A Questionable Message From Rick Tocchet
The NHL Trade Deadline separates serious contenders from teams sitting on the playoff bubble with longshot odds in the final quarter of the regular season. Danny Briere and the Philadelphia…
The NHL Trade Deadline separates serious contenders from teams sitting on the playoff bubble with longshot odds in the final quarter of the regular season.
Danny Briere and the Philadelphia Flyers indicated just how seriously they consider their playoff odds by subtracting from the NHL roster.
The Flyers are concentrating on their long-term future, and front office executives have consistently emphasized internal player development as a high priority of the franchise’s rebuild. However, their head coach’s recent words didn’t echo the goals clearly enough.
Rick Tocchet Sends Questionable Message
Rick Tocchet spoke on Monday about young players gaining experience with 20 games remaining in the regular season, hours before the Flyers lost to the lowly New York Rangers 6-2 in Philadelphia. He exuded the naturally competitive nature of a head coach focused on the race for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, regardless of longshot odds.
Matvei Michkov, Denver Barkey, and Alex Bump – three players age 22 or younger – had all contributed to a win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Tocchet commented sensibly on their development.
“The more pressure games you can play, it’s (good for) the development of the young guy.”
-Rick Tocchet
However, he then sent a questionable message to all young players on a rebuilding team looking to make an impression in the final stretch of the 2025-26 season.
“The nothing games when you’re out of it, it’s hard to evaluate. I’ve been in that situation, even as a player… There’s 10 games left. You’re way out of it. It’s hard.”
-Rick Tocchet
The Flyers will in all likelihood slip from longshot odds – currently seven points out of playoff position – to a team completely out of contention in the coming weeks. Money Puck estimates a 4.9% chance to make the postseason, while Hockey Reference more optimistically sets a 5.6% likelihood.
How will young players approach the final 10 games if and when the Flyers drift further away from playoff contention?
Tocchet announced to Michkov, Barkey, Bump, and others that a stretch accounting for over 12% of an NHL season wouldn't be an opportunity to impact the evaluation of their NHL futures.
Hours after Tocchet’s comments, the Flyers hit the ice against the worst team in the Eastern Conference. They failed to defend their own end in a rough loss in front of a building that was nearly empty during the third period.
Photo by Colin Newby | BBGI Philadelphia<em>New York Rangers 6, Philadelphia Flyers 2: A look at a sparse crowd at Xfinity Mobile Arena during the 3rd period</em>
The first-year Flyers head coach also chose to sit 24-year-old Emil Andrae in favor of Noah Juulsen, a pending unrestricted free agent with no meaningful future in the organization.
Danny Briere's Evaluation
Danny Briere spoke positively as a guest on Unfiltered with Ricky Bottalico and Bill Colarulo about Tocchet’s first season.
“You look at what he’s done with some of our younger guys. Emil Andrae, Jamie Drysdale on defense. We talked about Trevor Zegras. Tyson Foerster had a great start... Matvei Michkov, for all the press that he’s gotten early in the season, he seems to be playing better… Denver Barkey, (Nikita) Grebenkin, the young guys are all taking a step forward, which is for me very, very exciting.”
While Tocchet has pushed some young players on the roster to improve in 2025-26, he took the job fully aware that Michkov would impact his success or failure with a higher magnitude than any player on the current roster. He’s handled Michkov’s conditioning mistakes and on-ice shortcomings questionably.
The rebuilding Flyers accepted their fate outside the Stanley Cup Playoffs by selling at the trade deadline for the sixth consecutive season.
Briere and other front office executives will publicly discuss player development as a point of progress beyond a disappointing finish in the standings. Their head coach certainly didn’t echo the idea.
