albertaflyer

First problem is the Flyers D is soft. That's one thing Niskanen brought was he played guys tough in front of the net. Right now I wouldn't be scared to stand in front of the Flyers net. I think I would take more abuse in Rec hockey than from the Flyers D. How many times this year have we watched a goal against the Flyers where the D was no where to be found. Ghost is a prime example. He gets boxed out every play. That's a strength issue to me. Another issue in the D zone is the wingers don't come down far enough on the boards. The D literally have no options to pass to sometimes.

I will never understand the Flyers defensive zone coverage. I have always preached to any team I've coached is take away time and space in the D zone. Make the other team uncomfortable. It doesn't matter what age group I've coached. The Flyers do the opposite. They give time and space. I love how Washington was playing in their own zone. The Flyers had no time to think. That's what you want. You want the other team to make plays they don't want to make.

They have Crosby and Malkin that's how. Once those guys move on the Penguins are going to be in for a long rebuild. Why do you think Hexy was hired? They know it's coming and he's been through it before.

Like other back ups Elliot struggles with to much work. There's a reason why he's a backup. Fixing the D zone coverage will do wonders for both goaltenders.

JVR has always been a goal scorer. But he should never be leading your team in points.

Believe me I'm as frustrated as everyone because I know how good this team can be. But it all comes back to losing that over 20 minute a night right shot vet D man. There's reason why those guys are so coveted. When you look at the age of the Flyers D they are a very young D core. Fletcher didn't address that and its costing the team. One thing Niskanen was so good at was that first pass out of the zone. Even Provorov hasn't been good at that this year. I counted on on two consecutive shift last night Provorov having 3 unforced giveaways just by not making an outlet pass from the D zone.

See what happens when you come in carrying speed. Ask any goalie on a breakaway. It's hard to tell what a shooter is going to do when they come in fast. That means they have to back in faster. Hence why Mcdavid is so good. Everything is at a speed that is hard to defend.

One of things when coaching my own team I find my self telling my players is move your feet. I swear I could have yelled that 30 times at the Flyers last night. Hayes on the second goal just stopped skating. Could have cut the Sabre player from coming out from the corner. All he had to do was take two strides but didn't and cost him.

This is the problem in Philadelphia. People will run this kid out of town. I will say it again. I'm not that concerned about 22 year old goalie struggling. The reason why I say that is I learned my lesson with Bobrosky. I was way to quick to give up on that kid. Hart will figure it out. He always has. Now if you had 10 million per season tied up in him like Montreal has tied up in Price (check out his numbers this season) then I would be concerned. What I have learned in the past two weeks is that the Flyers aren't good enough this season. When JVR and Farabee are your leading scorers that's a huge red flag. Guys that should be scoring aren't. Hayes, Konecny, Vorachek, Giroux, Patrick. I could go on are not performing. But I will say if your D keeps giving up 10 bell chances in the slot 5-10 feet from the net NHL players are going to score more often than not. What is nice though is in my own head I have realized their not that good so watching a game now is so much easier because I'm not as emotionally invested.

I don't see things changing. To many passengers this year. Hayes looks like half the player he was last year. Vorachek can't make a pass or catch a pass. Patrick should be in the AHL. This team looks slow and confused most nights. When you lose a right handed D man that plays over 20 minutes a night and don't try to replace him it's not going to work out. That means those minutes are going to a player that is probably not ready to take on those minutes yet. Also Provorov has not looked good lately. He's trying to do to much and it's taking him out of position most shifts.

Don't forget the come across the blue line along the boards and try do a drop pass to the D man. Other team reads it every time. The defender just drops in behind the forward. Patrick does this once or twice a game.

Problem right now is Hayes is a none factor. He's either hot or cold. Right now he is doing nothing.

I'm not sure why people are so concerned about Hart. He's 22 years old. Typically goalies take a few years to figure the NHL out. Most guys don't get sniff of the NHL till there 23-24. I'm not sure in last nights game which goal he was suppose to stop. Maybe the first goal but he made a good move. It's not just Hart. They had a crazy stat on sports talk radio the other day of the top 15 goalies in the NHL this season how many weren't the starters for their teams. I did take a look at NHL.com and its quite interesting.

For the Bantams I was coaching this year. It was just about hitting the net. If you ever watch a youth hockey game. Watch in warm up how many of the shots miss the net. If the kids got a goal for every time they hit the glass in warm up they would all be Connor Mcdavid. It drives me insane. The last few years what we have been teaching the kids is puck possession. We had a few rules on our teams. Never shoot the puck away, never ice the puck. There is always a play to be made. We try to get them to use there brains on the ice and just don't go for the easy play. If you don't have a play up ice reset back to the d men. Everything happens from the D forward. We just don't dump it in. That's a change in possession. One of the things we have worked with the kids is getting the puck to the shooting zone or the kill zone is what I like to call it. That space from the hash marks to the net. I try to show them Austin Mathews highlights. He is so quick at getting the puck off his stick. There no stick handle. It's get it and shoot before the goalie has time to move. As far as trick shots for my own kids that's outdoor rink stuff. I don't do a whole lot of coaching out on the outdoor rink. That's their time to play around. My youngest does have the Lacrosse goal down pat. I'm waiting for him to try it in a game.

I've never seen a team pass up so many shots from what I call the shooting zone(from the hash marks to the net) than the Flyers. 90% or more goals will be scored from that zone and they will try pass it. I don't know how many times I've yelled shoot the F'ing puck this year. Even on Sunday you could tell it was a tough background for the goalies. But after the first period they stopped shooting. Rask even looked lost on a couple shots.

They should ban all drop passes. They rarely work. We had to do it my kids team I coached two years ago. Anyone that did a drop pass there was a nice spot on the end of the bench. They learned in a hurry. 90% if the time it ended up in an odd man rush the other way or at least a change of possession.

Your not getting anything for Nolan Patrick. Injury history and under whelming play equals no trade value. I'll give the kid some slack. I figured he would come out good at the start then hit a wall. You cant miss that much time and not have that happen to you. It's going to take him some time to get back to where he needs to be. I think the coaching staff understands that. Thing with him is he needs to figure out what type of player he wants to be. Look at Laughten how long it took him to figure out the style of play that he needed play to stick in the NHL. Some guys never figure it out. Which is why they end up career AHL players.

What are you talking about nationwide lockdown? Each Province handles their own lockdowns individually. We hardly had any restrictions last summer. Our restaurants are open. My kids are back playing hockey. My youngest hasn't missed hardly any school this year. I know BC hasn't shut down restaurants. I mean it's not like before Covid but its not a nationwide lockdown.

I don't think they can even practice if they are shut down because of Covid. I think the Devils are just able to practice this week.

I'll take it. Remember when the Devils used to do this to the Flyers. Flyers would outplay them badly for two periods but they had Brodeur. Then the Devils would score a couple in the third. Hart looked like himself last night. I'm not to worried about this team. I've always said you don't know what you have until at least 15 - 20 games in. But you can tell they miss Niskanen. A guy that eats up over 20 minutes a night is hard to replace. If I was Fletcher I would be on the phone every day to Niskanen. One thing I know about pro hockey players. It's hard for them to just stop playing. Or if the Penguins start to suck I would be on the phone about Letang. Makes a lot but he's the exact type of D man their missing.

Yes. Especially defensively last game.

Cap could be 88 mill next year. Those guys won’t cost to much.

That's been Barzal's issue. He can dominate when he wants and then disappears for stretches. That one of the reason's he got called out by his coach a couple weeks ago.

I don't mind what the Flyers did. I think the biggest X factors this year compared to last is Vigneault and Carter Hart. I also think people will be quite surprised with Braun. I got to see him play a ton here in Edmonton. Very good D man. Doesn't get the credit when you play with the rest of the stars the Sharks had. Just having Hart for a full season compared to the first 40 games last season will make a difference. We will see a whole different system under Vigneault. Expect a ton of shot blocking and long stretch passes. I think that's one of the reason's Gudas isn't here any longer. He was not good at getting out of the D zone. I remember when he coached the Canucks it was really frustrating to watch because shots hardly ever got through. That's one of the things the Sedins had trouble with is Vigneault expected everyone to block shots.