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Mad Dog

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Everything posted by Mad Dog

  1. I never thought I would say or even think that, but yeah, so far this has been the best signing of the off-season by ALL the teams.
  2. Jagr, so far, has been everything that his reputation says he is NOT. I don't know what got into him. Age? Desire to win one more championship? But whatver the cause may be, he and Giroux are splitting an MVP nomination for this team right now. When I read that before the season even started he asked Homer for a full access to the skating rink 24/7, that told me right there that the guy is committed, and committed seriously. What I find refreshing - and this is what this thread addresses - is that we are seeing one new component in Jagr's game that he wasn't quite known for. He really looks to be making plays for others. He's always been known as a finsisher, but man...... can the guy create chances for others. He's been using his size to create space and he has soft hands to make that difficult pass in traffic. And that's a lethal combination. If he keeps it up and stays healthy, this line will be unstoppable.
  3. Well, does that really surprise you, though? He has a great role model in that department - his coach, who is the biggest complainer this league has ever seen. And the whole rule is stupid anyway. I've always had a problem with that rule. The very sound of it (not avoiding contact with a goalie) just sounds really asinine. It's almost like there is an admission that there *may* be a contact. Doh? It's hockey - contact is a big part of this psport!! You don't want to be ran over? Stay the **** in your crease. When you are contacted with when in the crease - OK, maybe the league has a point. But this was a classic example of why this rule is so flawed. Why should there even be an effort made on a player's part to avoid the contact? I'd say if a goalie wants to play the puck, the burden is on *him* to avoid contact and not the other way around.
  4. Miller called Lucic a piece of ****. LOL. Lucic seemed to have given him an extra nudge, though. After having watched this video, I can understand Miller's anger. But he should've known better coming out of the crase so far. You have to expect a player skating at a high speed having difficulty stopping. But clearly Lucic made no effort to stop.
  5. So am I, VF, as I am sure most of the people. As has been noted, the Flyers had a compeltely different vision of Richards' future here when they turned the keys to the team to him. At really looks like they didn't know him at all and his true colors started coming out much later. I heard one day the Flyers players went on some tour to downtown Philly and players started giving money away to a group of homeless. Richards refused and said something like, "Why don't they go get a ******* job... what a bunch of losers". And that left most of his teammates just speachless.
  6. Exactly. Did playing low-scoring or boring hockey prevent the Devils from winning 3 Cups? I don't think their fans have much to complain about. If it's boring, so be it. I'll take it if it gurantees success.
  7. I know. And that's what leads to me to suspect that something huge must've happened. Or it may be as simple as the Flyers just overestimated Mike's abilities to lead on and off the ice.
  8. Really well done, Pags.
  9. I would say both. Boston players didn't help themselves, but I thought games 4 and 6 were where our defense really played near-perfect games. I agree about the Chicago series, but remember, in that series we had players like Bartulis, Lukas Krajicek and Parent. Parent, particualry, was God awful, which made Homer go out and bring Meszaros. That was just not a good defensive unit. Timonen and Pronger were burdened with playing ridiculous mintues and were burned out. No way this defense should struglle so badly even without Pronger. On paper, these are good players.
  10. I don't know if I completely agree with that, Bre. The year this team went to the Finals to play Chicago, the D played more responsible. Especially in that famous series against Boston, it really the Flyers' defense that allowed them to come back from the 3-games deficit. You are right in a sense that Laviolette's style is playing a more wide-open hockey, which inevitably leads to exposure at the blue line. But I don't recall such glaring issues with defense that I am seeing now: leaving an open man hanging around the crease, not being able to clear the puck, constant miscommunication issues, etc., etc.... Did Coburn, Timonen, and Carle suddenly get worse? I don't think it's the style; it's something else. What it is - I have no idea.
  11. Where he *did* fail is to get a consistent effort out of JVR. Certainly, JVR himself is a bigger culprit, but a mark of a good coach is to be able to get the most out of a player's abilities and maximize on his potentials, especially your 2nd overall pick. I also blame the mess our defense is on him as well. No way the defensive corps that talanted should be struggling that badly and look like a bunch of rookies. I like Laviolette and think highly of him as a coach, but something seems off this year.
  12. I hope Homer didn't do somehting stupid. Hopefully we'll hear the details soon.
  13. Well, Smith is playing some really strong hockey so far. If he keeps it up, they may as well just roll the dice with him...
  14. LOVE Yandle... He is by far Phoenix's MVP.... which is why the Yotes are not trading him.
  15. But then he would have to bench the enire defensive corps, and will have no bodies left to play D.
  16. Not specifically responding to your point, but brain (or put more specifically, the entire Central Nervous System) is the least studied and understood part of a human body. One person can get pounded to the head and be perfectly fine with showing no recurring symptoms, while the other can be hit once and have serious post-hit issues. The other aspect - aside from re-occurrence - is an immediate response to a hit. As far as I know, Crosby has only had one concussion and see how long it takes him to recover. Scott Stevens has only been concussed once and it caused him to retire. Paul Karya, on the other hand, has been hit on the head multiple times, and, if I am not mistaken, he didn't stop playing specifically because of long-term effects of concussion. But what’s interesting though, most of neurologists will probably agree that having been concussed once increases your chances of being concussed again, when hit on the head. My point is, it’s hard to make any conclusive statements or being predictive one way or the other. We can’t possibly predict how Gagne will react if/when hit hard again.
  17. Really don't want to lose Bob, unless it's for someone *very* good. I don't put Hedman in that catergory, yet. There are games when he plays tentative and really out of position.
  18. I wouldn't worry about that one bit. Digity will bozo their sorry asses very quickly.
  19. Kuato and OrangeJulius are the only active members remaining over there... Sad...
  20. And at this point, I would sit Lilja rather than Gus. Lilja is really doing more harm than good. He is turning into Chris Therien... While Gus doesn't help much, he doesn't do much of a damage either.
  21. And that, right there, is a bigger and gloomier picture. I would say, however, that Mezsaros and Timonen are good d-men, despite Timonen’s aging in front of our eye. But I know what you are saying… which makes upgrading defense a daunting task. What has been absolutely maddening to me, as I am sure to everybody, is the fact that all of our d-men, individually, are good. But as a unit, they looked like a total drek. People egg on Carle, but how quickly people forget that last season he had 40 points and was +30. Think about that: +30. This is not to be taken lightly. Clearly, when he was on the ice, good things were happening. The year before that, he had 35 points and was +19. And those years, he played some really good, solid hockey. Do you mean to tell me that at 26 he suddenly regressed so badly?? Sorry, not buying it. Coburn – the other player who’s taken plenty of heat – has also showed in the past what he can do. He brings a good combination of size, quickness, excellent shot from the point, and nice passing. You don't find a lot of that in the NHL. I find the very fact that this defense has been so bad absolutely inexplicable. You have to put some blame on coaching. There is just no way that the defense that’s so experienced and so accomplished should look in complete disarray. But as far as upgrading… I am sure it can be done. But who do you trade? The Flyers no longer have that forward depth where Homer could simply plug one guy away from the roster to address the other needs. It would probably have to be done at a very steep price (Schenn or Bob, I am thinking). I would say give it till at least mid-season. I want to see how this core plays with Pronger in the lineup. As bad as this D has looked, it’s still too early to hit the panic button.
  22. If looked at it this way, I guess I can see some validity to it... And I sure hope coaching staff is working with him on his skating. It's not something that cannot be improved.
  23. Compared to the rest of the package, his skating is only average with the first few steps needing some extra work. I honestly don’t see it this way. I am not sure who the author of this analysis is, but I don’t know if I can agree that his skating is average. I would say it’s above average at worst. And considering he is a rookie, I would actually rank his skating as very good. Maybe with regard to forechecking, when you have to do a combination of north-south with west-east skating. But when looking in the context of just joining the rush or just carrying the puck down the ice, I really don’t think his skating is that bad.
  24. First off, I think the comparison to Clarke is not the most appropriate one. These are two completely different players. Secondly, it's way too early. Yes, the kid is making many heads turn, but we were that path before. We can't know what the future holds for him. Yes, so far... SO FAR... he's been great. He uses the space very smartly and he's been opportunistic. And what I like about him the most is that he doesn't shy away from contact. For a rookie player, who is expected to mainly provide scoring, I like an element of toughness. And he knows how to protect himself in tight spots so he doesn't get buried or injured. And that, to me, shows that he is more mature than most of his peers. Scoring comes and goes, but instincts and using your body is something that you either have or you don't. Like someone said, looks like he's been coached well in the juniors. Finally, there is one thing to consider here. Thanks to the Flyers' depth at forward, Couturier is not relied on like Patrick Kane or Tavares were, to lead the way. I think if he was looked at like a next Messiah, he would compare very well with those guys. And who knows, maybe one day he *will* be put in a position where he would play an extremely prominent role on this team. Based on what I’ve seen so far, he seems to have what it takes to become an absolute star in this league, but so does JVR… Know what I mean?
  25. I actually like Hitch, but I can't figure out why any team would hire him these days. The guy simply cannot coach anymore in the new NHL.
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