Are the Flyers this Year's Biggest Disappointment?

[CoachX]

3 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

If it were up to me we'd be having a parade for every round of playoffs that we win.   

2004 would have been a good year for it

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, radoran said:

 

 

 

Charlie O'Connor

 

@charlieo_conn

 

 

This season has shown that Chuck Fletcher has serious work to do to address his team's holes and regain the faith of the fanbase. And he's got to do it all in one offseason. And get it all right. No pressure, of course.

[radoran]

4 minutes ago, OccamsRazor said:

 

 

 

Charlie O'Connor

 

@charlieo_conn

 

 

This season has shown that Chuck Fletcher has serious work to do to address his team's holes and regain the faith of the fanbase. And he's got to do it all in one offseason. And get it all right. No pressure, of course.

 

 I cannot watch 28 and 93 anymore.

 

Cannot.

 

Beyond done.

 

BEYOND DONE.

 

Also, too, FIRE HOLMGREN.

 

This is an absolute embarrassment that cannot be recovered.

 

Cannot.

 

Buy out Giroux.

 

Who am I kidding? This leading by example earns him a laurel and hearty handshake and a contract to "retire a Flyer."

 

I remember when being "a Flyer" used to MEAN SOMETHING.

 

[OccamsRazor]

9 hours ago, radoran said:

 

I remember when being "a Flyer" used to MEAN SOMETHING.

 

I know. I remember those days.

 

This team really hasn't been fun to watch since the 2010 Stanley Cup run.

 

I knew Giroux was not a goal scorer but I guess I just expect more effort and play making ability from him.

 

He is cooked.

 

And Jake well I have been done with him years ago....

 

And that crap fest was broadcast on NBCSports for all the world to see.

 

I sure Snider has rolled over and is face down in his grave.

 

If they want to move Jake they might have to eat half his salary per year no joke he is that bad.

 

I don't know what we are going to do.

 

I miss watching enjoyable dominant hockey.

 

I guess I took it for granted.

 

Best thing they can do is remove these guys as quick as they can so they don't rub their stank off on the kids.

 

It maybe to late for some of them already on the big club.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by OccamsRazor
bourbon isn't working

[WordsOfWisdom]

11 hours ago, radoran said:

I remember when being "a Flyer" used to MEAN SOMETHING.

 

You mean six months ago?     

[WordsOfWisdom]

12 hours ago, CoachX said:

2004 would have been a good year for it

 

Just prior to the season-long lockout. Yes!  I think we beat the Sens that year. Perfect.   

[flyer4ever]

On 4/10/2021 at 10:31 AM, Howie58 said:

Greetings:

 

I grew up in Vineland, NJ, not too far from Philly.  At the time, the paper was known as the Vineland Times Journal.  Now it's the Daily Journal.  Every blue moon I go online to see what's up.  Today, I saw the following article:

 

https://www.thedailyjournal.com/story/sports/pro/2021/04/09/flyers-most-disappointing-team-season/7146530002/

 

I agree with this assessment.  The last decade has been disturbing and as we've been saying for months, this year's squad is barely watchable.  Fans have a right to be angry and CF/Comcast have a lot of soul searching in coming weeks and months even if we miraculously make the playoffs.  

This team has been a s*&^ show for ten years. THe 2010 cup final may have been the cause. The losers in the corporate suits were delirious rolling around in the playoff revenues with big chubbies and cheshire cat grins on their greedy disgusting little faces. The worst thing that could happen to this collection of poofters would be making the playoffs. It would just lock us in to several more years of what we have suffered through the past months. 

My favourite Mike Keenan story, and we all have different opinions on Iron Mike. First year in Chicago, Hawks were playing soft disjointed hockey. One night after losing at home, he called a mandatory practice early the next day. After the usual routine, he started the bag skate. During the bag skate he brought a chair out to center ice and sat down, and continued to berate the players and skate them. Finally, after lots of shouting and gasping, Trent Yawney, a quiet young very fit player knocked Keenan and the chair over. That was the start of a good run for that team and a very fun team to watch. They were all for one. I have not seen the Flyers show any of that since 2010, other than the start of game 6 when #28 drove Cindys little buck teeth into the boards. 

[lynxrattle]

Sorry to bump into Flyer territory, but thank you for the Keenan story None better!!!

[flyer4ever]

3 hours ago, lynxrattle said:

Sorry to bump into Flyer territory, but thank you for the Keenan story None better!!!

You're welcome. Was at a coaching symposium years ago that he was a part of. It was part of his thought process to make the players all pull together. Making them all hate him gave them all something in common. 

[mojo1917]

31 minutes ago, flyer4ever said:

You're welcome. Was at a coaching symposium years ago that he was a part of. It was part of his thought process to make the players all pull together. Making them all hate him gave them all something in common.

 

I can see how he would wear out his welcome with that behavior.

There's only so many times you can do that until people see through you.

Also how do you raise the stakes once they all hate you?  It seems like a short term fix.

 

So there's there's that. 

 

But that story is/was awesome - thanks for sharing it. 

[radoran]

25 minutes ago, mojo1917 said:

There's only so many times you can do that until people see through you.

Also how do you raise the stakes once they all hate you?  It seems like a short term fix.

 

Four years in Philly & Chicago

 

2 1/2 in STL and FLA. Two in Calgary. two partials in VAN, one year in Boston.

 

His lone season in NYR he won the Cup.

 

Pretty sure Herbie Brooks used this tactic on the 1980 Olympic Team, too.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by radoran

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

20 hours ago, radoran said:

 

 I cannot watch 28 and 93 anymore.

 

Cannot.

 

Beyond done.

 

BEYOND DONE.

 

Also, too, FIRE HOLMGREN.

 

This is an absolute embarrassment that cannot be recovered.

 

Cannot.

 

Buy out Giroux.

 

Who am I kidding? This leading by example earns him a laurel and hearty handshake and a contract to "retire a Flyer."

 

I remember when being "a Flyer" used to MEAN SOMETHING.

 

 

.

[OccamsRazor]

1 hour ago, AlaskaFlyerFan said:

 

.

 

 

[Samifan]

Are the Flyers this Year's Biggest Disappointment?
 

Yes!

 

[OccamsRazor]

Just now, Samifan said:

Are the Flyers this Year's Biggest Disappointment?
 

Yes!

 

 

Put them or the Eagles on a dart and just throw to pick one it's been that bad.

 

The Eagles to me win unless of course the Flyers trade Carter Hart to try and catch up.

 

 

[elmatus]

They're definitely going to be the biggest disappointment here on this forum. Individually, the feelings of disappointment will largely relate to simple expectations - reality. The more you felt this team might actually do well, the more disappointment you're likely to be feeling.

 

For my part, I was pretty cautious about my optimism honestly. I won't say I'm not disappointed -- I am -- but I feel like I may not be quite as surprised as others around. The truth is, this team has been about the same for a while now. They have decent spurts, but that never seems to translate to real consistency across seasons. And then we have a now aging core of vets to boot, which doesn't exactly spell success as a formula.

 

So yeah, I'm disappointed, but not super surprised really.

 

I think the watershed moment for me was somewhere around 2-3 seasons ago. In my mind, that was about the time when the whole Hextall rebuild should have been hitting its stride. If that whole thing was to work, we should have seen some noticeable improvements around that time and going forward. That didn't happen though. Instead, all we've really had is more of the same mediocrity. That was a sign things probably weren't going to just magically work out.

 

This team needs better talent. Full stop. We have some reasonably good supporting characters, including some more in the pipeline too, but that's just not enough to be truly competitive in this league. Without the addition of true top flight talent, I'm afraid we're doomed to some disappointment.

[radoran]

4 hours ago, elmatus said:

In my mind, that was about the time when the whole Hextall rebuild should have been hitting its stride. If that whole thing was to work, we should have seen some noticeable improvements around that time and going forward. That didn't happen though.

 

To speak in favor of your point...

 

Three years ago they were actually 3rd in the division for the first time in five years. 42-26-14, 98 points. Made the playoffs, lost to the then-Cup champion Pens.

 

Giroux had the best season of his career with 34 goals and 102 points. Voracek had 20 goals and 66 points.

 

I was a partial season ticket holder.

 

The next season they were 6th, 37-37-8, 82 points. Missed the playoffs. Hextall, then Hackstol got fired inseason. Giroux dropped 12 goals and 17 points to a still-respectable 85 in 82 (22 goals). Voracek had 12 goals and 56 points in only 69 games.

 

They had added perhaps the #2 overall UFA available who, yes, turned out to be JVR (27 goals in 66 games).

 

Aside from that, in a functional sense, it was largely the same team.

 

What happened? Did the coach who coached Giroux to a career season suddenly not know how to coach? Is JVR such a locker room cancer?

 

What had happened was that the inconsistent Y2Y players stayed on their inconsistent Y2Y courses - courses they remain on today.

 

The next year they were 2nd in the division, 41-21-7, took "1st" seed in the round robin, won a playoff round.

 

And now they are where they are today.

 

5 hours ago, elmatus said:

This team needs better talent. Full stop.

 

[OccamsRazor]

On 4/13/2021 at 10:42 PM, radoran said:

This is an absolute embarrassment that cannot be recovered.

 

I'm sad because i actually thought they had a chance of Seattle taking JVR but his recent 17 game goal less draught has all but ruined that chance i'm sure. Now they will end up taking someone like NAK.

[tucson83]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:51 PM, radoran said:

 

To speak in favor of your point...

 

Three years ago they were actually 3rd in the division for the first time in five years. 42-26-14, 98 points. Made the playoffs, lost to the then-Cup champion Pens.

 

Giroux had the best season of his career with 34 goals and 102 points. Voracek had 20 goals and 66 points.

 

I was a partial season ticket holder.

 

The next season they were 6th, 37-37-8, 82 points. Missed the playoffs. Hextall, then Hackstol got fired inseason. Giroux dropped 12 goals and 17 points to a still-respectable 85 in 82 (22 goals). Voracek had 12 goals and 56 points in only 69 games.

 

They had added perhaps the #2 overall UFA available who, yes, turned out to be JVR (27 goals in 66 games).

 

Aside from that, in a functional sense, it was largely the same team.

 

What happened? Did the coach who coached Giroux to a career season suddenly not know how to coach? Is JVR such a locker room cancer?

 

What had happened was that the inconsistent Y2Y players stayed on their inconsistent Y2Y courses - courses they remain on today.

 

The next year they were 2nd in the division, 41-21-7, took "1st" seed in the round robin, won a playoff round.

 

And now they are where they are today.

 

 

 

i feel like it's a bigger issue with young and vet players on this team not meshing at all. that's why im suggesting try to get rid of the bad chemistry vets and some young players that dont mesh and replace them with players from fa/trades that can mesh.

[FD19372]

On 4/15/2021 at 3:51 PM, radoran said:

They had added perhaps the #2 overall UFA available who, yes, turned out to be JVR (27 goals in 66 games).

THIS exacerbated an already emerging roster problem, that was occurring. Bringing back JVR because it was convenient, due to knowing what he brought was managemental laziness. Couple that with the COMPLETE organizational failure in finding any semblance of a replacement for Niskanen, and doing  nothing to improve this roster in free agency..leaves us where we are today. This orgamization, much like the Philadelphia Eagles, leaves me with a ton of questions about what the higher-ups are truly capable of doing or if they have too many "blind spots", in order to properly do what they should be doing. I want to believe they are really trying to approach this off-season with an open mind, and that almost any of these players are available as trade candidates. I really do, but I won't believe it until I see a player like Giroux or Voracek, traded.

[FD19372]

JVR does ONE thing well, score goals. That's it. At his price tag, he isn't worth it.

[GratefulFlyers]

I give JVR credit for his play earlier this year, the first 20 games. And he wasn't just scoring goals he was hitting, knocking guys off the puck, forcing turnovers. And then it all stopped. 1 goal in his last 19 games... Yep that's the JVR we all remember. It was stupid bringing him back. I'm sure casual fans thought "Wow 36 goals last year!" but the rest of us knew who we were getting.

[OccamsRazor]

1 minute ago, GratefulFlyers said:

I give JVR credit for his play earlier this year, the first 20 games. And he wasn't just scoring goals he was hitting, knocking guys off the puck, forcing turnovers. And then it all stopped. 1 goal in his last 19 games... Yep that's the JVR we all remember. It was stupid bringing him back. I'm sure casual fans thought "Wow 36 goals last year!" but the rest of us knew who we were getting.

 

Maybe Ron Hextall would want his coveted signing in the Burg with him.

 

Send him there real cheap...

[radoran]

On 4/18/2021 at 12:51 PM, FD19372 said:

THIS exacerbated an already emerging roster problem, that was occurring. Bringing back JVR because it was convenient, due to knowing what he brought was managemental laziness.

 

I think it was unfortunate timing, really. The organization felt that they were on track to take the next step. They were looking for a scoring winger to add to their mix and he - like it or not - was the BPA at the time.

 

To be clear, I do not disagree with you that they c/should have known better. But JVR was a pretty consistent 25-30 goal guy in Tronno.

 

On 4/18/2021 at 12:51 PM, FD19372 said:

Couple that with the COMPLETE organizational failure in finding any semblance of a replacement for Niskanen, and doing  nothing to improve this roster in free agency

 

Not sure who was really available to replace Niskanen. After he retired the FA defensemen that signed were the likes of Radko Gudas, Nathan Beaulieu, Mark Boroweicki, Kevin Shattenkirk, Jack Johnson, Matt Benning, Justin Schultz, Luca Sbisa, TJ Brodie, Torrey Krug, Kevan Miller, Chris Tanev...

 

I think a case can be made for Krug, who got a seven year $6.5M deal from STL at 30.  The same day ol' Fletch signed Gus, Pietrangelo inked a 7Y, $8.8M per deal at 31 with Vegas. I'd also maybe have looked at a Brandon Montour type but doesn't have the pedigree. I don't think we would have been happy with either the Krug or Pietrangelo deals that got made...

 

The next "major" FA signing of a dman was probably Chara, at 44 six weeks later.

 

I'd be curious as to what forward they "missed out" on in FA as well last season. When you already have a top six of guys signed - Giorux, Voracek, Hayes, JVR, Konecny, Couturier - and young players like Lindblom, Frost, and Farabee in the system, where do you put them?

 

Yes, JVR is a maddening presence, but he is/was still there. Yes, there is a serious history of "overvaluing" players and certainly there no guarantee Frost or Farabee pan out long term. But, the team had just been "first seed" in the East and won a playoff round for the first time in nearly a decade.

 

On 4/18/2021 at 12:51 PM, FD19372 said:

This orgamization, much like the Philadelphia Eagles, leaves me with a ton of questions about what the higher-ups are truly capable of doing or if they have too many "blind spots", in order to properly do what they should be doing.

 

Right there with ya, pal!

 

I'm afraid there's going to need to be a step or two back before going forward. Which just makes it more frustrating.

 

Here are the current UFA forwards going into next year: https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents/2022/caphit/all/forwards/ufa

 

Of the top 25 I might like... Landeskog? And I'm not sure Colorado gives him up.

 

That said, Ovechkin's available!

[WordsOfWisdom]

1 hour ago, GratefulFlyers said:

I give JVR credit for his play earlier this year, the first 20 games. And he wasn't just scoring goals he was hitting, knocking guys off the puck, forcing turnovers. And then it all stopped. 1 goal in his last 19 games... Yep that's the JVR we all remember. It was stupid bringing him back. I'm sure casual fans thought "Wow 36 goals last year!" but the rest of us knew who we were getting.