BobbyClarkeFan16

9 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Since Veccihone hasn't got much of a chance with the Flyers do they have a chance of signing any of the top college free agents?

 

https://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2019/3/7/18194739/2019-top-ncaa-nhl-free-agents

 

Thoughts.

 

I think they should try to lure some for some depth on the Phantoms at least on defense.

 

 

I'm not sure the Flyers need any more defenders, especially if Hogberg and Bernhardt come over and Kalynuk leaves college. Add in Friedman, Willcox, Brennan, De Haas, etc....and the Flyers have enough defenders. And just think, after next year, it's possible that Ginning, St. Ivany, and Wylie will more than likely be onboard. 

1 hour ago, flyercanuck said:

 

 I'd only seen him a few times but he was playing the left side each time. Ya, I wouldn't call his skating bad or anything, he's just not quick. Great shot though, as you said. Putting up some very good points as a 17 year old...50 g..closing in on 100 points. Impressive for someone who hasn't been drafted yet.

 

 What do you think of Suzuki? The guy shows flashes of brilliance...but not all the time.(check his goal from last night)  He seems to me like a guy who may turn into a steal later on in the 1st. 

I like Suzuki. He's faster than his older brother Nick and plays on a bad team in Barrie and is putting up real solid numbers. 

He's a Frost-like player and you can never have enough talent like that. Suzuki is also 6'0, 170 pounds, so there's still some growth to him. If he tops out at 6'1, 6'2 and 190 pounds, perfect. Especially when you factor in the speed.

Lehigh Valley is a great example of what happens when you don't have a succession plan in place. We're seeing the team fall through the cracks and the team is being exposed for how poorly they've done in terms of player development. This is why the Flyers really need to hire new coaching staffs in both Philadelphia and Lehigh Valley that has a focus on player development and system structure. I can't wait until they start cutting dead weight and begin to fix this mess.The players aren't the problem - the lack of structure and development is.

2 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

LWer, no? That's what he played when I've seen him.

Really good player but skating isn't his best asset.

He's a right winger with a left shot, but can play the left side as well. As for his skating, he's no burner, but he's certainly no slouch either. His skating is deceptive. First step acceleration isn't the strongest, but he gets up to speed quickly. A little bit of leg work will be required, but the skating is easily corrected. I like that he's still 17, only turns 18 a few days before the draft and has some skill and snarl to his game. He's also a shooter, something the Flyers desperately need.

The left wing is going to be incredibly deep. Besides Ratcliffe, don't forget about Farabee either, who has 29 points in 32 games at Boston University. He's leading the team in scoring as a freshman and could possibly make the jump at the end of the season. Add in Lindblom and the Flyers are in great shape on the left side youth wise. 

The right side is a little more dicier. There's Wade Allison and NAK, but not much else after that. There's Jay O'Brien, but he's been a MAJOR disappointment at Providence College. I suppose that they'll move Tanner Laczynski to the wing, but something tells me the Flyers might just use him as a package in a trade. With the position that the Flyers are in with regards to the draft, Arthur Kaliyev from Hamilton of the OHL might just be the guy they should select. Not only is he a need, but he's also the best available talent in that slot. 

And don't forget that center is also loaded with Frost, Rubtsov and Patrick. 

Honestly, I've never seen forward depth like this before at the prospect pipeline.

35 minutes ago, elmatus said:

Frost clearly has nothing left to prove in juniors. It'll be interesting to see how well he makes the jump to playing vs men.

I expect a career pattern similar to Mike Richards to start. I think he'll be a 30 to 35 point guy his first year, maybe a sight bump the second season and then explodes in his third year. 

3 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

I think he can play center or LW...he played well before getting hurt at LW putting up 6 goals and 4 assist from that spot.

 

I'm cool wherever they put him as long as it's first or second line minutes.

 

 

If not then maybe at the draft. His work ethic issues are a little alarming at this point...the biggest issue is the Flyers don't have the time or space to waste on a kid to get his sh it together. So yeah he could need a wake up call trade.

 

 

This here depends on what Chuck does this offseason does he do the Ron thing where he brings a vet in and force Morgan to take his spot before he gets a chance hard to say right now.

 

Maybe he doesn't maybe he gives the kid a look then if he doesn't think he is ready then he goes sign a vet for the 3rd line. Can't say right now i know Cuck's style. He seems not afraid to give the kids a look.

 

 

One of the biggest issue right now with the team is the top line. 

 

Provorov and Sanheim have not looked so hot in about the last 4 or 5 games.

 

And it's not Ivan it's mostly Sanheim he is still struggling on his positioning and where he should be in the defensive zone and it is costing them goals.

 

Not the biggest issue right now why he is learning on the job but when it starts cost them games it may be too late to make a switch...and even if you do who would you put with Ivan??? I really think Ivan and Hagg would make the best top pair right now.

 

Put Gudas and Sanheim back together and then i would love to see Myers get a chance to get his feet wet. Then once Myers gets a few games i would love to see him on Ivan's right and see how they look.

 

Provorov/Hagg

Sanheim/Gudas

Ghost/Myers

 

then

 

Provorov/Myers

Sanheim/Gudas

Ghost/Hagg

 

I think that would be the best defense...with Mcdud making the popcorn.

 

 

I think you are going to have something like this...

 

Carey Bunnaman  Allison

Rubtsov  Frost Kase 

Ratcliffe Laczynski Sushko

Goulbourne  Knight Twarynski

Vecchione Varone

 

Samuelsson Friedman

Bernhardt Hogberg

Brennan de Haas

Schlemko 

 

31 Sandstrom 

35 Ustimenko

 

Not sure if they sign Bernhardt and Hogberg but it would be a good time to come over otherwise not much in development pool on the blueline besides Friedman who is really ready for his shot. But i think they at least need 5.

 

So as you can see not very much room for Vorobyev so he might find himself on the trade block. He has one more year left on his entry level deal so he is a nice asset.

 

Not sure which of the vets get resigned at forward and defense

I think both Hogberg and Bernhardt will be coming over for 2019-2020. As well, there were whispers that Wyatt Kalynuk would be going pro after his season at Wisconsin. And yes, I think Friedman is ready for his shot. He might not get in this year, but I could see him being called up next season for a few games.

I noticed that Laberge was missing from your list. I could see him being moved to the wing and playing alongside Laczynski and Sushko, Ratcliffe being bumped up to the top with Bunnaman and Allison and then Carey on the fourth line to replace Goulbourne, who'll probably be out of the organization completely.

And don't forget that it's possible Farabee might be one and done in the NCAA and could possibly make the jump. There's a plethora of depth that this club hasn't seen since Holmgren was named GM after Clarke resigned. People can say what they want about Bobby, but he left an embarrassment of riches for Holmgren. Hopefully Fletcher doesn't piss away the depth that Hextall left him.

13 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

 

That is the right thing to do he has somethings to figure out if he doesn't he could find his way out of Philly.

 

They have Laberge who will be healthy next year to play center, already have Bunnaman who has been playing well this year.

 

Rubtsov will be back to maybe play center more likely LW.

 

But you have Frost and Laczynski are two more center coming in next year too so the center slot will be full not sure where Misha will fit in next year. Phantoms only need 4 centers. Time is running out.

Something tells me that Vorobyov won't be in the Flyers organization past the trade deadline. I expect he'll be dealt for a draft pick, maybe a 4th so that the Flyers are picking in every round this year.

As for Laberge and Laczynski, they'll be moved to the wing next season. Rubtsov won't get bumped because he's most effective there. As for Bunnaman, I think with his size, it only makes sense that the Flyers continue to develop him into a checking center in the Joel Otto mold, but with better skating. 

Frost should be given the Giroux treatment - send him to Lehigh Valley, let him play 30 - 35 games there and call him up mid-season. I get the Flyers are on a nice run right now, but this is still a DEEPLY flawed club. Team defense is atrocious and there are still players on the big club that have no business being there. It makes zero sense to have Frost center a line if he's going to be surrounded by scrubs and only get table scraps for ice time. 

What's going to be interesting is what's going to happen in Lehigh Valley next year with the influx of talent from junior. That's going to be a good dilemma to face.

54 minutes ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

 

You’re missing 20%.  Do you lose it in the exchange rate?  

I should have explained - 50 starts for Hart, 30 starts for Stolarz.

2 hours ago, flyercanuck said:

 

When he and Frost are ready its going to add a lot of speed and skill up front. They both play bigger than their size to boot.

Frost and Farabee have also grown since their draft day as well. I was reading that Frost is 6'1, 190 pounds now and Farabee is 6'1, 180 pounds. 

On 1/29/2019 at 8:42 AM, brelic said:

 

Yesterday, Fletcher made it sound like he wanted to get Ustimenko over here for next season. I don't know if that means in the AHL or ECHL? I would guess AHL, but then we have too many goalies with Lyon, Sandstrom, Stolarz, and Hart.

 

Of course, this is assuming they resign Stolarz. 

Well, the good news is that Hart is probably on the big club for good and Stolarz will more than likely be the back up. You're looking at 50/30 split between the two. As for Lyon, I'm all but certain he's moved to another organization to get a chance. That leaves Sandstrom, which means Felix and Kirill battle it out in Lehigh Valley. The AHL is the perfect place for those two to battle it out and hopefully when a new coaching staff is in place in Philadelphia, a new coaching staff will be in place in Lehigh Valley, especially a coaching staff that focuses on what the big club is doing and the system they play, while developing the young guys.

If we thought things were messy now, just wait until Ersson arrives. Great problem to have. 

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/sports/csn/flyers/Flyers_prospect_Joel_Farabee_following_in_the_footsteps_of_James_van_Riemsdyk_PHI-505198182.html

Obviously this article doesn't delve deeper because if it did, the writer would have noted that Farabee actually attends a school with a noted hockey program that has developed several quality and bonafide NHL players. Boston University has a reputation. As for JVR, he went to UNH, which didn't have a great hockey program and he ended up developing bad habits from there. He was a first round pick that the school catered to and allowed him to get away with bad habits.

Farabee will be a far superior player to JVR. Farabee's work ethic alone separates him from Van Useless. 

2 hours ago, Claude Monet said:

Only one game but not impressed with Cozens. He was good on the dot and was physical but very meh. I could see the raw tools but he is not even close to a Patrick or Seth Jones level of top five pick 

After reading the scouting reports of all the top prospects, something tells me that if the Flyers fall out of the top 3 and end up with a pick at 4, 5 or 6, Matthew Boldy will be the player they select. It just seems like an organizational fit with him. Good size, great wheels, soft hands, plays a full 200 foot game and has incredible hockey IQ. He's Farabee, but with better size.

2 hours ago, AJgoal said:

Terry Murray back with the org. as a Phantoms Assistant Coach.

Great move. I get he's a bit long in the tooth, but he's going to be a great sounding board for Huffman and he'll be able to help put together a development plan for a lot of the players there. I also expect that there's going to be a handful of players that Murray will take under his wing and really help push them to the next level, specifically Rubtsov and Laberge after their season ending surgeries......

11 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Wow.

 

Phantoms getting blown out by Charlotte tonight 7-4.

 

Lyon gives up 6 goals on 35 shots.

 

Meyers -4.

 

Goals by Carey, Palmquist, Connor (PP) and Kase.

 

 

Rubstov also a scratch last night. I guess Gordon felt that he needed to continue to give ice time to guys like Conner, Carey, Varone, etc.....and sit the young talent he's supposed to help develop. Glad to see 'smart' decision making is working it's way down from the parent club to the farm team.......

I watched the Lehigh Valley/Springfield game tonight and Rubtsov is a real gem. I swear it's like watching the Russian version of Patrice Bergeron, except that Rubtsov is a much better skater. There's no wasted play out there, they just go out and perform and they make it look effortless. My hope is that Rubtsov stays the year. Don't call him up. Let him just play and soak in the atmosphere and then have him really push for a spot at next training camp. He's really going to be a great problem for the Flyers next season.

21 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

So now we get to see what Hart is made of now finally getting to see what it is to struggle.

 

What does this do to him??

It teaches Hart how to deal with adversity. This is probably the best thing that will happen to him in his pro career. He'll watch some video, figure things out and readjust. I'm sure Dillabaugh will work with him and you can bet Hart is talking to his sports psychologist.

On 8/7/2018 at 1:25 AM, Claude Monet said:

Why wouldn’t Wylie be 2022? He was just drafted. 

Wylie is a CHL player. He has to be signed by 2020 or he goes back into the draft. 

Isaac Ratcliffe is an impressive physical specimen. That reach and soft hands is something you can't teach. Hextall got a steal there. Hopefully he gets a few preseason games in before being sent back for his final junior season. 

This year was the exception to the rule though. Giroux was playing on a surgically repaired hip and he wasn't himself until nearly 8 months after the surgery. Let's also not forget that Giroux's even strength scoring was practically non-existent, a statistical anomoly if there ever was one.

Giroux playing with a healthy hip is a completely different player. I think after the second half of the season, he was on pace for 70 points. I expect that Giroux will bounce back this up coming season and be a 80 point player. 

Voracek, on the other hand, is the guy that concerns me the most on this roster.

On 4/12/2017 at 6:10 AM, flyercanuck said:

 

I like his size...but the guy can't score 5 on 5 to save his life. We already have that..

I'm not worried that Rasmussen is a statistical anomoloy. I think he rebounds next season and becomes a consistent point producer in all situations. I'm looking at the various draft publications and the guys that are available around when the Flyers pick and I see guys like Rasmussen, Jason Robertson (great size, but apparent skating issues), Nikita Popugayev (great skating and skill, but completely fell apart after being traded), Ryan Poehling (some can't decide if there's actual high end skill or not), Kristian Vesalainen (size and skating, but is there actual skill), Maxime Comtois (was a preseason potential number one pick, but has fallen hard), etc....

At this point, if you look at things from a real honest stand point, Rasmussen is the guy I take out of the bunch and it's not close. We know he can score goals. He can skate like the wind. He has a fantastic shot and works the power play really well. The other issue with Rasmussen's production this year is that he was consistently bounced between left wing and center. I don't care what anyone says - you can't be successful if you're chaning positions as often as you're changing underwear. We've seen it with Brayden Schenn when he was bounced from center to left wing to right wing then back to center, etc.....Leave Rasmussen in one place and he'll be OK.

I know Hextall has said that he wants to incorporate more size and he started that last year with Bunnaman and Twarynski (can't forget Tanner Laczynski and his 6'1, 200 pound frame), so it won't surprise me if Rasmussen is on the radar. Part of me is really intrigued by this draft because it's really interesting to see what direction the Flyers will go. My hope is that they end up with one of Necas, Pettersson or Glass, but I won't be downtrodden if they select Rasmussen.

Craig Button posted his mock draft on TSN and he believes the Flyers will draft Michael Rasmussen. Button thinks that Glass will go third, Pettersson will go to Detroit and Necas will go Dallas. 

29 minutes ago, King Knut said:

 

 

I certainly don't think it hurts to find out what it takes for Simmonds to retire a Flyer. ..Or at least sign that contract here.  

 

If you trade Jake or Simmer you might as well trade G too and go all in on he rebuild.

 

another handful of magic beans could be better or worse or the same as this last handful. But we've got some kids that look good, so I'm not sure I feel the need to sell the vets. 

 

If it's me however I see how absurd a deal Simmonds is expecting.  As great as everyone thinks he is, I don't think he's getting a Voracek sized deal from any team.  I don't think it's that bad.  

 

There will be a lot of big names up at the end of next year.  Most are ancient or will command a king's ransom (Cam Atkinson). Tavares is in the sweet spot st s time when the team will need a Center regardless of Giroux. 

 

I also think it's possible next year may be a time to trade G because both Montreal and Ottawa will need centers that summer. 

 

But aside from a select few (Atkinson, Tavares, Joff Lupul and Pat Maroon for example) I don't see anyone I'd trade straight up for Jake. Do you?

 

im not in love with E Kane or Rick Nash. The then there are a lot of overpriced old guys which is not the direction we want to go.  We could get Reemer back I guess.  He does score goals.

 

Anyway long and short I only do it if the circumstances are just right.  

I guarantee you Simmonds will look at a 7 year deal at a minimum, $7 million per season. If you're comfortable paying that for someone who will be in their late 30s, then by all means go for it. However, with the game that Simmonds plays, injuries are going to start happening soon. You can't play that style of game he does and not expect injuries. That's why I think you move on from Simmonds. Simply put, he's going to be on the downside of his career and paying out a minimum of $7 million per year is salary cap suicide.

As for Voracek, I think you put him on the right team and you're going to get results. Personally, I'd move him to Washington and try to grab someone like Burakovsky and Vrana in return. Burakovsky is just waiting to break out and Vrana has shown serious upside. I think if Oshie, Williams and Alzner leaves, I think you'll see the Caps try to do something and moving Voracek to Washington would be ideal to get out from yet another contract and get some more youthful talent.

Don't forget that with Giroux, even if he starts to lose effectiveness at center, you can move him to right wing where he's going  to take less of a pounding and still be able to contribute. I have no doubts about that. Seriously, if you move Simmonds for a king's ransom and move Voracek for Burakovsky and Vrana, you could essentially create a top line of Burakovsky - Vrana - Giroux; a second line of Weal - Filppula - Konecny and a third of Weise - Couturier - Schenn, you're going to be fine. We aren't contending next season, so might as well acquire a ton of young bodies and players to grow with the defense. You've also got money freed up and you can do an Arizona thing by acquiring a high priced contract, but get a blue chip prospect to go with the high priced contract.

Giroux goes nowhere. He played on a bad hip most of the year and he still score 58 points playing on that bad hip. I mentioned in another article that Ryan Getzlaf had the same surgery as Giroux and he also had the worst year of his career after that hip surgery. Hips take time to heal and even though Giroux was 100% from the surgery, his hip itself still wasn't 100%.

Someone mentioned taking the C off him and honestly, I think that's the best thing that could ever happen to him. He'll have the burden of the captaincy lifted and he can focus solely on playing hockey. The captaincy has been nothing but an albatross and he's simply not the type of leader that the Flyers need.

As for Voracek, biggest mistake that Hextall has made in terms of contracts. Hextall should have moved him when he had that 82 point season and not look back. This was the one time that Hextall caved into management and gave Voracek a contract that he should have never received. I don't think he makes that mistake again.

As for Simmonds, I move him and I don't think twice about it. He's a power forward who has one year left at under $4 million, is going to be 29 years old and is going to look for a retirement contract. Start a bidding war with teams and get the absolute best package you can get of blue chip prospects, young roster players and first round picks. You know teams like Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, etc.....would all be in the bidding.

49 minutes ago, JagerMeister said:

RACIST!!!

 

jk

I'm an equal opportunist hater.....lol