{"id":15171,"date":"2025-11-18T08:44:46","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:44:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/gayle-bensons-bold-statement-on-mickey-loomis-what-every-saints-fan-needs-to-hear-whether-they-like-it-or-not-2\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T08:44:46","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T08:44:46","slug":"gayle-bensons-bold-statement-on-mickey-loomis-what-every-saints-fan-needs-to-hear-whether-they-like-it-or-not-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2.watchtowatch.top\/?p=15171","title":{"rendered":"Gayle Benson’s Bold Statement on Mickey Loomis: What Every Saints Fan Needs to Hear (Whether They Like It or Not)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Gayle<\/p>\n

There is not a New Orleans Saints fan who has watched this team over the last few years, and wants to see Mickey Loomis in power. This team has spiraled since the departure of Sean Payton, and the finger has primarily been pointed at Loomis as the catalyst. That being said, Gayle Benson has made her intentions with Loomis crystal clear.<\/p>\n

Fans don’t have to like it, but Loomis isn’t going anywhere, not that that’s a shocking update. Matter of fact, Benson knows fans won’t like it. She told NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan, \u201cIt may not be what the fans want to hear, but as far as firing Mickey Loomis, that\u2019s ridiculous.”<\/p>\n

Well that settles that. At least she knows fans don’t want to hear that. It’s not because people just don’t like Loomis, though he’s dodged reality by insulting fans. It’s because he’s done a poor job constructing this team since the 2017 draft class, and he hired Dennis Allen. It’s because the Saints have sunk to a standard of mediocrity. Benson was right about it not being what fans want to hear, but she’s off base about it being ridiculous.<\/p>\n

The odds of Loomis getting fired are obviously low. The owner just called it “ridiculous,” so that tells you everything you need to know. However, Kellen Moore should be Loomis’ final swing. It’ll be his second head coach post-Sean Payton. The success of this should determine the future of Loomis.<\/p>\n

If Kellen Moore is a successful coach, it’ll mean Loomis finally rectified his biggest shortcomings. The Saints would be good again, so fans are less likely to call for his job. It would obviously mean he hired the right guy, something that didn’t happen with Allen. Additionally, it would mean the Saints built a significantly better roster.<\/p>\n

That would mean making better moves in free agency and drafting better, both moves that would be reflective of Loomis. There’s young talent on this team with chances to develop, but there is still a long way to go, and Loomis will have to integral to that roster construction. This year’s draft class was a great start, and the Saints will need more of that moving forward.<\/p>\n

Maybe most importantly, Moore being a success would finally give Loomis the ability to say he saw success without Payton. He can’t do that right now, and eventually, Benson is going to be unable to ignore that.<\/p>\n

It’s hard to fire a GM in the first year of a rebuild. Loomis just got his new coach, so we’ll show him patience. That patience, however, shouldn’t extend beyond this coaching regime.<\/p>\n

Oliver Bonk took brief part in the Flyers\u2019 practice today; what it means for his timeline for return and his place on the Phantoms.<\/p>\n

Oct 1, 2024; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Brad Marchand (63) and Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Oliver Bonk (59) battle for the puck during the first period at the TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

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The Flyers are back from their quick road trip over the weekend, during which they split their back-to-back against the Blues and Stars, and after a surely much-needed day off on Sunday, they\u2019re right back on the ice for a good practice, the first in their runway up to their next game on Thursday. And while the Flyers are working with some of the usual headlines coming out of the practice session \u2014 the shuffling of some of the forward lines, as well as an absence for Cam York which is, it seems, just for maintenance \u2014 the big news of the day is that they also have one of their top prospects returning to the ice as he works his way back from injury.<\/p>\n

For the first time since he took an upper-body injury during rookie camp, Oliver Bonk was back on the ice with the Flyers. It\u2019s been a long road for him, as his injury was initially thought to be more of the day-to-day variety, but it\u2019s turned out to be more serious, keeping him out now for upwards of two months, so it\u2019s nice to see him getting back into the mix, albeit briefly and still in that non-contact jersey.<\/p>\n

Now, as reported by some of the boots on the ground at practice this morning, Bonk didn\u2019t take the full practice with the NHL group, but rather came out for a bit of warmup work with the main group, and then headed over to the other ice sheet to continue with some individual rehab skating. So, it would seem that Bonk isn\u2019t yet pounding on the door for a full return to action, but it\u2019s encouraging all the same to see the recovery process continuing to move along nicely for him, as he gets closer to a return to playing, and eventually, his professional debut with the Phantoms.<\/p>\n

Getting Bonk back into the mix would be a pretty significant boost for the Phantoms in terms of raising the floor of the raw skill level of the group, particularly with veteran Dennis Gilbert remaining out with injury.<\/p>\n

This will be, though, the first time in recent memory when the Phantoms will have a surplus of bonafide AHL level talent on the right side of their defense. The Phantoms were running for much of the early part of the season with just one right-shooting AHL regular in the mix, in Helge Grans, and filling in the rest with bubble players. Now, though, between the team getting right shooting Christian Kyrou back in the trade for Samu Tuomaala last month, and getting Ethan Samson back from injury over the weekend, the Phantoms are now running a full group of at least marginally more veteran defensemen on the right side of their defense. When Bonk returns, though, this will mean the coaching staff will either have to establish some kind of platoon rotating two or more of these players in and out of the lineup \u2014 as they\u2019ve already been doing with some of their players up front \u2014 or else move someone over to play on their off-side and push one of the bubble players (like a Berger or a Sevigny) out to prioritize the AHL regulars.<\/p>\n

At some point, though, some kind of rotation is going to have to be established, as the Phantoms will be adding to their mix the literally just now acquired Maxence Guenette who is another righty, and with Rasmus Ristolainen also progressing through his recovery track and looking like he could be back in action before very long, the Flyers will also need to send at least one defenseman back down to the Phantoms to make space to activate him, so their surplus of players will grow even more significant. This isn\u2019t an impossible situation that they\u2019ll eventually find themselves in, but it will be a challenging one, as they work to strike the balance between fairness and optimizing their lineup to best help them secure wins.<\/p>\n

All of this said, though, Bonk is going to get games. Not just because he needs to \u2014 as one of the organization\u2019s top prospects and one who needs reps at the pro level to advance his development \u2014 but because his game is one which can offer a lot to the team, once he\u2019s able to really get going. His details focused, well-rounded style of play is one which should lend him some versatility in that lineup, as he could be a good stylistic fit with just about any of the other pieces on the back end. His ability to move the puck cleanly and with some pace will also be an element of his game which will work particularly well within the Phantoms\u2019 game plan, as they\u2019re shifting their play style to a more uptempo transitioning team.<\/p>\n

And on top of that, while Kyrou has been carving out a nice role for himself running the Phantoms\u2019 top power play unit, the spot (or spots) on the second unit have been a little less locked down, as the Phantoms are still looking for the right mix, and Bonk could quite easily see himself sliding into a role there to help round out the second unit, building up from some success found in a similar role at the junior level.<\/p>\n

Of course, ultimately it will take him some time to work himself up to speed and adjust enough to the professional game where he can again get to the top of his game, just like every other rookie in the league, but the Phantoms are running a system which should support his growing game nicely.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is not a New Orleans Saints fan who has watched this team over the last few years, and wants to see Mickey Loomis in power. This team has spiraled since the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hot-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t