GratefulFlyers

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...

On that one Myers was on Bergeron after the FO, both of them right in front of Elliot. So far so good. But then Myers for some reason drifts out toward Pasternak who's way out top circle. So he let's Bergeron slip right by him, never even turns his head to see if he got picked up. This happens all the time on the PK, if it's not Myers is somebody else. Seems like nobody is willing to work down low clearing the crease. Hard to win games if your PK gives up 1 or 2 and your PP sucks. edit: ha just as I type "sucks" Couturier rips one home on the PP.

yeah for sure....last thing the Flyers need is for Voracek / Giroux to have multiple-point games again, the way they did on Saturday. Those 2 are just killing the Flyers...killing them I tells ya.

Ha ya he did have his WTF moments. Goals aside some of his decisions clearing the puck were mind-boggling. The pressure was obviously overwhelming him - AV made a smart move not dressing him for a week, giving him time to reset. He looked pretty dialed-in to me on Saturday. Whether he's over his struggles or not...time will tell.

I liked Morin vs the Isles and I wasn't surprised to see Pageau (i think it was) blow by him on the outside and drive the net. Reading the play coming at him should improve as he gets NHL minutes. That's all it looked like to me he just didn't expect to get passed so quickly. Loved him taking on Johnston early in the game - not sure if that's why Johnston left the game but prob had something to do with it!

Not sure if your post was sarcastic or not...but I'll reply as if it's not. It's a chicken-and-egg thing right? Flyers play NHL-level team defense and suddenly Hart and Elliot don't look nearly so bad. Hart was prob struggling on his own and Elliot def got over-worked. They both kinda "showed their age" in a way. Because that was spectacularly-bad defense and it was every game. Different names but the same blown coverage the same mistakes and it hasn't been fixed yet. It only looked better vs. the Isles because Hart came up with some big saves. That's what he's supposed to do, sure, but if Flyers' skaters keep giving up odd-man rushes guaranteed Hart will look like he's struggling again. He will be but mostly b/c his team didn't defend their own end.

See I read this as an opinion, perfectly valid and I respect it. I just don't see Voracek as "glass half-empty" the way you do. To me his strengths outweigh his weaknesses. I see the same crap you do - I yell at him the most besides Hayes - but I also see the really great plays he makes (which seem to pass unnoticed around here). I get it. He's the whipping boy, him and the captain. When a team sucks this bad all bets are off and everyone is fair game. But I don't think AV puts him, Giroux and Couturier out there in the final frame because he hates youth or some such nonsense. He knows those 3 give him the best chance at scoring some goals.

Maybe whoever posted "get rid of everyone over 28" has the right idea. Say goodbye to some fan favorites and start a true rebuild. Keep Couturier for obvious reasons but that's it. The foundation - goaltending - is solid. Hart is the Flyers best goalie since Bobrovsky. The D's potential is there with Provorov, Myers and Sanheim. At forward no game-breakers but maybe Farabee, Konecny can become that. Maybe even Lindblom, Patrick too. Their ceilings are unknown I think. How to protect them all is where it gets tricky. But this is all fantasy right? None of the suits are thinking along these lines. They look at profitability first not PO or Cup wins. That they're tied together doesn't seem to register with the Flyers' brass...at least not to the extent it should. In any case Fletcher strikes me as too timid to ask for a rebuild.

Me too. I hope he's not exposed as a lumbering giant who gets beat right and left. He didn't look out-of-place slow the few times I've seen him play. He's overcome so much he deserves a long look before deciding if he's NHL caliber. He deserves it. Maybe that's harsh but he looks like a shell of his former self. Far from the only one but he deserves it.

Which Flyers actually got COVID? That could explain a lot. I didn’t follow close enough to know who got sick from it vs got exposed to it. I read somewhere that a COVID patient’s lungs look worse than a lifelong cigarette smoker’s. Not every patient of course but apparently the virus takes a toll on the respiratory system. Nobody wants to hear excuses but if guys were sick with COVID....the long term effects and even the shorter term, i.e. a few months are unknown.

I don't disagree. Neither of them are game-breaking HOF players. They can play like one occasionally but as you say not enough to "build the team around." The mistake the Flyers made was "wasting" their best years in semi-rebuild mode under Hextall. You could argue he had no choice I guess but a better rebuild would've moved them back then, when they both still had real value. Fast-fwd to today my only point is the Flyers have much bigger problems than Giroux or Voracek. (unless either or both are truly the source of the uninspired play)

I see Giroux and Voracek is a very touchy subject around here, people literally saying they haven't contributed anything positive. If that's an opinion I respect it. Putting it down as a fact is just laughable. But by all means get rid of both. Be sure to keep that great 2nd line center who skates in mud, backchecks when he's got no other choice and is as streaky as Halley's Comet.

Comparing anyone in the NHL past or present to Bobby Clarke is ... kind of silly. Never mind the different era, or what he rose above to play pro hockey, there have been very few men who succeeded in the NHL like Clarke. He's right up there with the all-time greats of the game. So please, come back to Earth and let's discuss things reasonably lol!

Too bad it's b.s. Fletcher is way too timid. AV? Maybe he does need a hall-of-fame goalie to look like a brilliant coach.

I forgot to add - It may be the only way to "fix" this team, getting rid of Giroux, Voracek...Personally I'd start with Hayes then the obvious rejects on D. But I do understand the "wit's end" sentiment of jettisoning these 2.

tl;dir version: Giroux, Voracek are not to blame for this mess. The consensus of the board seems to be that Giroux and Voracek are "cancers" or something equally bad. Why? Supposedly the Flyers "changed everything" over the last decade except for Giroux and Voracek and the crappy results speak for themselves. If it was true the Flyers "changed everything" other than 2 players...except of course it isn't true. The other supposedly self-evident thing: Giroux is a terrible leader; Voracek is worse. The implication is if these 2 were Messier types the Flyers would've snapped to attention years ago and delivered multiple Cup wins. (lol jk) But let's be real we can't know what kinda leaders they are, or who's contradicting or supporting them, either out loud or on the sly. Judging "leadership" from afar doesn't work imho. Any conclusions you draw from it may be entirely wrong. Something has obviously gone wrong (to put it mildly) when young players who looked so promising last year now can't play worth a damn. Someone brought up Konecny. He's the Poster Boy I think. Figure out what happened to him and I believe you'll find it's team-wide. Could be something personal but I don't think so.

nah just bad goaltending...

Way to backcheck boys ya real good. I lost count how many times the Flyers leave the late man wide open to score.