The Hockey Thread

[warwick.hoy]

Unlucky loss,...Sharp's a decent guy.

[proroby]

Another year, another goalie problem. Good job Philly interviewing this motherfucker before giving him 50 million dollars. Guy checked out of hockey the second he signed that contract. I had hope for him even with him struggling, until I saw his interviews in 24/7 show. He doesn't care about hockey.

[bigchiefbc]

Why don't you guys make the Bs an offer for Thomas? You get a fucking awesome goalie, we get something good back in return, plus we get to start Rask all the time. Everyone wins!

[proroby]

Why don't you guys make the Bs an offer for Thomas? You get a fucking awesome goalie, we get something good back in return, plus we get to start Rask all the time. Everyone wins!

I wanted Thomas so bad two years ago. Rumors floating around Carter for him, should have taken it. I hated Carter. I don't see the point of getting rid of Thomas. Bruins are the best team in hockey right now, why trade anyone.

If the flyers are gonna rely on either of our two goalies (I love Bob but he still needs time to developed before he's a cup goalie) we need to get some better defense. Bourdon does stupid shit constantly. Either get a big name defenseman or pray daily for Pronger. Prolly need both.

[warwick.hoy]

Eh,....I think Bryz got a little culture shocked when he came to Philly out of the desert. Philly has always been tough on goaltending and he is having a frustrating year. Lot's of really bad bounces that are finding their way to the back of the net,....lot's of weird deflections,....and goals going in off of friendly fire. I didn't really read that he wasn't interested in hockey in his interviews,....more frustrated. There is a bit of a language barrier so it's tough to tell how serious he is being or if he is choosing the right words while venting that frustration. As a fan I'll admit that it's frustrating to watch as we haven't had a solid goalie since Hextall (Having never really seen him play and being before my time I will say that I really think that Lindberg could have won the Flyers a cup,...but what could have been). It's hard to have confidence in Bryz,...but I'll be honest,....it's hard to have a whole lot of confidence in the defense right now either.

I'm an optimist though and would prefer not to give up on the guy so easily,....he does need to get more consistent, but in the same breath,...team defense needs to be more solid on the whole. We are missing Chris Pronger on the blueline hard. When he went down the Flyers went from having really good D to being middle of the road. I guess a bit of me is hoping that there is an outside chance that he could return for the playoffs. Entering the last half of the season,...hopefully Bryz will get his confidence back and be able to flip the switch come playoff time.

Bobrovsky on the other hand,....His performance last night was the best I've ever seen from him. He is an entertaining goalie to watch,...very fluid, quick and athletic,...almost graceful. He has good numbers on the year, has been playing consistently. He seems to work hard and I know he is capable of being a number 1 goalie. At some point he is going to want a bigger workload,...and if Bryz get's on top of his game,...Bobs isn't gonna find that in Philly. To be honest I wish the Flyers hadn't lost patience and continued to develop Bobs as the future number one in Philly,...perhaps that could still happen,...I'm not sure who Bryz's deal shapes out but I think an NTC doesn't go into effect until after so many years. At any rate,...at the end of his contract,...Bobs becomes trade bait me thinks.

How about Flyers rookies!!!,....probably by virtue of there being so many (looked out on the ice last night and Lavy was playing a line that had 4 rookies on it + Matt Carle) the Flyers rookies have amassed something like 59 points by the halfway point of the season. By far more than any other team in the league. The Jagr-Giroux-Hartnell line has kinda been dogging it over the past few games,....nice to see the young kids stepping up in their place.

[bigchiefbc]

Why don't you guys make the Bs an offer for Thomas? You get a fucking awesome goalie, we get something good back in return, plus we get to start Rask all the time. Everyone wins!

I wanted Thomas so bad two years ago. Rumors floating around Carter for him, should have taken it. I hated Carter. I don't see the point of getting rid of Thomas. Bruins are the best team in hockey right now, why trade anyone.

I just worry that Rask is tired of being a back-up, and someone is gonna give him a crazy offer sheet this offseason. He is a big part of the future of our team.

[proroby]

Flyers rookies are awesome for sure. I still have hope in Bryz, but it's dwindling. When Pronger went down that become the major priority and it continues to be with amazing or terrible goal tending. We proved we can get to the Cup with terrible goal tending and great defense/offense. But we have lost some of our better defensive minded/2-way playing forwards, so we need an even stronger defense than we have had in the past. However, there really aren't any trade rumors floating around and I'm not sure who is available for a trade at this point.

[Haki]

Eh,....I think Bryz got a little culture shocked when he came to Philly out of the desert. Philly has always been tough on goaltending and he is having a frustrating year. Lot's of really bad bounces that are finding their way to the back of the net,....lot's of weird deflections,....and goals going in off of friendly fire. I didn't really read that he wasn't interested in hockey in his interviews,....more frustrated. There is a bit of a language barrier so it's tough to tell how serious he is being or if he is choosing the right words while venting that frustration.

I blame that whole Universe crap on him being Russian. My old guitar teacher was from there and he'd go off on similar rants which started out as trying to explain something guitar related, that always cracked me up.

I'm not sure who Bryz's deal shapes out but I think an NTC doesn't go into effect until after so many years. At any rate,...at the end of his contract,...Bobs becomes trade bait me thinks.

There are a lot of variations of NTC's, but from what I've read of Bryz's deal it's a full on NTC that's been in effect since day 1 of his contract and runs the full length of it.

[warwick.hoy]

So he'd have to waive the NTC in order to get traded.

[warwick.hoy]

Bobrovsky looked hella solid in net last night. He made one glorious save after another. I'm glad Coots got that third goal for the Flyers with ~2 minutes left on the clock cause the Isles managed to squeeze one by Bob with 15 seconds left to go into the game. Had Coultier not gotten that goal,...the game could have had a different outcome.

The Isles plain out worked the Flyers last night, and that is becoming a theme. Getting outworked. I think the Isles and the Canes are soft teams and they are still controlled the majority of the play against the Flyers. Team D is so weak right now. I keep hearing Luke Schenn from the Make Beliefs for JVR,...I think that's a bad move,...JVR might be slumping but he can turn it around by the time Playoffs come around, and I don't think the payoff is that good. Luke Schenn has potential but he is reportedly not that good of a defensive player.

I've also seen Nashville's Ryan Suter and Shea Weber's name floating around. Shea Weber is probably the only really legitimate replacement for a guy like Pronger. Big intimidating presence and arguably one of the best D men in the league. I would definitely be satisfied to give up a talent like JVR and potentially some picks for a guy like Weber,...but not knowing how the Flyers are looking against the cap,...and I think Weber would command a premium,...I'm not sure that the Flyers could make that work.

Considering how young the team is and how stocked up the cupboard is,...I think the Flyers have plenty of talent to work with in the next few years. There is a little bit of a jam up at the forward position,...and JVR is not really living up to expectations at this point. I know that at sometime he'll fire up,...but so far this season for him has been a little slow (as it has in the first halves of previous seasons). I'm wavering back and forth on whether or not Homer should pull the trigger but at some point in time you have to stop waiting for a player to emerge and move on.

[proroby]

The main trade they are looking at is for Suter, I haven't heard Weber's name and I can't imagine Nash trading him away. I don't much like the Schenn trade either but I could go for Suter, he's solid. Definitely not a Pronger replacement, but about 50x better than Bourdon. You lose JVR and you have 3 guys that could replace him potentially. I do think JVR will continue to develop and will be a great player, so I'm hesitant to want to trade him, but we need to do something with the defense.

[warwick.hoy]

I meant to mention this in my previous post but I'm hesitant to be too stoke on Bobs' performance as of late. He held the fort admirably; but that was against two basement dwelling teams. Put him up against a higher powered offensive team with the Flyers soft D and he may not be so successful.

That said he did look really calm and solid in net. He was moving well. What clues me into his confidence is how he pops up after a play is dead and smoothly transitions to he relaxed standing,...glove on blade of stick butt end on the ice pose. At this point I'd say that Bob has the potential to surpass Bryz in terms of elite goaltender status.

Bryz was so hyped up and I think he'll find his swagger again,...but man what a disappointment he has been. I don't think that fans loosing faith and wanting to give up helps his cause out any either (ever see the trash talking that goes on about him on Philly's official FB page),...if he ever read that shit,...oh fuck,...I'd be really discouraged as well.

[Haki]

Both Suter and Weber will be UFAs which should keep the asking price down a bit. Nashville has cap space but they've been a budget team, though they did hand out a big 7m per year for 7 years to Rinne. Can't see Weber taking less than that (he's currently on an arbitration awarded 7.5m one year deal). Suter doesn't have the starpower of Weber, no beard and less of a canon but from what I've seen of him against Anaheim he's at about as solid defensively, definitely a top pair guy. His current cap hit is 3.5m but that's bound to go up to 4.5-5m if not more, hell Wisniewski got 5.5m after scoring some points on the Habs power play. I doubt the Preds will go for JVR, 6 years at 4.5m per, who is currently underachieving? Doesn't make a lot of sense for a budget team that would also need to replace whichever D they traded away.

Schenn has never impressed me, doesn't have any offensive upside at all and is average as a defensive guy. Course he's young and people like to project but until this season (haven't seen him play this year) he didn't exactly make progress.

The Cammalleri trade amuses me, pulled during the game and right after saying the team prepped and played like losers.

I'm pleased with the recent 4-0-1 streak the Ducks have going. They're too far back to make the play-offs but winning a bunch of games should stop Murray from trading away a part of the RPG line, I bloody well hope.

[warwick.hoy]

JVR Out Indefinitely with a concussion.

[warwick.hoy]

The Flyers sit in fourth in the conference with a 6 point lead over 3rd place Washington.

Yeah I hate how they seed division leaders higher than more successful teams just by virtue of leading a weaker division. I hope after realignment next year they do away with that.

So the Flyers have been a road team for the first half of the season and haven't really had the opportunity to develop any mojo at home. They currently own the most points on the road in the league (sitting at 34 points I believe). That bodes well for playoff performance,...but they have tailed off on picking up wins on the road. They let 2 slip by in Nashville although to be fair,....Rinne is a great goaltender and the Flyers defense continues to be soft. I've seen some good plays come off the blueline,..but the defensive responsibility for the forwards is lacking.

Coulterier has four goals in four games. Atta boy Coots.

I think it's time for Lavy to break up the Giroux Hartnell Jagr line. At the very least they need to get off the schneid. They've been shutdown for the better part of 5 games.

They have the opportunity to start making some noise and make a run for those top spots at home. Hopefully they can make the best of it.