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Evening Notes: Tocchet, Ekholm, Pickard, Smith

May 16, 2025 at 8:57 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 9 Comments

A new voice on the bench may not be the only reason the Philadelphia Flyers aggressively pursued Rick Tocchet as their next head coach. According to General Manager Daniel Brière (via Jordan Hall of NBC Sports Philadelphia), Tocchet’s presence in Philadelphia makes the team more attractive to free agent targets, and agents have already started calling.

Brière’s statement is some gamesmanship on his part. Teams can’t begin talking about contracts until a few days before the free agency period starts on July 1st, with that being the first day contracts can be officially registered. Brière never said the Flyers were talking terms with any players in particular, and it’s unlikely a General Manager would openly admit to tampering.

Still, there may be a hint of truth in Brière’s claim. At the end of the regular season, he expressed his desire to add to Philadelphia’s roster this summer, rather than continuing to reduce it. They’ll have the financial flexibility to do so, as the Flyers are expected to enter the free agency period with approximately $25MM, with only a few key pending restricted free agents to re-sign.

Other evening notes:

  • TSN’s Ryan Rishaug shared a note from head coach Kris Knoblauch that the Edmonton Oilers aren’t expecting defenseman Mattias Ekholm or netminder Calvin Pickard back at the start of the Western Conference Final. Still, Knoblauch left open the possibility that both could return in the playoffs’ penultimate series, which would give the Oilers a major boost to their Stanley Cup aspirations, especially Ekholm.
  • If veteran winger Reilly Smith has his way, he’d remain with the Vegas Golden Knights beyond this season (Tweet Link). Even with a few players coming off the books in a few weeks, it’ll be incredibly challenging to find a spot for Smith next year. The Golden Knights already have $85.885MM committed to next year’s roster, and they’d need Smith to take a hefty pay cut to make the money work.
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Edmonton Oilers| Philadelphia Flyers| Vegas Golden Knights Calvin Pickard| Mattias Ekholm| Reilly Smith| Rick Tocchet

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Depth Wingers Will Define Golden Knights’ Summer
View Comments (9)

Comments

  1. Never Remember

    3 months ago

    Briere lying again. It’s his thing.

    6
    Reply
  2. 66TheNumberOfTheBest

    3 months ago

    Don’t worry, Reilly…your play with both the Penguins and Rangers made it very clear to everyone that you are only interested in playing in Vegas.

    6
    Reply
  3. KL

    3 months ago

    He wishes. Players either want to win or get paid and Philly isn’t close to contention.

    4
    Reply
  4. Fargo Chipper

    3 months ago

    So does Briére think he’s landing Marner at a discount or is he excited about being first in line to overpay for UFAs in yet another thin market? The reason agents are calling is because they know he’ll shell out the dollars to justify the hire – of Tocchet. The fact he doesn’t recognize that… well that says it all.

    1
    Reply
    • kiwimlbfan

      3 months ago

      Could you imagine Marner playing for Tocchet? He’d be a healthy scratch 3 games in for not playing D, and he’d go from being 100 point player to a 30 point player in a year.

      2
      Reply
    • wreckage

      3 months ago

      Im no Toronto fan, but Marner is 1st unit PK and regarded as a better than average defender.

      3
      Reply
    • KL

      3 months ago

      He was a Selke finalist. He plays defense and he’s very good at it.

      Don’t you hate it when the narrative you want (Toronto has one-dimensional offensive players) is easily disproven?

      2
      Reply
  5. urban schocker

    3 months ago

    CALVIN.PICARD

    1
    Reply
  6. dano62

    3 months ago

    I’m sure Connor Garland’s agent – who the Canucks granted access to field external offers a few years ago – has reached out… he’s Tocchet’s lucky charm.

    Reply

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