeah. And that's why I think that element has to be included when we're talking about expectations here. I also think, you know, we talked about Owen Tippett and Travis Kineckney as guys that work really hard. But miss the net a lot. And I know that those two guys in particular are likely working really hard on trying to improve their shot accuracy this off season. And they're going to want to prove it. Will that potentially depending on how these lines shake out one of them is going to be on a line with Forster, right. So ostensibly. So like is that going to also potentially artificially reduce Forster's scoring potential.

20:42I mean, it could, but again, if there's great chemistry, it won't. And that's what you hope for. And that's why it has to happen in camp now because you only have four preseason games. And probably none of the starters play the first one. And then they play all the rest. I don't know what the, how they're going to do it. But it's going to be a weird setup. So it's almost got to happen in camp. Yeah. And it is one of the many questions going into camp. And we talk specifically about really not having a good sense of how these lines are going to shake out. Because there's a lot of work to be done from an experimentation perspective on, you know, what it could look like. And I think Forster given his two way skill. And his excellent shot and his hard shot. I think. Talk it is going to see him as a guy that he can plug and play almost anywhere. And he'll be like one of the last people to kind of plug into a slot. And that's based on where other people go. And so I do think it's going to be really interesting to watch to see where he lined up in the preseason.

21:44Yeah. Like again, I don't know exactly the plan. Right. But I'm looking at it and the fliers are on the road the first two preseason games. And then at home the last two. Usually they want to give the home crowd their guys. Right. And so I think they're all the guys who are trying to make the team have those two road games to do it. And I think they're done. I think. Right. As team is playing the next two. Like that's the only way to do it. Yeah. It's truly the only way to do it here. I think. And you give. I think, you know, obviously. You're going to have some flexibility here. But you're really going to have those two games where it's going to be pretty close to what the final. Yeah. Is going to be there. Well, somebody's nicked up. That's the only way it doesn't happen. If you're not gonna knock on wood, that doesn't happen. With Tyson Forster in particular here. But I think you know when all is said and done, we look at. Forster and he is. A guy that tends to and does score more goals than get assist.

22:45Right. It's definitely a scarer. And especially when he this season like exemplified that more than you. think that that it's not going to level out entirely, but I do think that ratio is going to change a bunch this season. Yeah, it'll change. It won't be that lopsided, but he's not a high assist guy. That's just not going to happen based on what we talked about with his usage and the way he plays and the fact that they need him to be a sport. He does, that's why he needs to almost score 30 goals or close to it for the team to function. They managed out without him last year, but that was just it worked out. But this year is a different year based on the schedule, the way things are the rest period and all that. So yeah, he's going to have to be consistent all the way through with his goals for him. He really is, but I'm excited to see what Tyson Forster has to offer for the Philadelphia Flyers this upcoming year.

23:48And we will of course talk about it throughout the season and do some kind of gut checks with him at various points. But in the meantime, it is Monday. So we will have our new nemesis of the week and our last off season poll question coming up next. Looking at our final off season poll question here, Russ, this one is for all the marbles here. And of course, the last question heading into the preseason here. What are your expectations for the Philadelphia Flyers for the 2026, 2027 season and your options will be repeat last season essentially make the playoffs and win one round, potentially one round, but definitely make the playoffs. The next option is go further than last year. And three come close, but not make the playoffs an option for significantly worse than last

24:53season. So trying to be like in zones here and not be like, it's going to be a tire fire or you know, because I think that's possible, right? I don't think that's possible. But listen, sports is weird. Like could they have, you know, there's a million scenarios. I do think this one, you're tapping into a psychological experiment here more than a poll. That's what I think. Well, I don't know. I don't know. I think I am very curious to see what the mood is because, you know, like we talked about at the tail end of the season and a lot over the off season that it is very unusual for fans to be sky high after getting swept in a playoff round. And I think that optimism is at an all time high and with very good reason. So I'm wondering how much it carried through the summer and based on what the off season moves were, are we in the same place that we were at the end of last season here?

25:53So the link to this poll will be in the show notes. It's also on our YouTube channel. So make sure you let us know what you think about this team heading into this season. Turning to our nemesis of the week. Last week, I talked about the whole players requesting a trade thing related to Connor Hellebuck. And we had some really interesting results in our poll question last week related to that in terms of if players should have to wave no move clauses. If they themselves are the one requesting a trade and it doesn't come from the team. Rest you talked about watching eclipses and getting reports that get overblown about what you can see from your specific location. And people kind of oversell it there based on the narrow band of when you can actually see those things. For this week's nemesis, I am looking at the rest of the Metro division.

26:55And we did a spotlight on it a little ways back. You can go back and watch that episode on our YouTube channel. I had the pleasure of talking to Jay from locked on Columbus Blue Jackets over the weekend. He's doing a round up of all the Metro rivals. And we were talking a lot about it after the recording and like what is going on with this division. And both of us as you know Russ and I talked about we're super cranky about the Washington capitals and the New Jersey Devils making significant improvements here. And it's going to be even harder for the flyers to take that step forward and or to even like maintain where they were this past season as far as the end of season standings. And that you know Jay obviously thinks the only way Columbus is making the playoffs is if they're in the top three. And that's going to be a tall order for the blue jackets. And I said that I think the flyers could potentially be a wild card team that I think they're just

27:57just going to some of those Atlantic division teams that might be also battling for those wild card spots. And he agreed with me on that front. But nonetheless the Metro is going to be a tough division this year. And so that is why they are my nemesis of the week. So my nemesis is television in the sense that like network television I bet you I watched three shows maybe four. That's it from network TV right. And sometimes it's after the fact sometimes I don't even know the teeth the shows on I see it after the fact. Oh this isn't bad. And I watch it on some other service. There are some curious decisions that are getting made these days. And I know there's been some mergers and such. And I'm not a financial expert. I'm not getting into any of that. But when you see a show like as an example like high potential that was really good season three is going to start in January. Yeah. January. Like this is one of your better shows on ABC. And you're going to start it in January.

28:58But yet. What is it that RJ Decker show you're going to start early in September. And that thing ran late. And so again I think that's ABC. Why? I just have to like why can't things just run through it's like the excuse to use as well. There's too many mid season breaks. And all your networks are basically have no problem putting a show on hiatus for two weeks while other stuff's going on you're showing other programming. They all do it two three weeks sometimes. That's not my issue. My issue is to actually have something start. You are risking people just tuning out of it all together like hey I'm not as interested anymore because now six more months have gone by and I think that's dangerous. And I just think for a viewer it's really not a great thing. Don't try and sell me on something else. You already sold me on this. I like it. Now you're making me wait. I don't like it. You know, I think it's interesting. I think you can look at it that way. Like I'm not discounting what you're saying on that.

29:58But you're going to. I'm going to say why I like it the way they do. The way they're doing it especially ABC in particular because as somebody who has limited time and can only watch maybe two or three shows at any given time. I only have time to fit in two or three shows into my viewing calendar with all the hockey that you know that we watch and you know all the time it takes and what not. I think that it's helpful for me to have mid seat shows that are a mid season premier. So with ABC in particular, I get my 911 fix in the fall and then they go on hiatus and I get the rookie and high potential coming back in January. And I love that for me because then I'll have time to watch all of them. And so like I do get it. You know, if you're watching a high volume of TV shows and you have time to fit all that in, you're going to want to watch things as soon as possible. I like having a kind of rotating slate of shows where like only two or three shows that

31:03I watch it are on it with new. They're program for you. They're going to go broke like this. You're not watching enough. And I know to keep it to keep them afloat. Like I watch enough and I think that people are getting used to it too. And I think networks especially are kind of the middle ground between what it used to be and you know prestige networks who you only get eight episodes of a show every three years, right? So this is the middle ground here where you sometimes have to wait until January for a premiere as opposed to the fall. But you know HBO you won't see the show for two years. I think it's a good middle ground. I understand why HBO does it. It's a whole different model because it's a different production model. Yeah, a network would do it. That's all. Yeah, I love it. And so I'm excited to get into especially those ABC shows that I mentioned. Those are fun ones for me. All right, that will do it for today's show.

32:04Thanks so much for listening. Of course, we'll be back tomorrow and make sure to get those mailbag questions in like I talked about. And you can also after this watch locked on NHL over on YouTube. It brings you the daily lead wide stories that matter most with local coverage. You love from locked on. I'm Rachel. I'm on Blue Sky in Twitter at our Miriam. That's our MIR I am. I'm Russ some at sports all the same socials as PRTS LL OGI have a great day. Everyone. The locked on podcast network is brought to you by Fandall baseball fans. If you think you know who's hitting a home or today, Fandall is giving you a free chance to call your shot with daily dingers. It's easy to play. Just make your free pick for who you think will hit a home run in their game. If you're right, you'll receive a profit boost to use on your next bet for a chance at extra winnix. Best of all, you can make a free pick every day throughout the MLBCs. So are you ready to play your game today? Join all the action at Fandall.com. That's Fandall.com to play daily dingers and make your free pick on who's hitting a

33:07home. Play ball and swing for the fences on Fandall, an official partner of the MLB. Thank you for making locked on your first listen every day. For your second listen, go find locked on fantasy hockey. Steal rodent and flip living stone provide daily fantasy tips to give you the edge over your league mates all while making you a smarter hockey fan. Find locked on fantasy hockey on YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team, every day.