Completely devoid of talent except the goalies

[filly4life]

Thankfully Neuvirth came through and only let up a goal that was pretty much impossible to stop. I love Mason, but he really screwed us this series with just terrible back breaking goals.

 

And then you got Voracek, Giroux and Simmonds who were just invisible all series. These are our superstars, and they did nothing for 6 games. Washington is the best team in hockey, but at least one of them has to have a breakout game at least once in 6 games. ZERO goals. ZERO threat. Voracek has the softest hands of any NHL player I've ever seen. He gets stripped of the puck if the defender sneezes on him, and then usually falls on his butt. He's like the new Hartnell, but Hartnell probably would have planted himself in fromnt of Holtby and gotten an ugly goal or two this series.  And can someone buy Schenn a clue?! Seriously, does FOX need to bring back the glowing puck? I've never seen a more useless player in front of the net. He has ZERO puck awareness. THere were numerous opportunities for him to slam a puck in on a rebound but he had no idea where the puck was. 

 

Hakstoll has a bright future, considering what he did with these guys, but man did he wait too long to make changes. I don't blame him for Mason, it's just the yearly tradition of the Flyers never having their #1 goalie dominate and continually shuffling goalies every playoffs. What upset me was his PK strategy. It was embarrassing... He finally changed it and although the Caps PP was still getting good looks, it wasn't a complete shooting gallery like the first 3 games. The PP is another story... The only good chances we got were one timers from the point, yet we continued to pass them up to take shots from the faceoff circle or taking the puck down low. It didn't work in game 1, didn't work in game 6 and if we somehow stole this game it wasn't going to work in game 7. How do you have two 5 on 3s this series and only generate ONE shot?! Just too slow and passes that were too deliberate. And speaking of passes.........

 

For the love of **** why does it seem that EVERY year the Flyers are the worst passing team in the NHL. IT's like every year they top themselves in ineptitude. I understand the Caps were the #1 seed and SOOOO much more talented than us, but how does that explain the fact that this team can't make simple uncontested 10 foot passes?!!??! It was like watching a team that never practiced together. PAsses ahead, passes behind, passed in the feet. Every year I tell myself the Flyers should be awarded goals for making three consecutive passes without turning the puck over.  Tic Tac mints should sponsor the team, since they run the Tic Tac offense since they keep fumbling the Toe pass.... 

 

I know, I know... they weren't supposed to even make the playoffs, but man once you're in and you're up against this choking dog franchise you really hope they can pull it together. Hopefully the playoff experience helps some of these guys, but there are a ton of guys that I hope are not on the roster next year.  

[RJ8812]

just a bit of an over reaction 

[filly4life]

Probably.... haha. But I'm just venting.

 

But it's still true that those three guys did absolutely nothing for 6 games. I'm watching other series and watching guys make plays. It's fine if Holtby stood on his head all series and stole numerous goals (a la Neuvirth and Mason).  I'd be OK if they were just having bad luck, but I can't remember a single play, one-on-one that any casual fan watching this series would make them stop and realize those were our all-stars.

 

 

[JR Ewing]

Be disappointed all you like, but your team had the misfortune of playing against the best team in the NHL. When you're overmatched, the results can be frustrating. All that you can hope for is to have a GM with his head screwed on straight, doesn't react out of frustration and anger, and leaves the gnashing of teeth for the fans.

 

[RJ8812]

Some people just have a hard time accepting the fact that the Caps were just a better team in every aspect of the game than the Flyers 

[fishbulb]

Offense:     - Adv. Caps

Defense:    - Adv. Caps

Goalie:       - Adv. Caps

PP/PK:       - lol

Coaching:  - Adv. Caps

 

I'm stoked we won 2 games!

[Puck_Pun]

Agreed, the Caps were the better side. Even the wins for the Flyers were pretty scrappy affairs, with a lot of falling back defensively and defending slim leads instead of pushing forwards. That sort of play doesn't really make for a huge number of wins.

[FD19372]

2 hours ago, filly4life said:

Thankfully Neuvirth came through and only let up a goal that was pretty much impossible to stop. I love Mason, but he really screwed us this series with just terrible back breaking goals.

 

And then you got Voracek, Giroux and Simmonds who were just invisible all series. These are our superstars, and they did nothing for 6 games. Washington is the best team in hockey, but at least one of them has to have a breakout game at least once in 6 games. ZERO goals. ZERO threat. Voracek has the softest hands of any NHL player I've ever seen. He gets stripped of the puck if the defender sneezes on him, and then usually falls on his butt. He's like the new Hartnell, but Hartnell probably would have planted himself in fromnt of Holtby and gotten an ugly goal or two this series.  And can someone buy Schenn a clue?! Seriously, does FOX need to bring back the glowing puck? I've never seen a more useless player in front of the net. He has ZERO puck awareness. THere were numerous opportunities for him to slam a puck in on a rebound but he had no idea where the puck was. 

 

Hakstoll has a bright future, considering what he did with these guys, but man did he wait too long to make changes. I don't blame him for Mason, it's just the yearly tradition of the Flyers never having their #1 goalie dominate and continually shuffling goalies every playoffs. What upset me was his PK strategy. It was embarrassing... He finally changed it and although the Caps PP was still getting good looks, it wasn't a complete shooting gallery like the first 3 games. The PP is another story... The only good chances we got were one timers from the point, yet we continued to pass them up to take shots from the faceoff circle or taking the puck down low. It didn't work in game 1, didn't work in game 6 and if we somehow stole this game it wasn't going to work in game 7. How do you have two 5 on 3s this series and only generate ONE shot?! Just too slow and passes that were too deliberate. And speaking of passes.........

 

For the love of **** why does it seem that EVERY year the Flyers are the worst passing team in the NHL. IT's like every year they top themselves in ineptitude. I understand the Caps were the #1 seed and SOOOO much more talented than us, but how does that explain the fact that this team can't make simple uncontested 10 foot passes?!!??! It was like watching a team that never practiced together. PAsses ahead, passes behind, passed in the feet. Every year I tell myself the Flyers should be awarded goals for making three consecutive passes without turning the puck over.  Tic Tac mints should sponsor the team, since they run the Tic Tac offense since they keep fumbling the Toe pass.... 

 

I know, I know... they weren't supposed to even make the playoffs, but man once you're in and you're up against this choking dog franchise you really hope they can pull it together. Hopefully the playoff experience helps some of these guys, but there are a ton of guys that I hope are not on the roster next year.  

They are a one line team, and took the odds on favorites to win the Cup to 6 games. I'll take that. Add to that, that the players on that top line will or at least should admit they didn't play well.  They are the only ones that should have a hard time sleeping for awhile. Hakstol got a lot out of a little this season. Good job, and they shouldn't just squeak into the playoffs next year. In my opinion, they should be a top four team in the East by adding a couple of decent to good scorers. Provorov and Del Zotto will help the defense next season.

[PhilsFanDrew]

I think our better forwards got shut out of this series for a number of reasons.  The Flyers lack of depth throughout the line up is probably the biggest reason.  If you have secondary scoring the threat is spread out and you force the opposition to have to make choices and try to manage how they defend.  Since the Flyers lack depth if you take away their top scorers combined with the fact that the PP struggled it was nearly impossible for them to score.  Secondly the Flyers defense corp is very weak.  You could see how low in the defensive zone forwards had to sag to help support the D-men who could not win battles and retrieve pucks.  Their breakout passes when they did win a puck battle came from so deep in the zone.  It's hard to generate off the rush starting that deep in the zone because you allow the opposition time to get back in the play and eventually out man them on the back check.  When more talented and quicker moving defensemen come up who are stronger on the puck and have better vision the breakout passes will be from D zone to the defensive blue line to neutral zone, rather than deep in the D zone to the middle of the D zone.  This will help the forwards like G and Jake who do their best work generating attack off the rush.  Other than Game 3, it was a very defensive series with not a lot of chances either way.  The Caps early success on the PP in the beginning of the series made a big difference.  Hakstol eventually did adjust how they defended.  It was just too little too late being down 0-3.  Bottom line even though they took the Capitals to a game 6 the Capitals were far and away the better team and without stellar play by Neuvy this series was a wrap in 4 or 5 games.  There are some positive takeaways from the series.  They hung with the Caps 5on5 for much of the series.  Obviously the play of Neuvy was spectacular.  Young guys and first timers like Ghost, Cousins, Bellemare, Gagner, etc while not overly impressive or productive did get their feet wet in the playoffs and the experience will be valuable down the road.   

[JagerMeister]

Completely devoid of talent? No, you guys had all your talent in one line. Which explains the results.

[ruxpin]

4 hours ago, filly4life said:

Thankfully Neuvirth came through and only let up a goal that was pretty much impossible to stop. I love Mason, but he really screwed us this series with just terrible back breaking goals.

 

And then you got Voracek, Giroux and Simmonds who were just invisible all series. These are our superstars, and they did nothing for 6 games. Washington is the best team in hockey, but at least one of them has to have a breakout game at least once in 6 games. ZERO goals. ZERO threat. Voracek has the softest hands of any NHL player I've ever seen. He gets stripped of the puck if the defender sneezes on him, and then usually falls on his butt. He's like the new Hartnell, but Hartnell probably would have planted himself in fromnt of Holtby and gotten an ugly goal or two this series.  And can someone buy Schenn a clue?! Seriously, does FOX need to bring back the glowing puck? I've never seen a more useless player in front of the net. He has ZERO puck awareness. THere were numerous opportunities for him to slam a puck in on a rebound but he had no idea where the puck was. 

 

3 hours ago, RJ8812 said:

just a bit of an over reaction 

 

3 hours ago, filly4life said:

Probably.... haha. But I'm just venting.

 

 

Yeah, definitely an over-reaction, but I think that's allowed that shortly after your favorite team gets knocked out.

 

But the two paragraphs above are simply accurate (except for Schenn, who I thought actually had a very good series). 

 

Simmonds at least played physical, but I agree that he and Voracek (HORRIBLE series; a liability) and Giroux (invisible.  zero creativity.  complete non-factor.  He may have contributed defensively, but not noticeably to me).  And, clearly, Mason had a horrible time.  It's a shame for Mason because he played some very good games but marred by at least one goal per game that was Bryzgolovian.  

 

Ultimately, the Flyers simply lost to a much better team.  I'm still suspicious of the Caps.  I think they really did want to choke against the Flyers but were simply that much better.   They'll be done against the Pens who actually have some depth of their own.

 

The Flyers are obviously still a work in progress.  They are going to have to come up with somebody among the supporting cast that is actually an offensive threat so the opponent can't so effectively eliminate the top line.

 

By the way, the fourth line of the Flyers played their ass off.  That might be the best fourth line we've had in quite awhile.

[ruxpin]

2 hours ago, fishbulb said:

Offense:     - Adv. Caps

Defense:    - Adv. Caps

Goalie:       - Adv. Caps

PP/PK:       - lol

Coaching:  - Adv. Caps

 

I'm stoked we won 2 games!

 

Do you think the bolded part is true?  I like Trotz, but I thought Hakstol did an incredible coaching job this series.  Not only did he keep the team plugging at it down 0-3 in the series, they stole two games.  And they kept the President's Trophy winner (PTW) to only one goal in the deciding game.  2 goals in the last three games by the PTW.  

 

I thought the adjustment on the penalty kill was incredible.   Look, you can be a great mastermind, but when you bring a knife to a gun battle, smarts will only get you so far.

 

Trotz kept his team focused after coughing up two games.  Given that franchise's history, that's good coaching.   But I wonder about the advantage unless you think it was close.

[philaphansrefugee]

Baby steps. The Flyers turned what could have been a humiliating situation into a respectable one.  The caps are fantastic.  Let's hope they crush the pens.

 

Flyers are going in the right direction. 

[OccamsRazor]

2 hours ago, JagerMeister said:

No, you guys had all your talent in one line

 

 

You mean the one that totaled 4 points in 6 games????

[canoli]

"completely devoid of talent?" Well this was the President's Trophy winner vs the 8 seed after all it was bound to look lopsided. But for Neuvirth's heroics the Flyers surely would've been swept.

 

Still...I bet the Caps started feeling awfully uncomfortable after G5. They hadn't lost 2 in a row all year until the Flyers beat them back to back. I was really hoping for a win today, force a G7, keep the Caps' PO curse alive.

 

But the Flyers were just over-matched that's all. No reason to throw them under the bus, the holes are obvious, the strengths will be strong again once they get some help. The Caps were able to focus their D on just 3 Flyers because they knew the rest of the roster probably wouldn't do much damage. So Giroux, Simmonds, Schenn, Ghost, Voracek combine for <3 pts. (or whatever it was).

[fishbulb]

On 4/24/2016 at 7:19 PM, ruxpin said:

 

Do you think the bolded part is true?  I like Trotz, but I thought Hakstol did an incredible coaching job this series.  Not only did he keep the team plugging at it down 0-3 in the series, they stole two games.  And they kept the President's Trophy winner (PTW) to only one goal in the deciding game.  2 goals in the last three games by the PTW.  

 

I thought the adjustment on the penalty kill was incredible.   Look, you can be a great mastermind, but when you bring a knife to a gun battle, smarts will only get you so far.

 

Trotz kept his team focused after coughing up two games.  Given that franchise's history, that's good coaching.   But I wonder about the advantage unless you think it was close.

 

Yes, I feel that way.  I'm not saying Haks is a bad coach, or even that Trotz is a better overall coach than Hakstol, but he  has a LOT more NHL experience to draw upon...Even though he hasn't had all that many positive results in the playoffs, it's still more than Haks.

 

I think Hakstol learned a LOT this playoffs about different things, and you could see he made the correct pk changes to keep things close.   

 

Could he have done anything differently?  No probably not... unless they went to Neuvirth after 2 games, instead of 3.   But I still think Wash had the coaching advantage, even if it's just b/c of experience.

 

 

[icehole]

I think you're pretty spot on, but I'm not that upset about it like you for some reason.

Yes, I know the flyers were the inferior team, but they got beat bad...one of the worst I've seen.  You might ask how can it be one of the worst when it went 6 games and they only lost game 6 by a goal?  Sometimes the final score doesn't tell the story.  I don't even remember what happened in their first win but I don't think they were the dominant team.  The second win, they were quadrupled in shot and had no business winning that game.  Then you add on the game 3 embarrassment, they were really outclassed.

I feel like most 1/8 match ups are a little more even but the 1 usually finds a way to pull it out.  Usually the stars of the #8 team do their thing but the secondary scoring just isn't there or the goaltending stinks.  This was the complete opposite.  The stars were absolutely invisible.  1 point in 6 games claude?!?!?!  Jake, it's time to trim your June playoff beard and start doing something in April.  Simmonds, I loved the energy you brought but maybe you can use that energy to get to the net next time.  Schenn, you absolutely brought your toughness to the series, but I need more than that.  Ghost, they are game planning for you now, so you better figure it out.  Also, time to work on your defensive game.  Streit, why are you still on the team?  Hextall couldn't get a third rounder for you...he got one for Rinaldo for petes sake.  Mason, you're not the goalie when this team is a contender.  You just have too many weaknesses.

 

Hakstol did get a lot out of this team but he also make some silly coaching moves all season.  He was a little too loyal to some guys and made some head scratching lineup moves all season.  The coaching staff finally figured out the PK after the 5 goal game 3, but the PP was a complete embarrassment.  I don't think I've ever seen a team that only got it set up a handful of times in a 6 game series.  Their entire strategy annoyed me.

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, icehole said:

the PP was a complete embarrassment.  I don't think I've ever seen a team that only got it set up a handful of times in a 6 game series.  Their entire strategy annoyed me.

 

You really cannot argue with that.

 

The PP problem was two-fold for me.  First, and probably largely, was the strategy problem you cite.   The second was it was manned by people, up-front in particular, that didn't show up for the series (Voracek & Giroux).  I mean, they were simply horrendous on the offensive side of the ice the entire series.  5v5, PP, etc. etc.

 

Maybe it's chicken/egg.  I do think the strategy was worse than the sum of its parts.   But at some point, the players just have to move their bodies and go to open spaces.  Just standing there could not have been the strategy, could it?

[murraycraven]

Anyone crying about losing this series needs to go back and watch tennis.   This team deserves all the accolades for even making the playoffs.  They took the Caps to game 6...  this was never the year but they played like a Team to win.   Cracks me up that some folks can't look at the big picture - transition year.

[ruxpin]

11 hours ago, fishbulb said:

 

Yes, I feel that way.  I'm saying saying Haks is a bad coach, or even that Trotz is a better overall coach than Hakstol, but he  has a LOT more NHL experience to draw upon...Even though he hasn't had all that many positive results in the playoffs, it's still more than Haks.

 

I think Hakstol learned a LOT this playoffs about different things, and you could see he made the correct pk changes to keep things close.   

 

Could he have done anything differently?  No probably not... unless they went to Neuvirth after 2 games, instead of 3.   But I still think Wash had the coaching advantage, even if it's just b/c of experience.

 

 

That's fair. I'm not sure if it manifested itself in a real way in this series, but I can't argue with your points. 

[murraycraven]

3 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

You really cannot argue with that.

 

The PP problem was two-fold for me.  First, and probably largely, was the strategy problem you cite.   The second was it was manned by people, up-front in particular, that didn't show up for the series (Voracek & Giroux).  I mean, they were simply horrendous on the offensive side of the ice the entire series.  5v5, PP, etc. etc.

 

Maybe it's chicken/egg.  I do think the strategy was worse than the sum of its parts.   But at some point, the players just have to move their bodies and go to open spaces.  Just standing there could not have been the strategy, could it?

 

 

The PP was just so one dimensional - meaning they all stood in the same spot.   There needs to be more emphasis on getting the goalie going east to west next year.   Every single time the PP is on the ice it is G seemingly trying to set up Ghost which is great but they need to mix it up.   Jake NEEDS to learn how to hit the net on the PP...  I swear he needs to look into changing his blade pattern.   

 

Taking shots from the point is great and Ghost has more than proven he can shoot but it is like they are trying to get the perfect shooting lane every possession and allowing the Goalie too much time to see the puck.    

 

Going into next season the biggest ???? I have is Jake.   Can he become the player he was last year is the biggest question - if not, and it has been mentioned a lot, this Team in greatly invested in a player that is simply taking up a ton of cap space.   He has all the tools but he needs to get his head on straight and regain that form.  

 

The defense will sort itself out...  Prov should, at minimum, get the  initial look for the first 9 games.   I would hope he is ready to make the jump to the NHL.    Hopefully Hextall can trade a dman in the offseason or the draft.

 

Goalies - I would keep both Mason and Neuvy...  they are the least of the concerns.

 

Gagne - I would let him walk.   

 

And we still need to add a scorer... it is pretty easy for a team to shut down one line in a playoff series.

[OccamsRazor]

9 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

You really cannot argue with that.

 

The PP problem was two-fold for me.  First, and probably largely, was the strategy problem you cite.   The second was it was manned by people, up-front in particular, that didn't show up for the series (Voracek & Giroux).  I mean, they were simply horrendous on the offensive side of the ice the entire series.  5v5, PP, etc. etc.

 

Maybe it's chicken/egg.  I do think the strategy was worse than the sum of its parts.   But at some point, the players just have to move their bodies and go to open spaces.  Just standing there could not have been the strategy, could it?

 

The PP was an issue for one simple reason. They game planned as best they could to harass the straw that stirred the drink.

 

That straw was none other than Ghost. Once they neutered him (sure he had one goal) it was over.

 

That is why it will be huge next year to have Del Zotto and Provorov back there to help in the puck distribution and cut down on them being able to neutralize one guy.

 

Then later add Sanheim and other teams won't know how to deal with all that.

 

Baby steps.

[Howie58]

Our top line has some liabilities but no top line will do well in a series if other lines can't keep the opposing D honest.  Other than our 4th line--which the Caps announcers deemed one of the best in hockey--it is hard to know what offense we get.  V is not at 100 percent.  G is more of an assist guy.  Simmonds--a garbage man.  They may or may not be a first line of choice.  But the middle six are a blur; though I might take Gagner on for a 1 year at a discount--he was actually forechecking and on the puck more than V the last 25 games of the season, and I like his shootout approach.

 

Overall--we desperately need a creative 30 goal guy.  And we need more size.  Jeepers, we got bowled over at some points in this series.  But there is real progress.  The Keystone Cops days of not getting the puck out of our zone are over.  The compete level is high.  The guys support each other.

 

Strangely, we may have a goalie problem next year, but it won't be due to performance.  It may be cap and career choice related.  Mason may want 5-6 million if he stays on...and we may not see that as feasible or desirable.  Neuvy may not accept a super-sub/1A role.  So I assign a .50 probability to both being out of our uniforms by October, 2017.  

 

Best to all,

 

Howie

[flyer4ever]

The d going forward looks great. Who are they going to pass the puck to?

[Podein25]

41 minutes ago, Howie58 said:

I might take Gagner on for a 1 year at a discount

 

This seems to be the one guy that there is disagreement over. Some just want him gone, some want him on a 1 year-if-not-too-much deal. I guess I'm in that category.