Philadelphia Flyers

[Atomic Wedgy]

Gudas needs to be given an extension. I love the guy. Tough as nails, really responsible and I think he would be excellent value. Sign him for 5 years at 2.5 per. I'd be really happy with that. Considering he is only making under a million right now. That might be possible. Signing him only until he is 30 still gives him another potential pay day. I think if he is offered that, he might take it.

[PenguinHunter]

Gudas needs to be given an extension. I love the guy. Tough as nails, really responsible and I think he would be excellent value. Sign him for 5 years at 2.5 per. I'd be really happy with that. Considering he is only making under a million right now. That might be possible. Signing him only until he is 30 still gives him another potential pay day. I think if he is offered that, he might take it.

Where do you project him to be when all the young prospects make it to the NHL.... What is your expectation of NHL team pairings in 3 - 5 years time?

[Atomic Wedgy]

That is far too much guesswork, but here goes...

It is unlikely that all of our D prospects pan out to be what we hope. At least one will be a dud I suspect, hopefully not two of them.

So we're looking at Sanheim, Morin, Hagg, Provorov, Gostisbehere, Gudas, DelZotto, Manning. In three years, Streit, Medvedev and Shultz will be gone. Do we expect Hextall to build the entire blueline corps from draft picks? I think that is unlikely. He will probably trade for some vets at some stage.

Regarding Gudas, I would be extremely happy if he was on the third pairing. This, by extension, would mean we have at least 4 defencemen better than him. That would be a good thing. You will notice in that list in the last sentence, I did not bold Gudas' name. This is because all the others are left handed shots! Seven out of eight are lefties. If you are a traditionalist, that makes the pairings quite awkward if those are the players we have in three years.

Provorov - Morin
Sanheim - Gostisbehere
DelZotto - Gudas
Hagg-Manning

Id be pleased if those were the pairings in three years. That would mean all of our draft picks turned out well. I dont think that happens though. Let's pretend that Sanheim is the bust. Then I think it'll be something like

Provorov - Morin
Gostisbehere - Right handed vet defender or Gudas
DelZotto - Right handed vet defender or Gudas
Hagg - Manning

Maybe Hagg doesn't turnout to be any good either? So plug in another cheap dman. Just guesses....

[hockeymanG23]

I mostly agree with you AW, unfortunately you forgot one thing...

Provorov - Morin
Sanheim - Gostisbehere
DelZotto - Gudas
Hagg-Manning

Amac

[Atomic Wedgy]

I caught the game against the Rags the other day. It was a good game. Disappointed we couldn't get the win.

Powerplay: the entry into the offensive zone is not working. They need to rethink that strategy of the first players moving up slowly with the puck and then dishing off to a player following up with speed. It is not working and it is incredibly frustrating. I dont want to see that play again.... EVER. They are finding it hard to get set up and as a result, half the PP is spent just trying to get comfortably into the zone. Its pretty shit. I believe there was a stat shown in the board that we are 29th in the league for PP%. I can understand why.

Gostisbehere: He is really growing on me. He made one really great move as NYR was pressing into an offensive rush. His timing was impeccable and his decision making was sound. It created a great opportunity. Despite my early doubts, I now believe he might be a good one. Its weird how I first think the worst.... I might be damaged...

Mason: really solid. He played a really good game. He made some key stops.

Gudas: steady again. 2nd in ice time for the team, ahead of Giroux. I can see why Hakstol is putting the trust in him. He is really dependable. If he was in our 2nd pairing right now, I would be really pleased. Unfortunately, he has to be depended on as our top defensive dman. Despite him playing well, that is not a good thing. We are in desperate need of a top pairing minute muncher.

Sadly, no one really stood out for me offensively.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Watched the game against the Leafs tonight. We got outworked.... That is all I have to say about that.

Here's a short clip of me watching the game.

[Atomic Wedgy]

If only the game was 20 minutes long. A goal and an assist for G and Jake. Good start with an awesome first period. Everything was working and we were passing around the puck on the power play like it was last year. I dont know what Sullivan said to the Pens in the 1st period intermission, but it definitely worked. They came out blistering and took over the game.

Here is a condensed clip of me watching the game.

[Zorro]

Is Gostisbehere the stud PPQB for the Flyers future?? Or is someone else coming along that may give him a run for his money??

[Atomic Wedgy]

I'm becoming a believer.... I give him an 85% chance of keeping the PPQB job for the next two years. I'd put him at 70% for the next four. Unless something changes, it looks like he is the guy. One of the other kids could come in and out shine him. I would be extremely happy if that happens. That would mean we have someone better than Gostisbehere for the power play and he would be 2nd line PP. We could also trade for a stud dman, but I think that is unlikely.

[Zorro]

Voracek was a complete stud last night, he is so slick with the puck!!

[SeaDawg]

Voracek was a complete stud last night, he is so slick with the puck!!

He is one of my favorite players. I hate that people trash him all the time. Given his early season struggles, people were going out of their way to say that he is overrated.

Though I agree that the 80 pts he had last year is hard to repeat, he has 31 pts in his last 31 games showing that he definitely has PPG potential. I think his struggles early on this season were a mirror of the team's struggles in general. Until Gostisbehere came along, the team really lacked a transition game and the power play was horrible. Since Gostisbehere has arrived, Voracek, Giroux, and Simmonds are finally playing to their potential.

[Zorro]

He is one of my favorite players. I hate that people trash him all the time. Given his early season struggles, people were going out of their way to say that he is overrated.

Though I agree that the 80 pts he had last year is hard to repeat, he has 31 pts in his last 31 games showing that he definitely has PPG potential. I think his struggles early on this season were a mirror of the team's struggles in general. Until Gostisbehere came along, the team really lacked a transition game and the power play was horrible. Since Gostisbehere has arrived, Voracek, Giroux, and Simmonds are finally playing to their potential.

I loved watching Voracek during his junior career and it has definitely carried over to the NHL.. One of my fav's forsure!!

[Atomic Wedgy]

Well, I missed the beauty game against the Habs. Looked like the boys did well and happy to see Voracek play so well in the highlights. He is awesome. I was busy watching NZ give the Aussies their biggest ODI defeat ever. EVER!!!!! hahaha Good times. This was the view.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Well, I did not get a chance to watch the game on GCL tonight, but it looked like a ripper! The lads who are expected to score are scoring. The PP is on fire. Things are starting to shape up. Giroux now has 14 in his last 9 games and Voracek has 15 over the same stretch. Simmonds has 8 goals over the last 10 games! Something has started to click. Gostisbehere is getting less minutes than Streit, but he is getting the lion's share of PP time which I think is for the best. He is clearly better for the PP than Streit, but on the other hand Streit is a really reliable dman. He got just over a minute on the PP, but 5+ minutes on the penalty kill, 2nd only to Schultz.

The boys are rolling. Long may it continue.

Mason had good numbers, but as I didn't see the game and I didn't get a feel of how he played. I didn't see much of the game other than a few highlights as the NHL has not posted the recap as of right now. Their new format is way better than it was, but at least in the past I could get extended highlights almost immediately. I think they will find the right balance, but I dont like not being able to see at least the regular highlights of the game more than 5 hours after it finished. That sucks.

The boys are now 4 points behind NYI, DET and NJD for a wild card spot with multiple games in hand on each except NYI. Next game is against the Rags and it will be a huge one. Its an afternoon game. Sigh... Afternoon games (1pmEST) is 7am for me. Makes it difficult to watch, but Sunday morning, I will be definitely catching that one.

[Zorro]

5-1 win and Giroux gets ZERO points??