Danny Mr. GM Briere
Joined: Apr. 2020
Posts: 622
Likes: 159
My problem is not with Risto himself. When I watch him, I see something that I don’t from other flyers defensemen since Pronger left in 2012: constant turnovers. It’s been EVERY defenseman we’ve had since he left. Risto does not struggle with this. It is fair value. But this is where the problem lies.
The Flyers have CONSTANTLY tried to do the thing where they ignore analytics in favor of “big” players. That’s what they got in Lindros, and worked out pretty well until his bad habit of always looking down at the puck hit him. They constantly whiff on drafts. Sam Morin: 6’7, 215+ lbs defenseman that no one had in their top 15 on the draft board in 2013. Flyers reached, and it failed miserably. In 2017, the flyers get GIFTED the 2nd selection despite barely missing the playoffs. THAT SAME YEAR, Nashville taught you that you can NEVER have too many defensemen. Never. You can flip them if you are too stacked there. What do the flyers do? They draft an injury prone, just coming off from a surgery Nolan Patrick 2nd overall. A big “200 foot” centerman. Which the flyers DIDNT NEED. They had Giroux, Couturier, and Schenn (they ended up trading Schenn to St. Louis because they got Patrick). They had a stacked defense pool at the time, but it was clear they could use another big piece. What else did they need? 30+ goal scorers. A 200 foot centerman is not going to be that. The guy that was 2nd in goals on the team in Schenn, they traded on that same day. Then, they signed Kevin Hayes. A 200 foot center blah blah blah, he sucks. He wasn’t even that good when he was “good”. Then they traded for Risto. But I thought it was an investment type deal once we started losing. There’s a reason we paid so much, right? But instead they DOUBLE DOWN. On the logic that has rewarded them with 0 championships in the last 47 years. 6 losses in the finals without a cup since 1976. You’d think something would change, but it hasn’t. What’s worse is that with the passing of Mr Snider in 2016, I don’t even know who’s running the team. He was such a kind man who went out of his way to go above and beyond for his players. To establish a relationship. To help them out during injury. We do not have that anymore. A soleless corporation that understands nothing about hockey is running the team. They think we will compete. We will not. With Ed it was excuseable to go all in every year. He GIFTED us our hockey team. Why can’t an old man just have one more cup? Now, it’s just sad. All the best teams intentionally lose at some point. The flyers are trying to be the flyers of old in an era where it doesn’t work. It’s very sad.
To reiterate: the eye test tells me Risto isn’t as bad as they say he is. My heart tells me that the flyers are a clown organization that will never change their primitive ways. It is absolutely pathetic to watch them walk all over themselves all the time. Did this team ever hear Albert Einstein’s take on insanity? By his logic, they are bat sh*t crazy.