Yeah

... you, you know, I get back into it.

But yeah, I, I, uh, it's hard for...

You know, I, I kinda, I kinda make sure as a head coach that I don't wanna overwhelm guys with video.

Like, I, uh, our assistant coach will, will sit individuals and I'll sit with a guy every once in a while.

You know, for, to me it's communication.

It's to spend a lot of time with guys.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He's a good goalie.

Um, he can run it too, you know, if, uh, you know, something happens, God forbid, that he can run it for a while and, and give you solid starts.

A very intelligent goalie, uh, I, I, I've been told.

Uh, Kim Dil- Dillenbach really loves him, uh, so we made the trade for him then.

Uh, Ben was a, a character.

Um, feisty guy.

Right.

For the summer, I mean, that's gotta be the goal, right?

Well, I, I just think the expectations were put on him.

You know, I know the Flyer fans, everybody wants him to be a star, and he's not there yet.

And it's okay, you know? He's a spoke in the wheel.

He's part of the young group, with Bump and B- Barkin, and I think it's important that, him to be in that group.

You know, I don't think, you know, we, we shouldn't put him up on a pedestal.

It's not his fault.

Like, I, I, I could see in your mind as you're looking at the chess pieces, you know, a, uh, s- some guys really kinda, kinda solidified something in your mind.

What did they show you, brother?

Well, listen, we've been a resilient group all year.

Listen, we know we're not pretty sometimes, and sometimes you've got to play the game.

There's times when I thought we were pressing really good and we had the puck, and then sometimes I thought we backed off.

Obviously, overtime, I didn't like kind of backed off a little bit.

I think, Anthony, that's a little bit to do with inexperience and a little bit of youth.

I'm not blaming the young guys, but a little bit of inexperience.

Like, what was the, how did that mindset for him, was it a good wake-up call for him?

Obviously grit is a part of the Philadelphia way, but can you tell me about your team, and why did you know that you guys were gonna beat the Pens in this series with how much knowledge you have of this Pittsburgh Penguins team?

Well, first of all, uh, you know how I feel about the Pen- ...

I, I've been there as a coach or a player at Pittsburgh six years and won three Cups there, so there's a, there's a ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are dear to my heart.

But now being a tr- you know, obviously on the other side, being part of that rival, um, I knew you'd have to put the stake in 'em to, you know, to kill 'em type of thing.

'Cause Sid doesn't go away.

Tanger, who I thought was great the last three, four games, they don't go away.

I don't wanna talk shit, but it-

And as a coach, that's got to give you, like make you feel great.

Yeah, I know, like, listen, we know there's things, you know, listen, the power, we know we got to fix that thing eventually.

We know, like, you know, throughout the year, we wanted to play a little faster, better rush game.

We've improved that.

Yeah.

But at the end of the day, we knew we had to play.

And it wasn't even, like, the first two months, we were still one of the better defensive teams in the league.

Like, that's how you win.

You're going to love that.

Yeah, there's certain parts of a season that you put a puzzle together and sometimes you have to accept your role.

I mean, sometimes and I get, you know, people get pissed and I get it.

But sometimes you're going to play 12 minutes because of this.

So, you know, one tip.

It was great.

One game.

When you got youth, there's something about

And when you looked at the group, what was your own kind of like your goals, achievements, like you wanted to see from this group, knowing where you guys are in the building process?

Yeah, I mean, you know, Anthony, take it over.

I believe orange and black, right? And, you know, playing here and knowing how the city is and stuff, then coming back and, you know, obviously, you know, last four or five, six years, whatever it has been, it has been great.

So, you know, it's been a little bit, you know, I knew it was going to be a little bit of negativity and a little bit of, you know, how do people to believe in, you know, you got to take your shots.

Right.

And I just believed in what we were doing.

We got some good young players.

And you want to see, I thought it was important for Mieczkow to come back from the break and look the way he's done.

... do you think that's universal amongst maybe young teams, or, like, uh, all teams have to get there and it's a learned skill, or it's inherent in some guys and not others?

I think it's a good point, but yeah, I think it's, and I hate to say this generation, it's, it, I don't like ...

The players in this generation like for the coaches to call them out, not, like, or, or their teammate, not themselves.

It's not a bad thing, but I think, y- to get to where you wanna go.

You know, I always look at, okay, let's, let's take Florida, the, the Stanley Cup champs the last couple years.

You know, they're a team that if you follow, you know, they get a guy like Tkachuk and, you know, and, and they, they, they morph, like the Reinharts and they, and they grow together, but they're not afraid to get int- you know, on each other, you know, in their mind and, you know, whether they're not, some guy's not practicing hard.

And they, they go that level.

in your mind, one thing, that's my goal? Or you kinda have to build and get to something else?

What have you taken from other coaches that you liked the way they handled things in the locker room and have attributed into your own style? Are there some coaches along the way that you're like, I'm going to take what he taught me?

Well, I'll tell you, the old school coaches, the Kenyans, Scotty Bowman, the legendary guys, I shouldn't say that they couldn't coach nowadays.

They would probably change a little bit their ways.

You can't coach 20 years ago like now.

No chance.

So I've learned a lot from them, but I've also learned from the new school guys.

I'm lucky enough to be on the Canadian Olympic team staff this year going to the Winter Olympics for Canada.

But I just want him to be... happy i want him to be all right you know and and he takes it so seriously sure sometimes you i'm sure you have to be like it's okay if you don't score in this game right like is that your approach with a kid

Yeah.

... try...

They were trying to get draft picks, and they're trying to keep players there also, and they're trying to make the Foresters and the Kates and the Yorks.

And they're in that age, right? That 24...

You know, how do you get them to lead and- and be the foundational piece? You know, um, you know, to me, it's- it's- it's...

um, it's like I said, it's all about the culture and the crest, and how do we...

You know, when does he become a Flyer? When we come to the rink every day, you know, what do we do every day to become, you know, first of all, a good hockey player on a good team.

Yep.

Yeah.

... to get dr- they were trying to get draft picks and they were trying to keep players here also, and they're trying to make the Foresters and the Kates and the Yorks, and they're in that age, right? That 24 ...

You know, how do you get them to lead and, and be the foundational piece? You know, um, you know, to me, it's, it's, it's ...

I'm ...

It's like I said, it's all about the culture and the crest and how do we ...

You know, when does it become a Flyer? When we come to the rink every day, you know, what do we do every day to become, you know, first of all, a good hockey player and a good team? But what, what do the Flyers do? You know, how do we handle stuff? How do we handle o- outside noise? I mean, you know, you know, if you read every day that, you know, Flyers are gonna be last place or they're not good and they lose every year, you read into that stuff, you know, you're, you're dealing from a negative.

My thing is, I got some good, uh, young hockey players here, uh, that have a l- a, a huge growth potential.

Yup.

Like, what are your first orders at a he- as a head coach? Like, did you reach out to each of the guys individually to have conversations about what your expectations are, what you expect of them? And, and obviously to develop a, like more of a, a relationship early on, because that's so important the way that you have to coach in today's game where, you, you know, you, you have to know these guys on a personal level.

Yeah.

I, I...

You know, you guys play the game and I think it's...

And I...

And, and I, and I play the game, so I try to put myself in a player...

Like, I'm the player.

... what would you like to improve on and, and bring to Philly, and, and, and have a, uh, maybe a new outlook on?

What do you expect from him?

Yeah, being a captain's hard.

Like, I don't care in any sport, uh, because, you know, you're asked to worry about other guys and, and, and take care of the room.

And, you know, um, you know, set examples.

And, you know, for me, I want him to be himself.

Like, uh, you know, the guy I know, he's a 200-foot guy, grit on the draws.

You know, a, you know, a selfless guy.

Uh, guys that, uh, the fans will love and, uh, will leave everything on the ice for them.

What does it take for a young team, right, building a team like this, what kind of temperament does it take from its head coach? Yeah,

I mean, listen, today's coach, you know, like, and I use the word partnership, you know, you got to be partners with the players.

And these guys, it's the why generation.

They want to know why.

You know, hey, we're doing this for Chuck.

You just don't demand it and say it.

You explain to them why we're doing this or why we're having a day off here or why we're flying out this time.

How do you approach him?