The Official 5,000 Posts for a Flyers Stanley Cup in 2015!

[awaz]

I am truly amazed at Masons season. 16-17-11 2.22 GAA (8th) and .928 S% (3rd). They started keeping Save % in 1982 and the Flyers record for a season is .925. Any guesses?

Add in how much our defense and PK have sucked. If there is any blame on Mason it would be that he has single handedly kept us from drafting Connor McDavid.

read the answer on twitter so I'm out. but I too am amazed with Mason's season.

 

[lasgop8]

I am truly amazed at Masons season. 16-17-11 2.22 GAA (8th) and .928 S% (3rd). They started keeping Save % in 1982 and the Flyers record for a season is .925. Any guesses?

Add in how much our defense and PK have sucked. If there is any blame on Mason it would be that he has single handedly kept us from drafting Connor McDavid.

Bryz???? hahahahahahahahah!

 

[lasgop8]

read the answer on twitter so I'm out. but I too am amazed with Mason's season.

I think Mason has had a definite resurgence since coming to the Flyers, the only two knocks I have on him is he is injured far to often for my liking and before last night he had only 1 road win all season . That being said he's the best goalie we have had in years.

 

[lasgop8]

2015 NHL Draft Lottery odds - Article - TSN

 

[chy1127]

I think Mason has had a definite resurgence since coming to the Flyers, the only two knocks I have on him is he is injured far to often for my liking and before last night he had only 1 road win all season . That being said he's the best goalie we have had in years.

Now has as many road Wins as road Shut Outs. Lost both road shut out in the shoot out.

 

[chy1127]

Mason now 2.19 GAA (4th) and .929 S% (tied 2nd). If we had a middle of the road PK he would be challenging Price for best GAA.

 

[lasgop8]

With patience, Flyers will be in good shape in the near future

 

[awaz]

With patience, Flyers will be in good shape in the near future

To be honest, I think that article even sells them short a little bit. Assuming you don't trade 1st round picks to off load contracts (really stupid idea IMO, not even sure why it's mentioned), those picks will be able to not only supplement, but replace some of the guys listed. If the Flyers keep all the guys mentioned they're not going to be competitive in '17-'18 either. With the young guys coming up and phasing out some of the dmen, you should have no problem staying cap compliant in the coming years.

xxxx.Giroux.Voracek
xxxx.xxxx.Simmonds
Laughton.Couturier.Read
4th line
Lecavalier

Sanheim.Morin
xxxx.MDZ
Ghost.MacDonald

Mason
xxxx

Will be UFA between now and then
Will be RFA between now and then

Assuming the following resigns
Voracek (UFA) - 8 mil
Couturier (RFA) - 4 mil
Laughton (RFA) - 2 mil
Morin (RFA) - 4 mil
Ghost (RFA) - 4 mil
MDZ (RFA) - 4 mil

You're looking at 50.975 with 6 forwards, 5 d, and a goalie. Add in 3 mil for Vinny for a total of 53.975. That's 2 full seasons from now, say the cap goes up 3 mil/seasons, you're looking at a total cap of 76 mil or so. Sign a backup goalie (Stolarz?) for 1 mil. So you have 21 mil for 3 top 6 forwards, a 4th line, and a top 4 dman. That doesn't look fantastic persay, but then you have to think..

2 first round picks this year. I think 2C is filled by one of those guys which will be an entry level contract (Barzal?). Figure, with incentives n such, 3 mil. I think one of the LW spots is filled by a draft pick between now and then as well. Estimate another 3 mil. Down to need 1 top 6 forward, a 4th line, and a top 4 dman. 15 mil available, average of 3 mil per spot which should be plenty.

Other names to consider that could at least have the talent to crack the 4th line:
Nicolas Aube-Kubel (W) - Had a real strong season in the Q
Radel Fazleev (W) - Having a whale of a WHL playoff run
Taylor Leier (W) - Good 3rd/4th line prospect, had a pretty good season with the phantoms
Robert Hagg (D) - Good bottom pair prospect
Mark Alt (D) - Could be a serviceable bottom 4 dman
Jesper Petersson (D) - Could be a serviceable bottom pair guy

I think if the progressions go as they could, and the Flyers ice the following, they will be very competitive, and have flexibility against the cap.

(Draft Pick/FA Signing).Giroux.Voracek
Aube-Kubel.Barzal.Simmonds
Leier.Couturier.Read
Fazleev.Laughton.Bellemare

Sanheim.Morin
Gudas.MDZ
Ghost.MacDonald

Mason
Stolarz

Obviously that's hoping for good progression from these guys, but that could be a really good squad and not super expensive. And you do it all the while having the Vinny and MacDonald contracts on the books and some pretty generous $$ for RFA resigns.

 

[Maverick426h]

It feels weird saying this, but doesn't the Hartnell for Umberger trade look really awful for us right now?

Why in the hell did we trade our number one scoring option at left wing for a guy we knew had hip issues and was only going to improve our penalty killing, which now sits 29th overall?

Meanwhile, Scotty has 26 goals and 56 points in Columbus. Those numbers would be 2nd and 3rd on our team, respectively. Hartnell was the closest thing to a pure sniper at wing that we've had since Gagne in his prime.

And no, a fourth round pick doesn't make me feel any better about this nonsense.

 

[lasgop8]

To be honest, I think that article even sells them short a little bit. Assuming you don't trade 1st round picks to off load contracts (really stupid idea IMO, not even sure why it's mentioned), those picks will be able to not only supplement, but replace some of the guys listed. If the Flyers keep all the guys mentioned they're not going to be competitive in '17-'18 either. With the young guys coming up and phasing out some of the dmen, you should have no problem staying cap compliant in the coming years.

xxxx.Giroux.Voracek
xxxx.xxxx.Simmonds
Laughton.Couturier.Read
4th line
Lecavalier

Sanheim.Morin
xxxx.MDZ
Ghost.MacDonald

Mason
xxxx

Will be UFA between now and then
Will be RFA between now and then

Assuming the following resigns
Voracek (UFA) - 8 mil
Couturier (RFA) - 4 mil
Laughton (RFA) - 2 mil
Morin (RFA) - 4 mil
Ghost (RFA) - 4 mil
MDZ (RFA) - 4 mil

You're looking at 50.975 with 6 forwards, 5 d, and a goalie. Add in 3 mil for Vinny for a total of 53.975. That's 2 full seasons from now, say the cap goes up 3 mil/seasons, you're looking at a total cap of 76 mil or so. Sign a backup goalie (Stolarz?) for 1 mil. So you have 21 mil for 3 top 6 forwards, a 4th line, and a top 4 dman. That doesn't look fantastic persay, but then you have to think..

2 first round picks this year. I think 2C is filled by one of those guys which will be an entry level contract (Barzal?). Figure, with incentives n such, 3 mil. I think one of the LW spots is filled by a draft pick between now and then as well. Estimate another 3 mil. Down to need 1 top 6 forward, a 4th line, and a top 4 dman. 15 mil available, average of 3 mil per spot which should be plenty.

Other names to consider that could at least have the talent to crack the 4th line:
Nicolas Aube-Kubel (W) - Had a real strong season in the Q
Radel Fazleev (W) - Having a whale of a WHL playoff run
Taylor Leier (W) - Good 3rd/4th line prospect, had a pretty good season with the phantoms
Robert Hagg (D) - Good bottom pair prospect
Mark Alt (D) - Could be a serviceable bottom 4 dman
Jesper Petersson (D) - Could be a serviceable bottom pair guy

I think if the progressions go as they could, and the Flyers ice the following, they will be very competitive, and have flexibility against the cap.

(Draft Pick/FA Signing).Giroux.Voracek
Aube-Kubel.Barzal.Simmonds
Leier.Couturier.Read
Fazleev.Laughton.Bellemare

Sanheim.Morin
Gudas.MDZ
Ghost.MacDonald

Mason
Stolarz

Obviously that's hoping for good progression from these guys, but that could be a really good squad and not super expensive. And you do it all the while having the Vinny and MacDonald contracts on the books and some pretty generous $$ for RFA resigns.

I would like to include Ryan White somewhere in this line up if possible.

 

[Cobiemonster]

It feels weird saying this, but doesn't the Hartnell for Umberger trade look really awful for us right now?

Why in the hell did we trade our number one scoring option at left wing for a guy we knew had hip issues and was only going to improve our penalty killing, which now sits 29th overall?

Meanwhile, Scotty has 26 goals and 56 points in Columbus. Those numbers would be 2nd and 3rd on our team, respectively. Hartnell was the closest thing to a pure sniper at wing that we've had since Gagne in his prime.

And no, a fourth round pick doesn't make me feel any better about this nonsense.

The optics of the trade don't look very good but it's understandable why it was done and it was necessary - he wasn't going to make this team that much better - sometimes you have to make a deal like this and it's hard to blame Hexy

 

[awaz]

I would like to include Ryan White somewhere in this line up if possible.

my thing with guys like White, Vandevelde, Bellemare, Raffl, Rinaldo etc. is that you only need a couple of them. I like all 5 of those guys, but some of the reason the Flyers aren't going to the playoffs is that they have all 5 of those guys playing every night. That's too much of your roster on guys that just aren't that talented. Good energy, good work ethic, good locker room guys, can play some good defense and can get the cycle going. Rinaldo is obviously the least useful of them, but I will admit, I do like Rinaldo. On a good hockey team, Rinaldo isn't playing regularly, and only one or two of the others is. Raffl might be a step up, but even still, he's not a top 6 forward on a good hockey team IMO.

 

[awaz]

The optics of the trade don't look very good but it's understandable why it was done and it was necessary - he wasn't going to make this team that much better - sometimes you have to make a deal like this and it's hard to blame Hexy

agreed. on ice, it's a terrible trade. but I think hexy recognized the Flyers weren't going to compete this year with or without hartnell, and his contract wasn't attractive to the team moving forward so the move was made.

and I'm ok with that.

 

[chy1127]

The optics of the trade don't look very good but it's understandable why it was done and it was necessary - he wasn't going to make this team that much better - sometimes you have to make a deal like this and it's hard to blame Hexy

Agreed. 1 year less will make a difference. Also, with all the stupid penalties Hartsy takes combined with our brutal PK = DISASTER!

 

[Cobiemonster]

Agreed. 1 year less will make a difference. Also, with all the stupid penalties Hartsy takes combined with our brutal PK = DISASTER!

Yeah the PK was pretty bad to begin with, the Flyers would have been in shit creek if Hartsy was still here - maybe the PP would have been a little better at certain points but it wouldn't have won them that many more games, and even if it did win them more games, they still wouldn't be a true contender

 

[JBM73]

The trade made sense at the time, but there's no way Hextall anticipated Umberger being as bad as he was this season and probably will be again the next 2 years. It's hard to believe that, in hindsight, the Flyers couldn't have made a better move to free up long-term cap space.

 

[chy1127]

my thing with guys like White, Vandevelde, Bellemare, Raffl, Rinaldo etc. is that you only need a couple of them. I like all 5 of those guys, but some of the reason the Flyers aren't going to the playoffs is that they have all 5 of those guys playing every night. That's too much of your roster on guys that just aren't that talented. Good energy, good work ethic, good locker room guys, can play some good defense and can get the cycle going. Rinaldo is obviously the least useful of them, but I will admit, I do like Rinaldo. On a good hockey team, Rinaldo isn't playing regularly, and only one or two of the others is. Raffl might be a step up, but even still, he's not a top 6 forward on a good hockey team IMO.

Raffl can be a 2-3 LW. We are definitely lacking LWs. White - PEB - VV is a decent 4th/energy line. Rinaldo, Vinny and Umberger is a full line of waste. We almost have enough cap space to sign a real LW. Problem is that there does not appear to be any potential 1st Line guys hitting FA. I also believe B. Schenn Stays and will be used at 2C and not moved around too much. Career high 45 pts this year and should be in the 55-60 points next year.

 

[Maverick426h]

I find it difficult to believe that our penalty kill would've been significantly worse this season without Umberger. Opposing teams scored on us 23.1% of the time on their power plays (with Umberger for 67 games). Only two opposing Nhl teams scored at a higher percentage. So, we were absolutely terrible...with him.

Maybe this is crazy talk, but you'd think our penalty killing would be better than 29th when they are facing one of the best power plays in the Nhl during practice.

Either way, this just goes back to our apparent trend of shipping away scoring left wingers when one of the most gaping holes in our roster is exactly that (Yes, I'm still bitter about trading JvR for L. Schenn.)

 

[Maverick426h]

We could go all the way back to Patrick Sharp on this issue. If we had kept him and never traded him to Chicago, we win at least one Cup.

 

[Maverick426h]

We're not the team that players come to to win a Cup. We're the team that drafts Cup-worthy talent and then ships it off before that Cup comes to fruition. In fact, we're no longer even a lock to make the playoffs year after year. I hope this all changes with Hextall. I'll give him time, but it's difficult to show patience at times like these.