Philadelphia Flyers
Final Offseason Flyers Mailbag
With Flyers rookie camp starting up in three days, I figured now would be as good of a time to run our last mailbag of the offseason.
So, fire away! If you have any questions you are looking for an answer for, or just want to start a conversation, use this post as a thread for questions!
Depending on the amount of responses, the goal is to close the window after 48 hours, and get one last mailbag post up by the start of Flyers rookie camp on Thursday.
I look forward to hearing the questions!
Read More: Flyers Release 2025 Rookie Camp Roster and Schedule
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Not really a Flyers question directly, but coming out of the NHL draft this summer where there weren’t really any local players selected, why is there such a paucity of Philadelphia metro area/Delaware Valley players making it to the NHL (North Jersey doesn’t count, Central Jersey is debatable)? There were pictures during a broadcast of the playoffs a couple of years ago with Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, Joseph Woll, Clayton Keller, Logan Brown, Luke Kunin, and Trent Frederic all on the same youth team in St. Louis across just two or three years. That’s more NHL talent right there in those photos than the Philadelphia area may have ever produced. The Philadelphia area is much bigger, why are there so many more players/star players coming from St. Louis? Beyond just those guys, Paul Stasny, Cal Heeter, Patrick Maroon, Ben Bishop and I’m sure more all historically came out of the St. Louis area, too. It’s not just St. Louis, either, as there are as many or more star players in the NHL right now from southern California, Florida, Arizona, etc. than Philadelphia. Really the only three stars I can think of from this area are Johnny Hockey, Mike Richter, and (going even further back) Hobey Baker. Obviously, traditional hockey hotbeds like Minnesota and Michigan and Massachusetts have a head start in producing hockey talent, but how has Philadelphia lagged even tertiary-plus markets like Florida, Arizona, and the others in producing NHL talent?
Totally agree. Where’s the talent in PHILLY. Not, NJ not Boston, not St L not Arizona etc etc etc…. absolutely sad. Yes, I’m a Flyers fan from London Ontario
Would the NHL be better off if they ran their draft like the NFL?
Right now, teams are drafting players without knowing when they will get them. Some players might be looking at a few more years of CHL junior hockey, some might be considering NCAA hockey, and others might be thinking about doing both.
As it is, players are being exposed to seasons of possible injuries well after their draft dates. Add in that teams often want players to develop at the AHL level once they finally arrive, and players are then losing what could be the early years of their NHL careers. That makes me think that there are downsides to the current system for everyone – fans, teams and players.
I realize that NFL rosters have more players, so to make it work at the NHL level you’d have to ake your AHL (or equivalent) teams a true farm/development team. No stockpiling career AHL players who will never even sniff an NHL game. Initial contracts and free agency would also have to change. But it could be done.
As a fan, I think it would be much more exciting if I knew we were drafting players that made the commitment to play immediately in the NHL club’s system, either at the NHL level (if good enough) or the AHL level for a finite number of years (if they’re not quite NHL-ready yet).
I also think that it would make the NHL better (parity-wise) since more teams would get NHL-ready players right away. They would have a better feel for what they are getting on draft day than having to wait a few years until a player adds bulk and develops at so many lower levels.
What do you think?
Sean Couturier’s contract is a problem. It runs for 5 more seasons. When does a buyout make sense. What would it look like?