And then there's this...

[JackStraw]

For all the comments that the problem with the team is the C on Giroux's sweater, or the owner lurking around the locker room, or the lack of cakes being baked, maybe it's something more basic?

 

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20131015_Skating_shape_a_priority_for_Flyers.html

 

 

"We've got to get skating," Timonen said on Oct. 6. "The last two games, it looked like we were standing still. We haven't skated as good as we can."

Peter Laviolette was fired the next day

Berube has only run three full practices as the Flyers' new boss, but the change has been markedly different. The tempo is faster. There is very little idle time. Drills involve full-ice skating. And almost every practice so far wraps up with sprints, something usually reserved only for large gaps in the schedule under Laviolette.

 

"They have been some of the hardest practices in years," Scott Hartnell said Friday.

 

"He thinks we're not in really good skating shape and I totally agree with that," Timonen said. "When I say good shape, I mean good skating shape. Skating is a different thing than riding a bike. We've been practicing pretty hard and skating at the end of practices. I don't think he would have been skating us if he thought we were in good shape. It can always be better."

 

Hockey players need to skate hard? What a concept.

Edited October 17, 2013 by JackStraw

[Digityman]

@JackStraw you'll get a kick out of this then:

 

 

Drills involve full-ice skating. And almost every practice so far wraps up with sprints, something usually reserved only for large gaps in the schedule under Laviolette.

"They have been some of the hardest practices in years," Scott Hartnell said Friday.

"You actually break a sweat," Jay Rosehill said last Thursday.

http://articles.philly.com/2013-10-16/sports/43069557_1_the-flyers-jay-rosehill-kimmo-timonen

[JackStraw]

@Digityman - oh yeah, I saw that. I think it's fair to say that if Jay Rosehill (of all people) is not breaking a sweat then practice is not hard enough.

[murraycraven]

Did someone say a cake was being baked?  Mmmmm.....

[FreakinFlyersFan]

Than there's this....

http://www.csnphilly.com/hockey-philadelphia-flyers/flyers-learning-ugly-goal-canucks-game

 

 ''Jakub Voracek said that Tye McGinn, whose play was inspirational in two games, gives him energy on the first line. Berube doesn’t want to hear that, especially given Voracek is averaging barely one shot a game on the top line when he should be averaging three shots a night. “I don’t know why he is relying on Tye to give him energy,” Berube said. “Hopefully, that is not the case.''

How does a 5+yr player like Voracek get inspiration from a rookie like McGinn? Something is terribly wrong in Flyer-Land.

Edited October 17, 2013 by FreakinFlyersFan

[AndyS]

@Digityman - oh yeah, I saw that. I think it's fair to say that if Jay Rosehill (of all people) is not breaking a sweat then practice is not hard enough.

 

Outstanding.

 

I'd prefer that he break a sweat at practice & not during games.  In fact, I'd prefer that he be up in the press box during the games.

[Samifan]

Outstanding.

 

I'd prefer that he break a sweat at practice & not during games.  In fact, I'd prefer that he be up in the press box during the games.

I'd prefer he break a sweat in Glens Falls New York!

[radoran]

@Digityman - oh yeah, I saw that. I think it's fair to say that if Jay Rosehill (of all people) is not breaking a sweat then practice is not hard enough.

 

Just remember, Alberts was here for almost a full season, so he doesn't know what happens around here on a regular basis. Rosehill played 14 games for Lavvy and his off-hand comment should be taken as Gospel that Lavvy never made the team work.

 

That said, someone is making $6M as a 14-year NHL vet and needs a coach to tell him that he has to skate hard? 

 

Jeebus. I'm a big Kimmo fan, but what do you do with multi-millionaire players who will simply "skate" on the hard stuff?

[murraycraven]

Cake? Specially the one Alberts used to serve on the press box... Snider loved that cake.

[radoran]

Cake? Specially the one Alberts used to serve on the press box... Snider loved that cake.

 

I believe he came down to see if Alberts had any in the dressing room too. 

 

Alberts played 79 games that season.

[murraycraven]

Yes... And he and Ed spoke 79 times that season in the dressing room. All about his terrible play and how ed controlled his and every other players fate in the nhl.. . LOL...

[radoran]

Yes... And he and Ed spoke 79 times that season in the dressing room. All about his terrible play and how ed controlled his and every other players fate in the nhl.. . LOL...

 

No, I'm pretty sure Ed was upset that Alberts hadn't gotten him his cake in the press box.

 

Probably one more reason they fired Stevens.

 

[murraycraven]

Can't argue that... Maybe not enough salt on the popcorn? Maybe Ed prefers vanilla cake to chocolate cake? Either way... Ed should stop asking for flavors and just eat the cake... :-D

[JackStraw]

Just remember, Alberts was here for almost a full season, so he doesn't know what happens around here on a regular basis. Rosehill played 14 games for Lavvy and his off-hand comment should be taken as Gospel that Lavvy never made the team work.

That said, someone is making $6M as a 14-year NHL vet and needs a coach to tell him that he has to skate hard?

Jeebus. I'm a big Kimmo fan, but what do you do with multi-millionaire players who will simply "skate" on the hard stuff?

I think the issue that Berube is trying to address, and that the article was discussing, was lack of conditioning as opposed to lack of effort. All the effort in the world doesn't do much good if body isn't willing. And it seems like Berube and Timonen agree that under Lavi (at least recently) the team wasn't as well conditioned as they need to be. Hartnell has also been around long enough to know what Lavi's practices were like.

Edited October 17, 2013 by JackStraw

[radoran]

I think the issue that Berube is trying to address, and that the article was discussing, was lack of conditioning as opposed to lack of effort. All the effort in the world doesn't do much good if body isn't willing. And it seems like Berube and Timonen agree that under Lavi (at least recently) the team wasn't as well conditioned as they need to be. Hartnell has also been around long enough to know what Lavi's practices were like.

 

I don't think the team has been "as conditioned as it needs to be" since 1997, perhaps the Primeau Conference Finals team.

 

I remember a time when teams would dread the third period at the Big Bank Building. IIRC, Murray had them on a very strong conditioning program (remember, this included Rod Brind'Amour, who was reknown for his work ethic). 

 

Then they gave the inmates the keys to the asylum. The coach loses the room so often, it's no wonder the players don't remember where the training room is.

 

That's too hard, of course. But I don't see an iron bunch of warriors out there.

 

I want a team with swagger. I want a team that imposes it's style of play on the opponent. They may not win every game playing it - they may get blown out even - but you know what kind of game you're going to get.

 

With this team, it's been a monkey humping a football for over a season. Laviolette should have been fired after last season. Not because I hate him, but because it would have been better for the franchise.

 

And instead I have a 14-year NHL vet, who's number I wear (with his nameplate), explaining that, you know, they really haven't been skating hard for a while.

 

Cry me a river.