10,000 Posts for a Flyers Cup in 2019

Chris p Bacon said:

He did but the 5 posts bailed him out. No I just think he needs way more seasoning. Whst I'm more impressed with is how our new coach actually changes his game plan to get better match ups. Hakstol never did that, he just stuck with his system win or lose.

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I like Stolarz because he's huge and he's athletic. But huge/athletic doesn't lead to a consistent goaltender (like cerebral/positional would). So he's probably going to be up and down, some games he's going to look unbeatable and some games he'll let in some soft ones.

I would say for Gordon, he's riding the good players a lot more than Hakstol did. Hak liked to play his 3rd or 4th lines in 'defensive' situations against top lines. That's why there was so much hate for the Vandevelde, Bellemare, Lehteras of the world. Gordon is just riding the big guns. Konecny, Raffl, Bailey, and Varone all played 10:25 or less last night. Bailey and Varone under 5:44. Meanwhile Couturier and Giroux were both of 22:35. On defense it's been the same, Provorov played 30:19 last night (!). Sanheim with 24:45.

Some notable stats from last night:

Couts 1G 1A 3 blocks plus 2
JVR 2Gs minus 2
Sanheim 2As 4 blocks plus 3
Gee 1G 1A
Defense 16 blocks 10 hits

awaz said:

I like Stolarz because he's huge and he's athletic. But huge/athletic doesn't lead to a consistent goaltender (like cerebral/positional would). So he's probably going to be up and down, some games he's going to look unbeatable and some games he'll let in some soft ones.

I would say for Gordon, he's riding the good players a lot more than Hakstol did. Hak liked to play his 3rd or 4th lines in 'defensive' situations against top lines. That's why there was so much hate for the Vandevelde, Bellemare, Lehteras of the world. Gordon is just riding the big guns. Konecny, Raffl, Bailey, and Varone all played 10:25 or less last night. Bailey and Varone under 5:44. Meanwhile Couturier and Giroux were both of 22:35. On defense it's been the same, Provorov played 30:19 last night (!). Sanheim with 24:45.

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Against Pitt:

Jake 25:14
Gee 24:45 seemed like he was out every shift
Couts 22:43

Would rather see these three out there instead of the Vanveldes Belmares and Lehteras.

lasgop8 said:

Against Pitt:

Jake 25:14
Gee 24:45 seemed like he was out every shift
Couts 22:43

Would rather see these three out there instead of the Vanveldes Belmares and Lehteras.

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Yep, absolutely. I would too. They just need more guys of that caliber so they can distribute it a little better. Jake and Gee in particular are no spring chickens any more, they'll wear down with that kind of usage over a full season. Bet those guys are ready for a break today!

awaz said:

Yep, absolutely. I would too. They just need more guys of that caliber so they can distribute it a little better. Jake and Gee in particular are no spring chickens any more, they'll wear down with that kind of usage over a full season. Bet those guys are ready for a break today!

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IMO, this is a good example of where depth makes a big difference. The 2nd half, all teams start riding their top guys more, and when the Flyers do that, they're a much better team. Look how frustrated we are with the terrible first halves the Flyers have on repeat going all the way back to 2010. When teams are 'saving their top players energy', the Flyers get torched and look terrible. Their depth just can't compete (and their goalies haven't been able to bail them out). When the 2nd half rolls around and they feel like they can ride the big guys without wearing them out for the playoffs, they're one of the better teams.

awaz said:

IMO, this is a good example of where depth makes a big difference. The 2nd half, all teams start riding their top guys more, and when the Flyers do that, they're a much better team. Look how frustrated we are with the terrible first halves the Flyers have on repeat going all the way back to 2010. When teams are 'saving their top players energy', the Flyers get torched and look terrible. Their depth just can't compete (and their goalies haven't been able to bail them out). When the 2nd half rolls around and they feel like they can ride the big guys without wearing them out for the playoffs, they're one of the better teams.

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When you dont have the depth there is two ways of getting it. One by draft which we haven't been doing well since 2010 and the second option is by trading which we haven't been doing well since 2010.

lasgop8 said:

When you dont have the depth there is two ways of getting it. One by draft which we haven't been doing well since 2010 and the second option is by trading which we haven't been doing well since 2010.

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I wouldn't go quite that far.

Holmgren identified the need to move Richards/Carter and get younger; those were great trades for the Flyers. Couturier alone is better than those two now, and they got Simmonds, Voracek, and Schenn for them too. However, I would agree that those are the only two trades that you could classify as truly successful in making the on-ice product better in the near term.

Then Hextall came in and said there was work to do to clean things up before the Flyers can be a contender. He said he wouldn't let them tank, but that rebuilding was going to happen. He untangled the cap mess and drafted future pieces. I disagree 100% that they haven't drafted well. Provorov is a #1 defensemen. Sanheim is playing as a #2 and succeeding this season. Ghost, struggling this year but was a #2 last year. Couturier was a Flyers draft pick, 8th overall in 2011 and he's looking more and more like a #1 center. It's still early, but Hart has the looks of a #1 goalie. Konecy, again struggling this year, but for large portions of last year was producing like a top liner. Patrick is extremely up and down, but he's mostly been a top 6 forward. I'd bet there are very few teams in the league that can say they've drafted a 1C, 1D, starting goalie, plus two more top 4 dmen and 2 top 6 forwards since 2010. Not to mention Frost, Farabee, and Myers who look to have the potential of top half of the lineup type players. They haven't drafted a franchise changing player, but very few teams have, and Hart could still turn in to that.

The NHL just takes longer for the draft picks to have an impact. On the rare occasion there's a guy in the top 2-3 that can make an impact right away (McDavid, Matthews, Eichel, Laine). The Flyers just so happened to get a #2 pick in one of the weaker years. Not much they could do there.

lasgop8 said:

When you dont have the depth there is two ways of getting it. One by draft which we haven't been doing well since 2010 and the second option is by trading which we haven't been doing well since 2010.

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Let me rephrase this. There are three way of getting depth
One by trading for NHL talent which we havent been doing well
Two Drafting which we have been do well lately but by the time our young guns hit there stride our stars are too old
Three free agency which we have been terrible at the last decade

Chris p Bacon said:

He did but the 5 posts bailed him out. No I just think he needs way more seasoning. Whst I'm more impressed with is how our new coach actually changes his game plan to get better match ups. Hakstol never did that, he just stuck with his system win or lose.

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Posts even out over time but I do agree that he needs more games and he'll probably get them in the ahl once Elliott comes back. I believe he can be the backup next year to Hart...

So the draft thing really got me thinking. Looking at the number of draft picks each team has made in the 1st or 2nd round that has made the NHL. Since 2010, the Flyers rank:

11th in avg draft position (this is a little wonky because I didn't include guys who haven't played in the NHL)
21st in games played
21st in points (Excluding goalies)
16th in ppg (Excluding goalies)
T15th in number of players to play in the NHL

Not very flattering at all really. Tainted some by Homer's tenure (fewer picks), but those aren't great numbers.

Maybe someday I'll look through including players that haven't played an NHL game to see who has missed on the most picks.

The difference has been the goaltening plain and simple

If this team has any plans of activating Elliot and sending down Stolarz I will lose my mind

awaz said:

So the draft thing really got me thinking. Looking at the number of draft picks each team has made in the 1st or 2nd round that has made the NHL. Since 2010, the Flyers rank:

11th in avg draft position (this is a little wonky because I didn't include guys who haven't played in the NHL)
21st in games played
21st in points (Excluding goalies)
16th in ppg (Excluding goalies)
T15th in number of players to play in the NHL

Not very flattering at all really. Tainted some by Homer's tenure (fewer picks), but those aren't great numbers.

Maybe someday I'll look through including players that haven't played an NHL game to see who has missed on the most picks.

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This is pretty much in line with what i was thinking. Pretty much middle of the road because of our really inconsistent seasons from our young players.

raptorlife4 said:

The difference has been the goaltening plain and simple

If this team has any plans of activating Elliot and sending down Stolarz I will lose my mind

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Goaltending is a part of it for sure in which we have gone back to 2010 and failed to draft, sign or trade for a top of the line goalie. We finally have one in Hart which i hope what he has shown so far continues for years and years and years

Happy Valentines Day!!!!

I hope everyone went out and did their flower and candy shopping already as nothing is left on the shelves today.

Morin sent to the Phantoms on a conditioning stint. Should get in to some Phantoms games this weekend. Probably gets recalled to the Flyers and activated off LTIR sometime next week.

Flyers will need to open up some roster spots. McKenna to waivers would be one, need to clear another if Morin and Elliot are to be activated. Would expect Vorobyov or Myers to be the other. Could just be for a few days, after the deadline (2/25), they can carry as many players as they want.

With this layoff lets talk some trades. Everyone knows who i want gone. But lets talk some smaller trades.I think if Brian Boyle could fetch a second round pick we could get good value for Raffl. Radko Gudas would open up space for Meyers and we be trading him at his peak value although i would like to keep him as he is one of the very few non pusses on the team. Vorobyev hasn't impressed to much we could probably get something real nice if we include him with Simmer.

Sportsnet talked about the Flyers acquiring Cam Talbot from the Oilers last night. Their thought process was, Hart will need a backup, preferably a veteran to help his development and he's already got a history with Talbot (trained together in the summer). The Oilers need to clear cap space to bring Sekera off LTIR, so they were brainstorming an Elliot for Talbot type deal, possible the Flyers might get a draft pick in addition.

Talbot is a UFA at the end of the year, 4.1M against the cap this season.

Seems like a fairly wise move. Even without re-signing him. But I wouldn't be opposed to re-signing Talbot to a back-up contract, 1-2M for a year or two.