Game 18: Flyers vs Capitals 11/13/19 7:30 pm

[OccamsRazor]

10 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 Not necessarily in that order, but all of them before Jake.

 

These numbers must be dated and he stored the numbers years ago because i don't remember him being effective in awhile.

 

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?aggregate=1&report=skatershootout&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20112012&seasonTo=20192020&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=team.4&filter=shootoutShots,gte,1&sort=shootoutShootingPctg

[ruxpin]

4 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

These numbers must be dated and he stored the numbers years ago because i don't remember him being effective in awhile.

 

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?aggregate=1&report=skatershootout&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20112012&seasonTo=20192020&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=team.4&filter=shootoutShots,gte,1&sort=shootoutShootingPctg

 

Yeah, he's gone down the last couple.   There's an option to filter ever-reducing years back.   It seems two years ago he began to fall off but remains in the top 3 for attempts.   He was 1 for 8 last year.   With such a small sampling, there can be wide variation of percentage, so I get that.   But he's 1 for his last 12 (0 for 4 this year).   You don't remember him being effective in awhile because it really has been awhile.

[OccamsRazor]

2 hours ago, ruxpin said:

You don't remember him being effective in awhile because it really has been awhile.

 

Yeah sometimes I just want to make sure I'm being fair to him but I couldn't remember him nailing any.

 

Which in fact can crush your confidence.

 

[brelic]

17 hours ago, King Knut said:

The PP has to get better.  They're wasting opportunity after opportunity.  I don't know what's wrong and I don't care anymore.  They're better than this. Figure it out.  if their power play was a mere 20%, a half these games never would have gone to OT. 

 

Their PP is currently 21.7% (12th) for the season, and a slight dip to 19% during this 5-0-2 stretch. 

 

 

[elmatus]

Jake has always been that guy though. He fails the eyeball test almost 100% of the time, and yet somehow he produces at a solid level. I do think some of the hate he gets is unjustified, though I recognize I've flung my fair share of it around here. 

 

As far as this season goes, I actually think having Jake around is a good thing. I've mentioned this elsewhere, but he gives us good depth at that position, which is important. And yeah, TK is better than he is; and yeah, Farabee is coming along nicely, but having three RW who can put up points is better than having just two. 

 

I extend much of this same logic to JVR as well, who I find does very little a lot of the time. 

 

Probably the biggest thing I'd like to see AV do is put Giroux back to the wing. I would rather have 90pt Giroux than 60pt Giroux. 

[mojo1917]

17 minutes ago, elmatus said:

And yeah, TK is better than he is; and yeah, Farabee is coming along nicely, but having three RW who can put up points is better than having just two. 

this, 100% this

 

17 minutes ago, elmatus said:

Probably the biggest thing I'd like to see AV do is put Giroux back to the wing. I would rather have 90pt Giroux than 60pt Giroux. 

Also this 100%

[King Knut]

1 hour ago, brelic said:

 

Their PP is currently 21.7% (12th) for the season, and a slight dip to 19% during this 5-0-2 stretch. 

 

 

 

Sorry, the source I looked at when I wrote it said 17%

 

I think trying to keep it above 20% is a fair expectation, though with the firepower they have and the history that firepower has, i'd expect it to be higher, wouldnt't you?  

 

It's not like G, Jake, JVR, and Ghost don't all have a history of being good on the PP.  

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, brelic said:

 

Their PP is currently 21.7% (12th) for the season, and a slight dip to 19% during this 5-0-2 stretch. 

 

 

 

The wheels seemed to fall off with the Montreal game (before that game they were 6th overall on the pp).

 

That game they went 0 for 6 and have gone 2 for 15 since that game so that had a drastic drop in their numbers.

 

Some how they need to get back to made them so good.

 

And i'm not hockey savvy enough to know what that is besides the Captain obvious they need to score more goals comment.

 

But maybe keeping their feet moving and get shot on net will be a huge one. Look for rebounds.

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, elmatus said:

As far as this season goes, I actually think having Jake around is a good thing.

 

He could be if he continues to pursue the puck when it gets in his own end aggressively but that is when he seems to come into the zone run around or just glide in circles not really doing anything expecting someone else to get him the puck so he can start the transition and that shouldn't be the case it's up to him to help and do his part as everyone else.

 

That is the one thing Simmer was guilty of too. JVR is guilty of it too. So it doesn't send a good message to the team when he thinks he is above them....and we know they all see it when they watch the film of the game...it's like the elephant in the room no one wants to speak of.

 

It has to change....hey if you are scoring goals like Overchicken they hey we can over look it a bit...but he doesn't.

[brelic]

1 hour ago, King Knut said:

 

Sorry, the source I looked at when I wrote it said 17%

 

I think trying to keep it above 20% is a fair expectation, though with the firepower they have and the history that firepower has, i'd expect it to be higher, wouldnt't you?  

 

It's not like G, Jake, JVR, and Ghost don't all have a history of being good on the PP.  

 

Yeah, I'd expect it to be top 1/3 of the league at worst, and top 10 at its best. 

 

Like @OccamsRazor mentioned, it has hit a bit of a rough patch, but these things even out. 

 

The bigger concern is shooting percentage - they are at 8.7% (25th), dragged down by Ghost (career-low 3%) and JVR (career-low 7%, first time below 10.8% since his last time in Philly 2011).

 

 

[King Knut]

34 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

Yeah, I'd expect it to be top 1/3 of the league at worst, and top 10 at its best. 

 

Like @OccamsRazor mentioned, it has hit a bit of a rough patch, but these things even out. 

 

The bigger concern is shooting percentage - they are at 8.7% (25th), dragged down by Ghost (career-low 3%) and JVR (career-low 7%, first time below 10.8% since his last time in Philly 2011).

 

 

 

Yeah presumably, things start to fall into place for those two before long.  Historically it should.  Hopefully it pans out that way.

 

In the meantime, at least the PK is clicking!  

[brelic]

10 minutes ago, King Knut said:

 

Yeah presumably, things start to fall into place for those two before long.  Historically it should.  Hopefully it pans out that way.

 

In the meantime, at least the PK is clicking!  

 

Exactly. We may only have 1 point more than the Leafs (in two fewer games.. they've actually lost more than they've won), but if you look at the underlying metrics of each team, I'll take the Flyers over the Leafs right now without question.

 

In Leaf land, it honestly feels a bit like the Hakstol days.... playing as individuals, not a team, top heavy, poor defense and goaltending, poor special teams, and questionable coaching.

 

The big one I read lately about Babcock is that he goes with Andersen in the first game of a B2B regardless of opponent that night or next night, regardless of performance, regardless of record. Then the backup the 2nd night. 

 

To me, that's not coaching. That's stubborness and inability to adapt. I was chatting with @WordsOfWisdom in the Leafs section, and he was musing whether or not Babcock's "reputation" was kind of boosted because of the Detroit teams he had. It's possible he's not as good (or not longer as effective) as people think he is.

 

 

[King Knut]

19 minutes ago, brelic said:

 

Exactly. We may only have 1 point more than the Leafs (in two fewer games.. they've actually lost more than they've won), but if you look at the underlying metrics of each team, I'll take the Flyers over the Leafs right now without question.

 

In Leaf land, it honestly feels a bit like the Hakstol days.... playing as individuals, not a team, top heavy, poor defense and goaltending, poor special teams, and questionable coaching.

 

The big one I read lately about Babcock is that he goes with Andersen in the first game of a B2B regardless of opponent that night or next night, regardless of performance, regardless of record. Then the backup the 2nd night. 

 

To me, that's not coaching. That's stubborness and inability to adapt. I was chatting with @WordsOfWisdom in the Leafs section, and he was musing whether or not Babcock's "reputation" was kind of boosted because of the Detroit teams he had. It's possible he's not as good (or not longer as effective) as people think he is.

 

 

 

Is it me or does Babcock's expression always look like he's in the midst of an extremely difficult BM?  

[WordsOfWisdom]

3 hours ago, King Knut said:

 

Is it me or does Babcock's expression always look like he's in the midst of an extremely difficult BM?  

 

lol. He has enjoyed a free ride in Toronto so far. Expectations have been kept low (lower than most other NHL teams by comparison) and the leash has been long, but Toronto fans have a right to expect more from their team than a first round playoff exit in a league where 50% of the teams make the playoffs, especially given the talent this team now has. This ain't Major League Baseball. Making the playoffs in the NHL is a rather meaningless achievement. Teams should not view a playoff appearance as being a "successful" season, particularly when the team is at the salary cap payroll wise and (by all accounts) the team is underachieving on the ice.  

 

Babcock is showing me that he can coach a team with an NHL max payroll to first round playoff exists and/or playoff misses. That's like coaching the New York Yankees with a $250 million payroll to an 81-81 season. 

 

 

[King Knut]

On 11/15/2019 at 5:34 PM, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

lol. He has enjoyed a free ride in Toronto so far. Expectations have been kept low (lower than most other NHL teams by comparison) and the leash has been long, but Toronto fans have a right to expect more from their team than a first round playoff exit in a league where 50% of the teams make the playoffs, especially given the talent this team now has. This ain't Major League Baseball. Making the playoffs in the NHL is a rather meaningless achievement. Teams should not view a playoff appearance as being a "successful" season, particularly when the team is at the salary cap payroll wise and (by all accounts) the team is underachieving on the ice.  

 

Babcock is showing me that he can coach a team with an NHL max payroll to first round playoff exists and/or playoff misses. That's like coaching the New York Yankees with a $250 million payroll to an 81-81 season. 

 

 

 

Well from an outsider's position, while the leafs are indeed chock full of talent, I'm not sure it's balanced enough to be a dominating power.   The defense is a big question mark without many answers yet. 

 

I'm really not sure what they're going to do next year when they have only 1 D man under contract and will be entering the summer with zero cap dollars.  

 

In hindsight, I'm really not sure signing Tavares was the right move at all for them, though I suppose Marner hadn't really shown his stuff at that point yet.  Either way, giving in to Nylander and not just sitting him or trading him was an enormous miscalculation.

 

I'm really not sure they're going to be able to move him without retaining significant salary.  They're going to have to move someone though.  They may be getting 11million off the books with Horton and Clarkson, but those guys already don't count against the cap.

 

It's nowhere near the disaster pit that Paul Holmgren dug for the Flyers as at least they're overspending on functionally good players.  But winning in the playoffs is going to be challenging with so many  question marks on defense.

[WordsOfWisdom]

56 minutes ago, King Knut said:

In hindsight, I'm really not sure signing Tavares was the right move at all for them, though I suppose Marner hadn't really shown his stuff at that point yet.  Either way, giving in to Nylander and not just sitting him or trading him was an enormous miscalculation.

 

I think they signed Tavares as insurance in case Matthews didn't sign with the team long term.

 

The team should have traded Nylander a year ago for a defenceman but I harped on that one already. Unless a Leafs fan grabs Kyle Dubas's hand and forces it to move across the paper, he won't sign a good defenceman to a contract. That "No D" directive must come from Leafs ownership or something because it's a multi-GM long term issue with the team.