(upbeat music) - Hey everybody, how you doing? Well, that's good. Welcome to PHLY Flyers presented by mortgage CS. Check out mortgage CS.com/PHLY to start your home buying process today. Company NMLS ID number 146476. My name is Bill Matts. I'm your director of fun and games. Man, game seven is tomorrow. I feel like we just fucking want it. It's happening. I am joined by Philadelphia's number one hockey beat reporter, Charlie O'Connor and Broad Street Hockey's own Kelly Henkel. Ladies and gentlemen, it has happened. Matt Vay-Mitchkov is coming to the Philadelphia Flyers a mere one year after he was drafted. Not the three, not the three that made him drop all the way to seven and made people think, I wonder if he's ever going to come. Dario Sarich never came over. Well, oh no, wait, he did too, never mind. We're not here for the jokes today. We're here for the good celebration of the mad Russian joining us here in the Delaware Valley. As soon as I don't know, let's turn it over to Charlie O'Connor. So this story broke like an hour ago. I guess it started everything. It's like almost 1230 right now. I saw hockey news hub tweet something out. I saw Anthony DeMarco tweet something out and then shortly after Charlie did. And what the hell happened in the last hour, Chuck? - I mean, I just think that they've come to some sort of arrangement. And by day, I mean the Mitch Koffkamp with Scott St. Petersburg to terminate the deal. Now, my understanding is that not every single thing is done yet, but let me put it this way. There are people very, very high up with the flyers who are extremely confident that it's happening. So it would be a major, major shock. If he does not terminate the deal and come over, I wouldn't be surprised that there's still a little bit of paperwork that needs to get done. He obviously is not yet signed an entry level contract yet with the flyers because he can't do that until the contract is terminated. But all indications are as soon as the termination is official, the flyers will in the relatively near future signed through an entry level contract. And as we've discussed on the show, Mitch Koff would not be coming over unless they gave him strong assurances. He was going to be in the NHL club come October. So I think it is fair to assume that Matt May, Mitch Koff, barring injury, will be in the lineup for game one of the 2024, 2025 season wearing the orange and black. It's pretty cool then. - That's if he makes John Tortorello's lineup, of course. - Kelly Hickel, our super fan, our most optimistic podcast host. We have been friends for a long time, Kelly. I don't know if I've ever seen you smile like this. - Happy June 23rd, fam. The legend continues. The new era of orange is simply making the fans at least happy for a day every now and then. And today is that day. - The creator knows. I need to find Danny Breyer's burner on Twitter because the fact that this is coming out on June 23rd tells me that he knows. He knows what he's doing. He's a smart man. - That's, come on now. The fact that it came out today is, I just saw we had a super chat. Thanks to, I think it was Dylan Cowley. I couldn't, Dylan Fowler, there it is. Mostly a lurker, but just want to say Charlie, Bill, Kelly, and JP have been a pleasure to listen to this season. Love you all guys. Happy Mitch Cobb Day. Happy Mitch Cobb Day to everybody who has been joining us. My God, Charlie, the one thing I really want to ask you. We've all been doing this together a long time. Shout out Steph Driver as well. I've known you since 2015, roughly eight, nine years. Have you covered a bigger story than this in terms of the flyers doing something good? Just like, I was gonna say I covered, I probably covered bigger stories that were bad. But. - Yeah, I'm not like. - Shouldn't turn out a good story, no. - Yeah, like, yes, there are other, yeah. Like the playoffs are a huge deal. Obviously the Carter Hart thing is in its own category. Like that's not a hockey story. That's something else entirely. Like this is, I was just like Ava saw it before me. We're sitting here just watching the Phillies game. And she's like, are you saying this? I was like, no, what are you talking about? Like Mitch Cobb. She's like, you should look at your phone. And like, I was like, I'm trying to, I'm like, this is the biggest story since. I mean, trading Juru is a big deal 'cause he's a franchise icon, but like they did it 'cause the team sucked and it's, you know, 14 years. Like, what's been bigger than that? - Well, I mean, I hate to bring this up because it ultimately did not work out the Wayflyers fans want it. But probably the biggest just sheer excitement was jumping from 13 to two. - Yeah, I was just, I remembered. Yeah, 13 to two winning the lottery. That was a pretty big one. But this is, at least we know who we're getting kind of. You know, I don't think he's got like, I don't think he's already hurt. I don't think he's gonna have it. - Don't think he's out loud, William. Please don't. - Listen, I am just, today, I usually, you know, we come on here and there's an outline. I have somewhere to go. And this is just exuberance right now. Like, we finally, we've been saying at some point, and we've been saying this for years now. I mean, my God, I probably said it lay a show and I probably said it our first show together. At some point, the team's luck has to turn. - Yeah. - Mitch Cobb falling to seven. Yes, geopolitical issues, all that. There's reasons he fell to seven other than just a contract. But he is here because he wasn't coming for three years. One, he's gonna be here faster than most of the players in that first round. - Yeah, I mean, I think the one thing, and most fans, especially those of the online variety, get this. But to just, if we have any casual fans who are on this podcast watching, 'cause they're like, why is everyone so excited? I wanna jump on. First off, welcome. Secondly, I wanna make it clear. Mitch Cobb is one of the, if not the best prospect not in the NHL. Like, this guy has superstar level potential. I'm not saying it's a guarantee he's going to be a superstar, but it is clear. Like, his ceiling is one of the best players in the NHL. He has that kind of upside because his vision is incredible. His puck skills are incredible. He thinks the game, particularly offensively at an extremely high level. He's a natural goal scorer, but he also can create plays for his line mates as well. He's just kind of an offensive wizard. And this is the kind of ad if he lives up to the potential. If the character concerns that some teams had are proved to be either unfounded or overblown, he has the potential to be a franchise-changing player. That's why this is such a big deal, because Matt Maymich Cobb has that kind of upside, to be the kind of guy that you build a team around. Now, whether he gets there or not, that'll be the question of the next two, three, four years, but he has that kind of potential and that's why this is so exciting. - I just, like, I want everyone, if this is your first time, like Charlie just said, welcome. Like, this is not hyperb, you just heard Charlie start the show going, "Well, listen, they gotta cross some T's and dot some I's." They gotta sign the, like, there's still stuff, there's paperwork, but yeah, probably, you know? So Charlie is not prone to hyperbole is what I'm telling you. If he's saying that the thought is this guy is basically like getting a top three pick, I don't know, I don't wanna say generational talent because like, no one thinks this dude's gonna be McDavid or Crosby, right? But after that, just your, I hate to say, run-of-the-mill superstar, but is he, like, when you say France, that's changing, so sealing the top 10 forward at the NHL? - Yeah, I think so, I mean the guy, okay, not that, not best full score of all time. - That's the ceiling. - That's the ceiling. I guess ceiling, anything could be a ceiling. - No, I mean to be honest with you, exactly. - Exactly. - The guy who I bring up, not because they have, they are extremely similar stylists. Oh, there are similarities just because they came from the same country and there's a skill development that happens in Russia that tends to, you know, develop certain talents. The guy I say a lot when people ask me, how good could he be? It's Nikita Kuchroff. And Nikita Kuchroff led the league in points this year with 144. Like, it's-- - Only 144. - Yeah, is Nikita Kuchroff, Sidney Crosby or Alex Ovechkin? No, no, he's not, he's not that good. But Nikita Kuchroff is absolutely one of the top five to 10 players in the NHL right now. And yeah, Mitch Kuchroff has that kind of upside, I think. - It's, Nikita Kuchroff has a heart trophy under his belt, is a finalist this year. And in any year in the previous 15, would walk away with it. It's just like, yeah, a bunch of dudes had an awesome years this year. And does he have a consmith? I want to say he does, but I'm not positive. No, they only want to score. I think it was Hedman and Vazilevsky. - That sounds right. I have to go back and look. - Yeah, okay. - But I mean, awesome freaking player with a heart trophy, another finalist this year. That's the ceiling we're talking about is a dude who can be that game changer for us. I'm just, I'm feeling great right now. And do we, do we start the conversation of, okay, what does this mean for the off season? Or is it still like, what does this mean for right now? Like, when does he get here? You know, like what, do we have any idea of any of that? Or is that still all to be determined? - I mean, I'm personally fascinated to see he's gonna show off her development camp. And I think that's just all gonna come down to how quickly they get through this paperwork, how quickly, I mean, he has to sign an entry level contract. But there have been Russian players who have come over and participate in development camp. Now, granted, this would be, this was prior to Russian being in Ukraine, it's a totally different situation. But there have been, like, I saw, I've been on top at development camps long before. Like, so guys can come over when the team has their rights and outside an entry level contract. So even if the flyers are, say, the first week of July, still negotiating all the bonuses, because I got news for you, Mitchell's gonna get all the bonuses. Like, they're gonna give him all the freaking bonuses. It's gonna take a little bit probably to negotiate all that stuff, unless they've already done it in advance. And it's just a matter of, like, contract's done, just gotta go sign. But even if that contract is not fully done by the early part portion of July, he could. He could theoretically be over for development camp. And if he is, I mean, I've been to Dvori's the last couple of weeks, quite a few times for certain things. And it's a mess because they're redoing the entire interior. Sounds like it happened to me. If they have the invasion of fans that I would expect if Mitchcoff is there, I don't know how the facility's gonna handle it because it is not in its best shape right now. - Dovecamp's gonna be fucking lit. - No, like, someone needs to tell Dvori's PD now. Like, you need to authorize some overtime because there's gonna be, you're gonna need to be directing traffic. Like, this is gonna be one of those crazy. Like, I don't wanna compare it to, like, when we got TO and training camp. Like, 'cause that dude, like, everyone knew he lost him in the Eagles and the Eagles. But like, all of a sudden, when a million people descend upon Lehigh, we're not ready for this. I don't know if Voorhees is ready for what could potentially go on. If not, so development camp is the weekend after the draft, correct? - Well, so the way the schedule is set up, they haven't officially announced that I was actually told hilariously enough that it was going, the schedule, the official schedule is gonna be announced today. My guess is maybe they won't do that given what is going on now. But what I, my understanding is, the players show up on the first for an off ice, like, hey, check in day. They're gonna be on the ice for the first time on the second of July. - That feels ambitious, right? Like, that feels, having him here on July 2nd feels, I mean, I mean, let's tell you. - I'll tell you, it was over, like, the next day. - That's true, like, they could have already negotiated all over the particulars. And it's just a matter of people signing paperwork. So, like, maybe he could be. I don't know. - I was just, sorry, my phone was blowing up with people who wanna know what's going on. I'm like, I don't wanna show as I don't even know if it's bleeding over, like, into the stream, but that was me, my bad, if it was. No, I'm totally lost now, I'm sorry. - Okay, there's one thing I do wanna bring up because it's extremely funny. Tyler, our producer, thanks so much for jumping on and helping us do this emergency pod. It's obviously a big modifier's history. Bring up the Danny Brier shitting grin picture from last Thursday. There it is. - Oh man, he fucking knew. You guys called him new. - No, that, okay, that's what I wanted to do now. - That is the face of a man who knew what was coming. - Yup. - Charlie, you know, the Voorhees, this is my conspiracy theory, they're not renovating Voorhees, all those Instagram posts, they built a set and he's been there the whole time. That's what they did is they built a movie set in Voorhees and he's been here, he's on the team. No, that's, yeah, he's all those gym videos, yeah, they were taken in Voorhees. All the shirts he was wearing, they were outfitting him with. This is, what a tremendous day, but now we look at this, does this change the draft? Does this change what they're gonna do on July 1st at all? I have said, if he's coming over previously, like, oh, maybe you'll look into a Mitch Warner, I kind of want them to pursue a player of equal or greater talent so that he can develop alongside another elite player and we're not in a situation of, yeah, man, team Jers to a dude who isn't 20 years old yet, you know, in first season in North America, kind of like take that pressure off him a little bit. Do you think there might be any appetite to do that? My understanding, when I did all my poking around and I released an article on this, it was for Diards only in early June, basically breaking down how I saw the off season shaping up, my understanding is that it's not gonna change that much, the fact that he is coming now. Now, I don't think it's gonna change the draft at all. Like, they're still going to approach the draft, I think with suitable aggression, I think they're gonna go for big swings. Like, I think they are gonna approach the draft the same way they would have otherwise. Obviously, this gives them a little bit more confidence to take those big swings because, hey, last one seems to have worked out pretty well, but beyond that, I don't think it has much of an impact. Now, in terms of what they do in the off season, they've straight up told us multiple times, they're not gonna be diving in a free agency, that's not happening. Now, the hockey trade market, I think they have always been looking into, does this increase the urgency maybe a little bit to take a swing, particularly on maybe a young center that you can stick with Mitchov and have the two of them develop chemistry from the jump? Maybe. But I think they were gonna try to be aggressive on that front anyway. So I don't know if it really changes much, it's just that now, obviously, everything that happens is gonna be colored with the knowledge of they're getting Mitchov. So if they do do something big, the narrative is going to be, they did it because Mitchov's here. I honestly think if they do something big, they were going to have done it even if Mitchov was not here, personally. - Yeah, I think we talked about this on the show that we shouldn't expect Mitchov to come over and be Alex Ovechkin immediately. Like, that's probably gonna take like six months or so. - Yeah. - So you have to, you have to expect that. - Second half try. - Second half, yeah. - He gonna kill it. - Exactly. - He's gonna just murder it. - Yeah, but I do think that we've said this a thousand times it's very clear that Danny Breyer and his staff have a plan. And I think this was probably part of the plan. And so I don't think that they're going to be deviating from anything that they were gonna do before because I have a feeling that they've known this was gonna happen for a little bit of time. - That's, do you think, like 'cause we know that they played nice for so long and they didn't wanna get in the, well, we said something that pissed off the Russian oligarchs and now we don't get our superstar. Do you think once he's here, signed to the contract, will ever get the full story? Like, they knew a year ago. Like, at the draft when, like, do you ever think we find out exactly how everything went down? - Well, I don't think that's true. Like, I don't think they knew a year ago. So if you're waiting for that type of smoking gun, like, that's not happened. - Yeah. And I do think, though, that over the past month, which is why every time he came up, I was kind of like, don't be freaked out by the fact that it's silent. Like, everybody I talk to involved with the organization still is speaking with very guarded, but legitimate optimism. This is going down and just because there has been a rumor in a week that does not mean that, like, momentum is stalled. - We always kind of knew that they wanted to have this done by the end of June. That's what the, the Scott leadership, I don't believe it was Rittenberg. I think it was the guy above and what Medvedev, the chairman, the guy above Rittenberg. Basically, it's said originally, like, we want to have this decided by the end of June. And then I believe Scott's training camp begins at the end of July. So the timeline always worked out to be, like, they wanted to have a resolution on this and they knew what they were dealing with. By the end of June, by early July at the latest. And I think the flyers knew that. So the flyers were very much just like, all right, it seems like we're going in the positive direction for us. Let's just not rock the boat, but we're feeling pretty good about it. And I, look, we set this back in, back in early June. If for the stuff to get out that got out, it was already pretty far down the road. It was just a matter of was anything going to screw it up. And the flyers didn't screw anything up clearly. And obviously, the right, you know, the right beaks were wet over in Russia. And everybody's happy and now he's getting out of the contract. - I predict that after the flyers win their first Stanley Cup with Mitch Goff, and he wins the heart, Charlie will publish a, one of those like oral history style pieces with all of the things that went down to get him over here early. - Corey, I see this super chat. Corey, it is 100% unlikely. He spends most of the season in the A and Chuff. - I would say it's unlikely he spends even a second in the A and Chuff. - Yeah. - He wouldn't, like, it's not even a matter of like being a dick or the flyer saying like, well, he needs help. No, it is, as Bill said, I do not think they would have agreed to this deal this termination if Mitch Goff had any chance of starting in the A and Chuff. He's gonna be in the A and Chuff. - Mitch Goff doesn't wanna ride the bus. Like he was gonna be playing in all likelihood for Scott St. Petersburg this year. Like that's what was gonna happen. I don't think they'd put him out on loan again now that it's like, yo, we're gonna lose this guy at some point, he's awesome. Let's try to get something out of him. Like in the KHL, which is maybe not right now because of all the restrictions players that like foreign players who may or may not be in the league, but for the most part, a league equal to were better than the AHL. Like he wouldn't do that. He's only coming and they wouldn't give him up if it was like, oh, he's gonna play. No, we're not sending him. If he wants to live his dream of playing the NHL, fine. Sure, give us a bunch of money and we'll let him do that. But if it's in the AHL, no, we're just gonna have him play for us. Like neither side would be down with him and on the fandoms. That's, it just wouldn't happen. If he gets hurt maybe as a conditioning stint there, that's the only time he's ever gonna wear a fandoms jersey. - Yeah, for sure. Also, this is interesting because it makes you think like, I hate to take it back to William Gochier, but like this shows that like the flyers are willing to play ball with their prospects. Like they're not. So like that whole theory that the flyers were just like, now we're gonna, and we're gonna start you in the AHL. You have to play there. Like that didn't happen. - He didn't hear what he, he wasn't begged. That's what happened. - Yeah, he's an asshole. - That happened. - Yeah. - I just think like maybe he ends up being a good kid. You know, I don't know, but I think he sucks. Like I think he's a dick. I'm never gonna like him. And it does show like- - It's funny like Dork, you're never gonna play with anyone as good as Matt Vaymitchkoff. - The organization was in chaos and they were like, and we have to meet with this kid. And just kind of didn't tell him what he wanted to hear immediately. And he was like, fuck it. And you know what? In 1920 or maybe you do the same thing. But like that's, I wanna know, I would love to know the timeline if like, yes. They knew when the stuff started to come out, they probably had a good feeling. Like when you, when you executed negotiate trade, did you know? Like because there's probably, if there's, oh man, he's not gonna be here for three years. And we're just, we don't know what this whole situation is gonna be. We have this kid who just killed it at World Juniors. Like, do we wait for him to change his mind? Maybe there's a little bit more appetite for that. I would just love to know the timeline. But we never will, so. - Yeah, I mean, I think it'll come out. These are the kinds of things that like, might come out 20 years, 30 years down the road, especially if he becomes a really good player. Where like the flyers, flyers at 80. Like, you know, Greenberg did his flyers at 50. Like that kind of book. Because again, there's an incentive on the flyers part where if they were involved more hands on, then they are letting on. If they were very much involved in negotiations, if they paid some people, it's in their best interest not to say that. Because number one, it's against the rules. Number two, they're gonna probably draft other Russian players and they don't wanna burn that bridge or poison that well. So in the short term, and I'm not even saying they have, they did, they were involved in any major way. They very well could have just been completely hands off and this was all done by the Mitch Kafka. But if they were, there is no reason for them to release it because it could hurt them down the road with other players they are trying to get over here. Because I don't think they're gonna stop drafting Russians. Like they've got some ragging over there. They've got other guys that are in the pipeline. Like, Colossoff is under contract, but like you never know, if he goes back, who knows. There's no incentive for them to give us all the information. They just want everyone to be happy that he's coming. And he looks like he's coming. - And God damn, it feels great. I just saw a comment, you can absolutely trade TK and now it's imperative. Do you think this changes the TK situation at all? I mean, there's another right winger and a highly skilled one. - No, I don't think it changes the TK situation at all. I think they are intent upon resigning him. I believe they are going to resign him. - I guess we'll see. I mean, if secretly they've run into like a largest agreement out of his value, maybe he gets traded this week, but I'm not expecting it. And if anything, you know, they might look at this as, well, we want Mitchkoff to be coming into a team with sub talent. And can I think he could play the left side? He's done it before. They could put them on the same line for a bit, see how it works. Like that's not out of the realm of possibility. But no, I do not think this really impacts the TK stuff at all. June 23rd, the great day to trade Travis Connecting him to sign. - If you're going to do it, it might as well be honestly-- - Praise the day. - I don't know, we're off tomorrow. So would you rather do another emergency pod or just happen on like Wednesday? You know, like, but it is, it can't be a coincidence this came out today, right? Like this seems intentional. And there was like, I saw multiple graphics. I think nasty knuckles put one out, like a couple of the markets outlets in town put out like the, you know, the history of June 23rd. It can't be a coincidence it came out today. - Now, especially since he had that look on his face in that press conference, he knew that. And he was just like, now that's wait till Sunday, that'll be funny. - I looked at it. - I highly doubt personally that Scott St. Petersburg held this information because they wanted it to come out on June 23rd, just because online flyers fans in particular would think it's cool. But it's still pretty cool that it came out on June. - It's not out of the realm of cops. - I was saying, what if the flyers held it a day or two? Like, I don't think the flyers held this. I think the initial reports came from Russia. Like, obviously then we all got confirmation from people in the States. I mean, I guess I can't speak for every single journalist on this beat. My guess is everybody got confirmation with people in the States. But the initial report from hockey news hub, I mean, that appears to have come from Russia. So I don't think this was like flyers leak first. I think this was a Russia leak first. And then the flyers are like, well, yeah, looks like that. - Hockey new hub on Blockman, please. I don't know what happened. Unblocked by that dude for some reason. And it drives me crazy. I need to see his tweets. - I think it was like anyone who was like, listen, I don't know what this outlet is, but it's, here's something like he blocked those people, I think, 'cause I think, I don't think PHLY flyers is, but I might, I don't know. No, I just saw his tweets, so it can't be us. But thank you, hockey news hub. We love you now. - Yeah, thanks. - Regardless of anything. It was, man, what a good day to be a flyers fan. There haven't been a ton of really good days to be a flyers fan in a long time. Yeah, you go back to like our first draft party. I guess, and that was a good time to tell you. Come on out to our seventh draft party. I think it's gonna be a better time than that first one. Honestly, that first one, we won the lottery, pickin' two. It was a tremendous time. We had Jonesy on the show. That was a great day. It was one of the highlights of my career. I am thinking now that we have Mitch Cobb confirmation. The fans are going to come out and drove. So come on out to Chickies and South Philly, Chickies and Peats down on Packer Ave on Friday, June 28th. For the draft, there's gonna be some food, there's gonna be drink specials. We saw the giveaways, the stuff that-- - Door prizes, let's say. - And BHLY. The door prizes are really freakin' cool. And just come out and celebrate being a flyers fan and casuals, jump on the bandwagon now. They're gonna be really fuckin' good in a couple of years. They're getting a superstar this year. Best time to jump on, man. You got a cool jersey you can get. Why not, you know? But come on out, June 28th to Chickies and South Philly for a celebration, honestly. The draft is now, the draft is the draft. They're gonna take a guy, maybe two, maybe make a trade. Who the hell knows? But now it's a Mitch Cobb celebration as well as draft party. - We need Buddy that bought the Mitch Cobb jersey that was telling us about it in the chat. He's gonna come down wearing the jersey. - That's right. - That's what we need. - That's like the-- - That's 39. - Yeah, man. Bring it on down. I wanna take some pictures with it, honestly. Like everyone, like a dude wearing a Mitch Cobb jersey, you're one of the first ones. I bet you a few get made between now and the draft party, though. - Yeah, maybe. - Come on out. It's gonna be freakin' awesome. Is there anything else for us to discuss on this? - I'm just really excited. - Yeah, I mean, it's the excitement of, hopefully, what is to come better hockey than we've had. Again, Monday is game seven of the Stanley Cup final. It has been 14 years since the Flyers made it to the championship round. Hopefully, it's not much longer. Hopefully today is the first of what's gonna be a few good summers, you know? That's all, like good summers with hockey actually going on, not news of a teenager immigrating, but parades, perhaps, you know? Stuff like that happening. But I think that's just about it for us here on PHLY Flyers, the Mitch Cobb emergency pod. It happened. He's coming. The Mad Russian. Make sure you go to PHLYlocker.com. Get your Mad Russian gear. Thank you all for listening. Thank you for hanging out. If you haven't already, hit that subscribe button. Follow us right here on YouTube. Never miss a live show. Hit that reminders. Follow us on Twitter @PHLY_Fliers. And make sure you're following the podcast as well. Search PHLY Flyers wherever you get those. Thank you to Morgan CS. My name's Bill Matts. That's Charlotte. No, that's Charlie O'Connor. That's Kelly. I did it wrong again. Charlie O'Connor, Kelly Hinkley, ladies and gentlemen. You stay loose and sexy, Philly. (upbeat music) ♪ Y'all sitting like the mayor ♪
