NHL putting Flyers, league behind eight ball with shortened preseason

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

As part of the exchange for adding two games onto each team’s regular-season schedule from 82 to 84, the National Hockey League has reduced the preseason from 6 games to 4 for each club.

With the Flyers training camp set to commence two days from now, there’s only a maximum of 4 full days of preparation on tap before the first exhibition game, Sept. 21 in Hershey against the Washington Capitals.

From there, another road game the next night against the Bruins, before the truncated slate ends with home dates vs. Boston (Sept. 24) and Washington (Sept. 26). Then, the curtain falls for good on Sept. 30 at home against the Penguins.

Forgive the metaphor, but that puts the entire coaching staff and roster-ready players under the gun. Aside from what can be immediately gleaned from the skating and drills and eventual scrimmages that are pre-scheduled, there’s the question of instruction. How changes to whatever system needs tweaking will be approached in a limited window.

And yes, where oh where and when oh when will they get to practice the power play? Rick said they were going to have to figure out how to do it beyond the boundaries of the daily practices…

There’s a whole lotta undue pressure coming for all 32 coaching staffs, so don’t bother complaining specifically about what the Flyers staff did or didn’t do, or didn’t do well enough. What has a better chance of distinguishing a solid start to the NHL regular season vs. an NFL model where the starters are up to speed in the first couple weeks, will be the amount of pre-camp prep from on-and-off-ice personnel. 

Note, we don’t actually know what that is because, at least the Flyers coaches would consider this type of info “state secrets” so we’ll have to act surprised whichever way things turn out.

I think there’s actually a technical term in German for what’s coming: Scheisseschau.

Nothing is ever going to be the same, but there was an element of looseness and fun in what was each team’s exhibition schedule, up until about 20 years ago. Camp lasted 2 1/2 weeks or more. Teams played anywhere from 8 to 10 games, often back-to-back multiple times, sometimes in far flung neutral sites or on rinks of American Hockey League affiliates, and mayhem often ensued. 

It was a long-form, low-pressure chance for coaching staffs to take what was written on the whiteboard and practiced in solitude and execute it in real time with a variety of lineups. There used to be guys who had their roster spots cemented who played half the games. Guys on the bubble who played the other half. And the rink rats, the dudes on the fringes still holding on in the AHL or IHL who provided a sideshow with fisticuffs if it proved to be the last time they’d wear an NHL uniform. 

It was often structured like Spring Training; off day on Thursday where coaches formulate game plans, play in Orlando against the Red Wings on a Friday night and have a scrappy lineup led by the head assistant register a couple fights and 100 penalty minutes in a 7-4 game, then return for a local TV engagement Saturday on home ice with a hungry squad and the head coach presiding in front of 10,000 ticket holders and send ‘em home happy with a crisp 5-2 win over the Islanders. 

Then, on Sunday, play a full-squad match against the Devils, or Rangers to best simulate real-game situations. Lather, rinse, repeat. Monday, rest or light workouts with instruction. 

Split the squad again for games Tuesday in Providence against the Bruins and then Wednesday at Rochester vs. the Sabres and expect a touch of anarchy. Maybe mix in a full-roster game vs. the Bears or Phantoms in Philadelphia so the kids get a full and fair chance to see what NHL-level talent requires.

Surprises abounded without such strict controls. In 2005, the Flyers rallied from a 5-1 deficit against the Capitals – including 5 goals in a wild third period – to win, 7-6, in overtime and nobody complained. Where has that been, like, ever since? 

The next year, Pens rookie Evgeni Malkin made his NHL debut, tried a body check in Halifax and ended up slamming into John LeClair. How can we forget Steve Downie making like an ICBM and blowing up Dean McAmmond in 2007? 

Well, the league has rightfully cleaned up a significant amount of that clownery, but what’s emerged over the years has taken on the form of a sanitized appetizer to the 6-month regular season grind. Games shifted from “exhibitions” to “preseason” when used largely as real-time gauges for roster spots and proof that tweaks to systems introduced at the start of camp worked or not.

Under the current system, veterans are restricted to participating in 2 games maximum.

You watch. Maybe the Flyers would have a 5-4 game thrown into the mix, but my guess is “low-event” hockey will result in low-score games for those that don’t count before the games that do. 

Besides, there’s no indication otherwise until I see it with my own eyes either on Thursday or Saturday in Voorhees. Tocchet hasn’t spoken publicly yet, and Danny Briere went on Nasty Knuckles podcast over the weekend and offered nothing in terms of what to expect during camp or the limited preseason competition. I hope the plan is for a good mixture of each rather than just basic blocks of 2 and 2.

You know who could benefit from the old, less pressurized system? Current NHL and AHL guys on whatever fringe exists, like Zayde Wisdom. Garrett Wilson. Oliver Bonk. Devin Kaplan. Cole Knuble. Jett Luchanko. Denver Barkey. Alex Bump. Porter Martone.

Give the NHL hopefuls a long, 60-minute look against their impending competition instead of locking them into a softball two-game series against equal skill and experience level meant to goose pre-camp content levels and prospect promotional opportunities.

When asked on Saturday in Allentown if he was trying to make a point to the front office about his abilities in the rookie game, Bump certainly gave a canned, NHL-ready response: “For sure. It’s kinda getting to that time where you gotta make an impression. Don’t overcomplicate (things). Don’t overthink it. What’s best is to go out and play my game.”

And, in light of the follow-up question about whether Bump could draw from what he knew about playing in the NHL at the end of last year and apply it to the rookie series I have to ask – what is he doing back with the kids, anyway? 

Here’s where the Flyers front office – with a little foresight – can create a ramp to success: if you’re a prospect who plays in more than one rookie series, you’re automatically promoted to competing for a spot in any of the four NHL-level preseason games. 

That certainly fits in Bump’s case, and for Barkey, who admitted after Friday’s rookie opener that he’s been there long enough the first-timers are leaning on him like a veteran to get the hang of it all.

Due to the compressed timeline, I'd really hate to think the first few days at Skate Zone will be nothing more than teachers expressing pleasure or frustration once they find out which of the students did or didn't attend to their summer reading list - with attendant rewards or punishments.

For the rest of the squad, some grace. And the less you think about the success of the preseason depending on their actual game record, the better. Or, if you can’t help it, I can get ya into an Eagles support group. 

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Eagles need to think hard about succession plan for Reese

Courtesy of Philly Voice

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Magazine

Once the airwaves crackle on 94 WIP at 4:25 pm sharp with the sound of an aged baritone, when the Philadelphia Eagles take on the Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field, Merrill Reese will officially kick off his 50th season as play-by-play voice. 

He’s lapped the field so hard, he’s coming up behind everyone else.

The Dean, Bill Campbell, amassed more than 5 decades on the air in a variety of roles but never that long in one spot calling one team. Andy Musser, same thing over 4 decades. Richie Ashburn was a multi-generational fixture in baseball but wasn’t even close. Larry Andersen’s working on almost 30 years’ service as the goofball-in-chief on Phillies telecasts. Gene Hart only made it to 28 years with the Flyers. Marc Zumoff bid happy trails at the 27-year mark in 2021.

In his July 15 Substack post, former Eagles beat writer Paul Domowitch never really got to the point. After waxing poetic about a pair of Air Jordans and allowing Reese the space to confirm his robust sight, speech, memory and vigor for his job before delving into the tragic circumstances which led to his tenure as play-by-play icon – there was no hint that the end is close. 

It’s OK to give a legend his flowers, but let’s not be blinded by the elephant in the room if his eyes are sealed shut due to allergens in the bouquet. And if not done correctly, the path towards Reese’s eventual retirement will be a stain on the Eagles franchise that will linger a long time.

All concerned parties need to take lessons from two pivot points in Philadelphia broadcasting history.

The first occurred less than a year ago, when legendary WMMR midday magician Pierre Robert died in his sleep, sometime before his scheduled shift on Oct. 29. Robert, who’d been on the air here since 1981 in a variety of roles throughout the broadcast day, who appeared to be in the best of health, and who was saved from the Beasley Brothers’ chopping block just 3 years prior, had some years left on his current contract and so much more life to live. He was 70 years old. 

At a legacy rock station which simultaneously targets the 12-plus and 25-to-54 demographics, there should already have been a plan in place to send Robert into the sunset, an exit plan more appropriate than simply walking away at the end of his deal. 

When his untimely passing caught everyone off guard, instead of undergoing a search for comparable and younger talent, WMMR was forced to pull an old name and voice back from the void – Matt Cord – who’d been shifted to WMGK’s older classic-rock demographic about a decade prior.

Sports fans attuned to events outside the Delaware Valley can look to what the San Francisco Giants are dealing with, as longtime broadcaster Mike Krukow announced his retirement, during the first week of August, effective the end of the season. Already unable to make Eastern road trips due to a progressive muscle disorder, the 74-year-old – who pitched for the Phillies in 1982 amidst his 14-year career – has received kudos from every corner of the Bay Area and within the game itself. 

Although his farewell tour will last the final 50 games or so of a lost Giants campaign, he’s fully present for it. 

The second is ol’ Harry and Whitey. That old-time Phillies double act which opened every spring and closed every fall between 1971 and 1997. Neither of them received the proper farewell they so richly deserved in life after growing in reputation as the soundtrack to generations. Both died, from heart attacks, on the road. One with a season almost finished, the other with one just underway. They were both in their 70s when a higher authority suddenly decided they were needed elsewhere in the cosmos.

We all know Philadelphia’s reputation. If you do right by us, we’ll do right by you. If you come from away and want to make your home here, we’ll embrace you like born-and-bred natives. 

But the downside to the positive spin on provinciality is the comfort which creeps in and morphs into complacency over the long haul. And that complacency often manifests itself as misdirected anger when change occurs. 

In a strange way, death smooths over any fallout from impending painful personnel decisions that have to be made with the public’s opinion riding in the passenger seat. 

There are countless thousands of Eagles fans who cannot envision their weekends without Merrill Reese. But life moves on and the older one gets, the less is guaranteed day to day. Merrill is 84 and, miraculously, still chugging along. That’s a lotta luck attached to good living. 

And while we’d all like to see him live to be 120, no one is eternally NFL Sunday sharp. Broadcasters lose something after about age 60. Their creativity. Their invention. Their speed and timing. I think the Eagles going through a decade of almost continual winning has helped things along, eventually that will come home to roost and there will be another rut of losing. 

Can you seriously imagine a propped-up Reese, at age 90, jolted awake for one last “It’s GOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!” on a dreary November Sunday for a 6-11 team?

Old heads remember how Hart clearly lost his timing and vision when the Flyers – stuck in a pit of subpar years without playoff berths and in need of a spiritual boost – brought him back from radio only to TV from 1993 to 1995. There are still many fans negatively vocal about Zumoff’s replacement, Kate Scott, 5 years on. 

Unless something is completely askew, it’s a foregone conclusion Merrill won’t tell anyone he thinks it’s time to go. He’s more than earned the right to call his shot – so long as *he* realizes it eventually needs to be called.

But he hasn’t earned the right to tell anyone in the organization their recommendations aren’t suitable – short of “this is your last year, like it or lump it.”

Reese will be officially honored by the Eagles during their Nov. 8 home game vs. the Giants for his half century of service. That would be a perfect time to make his call, or to have the team announce the structure of a phase out.

Whenever that day comes, don’t mourn. Don’t be angry. Don’t melt the phone lines at WIP or dogpile on social media in a vicious smear campaign. 

Reese has so many accolades trailing behind him that his road to retirement would look more like a smooth red carpet than the Belmont Avenue bridge in April after a snowy winter. Eagles Hall of Fame in 2016. Rozelle Award winner at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2024. Even a Louis Braille Award for services to the blind and visually impaired from 2013. Called four Super Bowls, two victories. Recognition as the longest tenured PBP voice in NFL history. 

The only lingering question about his legacy should be: who has the guts and vision to make a graceful exit work?

Disclaimer: I worked for Merrill Reese at his Bucks County AM radio station in multiple capacities between 2004 and 2006.