2019-20 Quest for the cup(The Carter Hart era begins)

[purdue81]

A lot of that article seemed to be putting the blame on the cap instead of on the GMs. It's not the cap's fault when GM's sign players to dumb contracts a la Bryz. Some GM's haven't gotten that concept yet and it hurts the rest of the league because the smart GM's either miss out on players or have to overpay to match what dumb GM's offer.

And some of the article was pointing to it hurting 'good markets'. The Pens, Bruins, Blackhawks, and Red Wings have won the majority of cups in the past 10-12 years. Traditional hockey markets, good hockey markets. If you add in the Kings who are in one of the biggest markets; arguing that the NHL is hurting itself in key markets by having a hard cap looks pretty silly IMO.

And I had to chuckle when the author used VGK as an example of growing a loyal fan base. Really, two years in and you're already calling them a good, loyal hockey market? Let's see how they do if the team drops off or how they do when the Raiders get there in 2020.

Will be very curious to see how Seattle draws. A lot of competition for the sports $$$$

 

[awaz]

Will be very curious to see how Seattle draws. A lot of competition for the sports $$$$

That's one area where the NHL did well I think. Expansion draft is set up to create a pretty competitive team right out of the gate. (Especially with GM's making bone-head moves like trading Smith to ensure they took Marchessault). I wonder if they lucked in to that a little bit, basically with the new owners saying 'if I have to pay $500M, I want a competitive team quickly', but either way I think that's good marketing. Especially in Vegas where they're the first in. I'm not willing to anoint them 'a good, loyal fanbase', but I bet they have made quite a few 'good, loyal NHL fans' before any other sports had a chance.

In Seattle, it will be even more important for them to be competitive pretty quickly. You can only make one first impression, and fans have other options in Seattle. They'll have a steeper climb though, one would assume the GM's learned from teams that completely botched the VGK draft (*cough Florida cough*)

 

[lasgop8]

Will be very curious to see how Seattle draws. A lot of competition for the sports $$$$

It will depend on how their team does. If they have a good record they will draw. I wonder who from our team will get taken in that expansion draft.

 

[purdue81]

It will depend on how their team does. If they have a good record they will draw. I wonder who from our team will get taken in that expansion draft.

One can only hope

 

[lasgop8]

One can only hope

One can only hope JVR gets taken.

 

[lasgop8]

The National Media Seems To Be Down On The Philadelphia Flyers

 

[lasgop8]

A Deeper Dive: Laughton looks to build

 

[awaz]

The National Media Seems To Be Down On The Philadelphia Flyers

I can't wait for the Flyers to prove all these guys wrong.

Hayes is a serious upgrade to the C depth
Niskanen is, at absolute worst, even with Gudas. I think he's an upgrade, possibly a significant one.
Braun > Hagg; if that's the way that it goes

The article doesn't even mention some of the biggest upgrades though

Hart >>>>> the 7 other goalies we tried while Elliot was hurt
Pitlick >>> Weiss/Lehtera who were common 4th liners last year
AV >>>>> Hak

Plus what are the chances the Provorov and Ghost both have down years again?

I'll put my first prediction out there today. I say the Flyers finish with 102 points and compete for the division.

 

[Chris p Bacon]

I can't wait for the Flyers to prove all these guys wrong.

Hayes is a serious upgrade to the C depth
Niskanen is, at absolute worst, even with Gudas. I think he's an upgrade, possibly a significant one.
Braun > Hagg; if that's the way that it goes

The article doesn't even mention some of the biggest upgrades though

Hart >>>>> the 7 other goalies we tried while Elliot was hurt
Pitlick >>> Weiss/Lehtera who were common 4th liners last year
AV >>>>> Hak

Plus what are the chances the Provorov and Ghost both have down years again?

I'll put my first prediction out there today. I say the Flyers finish with 102 points and compete for the division.

Well it's always easy to criticize what's on paper. I myself have pretty high hopes for this season, so we'll see. As with every season it's all up to the players.

 

[lasgop8]

I can't wait for the Flyers to prove all these guys wrong.

Hayes is a serious upgrade to the C depth
Niskanen is, at absolute worst, even with Gudas. I think he's an upgrade, possibly a significant one.
Braun > Hagg; if that's the way that it goes

The article doesn't even mention some of the biggest upgrades though

Hart >>>>> the 7 other goalies we tried while Elliot was hurt
Pitlick >>> Weiss/Lehtera who were common 4th liners last year
AV >>>>> Hak

Plus what are the chances the Provorov and Ghost both have down years again?

I'll put my first prediction out there today. I say the Flyers finish with 102 points and compete for the division.

This is barring any injuries. Besides goalie we have pretty much been injury free and please dont say JVR because he would've scored a few more goals and had a few more assists but at his minus 10 pace we also would have given up more points that he would've put up.

 

[lasgop8]

Well it's always easy to criticize what's on paper. I myself have pretty high hopes for this season, so we'll see. As with every season it's all up to the players.

A solid regular season and a long playoff run cures all.

 

[lasgop8]

Philadelphia Flyers: 2019-20 Will Be Nolan Patrick’s Time To Shine

This would be awesome!

 

[lasgop8]

On ice training camp September 11th

 

[Chris p Bacon]

A solid regular season and a long playoff run cures all.

A finals win would cure all for a long time lol.

 

[awaz]

This is barring any injuries. Besides goalie we have pretty much been injury free and please dont say JVR because he would've scored a few more goals and had a few more assists but at his minus 10 pace we also would have given up more points that he would've put up.

I'd take injuries to other positions if it meant we were healthy at goalie for once! It's the most important position!

 

[lasgop8]

I'd take injuries to other positions if it meant we were healthy at goalie for once! It's the most important position!

Hopefully by mid season the fans behind Hart are cheering MVP! MVP! MVP!!!!

 

[lasgop8]

A finals win would cure all for a long time lol.

One can only dream....

 

[awaz]

The way I see it, there's really only 2 questions about the opening night roster. Who is the last forward to dress and do they carry 8 dmen?

IMO, they'll try to carry 7 dmen, but if they're concerned about losing Hagg or Morin to waivers and don't find a trade partner, they'll keep 8 dmen. IMO, Hagg would get claimed for sure; but I don't think Morin necessarily would. With everyone trying to move guys to the minors, a guy with 8 NHL gp going in to his draft +7 year, with 24 hockey games played in 2 years, probably isn't drawing THAT much attention.

The forwards are more fun. I think that breaks down in to a few tiers.

High upside / High fun / Offensive boost Options:
Frost, Farabee, Ratcliffe

Boring / Veteran / Don't bring much Options:
Gabriel, Andreoff, Stewart

Young, but probably just depth / role player Options:
Vorobyev, Aube-Kubel, Rubtsov*

IMO, the most likely are Frost or Rubtsov in the opening night lineup. I put a * beside Rubtsov because I think there's a chance he can bring some offensive and be more fun than Vorobyev and Aube-Kubel. I'm hoping Frost comes to camp and tears it up. I think he brings the most dynamic elements and can help the offense more than any other guy on the list. He can finally be a guy that can drive PP2 to at least mediocrity instead of being a complete waste. He'd bring some speed/creativity/playmaking to Patrick and Lindblom/JvR on the 3rd line.

 

[lasgop8]

The way I see it, there's really only 2 questions about the opening night roster. Who is the last forward to dress and do they carry 8 dmen?

IMO, they'll try to carry 7 dmen, but if they're concerned about losing Hagg or Morin to waivers and don't find a trade partner, they'll keep 8 dmen. IMO, Hagg would get claimed for sure; but I don't think Morin necessarily would. With everyone trying to move guys to the minors, a guy with 8 NHL gp going in to his draft +7 year, with 24 hockey games played in 2 years, probably isn't drawing THAT much attention.

The forwards are more fun. I think that breaks down in to a few tiers.

High upside / High fun / Offensive boost Options:
Frost, Farabee, Ratcliffe

Boring / Veteran / Don't bring much Options:
Gabriel, Andreoff, Stewart

Young, but probably just depth / role player Options:
Vorobyev, Aube-Kubel, Rubtsov*

IMO, the most likely are Frost or Rubtsov in the opening night lineup. I put a * beside Rubtsov because I think there's a chance he can bring some offensive and be more fun than Vorobyev and Aube-Kubel. I'm hoping Frost comes to camp and tears it up. I think he brings the most dynamic elements and can help the offense more than any other guy on the list. He can finally be a guy that can drive PP2 to at least mediocrity instead of being a complete waste. He'd bring some speed/creativity/playmaking to Patrick and Lindblom/JvR on the 3rd line.

Defensive pairs would be
Prov-Nisky
Sanheim- Braun
Ghost- Meyers
Morin and Hagg at 7 and 8 would be there for injury but to have both of them watching all the time does that hinder their development?

What would our 2PP look like?

 

[lasgop8]

Philadelphia Flyers: Dark Horse Candidates For The Third Line Role