Should Flyers stand pat at trade deadline?

[trevluk]

Should the Flyers make any significant moves before the trade deadline? I am kind of on the fence on this as we clearly need another top d-man but concerned at what that would cost us. I am kind of thinking they should, for once, stand pat and not give up any of their talented youth or draft picks this year and let this team gel the rest of the year. Hopefully they make the playoffs and get the young kids some playoff experience and then next year we should be getting Pronger back and some of the younger d-men will have a little more experience under their belt. Who knows, if Bryz or Bob suddenly find their game come playoff time this team could make a decent little run but I am not holding my breath and certainly dont think this team can beat either Boston or New York in a 7 game series this year. And let's face it Bryz really can not play any worse than he has this year. As Howie put it, is it a lost season or a lost career? Hopefully he has a rebound year next season and we make a run in the playoffs with some confidence in our goalie. God wouldnt that be refreshing!

Any thoughts on the trade deadline?

[Irishjim]

given our cap situation, i do not see any trade we can make with out losing one of the top six forwards. harry z, shelly and a third will not get us suter. nashville will not trade weber unless we start with giroux. i would like a move made but standing pat may be the best choice going forward.

[Phlyer1]

There are no moves that will change this team for the better. (Except in Goal) There is a bevy of youth doing a good job. I can't see giving up any of them. They are the future and they are looking good.

Over the years we have traded too much talent for too small a return.

[Navyhockey]

I have to agree, this isn't the year to make a deal. I don't think we beat either NY or Boston in the playoffs, so why mortgage the future to maybe win 2 games against those teams instead of 1 in a playoff series? Let's hope that Bryz figures his stuff out next year and that we can keep this young team intact, while also making a few key additions. I think next year is when we push.

[OccamsRazor]

Should the Flyers make any significant moves before the trade deadline? I am kind of on the fence on this as we clearly need another top d-man but concerned at what that would cost us. I am kind of thinking they should, for once, stand pat and not give up any of their talented youth or draft picks this year and let this team gel the rest of the year. Hopefully they make the playoffs and get the young kids some playoff experience and then next year we should be getting Pronger back and some of the younger d-men will have a little more experience under their belt. Who knows, if Bryz or Bob suddenly find their game come playoff time this team could make a decent little run but I am not holding my breath and certainly dont think this team can beat either Boston or New York in a 7 game series this year. And let's face it Bryz really can not play any worse than he has this year. As Howie put it, is it a lost season or a lost career? Hopefully he has a rebound year next season and we make a run in the playoffs with some confidence in our goalie. God wouldnt that be refreshing!

Any thoughts on the trade deadline?

Hell no!

But nothing drastic.

There are to many holes to be able to solve all this this year, something minor and see how far it get you.

Ya neva know....

Edited February 7, 2012 by OccamsRazor

[trevluk]

Hell no!

But nothing drastic.

There are to many holes to be able to solve all this this year, something minor and see how far it get you.

Ya neva know....

Yeah, maybe a little tweak here or there but nothing significant is what I am thinking. I am pleased with how the young kids are playing and dont want to trade any of them away unless we are talking about someone in the caliber of Sestito or Shelley. You can always find another tough guy but not too many teams are looking for an enforcer come playoff time. (Not that Shelley should be considered an enforcer. His biggest threat is bleeding on someone so that they have to miss a shift changing a jersey.)

[The Quigster]

Until the Flyers get a reliable goalie they ain't going anywhere! These two are the worst that have been here in a while.

[InHexyWeTrust]

Until the Flyers get a reliable goalie they ain't going anywhere! These two are the worst that have been here in a while.

I think that's a bit of a gigantic overstatement. Both are solid goalies, both starting caliber in the NHL. The problem has been consistency. Bryz needs to maintain his focus, work on his confidence--it's amazing how many flukey little deflections he's had against him. And as for Bob, I don't know of another goalie ever with his lateral mobility. Aside from getting an elite in the range of Lundqvist or Luongo or either of Boston's goalies, I'm not sure where you can go there. Reliability is a problem right now, but talent is not. Are you actually suggesting that these guys are worse than Boucher, Leighton, Esche, Cechmanek, Nitty, Burke, Hackett??? Seriously? Even with how both have played, especially Bryz, they are still the best crop of goalies we've had since...early Hextall maybe.

Edited February 7, 2012 by hexie27

[PhilsFanDrew]

I think you will see Homer acquire a depth D-man off the scrap heap around the deadline but nothing in the class of a Weber or Suter. Personally I could do with or without a trade for that type of player. I figure just give minutes to Bourdon and Gus and continue to allow them to develop and evaluate them to see what the damage will be in the offseason.

[InHexyWeTrust]

I think you will see Homer acquire a depth D-man off the scrap heap around the deadline but nothing in the class of a Weber or Suter. Personally I could do with or without a trade for that type of player. I figure just give minutes to Bourdon and Gus and continue to allow them to develop and evaluate them to see what the damage will be in the offseason.

The problem though is that a depth defenseman is simply not going to fix our problems; it's just a sideways move at best to get a veteran presence instead of Gus/Bourdon. We need someone of the quality of top 4 d-man, not a 5-6 depth defenseman. I agree that we won't shell out for Suter or Weber, but Andy Sutton ain't going to get it done. Hal Gill would be a great pickup to provide his size and reliability. I can't see him commanding all that much in return.

[mojo1917]

Hal Gill

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

[InHexyWeTrust]

Hal Gill

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

with montreal's season blown, i could see gill getting got for a 4th rounder or so. that's all he's really worth with the expiring contract.

[The Quigster]

Andy Sutton would be a cheap,decent "D" man,whose's reputation alone would be an instant contribution to the defense.He is a Flyer's kind of player. The two "Hole in the Wall" goalies are a whole other problem. They(Bobbo&Bryzo) haven't exactly increased the price of Homer's stock. Kimmo was spouting off about it after the Rangers game,whats next a mutiny?

[Flyguys03]

Without a doubt. Wait for the off-season and the new CBA and go from there. They aren't winning a cup this year. And talk of adding Hal Gill should make any fan run for the hills. Just give the kids their 1 playoff series experience and fix the defense and goaltending this offseason.

[SoCalFlyfan]

@treveluk

What we need more than anything is for Laviolette to implement a better system because the one we have right now is not working defensively. Unfortunately defensive 'systems' are not Lavi's forte so it looks like we're stuck with giving up 5 or 6 goals a game.

[canoli]

Lavi's style is uptempo and aggressive. I wouldn't be in a rush to hang him just because our goaltender sucks and we give away points every week because of him. If you were saying we should tailor our D to help minimize Bryzgalov's Suckage I might agree. But that change comes at a steep cost to our offense. I wouldn't try it. We're not going to turn Jagr, Briere, Hartnell...etc into D-first type forwards. What we could do is get on top of the guys who's job description is Defense, demand more from Mez, Coby, Carle, Kimmo. They can be better, they can make better decisions with the puck, they block more shots. When they do normally we win. Sunday they didn't - block many shots, make good decisions with the puck, etc. And as we know, Bryzgalov turns every defensive lapse into a goal for the opposition.

If Bryzgalov could stop routine shots we wouldn't be having this conversation about systems. Because he can't now everything is in question. Now it's our "system" that's no good. Ugh. We've been down this road a few times before haven't we?

But you seem intent on changing our system, which is another word for style. That means getting a new HC. But every coach uses a variety of "systems" at different time in games - Tortorella isn't doing anything special when he goes into a 1-3-1 or sends a D-man to 4check.

That game Sunday - the outcome - had nothing to do with "systems" and everything to do with goaltending. Lundqvist made the big stops and Bryzgalov didn't, end of story.

Their goaltender was better than ours, period. Improving the D could help - just like scoring more goals would help. But we have the pieces in place, we have players that can actually get the job done most of the time. True we depend on rookies for some of those jobs this year and that's not ideal but they've come through for us for the most part.

The WEAK LINK is GOALTENDING.

[Phillygrump]

trev,

Weber or nothing man. Unless you could STEAL Bobby Ryan (which you can't) stand pat.

[SoCalFlyfan]

@canoli

If the weak link is goalie then why not adjust our style to support him? Is Lavi just hoping we'll win every game 7-6 ?

[doom88]

Andy Sutton would be a cheap,decent "D" man,whose's reputation alone would be an instant contribution to the defense.He is a Flyer's kind of player. The two "Hole in the Wall" goalies are a whole other problem. They(Bobbo&Bryzo) haven't exactly increased the price of Homer's stock. Kimmo was spouting off about it after the Rangers game,whats next a mutiny?

People are reading WAY too much into what Timonen said. Here's a quick quote:

“I thought we played a decent game — it didn’t go our way,” Timonen said following the Flyers’ fourth straight loss against the Rangers. So, what was the major difference in the game?

“The goalie,” he replied.

- http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2012/02/06/timonen-on-difference-between-flyers-and-rangers-the-goalie/

Sometimes, the goalie is the difference. Goalies can single-handedly win games when they're hot (Boucher's shutout streak ring a bell yet), and usually tank a team when they are not. Timonen isn't the type of guy who would generally call his teammates out in the media.

Also, seriously now, Lundqvist is literally the best goalie in the world. He will be the difference more often than not, and he's capable of beating opposing goalies on their hot streaks.

[mojo1917]

@canoli

If the weak link is goalie then why not adjust our style to support him? Is Lavi just hoping we'll win every game 7-6 ?

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.

[OH1FlyersFan]

Just finished watching the Islanders game, so take this with a grain of salt. TRADE FOR A GOALIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who can stop shots in a shootout. Jesus H. Christ. This is just killing me.

[canoli]

@SoCalFlyfan

see Mojo's reply because that's the answer. And I like the uptempo, aggressive style too. Our Team D isn't so terrible and rearranging the roster to try and become a Defense-First team (or acquire Weber or Suter) isn't the answer imo. I think we can play better Team D but we shouldn't overreact to the weak goaltending.

Think about how good we are despite Bryzgalov's "struggles" all year. Imagine if most of those soft goals had been saves; imagine Gaborik and Del Zotto don't score on Sunday. That's the story of (too many) of our losses this season - soft goals giving the opposition life and confidence.

It's unfortunate we're tied to this guy for so long but we shouldn't overreact to his deficiencies. Lavy has a winning style but like every strategy it depends on the goaltender stopping pucks - the "last line of defense" .... As Bob said over the summer, "contracts don't stop pucks, goaltenders do."

[InHexyWeTrust]

Just finished watching the Islanders game, so take this with a grain of salt. TRADE FOR A GOALIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who can stop shots in a shootout. Jesus H. Christ. This is just killing me.

Is that where we're at now? Bryz finally pitches a "shutout" and the offense can't get a freaking goal, so we should trade for a goalie that stops shots in a shootout??? That'll really be important in June. Come on guys, we picked up another point, we're third in the conference and tied for second in the whole league in regulation/overtime wins. Outside of the Rangers, Devils, and Boston games the goalies, both of them, have been throwing together some solid starts together going back a couple weeks now.

Briere's back, JVR's on his way; why the hell is everyone freaking out?

[Howie58]

Hello from S. Florida:

I don't see a big trade coming down the pike. But..and this is far-fetched, would you see a "dump" type trade (player for picks) as a means of increasing youth and decreasing cap hit? On that score, JVR for picks might a possibility. Our other "youth" might be untouchable. And now for a real shocker-would Homer ask Hartnell to waive an NTC to move? Maybe the brass thinks this is a once-in-a-lifetime season for the guy. Might the same hold for Briere? I agree with others that from a personal life standpoint he might not want to move. But who knows? Again,I think if there are any "major" moves I see a salary dump rather than a major roster shuffle.

Best,

Howie

[canoli]

Briere's back, JVR's on his way; why the hell is everyone freaking out?

Because once again we lost a point because of goaltending. Bryz has faced 10 shooters this season and stopped 2 of them. He's 2 of 10.

I know the case could be made against the shooters too but Naby stopped them, he made the saves. Our guy didn't stop anyone.

Of course none of this means the world is falling apart, and I'm not wishing for a big trade or anything like that. But this goaltending is killing us. We're leaving points on the table week in week out because our starting goaltender can't get the job done.

Me I'd play Bob the rest of the way and give Bryzgalov time to figure out what he wants from the Universe. It doesn't look like Being a Great Goalie is on his radar this year. Yes he "pitched a shutout" last night - against one of the worst teams in the NHL. The Isles have been playing better, sure, and Tavares has the most points in the league since the new year began...but after Tavares and maybe Okposo it drops off pretty quickly - the Isles' offensive threat.