flyerrod Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Just to clarify, I don't necessarily mean a lack of "hitting" and "punishing" when I say they are soft. I mean, those are certainly lacking, but I just find them to be very passive in their puck pursuit. They make it very easy for the opposition to get organized. They don't put teams back on their heels. And it's not because they're 'slower' as a group than the rest of the league. It's because they're not buying into a system where the feet must be moving at all times - relentless puck pursuit. The teams that are like that are freakin' hard to play against. Oh, Chief might be saying things like "moar skating, moar harder work, grr," but I just don't see the players executing it at all.There are some players that always seem to have their feet moving in both the offensive and defensive ends, Bellemare,Raffl,Couturier,Del Zotto,and for as little time as he has been here I would at White's name too. You can't expect Grossmann type players to be pursuit guys without having them commit positional suicide due to their lack of mobility. That still leaves a rather long laundry list of names that SHOULD be a lot more pro-active rather than reactive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 At the risk of turning this into a Corsi debate, I think this is one of the problems with the way people use that stat. I agree you can twist those stats how you want and i was throwing this out there to others to read. I don't agree with it all it's just another perspective on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 4mill per for 3 years... ....getr done!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Knut Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 I believe any impending MDZ deal hinges on what they can move. I think they'd obciously like to sign him for a decent length deal as its his last eligible contract as an RFA. I believe we will see Timmonen moved to a contender as soon as it's evident he can still play. I also believe there's a strong chance we'll see Coburn moved before July 1. As we all know the real shame is MacDonald and Vinny whose contracts are really screwing things up. From the drop of the first pick this year, I said that regardless of winning or losing, Hextall and In turn Berube's main missions needed to be making those two guys look as good as possible. I also thought making Umberger look good was key, but that was never going to be possible I guess. That should have been Hexy's pitch to Berube: help me move these three guys and you'll have a job in 2016 no matter how bad this team does. Every night should have been setting them up. Every power play should have been built around them. Anything at all just to pad their totals and make them look half decent. As it is, Vinny's settling into a decent role on the "energy" line and Mac isn't blocking shots or making outlets passes. It seems Berube's whole goal was to make them look as undesirable as possible. Nice to read. I've seen enough let's get this guy signed....then move out the guys on the blueline that don't belong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaskaFlyerFan Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Just to clarify, I don't necessarily mean a lack of "hitting" and "punishing" when I say they are soft. I mean, those are certainly lacking, but I just find them to be very passive in their puck pursuit. They make it very easy for the opposition to get organized. They don't put teams back on their heels. And it's not because they're 'slower' as a group than the rest of the league. It's because they're not buying into a system where the feet must be moving at all times - relentless puck pursuit. The teams that are like that are freakin' hard to play against.I'm not sure I agree with this. I think their surge over the last 15 games is because they are pressuring their opponent. The forcheck has been relentless and they aren't giving the other teams the time and space. Barry Trotz eluded to it yesterday:“You’ve got to break out cleanly, and you’ve got to get through the neutral zone,” Trotz said. “If you do that, then you’re going to get into the offensive zone a little cleaner. You’ve got to be crisp, execute your passes. Even yesterday, the first period, I didn’t think we executed. We made the right reads, we made the right decisions, but we didn’t execute. You still got to pass the puck not the stick sometimes and we were off a little bit.“That’s what pressure will do to you sometimes." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlaskaFlyerFan Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 And just to emphasize my point about the forechecking, this article has a couple quotes from MDZ on the forecheck.http://www.csnphilly.com/hockey-philadelphia-flyers/after-rocky-start-michael-del-zotto-key-piece-flyers-surgeRALEIGH, N.C. — There was a point back in late December when you really had to wonder whether Michael Del Zotto had a future with the Flyers beyond this season.He was benched two games on the West Coast to start the month, then sat as a healthy scratch nine straight to finish the month before returning to the lineup on New Year’s Eve in Colorado.Since then, Del Zotto hasn’t been out of the Flyers' lineup, and he’s been a very effective offensive defenseman.He has four goals and 10 points over the past 13 games, which also coincides with the Flyers' resurgence (8-1-4) in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt.Whereas the Flyers once might have considered shopping him at the NHL trade deadline, there’s now little doubt they will re-sign him. There is no hurry because he’s a restricted free agent. They only have to qualify him.When Del Zotto arrived here trying to resurrect his career, there were some nights on the ice when his play suggested uncertainty. Now he seems like a very relaxed veteran — and he’s only 24 years old.“I think it is just a matter of playing and being able to go out there and play 20-plus minutes and feeling comfortable,” Del Zotto said. “Not over thinking and playing on instinct, believing in myself and that’s about it.”His ice time is 21 minutes, but in seven of eight games this month, he was over that. Whereas he was initially benched by Flyers coach Craig Berube for not recognizing his role as a support guy on the rush as opposed to leading the rush, he’s figured it out.His game-winning goal against Washington when he was the trail man and then broke to the open part of the ice for Jakub Voracek’s deft pass was the type of play he couldn’t make back in December without getting caught on an odd-man rush.“He’s made that play quite a bit this year to be honest with you,” Berube said. “I thought that beginning of the year he played some real good hockey for us and dipped off for a while, but he’s back at a high level right now.”Some would say there were times Del Zotto wasn’t using his hockey smarts to judge situations properly.“It’s a very fine line,” Del Zotto said. “We’ve shown in the past that sometimes when we do have a lead we sit back and play safe and allow teams to kind of keep pressuring and eventually get back in the game.“We’ve talked about it for the last week or so here, not taking our foot off of the gas pedal. Our strength is our forecheck, if we keep forechecking the best defense is a good offense so if we have the puck at their end they are not able to come back.”Del Zotto admits his confidence has grown here.“Coming into camp, I worked the hardest I ever worked in my life this summer as far as offseason training,” he said. “Not so much physically but mentally. I think I had a lot of people that helped me out, and just getting back to believing in myself and my game.“You know the coaching staff has done a good job of letting me play here. Having that mutual trust of playing 50/50 offense and defense and if they show that confidence in me to play it makes it easy to get your confidence back.”The Flyers go into Tuesday night’s game against the Hurricanes seeking to cut the gap between themselves and Boston (who's in the last the wild-card spot) from four points to two.The Bruins also play tonight, as do the Florida Panthers, who are one point ahead of the Flyers in the playoff hunt.This is the most sustained stretch of solid, two-way play the Flyers have had this season.“Yeah just playing sixty minutes I think before we were finding ways to lose instead of finding ways to win and we’re doing that now,” Del Zotto said.“We’re taking care of the puck, that’s the biggest thing. Our forecheck has been huge for us. In the past there were too many turnovers that allowed other teams to transition on us and we end up playing defense most of the game.“We take care of the puck and we play on the forecheck we could be successful and beat any team and we’ve proven that." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brelic Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Del Zotto is one of the great storylines for the team this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Del Zotto is one of the great storylines for the team this year. there are other great story lines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brelic Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 there are other great story lines? Voracek, Giroux, Simmonds, Mason, Streit, Zepp. White is emerging as a good story. I think that covers it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 White is emerging as a good story. Agreed. He has done exactly what I expected of him. He's earned an extension (and a one-way contract) IMHO. I think he is a quality pro who can provide some 3rd or 4th line scoring. He's a perfect Flyer and exactly what they need more of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
murraycraven Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Voracek, Giroux, Simmonds, Mason, Streit, Zepp. White is emerging as a good story. I think that covers it! Oh, I know Brel... was just having fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brelic Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 Agreed. He has done exactly what I expected of him. He's earned an extension (and a one-way contract) IMHO. I think he is a quality pro who can provide some 3rd or 4th line scoring. He's a perfect Flyer and exactly what they need more of. Best of all, he *should* make Rinaldo expendable. As hard as we've been on VLC, there's no sane reason that he should be benched in favour of Rinaldo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Best of all, he *should* make Rinaldo expendable. As hard as we've been on VLC, there's no sane reason that he should be benched in favour of Rinaldo I guess. I'm one of the few that sees value in Zac, but even that is fading. But Vinny on the 4th line also makes little sense to me. He's an albatross. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJgoal Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 As hard as we've been on VLC, there's no sane reason that he should be benched in favour of Rinaldo. One. Sending a message to VLC about his play. Though I didn't see to much of an issue with it recently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radoran Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I guess. I'm one of the few that sees value in Zac, but even that is fading. I see value in players like Rinaldo, but the return on the investment on this particular player is dropping. Fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brelic Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 I see value in players like Rinaldo, but the return on the investment on this particular player is dropping. Fast. ^^^^This. I supported him the last few years. He really was getting better in terms of PIM/60, and still bringing that edge and monster hits that would wake up his team and create some energy. But he has been largely ineffective this year and has been putting his team in bad spots. He's as marginal an NHLer as exists, and we have better options, namely Vandevelde, Bellemare, VLC and White. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JackStraw Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 Everyone is overlooking the big benefit that Rinaldo brings- he helps meet the Flyers annual suspension quota, at virtually no harm to the team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Podein25 Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 I see value in players like Rinaldo, but the return on the investment on this particular player is dropping. Fast. Yeah, me too. Oh well. I guess I will cut him from my keeper team where he is expected to take lots of PIMs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobbyClarkeFan16 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 You should read some of the stuff over on HFBoards with regards to Del Zotto. He's hated by quite a number of people there and quite a number think he's expendable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 quite a number think he's expendable I agree he is expendable........for the right price i'll trade any of these players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brelic Posted February 27, 2015 Author Share Posted February 27, 2015 You should read some of the stuff over on HFBoards with regards to Del Zotto. He's hated by quite a number of people there and quite a number think he's expendable. Yeah, I saw that too. I don't get it. He's not perfect, but he's as good as anything we have. They seem to think he's no better than a #5/6, which is out of touch with reality. Find me a #5/6 defenseman in this league who scores at a 0.5 ppg pace. Haters gonna hate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Yeah, I saw that too. I don't get it. He's not perfect, but he's as good as anything we have. They seem to think he's no better than a #5/6, which is out of touch with reality. Find me a #5/6 defenseman in this league who scores at a 0.5 ppg pace. Haters gonna hate. I'm willing to give Hexy the benefit of the doubt he is trying to mold the Flyers into Cup winners like the Kings were so it will take time i guess but i want to see him move out the players that don't fit....and he also must find his version of Darryl Sutter as well so Berube has to go. With hindsight now still can't believe the Flames fired him after back to back 42+ win seasons the last of which he finished 1st in the northeast...that was a dumb move. Then he goes on to replace Murray and wins the Cup in his first season. I hope the Flyers can get that lucky. So for myself finding the coach is the first step....and i'm waiting for him still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I just saw this comment on MDZ and maybe he is right and they sign him to a let's-see-you-do-that-again-deal just a 1 year one??? I could be wrong but I think he'll be here on another one-year deal next season at a small raise. If he plays well next year, then he will have the option of a long-term deal to pre-empt UFA status or to play out the season (and quite possibly be traded) and then hit the open market.--Bill Meltzer Thoughts??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJgoal Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I think that would be a mistake. Sign him for a bridge deal at a reasonable increase for 2-3 years. He's still moveable at that rate. Wait, and you'll have to overpay to keep him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I think that would be a mistake. Sign him for a bridge deal at a reasonable increase for 2-3 years. He's still moveable at that rate. Wait, and you'll have to overpay to keep him. They would still have his rights because once again he'd be a RFA...then you sign the bridge....right...but i'd be ok with doing it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.