Philadelphia Flyers

[Flyer Fan]

Flyers acquired defenseman Nicklas Grossman from the Dallas stars for a second round pick this year, and a third rounder in 2013.

Grossman's an upgrade on Lilja for sure, and can probably be spotted occassionally on the second paring with Carle.

[Atomic Wedgy]

Start the parade!

[Akkei]

From what you have seen of Couturier this year, where do you see him in 2 years from now?

[Flyer Fan]

Wow, I've really been awol from this thread, sorry!

Lots of interesting stuff going on in Flyerland lately:

Most important seems to be the magical transformation of Ilya Bryzgalov's confidence recently.

The Flyers added a lot of size, experience, and physicality with the deadline and pre-deadline additions of Grossman and Kubina.

The flip side of that is by inserting those guys into the lineup, it also eliminated a lot of inexperience, turnovers, and general skittishness that was the byproduct of having rookies like Bourdon and Gustafsson (and Lilja ~sigh~) playing big minutes.

There's been a noticeable cut down on the awful defensive zone breakdowns and turnovers, and overall increase in the confidence of defense corp as a whole, ...but Bryzgalov in particular seems to have gotten a boost of confidence from the additional veteran presence, and has actually been VERY good for the last four games.

Right now the Flyers have just lost Meszaros and Timonen so Gus, and the evil Lilja are getting bigger minutes, but the improvements to Bryzgalov seemed to be more about his mental state than what was happening on the ice, ...and the Flyers have a much better chance of competing successfully with good goal tending and injuries, than they do with crappy goal tending and a healthy lineup.

The Flyers have recalled Brandon Manning from the Phantoms to serve as the seventh defenseman temporarily. Bourdon's out with a concussion, Bartulis would require waivers, Marshall's been traded, and Walker is, ...well Walker.

There's rumblings on local talk radio that the Flyers are dangerously close to the cap, and the talk heads are pointing out that Manning isn't needed to play, and will count as one of the Flyers 4 call ups allowed non-emergency call ups.

They're trying to make a case that either Meszaros or Timonen is more seriously injured than is being revealed and will be placed on LTIR. I disagree, and see this as Holmgren simply having painted himself into a corner with the cap, the early season Walker over Bartulis error, the lingering Bourdon injury, and the Marshall trade.


Up front, it's being pointed out that the Flyers Brayden Schenn was included on the Phantoms clear day roster, and that Garrett Klotz wasn't; the theory being raised that with Schenn now pointless in his last 8 games, the Flyers are perhaps at least considering sending him down.

Again, I don't buy it. It seems much more likely that the Phantoms feel Klotz won't get on the ice for them, and are taking a "flyer" (pun intended) on potentially adding an NHL player at some point, ...and of the Flyers waiver exempt NHLers: Schenn, Couturier, Read, Rinaldo; Schenn's spent the most time with them this season and would be in the best position to contribute being thrown into the mix in the middle of a playoff should the Phantoms be advancing and the Flyers (shudder) exit early.

The Flyers have also recalled Harry Z. from the phantoms as an emergency call up (he doesn't count as one of their 4 allotted recalls) to replace Voracek who made the mistake of not being aware that it was Kronwall on the ice, assumed the defenseman would retreat once he chipped the puck past him, got caught with his head down, and wound up being served a heaping helping of shoulder pad for dinner.

He required stitches above and below his mouth, and passed an initial baseline concussion test, but was obviously dazed, and woozy and is undergoing additional testing today.

A lot of folks were calling for a suspension, but Shanahan rightfully declined, ...Kronwell's caught a couple of forwards by surprise in that very spot this season, and it's a clean hit, he didn't leave his feet, throw an elbow, or approach from behind etc, ...it's just a hit most defensemen won't step up to make, so it's catching the forwards by surprise and unprepared.

It's the kind of hit we'd give Chris Pronger a standing ovation for delivering.

...although Pronger probably gets 8 games for it.(he said, cynically to no one in particular.)

Didn't post about it earlier, but JvR won big, big, esteem from his teammates last week for breaking his foot blocking a shot, staying with the play and competing while hobbled, and eventually clearing the puck before hobbling off, ...coming back later to try and play on it was an additional boost, and was good to see.

Jagr also left the last game with an injured hip, and is very doubtful. The struggling Schenn gets a good opportunity by being slotted in with Giroux and Hartnell.

Matt Read went through a dry spell, dealing with some minor injuries and pressing, but appears to be back on track. He'll be on the second line with Simmonds, and the recent fourth liner Dany Briere.

Briere's kind of become the "elephant in the living room" that nobody wants to talk about, but is just too big to ignore...

Now goalless in his last 20 games, Briere's poor play was while under the radar during the team's recent struggles due to Bryzgalov's higher profiled slump, is now with the improved play of the goal tending, defense, and rookies; beginning to stand out like a sore thumb.

There's a note in the ramblings today targeting Briere as an ideal "buy low" candidate, but personally I'd label him as a "don't touch with a stick" candidate.

His numbers have been steadily declining for the last four years (I believe), his shot totals are down, his defensive play atrocious, his contract unmovable, his cap hit enormous, and his inability to find chemistry with line mates legendary.

The Flyers went through a season and a half of searching for suitable line mates for Briere to click with, and had basically given and relegated him to fourth line status before stumbling upon the magical Hartnell-Briere-Leino combination during the playoffs the year before last.

At the time guys like Richards, Carter, Gagne etc were all tried to get him going, this year it's been Jagr, Simmonds, JvR, Voracek, Couturier, Read, Talbot, Hartnell, and Schenn at various times...

The most production they've gotten was a short spurt with JvR and Simmonds, and the current Read/Simmonds pairing seems to have the potential as well, ...but for a guy with 6 million dollar cap hit, a letter on his chest, as talented a group of wingers as there is in the league to play with, prime ice time, advantageous zone starts, no defensive/penalty killing/shutdown responsibility whatsoever, and power play time to boot, ...his production is simply piss poor.

Add to that, the habitual bad penalties (always stick work, never physical), poor defensive play (he's been quickly passed by Giroux at both ends of the ice, and Couturier's already much sounder defensively), and it gets pretty ugly.

Particularly while your watching guys like Couturier, Schenn, Talbot and Read being moved all through the lineup, at various positions while Briere's ice time at center provides the team with very little return.

I'm probably being hard on the guy, but I got annoyed at the recent controversy he's caused in the press with his "Brygalov's been a great team mate for last two weeks" misstep.

I mean, this isn't a rookie saying the wrong thing, this is one of the most experienced guys on the roster, who's supposed to be an assistant captain, he's having an awful year, being outplayed by rookies, the team's struggled, the goalie's struggled and had issues dealing with the press, and just when he and the team finally seem to be turning things around, and having some success, he and the team are now running around putting out the fires and answering questions about Briere's dumb-Assad comments.

All this and big chunk of cap space for a guy who'll be lucky to break 20 goals, and has averaged 48 points over the last three years? Really?

I know he's shown the ability to raise his compete level during the playoffs, but...

Anyway, sorry for the rant!

[Atomic Wedgy]

Your comments about Briere are bang on the money. He is a very talented hockey player, but he doesn’t play like it all the time. For me …all will be forgiven with Briere if he continues to be a playoff stud.

[Flyer Fan]

Your comments about Briere are bang on the money. He is a very talented hockey player, but he doesn’t play like it all the time. For me …all will be forgiven with Briere if he continues to be a playoff stud.

Thanks! And I agree! A good playoff hides a multitude of sins!

[mister_mcgoo]

man that Claude Giorux guy sucks

[Flyer Fan]

man that Claude Giorux guy sucks

Admittedly, he's no Andreas Nodl, but there's still time for him develop into some sort of useful "energy" guy or something.

[Flyer Fan]

Lots of good stuff from last night's game (It's always more fun to post here after a good game!)

Bryzgalov with another shutout, 3 in a row, and made it look EASY, even the tough chances. After the game, said all the right things, refused to talk about himself or his recent performance, steered every question back to "the team". It seems to be working for him, and working for the team.

Voracek had an outstanding night on a few levels: Played a great game and made the scoresheet, handled a post game interview excellently when being asked about Bryzgalov's turnaround, and Briere's struggles, ...and probably more impressive, made a point of bypassing the open net to setup the struggling Danny Briere for the gimmee.

Briere returned last night after missing the previous 30 games or so with "ScottGomez-like symptoms", and finally broke his goalless drought thanks to Voracek, but was busting his tail all night, and had already ripped a laser off the post earlier, and was credited with an assist earlier.

He supposedly had a meeting with Laviolette on monday, and whatever was said apparently worked, it looked like the determined, dangerous, playoff warrior Danny Briere out there last night.

Couturier broke a goal-less streak of his own with a nice second effort goal, took the faceoff, tied up his man, kicked the puck back to the point to Coburn, and drove to the net, and hammered in Coburn's rebound on the second attempt while being leveled.

It was probably one the best overall efforts the Flyers have put together all season, ...everyone up and down the lineup busting up and down the ice, even Lilja looked good!

What I'm really enjoying is the "team" attitude that seems to be emerging, from the guys talking to Bryzgalov, to Bryzgalov's response, to Voracek's feeding Briere, to the team rally around JvR during the game he was injured. Jagr and KT's work ethics, Briere's taking in Couturier, Shelley's professionalism, and positive attitude even though he's not playing....

Good stuff!

[Flyer Fan]

Okay, now that I got all the feel good stuff out of my system:

Holmgren was quoted as saying the Pronger's still not doing well.

The Pens look to be very tough without Crosby, with him it's gonna be evern tougher.

Henrik Lunqvist still hasn't given up hockey to start raise llamas.

The Flyers strengthened their blue line significantly by adding Grossmann and Kubina, but they still have a weakness in the faceoff circle, and probably could have used an experienced penalty killer.

Andreas Lilja.

[Flyer Fan]

Great article at Broad Street Hockey that uses a bubble chart to display how the Flyers forwards have been used thus far with regards to offensive/defensive zone starts, and quality of competition.

The players are placed on the chart with the top right corner representing the most defensive zone starts vs. the toughest competition, and the lower right corner representing the most offensive starts and the weakest competition...

Then, after the players are placed to indicate usage, the dot is colored either blue or red to indicate whether the flyers are winning or losing the puck possession battle while that particular player is on the ice, and the size of the dot is expanded or decreased to show by how much of a margin.

All in all a very useful look at how the forwards are being used, and how they're fairing.

Here's the chart:



and here's the same chart from early november which you can use as a comparison to see how the roles, usage, and performance of the forwards has evolved over the last four and a half months:



Here's the link to the original article: http://www.broadstreethockey.com/201...-usage-results

And here's a list of the forwards numbers to make it easier to identify them: (apparently not everyone spends hour upon hour memorizing these things for the entire league ):


48Danny Briere 14Sean Couturier 28Claude Giroux 19Scott Hartnell 68Jaromir Jagr 14Ian Laperriere 24Matt Read 36Zac Rinaldo 10Brayden Schenn 32Tom Sestito 45Jody Shelley 17Wayne Simmonds 27Maxime Talbot 93Jakub Voracek 29Harry Zolnierczyk 21James van Riemsdyk

Conclusions (imho anyway): Giroux is awesome. Rinaldo um, ...not so much.

Giroux's responsibility's and production have increased as the season's progressed, he's still growing.

Laviolette spent the first two months rolling everyone in various roles, but has seemingly begun sorting out roles, and while maybe not at the level of Vancouver's AV, is very match up and situationally driven in his usage of the forwards.

Jagr's been getting every opportunity to get him out on the ice against weaker competition in offensive situations, ...the results are in his statistics.

Rinaldo's being sheltered from defensive assignments, and spotted against weaker competition, and still being significantly outplayed. His physicality and agitation are pluses, but statistically he's clearly the weak link in the Flyers forward group.

Last season, Briere Leino and Hartnell were all given favorable offensive zone starts and weaker competition, ...however with Rinaldo, Schenn, Couturier, Read, Jagr, Voracek, and Simmonds all being integrated into the lineup, Briere and Hartnell have been less sheltered.

Hartnell has seemed to grow into the added responsibility as the season's progressed (though no doubt he's getting a boost from Giroux), while Briere on the other hand struggled without the protection, and as the season's progressed, Laviolette's back off begun sheltering Briere to a larger degree, (while relying more on Couturier), but Briere is still being badly outplayed even by lesser competition.

It seems to be Talbot who's replaced Richards as Laviolette's choice for the toughest match ups in the the toughest parts of the ice, ...and he's excelling in the role.

Couturier was being spoon fed minutes against favorable competition in favorable areas, but as the season has progressed, he's far less sheltered, but only slightly less productive.

Read's in the same boat, only despite the sizable decrease in protection, his production has increased.

Schenn's being sheltered more, but playing far better and performing well.

Surprisingly, Simmonds is the most sheltered forward on the team, and is playing better than earlier in the year, but still barely breaking into the plus side of things, ...I would have though he'd have fared better in the puck possession area.

Voracek has really come on, and has quietly become one the Flyers better two way players.

JvR's also come on, and while he's getting more offensive zone starts, he's getting it against tougher competition, and doing well, ...even if it wasn't necessarily translating onto the score sheet.

Harry Z was being used in a very defensive role, and wasn't really doing well there, he wouldn't seem to have enough offensive ability to squeeze his way into the flyers top nine with Giroux, Hartnell, Jagr, JvR,Voracek,Briere,Couturier,Simmonds, Read and Talbot in front of him, but I'm wondering if part of what's being reflected in his performance is that he's being used on the fourth line with Rinaldo...

Anyhow, that's enough of my interpretations of the numbers. I should point out that the author's note that it's possible that some of the forwards numbers have been negatively impacted by the effect of being on the ice with the Flyers very unstable third defense pairing, and struggling goal tending earlier in the season.

(What statisticians and physicists refer to as "The Vortex of Suckiness" or "The Lilja Effect" but personally I feel this would be distributed fairly evenly among all the forwards with the exception of Giroux, Hartnell, and Jagr.

Anyway, I don't know how fantasy relevant the info is, other than to encourage owners of JvR, Giroux, Voracek, Couturier, Read, and Schenn with the possibilities of even better numbers lying just ahead, but I found it to be interesting, and thought I'd share it.

[Flyer Fan]

Just heard, Andrj Meszaros is undergoing surgery for a herniated disk, and will be out 6 to 8 weeks (May 2 -16)

[Atomic Wedgy]

That is a huge blow. He is a very underrated defender and a big part of the Flyers chances of success. Bringing in Kubina and Grossmann avoids an emergency situation.

[Flyer Fan]

It probably won't garner quite the same level of media attention as when that injured penguins guy came back recently, but Pavel Kubina is expected to return to the lineup tonight.

He was paired with Andreas Lilja at practice, so if that pairing holds it could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to refer to Kubina as "the fast guy"

forward lines:

Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr
Simmonds - Schenn - Read
Wellwood - Briere - Voracek
Rinaldo - Couturier - Talbot

Not that it matters in the overall scheme of the universe, but Bryz in goal.

Briere and Voracek each carry an ugly 8.9 shooting percentage. Talbot and Hartnell at the other end with 17.3%

[Flyer Fan]

Talking heads on the radio today mentioning that Holmgren's going to have some very big decisions to make in the off season:

He currently has 8 NHL defenseman, but four of those (Pronger, Carle, Grossmann, and Kubina) may not be back next year.

Holmgren needs to decide exactly what he wants his defense corps to look like, then hope Pronger's health cooperates, then somehow make it work under the cap.

Coburn, KT, Pronger, and Meszaros already represent about $19.8 Million in cap space by themselves, ....Pronger's 4.9M would be freed if he didn't return, but due to the tagging rule, must still be counted initially until when and if he is placed on the LTI list next season.

I figure the worst case scenario for the Flyers would be losing Carle, Grossmann, and Kubina because there wasn't enough untagged cap space, then having Pronger be unable to play, leaving the Flyers with KT/Coburn, and Meszaros the only experienced defender behind them....

Pronger at 4.9 million is a bargain considering that Coburn (4.5M), and Meszaros (4.0) already approach that, and Carle figures to garner 4.5 or so as well.

Looking at the Flyers roster from a purely "bang for the buck" point of view, save Pronger, there are no bargains among the Flyers veteran defenders...

KT's 6.3 is meh, Prongers 4.9 great if he were playing, but Meszaros, and Coburn both seem a little high, and Holmgren's signing of Coburn at 4.5 essentially means that he bid against himself in driving up the price of both he and Carle. Grossmann and Kubina both being so close to ufa means they'll be very difficult to sign for a decent number.

Upfront: Briere at 6.5, JvR at 4.25, and maybe Schenn at 3.1 this early in his career seem to be arguably the only ugly numbers, though re-signing Jagr probably ups him out of the bargain range, and Voracek's scheduled for RFA...

Bobrovsky's another interesting issue raised today, ...he's making 1.7 which is high for a backup, he's got potential, but is entering the third and final year of his contract next season, ...buried behind Bryz, he might represent a KHL flight risk after next year.