Just a quick thought here, but I was talking to a couple of agents today and suddenly players are interested in coming to Philadelphia again. It’s hard to really overstate the popularity of the Flyers’ next coach, Rick Tocchet. Guys like Crosby love him. McDavid loves him. Tom Wilson loves him… Matthews loves him…. He’s great friends with Mario and Wayne…. The list goes on and on.

And all that matters A TON when it comes to signing free agents.

It’s not a stretch to say that Torts was not popular with many people. For quite a few years here we’ve heard who wants to play in Philadelphia?

But phenomenon is really relatively new and linked to the Hackstal/Torts era…

Philly is a town where people have historically wanted to come and play. When you talk to people in Canada, Philadelphia is considered the original seven along with Boston, the Rangers, Chicago, Detroit, Toronto, and Montreal.

Fly, Flyers, Flyers….

Also, when I talk to current NHL players, there’s a whole lot of Philadelphia Eagles fans out there who love what Philly stands for… Philly is being seen as a town of winners when it comes to the Eagles; these guys watch the parades and stuff like that and they love the attitude of the Eagles fans….

What free agents the Flyers go for is still to be determined, but let me assure you that Rick Tocchet widens that pool of possibility drastically.

Let’s discuss this in the comments.

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