Pea-Brain GM Signs Nicholas Deslauriers Who Can’t Play Hockey For 4 Years

[OccamsRazor]

10 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

I was.  I still watch the video of the Ottawa/Philly brawl, because that crap was fun as hell. I still enjoy a good fight here and there that is the culmination of emotion and chippy play, etc.  Not so much the retaliatory fight for a clean hit or a staged thing off a face off for god knows why.

 

 

I wanted to ask about this, though.   Because I'm legitimately struggling to think of anyone like that on other teams.  I mean, Wilson in Washington, but it seems we're more concerned about axe murder or a cheap knee v. knee or blind-side hit or something than an actual fight.   But maybe that too.  Other than that, does this actually exist anywhere? The answers are probably obvious and "oh...yeah!" but I'm struggling to think of any on my own.

 

The problem is they just don't make those kind any more.

 

Guys who can really fight and play too.

 

It seems like you have to just pick one of which is more important to the team.

 

You just can't have both and even if you find one they don't become available.

[ruxpin]

2 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

The problem is they just don't make those kind any more.

 

Guys who can really fight and play too.

 

It seems like you have to just pick one of which is more important to the team.

 

You just can't have both and even if you find one they don't become available.

 

Oh I get that.   What I'm legitimately wondering is who out there are WE afraid of on other teams from the standpoint of altering our play because might get beat up.  As a fan, I can't think of anyone other than Wilson -- and that's more about dirty hits than fighting.

 

And maybe answer from a fan perspective, because the Flyers players play like they're afraid of the ice.

[OccamsRazor]

24 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

Oh I get that.   What I'm legitimately wondering is who out there are WE afraid of on other teams from the standpoint of altering our play because might get beat up.  As a fan, I can't think of anyone other than Wilson -- and that's more about dirty hits than fighting.

 

And maybe answer from a fan perspective, because the Flyers players play like they're afraid of the ice.

 

The only one I can think of is cheap shot Wilson and Reaves with the Rangers.

 

But I don't know about "fear" just they are there.

[SCFlyguy]

Insisting that fighting still plays a role in winning hockey games is like insisting that you don't need the forward pass to win football games and you can just rely on the run.

[mojo1917]

1 hour ago, ruxpin said:

Because I'm legitimately struggling to think of anyone like that on other teams. 

The last guy I can think of like that was Nikalas Kronwall in Detroit.

Jamie Oleksiak is not really that kind of player.

Wayne Simmonds 5 years ago?

 

It seems like today all of those types of players are in the Todd Marchand, Tkacuk brothers mold where they're agitators, not finishers ala Scott Stevens.

 

 

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

The only one I can think of is cheap shot Wilson and Reaves with the Rangers.

 

But I don't know about "fear" just they are there.

 

I forgot Reaves.   And yeah, really good call on the fear vs. "they are there."

[OH1FlyersFan]

5 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

"they are there."

Which apparently Lindros could never figure out or rmember when it came to Stevens......much to his detriment.

[GrittyForever]

2 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

The last guy I can think of like that was Nikalas Kronwall in Detroit.

Jamie Oleksiak is not really that kind of player.

Wayne Simmonds 5 years ago?

 

It seems like today all of those types of players are in the Todd Marchand, Tkacuk brothers mold where they're agitators, not finishers ala Scott Stevens.

 

 

In fairness to those agitators (and I think you meant Brad not Todd) they do "finish" what they start often. All three of those guys will drop them, just not all the time. 

 

Scott Stevens was a whole different thing in a whole different era. He'd be suspended in today's league. "Legal" hits he delivered in his day are often suspensions today. So nobody really plays like that. Gudas is probably the most frequent open ice hitter around. We should have kept him. 

 

There's no question it's a different era, but I think some intimidation can still work. As long as you have some skill on the team to go with it. And you definitely still need a little toughness on the roster in case you have to answer to the Reeves or Wilsons. Just ask Panarin if you don't believe me. 

 

Nick will just be fine. Overpaid, but fine. As the season progresses, he will not be the worst player on the roster or the most overpaid either. That I guarantee. 

[radoran]

18 minutes ago, GrittyForever said:

And you definitely still need a little toughness on the roster in case you have to answer to the Reeves or Wilsons. Just ask Panarin if you don't believe me. 

 

I think the whole team playing big is the difference. I look at a team like Boston that hasn't really had a noted "heavyweight" but is "tough to play against" and actually has had success.

 

It's not just dropping the gloves and it's not just throwing the big hit. If Deslauriers brings that backbone to a guy like Couturier, then terrific. But if, like Ristolainen, his desire to lay the big hit often(?) leaves him out of position and gives up a scoring chance or a goal...

 

31 minutes ago, GrittyForever said:

As the season progresses, he will not be the worst player on the roster or the most overpaid either. That I guarantee. 

 

He's not even now...

 

[radoran]

Ah, an oldie, but a goody...

 

 

[fan4ever]

12 minutes ago, radoran said:

Ah, an oldie, but a goody...

 

 

Ah, the good ol' days when we could "laugh at ourselves".  Still pisses me off to no end what they did with Gags, my all time favorite Flyer!

 

[radoran]

1 hour ago, fan4ever said:

Still pisses me off to no end what they did with Gags

 

My #10 Jersey isn't Brayden freaking Schenn

 

It's a family. And a business. Mostly a business. It's just Business...

[mojo1917]

3 hours ago, GrittyForever said:

In fairness to those agitators (and I think you meant Brad not Todd) they do "finish" what they start often. All three of those guys will drop them, just not all the time.

Yeah,  Brad- thanks

Middle age & post COVID brain came for me hard

 

You're mostly piling on to what I was saying. 

Those big hitter Kasparitus types aren't valued any longer. 

The fewer Matt Cook types in the league the better as far as I'm concerned. 

 

 

 

 

[SCFlyguy]

That Paul Holmgren signs Jody Shelley video is so good.  Not like Nicholas Deslauriers.

 

No matter how many times his mom posts in this thread.

[OccamsRazor]

3 hours ago, radoran said:

My #10 Jersey isn't Brayden freaking Schenn

 

Never pegged you for a Chris Versteeg fan.....

 

[ruxpin]

3 hours ago, radoran said:

My #10 Jersey isn't Brayden freaking Schenn

Mel Bridgman?

[OccamsRazor]

8 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

Mel Bridgman?

 

Claude Boivin...maybe... 

 

[radoran]

1 hour ago, ruxpin said:

Mel Bridgman?

 

Bill Clement. He was a natural center.

 

[GrittyForever]

10 hours ago, radoran said:

 

I think the whole team playing big is the difference. I look at a team like Boston that hasn't really had a noted "heavyweight" but is "tough to play against" and actually has had success.

 

It's not just dropping the gloves and it's not just throwing the big hit. If Deslauriers brings that backbone to a guy like Couturier, then terrific. But if, like Ristolainen, his desire to lay the big hit often(?) leaves him out of position and gives up a scoring chance or a goal...

 

 

He's not even now...

 

I think his presence in Anaheim helped Zegras play with more confidence and swagger. Some of the simple things in hockey never change, and one of them is playing more confidently when you know other guys have your back. His presence won't hurt. 

[GrittyForever]

6 hours ago, mojo1917 said:

Yeah,  Brad- thanks

Middle age & post COVID brain came for me hard

 

You're mostly piling on to what I was saying. 

Those big hitter Kasparitus types aren't valued any longer. 

The fewer Matt Cook types in the league the better as far as I'm concerned. 

 

 

 

 

Ya, I think we pretty much agree. there are definitely less of those types now. imo Wilson's probably the biggest offender in that regard even if he gets away with a lot. I would suspect if there was a stat for hits resulting in injuries he'd be near the top of that list.

 

I'm just glad there's no more Ulf Samuelsson's around. (I'd mention Bryan Marchment too, but since he just died maybe give him a pass for the moment). Those knee on knee D men from that era were a blight on the league. Less head shots from them maybe, but they ruined knees. Just ask Cam Neely. 

[CoachX]

I sat and watched most of ND's fights from last season. Im not sure why the opinion is he will get his ass kicked. I didn't see him lose too many. Doesnt mean he's gonna help the team win, but I think he's effective at his job. Paired with Zack, they were in the top five or six in fighting majors last season

[SCFlyguy]

I did the same with all his goals, but the light turned green and the car behind me honked so I may have missed one.

[CoachX]

Like I said, he's effective at what he does. I never said he would help them win games or lead the team in scoring. Although, with this bunch, I wouldn't be shocked

[mojo1917]

Saw this from Charlie O'Connor, it is a longish read but answers the question we all have about "Is there a plan?"

I think he still has good access to someone in the front office despite asking some really hard questions in the free agency debacle presser. I think he is one of the more thoughtful and realistic people covering the team right now. 

His whole mailbag article is pretty good but this is some good analysis of wtf is going on. 

As a result, many fans have charged that the Flyers don’t seem to really have a plan.

I don’t think that’s accurate.

My argument is not that they don’t have a plan — it’s that their attempted plan plays as inconsistent, and it’s one that I suspect is going to be very difficult to execute successfully. But there is a plan, and it’s worth laying out my interpretation of said plan.

Basically, Fletcher and the Flyers look like they’re trying to strike a balance between a full-scale, tear-it-down rebuild and a hyper-aggressive, go-all-in-on-the-present retool. They want to improve, and do so quickly — they very much are not trying to “tank” or finish in the bottom five of the league again, and they’re willing to spend to the cap, hire an established coach with a long track record of success, and even trade away assets in order to achieve that improvement. What they don’t appear willing to do, at least yet? Trade away prime assets — top prospects, young under-25 NHL players and most notably first-round picks — to expedite that process. They still aim to follow the path of a draft-and-develop model to return to prominence, but they also want the NHL club to remain competitive while they do so.

So how do they envision the NHL club becoming competitive again quickly? Fletcher appears to be pinning much of those hopes on the impact of John Tortorella, who he believes will reinstitute structure, accountability and help foster a team-wide identity for the club. Does Fletcher expect that Tortorella can make the Flyers great in 2022-23? Nah. But he fully believes that Tortorella can make them better, so long as the club doesn’t deal with the same rash of injuries that it suffered last season. Fletcher clearly still has faith in the quality of the roster that he built heading into the 2021-22 season — proven by the fact that his only major move this offseason was to “replace” the one player he acquired in 2021 (Ellis) with the most murky injury status. Basically, the Flyers are “running it back” this season, except with Tortorella instead of Vigneault, DeAngelo instead of Ellis and Claude Giroux gone. The bet is that through better coaching, a better-structured defense and better health, they’ll be able to overcome the absence of Giroux and be closer to the team the front office thought they were prior to the 2021-22 debacle.

Now, this wouldn’t get the Flyers to Stanley Cup contention. But it would be a “stabilizing year,” as Fletcher described it after the first day of free agency. The goal would then be to use 2022-23 as a jumping-off point for further roster improvements that fit the emergence of their new team identity, which they hope adheres much closer to the traditional Flyers image than it has over the past decade. That, at its core, is the plan.

It’s not difficult to see how their offseason approach fits this plan, either. Tortorella serves both as an attempt to make the team better quickly, and as an “identity shaper.” Ristolainen was re-signed in March rather than traded at the deadline as a rental because he fits the identity they’re trying to build, in addition to the fact that Fletcher believes he’s a solid defenseman and wants his club to remain competitive in the short-term. DeAngelo, they believe, gives them a first-pair quality RHD without having to ship out a first-round pick to get one. The decision to not pursue Gaudreau was largely the result of Fletcher wanting to keep his high-end future assets and realizing that would have been necessary in order to clear up the necessary cap space to fit him. Deslauriers is another identity acquisition, in addition to further protecting the young players they’re looking to develop over the next few years.

Now, are there holes in this plan? In my estimation, absolutely. If the plan works, there’s no clear path for the Flyers to acquire the kind of high-end talent the team so desperately lacks, beyond drafting in the middle of the first round year after year and hoping that they stumble into another Giroux. Identity adds like Ristolainen and Deslauriers fly in the face of analytical team-building strategies, as does DeAngelo to a much lesser extent (his defensive flaws are very real). And their precarious cap situation isn’t exactly going to get rosy anytime soon.

Basically, for their plan to work, Tortorella needs to thrive as head coach despite being handed a roster that isn’t exactly chock full of defensive stalwarts, players like Sean Couturier, Kevin Hayes and Joel Farabee need to return at full strength from their injuries, the Flyers need to both unearth and then successfully develop a few future stars despite rarely selecting at the top of the draft and the team needs to coalesce around a hard-to-play-against identity that they haven’t possessed in years. That’s a lot of things that need to break the Flyers’ way and why I remain skeptical of this overarching plan. But it is a definitely a plan.

[SCFlyguy]

I plan on winning the lottery despite never actually buying a ticket.  Don’t tell me I don’t have a plan.