AJgoal

Preds tie it with less than 30 left in the third, but Arizona wins in OT.

You forgot Patrick, who also needs a new deal.

I think the more likely option is they move on from either Hagg or Gostisbehere. With Friedman signing a new deal, and Morin healthy as your #7, they only need one of the other two. Either is probably easier to move than JVR, who would probably require some salary coming back.

That said, I don't really know that they need to move anyone out. Myers is probably going to be the most expensive of the bunch, and I can't see him costing more than 2 million unless they go after a long term deal, which I would support. I imagine Patrick and the Flyers will go for a low cost short term deal. NAK will come in under 1 million. If they bring back Moose he should be low cost, and they have Ustimenko, Sandstrom, etc waiting in the wings. Sandin is probably going to have a strong shot at the team, and Frost and Farabee are other guys on ELCs that should probably make full time contributions.

Voracek out is not a coach's decision, so illness/injury.

Per Meltzer, lines for tomorrow:

Giroux - Couturier - Farabee

Laughton - Hayes - Konecny

JVR - Grant - Aube-Kubel

Bunnaman - Thompson - Pitlick

Provorov - Niskanen

Sanheim - Myers

Ghost - Braun

Hart in net.

“When Oskar was diagnosed with cancer, I had numerous talks with our doctors about, ‘Is there a chance I could get him back for the playoffs?’ Obviously the answer was no, he wouldn’t,” Flyers coach Alain Vigneault told reporters Wednesday. “But come next training camp in September he should be back if everything went the way they thought, and things have gone the way they thought.

“This year, with the stoppage in play and the COVID factor, the season has been stretched out and September is a less than a month away. So I was told come training camp he’d be able to play in September so I guess we have to get to September.”

Checked the scores this morning, and all I have to say is

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yeah, no to expanding an already long tournament. You're going to be pushing towards July at that point. This is actually working for me as a compromise given the way the season ended, but I wouldn't want to see it in a normal year.

7 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

Nice win by a Flyers.

 

Flyers are now no lower than #2 seed.  If they beat TB they get #1 seed, lose and they are #2.

 

Hayes played a great game....

First line has to figure their thing out though. 

Farabee and NAK looked good, Grant seemed like he was just along for the ride with the two of them.

14 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

CTP...05 draft...behind closed doors...save the franchise...Crosby To Pens

Oh, yeah. That gave me IBS.

27 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

What about CTP?

 

ICP? Is he responsible for the Juggaloos?

4 hours ago, Podein25 said:

 

People like to hate Bettman and I do indeed hate the prick, but he should still get credit for things he has done well and for his ambition to grow the game of hockey, the game I have loved so much since I was 3 years old.

So what, 6 months?

I think Bettman gets a lot of crap for two things:

3 lockouts

Arizona

Other than that, I can't really say he's bad for the sport.

OK, maybe CTE. 5 things.

1 hour ago, CoachX said:

Other than Boston, every team with a true number one will be playing that guy.

Word is McElhinney is likely to go for Tampa on Saturday.

33 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

So if they beat the Caps they have secured no less than the 2nd seed I think.

Correct, if they win in regulation. It also ensures that they can't meet Tampa until the ECF, as they will be 1/2 in some order.

1 minute ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Good JVR has been invisible.

While I think JVR needs to pick up his play a bit, he is a complimentary player. He's never been one to carry the puck and start the offense himself. Sticking him with Grant and then expecting him to do... something is a bit counterintuitive. I think, for example, you'd see more offense out of JVR with Frost in, but they don't seem inclined to give him a go. He'd be better served if you could get him on a line with Jake in the absence of a puck carrying center.

Giroux - Couturier - NAK

Farabee - Hayes - Konecny

JVR - Laughton - Voracek

Bunnaman - Grant - Pitlick

I don't think NAK is a first-liner, but with two top-tier forwards, he wouldn't have to be. This makes the third line more dangerous, as well, with Laughton and Voracek. Farabee did about as well as Laughton with Hayes-Konecny from a metric standpoint, though the actual GF/GA numbers were better with Laughton.

Looks like Farabee Line 3, JVR rotating with Bunnaman on Line 4.

He's due to fly to Toronto from Sweden tomorrow, then he needs to quarantine for several days (daily tests) before he can join the team.

Game 2, Flyers (Home) vs. Capitals (Away): Thursday Aug 6 at 4pm.

3 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

thats 2 games in a row... wonder what is going ???

Well, it's not COVID, since the NHL released a total of zero positives in 7,000+ tests over the last week. 

9 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

curious to know why Shester was not in goal.... Sir Henry’s career in NY is just about done....

He was in streetclothes. "Unfit to play."

8 minutes ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

As another point of inquiry..... do these games count as playoff games or regular season games?

 

According to the NHL, the bracket challenge will be up again once the NHL gets down to 16 teams..... so that would mean the playoffs haven't really started until it gets to 16 teams.

 

That would mean this play-in series is like regular season games trying to earn a playoff spot and those stats should (in theory) count towards regular season play and not the playoffs.

 

And you know what that means......

 

 

They count as playoffs for stats. The Regular Season is over. 

Besides, do you really want to add 3 games, zero points to your prorated stats for Mathews?

1 minute ago, pilldoc said:

 

here is a better breakdown ...

 

NEW YORK (June 4, 2020) - The National Hockey League announced today more details of its playoff format for the 2019-20 Return To Play Plan:

Series Lengths
The Qualifying Round will be composed of best-of-five series. All other rounds (First Round, Second Round, Conference Finals, Stanley Cup Final) will be best-of-seven series.

"Seeding" Format
In each succeeding round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the highest remaining seed in each conference will face the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed in each conference will face the second-lowest remaining seed, etc.

Round Robin Tiebreaker
Ties in the Round Robin - featuring the top four teams from each conference - will be broken by regular season points percentage. The seeding order for these teams then will remain the same throughout the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"Home" Ice

• In the Qualifying Round, the higher-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2 and 5. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3 and 4.
• In the First Round, Second Round and Conference Finals, the higher-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The lower-seeded team will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.
• In the Stanley Cup Final, the team with the higher regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7. The team with the lower regular season points percentage will be designated as the home team in Games 3, 4 and 6.

OK, all of that makes sense.

6 minutes ago, pilldoc said:

 

yes ....

 

Thanks. I know they had been talking about it but never saw the confirmation. 

So with all the potential upsets in the making, the Flyers just made it more likely that the Bruins and Leafs meet in round 1.

24 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

Hey, at least you're not losing to Boston. Actually you should be happy the Flyers kicked their arse. Plus, there's this in Toronto..

 

All the Flyers did was guarantee that the Leafs/Jackets lose to Tampa in the 1st round, rather than to the Broons.

Actually, I'm not clear. Are they re-seeding the brackets?

Raffl out "For a while," Farabee in.