mojo1917

Respectfully BOI I don't know where you get that our defensmen can't skate, the scouting report on coburn, great skater, carle excellent skater, timmonen above average, metzaros above average, gustaffson , a lot like timmonen, the only guy seeing significant minutes that is meh with the skating is bourdon....i've seen nothing with these guys that shows all of the sudden they're subpar in that area. who does Holmgren make a trade for ? if the system is that broke and no one can skate, bringing in a couple of the available pu-pu platter guys won't help at all. Gill ? he'd look like a traffic pylon, Sutton ? don't know enough about him, probably no better than coburn though. our current top 4 are not the bums you make them out to be. the thing i've noticed in the d zone is there isn't a whole lot of support coming from the forwards, they're fast breaking the second they see rubber on an orange blade and if the outlet isn't good then their man is open going the other way and the defensemen have 2 guys to mark not just one. this is a young team that will make mistakes, i know they're pros. but let's be honest here, did you think they were headed for a cup this year after trading away 60 goals . the captain the leading scorer, and top face off guy ? the off season moves were puzzling at best, none of the signings made me think , this is the year, we're a lock. I hate losing in teh division too, but with 7 rookies dressing things like this are going to happen.

no, just saying that the team plays better on the road, judging by your comment you're expecting a loss tonight; and that may happen, Detroit is very good at the Joe, but they are playing with a back up keeper and our guys focus better on the road. Now whether it's because there aren't 13000 people waiting for something to go wrong and the other 7000 don't give a sh!t or because there's less distraction; i don't know but this team has not played well at the WF center since it came into existence. when i've gone to games in that palace the crowd hasn't been able to be a factor, like in the days of the spectrum. kind of like what happend with the colts going from the RCA dome to the Lucas Oil center.

@SoCalFlyfan This team has played much better on the road than at the wells faraway center . The ticket prices have pushed the fans out of the venue and onto center ice. There is no home ice advantage to that hulking structure. Maybe the travel helps the youngsters to focus on hockey. Unlike you I'm not supremely disappointed by this team, only the 51 million dollar man.

@doom88 I wonder if Jody Shelley doesn't wind up as an assistant coach somewhere ala Craig Berube, he has a clear love of the game and has been one of jagrs pupils... and just seems to like being associated with hockey. I don't know much about what chief knows about the pp/PK as a coach , other than he never struck me as a student of the game in his playing days, and I go all the way back to Hershey with him, So I am surprised to see him as a guy that Lavy would keep when he came aboard. .

@doom88 What in the name of Marty McSorely would the chief know about the PP or th PK? Other than he was usually responsible for causing PKs.

Howie , I reslpectfully disagree with #3 metzaros has been the only medium bright spot in the d-corps and hartnell has been too good for too long to let that unfortunate high stick cost him minutes, the goalie interference call was questionable especially since the puck was still loose and 19 may have had a chance to give it a whack. all the rest kinda hard to refute. i have said this doom has said this and maybe even you have said this... is the chief the right guy to be responsible for the defense ?

No , the Cult is/was a rock band from the 80s... They played rock at punk rock tempo, wrote my favorite pop rock song "she sells sanctuary" as well as fire woman, rain and love removal machine. Sonic Temple was probably their creative zenith in 1988 it was a glorious studio rock album. I always loved this image of Billy Duffy, that's what a rock guitar plater should look like. They are/ were not derivative of BOC in any way.

he has the forwards to play his style, he even has some defenseman that can play his style too, so to say he's trying to fit a square peg into a round hole isn't the best analogy for me. he's got the personell to play his puck possession style. there is a lack of consistencey from one game to the next as far as execution goes which i think is a result of having 7 rookies dress to play in the NHL. They're rookies so some of the forwards maybe don't come back to support the d to receive the outlet everytime some of the defensemen get brain cramped when pressured and do stupid things it happens when your getting your OJT at the highest level of play To be honest i don't know what the hell happened on the PK today, we got to looking like the keystone cops chasing their forwards around not a whole lot of discipline there, honestly i was expecting a swoon from these guys at some point, this is a young team we have high expectations for them but we need to be realistic and realize there are going to be nights when rookies play like rookies.

@RonJeremy i heard it a lot this afternoon, our guys had moments where they looked keystone copish. those guys have our number right now. no question, maybe a new d coach ?

yeah, those guys did a nice job of limiting the time and space our forwards have... they give up chances but they get in the way of a lot of shots. i also may have to just say that for now they have our number. if we make the playoff and meet them gah... i don't want to think about it. Bobs had no shot on all 3 goals i saw today, i also have to give some props to their first line. those guys had some jump and cycled the puck well.

no but i heard ed reed calling flacco out before the game, i also mentioned scoring chances, every team in the league with the rules the way they are now is giving up 8-15 quality scoring chances a night. the flyers are no worse in that aspect than 24 or 25 other teams... you're wrong about timmonen, he' was asked a question and he was candid and correct with his answer. the difference between the rangers and flyers last weekend was our goalie checked out for 3 minutes a cost us the game, their goalie stopped 13 of our 15 chances . you also miss that the other teams are scoring on us with shots that are lucky to be shots... Bryz has had a lot of bad luck with deflections this year but, unscreened wristers from the blue line should never wind up in your net at the NHL level and somehow vs #30 they do. that garbage from gaborik should never wind up behind the keeper, was that really a quality chance to be blamed on the defense? metzaros cleaned that russian panty waste up immediately prior to that bs... even fonzi called that goal lucky garbage.

@doom88 thanks i was beginning to think it was going to go unappreciated .

@Greenman i won't argue that they've had our number this year I just don't see them as being this great juggernaut that lot's of people are making them out to be... they're a good team no question but they're not light years better than we are by any stretch. the series is a couple of soft goals against us from being even. i also agree the king henrick is was and always will be better than Ilya. the guy (lundquist) is one of the top 4 goalies on the planet at this time.

I know, right ?

@Greenman "He's not playing that terrible nor is the team in a position to warrant the level of bitching coming from a lot of you" the team in not playing terribly that is true. Ilya is not doing what he was brought in to do and that was solve the issue at goaltender. He has had more than his share of fluky deflections this year , but, he lets his concentration wander , hasn't been reading the play well enough to make up for his physical limitations (he's slow of foot and thought) pucks somehow get through his frame, pucks that are shot at him wind up behind him somehow. He IMO deserves nearly all the criticism that is coming his way. The Rangers are not a better team player for player which of their top 9 fowards would you trade for ours ? you can say callahan for talbot but would you do callahan for giroux ? they are a better team at one position .

sigh i know, i said as much in my boob post. i don't want to look at the glass as being half empty with this team even if there is scotch whiskey in it.

the way i look at" the Defense " is how many shots and scoring chances do we give up ? routinely our skaters put 5-10 more shots on the other teams keeper than our keepers face and the scoring chances are usually even or again our skaters have more opportunities than the opponents. To me that says our defense is doing a good job limiiting shots and chances, when the shots do get through or the chances are there our #1 guy doesn't stop the puck much and worse yet our #1 guy spaces on 70ft shots and they somehow squirt behind him. saying that timmonen should look in the mirror is like blaming the raven's AFC championship loss on Joe Flacco...

@canoli I agree with everything you've written about Bryzgalov in this post /\ We have marveled at how pucks shot at his body wind up behind him, it is maddening however, i do think a little perspective is in order here... the team is in 4th in a very competitive eastern conference, it is a fun group to watch play, the team has exceeded my expectations by so much it is laughable, i never thought this group would be as good as they are. To say that Bryz is ruining the season is like saying because we never see "Bernadette's" enormous breasts on the Big Bang Therory that the show sucks. We still see them , they're just covered with sweaters, If bryz gets it together, then this season becomes Bernadette posing for a playboy pictorial and the sky is the limit.

Hartsy with the Gordie Howe hatrick last night. I loved the love tap he gave phaneuf after the goal...he ,Fartsmell , has been a lot of fun to watch lately.

I believe Barrett Jackman out in St Louis is a free agent this year, he could be had maybe for coburn money, he's pretty mobile and has a nasty streak that everyone in town seems to miss, he'd be a good guy to pair with Carle or (if he resigns here) Metzaros and would give us a young mobile and physical top 4 guys, with timmonen in the mix for another year and a Guss/MAB. Jackman comes with leadership qualities too. probably won't happen, but imo i think he'd be a good flyer.

i wonder if this means JvR will be back in the lineup soon... ?

Too much talent and drive with #35 to give up on yet... He is such a good athlete and takes stopping the puck personally. The guy hit "the wall " last year played 30 more games than ever in his life, on a different sized sheet , on a weird moon-man speaking continent without his beloved Olga. We seriously crapped the bed signing any goalie let alone Bryzgalov for more than 3 years...

Sometimes you're the winshield , sometimes you should have a beer. Long season at some point we'll win one of these. I share your frustration though.

Because then we'd lose every game 3-1...Not for nothing I like the uptempo style Babcock has a point ",get the puck and keep it "works pretty well when you have skilled players like we do. Bottom line is bryzgalov needs to nut up and stop the puck.

Hal Gill ick... too old, too slow, okay snarl factor but not enough + to offer a roster player in exchange.