The Pigeon Coop

We're back from an extended vacation, shaking off some rust and warming up for the season by talking about some stuff we missed while we were away. We make fun of Seattle's Draft Day and their failure to save Marc-Andre Fleury from becoming a villain once again. And we have some fun with the Flyers scheduled giveaways for the season while Brian questions Retro Fashion.

The Flyers probably aren't worth watching anymore so we're gonna talk about what would make them better in the future. Questions about the coaching staff, goaltending, and who needs to be moved in the off-season fill this one up. It's hard to grit your teeth and sit through another season of patient front office guys, especially after Hextall, but that might be just what we're getting. In the long run, it may be okay.

In this episode, we're talking about the Shayne Gostisbehere waiving, and seeing if some past criticisms of the coach still hold up with the FLyers.

You can hear Ryne exasperatedly rubbing his temples while talking about the team in this one. There are so many things to complain about, which makes this team the same as it's been for far too long.  We talk about the constantly changing lines, and the need to have at least one solid line that can stick together and regularly produce. The coaching decisions still feel bad, and Ryne has a point to make about the careers of past great goalies.

It's the Bonus hockey Podcast! All the hockey podcasting you love but like a bit more of it. Every other week Aj, Ryne, and Brian are giving you a short update on Flyers news and other things happening around the League.  This week: Are the Flyers good or not? The Flyers have rotated between looking bad and not great through this season, we don't have to worry about them beating bad teams anymore, but do we need to worry about them not being able to beat good teams? or the Bruins specifically. In a season full of weird lineup experiments, one seems to finally have ended as Sam Morin returns to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. A new experiment begins as Nolan Patrick moves to the wing, and AJ forgets to look up some fancy stats. Ron Hextall made his first move against the Flyers picking up his old draft pick Mark Freidman, and the dramatics between former teammates immediately started. Why were the Flyers going so hard against the former defenseman?

That's right, two subtitles! We're talking about the betrayal of former Flyers GM Ron Hextall and the sudden increase in Sidney Crosby trade rumors and speculation. Ryne picks a former Penguin he'd like to help us get revenge. The Flyers were gifted a special event hockey game and half the team was put on COVID protocol a week before, forcing the coaches to make some odd lineup choices including moving more defensemen around the board. We make predictions for the game that will be obsolete within just a few hours. 

Travis Konecny's Hat Trick, Nolan Patrick's Revenge Tour, Jake Voracek's media slam, a two game sweep of the Penguins, it's been a busy first week in the return of Flyers hockey and we're breaking it all down for you in a shorty.

Author and hockey historian, Alan Bass visits the show to talk about his new book, Professional Hockey in Philadelphia: A History. We talk about the ways hockey fans have stayed the same over the years, Philadelphia's problems with keeping hockey arenas intact, and the hardest parts of digging up information on teams that existed so long ago. You can buy Alan's book now: https://www.amazon.com/Professional-Hockey-Philadelphia-Alan-Bass/dp/1476682690

The Flyers are out so we're moving on and talking about Free Agency. We've also got an In Memoriam for the Flyers 2019-2020 season.

The Flyers have passed the first round of the playoffs for the first time in eight years, but we didn't know that yet during this episode. We talk about the power play struggles, goaltending, and what the series had looked like up to game five.