Really Hard To Watch!

[Buffalo Rick]

2 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Sure i am at the point to say yeah let's try whatever....whatever it takes to fix it....because i admit i know idea what that really maybe.

 

It to me seems like this whole group needs to collectively lye on a coach and talk to a professional...hell they may even need an exorcist to move forward....at a loss for an answer.

I heard Boston's coach's press conference on ESPn, and he did not want to say anything negative about the Flyers, but he did say very quickly "they score a lot but give up opportunities back there".  Something to that effect but insinuating that the defense is the true problem

[OccamsRazor]

20 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Something to that effect but insinuating that the defense is the true problem

 

Not the only problem but certainly part of it.

 

They never really step up and challenge guys they seem to just concede the defensive zone, play soft in their own end and just allow the other team to screen the goalie when shots are fired on net....no one there is trying to clear guys out and be physical.

 

So is that the way they are being coached?? Not sure i sure hope not.

[OccamsRazor]

36 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

I heard Boston's coach's press conference on ESPn, and he did not want to say anything negative about the Flyers, but he did say very quickly "they score a lot but give up opportunities back there".  Something to that effect but insinuating that the defense is the true problem

 

 

Like this play just what the f**k is Mcdonald doing here???

 

What a nice set up from Mcdud to Chara...even better glove save by Elliott-impressive reflexes!!!

 

 

 

And then Mcdud is doing a screen study for Hak to see how it's supposed to be done...no need to check him or anything...

 

 

...yeah kind of hard to let kids play because you know we only need the vets making mistakes...not the kids.

 

 

 

[Lunatic]

@Hockey Junkie Try Reddit. Aclee who is on Reddit has all, I mean all the flyers streams. I would be surprised if you could not find the same for Sabres through a different source on Reddit. Centre Ice has been dreadful this year. Delayed presentation between the second and third period of more than a hour. Thirty minute late start. Discontinuation of Home or Away coverage @ no notification. They are definitely not worth any money given the poor service.

[Lunatic]

@OccamsRazor At this point I would rather see Friedman or Myers. At least you know there is a reasonable expectation that they will get better. With AMAC there is no expectation of improvement.

 

[OccamsRazor]

41 minutes ago, Lunatic said:

@OccamsRazor At this point I would rather see Friedman or Myers. At least you know there is a reasonable expectation that they will get better. With AMAC there is no expectation of improvement.

 

 

Yes give Friedman that nod.

 

It's time. Next year if you want to try him you will need waivers to send him back.

 

A cup of coffee is a nice gesture on what he has done and it sends a message to the other kids if they continue to get better.

[icehole]

9 hours ago, vis said:

Just wanted to add another thing as I thought about this some more.  The game itself has become a little boring.  I appreciate the skill in the game, especially among the young players, but the lack of physicality and bona fide villains is taking all of the emotion out of the game.  I'm not saying we need more fighting or that players should keep their heads up.  I despise headshots and grew bored of the staged fight.  But it seems like there is little hitting or emotion out there and, without it, a key element of the game (for me) is missing.  I kind of draw the analogy to guitar players: Yngwie Malmsteen is/was an amazingly skilled, blazingly fast guitar player.  But he never did much for me.  Rather, I preferred Stevie Ray Vaughan because he played with incredible emotion while also being very skilled.  Kind of the same with hockey these days.  

You are dead on.  Something has changed with my relationship with the game.  It used to be a big part of my life but now I find myself losing interest.  My life has changed married and more busy with a 5 year old), but the game has changed also.  Is it the sport or is it because our favorite team has taken on the personality of the most uninteresting coach in the NHL.

 

My nights usually go like this.  Flyers come out slow.  They go down a goal or 2.  Sloppy play that has no flow continues through the second period and I start to get sleepy.  At the second intermission I go up to see what my wife is watching.  I really want to stay up with her but feel it is my duty to finish the game.  I'll watch about 5 minutes of more sloppy play in the third, then I wake up in the middle of the post game show.

 

This team needs a spark.  I dont care if it's the right move or not, I get excited when I hear rumors of a coaching change.  Any trade or firing in the organization is the only thing that gives me hope.

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

I have decided that until Hakstol is fired and a competent and capable coach is brought in to the fix this unmitigated disaster of an on ice product, I won't pay for NHL Center Ice anymore. I get that only a small portion of the money goes to the Flyers, but I won't contribute one dime further to this tripe that is rolled out. Hextall should be embarrassed with how bad this coaching staff is and continually trying to defend it in a condescending and arrogant tone.

 

As for Hakstol, he's got retirement money. He can go away now so that the Flyers can get to the business of hiring a real coach and not some college hockey coach that hasn't adapted his scheme for four years while trying to convince everyone his system is effective. It's effective alright - it's effective in getting scored on and killing the confidence of players.

[Cheesesteak]

https://www.broadstreethockey.com/2018/10/26/18012974/philadelphia-flyers-nhl-team-analysis-theyre-literally-not-good-at-anything-right-now

[brelic]

23 hours ago, vis said:

Just wanted to add another thing as I thought about this some more.  The game itself has become a little boring.  I appreciate the skill in the game, especially among the young players, but the lack of physicality and bona fide villains is taking all of the emotion out of the game.  I'm not saying we need more fighting or that players should keep their heads up.  I despise headshots and grew bored of the staged fight.  But it seems like there is little hitting or emotion out there and, without it, a key element of the game (for me) is missing.  I kind of draw the analogy to guitar players: Yngwie Malmsteen is/was an amazingly skilled, blazingly fast guitar player.  But he never did much for me.  Rather, I preferred Stevie Ray Vaughan because he played with incredible emotion while also being very skilled.  Kind of the same with hockey these days.  

 

You're not alone. 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blue-jackets-tortorella-laments-friendly-nhl-theres-no-hate/

 

I'm not sure what the solution is. I agree with you that the emotion and intensity are gone, and skill by itself just isn't that exciting because that's not what we grew up with. But I get the focus on player safety too. 

 

It's not the actual violence that's missing. It's the intimidation factor - the threat of violence. That's way more powerful and I think it's gone forever. 

[mkscrewy]

i've tried just listening, but it doesn't make it any better either.

 

[OccamsRazor]

24 minutes ago, mkscrewy said:

i've tried just listening, but it doesn't make it any better either.

 

 

 

It's the difference of you yourself gazing at a turd and someone else describing what a turd looks like....does it matter at the end of the day it's a turd.

[RonJeremy]

The Flyers have a lot of skilled players,  it we don’t have one player with the old school Flyers mentality except for maybe Simmonds.  I would rather have guys with less skill and more heart like the old school Flyers ,they were at least exciting to watch. I’d rather have Bridgman, Wilson, Tocchet and Clarke over any of the soy drinking half men we have today. No balls , no heart and boring hockey.

[Poulin20]

On 10/26/2018 at 1:48 PM, Poulin20 said:

I'm sad to say I agree with you.  I have recently taken a part time job scoreboard operating and stat scorekeeping late night men's league games and periodic youth tournaments at the rink my son plays at (for $18-20 a game depending on the format) and it has been infinitely more exciting than the Flyers so far this season.  I have a tournament game tonight and 3 tournament games back to back to back tomorrow starting at 7 AM which I am looking forward to and then off to the Flyers vs Isles which I am dreading!

 

What pisses me off the most is that it seems like Hexy and the team have taken the long view with contracts and drafting well and we have all these young guys etc. but I don't see any upward trend as I had expected this year.  I'm all for being patient and have been preaching it to everyone around me but it is running out very quickly. 

Just as I predicted, the tournament games I kept score for today were so fun, especially the Midgets game.  That game was a physical game with bad blood and tons of fights.  The penalties got so complicated I thought I was going to have to hide under the scorer’s table in the fetal position but I was able to sort it out and everything worked out well.  

 

Then I took my son to the Flyers and was so excited for a good game and I got a milquetoast game and a sleepwalk of an effort against a bad Isles team.  It was horrible.  I was and continue to be outraged by this effort and poor execution.  My son couldn’t wait to leave!

 

Something is not right in Flyerland right now and they need a shakeup.  I’m so depressed how I’m enjoying men’s beer leagues and youth hockey more than the Flyers .

[vis]

On 10/26/2018 at 11:24 AM, radoran said:

 

I've found through watching other teams that I still like the game itself.

 

But the "no meaningful improvement for 7 years" is a big factor in where I am with the or-gan-i-zay-shun. When they blew up the Cup Finals team (which was, in itself, a fluke) it was to give what were then "the prospects" the chance (backed by the 35-year-old defenseman they decided to build around after unceremoniously jettisonning the previous batch of "top prospects").

 

Unfortunately, those prospects haven't done very much for seven years and we're left again with "well, they're building."

 

How long until it's actually "built"? Why do we still have the veteran leaders on the team talking about how they aren't playing well. Three days ago the GM said this:

 

"Our chemistry hasn't been great," general manager Ron Hextall said. "When you start seeing D pairs change and lines change, it's because there's no real chemistry there, and the chemistry comes with execution."

 

How is it possible that among guys - the "leadership core" - that have been playing together for seven years there's "no chemistry"? And why are we supposed to believe that's going to change by rearranging deck chairs?

 

They're going to have to reach out and grab me with results because while I'm still wearing my beat up old Flyers hat around, I'm not wasting my time watching the same old same old expecting new results.

I don’t dislike the game.  It’s just a little less interesting to me.  There are some teams I like watching (San Jose and the Jets, for example).

 

As for the rest of your post, I totally agree.  I just don’t get how a team with a consistent leadership core and coaching staff still looks like it’s trying to figure out the system and still suffers from the same mistakes.  It’s mindboggling.

 

They are at least 2-3 years away from the rest of the youth stepping in.  And who knows what G, V and Simmonds will be?  And who knows if Sanheim, Myers and Morin become legit NHL d-men.

[vis]

13 hours ago, brelic said:

 

You're not alone. 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/blue-jackets-tortorella-laments-friendly-nhl-theres-no-hate/

 

I'm not sure what the solution is. I agree with you that the emotion and intensity are gone, and skill by itself just isn't that exciting because that's not what we grew up with. But I get the focus on player safety too. 

 

It's not the actual violence that's missing. It's the intimidation factor - the threat of violence. That's way more powerful and I think it's gone forever. 

The intimidation factor is gone, but also the villains.  Guys like Domi, Tucker, Avery, Barnaby.  Without them, there’s less emotion in the league.  At the time, I absolutely hated those players.  But you know what?  They made things interesting.   

 

Look, I don’t want players getting headhunted or intentionally injured.  But everything now is scrutinized and now they are suspending roughness.  Honestly, that Matheson suspension is a complete joke.  Should never have been a suspension.  That took things a bit too far for me.  

[radoran]

44 minutes ago, vis said:

The intimidation factor is gone, but also the villains.  Guys like Domi, Tucker, Avery, Barnaby.  Without them, there’s less emotion in the league.  At the time, I absolutely hated those players.  But you know what?  They made things interesting.   

 

Look, I don’t want players getting headhunted or intentionally injured.  But everything now is scrutinized and now they are suspending roughness.  Honestly, that Matheson suspension is a complete joke.  Should never have been a suspension.  That took things a bit too far for me.  

 

They are missing your tried and true heels that can draw heat.

 

Nowadays the heat comes much more from the salary perspective than play or personality.

 

The game needs something or someone to put a real stamp on it. Not sure that can come from Edmonton again.

 

Or Pittsburgh.  Crosby is as close as you can get and all he's done is been the dominant player of his generation but (like Lemieux) he hasn't become a major continental star that transcends the sport.

 

Or someonething that shakes up the way the game is played a la the Bullies or the vaunted trap.

 

And then we return to the situation where the league is more valuable, more profitable, and more popular then ever.

 

How about that? 

[vis]

5 hours ago, radoran said:

 

They are missing your tried and true heels that can draw heat.

Absolutely.  Other than Tom Wilson and Brad Marchand, I can't think of many.  Maybe Roussel and Tkachuck.  I think guys like Perry, Kesler, Lucic and Burrows are kind of too old.  And I don't think any of the foregoing, except Marchand, drew as much hate as Tucker, Avery and Barnaby, et al.  Maybe I don't notice the hate for the newer guys because many of them are in the Western conference.  

 

5 hours ago, radoran said:

The game needs something or someone to put a real stamp on it. Not sure that can come from Edmonton again.

 

Or Pittsburgh.  Crosby is as close as you can get and all he's done is been the dominant player of his generation but (like Lemieux) he hasn't become a major continental star that transcends the sport.

I kind of think you're seeing something special among all of the young, skilled players across the league.  There is so much talent and so many players doing exceptional things on a nightly basis.  McDavid, Matthews, Boeser, Panarin, Laine, Petterson to name a few.  Not to mention the older guard like Crosby, Kane, etc.  But, you're right: I think it's hard for any of them to transcend the game, at least not in the US.  

 

5 hours ago, radoran said:

Or someonething that shakes up the way the game is played a la the Bullies or the vaunted trap.

Would be nice to have a GM or coach that could think of something like that...

 

 

[mkscrewy]

On 10/27/2018 at 6:09 PM, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

It's the difference of you yourself gazing at a turd and someone else describing what a turd looks like....does it matter at the end of the day it's a turd.

right you are, Ken. this is just as ugly, but much more entertaining.