Philadelphia Flyers
 

1/21/11 Quick Notes From Last Night's Game:

- Chris Pronger returned, and was "eased" back in with 20 minutes of icetime. 2 Assists, 2PMs, and +1 playing with Matt Carle. He didn't really participate in any of the extracurriculars, and seemed to be moving okay.

- JVR led all Flyers forwards in icetime with a shade under 19 minutes, and became the 9th Flyer with 10 or more goals.

- Briere centering Hartnell and Leino was again overall the Flyers best line.

- Richards was easily the Flyers best player. 2G,2A,4PTS,+2 He seems to be making the decision to omit him from the All-Star game look increasingly silly. He would seem to have a good shot as an injury replacemtment if anyone else pulls out.

-Carter and Giroux were the Flyers only minus players, each at -1. Each had a fight as well, Notably Giroux survived unscathed from what looked like a mismatch with a much larger Nick Foligno. Jody Shelley's job appears safe for the time being.

-Zherdev got about 12.5 minutes, had one shot and wasn't a factor.

-Powe seemed to be having an off game.

- Bobrovsky played decent, and was certainly not spectacular, allowed two clunkers. Well, maybe one clunker, and one debatable... He's been providing the Flyers with "decent" goaltending though, which for this team seems to be good enough, ...for now.

- Gonchar saw about 17 minutes of icetime, ...akin to the Flyers Sean O'Donnell's TOI. Only much more expensive.

- Purely my opinion: The Sens hung together and kept battling for each other. Nice to see the competitive fire still burning in a team having such a rough time of late. But they didn't look particularly well organized, or talented. They look like a team that would benefit greatly from the energy and sense of direction provided by a change of the GM and coach.

nice we have a flyers reporter now.

so i have a BIG question. what is going on with carcillo this year. why are thye not playing him? he has worked hard and done what has been asked of him time and time again. last year he controlled those PIMs when asked and when put on the scoring richards line he responded with shots and points. so why are they press boxing him for over half the games this season? do they really need zherdev and bums who score once in awhile. there offense is already good enough..

any insight to him as i am still holding onto him in 2 leagues hoping for what he gave us last yr.

Welcome aboard. It just didn't feel right not having a Flyers presence here...

As a Habs fan I've come to dislike the Flyers and their players but I respect their talent and their management's ability to implement the system at all levels of the organization. They're pumping in good young talent at a pace that is too fast for a salary cap. And that's not a bad thing.

My question is about Bobrovsky. I know he's 22 and is a toddler by goalie standards. But we know the history of the Flyers and their (lack of) goalie development. So what's going to happen with Bob? Is he going to settle in as the goalie of the future? Or is he going to struggle and move on to another team?

Welcome Buddy! I see GMGates followed through with my recommendation. Perfect member for the Flyers. Well spoken and respectful

I am going to sticky this thread

and I'm glad to see Flyer Fan accepted! Hopefully the post in the ramblings generates a few more team coverages. Keep a look out for other forum members and send me some recommendations!

Oh... and officially welcome you to the team FF! Enjoy :)

Welcome man sure you will do a great job around here!

Hi all, sorry for the slackage, I've had company all weekend. (...and was still mourning yesterday's tragic loss to the Devils.) :D

Hi Newper! You picked a perfect time for that question!

I think a few things have happened that have hurt Carcillo's icetime this season:

First and foremost, the depth at forward is better, and the competition tougher.

Last season, for the most part Gagne struggled, Hartnell was aweful, Briere struggled, Giroux was still being spoon fed minutes, Nodl was in the pressbox or the AHL, Powe was strictly fourth line, JVR hadn't found his offensive game, even Leino didn't click with anyone till the playoffs.

This season, Briere with Hartnell and Leino has been the teams best line, Giroux has blossomed into an allstar, JVR and Nodl have both found their offensive games and are proving to be steady contributors. Add Richards and Carter to the mix, ...and 8 of the top nine spots are locked; which means if Carcillo is to play he either has to beat out both Zherdev and Powe for that last top nine spot, ...or he has to displace the other of Zherdev or Powe, or Shelley, or Betts for a spot on the fourth line.

Last season Carcillo had some success adding a physical component to a line with Gagne and Mike Richards, ...but he kind of got exposed there too, ...as the playoffs went deeper, and the pace quickened, Carcillo struggled to keep up (Ashaam too), the Flyers came to the conclusion that he was miscast as a scoring line winger, and since the Flyers weren't deploying a traditional third line checking unit, and had better, quicker checking line players available anyway (Powe,Nodl) that Carcillo's best fit was as a fourth line "energy" type of player.

Likewise the Flyers became convinced that Carcillo was facing too big of a physical disadvantage against the leagues "heavyweights", and that they would have to bring in someone to fill that role (Shelley)

But Shelley can only help if he's on the bench, so he gets one of the fourth line spots.

Likewise, Blair Betts gets another based on his defensive/faceoff/penaltykilling skills.

That leaves one spot between Carcillo, or Powe. Powe kills penalties, is a better defensive play, a better skater, does bring some grit, and can chip in the odd goal.

It's not that Carcillo's played poorly, it's just that there guys there that can fill each role a little bit better than he can, ...where he still has value, and in fact got into the lineup today because of, ...is as an energy player.

Carcillo's energy is hard to match, and while he's very closely watched by the league and the referees because of his "reputation", in games like yesterday afternoon's snorefest loss to the Devils, Carcillo's a guy that will go out and stir the pot, and help to get the guys into the game.

Imho, that's exactly the reason Lavs had him in the lineup today, (10+minutes)
They've periodically gotten good results with a "sandpaper" line of Betts centering Carcillo and Shelley(who's turned out to be a better skater, and defensive forward than i thought), ....but today that decision was an easy one for Lavs to make because JVR was dinged.

Zherdev had a nice game today as well, playing with Carter and Giroux, ...it's his offensive potential, ...or more to the point, ...the potential they feel he has to help get production out of their top guys, that keeps him in the lineup. Wheras after being overexposed last season, Lavs has made his mind up that Carcillo would only hinder guys like Richards or Carter. His skill trumps Danny's heart in their minds.

Hope that makes at least SOME sense!

Hi dude!

I'm not sure the Flyers even know what to expect from Bobrovsky long term at this point, ...they seem to be very content riding the horse for as long as it wins, and as you saw with Leighton/Emery/Biron/Nitty etc, when it stops, they look for a new one (cheap) :D

Coming into the preseason, he wasn't even viewed as their top prospect, ...just a guy with potential they wanted to take a look at.

If I had to guess, ...after watching Chicago's experience with Niemi, I would say if he starts to struggle, they're do what they've been doing, grab the best available stopgap at the time, and move on.

But, In all honesty I have no idea how Bobrovsky projects down the line, ...Star? Starter? Jorneyman? Backup? Add that to the Flyers organizational Goalie dysfunctionality, and chances are he doesn't get a chance to ride out the storm that's surely going to arise at some point.

Even I noticed a few things watching the Flyers/Hawks today:

The Hawks seem to be playing at a slower tempo this season.

The Flyers having removed guys like Asham and Carcillo from the top nine, in lieu of guys like Zherdev and Nodl seemed to have no problem matching the Hawks speed up front.

I don't miss Ryan Parent.

With JVR out, Zherdev was moved onto the wing to play with Carter and Giroux. It's a sick combination of speed and skill, at the final tally, that had nine points among them, and were the Flyers best line.

Last season the Flyers had one of the worst 5/6 defense pairing in the league, and were continually exploited by the Hawks(amongst others :rolleyes: )

This season, they would seem to have one of the best, ...although Pronger, Kimmo, Carle, and company offer O'Donnel and Meszaros a great deal of insulation.