GratefulFlyers

Flyers getting outworked pretty much every shift, specializing in one and done - when they actually get control in the Caps' zone that is, a rare sighting today. Hey JVR good afternoon nice to see you awake... first one in ... I don't know 20 games? Something like that I bet.

Or you could flip that around and say maybe the pressure is less in Philly bc the Flyers are so bad. His invisibility doesn't stand out as much...lol... Patrick has almost no trade value right now. He's damaged goods and a puck to the head last night didn't help matters. I did read somewhere this morning he told AV after the game he "felt fine" - for whatever that's worth.

Wait, you thought I was condensing your post? No no I put TL;DR upfront of my post to say "hey reader if you'd rather not bother with 1000 words here's a short version." That's a no-no? Or are we now talking cross-wise thru a crack in the web? Could be... Thanks I like reading yours too. As I said I agree with your overall point about Giroux and Voracek, how the Flyers handled them, promoted them, paid them. I wouldn't want to see Giroux bought out unless it's the beginning of a complete rebuild.

Why don't you give my post another read? You'll find I compliment you, and agree with your general point. I ended with what I hoped sounded like a positive note. Now to respond to your reply... first of all...."my dude?" lol what the hell? next, a lecture? god only knows how you got that but anything's possible. You heard Voracek say "playing 60 minutes is a cliché" and took it to mean everything but "playing 60 minutes is a cliché." Clearly you have a gift for (mis)interpretation. last, you bring up something that bothers me a little about this board, your "you'd be wrong..." There's a whole lot of that around here and maybe you are the champion. There's other contenders but you certainly lead the pack. [this opinion has been brought to you by a GratefulFlyers fan]

tl;dr version= Giroux needs serious help or he needs to go. If your satisfaction with the Flyers depends solely upon one and only metric, i.e. Cup / PO wins... if it’s either Flyers Win The Cup or the Flyers Fail Yet Again then I’d say plan on remaining disappointed for a long time lol. Seriously though to state “we got nothing” out of Giroux, Voracek, JVR...you can apply that same standard to 99% of NHL players....no Cup = FAIL. That’s an awfully narrow scope to assess an NHL team let alone one or three players. I’m not criticizing you it’s as valid a metric as there is in sports: championships. It’s not the only one however, and reading your “book” I get the impression for you it is. I’d never presume to tell anyone how to root for their team. And without a doubt this year has been particularly bad, spectacularly bad (!) for the Flyers. I guess I’m just not acclimated yet to the constant criticism, even as I (mostly) understand where it’s coming from. I know part of why we watch is bc we hope our team will go all the way and snag the “hardest trophy in sports.” But it is the hardest trophy to win for good reasons. When they come up short it doesn’t necessarily mean they failed or that they delivered “nothing.” But I hope Giroux does agree to a trade, that way they can make Voracek captain. Holy shrine I think this place would crash the World Wide Web if that happened. But seriously I do hope Giroux sees the point of moving on if the Flyers’ roster remains basically the same. He and Voracek plus JVR simply don’t deliver enough offense. In spurts yes, as go-to scorers no. Could those three be the nucleus of a Cup-winning team? I think so but it would take a rare set of circumstances where practically everyone incl the coaches has career years. The only way Giroux should stay is if Fletcher can somehow pry loose a real game-breaker who can lead this team not just (or only) to their first Stanley Cup but to some good old fashioned entertaining hockey in Philly again. One great player along with Hart’s redemption would transform the Flyers overnight. No names to offer now this post is already too long. But I enjoyed reading yours and I think for the most part it’s a fair assessment of Giroux’s tenure.

Unless you're familiar with his day-to-day I guess it's impossible to judge what his hockey future is, or if he even has one. I expect Fletcher and the coaches know what they're doing with him, or trying to do with him...that they're working a plan that Patrick is aware of and that he's following. The Flyers invested a lot in him and I imagine they're still treating him as a valuable asset. For how much longer is anybody's guess.

IMHO his versatility rates him better than a "meh" overall but - fair enough. Podein is right his age has overtaken him. I just find it absurd that Fletcher had to sweeten the deal for a guy whose cap hit is a whopping $1.6mil. Whatever, clears some roster space for the younger guys.

Raffl is a solid 4th liner who can fill in up and down the roster and Fletcher got talked into retaining salary? Ugh.

"it's hard work pretending to work hard every shift." "I've been dogging it for years...the Flyers are so lame they let me get away with it." "Me and G are totally happy being on a bubble team every year. We laugh all the way to the bank." "The Stanley Cup....that's the one with the names all over it right?" Seems clear enough to me lol.

that was about as ugly as you can get in the NHL. the 9-0 shellacking was horrendous but this was even worse in a way, really showed what this "team" is made of this year.

In the last 7 years just one player currently wearing O&B is over 30% in the shootout. His name...yes you guessed it, he's your favorite and mine: Jakob Voracek! At 32.6% he's the best over the last seven years. Wayne Simmonds (35.3%) makes 2 Flyers in 7 years over 30%. Maybe it's not such a mystery why the Flyers suck in the SO.

It really is a mystery that stumps everyone I've ever heard comment about it. How this team can be so bad at something every single guy has practiced ever since he first held a hockey stick. Heck the law of averages should've caught up by now but even that does them no good. IIRC Konecny was 4 for 7 until this season...and Couturier was around the same...I need to look it up but I thought there were 2 or 3 guys who had decent records, at least till this year.

Hang in there Fizz. I'm sure it's just their style and not mean-spirited. To me it reads close-minded, stubborn and proud of it (!) but what the hell, they're probably just having fun trying sounding cute or clever or whatever. When you go against popular opinion it does seem to bring out the stupid though and not only here everywhere. I think you're wrong about Giroux not fetching a big return though - if I read you correctly. On another subject I think you're onto something when you talk about AV not doing enough with this roster. I'm far from blaming him or his staff, but his successes all had one thing in common, outstanding goaltending, which the Flyers ain't getting this year.

Word count alone I think it’s safe to say I respectfully disagree. re: the quote...Pretzel Logic. Yay! After all these years that album title finally makes sense. Ha lol. Someone mentioned the word “conflating.” Conflating indeed. Well have it your way me I’m ok with it.

"Everybody says play 60 minutes. It's a hockey cliche. I've never seen a team control all 60 minutes." Isn’t this is the quote in question? If not my apologies. It sounds completely self-explanatory to me no interpretation needed. You really have to twist yourself pretzel-style to make it into something incriminating.

To me it’s crazy to retain that salary, especially that much, and I agree it’s the only way those guys get moved. I think the Voracek-hate is misguided as he’s one of the few who reliably contributes offensively. Yes he’s overpaid and he’s defensively suspect. Alert the media! We found a scoring winger who hates to backcheck lol. Seriously he’s one of the best setup guys in the league and as far as I can tell he is respected as such, except on this board. But I’m not at all against trading Voracek. If you can swap him for a career 60+pt guy do it by all means. But don’t move him just to get rid of something you (not you specifically OR) deem rotten or radioactive as one poster put it. Leaving aside the fact that fans can’t possibly know what shape “the room” is in, I just think it’s bad business to retain salary.

Sad but probably true the most likely outcome is a blowout loss. I suppose a few guys who know they have trade value may keep working hard to show their worth...like Laughton for instance. And I expect guys like Giroux, Voracek and Couturier will maintain their commitment to winning shifts and games. But at this point I guess the passengers outnumber those guys by a big margin.

I would subtract TK and Gost bc I believe they're both special players. Trading Konecny would be a mistake unless it's a truly sweet deal for the Flyers imho. It's been 3 straight games now where he's "back." No way do I trade this 24-year old top-line fwd unless it's a ridiculously good offer. Gost we already know nobody wants so the Flyers better embrace him for what he is, for what's special about him: an offensive threat whenever he's on the ice. Put him with the right partner - maybe Morin - and be happy you have him to rotate in when you need an offensive push, and to QB your PP (and then please work on that PP). I'd keep Raffl too. I know you want to add size and he plays bigger than his frame. Is he essential? Of course not but players like him are. Let's face it there are only so many big n heavy, naturally-talented guys to go around. Nobody's got all Kopitars and Byfugliens.

tough way to lose... but no surprise. Flyers evidently shot their load in the 2nd and had nothing left for the 3rd. Just a question of "when" not "if" the Bruins would score the GWing goal. Too bad it was Gost, who had a great game otherwise. His job was to block that pass across and he didn't = SH goal. Game over season all but over.

Oh yeah I'd say the "glass half-empty" POV is well-represented around here alright. EDIT: the emoji seemed to fit my comment, which was in jest. The wincing eyes expect hell to follow after so let me hasten to add: NTTAWWT.

Oh yeah. He may be "3rd string" - behind Rask and Halak most goalies are - but he played well last night, extremely well imho. The back-to-back saves he made on Giroux then Konecny were amazing. Does he go again tonight? Who else do the Bruins have available?

I like the Flyers' chances tonight. I sure wish they'd tighten up their PK though. Also if TK is back to his old self...he played well with G/V vs the Isles and again last night...and if JVR decides he's had enough rest...Flyers might have 2 legit scoring lines again. "Ifs" and "mights" I know but ... Go Flyers!

jeez Bergeron trips over the blue line when's the last time that happened? prob never. Haha unreal. So great to see Sanheim get it after he was robbed by that giant octopus Vlad

yeah even showed the replay - officiating has been kinda fkd tonight imho. At least the Flyers are playing good hard Team D esp here in the 3rd. Really good support in their own zone, nice to see.

wow can-opener on Sanheim into the boards - no call. Why b/c Smith tried to show it wasn't intentional? I guess...