SoCalFlyfan

@treveluk Aren't we supposed to be a better road team ? ..and we're not so hot at home either. People can play the 'anything can happen' card going into the playoffs, but if this team MISSES the playoffs I would hope Lavi is gone. I like the guy as a motivator but he sucks at X's and O's and will be outcoached by guys like Torts ,Hitchcock, or any other coach with a sharpie and a dry erase board for that matter.

TSN is reporting the Flyers have aquired Nolan Baumgartner to sure up the back end .. .. edit.. (sorry wrong year).

I always watch the Flyers feed, but the last 2 games I watched the Canada feed and they were way more insightful and interesting. The Philly feed is always making up excuses for Bryz ("He couldn't see the shot due to traffic - It knuckled on him and was a difficult save - etc") The Calgary feed last night was ripping him hard and in a well deserved way. It was refreshing.

@pilldoc Bryz is like the GMC Suburban sitting on the dealers lot that no one wants to buy when gas prices are high. The only way to git rid of it is with a rebate incentive of $7000. We're going to have to include some incentives (JVR/Couturier) to get anyone to even come to the lot and kick the tires on Bryzgalov.

Detroits defenseman do not end up behind the oppositions net mucking in the corners like I see Mezaros doing from time to time. They may make a quick pinch, but they always remember their job is defense and are always in position before the play comes back the other way. I'm no hockey expert, but our style play is 'puck posession'. We typically outshoot opponents most nights and for the most part try to dictate the tempo. The problem is IMO that this causes Bryz to not be as sharp or maybe even uninterested. When the opposition gets a transition break or a brief foray in our zone Bryz is not focused and seems to be fighting every shot. I've always believed that a goalie plays better when they face a lot of shots (which is why we seem to face a hot goalie every night) -which seems counter intuitive to a winning strategy, I know. But maybe Bryz is the type of goalie that needs to face a ton of shots to stay sharp..who knows. My point is that Lavi won a cup when he had a HOT goalie like Cam Ward. As we've seen all season that is not Bryz. If Bryz is going to be our guy, something needs to be adjusted defensively I would almost rather give up more shots from the perimeter with a defense in position clogging up the middle if it kept Bryz sharp, than to play a puck posession style that catches him off guard when the play goes the other way.

Yes it is.

Maybe it's because Mezaros,Carle, and Timonen are so programmed to jump into the play offensively, they forget where they need to be defensively. That's why Homer got Kubina and Grossman to 'stay at home' to help minimize the weakness of Lavi's system. The thing is, I'd be totally fine with all of this if we had a proven goalie like Lundkvist, or Fleury that gave the guys up front confidence, but that is just simply not the case with Bryz. The reason I'm riding Lavi about this is because he has to be aware that his system is not the right fit for our goalie (or vice versa) yet he still pushes this 'uptempo' style of play that encourages the D-men to be involved offensively.

It's not the defense, it's Lavi's system. We basically play a 1-4 style. when play goes back the other way everyone is scrambling to get back into position to try and backcheck which leaves only 1 defenseman actually in position. Then add to the mix a goalie that can't make a routine save save and we end up having to win games 6-5 every night. I'm surprised in this entire forum I'm the only one who's noticing this.

@Bakanekimiwa I would forget about Brown and get a bigger tougher guy like Paul Gaustad that can play on any line and chip in some goals.

@aziz I watch Dustin Brown a lot and you are right, he's a 'drive by' hitter and tends to disappear into the shadows when things get nasty. However, one thing he does is draw a lot of retaliation type penalties and can get under the skin of the opposition at times with his stealthy hits. Might be a nice thing to have in the playoffs when restraint and looking the other way is key.

Not to sound like a broken record, but maybe Lavi's high octane 'SYSTEM' is burning the team out and the need to conserve the effort at times just to be able to make through a game....

Living in LA it would kind of funny to see JVR and BOB traded here. The entire Kings roster would be made up of Flyers except for Jarrett Stoll. But, seriously, the biggest impact deal the Flyers can make right now with the Kings is to trade Craig Berube, for future considerations. The Kings need scoring and Berube is the man to take the reigns and help ignite the power play.

I've seen plenty of Kings games and watched numerous off ice/between period interviews with Dustin Brown and he is NOT a vocal leader type. If anything he is more soft spoken like Richards and just as boring with a mic in his grillle.

No. We have both agreed upon how important it is to discuss 'SYSTEMS' - and the appropriate implementation of them for a team to be successful I know you have my back on that one.

So basically there is NO goalie that would excel under Lavi's system ? That is not good. Why the hell are we paying a goalie 7mil a year if the problem is the coaches system ?

Totally agree Podes. A captain does not have to be the best player or guy who gets the most ice time, but rather a guy who lays it out there every shift, is respected, and is not afraid to speak up. Talbot epitomizes those qualities.

Any sane goaltender.

@radoran I think JVR has ideas he might get traded so he's 'impressing' the other teams GM in the stands by stepping it up. I could be wrong, but maybe he wants out and this is his chance to 'showcase' before the deadline, especially playing on the top line.

Looks like Bryz might be taking a page out the the JVR's book on how to take some time off ....

The thing is, Bryz will face the pressure because of what he gets paid. If he was being paid a modest salary and struggling we'd still notice, but would take it easier on him. Take Boucher for instance...He's had his fair share of bad games, soft goals, etc. but he 'gets it'. He knew what he was, said the right things, and got paid accordingly. For Bryz to come in here and accept the humongous contract to play goalie in Philly was like signing a pact with the devil... with that contract comes enormous responsibility and consequences far more reaching than he ever imagined. Kinda' like that twilight zone episode 'a game of pool'.

Out of curiosity, anyone know the total salary of contracts Comcast is paying out to guys who are not actually playing for the Flyers :ie Pronger, Walker, Laperriere, etc. ...and people wonder why their Comcast cable bill is so high.

We need to cut back on the whole 'defenseman pinching in' thing. After the Grossman/Kubina trades I'm even more concerned because it looks like they're trying to pair an offensive D-man (Timonen,Mezaros,Carle) with 'stay at home' guys which to me means that Lavi is sticking to his system that's not working and just trying to tweak the pieces. It's like playing chess with cheap plastic chess pieces vs. using high quality hand cut marble ones: If you suck at chess and have no strategy it doesn't matter what type of pieces yo use.

There was an Islander game a while back where they thoroughly outplayed us up and down the ice and BOB stood on his head and stole the win. I remember it vividly as it was a very rare event to witness as a Flyer fan.

Probably. I was just being slightly optimistic.

@canoli The only realistic way we can move Bryz to Columbus is if we sweeten the pot with a Schenn or Couturier to erase the Carter mistake..which, as another poster mentioned is like giving up Richards and Carter for essentially nothing. I can see: Bryz, Couturier, JVR for : Nash and Mason. We then deal Carle to a contender for our some of our pics back that we gave up in the Grossman/Kubina deals.