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Flyers are the only team in the division without an elite game breaking player


RonJeremy

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We are the only team in the division without a true superstar, a game changer who is a threat every time he is on the ice. We have good players, but we lack a guy who dominates when he is on the ice.  The kind of guy who the other team fears and who skates circles around the opposition. Boston has Pastranuk, Isles have Barzal, Rangers have Panarin, Caps have Ovechkin, Pittsburgh has Cindy, Buffalo has Eichel, The Devils have a potential superstar , Hughes...  if you took any of those guys and put them on the Flyers imagine how much better we would be. 

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23 minutes ago, RonJeremy said:

We are the only team in the division without a true superstar, a game changer who is a threat every time he is on the ice. We have good players, but we lack a guy who dominates when he is on the ice.  The kind of guy who the other team fears and who skates circles around the opposition. Boston has Pastranuk, Isles have Barzal, Rangers have Panarin, Caps have Ovechkin, Pittsburgh has Cindy, Buffalo has Eichel, The Devils have a potential superstar , Hughes...  if you took any of those guys and put them on the Flyers imagine how much better we would be. 

Yep. 

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15 minutes ago, RonJeremy said:

We are the only team in the division without a true superstar, a game changer who is a threat every time he is on the ice. We have good players, but we lack a guy who dominates when he is on the ice.  The kind of guy who the other team fears and who skates circles around the opposition. Boston has Pastranuk, Isles have Barzal, Rangers have Panarin, Caps have Ovechkin, Pittsburgh has Cindy, Buffalo has Eichel, The Devils have a potential superstar , Hughes...  if you took any of those guys and put them on the Flyers imagine how much better we would be. 

 

Do NHL teams need a superstar to win the CUP?

 

Found some references that make us think about teams that have won a Stanley Cup in the salary cap era without superstars in their prime.

 

The Los Angeles Kings won a pair of Stanley Cups (2012, 2014) with Anze Kopitar up front and Drew Doughty on the back. Doughty is considered one of the best defensemen in the game, and Kopitar is an annual Selke Trophy contender as best defensive forward. However, neither player is a generational talent. 

 

Los Angeles amassed as much shot blocking, physical, defensively responsible talent as the law allowed, then sprinkled in a few players like Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter for just enough offense to win a pair of Cups.

 

In 2013-14, the Kings allowed the second-fewest Corsi-Against (shots/shot attempts). It was nearly impossible to score against them. It was the same story in 2011-12. In fact, in 2011-12, the Kings also scored the second-fewest goals. The didn’t drive their Corsi through the roof with puck possession; they did it by taking away space.

 

The 2010-11 Boston Bruins had Patrice Bergeron at center and Zdeno Chara on the blue line. They too were a physical, pounding bunch who won a Stanley Cup and advanced to another Stanley Cup Final by preventing their opponents from scoring and finding just enough offense. The 2011 Bruins had average regular season analytics but caught fire late in the season and steam-rolled through the playoffs.

 

Those teams didn’t have a prolific scorer like Patrick Kane or anything close to a Sidney Crosby. It’s debatable the Kings or Bruins Cup teams even had a “Phil Kessel” type scorer.

 

The 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights almost pulled off the same feat. In the 2018-19 season, the Winnipeg Jets and Bruins also knocked on the door with deep rosters but a lack of household names in their prime.

 

But a superstar sure does make things easier.

 

Commonalities - 

Defense Responsibility: The commonalities of the last half dozen teams to win the Stanley Cup may seem small, but they’re significant. No team has won the Stanley Cup with firewagon hockey, or by trying to outscore their opponents. It may seem weirdly antithetical, but the strategy is not to score more goals than the opponent. To win 43 pounds of silver, it’s about preventing the opponent from scoring more goals than you.

 

Hmm. Sounds like AV.

 

Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies (2010–11 and 2011–12) and made one Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2014) in 20 years.
 

In his second year with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vigneault led his team to _ _ _ _ _ _ 

 

With season on the line, Alain Vigneault looks to Flyers' leaders

 

 

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15 minutes ago, Zzeke said:

 

Do NHL teams need a superstar to win the CUP?

 

Found some references that make us think about teams that have won a Stanley Cup in the salary cap era without superstars in their prime.

 

The Los Angeles Kings won a pair of Stanley Cups (2012, 2014) with Anze Kopitar up front and Drew Doughty on the back. Doughty is considered one of the best defensemen in the game, and Kopitar is an annual Selke Trophy contender as best defensive forward. However, neither player is a generational talent. 

 

Los Angeles amassed as much shot blocking, physical, defensively responsible talent as the law allowed, then sprinkled in a few players like Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter for just enough offense to win a pair of Cups.

 

In 2013-14, the Kings allowed the second-fewest Corsi-Against (shots/shot attempts). It was nearly impossible to score against them. It was the same story in 2011-12. In fact, in 2011-12, the Kings also scored the second-fewest goals. The didn’t drive their Corsi through the roof with puck possession; they did it by taking away space.

 

The 2010-11 Boston Bruins had Patrice Bergeron at center and Zdeno Chara on the blue line. They too were a physical, pounding bunch who won a Stanley Cup and advanced to another Stanley Cup Final by preventing their opponents from scoring and finding just enough offense. The 2011 Bruins had average regular season analytics but caught fire late in the season and steam-rolled through the playoffs.

 

Those teams didn’t have a prolific scorer like Patrick Kane or anything close to a Sidney Crosby. It’s debatable the Kings or Bruins Cup teams even had a “Phil Kessel” type scorer.

 

The 2017-18 Vegas Golden Knights almost pulled off the same feat. In the 2018-19 season, the Winnipeg Jets and Bruins also knocked on the door with deep rosters but a lack of household names in their prime.

 

But a superstar sure does make things easier.

 

Commonalities - 

Defense Responsibility: The commonalities of the last half dozen teams to win the Stanley Cup may seem small, but they’re significant. No team has won the Stanley Cup with firewagon hockey, or by trying to outscore their opponents. It may seem weirdly antithetical, but the strategy is not to score more goals than the opponent. To win 43 pounds of silver, it’s about preventing the opponent from scoring more goals than you.

 

Hmm. Sounds like AV.

 

Under Vigneault, Vancouver won back-to-back Presidents' Trophies (2010–11 and 2011–12) and made one Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2011). In his first season with New York, he led the Rangers to their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance (2014) in 20 years.
 

In his second year with the Philadelphia Flyers, Vigneault led his team to _ _ _ _ _ _ 

 

With season on the line, Alain Vigneault looks to Flyers' leaders

 

 

 

And, the current Cup winner - TB without Stamkos. Do they have any super stars? Hedman?

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9 minutes ago, Zzeke said:

 

And, the current Cup winner - TB without Stamkos. Do they have any super stars? Hedman?

Kucherov, Point and Vaslievskiy, and yes Hedman, are stars.

Edited by FD19372
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58 minutes ago, RonJeremy said:

We are the only team in the division without a true superstar

 

2 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

Kucherov, Point and Vaslievskiy, and yes Hedman, are stars.

 

Superstars?

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25 minutes ago, Zzeke said:

 

And, the current Cup winner - TB without Stamkos. Do they have any super stars? Hedman?


As others have noted, The Bolts are loaded with superstars. From front to back. 
 

And while LA may not have had that caliber — Doughty was arguably the best dman in the league at that time, but let’s put that aside for a second — that’s one team. I’d rather not try to catch lightning in a bottle. 
 

Vegas may have a shot at that kind of win by committee deal, but it’s hardly a common feature. It’s way more common for winning teams to have superstar players carrying the weight. 

Edited by elmatus
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25 minutes ago, FD19372 said:

We have the best goalie in the division, however. It only took the franchise three decades, to realize the importance of the goaltender.

Lol, we literally went 30 years with crap goaltending and without any homegrown defenseman, we always had to trade for defense and we wasted the Lindros years with crappy goaltending and only one standout defenseman, Desjardins, who we overplayed and ran into the ground.  Hextall was only a top goalie for his first couple of years, he was never the same after the hamstring injuries.

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19 minutes ago, elmatus said:


As others have noted, The Bolts are loaded with superstars. From front to back. 
 

And while LA may not have had that caliber — Doughty was arguably the best dman in the league at that time, but let’s put that aside for a second — that’s one team. I’d rather not try to catch lightning in a bottle. 
 

Vegas may have a shot at that kind of win by committee deal, but it’s hardly a common feature. It’s way more common for winning teams to have superstar players carrying the weight. 

So considering we don’t have that elusive star, should we have offered up some of our so called top prospects and abundant depth to get a guy like Laine or PLD,  It’s too late now, but.... are there any other impact players that might be available due to cap issues or asshole coaches? I think Laine and PLD are both UFA in 2 years? So at worst,we are two years away...LOL

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54 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

No 4th liners are star status exempt.

Aube Kubel is our best hitter, forechecker and he has a real quick shot. I really think he should be on the PP , he would be an excellent finisher, he has a shoot first mentality .

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Just now, RonJeremy said:

Aube Kubel is our best hitter, forechecker and he has a real quick shot. I really think he should be on the PP , he would be an excellent finisher, he has a shoot first mentality .

 

I've agreed with two things you've written today, it's surely downhill from here...

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16 minutes ago, RonJeremy said:

Aube Kubel is our best hitter, forechecker and he has a real quick shot. I really think he should be on the PP , he would be an excellent finisher, he has a shoot first mentality .

 

Well he has played poorly this season so far and he needs to get his head out his ass and find his game from the end of last year.

 

I know @CoachX will get a kick out of this but it's true I try not to play favorites and call it like I see it.

 

And the only guy who has shown up every game has been Ivan.

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2 hours ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

Well he has played poorly this season so far and he needs to get his head out his ass and find his game from the end of last year.

 

I know @CoachX will get a kick out of this but it's true I try not to play favorites and call it like I see it.

 

And the only guy who has shown up every game has been Ivan.

The whole team can play better , but there were no exhibition games, nobody is really up to full speed. So let’s wait until it’s about 15 games into the season and then reassess. One thing is for sure ,at least NAK has been much less of a waste of money than Giroux.

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6 hours ago, RonJeremy said:

We are the only team in the division without a true superstar, a game changer who is a threat every time he is on the ice.

 

Your ENTIRE TEAM is a threat whenever they're on the ice.  How can you whine about having a 1st place team that almost won the Cup last season?

 

If we had your roster it would be the best Leafs team in the past 25 years! 

 

All of your stars are on defence.  You may not win the Art Ross or Hart trophies but you'll be cleaning up with Selke and Norris trophies. 

 

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