Bailey’s Daily: Flyers Defensemen Earning Their Keep; Bruins Fire Jim Montgomery

In Wednesday’s edition of Bailey’s Daily, we’ll be talking the latest Philadelphia Flyers news, NHL news, stories, highlights, and more from the last day.

I know nobody liked the fact that the Philadelphia Flyers traded a decent draft pick for Erik Johnson back in March, but he has actually been a huge addition for the team.

Johnson is stepping in nicely during this injury crisis and perhaps has already played the number of games he was penciled in for. He’s also shown the young guns, like Jett Luchanko and Matvei Michkov, how to handle themselves and how to treat their teammates off the ice.

You can’t put a price on that. Well, I guess you can. The Flyers technically did twice – first with the trade, then when they re-signed him.

Rookie defenseman Emil Andrae, who has played with Johnson extensively this year, has spoken to the impact his elder teammate has had on him. Fellow rookie rearguard Helge Grans is probably starting to experience that, too.

Speaking of Helge Grans, NHL referee Mitch Dunning was injured not long into Grans’s NHL debut on Monday night after a scary collision with Josh Manson. It’s been reported that Dunning is home resting and has been discharged from the hospital no worse for wear.

NHL News

Well, Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery, er… former Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is the first NHL head coach to be fired this season after guiding the Spoked B to a disappointing 8-9-3 start.

The unfortunate reality is that this Bruins team just isn’t that good. Montgomery benched David Pastrnak, cut Charlie McAvoy’s minutes, and had some heated debates with captain Brad Marchand.

The Bruins are much like the Flyers in the sense that they have a lot of money tied up at the center position and not a lot to show for it.

Oh, and Jeremy Swayman, the goalie who held out and caused drama all offseason before signing a contract in the first week of October? He’s 5-7-2 this season with a 3.47 GAA and .884 save percentage.

Montgomery was always going to be the fall guy, but this mess in Boston isn’t going to clean itself up.

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