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Hi guys, it's Daria Mironova and Hike on the Beach. Today we're mostly going to talk about Philadelphia Flyers. My guest is Ross Cohen, Hike and Baseball journalist. He is someone who really knows the Flyers.

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So hi Ross, how is Philadelphia?

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Oh it's great, Dasha, thanks for asking. Get a little warmer here so that's nice. I know you're used to the warm weather where you are, but we're getting there.

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Okay, I'm just going to be straightforward. How come Flyers will not make it to playoffs this year?

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They won't make it because they lack talent and the player development has stalled in certain players over the years. So, you know, for the last couple of years this was coming.

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You know, they traded Claude Giroux, which was fine. Maybe they had to do that. I get it. But then with other trades, other contracts that they've signed, they've sort of hemmed themselves in, cap wise and, you know, talent wise.

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It's just not there. They brought in John Torrella, who I think thought it might be a little better. But with Sean Coturre and Kaye Mackinson still being injured for the whole year.

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That was probably what he wasn't expecting, although I think, you know, we in the media could see it coming. So in the end, you know, it turns out to be a bad recipe and now they're kind of like stuck in the middle.

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Wow, that sounds really sad. I mean, I know a different Philadelphia.

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Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, again, that's, you know, that Philadelphia hasn't existed in a while. And now this one has to kind of pull itself out of this. And there's a lot of different ways that it has to happen.

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And, you know, one of it is losing cap money. Another one is developing better. Another one is some more good economic free agent, economical free agent signings and better drafting.

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Oh, wow. So let's talk about positive. Well, I think it's positive because it's funny. Do you go to those hot postgame press conferences?

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I do. Yeah, I'm in all of them.

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And how do you like them? Do you enjoy them?

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Yeah, I enjoy them. I'm not necessarily a guy that's going to go back and forth with a coach. I always do, you know, talk to players. I get what I need. I do coverage for a certain couple different outlets, but I'm not an everyday beat guy.

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So my focus is different. So I don't really have to get combative and I don't really need like the biggest story that day. I can be patient. But have you ever asked anything ports?

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This season? No, because a lot of times there's good media guys, you know, there's three or four good media people. There's three or four that will go before me. And a lot of times I'll ask something that I would have asked anyhow. So no, I mean, this year, I think it is introductory press conference I gave, but nothing in season that has really sparked me to do so.

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Okay, because you know when we're not there, and we get all those videos where towards say something spicy, it's really hard to imagine what's going on.

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Right. Well, you know, again, he, he has his own agenda too. So he, he's going to say some, some spicy things at times to keep the media at bay. He's going to say it at times to fire up some players. He's, you know, going to put up some misdirection at times, saying things look better than they are.

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But he's going to do all those things and you know right now, it doesn't matter they're not going to make the playoffs so you know now.

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There's not really any tension, because there's no worry about not making the playoffs and everybody's on the same page that hey they're just going to see what they have for the rest of the year so I don't think you're going to see as much spice down the stretch here.

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Okay, because that was my next question what is the mood around the locker room, but you already said it.

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You know, around the locker room, and of course we only get into a portion of it right we're not in it all the time but as far as the guys.

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I think they're giving good effort I do think there are some guys that just don't like the system and aren't fitting in and they're just kind of playing but they're not playing to the best abilities. I think there's a few of those guys too I think they need to get weeded out.

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Because if they don't, it's just not going to be a good situation next year because you're going to have young guys that do need to develop at the NHL level and other young players like Noah Cates you know Morgan Frost some of the younger guys you hope that will take

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the first o and tippet those guys and you know you want them to be around the best talent and guys who are really fitting in the system and right now, it's a mishmash like they, I couldn't even, they haven't even, they don't even have one line combination that I would tell you has been definite all year.

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Wow. Just to show you how much they've taken around with everything.

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Wow. Let's talk about Proverov. He is the guy who doesn't necessarily like media attention but he got some this season. Before the trade deadline, there was a rumor that he might be gone but he stayed.

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Right. I didn't buy into that rumor. There's a couple things you know he's got time left on his contract. And for that time that's left on his contract. Let's say they were going to trade him. They really don't have a replacement.

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There's nobody who could play number one center in the organization so now, are you going to go out and get a number one? No, they probably wouldn't be able to get a number one so whoever you're putting in there will be lesser than Ivan Proverov.

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Now again, you can make the argument, hey, you're not expecting to be a great team next year. That's fine but you don't want it all to kind of be a jumbled mess either because there are other defensemen that do need the structure like him, York, other guys like Travis Sandheim who are still young enough that they need to have good partners.

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And for me, I would still keep Proverov. I understand, you know, I wasn't thrilled with what he did as far as Pride night. Didn't like that at all but I've covered him his whole career and as far as on the ice and effort and ability, he's still in the best shape of anybody on that team.

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He still gives it his all. He still works as hard as anybody. And so, I don't see a reason just to move him out. Wow, thank you. That's really informative. Thank you. What about other trades? Was there any deal that shocked you?

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For other deals, yeah, I would say Vancouver gave up a one and a two for Philip Peronik, who's got like one year left in an RFA year. He's a pretty good defenseman. He has offense in his game for sure.

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But again, this is a very strong draft to give up a one and two and you know, just to show like Vancouver is a team that's out of it, you know, they could have had a chance at a player like Mitch Cough.

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So, it's a really short term deal. And I didn't like it at all. From the Vancouver standpoint, Detroit was thrilled. Detroit's now got two firsts and three seconds in a very strong draft. That's what you want to do and Vancouver should have wanted that too because Vancouver, I think what they view themselves as and what they actually are two different things.

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I was really surprised that there were so many Russian names involved like Russian born, I guess the right word.

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Yeah, they definitely were.

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I don't know, it just stood out to me like what almost every day, you know.

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Yeah, I guess I can't you know I it doesn't hit me that way. But it did happen. I mean, you know, we can go back to the to the Tarasenko deal. Yeah, I can tell you that.

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I've been a fan of Tarasenko for a long time. I've been a fan of him for years and even though he's just an advisor. I'm sure he still has an opinion in the Rangers organization and Tarasenko does like to play where the lights are bright. And, you know, I kind of told people like even if you get Patrick Kane, Tarasenko is twice the player that that Patrick Kane is at the moment because Pat Kane's hurt.

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I think Tarasenko scored that Forsberg goal the other day at the garden that really lit it up. He's gonna be great for them. You know, Kane, I'm not so sure. He's gonna have to fit in there. They're trying to force him in and that's never a good thing.

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But Tarasenko was just a natural fit. And so, you know, I wasn't shocked that he was training because we knew that he wasn't happy a couple years ago but I think when the Rangers had traded from Nevech to to the Blues, I think that put off Tarasenko's wanting to get traded because he you know, he had somebody he could play with and they went pretty far now, you know, then that time just sort of wore out with St. Louis and they wanted to get some form so I get it from both ends but you know, the Tarasenko is in a good place. That's for sure.

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Do you think Kravtsov got his last chance? Like really, really the last one?

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I think if it goes too fast, it will be his last one. But you know, in his first game, he looked pretty good out there. I know he got a point on the power play. His skating is good. He has two-way ability. He definitely has to work on his corner play and being a little tougher with the size that he's at. He's got a lot of people he knows there. He knows Kuzmenko.

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There's three or four players, Russian players, I think about three, that he knows there now. So you can't make him any more comfortable than that, Dasha. If that doesn't work, nothing's gonna work. But I do think it can work for him and I do think the Rangers, while they were just sort of moving him out and saving his money on the cap, I think it was because they never really gave him the right opportunity.

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So, but again, look, Kravtsov's played four games. He only had that one point so far. He needs to prove it now. Even though he's 23 and there's still some development time left a lot of times in 23-year-olds, he's kind of put himself in a position now where he has to come through here.

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So let's see what he does. I know he has ability, but you know, sometimes guys never put it together. We've seen that before, but I know he's good friends with Pukh Kholzin and maybe some of those guys can help pull him through.

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Yeah, maybe. Well, yeah. Well, it looks like, you know, his English got better. He definitely is trying, but people need to see that on the eyes.

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Yes. Yeah, at some point, ability is one thing, seeing him skate is another, but seeing him put it together is really what matters.

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Sure. Are you guys still waiting for Fedorov?

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No, I honestly, I don't think Philly's waiting for him. I know, you know, he's on this crazy list where it's just like, hey, he's not on, you know, he's just not playing. I don't feel like he's ever going to come here now, based on what happened and everything else, which is a shame.

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I know there are hopes that maybe he could be a backup to start and then see where he could go. But I think now, I don't know if we're ever going to see him in the NHL, honestly.

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Well, there was a chance, but after September 21st, when all those military and draft stuff happened, that's like a different story now.

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Right. Yeah, definitely changed things. And, you know, I would have to say he's probably off the flyers' radar at this point.

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Okay, wow. Yeah, that's, I guess we will write a book someday about that.

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Should we expect more moves of season for the Philadelphia Flyers, since, you know, we haven't seen much going on around the trades?

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Yeah, nothing much happened around the trade deadline and that certainly has been a source of anger for fans.

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But I would just say this, they're going to have to clear somebody's salary in the summer, whether that's Kevin Hayes, Travis Anaheim, Bristol Lanean, or Provarov.

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They're going to have to do that because they just don't have, I mean, they're not going to have enough catch space to do everything and still extend the young players that they need to extend and be able to really move forward without doing that.

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They don't do that, you know, 90% of what you see on the ice right now would be the same team next year with a couple of alterations, some younger players and maybe one free agent.

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But it won't be much of a change and I don't think the coach would be happy with that.

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So I expect there to be some movement probably at the draft. That's probably when you can expect them to at least have conversations, whether something happens or not.

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I'm not sure, but I'm sure they're going to have those conversations and we'll see what happens at that point.

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I guess the best is yet to come.

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Well, I mean, it can't get much worse. It can get worse because they could be in last place in the league.

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But as far as the way Flyers fans see it, it can't get much worse.

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I wish the best to the Flyers fans for sure.

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I used to like Philadelphia. I want it back.

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Yeah, yeah. Well, you'll get it back at some point, but it takes time, you know, it goes through cycles.

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And right now they're in a down cycle where you got to see how long they stay in it.

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But, you know, you've seen this happen with a lot of NHL teams. It's not just them.

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That's true. But I mean, I cared about Philadelphia. I used to drive for games there. So I care.

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I need my Flyers back.

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Yeah, you'll get them back. But it's, you know, now, you know, I hate to use the word it's a process, but it is because it's not just one thing.

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It's many things. So you're going to see changes over the summer.

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And and then, you know, as far as who they get and who they invited to camp eventually, you know, that'll matter.

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OK, OK. Thank you, Ross.