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I decided to cut Bryz some slack.


Guest AndyS

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I think we are all overreacting & piling on Bryz prematurely and mostly unnecessarily.

Here is why:

1. This was NOT supposed to be our Cup year. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year with swapping out the core players for youth & re-making the culture of the team. That mission was more than accomplished - the young guns look terrific.

I think we keep trying to tell ourselves that THIS is supposed to be our year, so we lose our minds with every bad goal in the first two minutes of a game.

2. I think (keeping #1 in mind, of course), that we need to give Bryz time to adjust to both playing in Philly (which is a GREAT sports town, but is also a very tough sports town for mostly the same reasons) and to playin in Lavy's attack-style system. Both oof those are humungous (sorry, couldn't resist) changes for Bryz.

So I say let's get off the guys back and get behind him. And I think we'll see a Cup in Philly in the next 2 or 3 years.

By this time next season the WFC will have more than a few #30 jerseys in the crowd. I might even have one!

Let's go Flyers!

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​when he appears focused and ready to play i'll get off his back. early every game its like he's daydreaming about the humongous universe and his huskey (focus Iyla-son Focus). remember of the 4 teams in philly the flyers fans are the most forgiving. once he starts to show 5 games straight of putting in a solid performance the fans will back off, but now its 1 good 8 bad (rinse and repeat)

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you're very kind Andy,

my expectation for that guy was put him back there and forget about him... he'd be solid, stop all the one's he should maybe steal a couple occasionallyl, we're paying him a lot of money for many years to be "that guy" and to this point he's been anything but.

so i'm with Jim on this one, he needs to put together a month of solid play before i'm taking down the stuffed animal with the 30 jersey from the voodoo effigy hanging wing of the mojo house. :D

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i agree andy. i think we've already let him have it enough for now. piling on more and more is not going to accomplish what anyone wants. he needs more time and he will get it, thanks to his humongous big contract(that's how you do it).

you're right... we were never winning the cup this year and it is one big adjustment year. there is no harm in letting him adjust to an extremely harsh media town. sure, it's taking much longer than we expected, but i think anyone here would want to be given some time to adjust to a new environment and new expectations. can't always go the way we want it to go...

but, like i said... we've already let him have it. the media.. the fans.. everyone has been down on the guy. maybe it's time to take a different approach and ease off on him. why not.. worth a try.

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@AndyS

I wouldn't mind if the Flyers began the game ready to play and actually scored the first goal, just to keep it interesting from time to time.

Bryz's overall play has been more focused and aggressive of late and overall has been been better.

There is hope.

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you're very kind Andy,

my expectation for that guy was put him back there and forget about him... he'd be solid, stop all the one's he should maybe steal a couple occasionallyl, we're paying him a lot of money for many years to be "that guy" and to this point he's been anything but.

Exactly. Bryz doesn't deserve slack, he deserves everything he has received - especially because everyone is complaining about his performance. Griping about performance is fair game for anyone who has a job, even more so because he's making ten million this season.

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I will most likely wait to purchase my Bryz jersey, but I think eventually a lot of us will own one (and unashamedly so).

I still feel nearly obligated to get a Briere jersey - the man darn near brought us a Stanley Cup all by himself two years ago. And if we win one soon, I fully expect him to be right in the middle of it.

. . .and he should be made the team captain ASAP. He's earned it. (And it might just spark his play.)

Edited by AndyS
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I don't care if people "cut Bryz some slack" or not.

I think what we have - and what I saw on display in person at the WFC against the Isles - is a crowd that desperately wants Bryzgalov to succeed while simultaneously having little faith that he will.

This is pretty much how I feel. Every time a turnover leads to a scoring chance, I'm on edge. Every time he needs to go left to right across the crease, I'm on edge. I've spent most of the past few games pleading with them to deny shots and not let them in on goal.

I have to believe that the team has felt that as well, but I think they may also have gotten to the point where they don't obsess about it. Jagr's comments about always feeling able to come back I think is a healthy thing in a team. For the record, I agree with everyone who says that that is no way to win in the playoffs.

Bryz has a higher ceiling than we've seen. He can be a better goalie. He will also let in the bad goal. He will not be the guy who "deserves" the contract that the Flyers gave him.

But he's the guy we've got and regardless of whether Bob's been given a real chance or has been mishandled, he's the guy who they're going with in the playoffs.

All I can say at that point is "go Bryz" - with the caveat that I was all about "go Leighton" before he became Mr. Softee.

Go Flyers.

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To further Rad's point, I think the faithful who show up night in and night out at the WFC have been supportive of the guy. It's not like when his name is mentioned that boos rain down on him. The most piling on him comes from the media and from places like this. People are frustrated and rightfully so. He was supposed to solve our goalie issues, whether the rest of the team was ready for a big run or not.

I know before every game when his name is read by Lou, I cheer for him and hope that his play will make me cheer for him at the end of the game as well. I don't enjoy booing a player off the, but I don't have any problem doing it if it is deserved.

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This was NOT supposed to be our Cup year. This was supposed to be a rebuilding year with swapping out the core players for youth & re-making the culture of the team. That mission was more than accomplished - the young guns look terrific.

Aye, but there IS the rub. Since the youngsters have performed so well, that should have been an added bonus to the addition of an alleged Cup caliber goalie, not the mitigation of the disaster that Bryzgalov has turned out to be. The defense, bolstered by the goalie was supposed to be the strength of the team while they tried to figure out how to replace the scoring they traded or let go in the off season. Instead, they found the scoring alright, but the defense has been soft and the goalies even softer.

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The defense, bolstered by the goalie was supposed to be the strength of the team while they tried to figure out how to replace the scoring they traded or let go in the off season. Instead, they found the scoring alright, but the defense has been soft and the goalies even softer.

In fairness to the defense, they did lose one of the preeminent, hard-hitting, two-way defensemen in the game, a probable future Hall of Famer and former Hart Trophy winner when Pronger went down.

Losing your #1 defenseman, especially one you have pretty much built the team around, is going to have a significant impact.

Bryz still shouldn't be as awful as he has been at times.

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@mojo1917

"my expectation for that guy was put him back there and forget about him... he'd be solid, stop all the one's he should maybe steal a couple occasionallyl, we're paying him a lot of money for many years to be "that guy" and to this point he's been anything but."

Ding ding ding. And truthfully, I had hoped that he would STEAL a few games. That is the whole reason you have a "#1" that is signed to the contract he is signed too. HE is the one who wanted the humungous contract. If you want that kind of contract- you HAVE to live up to it, otherwise suffer the consequences when you fail to do so.

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@TedZep

Not sure I'd say stole the game, but he looked damned good. Here's hoping I have to eat my words of the last few months

really ?

what does he need to do ?

outshot 34 to 22

the flyers were not dictating play, were not controlling the puck, were not getting to the net. were only so-so in their own end.

they needed 30 to play like that to get the 2 points., that my friend is the definitiion of "stealing a game".

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they needed 30 to play like that to get the 2 points., that my friend is the definitiion of "stealing a game".

the shots were a little lop sided, but it isn't like the caps walked all over the flyers for 60 minutes. the game pretty much cut evenly, imo. "stealing" a game, to me, is when your team walks away with two points it didn't deserve, because your goalie was a superman. that wasn't the case, last night. not that it really matters, but....

props to bryzgalov on another good game, but it isn't like he had to completely stand on his head.

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@aziz

it is interesting to me the way things are remembered... because Washington really put a lot of pressure on late in the game my take away was...we didn't play too well. the reality is we played alright, well enough to win obviously, but just like the way sugar ray leonard stole the marvin hagler fight by pouring it on in the last 30 seconds of each round my take away was different than the actually reality.

as a side note, i like pavel kubina and nic grossman, they are big and strong and don't panic, Kubina is a tough customer too, as of right now i wouldn;t mind seeing both those guys resigned to reasonable deals when the season is over in june.

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it is interesting to me the way things are remembered... because Washington really put a lot of pressure on late in the game my take away was...we didn't play too well

true. I just don't remember many OMG BRYZGALOV JUST ROBBED HIM moments. he wasn't exactly under siege. as opposed to, say, nabokov stole that game against the flyers a few weeks ago.

I dunno. makes no difference, just a phrase. either way, bryzgalov played well, so all good.

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true. I just don't remember many OMG BRYZGALOV JUST ROBBED HIM moments. he wasn't exactly under siege. as opposed to, say, nabokov stole that game against the flyers a few weeks ago.

I dunno. makes no difference, just a phrase. either way, bryzgalov played well, so all good.

Well one BIG ONE i remember on the boneheaded Harnell turnover and Knuble was in alone Bryz says no....that was a HUGE ON!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by OccamsRazor
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I am so glad AndyS finally made it over here. This is just like when he practically won the WS for the Phillies back on philly.com. He came in and started with his positive predictions and they all came true and we won the WS.

We have been trashing Bryz, deservedly so, all year and AndyS comes in and cuts him some slack and he starts playing better. I might need to move out to California if it gives you this kind of power!

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I am so glad AndyS finally made it over here. This is just like when he practically won the WS for the Phillies back on philly.com. He came in and started with his positive predictions and they all came true and we won the WS.

We have been trashing Bryz, deservedly so, all year and AndyS comes in and cuts him some slack and he starts playing better. I might need to move out to California if it gives you this kind of power!

See? Somebody gets it!

Now, if someone can just make sure I am at the clinching game of the ECF, that should pretty much replicate the scenario that we had in 2008. (I was at game #5 in LA when Hamels slammed the door & got us to the WS.) B)

Let's go Flyers!

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