SteelFlyers Football Videos
Should Flyers Management Start Looking for a Possible Replacement for Torts?
Photo Credit: https://forums.hfboards.com/
Let me start this article off by saying that at the time of his hire, I do believe the Flyers made the right decision when they chose their current Head Coach, John Tortorella. I mean, he came with a pedigree that consisted of a Stanley Cup Win and two Jack Adams Awards, not to mention the fact that his brash, no-nonsense coaching style was exactly what this team needed at the time to help them weed out some of their locker-room cancers. You know, the players that had been around this team a little too long and, therefore, had grown comfortable with the state of mediocrity they were in, especially if it meant that after the regular season, they could get an early start on their summer vacation plans.
But the team is no longer at the start of a rebuild. This franchise is now three years into this renovation. The problems are long gone, and new management has been put into place, which has made significant efforts to get their club younger and faster by bringing in quality draft picks like Matvei Michkov and Jett Luchanko, to name a few. They also continue to set themselves up for the future by accumulating a multitude of other top-tier draft pick compensations that they will hopefully utilize during the 2025 draft this upcoming summer in an effort to continue to restock their once-barren farm system.
Still, even though management was able to gift Torts the young 19-year-old superstar in the making (Matvei Michkov) who leads all Rookies this year in goals and points, the team finds themselves amongst the league’s bottom dwellers winning just three of their now ten games played. So despite them having just won for the first time in Boston since 2011, I feel they are in trouble. If you look at the standings, you will see that the Bruins are dead last in the Atlantic Division. And the Flyers are only a point ahead of the league’s worst team, the San Jose Sharks.
So, with that being said, I think Tortorella has served his purpose here, and the team should be at least starting to look for his possible replacement. Do you disagree with me?
Well, let me provide you with some facts. With 2025 right around the corner, it means that it has been close to 21 years since Torts last raised a Stanley Cup. And it’s been seven years since he last won a Jack Adams award for being viewed as the league’s best coach. Even then, mind you, after winning 50 games during the regular season with the Blue Jackets, John’s team only managed to win one post season game before being knocked out of the playoffs and sent home packing.
Now, I’ll give him credit. It is pretty impressive that he has been able to achieve the honor of being named the Head Coach of five different organizations in the NHL throughout his career, not to mention him winning over 745 regular season games during that same time. Still, it doesn’t change the fact that over his three years in Philadelphia, he has only managed to obtain an abysmal .486 win percentage, which if you look at his stats is by far the worst of any team, he has previously coached or been fired from over his 23-year career.
In saying that, I don’t know about you, but I expect a little more this far into the rebuild. I mean, last season, this team, without Michkov or any other true superstar on the roster, held down a playoff position for over 110 straight days before succumbing to multiple injuries on the back end that led to their abrupt fall from grace.
So, with virtually the same team coming back, I ask you, what’s the problem? And what is the coaching staff willing to do about it? The answer: Nothing! So far this season, when asked by the media, Tortorella just chalks the team’s inability to win games up to their youth—reiterating on multiple occasions that the team is young and going to struggle at times, which I get to a point. But if that is true, why is he not trying to implement a plan of action to prevent that problem from happening?
And why, after back-to-back seasons of finishing with the league’s worst power play percentage, did he not choose to fire his assistant, Rocky Thompson? Granted, the PP has been better this year thanks to #39, but what happens when Matvei’s English gets better, and he will then be expected to actually have to listen to this guy who made a career out of punching in the face of his opponents, let alone the fact that he never even scored a goal in the NHL or the fact that he never saw any playing time while his team was on the man advantage. Let it be known that Thompson’s systems have not changed; the team is just benefiting from Michkov’s pure talent and current language barrier.
So, I ask you, with the team’s youth movement now well underway, should we still be employing a coach who historically has always favored veteran players over inexperienced youth?
Or should we bring in a coach with some fresh ideas and lots of experience coaching young men to glory?
Suppose you agree with the latter statement. Here are a couple of names I would suggest the Flyers at least start kicking the tires on.
Todd Nelson
Nelson is currently the Head Coach of the American Hockey League Hersey Bears. A team that is coming off a season where they won over 77% of their regular season games (53 to be exact) and then went onto the playoffs where they were able to repeat their success from last season, which garnered them back-to-back Calder Cup Championships. For his efforts, Todd was also lucky enough to be asked to coach in back-to-back AHL All-Star Games, as well as being named the AHL Coach of the Year last season, where he was given the (Louis AR Pieri Memorial Award).
But I assure you Todd is not just some overnight success. Serving as a Head Coach back in the early 00’s for the UHL’s Muskegon Fury, Nelson was able to coach the team to back-to-back Championships. He won an AHL Championship serving as an Assistant Coach for the Chicago Wolfs back in 2008 and added another Calder Cup Championship in 2017 when he was serving as the Head Coach of the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Still, with all those years of success and over 400 wins accumulated coaching in the minors, Nelson is not new to teaching at the highest level. In the past, he served as an assistant for the Atlanta Thrashers, Edmonton Oilers, and the Dallas Stars.
With all this being said, I think it would be well deserved if he were ever to be afforded the opportunity to be the next head coach of the Flyers.
Rand Pecknold
Another worthy candidate for the Flyers’ top spot, if it were ever to come available, would be the NCAA’s current active leader in wins, Rand Pecknold of the Quinnipiac Bobcats. Rand has spent the past 30 years building this now colligate powerhouse from the ground up. And it should be known that he has been able to do so with a fraction of the budget that some of his fellow Eastern College Athletic Conference coaches have.
Still, with less funds and no flashy gimmicks in place to get top-tier talent to come to the little town of Hamden, Connecticut, to play for him. Pecknold has managed to accrue an incredible 642 career wins. He’s done so through developing a keen eye for prospects who are willing to play a complete 200ft game and be defensibly responsible. Players that are going to be there to learn how to be a successful member of a team and not just focus on their individual point totals.
This method has allowed his previous teams to reach multiple Frozen Four Tournaments and earned them a National Championship in 2023.
Now, while others have tried in the past to lure Rand away from the team, he has poured so much of his blood, sweat, and tears into. A chance to coach a historic franchise such as the Flyers may just prove too enticing to pass up.
Dale Hunter
The last name that I would suggest the Flyers check into the availability of would be the OHL’s Dale Hunter, who coaches for one of the Flyers’ most trusted spots to select young talent from, and that would be the London Knights. Now, Dale, who served as the captain for the Washington Capitals for a great many years, retired back in 1999 from the NHL and, almost immediately upon doing so, became part owner of the Knights, where he has been the Head Coach ever since.
During that time, Dale has managed to pile up well over 900 regular season wins in the OHL, as well as winning four league championships, with the latest actually coming last year, where he got the chance to coach both the Flyers center prospect Denver Barkey and their defensive prospect Oliver Bonk.
Hunter knows what it takes to win in the NHL, and when you compare his hard-nosed, gritty play style and his relentless will to win, Dale seems like he would be a perfect fit to slide into what hopefully one day soon will be a vacant coaching position on South Broad Street.
As I said, I respect John Tortorella as a coach. In fact, he is just the kind of coach that would have fueled me to prove him wrong back in my playing days. But let’s face it, today’s kids are not built the same way some of us Gen X’ers were, which is why Torts’ old-school coaching style never seems to allow him to retain a job for any considerable amount of time. So, with a new influx of youth being brought into the Flyers lineup already, along with the possible addition of up to six players to be taken by the Flyers in the top 64 picks this summer, why not go ahead and replace this struggling relic with someone who has been spending the last 20 years providing tutelage to today’s future pros.?
Prospect Watch: Nathan Behm
Photo Credit: Kamloops Blazers X Page
Most leagues around the world are now close to a dozen or so games into their respective seasons. With being said, one name that has surprised me thus far is Nathan Behm, who plays for the Western Hockey League’s Kamloops Blazers. Nathan, who is 2025 Draft eligible prospect, is a 6’2, 198-pound winger who can line up on either side of the face-off dot and be equally effective, so much so that he has managed to come out this season and set the officials scoresheet on fire. Netting eleven goals and seven assists for an impressive total of 18 points in only eleven games played! And, to put into perspective just how good his production has been this year, his goal-a-game average finds him only trailing the diminutive dynamo Cameron Schmidt of the Vancouver Giants, who has tallied 12 goals this year for supremacy of the WHL leaderboard. Here’s the catch, though. Schmidt was/is viewed by many as a projected first-round NHL draft pick for some time now.
So, you have to figure when you’re playing that close to greatness, it can only mean that your stock should be on the rise. That’s why if Nathan can keep this pace up, I would not be surprised if he hears his name being called somewhere in the second round of this upcoming summers draft.
Now that I have your attention, let’s break down Nathan’s game. As I already stated when I provided you with his height and weight above, Behm is a player who already possesses NHL size and strength. And it’s that combo that allows Nathan to push his opponents off the puck during scrums in the corner. Where he then, effortlessly creates distance from them with just a few short powerful strides. But that’s not all; because of his lanky frame, Nathan wields what to some would seem to be an unusually long stick, but to him, it fits just right. And with it, Behm can stretch out and receive a leading pass on a fast break that is saucered to where only he can get it, which often leaves him off to the races.
And my oh my, what a talent he is in the offensive zone. Whether he is setting up around the face dots or in tight around the goal mouth Nathan just has a knack for knowing where the puck is going to end up. So that he can put home a nice juicy rebound or set himself up to perform his (what should be patent pending) finishing move, which I call the “Turn and Burn.” Where if you’re not familiar with it, Nathan will set up with his back to the goalie; then, upon receiving the pass, Behm blindly completes a 180-degree turn only to blast it past the goaltender’s glove or blocker.
I’m telling you guys. Behm has the kind of scoring touch that NHL scouts fall in love with, and with any hope, maybe your favorite NHL team will be the one lucky enough to get to draft him.
Is it too Early for the Flyers to Start to Re-Evaluate Their Options in Net?
HERE WE GO AGAIN….Well, folks, I know we are only a couple of games into the season, but with the Flyers giving up a combined 16 GOALS in the last three games, it appears once again that Philadelphia may have a problem in net.
For far too long now, the Philadelphia Flyers have been without a franchise goaltender. To the point that I would say the last real one they had was Ron Hextall, and he last played for the Orange and Black in the 1998-1999 season. That’s 25 years ago! So, to say that the Flyers have struggled to find Hexy’s replacement would be an understatement, especially when you factor in that they have started a total of 33 goaltenders since that time.
Still, that’s not to say that they didn’t have at least one goalie during that time that could have turned out to be “The Guy.” I mean, they convinced Sergei Bobrovsky to come over from Russia when he was just 22 years old. But they, of course, managed to piss him off by signing Ilya Bryzgalov to a nine-year deal worth an unheard-of $51 million that forced Bob out of town. Where since then, he only managed to win a Stanley Cup and a couple of Vezina Trophies. Not to mention the fact that he should quickly move into the top ten in all-time wins this season, considering that he is currently sitting at 398 career victories.
But, enough about the past, let us talk about the present. Now, I don’t have a problem with the young Sam Ersson. In fact, I commend him for stepping up last season after the sudden departure of Carter Hart. And for his efforts already this season where he managed to start back right where he left off by making some huge stops, especially in the first period of the first game this season while the Flyers were still trying to get their skates under them. The question is, do you think he is the long-term answer in net? I would say NO! While I do believe he is serviceable for the time being, I’m not ready to turn the net over to him for the next ten years.
We will save that discussion for another day, though, because in my mind, the more immediate question that needs to be answered is what the team should do with the colossal netminder Ivan Fedotov. After most of us gave up on the idea that this 6’7 goalkeeper (whom the team drafted way back in 2015) would ever come over and join this team, he finally did at the end of last season. And the scary thing is that after having him start in just three games (and winning none of them) for the team last season the Flyers felt confident enough to ink him this summer to a two-year $6.5 million deal. Despite Ivan averaging a horrendous 4.95 goals against average and an abysmal .811 save percentage in those three games.
Now, before you come to his defense, let me remind you that Ivan is no kid. He is a 27-year-old man who, previous to joining the Flyers, has played in a part of seven seasons in Russia’s top professional league, the KHL. Where he won both their league championship and their version of the Vezina Trophy after being voted the league’s top-rated goaltender. And, in my defense, I’ve been advocating for some time now that it may take Fedotov some time to get use to the smaller/faster North American-style ice surface. But I have to say that he’s had a whole off-season and multiple preseason games to do that, so by now, a goaltender with his championship pedigree should have figured it out.
But instead, here we are once again talking about the Flyers having goaltending issues. This of course, is being made apparent after Ivan has now started in two games this season, and he is averaging an embarrassing 6.09 goals against average and a .818 save percentage.
I’ve played the goaltending position for over 30 years now, and I have coached the position as well. And to me, Fedotov, who previously relied heavily on his enormous size to help him in net, cannot seem to react fast enough to the speed and overall talent that he is now facing in the NHL. And because of that, he has been unable to stop simple shots coming in from the point and is having trouble controlling very manageable rebounds. I don’t know why this would come as such a surprise to some, considering the KHL is widely overrated. Case in point: last season, one of the KHL’s top five scorers was 32-year-old Jordan Weal—a guy who never amounted to much more than a call-up option during his time with the Flyers.
So, now looking back, Fedotov (despite his age and prior accomplishments) probably should have been made to prove himself in the AHL first before being given millions of dollars and being gifted a free pass to play in the NHL, all because the Flyers had a glaring hole in the blue paint with Carter Hart not returning.
Still think I’m crazy? Well, I urge you to browse both the Daily Faceoff and Bleacher Report articles provided below that rank each NHL team’s Goaltender Tandems prior to this season. You will see that they ranked the Flyers dead last in one and 31st in the other.
https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10138840-power-ranking-every-nhl-teams-goalie-tandem-for-2024-25
https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/ranking-all-32-nhl-goalie-tandems-for-2024-25
Ready yet to admit the Flyers might have jumped the gun a little bit when they signed the three-game NHL veteran to such a lucrative deal? I thought so.
Let’s look at their other options if Fedotov continues his downward spiral. Well, you can forget about Cal Petersen and the $5 million salary cap hit he carries if he rejoins the Flyers in the NHL. They don’t have the cap space nor the need for another floundering goalie. They did sign former Shark’s netminder Eetu Makiniemi to a deal out of training camp, but let’s be honest, he was brought in just in case their 22-year-old goaltending prospect Alexei Kolosov decided not to return to play in the AHL.
So, let’s talk about him for a moment. Alexei was drafted in the third round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft and since then has been making quite the name for himself playing in parts of the last four seasons in the KHL. In fact, he became a gamer, a guy the Dinamo Minsk were able to count on to log a lot of minutes in net. But I don’t think he expected Fedotov to sign as well, hence why he was so willing to openly voice his displeasure on how he thinks the organization treated him when he first came over last season before the Phantoms’ playoff run.
We’re not going to dive into all that drama, though. Instead, I’ll just state that I think Kolosov needs to play as many games as possible. He is still developing and, therefore, needs the brunt of the workload that is going to be given to him at the AHL level. However, they might not have much of a choice if Fedotov continues to struggle. If that is indeed the case I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Kolosov’s name being put on the call-up list, for he did play pretty solid in the few preseason games that he managed to show up for.
How will this all play out? Well, we will just have to wait and see. All I know is the Flyers won’t likely want to do anything too drastic, seeing the team just utilized a 2nd and a 3rd round pick on goalies Carson Bjarnason and Yegor Zavragin in 2023, and both are developing fast.