Flyers should give David Carle a blank check to coach in Philadelphia

Team USA is fresh off its second straight gold medal at the World Junior Championships under David Carle. The 35-year-old head coach has yet to take his talents to the professional game but that could be coming sooner rather than later.

On this week\'s edition of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast , Elliotte Friedman raved about Carle\'s work at the World Juniors and speculated that an NHL team could try to persuade him to make the jump soon -- and some have already.

\"I think the number one storyline that\'s going to come out of this is what NHL team is going to throw a pile of money at David Carle?\" Friedman said. \"People love winners. He\'s got a couple of NCAA championships at the University of Denver. He\'s got two, back-to-back, two total World Junior Championships as the head coach of Team USA at an age where teams are really searching for coaches who can identify with and reach young players.\"

Friedman noted that Carle interviewed with the St. Louis Blues, who recently scooped up Jim Montgomery after being fired by the Boston Bruins. The New Jersey Devils also had a conversation with Carle, per Friedman, but had their eye on Sheldon Keefe the whole way.

Unfortunately for NHL teams, including the Flyers, Carle is in a situation where he can easily walk away from any offer. He\'s coming off two straight gold medals and two NCAA championships in the last three years. Friedman pointed out that he has a young family and is comfortable in Denver so it would take a lot to get him to take the jump to the NHL level. But it can\'t hurt to try.

\"I would be shocked if someone doesn\'t take a big run at him this summer,\" Friedman emphasized. \"Shocked. If not sooner.\"

Enter the Philadelphia Flyers.

General manager Danny Briere may already have a leg up on some of the other teams vying for Carle\'s services because of his relationship with Matt Carle. Briere and Carle were teammates in Philadelphia from 2008 to 2012, and we all know how much the organization loves to keep things in the Flyers Family. While it may not make a huge impact, Matt -- who saw both the good and bad of playing in Philadelphia --, could offer up some advice to his brother if the Flyers were to come calling.

Of course, the Flyers still have John Tortorella under contract through the 2025-26 season, but it\'s been batted around that he could look to move upstairs into more of a management role in the coming years. If the Flyers were able to bring in Carle to be the bench boss while offering him some flexibility with his family in Denver knowing they still have Tortorella in the fold, that could work out for all parties.

Furthermore, another thing that the Flyers should have in their favor is that they are owned by Comcast Spectator, which should have more than enough money to make Carle one of the highest-paid coaches in the NHL today.

According to Front Office Sports , Mike Sullivan\'s $5.5 million salary is the highest in the NHL. Only seven coaches are making at least $4M, John Tortorella. There\'s reason to believe that the Flyers would be willing to pay at least that and could make Carle the highest-paid coach in the league if money could persuade him to leave the college ranks. There is no salary cap on coaches after all.

So the situation makes a lot of sense for the Flyers to court Carle as their next bench boss, but would it make sense for the coach?

Well, the Flyers already have one University of Denver product on their roster in Bobby Brink who can speak to Carle\'s talents. The pair won a championship in 2022, Brink\'s final year in NCAA. And it doesn\'t hurt that the Flyers are one of the youngest teams in the league with a bunch of college-aged players still developing their game. Carle could help guys like Matvei Michkov, Jamie Drysdale, Emil Andrae, Jett Luchanko, Oliver Bonk, and the rest of the Flyers prospects take their game to the next level.

Carle should also already have the respect of some NHL veterans, which Friedman noted as well. Plenty of NHL players are plugged into the World Juniors and the number of NCAA alumni in the league seems to be growing every year. There are enough players who have played for, played against, or watched Carle coach that know he\'s at the top of the class. Hell, even if you haven\'t watched a single minute of film on him, winning speaks volumes and he\'s won four championships in the last three years.

Flyers fans may be a bit wary of putting their faith in another college coach after the Dave Hakstol debacle during the Ron Hextall years but this seems to be a different story. Hakstol making the jump to the NHL kind of came out of nowhere while Carle has already had a few conversations with competitive teams and, quite frankly, any team -- rebuilding or not -- should be looking for his services.

Tortorella has done a great job -- better than most expected -- in getting the best out of some of the Flyers\' young and even veteran players. But maybe it\'s time for him to take a step back and let Carle work his magic behind the bench in Philadelphia.

Talking Points