gp926

I know they won, but the goals were two very lucky bounces. They had some zone time but not enough against a bad Florida team. Mason was awesome. 0/5 on PP, and didn't generate many chances (it didn't look like they were moving bodies much at all, just standing and waiting for lanes to open up for passes). Not knocking Berube because it'll take time for them to adopt his approach (from what I can tell he wants the team to be more responsible without the puck - swing deeper for support and focus more on filling in for each other defensively than sending people on the forecheck like Lavy liked). But even the worst teams win 1 in 4. Please someone tell me I'm crazy and they looked better last night or something. PS Rinaldo may have been the best skater on the ice these first 4 games

@murraycraven I should have replied to this in my other post, sorry everyone. I don't necessarily discount Read's offensive abilities, but I would discount them compared to Schenn, Simmonds, Voracek, and Hartnell's. Not to mention that he's more defensively responsible than those players (with the possible exception of Schenn) in general - that's not to say those players are defensive slackers either. Read also has an abnormally high shooting percentage, which makes me worry he won't score that much if he's given more shots.

I'm amending my post, specifically the 4th line. I didn't consider the fact that Laughton isn't AHL eligible. I think the 4th line goes Talbot - Hall - Rinaldo with Gagne on the 3rd line. I'll stick by my belief in Hartnell, but he's for sure the guy to get moved first off of that line @jammer2 . Bottom line is Schenn has never had close to the production Hartnell had 2 years ago, and last year he was hurt (hopefully just bad luck!) - either way putting these lines together has made me a hopeless optimist for the coming season. 24 more days!

Hartnell - Giroux - Voracek Sorry, how you take Voracek off this line after last year I don't know. And Hartnell scored 40 goals two seasons ago, lost last season to injury, he should still start on the 1st line. No reason to change this line from last January. Schenn - Vinny - Simmonds Simmonds and VL are givens, LW is hard for me. Gagne is too slow, Read is much better on a shutdown line IMO. Schenn isn't the best fit, I'd rather have him C a 4th line but who else to plug in here? Rinaldo - Coots - Read Rinaldo played hard minutes and looked good. I like him against top forwards as an agitator between the whistles if he can keep his head, and he keeps getting better at restraining his emotions. Hall - Talbot - Laughton Laughton should make the team this year. Talbot is a sure thing for 4th C. Hall is better than Gagne but it's close. Hall plays 60 games, Gagne 42. Streit - Couburn Couburn's skating ability should help with the Streit's perceived slowness. Streit was a bonafide top defenseman on the Isle, and should be good enough to continue to matchup against the top players on the other team. Kimmo - Schenn Like this line. Both can move well enough, Kimmo can move the puck, Schenn can grind it out of the corners. Mez - Grossmann Both these guys were the best defenseman at one point in the past 3 years on the Flyers. Now they're totally on the 3rd line. I'm cautiously optimistic about the Flyers defense for this year at least. Scratches: Gagne, Gervais, Rosehill Emery starts the season opener. Gus, Manning, Lauridsen, McGinn, and Manning are all candidates to be called up due to injury. I'm really surprised that people don't have Mez on the opening day roster. He won the Ashbee in his only full season with the team and shouldn't be slowing down. Gus is a good 6/7 player but Mez would be 4/5 on many teams.

I've got to think Mez takes that 6th spot. When he's played he's certainly been good enough for 10-14 min per game. MA Bourdon should get some time in the AHL, which I think is a good thing. I really liked his play two years ago when so many defensemen were hurt. While there isn't a top tier defenseman on this team, I do think they've got a good number of NHL-capable players, and with Gothisbere, Lauridson, Morin, and Hagg about 2-4 years away, I'm cautiously optimistic about their blue line recovering after Timmonen and Streit retire, which will be soon I'm sure.