King Knut

This is what I'm saying. Just that it makes sense that it wouldn't all fall into place immediately. he's not bad at center (as evidenced by how many faceoffs he takes as a winger) but he hasn't done it for a while. As far as jake and jvr, that's part of figuring it out righ? their best chance may just be to either score quickly or cycle in the other end and win the possession game.

Pretty much his worst years and not for a while, right? I added to my original post to cover that.

I like that he's holding them accountable, but I don't like that he's expecting a line of three wingers with no natural center to sort things out in three periods. They're the vets on this team and as such they should be able to do so... but even as vets, and even though G spent a few years at center (mostly his worst), I don't see this as AV "calling them out" so much as stating a fact. They'll need to sort it out. Maybe if all three of the other lines hadn't done quite well, he'd mix and match some more, but if 3/4 of your lines are clicking and the 4th is all talented vets, you gotta expect they're going to do so and I expect based on the stories of the last two days of tailored practices, it seems it's AV's intention to help them do so.

Somehow in the span of a few months, this thread got from Kevin Hayes being signed, to his butt being a "Danger Zone" to "enflamed vaginitis" well done. keepin' it classy!

No, I know... I thought we were being just all around sarcastic.

Eklund said that? The Stars had to be asking for something else that was a bridge too far. That's a fair trade straight up on paper, but Benn's their captain and has much better possession metrics and an actual positive plus/minus. Jake/Myers? Jake/Ghost? Jake/Frost? What in god's name were they asking for that was too rich for Fletch? or is Eklund just being Eklund?

No-Can-Do. NMC for three years. Modified NTC after that. Effing Fletcher.

I think Moose is getting the start with Hart set for Columbus. I forget which beat writer. I think it's fair because the team has to ride any momentum it can get. But still, Hart's got to get back on track asap. I really don't blame any of the Dallas goals on him... at least not like you could easily blame so many of the Edmonton goals on him. Still... you want to see him get his head right and play like he can. He wasn't.

It could be part of a parole agreement, not just that he's so broke he has to pour your coffee for a loonie.

Sometimes a good coach can eye something. Like... you're rushing this or if you skate a strike first or drop your shoulder here.... Something to make their opportunities count more. Once they start it, it starts to move on it's own momentum.

The Phillies have a terrible staff. Through all the Harper anticipation, I kept thinking the same thing... who cares? who's going to pitch? If you'd asked me on day 1, I would have said I didn't think they'd make the playoffs. They started out okay, but the season turned on a dime when Cutch got hurt. Then Odubal got himself kicked off the team. Then they lost half the pitching they did have. It would have taken a lot more than Voodoo bamboo to save their season.

I'm not worried about the defense at all. The thing I'm worried about most is getting to see the guys we have but aren't playing like Morin and Myers. Honestly, if I were to try to acquire this guy it would simply to have more fodder for the Seattle draft.

He will. Frost had an extra between being drafted and making the pros in which he really focused on adding muscle mass. It's been a pretty quick turnaround for Joel. If he had gone to Juniors instead of college, we likely wouldn't even be seeing him yet.

There's definitely something going on. But what I can't really put my finger on. JVR and G aren't scoring despite taking a ton of shots. Even when everyone else does. That's a thing. But now AV specifically calls out their line for it in the media... a night after he put them together... without a natural center on the line. Jake and G are at least helping set up goals, but it's all a bit odd if you ask me. And no. I'm not suggesting anything. I don't know. It's odd. I don't buy this "lazy" or "not trying" thing. That doesn't hold any water. These are historically three of the four top scorers on the team. For them to be struggling like this is straight up odd. The last time it took Giroux this long to score his first goal, he scored 93 points and the Flyers went to the playoffs, so I'm not worried so much as I am just scratching my head. Hopefully the special practices help. Tweaking their games slightly could pay off huge dividends.

A) it's not playoff time yet. B) laugh all we want, but the cake kinda worked!

According to those that track such things, expected goals are significantly higher this year so far. Even JVR. One of the jokes after the Edmonton game was that JVR had more Expected Goals chances in that game than the entire oilers team (they scored more than they were expected to apparently).

I am 100% happier with the way they are playing... except for the scoring of the goals. Which hurts. A lot.

Thing is, we now JVR and G can score goals. Something else is afoot. There's something wrong with the chances they're getting. Opitmistically, it's not necessarily something wrong, just something NEW and they're taking time to adjust to it. I'm not sure. This is where having the experience behind the bench that they do hopefully helps a great deal. The upside is, if they could figure out that tweak, they would be scoring a lot of goals. This kind of thing can't go on all season. It's just a matter of whether they figure it out and start scoring crazy goals or if they give up and try a new approach. One thing we can't really point to right now is laziness on offense.

NFL Football is a game of overcoming injuries. Sadly, the Eagles aren't. They haven't replenished what they've lost over the two seasons since the super bowl and what they have done is hurt and Pedersen isn't adapting the offense well at all.

JVR is the worst culprit. Dude is averaging over 5 shots per game and he can't find the net. They're decent chances too. His expected GF against the Oilers was higher than the entire Oilers team (granted most of their goals didn't qualify as expected chances). This is what I mean about AV giving a nudge to things here and there. They're just not making the most of their opportunities, but they're doing quite well at getting those opportunities. It's maddening and the last thing I want to see is any of them being okay with it. To be playing this well and have a losing record is really pretty god awful.

They've got plenty of offense, they've got no finish. Need to get back to the ABC's!

Once again, they dominated the game but couldn't friggin' score. This time I can't put so much blame on Hart. He was definitely off last game, but this game the shots that scored (and OMG his save percentage is getting destroyed these two games) were legit tips and screens and blown coverages IMHO. I'm glad Farabee is up. I think that's the right choice. I'm not sure about Misha, but he's bound to be better at Center than Raffl is. I don't dislike Laughton as a player, and he did okay Saturday. It was actually the 2nd line that sucked bad Saturday. Them and the top pairing of Nisky and Provo which is like... come one guys! But maybe the Flu got to them later. I don't know. I do know I just hope AV is making the tweaks necessary to start scoring on this absurd chances they're getting and failing on. I think the PP experiment has got to be over soon. THey started out scoring despite it not working to which I was ready to say, whatever. AV knows best. But G and Jake on the wrong sides is just not panning out so far and they've now lost two games they should have won and might have if the PP was working better. SO there's improvement, but I just hope These guys all understand how short the leash is with their fans. This is on paper, shades of the last two seasons-but for the dominating shots, xgfor, and FO% and Corsi numbers which weren't as good last year. Jerry McGuire happened to be on last night and I just kept thinking... The Flyers don't need third jerseys. They're CLOAKED in failure.

I don’t do it. He’s On fire right now, but historically he’s not better than either Jake or JVR at what they do. I know everyone thinks Jakes lazy and JVR’s slow, and a lot of the time you’re right, but there’s not much reason to overspend for Hoffman. If I’d consider trading him for JVR just to get JVR off the books and make top 6 room for Farabee if I thought Hoffman would sign for less than 6 years, but he won’t.

I think the Flyers are pretty ticked after the last game. Should hopefully be healthier too.

They're straight up not playing their best options in the bottom 6.