SoCalFlyfan

@AJgoal those stats prove me wrong. maybe what i'd like to see more of is shots from the point however i'm sure there's no official stat tracker there. all i know is any time the opposition fires the puck from the point i cringe, moreso than watching another team cycle the puck against us. the first two ranger goals against us were a result of that. call it luck, but that simple concept of throwing the puck at the net set the entire tone for the game. we need to do that more often than trying to pretend we're detroit looking for the pretty stuff.

@radoran i disagree. i'd rather have a guy like lavi with his passion as opposed to a guy like terry murray who is 'x's and o's' but nothing else. then again, at some point (with the personnel we have) a coach can only do so much screaming, yelling and f bomb dropping. still, if we're going to play this up and down river hockey style that coaches like laviolette and tortorella like a team needs to fire pucks on net at every chance that presents itself. i'm not seeing that from the flyers. were dumping pucks in, fighting for possession, and then trying to find the perfect play while playing 'hot potato' at the point. just fire the freakin' puck on net and see how many chances we can create that way.

laviolette is a great coach and has that desire and fire in him that a coach needs to have to be successful. however, after 3 episodes of '24/7' and between all the F-bombs being thrown around and 'work hard' speeches i have not ONCE heard him tell the team to shoot the puck or to keep putting pucks on the net. tortorella has mentioned that numerous times and, imo was the main reason the rangers won the other night. word is out on bryzgalov and any team that just throws the puck at the net against us has a chance to win any given night. still.. it goes both ways. it's obvious to me that we need to shoot more and create chances from rebounds, deflections, etc. instead of expecting giroux to make all the pretty plays every night. maybe those speeches from lavi are left on the editing room floor but i can't remember one moment so far where he has mentioned this.

now that i think about you're probably right. but still it was a 'PR' move. basically doing what everyone says the flyers never do , ie: go out a get a #1 goaltender. it's kinda like a president that reads opinion polls and bases his positions on whatever is popular at the moment as opposed to the guy that has a distinct vision for the direction he wants to go. the flyers have always been like this for the most part. if we all whine enough and the reporters write stories about our glaring needs, then our GM will give us what we want. in turn we'll keep buying season tickets and flyers crap.

in the end this whole dumb bryz signing was just homer trying to cover his butt. if he went into this season with boucher/bobrovsky (which imo is what should have been done) homer would have no excuses if we got knocked out in the first round again. signing bryz was his safety valve to say he attempted to get a #1 goalie. all we kept hearing is that signing bryz would take pressure off the offense and that his presence in net would make up for all the scoring we lost. ironically it's been the other way around. offense is better than advertised and goaltending is worse. -we need to start BOB. the team just seems to play better with him in net whether or not he's actually the better goalie right now.

one thing shelley will do is go after dubinsky for calling him a talentless waste.

@mojo1917 people get so caught up with having difficulty separating players and their previous teams. in the end these are just guys doing the best they can in their whatever their current situation is.

i'm not closing the book on his ability in net..that may improve. however i am closing the book on his personality. he's just not the right personality to build your team around. even holmgren realized this during that rough patch in the beginning when bryz was saying all that crazy stuff and he shut him down from talking to the media. kinda like the bad comedian on stage when a cane comes out from the side and yanks him off.

@canoli -the thing that baffles me is that most jobs require an interview in the real world. in sports, especially during free agency it's a little different as players stats and accomplishments replace the actual interview process. however, when you are going to saddle onto a goalie for 8 years someone needs to look the guy in eye, ask him questions, and see if he has that fire and that personality you want to build your team around. that didn't happen with bryzgalov. he was the best 'available' goalie supposedly at the moment and we threw everything at him. then he comes in and we find out he's living on planet zargon most of the time.

maybe in beer league where everyone sucks enough to not play hockey for a living. hextall was only nuts on the ice, roy was a little nuts but he might be the rare exception, but out of the current crop of elite goaltenders i can't think of any who would be classified as 'nutcases'. miller,lundkvist,thomas,fleury,brodeur, price all seem pretty down to earth to me.

what concerns me (aside from him not stopping pucks) is how his fragile state of mind affects the team when he's in net. you could tell that they all think he's nuts too and that can't be comforting to them knowing that he's in net back there. we're all little crazy from time to time but to me a goalie should be a rock that everyone can look at and get confidence from, not look at with a puzzled look most of the time.

just wanted to update those who may be concerned, but yes, bryzgalov is still completely nuts. does anyone know what he's talking about half the time ? can we LTIR him based on a diagnosis from a psychiatrist watching 24/7 or something ? -i just cannot believe this is the guy for the next 20 years in net.

@Green Man i don't know..maybe it's me, but after watching 24/7 and all the players from both teams 'unplugged' bryz just seemed like he's on a different planet than the rest of them. and yes, that includes that crazy czech guy foaming at the mouth over jagr. i'm not saying the guy can't like star trek and chewbacca when he's at home, but when you are the backbone of a franchise for 10 years you need to a little better than he has been doing with his goofball comments. i mean, you see lundkvist and he seems like a classy guy from his play on the ice, his comments to the media, the way he dresses, carries himself, etc. then you have bryzgalov talking about outer space, vodka, and endangered tigers in china and he just looks like a clown. if i'm a player i'm thinking that any given night bryzgalov is like a box of chocolates..which doesn't make my job any easier.

@aziz -so..if he is what he is i feel like i just signed an 8 year contract for an average smartphone that will never get better, but can check emails and make phone calls really well.

@gazoo. i know my confidence is a little low just sitting on the couch watching him play, i can't imagine how the forwards feel knowing that they have to score 4 goals every night to win. also, as i mentioned his personality does not exactly inspire confidence either. you look at guys like brodeur, thomas, lundkvist, ..even miller and they are class acts that say the right things and inspire confidence. sure, they all have rough spots and bad games but they hate to lose and as a player i'd love to play for a guy that genuinely hates to lose. bryzgalov does not seem that genuine to me.

fair enough. still, what concerns me the most is how bizarre he is. after watching 24/7 he really seems like he's out there on another planet in the dressing room and all. one would have to wonder what's going through his mind during the game. i dont want us to be on the penalty kill and have bryzgalov thinking about the size of the universe.

After watching him suck in goal and talk about the Universe, galaxies, wormholes, and Russian vodka I'm done with this guy. How can the team be confident in front of him when they all know he's a nutcase and cannot be relied upon in goal ? Are we really as screwed as it looks with the goalie situation ?

We're simply not as good as our record dictates to begin with (when healthy). On the other hand Boston is as good as they seem right now.

We're just not in the same league as Boston even though they both play in the NHL.

Hey Dynamo, you posted this exact message about 3 weeks ago ... ...sorry, I had to. Anyway, your story is not far from the reality of how it was for many players back then. No one questioned it and just kept playing. Even though you were not paid it's still very similar to fringe guys who simply don't want to be replaced by another guy and potentially lose a spot on the team unlike a guy like Crosby that doesn't have to worry about anything.

This exactly what it is. Teams are diagnosing and throwing the label 'concussion' on anything that closely resembles any symptoms, most likely as I said earlier for insurance purposes. This is to prevent a player down the line from claiming 'damages' from an undiagnosed concussion that effects their quality of life after hockey. It's just like this everywhere though. It used to be a kid would slip and fall during recess and no one payed attention. Now a kid falls and 12 different teacher aides come running from all directions, helicopters are dispatched, and ambulances are there within seconds to put a band aid on some kids knee.

I don't think there really are more concussions, it's just that these things are labeled now and diagnosed much quicker. Maybe it's an insurance thing. By labeling it right away it protects the team for insurance purposes.

Well, to be fair the same can be said about Jagr I guess (being productive playing Giroux). Still, I can't see Giroux putting up these numbers without Jagr. The reason is, even at 40 everyone in the league knows if you give Jagr room he'll kill you with his shot but then you have to keep your eye on Giroux. Without Jagr the Rangers shut down Giroux easily because of this.

Not to take anything away from Giroux because he's the real deal, but does he still put up these ridiculous numbers without Jagr ?

Richards planned this in advance. He spoke with Bergenheim before the game and asked him if he could drill him in the shoulder and make it look bad. Apparently, speculation is that Richards was running low on painkillers in LA . --sarcasm alert ...