Flyers in 5th at halfway point

[brelic]

Wow. I'll admit that I never ever thought they would sniff this high in the standings this year, especially after the train wreck of a start they had. Good on them.

It shows a lot of resiliency for the players. I also think Chief deserves some credit. I don't know much about him yet but he's doing something right. Great timeout last night. Guess he learned that kinda timing from Laviolette.

Because of the weird new playoff seedings I think the 5th place Flyers would face 6th place Capitals if playoffs started today (2 plays against 3 in each division).

But we're also only two points up on 10th place Rangers. So I won't count my chickens before they hatch.

Anyway I would judge the first half as a success because I'm sure most people and pundits would not have had the Flyers ranked this high at the midway point.

After the 1-7 start, they have gone 20-10-4. That's damn impressive.

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

5th place?  Not sure where you're seeing that but it's wrong (unless the NHL has it wrong on their own website).  Flyers are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference and 2nd place in the Metro Division.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20132014&type=CON

Edited January 5, 2014 by AlaskaFlyerFan

[brelic]

5th place?  Not sure where you're seeing that but it's wrong (unless the NHL has it wrong on their own website).  Flyers are in 7th place in the Eastern Conference and 2nd place in the Metro Division.http://www.nhl.com/ice/standings.htm?season=20132014&type=CON

The NHL site is wrong. did I just say that? Haha.

I'm almost positive the rankings are the top 3 of each division are the top 6 seeds in the conference. You have to look at wildcard standings IIRC. The 7 and 8 spots are the best records outside of the first 6 seeds ( which explains how 7 and 8 can have a better record than teams above them).

So if the Flyers are 2nd in their division they can be no worse than 5th place. Which is where they are now.

Can anyone else confirm this? Or am I crazy? On Yahoo they're in 5th.

[aziz]

you're right, in terms of seeding, they are 5th.  AFF is right, too, in terms of points, they're in 7th.

 

top 8, either way, which is a far far cry from two months ago.

[Howie58]

Greetings:

 

I think Brelic and other are right; many of us would have a tough time seeing a turnaround after the dismal start. Putting specific ranks aside, my question would be whether the tightness of the rankings reflects on a league with incredible parity save for an elite few (Chicago, Anaheim, and name 2-3 more).  That said, it is incredible where we are after the lousy start.  Berube deserves some credit, and even I have to eat crow and say our forwards may be waking up.  The question may be how this year ends.  I would like our youngins to get some playoff experience, even if it is one round.

 

Mason may be one of the most important signings of Homer's tenure.  On the other hand, the Phoenix announcers on Center Ice were mentioning Vinny and wondering if that was such a good investment.  After a great start I am wondering too?

 

If not mistaken, the trade deadline is just over a month away.  I don't see any big moves but Homer is Homer.  By the way, Kimmo may no longer be trade bait in my mind. If anything, I wonder if he is resigned for another year at less money?  

 

Over and out,

 

Howie

[doom88]

On the Timonen note, I wonder if Berube's emphasis on skating has helped him too?

[fanaticV3.0]

The NHL site is wrong. did I just say that? Haha.

I'm almost positive the rankings are the top 3 of each division are the top 6 seeds in the conference. You have to look at wildcard standings IIRC. The 7 and 8 spots are the best records outside of the first 6 seeds ( which explains how 7 and 8 can have a better record than teams above them).

So if the Flyers are 2nd in their division they can be no worse than 5th place. Which is where they are now.

Can anyone else confirm this? Or am I crazy? On Yahoo they're in 5th.

 

Good to see you Superfan, how ya been?

[brelic]

Good to see you Superfan, how ya been?

You know, I"m a nurse now.

[radoran]

Being in "fifth" (or even "seventh") is a great achievement, but also a reflection of being a very big fish in a terrible division.

 

The Flyers were not as bad as they were to start the season, but it's still hard to see them taking four seven-game series from playoff opponents at this time.

 

As we know, of course, the playoffs don't start today. It's possible for the team to come together and make a run. Certainly their goaltending seems up to the task. Without Mason, they would have been in terrible shape.

 

Hoping to see more development and continued improvement.

[fanaticV3.0]

You know, I"m a nurse now.

 

I bet your bedside manner is wonderful too.

[brelic]

I bet your bedside manner is wonderful too.

I even started making YouTube videos.

[aziz]

i did, too

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyk7utV_D2I

Edited January 6, 2014 by aziz

[OccamsRazor]

i did, too

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cyk7utV_D2I

 

 

That is funny as hell thanks for my morning laugh....guess she didn't know the powder would also go down here wind pipe but now she won't forget! 

[TedZep]

@aziz

 

Damn the tablespoon, let's try it with a big soup ladel first.  The cloud she expelled was impressive.

[murraycraven]

I will give credit where it is due... they are playing some good hockey and are showing some real promise.  They are still nowhere near a contender in my book but I like the youth and would like to see this group remain in tact and develop together.    I still think they are a product of the division...   this division is simply very bad.   

[radoran]

I will give credit where it is due... they are playing some good hockey and are showing some real promise.  They are still nowhere near a contender in my book but I like the youth and would like to see this group remain in tact and develop together.    I still think they are a product of the division...   this division is simply very bad.   

 

To speak to your point, the Flyers are second in the Metropolitan. They are also just six points ahead of seventh place Columbus.

 

They would be sixth in the Atlantic, Central and Pacific. That's "out of the playoffs" no matter how you cut it.

 

I'm encouraged by how they are playing and it was a fairly impressive West Coast swing, but there's still a lot of hockey to go.

 

Make the playoffs and "anything can happen"

[doom88]

I will give credit where it is due... they are playing some good hockey and are showing some real promise. They are still nowhere near a contender in my book but I like the youth and would like to see this group remain in tact and develop together. I still think they are a product of the division... this division is simply very bad.

Agreed. When the team is on, it seems like they never psychologically quit, no matter the score or time remaining. That is a wonderful attribute, and dangerous for the opposition.

If this roster stays together, imagine how good it could be next season. Not dismissing this season, just looking forward to the development of the core youth.

[pilldoc]

I'll be the 1st to eat some crow.  After that wretched start, I honestly thought we were looking at a lottery pick.  However, this team has proved it is a bit more resilient.  I will give credit to where credit is due.  the players seemed to have put on their big boy pants and started to play some hockey.  IMO, this team is not a legitimate SC team, but I think they are making some positive progress.  Homer still needs to rid this team of some monster contracts (can anyone say Hartnell  ).  I think this team needs to get better on the blue line and a legit sniper would help out Giroux.   The division is still horrible and the Flyers should benefit from that.

[King Knut]

By my calculations tht unjust did in my head which means thy could be off,

If this team had managed to go .500 over the first 15 games (the mark I attribute with the turnaround) they'd have something like 53 points now and would be tied for fourth in the conference.

If they'd been playing as well as they have since the turnaround all season, they'd be in 2nd in the conference with 60 points or so. Give or take.

Don't have a good record in front of me right now though. So I'm probably off by an OTL or two.

Wow. I'll admit that I never ever thought they would sniff this high in the standings this year, especially after the train wreck of a start they had. Good on them.

It shows a lot of resiliency for the players. I also think Chief deserves some credit. I don't know much about him yet but he's doing something right. Great timeout last night. Guess he learned that kinda timing from Laviolette.

Because of the weird new playoff seedings I think the 5th place Flyers would face 6th place Capitals if playoffs started today (2 plays against 3 in each division).

But we're also only two points up on 10th place Rangers. So I won't count my chickens before they hatch.

Anyway I would judge the first half as a success because I'm sure most people and pundits would not have had the Flyers ranked this high at the midway point.

After the 1-7 start, they have gone 20-10-4. That's damn impressive.

[King Knut]

I was livid for the first 10 games or so.

Depressed for the next five.

But the source o my frustration was my inability to comprehend how this team was playing so badly.

Not that I bought they should be great. I just thought they'd be decent and better than last year at least.

Of course last year's team was so bad they weren't even smart enough to stay bad all season and had I knock themselves out or a good draft position at the end with a few extra wins.

It just dd t make sense because they weren't playing badly. Thy we're horrible. Absolutely atrocious.

Somehow they turne it around and IMHO they did it following giroux's lead. He seemed to just decide one night (I track it to the edmonton game)

That he was done sucking.

The team followed his lead.

Berube? Maybe sure. I don't even care. I'm just happy they woke up.

I'll be the 1st to eat some crow. After that wretched start, I honestly thought we were looking at a lottery pick. However, this team has proved it is a bit more resilient. I will give credit to where credit is due. the players seemed to have put on their big boy pants and started to play some hockey. IMO, this team is not a legitimate SC team, but I think they are making some positive progress. Homer still needs to rid this team of some monster contracts (can anyone say Hartnell ). I think this team needs to get better on the blue line and a legit sniper would help out Giroux. The division is still horrible and the Flyers should benefit from that.

[King Knut]

Maybe that was try lie when you wrote it but they're cleanly in position no matter what at this point. With games in hand on their closest competitors in the standings.

Of course that can all change so here's hoping the current trajectory continues and they keep climbing!

To speak to your point, the Flyers are second in the Metropolitan. They are also just six points ahead of seventh place Columbus.

They would be sixth in the Atlantic, Central and Pacific. That's "out of the playoffs" no matter how you cut it.

I'm encouraged by how they are playing and it was a fairly impressive West Coast swing, but there's still a lot of hockey to go.

Make the playoffs and "anything can happen"

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

The NHL site is wrong. did I just say that? Haha.

I'm almost positive the rankings are the top 3 of each division are the top 6 seeds in the conference. You have to look at wildcard standings IIRC. The 7 and 8 spots are the best records outside of the first 6 seeds ( which explains how 7 and 8 can have a better record than teams above them).

So if the Flyers are 2nd in their division they can be no worse than 5th place. Which is where they are now.

Can anyone else confirm this? Or am I crazy? On Yahoo they're in 5th.

You are correct, I think? Kind of?? Maybe??? Hell, I don't know!!

The way I'm reading this, the conference standings don't really matter as much as the Division standings.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/the-explainer-new-nhl-playoff-seeding-format-1.1871216

This is how the teams would be seeded in their new divisions based on last year's performance. Because they'll play out-of -conference games this season, comparisons to last season are fairly inapplicable. This is purely a mock-up to illustrate what could happen in the upcoming campaign, not an exercise of “what-if.”

Metropolitan Division

1. Z- Pittsburgh

2. Z - Washington

3. Z - NY Rangers

4. NY Islanders (55 points)

5. Columbus

6. Philadelphia

7. New Jersey

8. Carolina

Atlantic Division

1.Z- Montreal

2.Z - Boston

3.Z - Toronto

4.X - Detroit (56 points)

5.X- Ottawa (56 points)

6.Buffalo

7.Tampa Bay

8.Florida

Central Division

1.Z - Chicago

2.Z - St. Louis

3.Z -Minnesota

4.X - Winnipeg (51 points, 22 ROW)

5.Dallas

6.Nashville

7.Colorado

Pacific Division

1.Z - Anaheim

2.Z - Vancouver

3.Z - Los Angeles

4.X - San Jose (57)

5.Phoenix (51 points, 17 ROW)

6.Edmonton

7.Calgary

Key:

Z – These teams are the top three seeds in their division, and gain automatic entry into the Stanley Cup playoffs.

X – Wild card teams are the teams outside of the top three in their division, chosen because they have with the next highest point totals, regardless of the division. Three seeds can come from one division and five from another.

Matchup breakdown:

1.The division leader in each conference with the most points plays the wild card team with the fewest points.

2.The division leader with the second highest amount of points plays the wild card team with the most points

3 & 4 – the second and third seeds in each division face one another in the first round.

This is what the first round would’ve looked like had realignment happened a year earlier:

Eastern Conference

1.Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa

2.Montreal vs. Detroit

3.Washington vs. NY Rangers

4.Boston vs. Toronto

Western Conference

1.Chicago vs. Winnipeg

2.Anaheim v. San Jose

3.St. Louis vs. Minnesota

4.Vancouver vs. Los Angeles

[murraycraven]

I'll be the 1st to eat some crow.

 

I will be 2nd Doc but I still do not think this Team is a contender.  I also think they are a byproduct of a piss-poor division.  I like what I see and I am encouraged but there is a lot of hockey to be played and Lord knows what Homer might do...   they are at least making it fun.  

[mojo1917]

I'm glad they started trying and have found some heart.

 

I thought the West Coast swing was telling in that there was only one night where they were out-skated and they managed to win that game ( Vancouver) because of their goaltending.... who would have thought that.

There were points against the Avalanche where we looked bad , but then long stretches of play where we looked pretty good too.  

There is no question this is a work in progress, I think Chief is doing a fine job with the mis-matched parts he's been dealt, having everyone commit to defense helps a corps that is not the strongest .  If they make the playoffs does he get considered for the Jack Adams ?

[brelic]

If they make the playoffs does he get considered for the Jack Adams ?

 

Hard to say... he'd be considered, but wouldn't make the shortlist, IMO. The only way that happens, is if the Flyers won the division or something that dramatic.

 

I'd say we're a few years away from becoming a real contender. Give Schenn, Couturier, and the other youngins a few more years of experience, which coincides with Giroux's prime, and I'd say by then we should have at least one of our young defensemen in the fray (Morin, Hagg or Ghost), I'd guess that Alt might be playing here as well. 

 

Of course, Homer's just as likely to blow up the squad again and go in a different direction. So, there's that. I'm not even kidding when I say that. I wish I were.