Game 45: Islanders at Flyers; 4/18/21 @ 6:30, NBCSN

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

11 hours ago, musky said:

I agree the isles looked bad the last few games.

Sorokin was the difference again.  He stole that game.  Not sure how he plays against other teams, but he has the Flyers number.  

[RonJeremy]

46 minutes ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

Sorokin was the difference again.  He stole that game.  Not sure how he plays against other teams, but he has the Flyers number.  

Everyone has the Flyers # this year 

[mojo1917]

Mercifully everyone gets a little break from the **** show.

I'm ready for this season to finish. 

I had moderately high hopes for this team. COVID and something else, really derailed any movement toward improvement.

 

I'm told the boys played well last night but Sorokin was the difference. I'm ready to read where "this guy" on the Flyers was the difference.

2021 hasn't been the year for that.

I'm hoping for an LA Kings style resurgence. They were everyone's darlings and a team on the rise then they stumbled before going on their runs.

My hope is everyone who needs to learns from this year and comes back better.

 

 

 

[OccamsRazor]

13 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

I'm ready to read where "this guy" on the Flyers was the difference.

 

Just don't hold your breath while doing so. Right now it seems they don't have any.

 

The Isles goalie played well but the Flyers really didn't challenge him no difficult saves the norm shots straight into his chest. Sorry not impressed. The lifeless bunch as always.

[FD19372]

I guess I minimalized the Flyers offensive efforts, in my last post. They outshot the Islanders 30-27, to their credit. That is a positive. The cold, hard truth, however...is that not only are they 3-7 in their last ten games - but they haven't scored more than 3 goals in any game since March 29th,2021.

[tucson83]

12 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Just don't hold your breath while doing so. Right now it seems they don't have any.

 

The Isles goalie played well but the Flyers really didn't challenge him no difficult saves the norm shots straight into his chest. Sorry not impressed. The lifeless bunch as always.

it goes to show this team is not offensively gifted. hextall drafted players that arent snipers.

[OccamsRazor]

Since the start of March, they've been a drastically different team. The Flyers have gone 9-14-3 with an NHL-high 4.04 goals allowed per game and a minus-40 goal differential.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by OccamsRazor
bourbon isn't working

[FD19372]

23 minutes ago, tucson83 said:

it goes to show this team is not offensively gifted. hextall drafted players that arent snipers.

I'm not sure what these players Hextall drafted, are. I know what they aren't: developing, skilled and possibly not even high hockey IQ. No, they aren't snipers. An excepetion might be Morin, but I don't quite know what he is yet but he seems tough and willing to hit.

Edited April 19, 2021 by FD19372

[GratefulFlyers]

13 hours ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

The Flyers deserved better than the one point tonight.  The hockey gods failed them tonight.  That was one of their best games in the last 6 weeks or so.

 

I love your point of view and normally I'd agree with it but this time I think the Flyers got exactly what they deserved. Even Sanheim deflecting in the GWer felt like the perfect ending. Because the Isles were bad last night. They weren't skating like a Trotz-coached team at all. Their goalie was good but imho he wasn't the difference the Flyers' poor execution was. The W was there for the taking - a single goal would've won it - and instead they came up empty...what else is new?

 

The ice was choppy, it must've been. And the Flyers are out of the PO picture, which shows all over the ice. But last night the passing really was atrocious. Even worse was their effort around the net. The Isles gifted them I don't remember how many odd mans, loose rebounds, blown coverages and they couldn't bury one lousy goal.

 

I know I'm making too much out of just another "came-up-short" game from the Flyers. Luckily it meant exactly nothing unless maybe it inches them closer to a higher pick...

 

 

[radoran]

18 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

I'm not sure what these players Hextall drafted, are. I know what they aren't: developing, skilled and possibly not even high hockey IQ. No, they aren't snipers.

 

It's easy to say what the Flyers "don't have" from the Hextall drafts. Harder to say what they "should have" from them. It's also a feature of being regularly in the middle of the pack.

 

In 2014 I suppose you could say Hextall (and 24 other picks) missed on Pastrnak in the 1st. They took Sanheim. Brayden Point went in the 3rd round. Flyers have NAK from the 2nd. Only other "sniper type" might be Arvidsson at 112 in the 4th. Lindblom went in the 5th.

 

In 2015, they took Provorov and Konecny. Konecny's been a 20+ goal guy since he arrived in the league. The only obvious "miss" was Aho  - a guy 34 picks also missed.

 

In 2016, it was Rubstov in the 1st. An obvious bust pick. Then Pascal "who?" Laberge in the 2nd followed by Hart and Allison. The only obivious "miss" at this point was on DeBrincat at 39. We really have yet to see what Allison is, but he has looked solid in a few games so far.

 

In 2017 Nolan Patrick was the overall consensus 1/2 pick.  Would everyone like to have Makar or Pettersson with 20/20 hindsight? Sure. Patrick actually has more career goals (30) than anyone not Petersson or Hischier in the draft except Filip Chytil (33).

 

In 2018 it was Farabee at 14 who, again, currently has more career goals than anyone taken after (or in the 9 spots before) him.

 

So, over five drafts, they have at least a 20+ goal scorer in Konecny, potential #1 Dman in Provorov, potential "franchise goalie" in Hart, a guy with a scoring touch in Farabee, NAK, Lindblom, and Patrick. With the jury still out on Frost, O'Brien, Ratcliffe and depth players in Twarynski, Bunnaman, Laczynski.

 

The only significant players from the previous five drafts are Couturier, Laughton, Gotstobehere, Hagg, and... Cousins?

 

20/20 hindsight would see them with Aho over Konecny, Pastrnak over Sanheim, DeBrincat over Rubstov, Point over NAK, and Makar or Petersson instead of Patrick. Four of the five were also passed over by at least 20 other teams. There would have been some clear next-level prognostication going on there.

[OccamsRazor]

35 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

I know what they aren't: developing

 

For real and like with Felix Sandstrom he isn't play for the Phantoms but is on the taxi squad yet is 24 so can he help and play or is he just an after thought??

 

Once a heralded prospect what has become of him.

 

I mean if he is to develop well he needs to play to work on his game not just practice and stay on a taxi squad. It is time to replace Elliott i think next year.

 

Maybe find a younger cheaper option. But if they don't find some guys who can score it won't matter just a different chair on the titanic. 

 

Sometimes it feels like they have never had real talent so they aren't familiar with how to develop it.

[OccamsRazor]

11 minutes ago, GratefulFlyers said:

 

I know I'm making too much out of just another "came-up-short" game from the Flyers.

 

No you're not......it is a really concerning question WTF is this type of play ever to end???

 

[GratefulFlyers]

5 minutes ago, radoran said:

So, over five drafts, they have at least a 20+ goal scorer in Konecny, potential #1 Dman in Provorov, potential "franchise goalie" in Hart, a guy with a scoring touch in Farabee, NAK, Lindblom, and Patrick. With the jury still out on Frost, O'Brien, Ratcliffe and depth players in Twarynski, Bunnaman, Laczynski.

 

Which really, all things considered isn't too shabby. Only thing I'd quibble with here is NAK, who doesn't seem to have a touch for anything but taking penalties. I'm kidding but I do wonder whether he's just another part of the fell-off-the-cliff development downturn that's affected all the Flyers this year? Or is he something worse, on his own downward trajectory?

[FD19372]

3 minutes ago, radoran said:

a guy with a scoring touch in Farabee, NAK, Lindblom, and Patrick

I don't know what Farabee is yet. I know he has skill, but he is still so raw. He has been terrific in short stretches, but he is still an unknown. NAK is way too inconsistent, and I have lost a little hope that he will be a very solid NHL player, after this season, but time will tell. Lindblom has heart and grit.. and has shown flashes of brilliance here and there, but I think too much is being expected of him AT THE MOMENT. He can pass the puck, score here and there and doesn't shy away from contact. I just don't know if he is a first or second line player, right now. Patrick is a bust, plain and simple. I want him traded and gone, before every conversation over the next five years about this kid starts with..."If only Patrick can stay healthy, he could be....".

[OccamsRazor]

2 minutes ago, GratefulFlyers said:

Only thing I'd quibble with here is NAK, who doesn't seem to have a touch for anything but taking penalties.

 

He was suppose to step up and replace Pitlick who left for Arizona and well he has not and his play has fell off and all he has done this year is take dumb penalties.

 

Very disappointed with his play i expect so much more form him and well he could have played himself out the door.

 

His type of play style is what the team is missing so bad and you would think with half a brain he would have taken this opportunity to stand out in a good way and he has done the opposite and finds himself needing to ride the bench if not sent to another team.

 

At one point i thought Seattle might take him but that is not going to happen with the sh it play this year.

 

I wonder if this was his plan????

[radoran]

16 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

I don't know what Farabee is yet. I know he has skill, but he is still so raw. He has been terrific in short stretches, but he is still an unknown. NAK is way too inconsistent, and I have lost a little hope that he will be a very solid NHL player, after this season, but time will tell. Lindblom has heart and grit.. and has shown flashes of brilliance here and there, but I think too much is being expected of him AT THE MOMENT. He can pass the puck, score here and there and doesn't shy away from contact. I just don't know if he is a first or second line player, right now. Patrick is a bust, plain and simple. I want him traded and gone, before every conversation over the next five years about this kid starts with..."If only Patrick can stay healthy, he could be....".

 

I get you.

 

Still, if Hart and Provorov are the goalie and #1D of the future plus at least one 20+ goal scorer and some depth players that's not too too shabby.

 

The only real points are that there's not an obvious raft of guys they "should have" taken and that compared to the previous GM where over five years you got a top C in Couturier (at no small cost), a bottom six guy in Laughton, and Gotstobehere that's not a bad comparison.

 

There is, of course, the discussion about what the previous GM got in trades for all those 1s and 2s he didn't pick, but since that would involve going back over the Andrej Mezaroses, Kris Versteegs, Daniel Carcillos, and Andrew MacDonalds, along with the Pronger Escapde, let's just leave that lie.

Edited April 19, 2021 by radoran
adding in graf on Homer's trades

[FD19372]

7 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

Sometimes it feels like they have never had real talent so they aren't familiar with how to develop it.

I agree. The team has a history of players overachieving, and players made better by the proper systems and coaching. Also, (in tribute to Howie Roseman), they have reached for some players instead of going with conventional wisdom. This goes back to talent evaluation, the scouting department and organizational mindset, doesn't it?

[tucson83]

1 hour ago, FD19372 said:

I agree. The team has a history of players overachieving, and players made better by the proper systems and coaching. Also, (in tribute to Howie Roseman), they have reached for some players instead of going with conventional wisdom. This goes back to talent evaluation, the scouting department and organizational mindset, doesn't it?

yup, i can go back to the games before hak was hired, we were always having problems scoring goals, i mean at times we had on offensive outburst but after that we were never an offensive threat to anyone which we were a one and done team in the playoffs, it was we were winning games because of mason like he was always shutting teams down and we were barely scoring goals. i think that's why mason was getting frustrated with the fo because he wasnt getting the goal support which from what i see now i can understand why goalies are failing here and breaking under pressure because the fo doesnt go after any goal scoring and the goalies have to be the difference makers.

 

that's what i mean that the fo has to change this dynamic to take the pressure off the goalies and get more goal scoring players on this team. i think that's what fletch is going to do in the offseason.

 

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by tucson83

[flyercanuck]

FYI on Farabee...has more points than the FIVE players taken right before him COMBINED. 

 

Liked the pick then. STILL like the pick now.

[Cheesesteak]

4 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

Since the start of March, they've been a drastically different team. The Flyers have gone 9-14-3 with an NHL-high 4.04 goals allowed per game and a minus-40 goal differential.

 

 

 

 

and amazingly they were the third best team in shot differential during tht same period...baffling 

[radoran]

4 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

For real and like with Felix Sandstrom he isn't play for the Phantoms but is on the taxi squad yet is 24 so can he help and play or is he just an after thought??

 

Once a heralded prospect what has become of him.

 

Sometimes prospects don't pan out.

 

He put up 4.4/.844 in five games in Lehigh this season. Last year he was in Reading.

 

3rd rounder from 2015 - could be what we've seen is what he is...

[flyercanuck]

6 minutes ago, radoran said:

 

Sometimes prospects don't pan out.

 

He put up 4.4/.844 in five games in Lehigh this season. Last year he was in Reading.

 

3rd rounder from 2015 - could be what we've seen is what he is...

 

Injuries have thrown a spanner into the works, like several other prospects. Maybe he is what he is...maybe he's just developed slower because of them.

[radoran]

4 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

Injuries have thrown a spanner into the works, like several other prospects. Maybe he is what he is...maybe he's just developed slower because of them.

 

Yeah, injuries are a reason some guys don't pan out (*cough* Patrick *cough*).

 

At this point if he brings something, it's a nice added bonus rather than something to necessarily plan for, from where I sit.

[CoachX]

36 minutes ago, radoran said:

eah, injuries are a reason some guys don't pan out (*cough* Patrick *cough*

Vaginitis is not an injury

[CoachX]

Maybe I dont have the same recollection as everyone else, but werent the Flyers, with essentially the same lineup,  pretty good at scoring goals last season?