Lucky13

…It’s deeply weird to see the names Carter and Kapanen in the Penguins lineup.

The thing for me that's so hard to figure out (or tolerate) is how literally everyone on the team at best plateaued or more likely regressed this year. There are one or two exceptions that prove the rule here like Farrabee. This includes some young guys who showed real promise last year but got significantly worse like Myers, NAK, TK. Even Provorov to an extent. Hayes was actually a pretty clutch player last year. When the whole team goes backward like this, something's wrong at the foundational level. Even if we say they "overachieved" last year, there's no denying they were among the best in the league for most of the season up until the playoffs. And when they were playing well, I thought they looked like a team that was playing for each other, having fun, making things tough on the opposition, and showing resilience (e.g., they didn't get rattled if they went down a goal or two, they bounced back after a bad game, etc.). Honestly I thought it looked sustainable. So...WHERE IN THE F&CKITY F&#@ F*#^ DID THAT TEAM GO??? There are certainly concrete issues with lack of top-end scoring talent and depth of talent/question marks at C and D...But this kind of total collapse and lack of effort, lack of team cohesion, points to something much deeper I think, some problem with the culture. It's sad to say it but I'm on board with all the folks who are ready for a leadership transplant. Even if G is still here it might be time to give the C to Couturier or even someone new ??? from the outside. Whoever they bring in this offseason to bolster the scoring and defense, they need at least a couple seasoned vets who can show this team's younger players how to lead. I'm hoping for the best but not exactly rushing to renew my NHL streaming subscription...

I pony up for the NHL.tv single-team subscription option, I think it's $89. You can get a 10% discount if you use a Discover card to pay. They blackout nationally televised games though which is exceedingly annoying. However if one were so inclined, one could in theory use a VPN service to connect to those games from a server with a non-US IP address. Just theoretically of course.

For me the question above is the one I keep thinking about. The team from the regular season and the team from the playoffs looked like two completely different squads. Same players, same coaches, Jekyll & Hyde on ice performance. There were maybe 60 total minutes of hockey between the MTL and NYI series when the Flyers kinda looked like themselves. WTF happened, and which of these realities is for real? The Playoff Flyers seemed to either not be trying (coaching?) or not be able (players? conditioning?) to play the kind of hockey that made the Regular Season Flyers so good and so much fun to watch. Even though they were semi-meaningless tune ups the Round Robin Flyers still looked like the Regular Season Flyers. So was it the added pressure and intensity of the playoffs that just overwhelmed them, they just didn’t respond to? Seems like too simplistic an answer but what else do you all think explains the night & day difference?

Hmmm...I'd rather see Hagg in the lineup over Braun. And agree with others' suggestions of taking a look at Frost in for Thompson. Maybe try swapping him in/out with Grant on the 3rd & 4th line to see what works best.

JVR is so weird...it's not like he's killing them with terrible turnovers or abysmal defense to the point where it's obviously addition by subtraction if you pull him in favor of anyone at all...he's just kinda there taking up space and shifts. He's the definition of someone waiting to lose his roster spot to a player who fulfills any role better than JVR fulfills his.

They could have Grant center the 4th line. So 14, 13, 21 and 38 for centers. JVR's been a non-factor but I can't decide if the team gains anything by subbing in someone like Frost or Bunnaman or _____ ? I worry that Frost might not be ready for the playoffs but it's not like I'd be upset if that sat JVR and plugged in just about anyone to see what happens. Or just leave JVR in and hope he eventually shows up for a game or two like the guy from the Boston series back in the day.

Man, at the risk of sounding like an ungrateful Philly sports fan, that had to be the least satisfying playoff series win I've ever experienced. The Flyers looked like a completely different team to the one we saw during the regular season. None of those games were fun to watch, and the "real Flyers" this year were a lot of fun to watch. I wonder if this is how Devils fans felt during the 90s and 2000s...? I'm sure some of it was down to the Canadiens' play taking Philly off their game, but man I hope they find themselves again in time for the next series. The intensity and execution I think will have to go up several notches to get by the Isles. I'd like to see NAK in for Thompson and Ghost in for Braun and used in O-zone starts and PP time. Let's go Flyers!

I like the looks of this (or maybe Braun/Niskanen swap spots, not sure yet). Ghost on the 3rd pairing will be fine for his defensive abilities, and create matchup problems for opponents' bottom 6 forwards once he has the puck on his stick. Then add in his PP time where he can contribute points and I think it's a recipe for success for him. Then either sign Hayes if his price/term isn't too high...or use some combination of Hagg/1st round pick/prospect to trade for a solid 2C.

Er......NTTAWT?

Wow, kinda wish I hadn't read that post A lot of good (Bickell, Dubinsky) -- to very good (Krejci, Lucic) -- to excellent players (Backes, Subban) in that list of Flyer could-have-beens. I know this kind of retroactive draft analysis is super speculative, but...ouch. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing what the Flyers do this summer in free agency & the draft. Hoping against hope that Hextall can somehow break the cycle of expensive/unnecessary FA signings, too-long contract terms, NTCs for everyone, and spendthrift draft pick trading. I'm also hoping Holmgren can be a really positive contributor in terms of talent scouting & evaluation for the draft, which seems to be his strength.

^ Totally agree. Coburn was at his best, by far, when he was partnered with Hatcher. Hatcher brought out Coburn's mean streak and he played with much more intensity. If he could play like that even 2 games out of every 3, he would be an outstanding player.

...And also at the league standings table :/

+1. I was watching that game last night too and found myself thinking, "There are two good hockey teams...and the Flyers look light years behind them." Here's hoping they get their **** together pretty quickly!

I was thinking this too. Might be good to spend some time in the A to get accustomed to the rough stuff and find his ways to deal with it.