King Knut

Agreed, this is fixing nothing with the bottom six. If Voracek wasn't getting it done with Pitlick and Laughton, how the hell is JVR? Stewart needs to be gone. This is worse than Lehtera or Weise to me because Fletcher has openly talked about just liking the guy as a person. They have to make moves that will put Laughton and Pitlick on the 4th with Raffl where they belong. If Echo or Twarks can outplay Pitlick, then so be it. He'll be a good 13th or 14th. I also feel like it's time to get a night or two or Morin over Braun and NO, not just for the McDavid goal--for all of you defending him for not realizing who he was defending against. He had a really bad trip. If there was no one waiting in the wings, then that's one thing but Morin's there and Myers is looming. Braun and Hagg should both be on short leashes. Cap issues, roster size and waiver exemption of course make it interesting.

Not necessarily. But I think he should be.

Well there’s one thing we agree on concerning Braun.

I hear you, but don’t underestimate how good Barber, Leach and MacLeish were. Also that team had 2 generational talents. Don’t forget Bernie while not home grown in the org, is nonetheless another generational talent.

Yeah... I just don't necessarily agree with that last paragraph. Last night was actually really promising in a lot of ways. I think sooner or later, Fletcher's going to have to pull the trigger on Farabee and let Stewart and Pitlick slide. THey liked what they saw out of Bunnyman and Twarynski, but it's time to face the facts and put the guys with actual potential and not just sand paper and "try" the time to thrive. If Patrick isn't ready, then put in the 3C that actually has the skill potential to be 3C. Farabee is ready to be a 2W now. if Pitlick and Laughton are your 4th with Raffl (not playing C) and your 3rd has more skill and skating on it, then low and behold, they're a good deep team. Right now, for whatever reason, because Patty's got an issue, Fletcher is afraid to let this team's depth be deep. I'm not sure why. Anyway, it's game 5. They're at .500 under difficult circumstances with a brand new system. They lost a game they were clearly just not in from the puck drop... be it jet lag or the flu or whatever, it was clear, they weren't all there. any of them. Then they lost a game that they pretty much dominated. The PP's better and the PK is better (though not great after last night). All in all the direction is good.

Bob Clarke and Eric LIndros are two more generational talents than a lot of teams get.

Here's my thing on that though... Braun isn't aware that a generational talent is on the ice? He's not aware that a guy faster than a a hopped up Mike Gartner is coming at him? He's not anticipating that, protecting the puck and slapping it into the corner? Braun messed up. Hart didn't make a savable save. McDavid is incredible. They made him look even more so than he actually is.

Chances of making the playoffs. He scored two goals last night and has a career average of .83 Points per game. If we agree that we're not going to get much in the way of current usable talent for him, then presumably the answer to filling his absence and remaining competitive this year would be found in Farabee and or Frost. Why not try keeping him and just cutting straight to the chace and giving him Farabee and Frost to play along side instead of Pitlick and Laughton? Saying he is lazy and isn't pushing it to the limit for 18 minutes a night is one thing. But suggesting the team is somehow better off without Jake Voracek is a really hard sell unless you have a viable replacement... and that doesn't seem available.

Best player on the ice not named McDavid last night. Maybe stop playing him with 4th liners and expecting miracles?

Jon Sim would have traded him, right? while scoring a hat trick.

He can be an 80+ point scorer and key clutch player at the ends of games as we’ve seen. He was their heir best player on the ice last night. Exactly how many top 6 RW’s get stuck with two 4th liners and are still expected to put up big numbers? If they could have traded him and signed Stone, I’d have been all for it. But they couldn’t. Right now there here isn’t a team in the league that can fit him in under the cap out right. I suppose it’s possible you could talk a Columbus into trading him for Atkinson if Columbus has decided to go all in on a rebuild now as Jake comes off the books teobyears sooner than Cam, but do you really want to be paying Atkinson $6million for the next 6 years? Maybe The sens trade Bonny Ryan for him, but then you’re getting what is likely a worse player, saving less than a million bucks but shaving a year off the contract. Do do you want Colin White? The Avalanche might take him for a cup run, but they’re not giving you anything in actual value and they are likely to pick very low because Sakic’s pretty smart and they look to be pretty good with lots of cap space to lock in their RFA’s in the years ahead. No no one else with close to the cap space needed is going to give you anyone that will help now. Why not not just promote and push the young talent we know we have and try to use them to push Jake at the same time? He’s lazy? Yes he often looks that way. So why on earth put lazy out with underskilled and expect that concoction to result in a case of tasty cakes?

There’s an argument to be made that Hextall should have traded him when he was hot instead of resigning him. But it right now, trading him only damages the team’s chances as you’re only getting picks and prospects in return and those would likely be from a competitive non-lottery team and there aren’t many of those with $8million in cap space. Essentially its the Avalanche and Yotes. Another middle to late first rounder is. It going to help this team. Though first overall might be worth it. Long story short, Jake was hands down their best player last night (ironically Carter Hart was hands down their worst thought Braun wasn’t far off). I’m not saying I disagree. Just saying I don’t know that trading him makes any sense to getting the team better now. and as long as he’s here, they need him playing his best if they’re gonna have a chance. Ergo, he needs better line mates than Pitlick and Laughton. How many top 6 wings in this league do you stick with two 4th liners and expect solid gold production. I’m all for bringing up skilled guys to complement him. I’d have to check on Echo and Twark’s waiver exemption status, and I don’t know what stew’s one way contract means for sending him down, but i’d Do what I can to at least get Farabee up, potentially trying him out One jake’s left side or potting him in JVR’s current spot and putting JVR back on Jake’s left side like last year. All this said, I think Frost is perhaps the more important call up right now. He’s not looking as good as Farabee, but the 4th line needs a center and Laughton is good at that job. The 4th line was atrocious last night and getting Laughton and Pitlick back onto it where they SHOULD be would at least help the 4th and potentially help the third too. If you try Farabee on the 2nd for JVR, then it could help out the entire bottom nine. Last night wasn’t as much of a disaster as it felt. Hart was uncharacteristically awful. It’s not that he didn’t shine or that he didn’t make some impossible saves, He was really bad and didn’t make saves an NHL goalie really should. One can hope it was the flu. One can hope it was nerves... or maybe edmonton doesn’t have a Whole Foods and he had to eat crappy spinach... one can even hope his sports therapist is an oilers fan and put some kind of hypnotic whammy on him under hypnosis when playing the Oilers. I don’t know. I don’t care. It sucks he’s only human after all, but he is. Hopefully it was the flu plus nerves being home.

Or don’t make him play with Laughton and Pitlick! Lets not get our pantries bunched because he’s not elevating them and let’s help elevate HIM to what we know he can be. Frost and Farabee time.

I get that you’re being funny, but the reports are more than half have the flu and they’ve had a very off schedule in. Three different countries spanning like 13 time zones. It’s temporary and it’s understandable. It would make me play you get guys rather than Braun and Stewart, but that’s not my call. Also, I don’t know who’s sick.

He is. He’s playing 3rd line minutes with Laughton and Pitlick. It’s not working.

I saw someone else do it first! Can't claim it. I like it, and besides, no one else knows this Bunnyman (for which I couldn't even find a real trailer):

I'd try putting Jake on with Hayes and G first. But I think they need to think about Farabee sooner rather than later. Pitlick and Stewart aren't an answer to any question I want to ask. It's early and they're tired from a really crappy road trip and they're still getting used to AV's system and apparently they all have the flu. So I'm not worried about anything after one crappy game and I have to keep that in mind tonight. Most of that will all still be valid. But I just don't think Jake with Laughton and Pitlick is going to work. I don't want Pitlick on the top 9 anywhere and playing with them, is no wonder Jake isn't producing. I want Pitlick as the 13th most nights. I'd sooner see Raffle on the 3rd. Long story short, I don't want to have traded Weise and Lehtera for Pitlick and Stewart. Echo and Twarinksy won spots through hard work, hustle and paying their dues... but Frosty and Farabee have real skill and potential. I don't think playing Pitlick, Stewart AND Bunny and Twarynski makes sense long term. Maybe long enough to cat their cap situation together and maybe if Patrick truly is coming back soon. But even if Patty's ready soon... he's had no camp. What's his up to speed time going to be? Is putting him back into action right away after no camp going to get him hurt again? I'm perfectly willing to give the team consideration and time, but I just down' think Pitlick and Stewart have a point now or going forward. Pit's a 4th liner and Stew's a minor leaguer. I think playing them this much now is just wasting time. Coots is a 1C and Hayes is a 2C. They need to be played like that.

Nice observations. Felt like I was reading my own thoughts. Niskanen's making his value known. Setting an example for the other vets. That he's outproducing G and Jake and JVR is terrifying. Gotta think they're just a little snake bitten right now. They've all had chances. It's not like they're not in the play. But tonight would be a good time to sort it out. At this point, I'm on board with trying out Farabee on the third. They need a little help with the get up and go.

Really look like the trip is wearing them down. Not surprising. Hope they can bounce back for tonight. still... can't help but think that maybe some of that youthful vigor in LHV might not help n these situations.

Fletcher feels bad for him.

I know some of them were going through some things but they all seemed to get really pissy at the same time. Charlie got the full time press gig and quickly became less affable and opinionated, but was somehow proven wrong more often. Bill just seemed to go off the deep end (last season’s Flyers will do that to you I guess) and for some reason Steph and Kelly stopped giving him as much crap about it and putting him in his place when he did. I tried a few others and I think I like Philly is Flyer the best, but again the audio is inferior.

Thanks for this! I'll be eager to listen to. I'm desperate for a new hockey podcast. I used to listen to Broad Street Hockey, but Matz got to be a little too much of an irrational WWE Philly Fan for me to handle anymore. The other Flyers podcasts I've found are okay, but just not as well produced, they sound awful and don't move along terribly well. I'll give broad street that... they make a high quality product. It just started to frustrate me too much to listen to anymore.

You forgot the magic Slurpee machine.

Patrick has mad skill. Hakstol was a terrible coach. Keep that in mind. The other thing to keep in mind is that this isn't the same thing as CTE. This isn't what Lindros or Primeau or Pronger or Boogard or Andre Waters or those guys ran into. Not yet anyway. He could still develop that through further head injuries, but this is separate. His issue right now is not a concussion or fragility issue. It's a chronic medical problem with a genetic component. The concussions likely didn't help much, but they're not the cause of this. This was almost definitely going to be a problem for him regardless of whether he'd ever had a concussion or not. I feel terrible for Patty because I think this was going to be a breakout year for him under Vigneault with better line mates, but now this is hanging over him. Like many chronic problems, it is manageable through meds and lifestyle changes (like Bobby Clarke's Diabetes e.g.), but there are dangers in that too as the meds are abusable and can lead to problems. Marijuana is a somewhat effective treatment as well, but the league won't permit that, so Patty will likely be stuck with tricky prescription meds that I sincerely hope the team keeps a tight watch on. I've read stories where very successful people with this same issue have gotten themselves into trouble with the meds... not because they get addicted per se or are chasing some high at all, but because they're under stress and trying to get through a certain stretch in particular. A young talent trying to prove he belongs seems like the perfect storm. Which is all to say that with any luck, Patty will be back and able to perform at a high level, but if and when that happens, it would be a HUGE mistake for the team to treat it like the end of the problem. They need to work with him and help him and they don't have a very good track record with this kind of thing as we saw with Richie.

AV needs to rethink his position on Morin. He's a special case. Hopefully Fletcher sees that. If they deal him for squat, I believe we'll regret it later. Still, I think there are ways around the roster issues. There is maneuvering to do. They can send Patrick and Misha or Twarynski to LHV on paper and they can likely still come on the trip in case of emergency. I agree Frost would benefit from some time in LHV. His game is tricky. He has to be given the room to develop into what he is. His skillset is such that I don't think it will benefit him one iota to spend time on the 4th line in the pros. Farabee, however is making a strong case for the 3RW slot. It's a curious case with Patrick. You can't help but wonder. Concussion seems most likely, but they hadn't even started practicing yet, had they? I'm gonna go with Lyme disease and hope all turns out for the best... but who the hell knows?