radoran

It's not necessarily the D that's the problem, it's the forwards being defensively responsible. Which, quite frankly, they aren't. Good to see that quote. I'll have to watch Ep. 3. I like Lavy - especially for his passion and the way he feels the game as it's being played. It's the system, how he handles goalies and off-ice stuff that has me reluctant to say he's a "great coach." As for the Finals run, this is a team that backed into the playoffs on a shootout after being in playoff position until the stretch run and then had to come back from 3-0 in games and 3-0 in Game 7 to win. Does the coach get some credit? Sure, a little. But the players won that series and went to the Finals. Does the coach get any blame for his team's free-fall from playoff position to "win a shootout on the last day of the season to get in?" Sure. Lavy also picked Leighton to be there when Kane scored the game winner. As for the past decade - during which by some miracle there have been just three coaches - I'll take Hitchcock as comparable, if not superior to, Laviolette. He burned out his welcome here and they needed a change. And they made it. Doing the SAME thing they did when they replaced Neilson/Ramsay with Barber - promoting the Phantoms' coach, Stevens.

I'm not buying into "Laviolette is a great coach". When did he earn these accolades? He lost in the first round twice with the Islanders. Made the playoffs once in four years with Carolina and rode Cam Ward to the Cup - after first going with Gerber. In two years the Flyers went from the Finals to an ignominious departure in the Second with the team stumbling and bumbling around this year. I can't see any adjustments he's made to this situation. I can't see where he's really excelled at anything - expect well-timed time outs. But I'm ready to be enlightened as to why he's a "great coach." I've only see 1 & 2 of the 24/7 series - but I haven't heard him say much about the real problem on this team which is clearly not goal scoring and is clearly "defense." The "word is out" not just on our goalie, but our team defense. Deflections and "own goal" deflections are frequently associated with playing out of position and "bad rebounds" to open guys are frequently a result of players not covering their man (see: Stamkos, Steven). They don't need to fling more pucks at the opponent's net. They need fewer pucks at their own.

Right - losses are very important. As are the reasons for the losses. Management has assembled a team that covers badly in front of a goalie who is struggling and has unwisely committed a huge amount of the future to two long term contracts to the struggling goalie and injured 36yo defenseman. Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic doesn't convince me that this will be in a new, much less right, direction. If they buy Bryz out after next season - or, heck, this season - what faith do you have that this group will finally make the RIGHT decisions regarding personnel? I see a panicky, knee-jerk, slap-dash, data-free, reputation-based approach to filling needs on the roster - dating back to Dale Hawerchuk and beyond. I don't really see any sort of plan to WIN a Stanley Cup, just one that puts them in a position to "compete for a Stanley Cup" in front of a goalie like, for example, Michael Leighton. I see a team that has lavished praise upon and granted ridiculous contracts to their drafts picks... before throwing them under the bus and shipping them out of town. Play Bob? Fine play Bob. Unless more changes than the guy between the pipes, not much will change.

And even if they replace Bryz with Bob, the same people who made the decision to give a "not good goalie" a nine-year, $51M, NMC deal will still be here. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

The point being that they took a goalie who obviously benefitted from a strong defensive system and expected the same results in a run and gun offense. And the coach, the players and the goalie seem to have made few adjustments to losing their top defenseman and captain. Every goalie depends on his team as the team depends on the goalie. If you leave Steve Stamkos wide open, he's going to beat Henrik Lundqvist or even Tim Thomas more often than not. And it's not just a problem this year. Stamkos has 4 goals in 14 games against the Rags and 5 in 13 against da Broons. He has 10 in 15 career games against the Flyers. And that's including three games this season. No matter who's in goal, this team needs to play better from top to bottom. It's not something that a goalie change alone will fix. I wouldn't mind seeing Bob play. I don't think it's going to happen this season, but if this is how things start next season, they will take a good hard look at Bob before the trade deadline. Not saying it's what they "should" do, but what they "will" do.

I'm not expecting a Cup, but they should make the playoffs. I'm not opposed to a change in net at all. But I don't expect it to make a blossoming bit of difference if the team keeps leaving players like Steven Stamkos wide open in scoring position. The goalies also are what they are. And the Flyers shot themselves in the foot with how they've handled Bob, IMO.

@Mad Dog As you note, "premier goalies are tough to come by" - why the Flyers thought that at the exact moment they decided they "needed" a "#1 G" that the universe would simply drop one in their laps is beyond me. They didn't "need' to sign a guy this past offseason - they NEEDED a PLAN to get/develop a premier goalie. A "plan" isn't the owner telling the GM to acquire a guy who had four career appearances against the Flyers. And three starts. Granted he was 1.86/.927 in those games - and @TedZep notes Bryz does have the capability of playing to that level - but how many times could Snider POSSIBLY have seen Bryzgalov actually play? I don't think Bryz's situation will improve with "competition" - it's not lack of effort of desire at this point. It is simply that he is not the world-beating goalie he was touted as by Flyer management. At this point, IMO, the best thing Lavy could do is get his team to, yes, play tighter defense. Let's look at Tampa. It wasn't Bryzgalov who lost track of Steven "leading the league in goals" Stamkos in the slot right in front of Bryz. It was Giroux. And it wasn't Bryzgalov who left Stamkos open again on the power play, nor was he responsible for the penalty. You leave Steve Stamkos wide open in the slot or alone on the left side during a power play and more often than not you're going to have two goals against no matter WHO is in goal. The Schenn screen/redirect on goal one is debateable - but there have been a ridiculous amount of deflections and "own goal" deflections this season (IMO). The Downie goal was inexcusable. And indicative of Bryz's lack of lateral mobility. On top of that, you have forwards who, IMO, are more interested in being at the front of a rush than making sure some of the league's most dangerous players are covered down low. Bryz has played abysmally. But you can't really say the Flyers have been playing solid team defense in front of him.

There's been a lot a lot of talk about Drew Stafford... And Roy, I think, too. There's no reason to lose a guy going down or coming up.

I was just responding to MD saying that Bob hasn't done anything to lose his job as a #1 goalie. He did. Ending last season with four losses and getting pulled against the Islanders and then imploding in Game 2 (I would have gone back to him in Game 3 but that's another story). That's why he wasn't the #1 goalie coming into this season and has not been the #1 goalie this season. I just don't know if the forest Bryz is in is the size of the universe or if he can find his way out of it. I do think that the coach simply doing the same things expecting different results - which is what I see out there - isn't working. Go more defensive. Tighten up. Be a tough team to play against. You've got three good scoring lines and should be able to score from that position. Heck, Hitchcock's teams did. The 03-04 squad had five 20-goal scorers and Roenick with 19 in 62 games, plus two more 10+ players. Heck, Eshe was 2.04/.915 behind a pretty defensive-minded team. And, no matter what happens - NO LEIGHTON.

The problem of too many talented young defensemen is a good one to have. Don't over-expose them, let them develop. A lot of the decision on "who goes" will be contract-based. Who's got options to be sent down? And contract size. They may send Weber down just to save the fraction of the $400K on the cap.

Leino is hands-down the biggest disappointment. Ehrhofff not that far behind, but much more was expected of Leino. And the length of contract as well. Ehrhoff is displaying the same weaknesses he had in Vancouver. I have no idea why Reigier gave him a decade-long deal. GMs are sinking franchises with ridiculous long-term contracts. It's like everybody's turning into Mike freaking Milbury. If Yashin and DiPietro* didn't show the league the dangers of decade-long contracts, I don't know what else they need. IMO, it's past time to change GMs. I'm not throwing Ruff under the bus, necessarily. Yet. * not Milbury, granted

My only point here is that Bob has done precious little to EARN a job as a #1 goalie. If he had, we wouldn't be in this situation. His collapse at the end of last season and in the playoffs put the fear into management that they "needed a #1 G now" Washington's deal with Vokoun reveals their decision about Bryzgalov as the panicky, knee-jerk style that they have used for at least the past few decades. Who else out there would have bid for Bryzgalov last season??

I'm ridiculously frustrated that they took a goalie from a strong defensive system and gave him to a coach known for his up-tempo offensive schemes. And that nobody has seemed to make any adjustments to anything. Much less given it any thought before signing away the next decade. Lavy is on the hot seat here. The Flyers will make a coaching change before they admit they made a $42M mistake. I think the coach has misplayed the goalie position at almost every possible opportunity.

If I NEVER see Leighton in a Flyers uniform again, it will be too soon.

At best, Bob has potential and is unproven. At worst, he implodes and is exposed worse than Bryz. Most likely, he does what he's already done - which is pretty much the same as Bryz. numbers-wise (prior to Bryz's recent collapse) Also, if Bryz has "bad playoffs" - here's Bob: 3 starts 0-2-0, 6.00 GAA, .877 SV% pulled once (stats from starts only) Overall? 0-2-0, 3.77, .877 - six total playoff appearances. At best, unproven. I am not on a Bryzgalov bandwagon - and I was outraged that Bob was thrown under the bus after Game 2 last year (which as I recally, a lot of people favored) - but am certainly not convinced that "Bob" is the "good goalie ready to step in and lead them." And clearly neither were the Flyers.

At that point, I honestly think if Bob steps up and claims it (and Bryz has been so gorram terrible as against Tampa) - they might go the buyout route.

The first goal was a true groaner. You hope you can recover from that - and they did. The second, Giroux loses Stamkos in front and Bryz gives up a big rebound to one of the top scorers in the game alone on the doorstep. The Downie goal was a disgrace. Bryz on his knees to the left side of the goal. Puck goes across the ice, off a skate, deflects off the boards to Downie. He shoots. He scores. And Bryz still hadn't even MOVED (except for his head following the puck) The fourth, Stamkos on the power play, alone (again) on the opposite side. The fifth was meaningless, and painful at the same time. 5 goals on 16 shots. What more do you need to say?

Completely agreed. They wouldn't throw him under the bus in Y1. If his play stays at this level this season and into next, he'll be relegated and they WILL "see what they have" with Bob before trading him.

If he stays he makes additional $36Million And when was the last time a Flyers fan threw a battery? Bryz holds all the cards in this situation except the buyout ace. In which case, at this point, he walks away with FORTY. MILLION. DOLLARS. $5M signing bonus, $10M salary, $27.47M buyout. To be clear, I can see him in 3-4 years taking the waiver wire out of town for the KHL or allowing a trade. His value right now will never be lower...

honestly, what stops Bryz from taking the "pressure" from the front office and playing worse without moving his NMC? Suppose he just decides he's fine sitting on the bench for $5.6M per for the next eight? I could make that work.

I was actually SUPPORTING your point. We got bubkus for Gagne and he had the franchise over a barrel.

I just can't see the Flyers taking a buyout after Y1. The degree of egg on their face would make a chicken farm look low cholesterol. It would also start to attrract the attention of bigwigs at Comcast as to how Snider's been running things. Lets not forget that he was in charge of the 76ers as well who, I am told, remain a professional sports franchise somehow. They will notice a $42.5M blunder ($15M this year and $27.47 buyout)

Case in point - although a NTC and not NMC: Simon Gagne. Also, Bob's already signed next season for $1.75M.

Good technique can raise your luck quotient - like good positioning. There is also something to be said for the stability of the team in front of the goalie. And Marty Biron? 7-1-0, 1.84, .933 this season. How does that stack up against Bob's current numbers? (7-2-1, 2.57/.913 this year)

Bob will be traded or Bryz will be bought out. The latter the less likely of the two.