GDT: #20: Islanders at FLYERS, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019, 7:00 pm ET

[flyersnorth]

I dont see what youre seeing. Pacing for 20ish points and seems to be chasing the play a lot in the dzone.

I don't like how timid Sanheim is. Maybe that's just him, and it's not fair to expect him to be more assertive. He can still be a fine defenseman, but man, it would be nice if he developed a bit of an edge to his game. It's a bit vanilla. Kinda like Coburn.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

@JojoTheWhale and I seem to be in the minority on this board when it comes to Sanheim. I like to keep track of all of the defenseman’s shifts in each game and mark each shift as good, bad, or neutral. Most of Sanheim’s shifts end up in the good category. It’s a subjective exercise so take that for what it’s worth. Where Sanheim has really struggled is in 50/50 battles. He loses way too many of those. It’s been that way for the majority of NHL career to date. I very much would like to see improvement there

100% this on the 50/50 battles. I wonder if it is a physical limitation or just a mind set issue at this point. I love me some Travo but he always looks very timid in the corners and along the wall.

Likely a combination of both, but I really would love to see him become more tenacious and driven to take pucks away from the opponent. Lord knows he has the skills and skating to do it.

 

[flyersnorth]

This suggests otherwise...

I mean, I love Travis, but hard to see how Sanheim ranked above Carlson makes any sense.

 

[Rebels57]

WAR breakdowns always seem to have a lot of outliers

By what rationale are guys like McDavid, Draisaitl and Pastrnak not at the top of stat-sheet that is supposed to reflect net contributions to team success?

Thats a good observation. Makes no sense. Something is off.

 

[Sombastate]

It’s a chilly 58F here in FL, but we’re hanging in there.

78F in Vegas. 25.5c

I'm tired of this heat.

 

[flyerslducks]

I don't like how timid Sanheim is. Maybe that's just him, and it's not fair to expect him to be more assertive. He can still be a fine defenseman, but man, it would be nice if he developed a bit of an edge to his game. It's a bit vanilla. Kinda like Coburn.

i want to see him more aggressive offensively. It seems now he takes a step back to meyrs now

 

[Soup Enthusiast]

It’s a chilly 58F here in FL, but we’re hanging in there.

does it scare you that we probably live fairly close to each other?

 

[flyerslducks]

theres no killer insitnct on this team and its so frustrating. Change the damn lines, we have a terrible shooting % right now and the lines just aren't working. We've been leaning on the couts line way too much.

jvr-giroux-tk
lindblom-couts-voracek
raffl-hayes-farabee

we neeed these two points BADLY

 

[flyerslducks]

craziness going on right now....toronto, tampa are both a few points out of the wild card. They are going to make the playoffs so we have to win games like last night. No excuses. Montreal, florida, and carolina are winning right now. Buff and nyr are catching up. Can't take any damn nights off. Can't believe they couldn't beat the sens or at least take them to OT. We had a 4 minute pp and it was absolutely dog crap. Why won't they put the pp back to the way it was

 

[TheKingPin]

Like anything new there’s always swing towards that and then a backing off. A regression if you will. This isn’t baseball. There’s a lot of chaos. Even football has a reset every down. I’ve seen a lot of players make careers out of pure effort and persistence. I think we all are expecting a bigger step forward for sanhiem in terms of play not just GAR

 

[Juicy Pop]

One thing that is killing me is the lack of aggressive breakouts.

The puck carrier either looks for a deep-man or just spins back to reset the play; they never try to create an odd man rush unless its straight up handed to them in the neutral zone.

 

[Magua]

Great page.

 

[Striiker]

theres no killer insitnct on this team and its so frustrating. Change the damn lines, we have a terrible shooting % right now and the lines just aren't working. We've been leaning on the couts line way too much.

jvr-giroux-tk
lindblom-couts-voracek
raffl-hayes-farabee

we neeed these two points BADLY

I’d rather be lit on fire than have JVR ruin the top line.

 

[TheKingPin]

One thing that is killing me is the lack of aggressive breakouts.

The puck carrier either looks for a deep-man or just spins back to reset the play; they never try to create an odd man rush unless its straight up handed to them in the neutral zone.

I’d like to see a little more jumping at guys at our blue line. Backing in a lot.

 

[Stizzle]

Likely a combination of both, but I really would love to see him become more tenacious and driven to take pucks away from the opponent. Lord knows he has the skills and skating to do it.

I don't like how timid Sanheim is. Maybe that's just him, and it's not fair to expect him to be more assertive.

He's super aggressive at meeting puck carriers in the NZ and using his stick to disrupt rushes. Also, stepping up to keep cycles alive in the offensive zone. That's partly his version of being aggressive and where he creates his edges.

I assume he spends less time in the defensive zone than most because he makes it difficult for the opposing team to get there in the first place. He's hell to get past in the neutral zone and blue line.

But yes, his 50/50 battles down low could improve. Seemingly, he mostly chooses to pin the opponent against the boards and then wait for help. I think Sanheim does probably get to a lot of pucks first and moves it quickly, though. Leading to probably less conventional battles than a lot of other defensemen.

Thats a good observation. Makes no sense. Something is off.

He's 10th in GAR and 12th in WAR amongst defensemen in the NHL.

Just doing a little digging. Sanheim seems to rate well in ixG, and other individual metrics like iCF and iHDCF. I don't know the formula they use for WAR or GAR, but maybe those individual stats are given heavy weight?

 

[MattMartin]

Good luck tonight fellas. Wouldn't mind going to OT = )

 

[flyersfan187]

I don't understand people hating on Sanheim this season. That is a young pairing right now with a ton of potential and I'd let them together for awhile and work through their kinks. Playing time is what they need right now to work on their game. And please don't compare Coburn with Sanheim. Coburn was a defensive d-man that played soft at times and needed sheltered (low hockey IQ) so he was paired with Kimmo often while Sanheim has a ton more skill, offensive ability and can be paired with anyone.

I will say getting Niskanen was huge for the Flyers because there is no way Gudas would look as good as him in his current role. Gudas to me was always exposed when going against top talent while Niskanen is just steady all the time. I am hoping Niskanen will help teach the younger players on this team the proper way to defend a 2 on 1 against because they really do suck at that overall and Niskanen defends 2 on 1s just about as well as Kimmo did for us.

 

[deadhead]

Strength doesn't matter when he's actively avoiding hits. He's one of the softest defensemen I've ever seen on our team.
I don't expect him to hit everyone in sight, but don't play like a *****.

Ghost is the softest by a wide margin:
Hits taken per 60 since 2017-18

Farabee 9.98 (SSS, but the kid takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin')
Gudas 6.20
AMac 6.18
Manning 5.63
Niskanen 5.56 (this season) 5.83 in Wash
Hagg 5.15
Braun 4.99 (this season) 6.67 in San Jose
Myers 4.77
Sanheim 4.69
Provorov 4.66
Ghost 2.31
Giroux 2.11 (lowest on the team)

Hits taken is a better metric of toughness, some is a matter of anticipating hits, but it mostly reflects the willingness to take a hit to maintain possession of the puck in the corners and along the boards.
Usually forwards get hit a lot less than defensemen (a4th line forecheckers get hit the most among forwards), but Farabee has been a freakin' Pinata so far this season.

 

[BigToe]

One thing that is killing me is the lack of aggressive breakouts.

The puck carrier either looks for a deep-man or just spins back to reset the play; they never try to create an odd man rush unless its straight up handed to them in the neutral zone.

I think the main thing killing us is the dump ins.

 

[flyersfan187]

Good for Ghost to not get hit as often. I don't see Ghost as a soft player at all and I don't see him just giving the puck away so he doesn't take a hit. Sanheim is soft right now and avoids hits while losing the puck but hopefully with more time in he will fix that problem.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

He's super aggressive at meeting puck carriers in the NZ and using his stick to disrupt rushes. Also, stepping up to keep cycles alive in the offensive zone. That's partly his version of being aggressive and where he creates his edges.

I assume he spends less time in the defensive zone than most because he makes it difficult for the opposing team to get there in the first place. He's hell to get past in the neutral zone and blue line.

But yes, his 50/50 battles down low could improve. Seemingly, he mostly chooses to pin the opponent against the boards and then wait for help. I think Sanheim does probably get to a lot of pucks first and moves it quickly, though. Leading to probably less conventional battles than a lot of other defensemen.


He's 10th in GAR and 12th in WAR amongst defensemen in the NHL.

Just doing a little digging. Sanheim seems to rate well in ixG, and other individual metrics like iCF and iHDCF. I don't know the formula they use for WAR or GAR, but maybe those individual stats are given heavy weight?

Oh yeah I definitely agree with what you are saying about his neutral zone play and stepping up at the line. Also he definitely is able to get to a lot of pucks so quickly and moves it so efficiently that he avoids a lot of 50/50 battles.

Maybe agression was the wrong word. I dont need him to neccesarily even be more physical. But I want him to develop the same sort of hunger to come out of 50/50 battles with the puck that say TK or Farabee have.

He will get stronger with age, if he can add that mentality as well he will basically be impossible to forecheck against.

 

[GapToothedWonder]

I think the main thing killing us is the dump ins.

Maybe I'm not seeing all of the posts. But it seems like the ones in this thread have been fair critiques of what he needs to work on while praising the things he is good at.

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

I don't like how timid Sanheim is. Maybe that's just him, and it's not fair to expect him to be more assertive. He can still be a fine defenseman, but man, it would be nice if he developed a bit of an edge to his game. It's a bit vanilla. Kinda like Coburn.

Coburn wasn't timid at all, he definitely always left me wanting more from his game.

 

[Tripod]

Ghost is the softest by a wide margin:
Hits taken per 60 since 2017-18

Farabee 9.98 (SSS, but the kid takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin')
Gudas 6.20
AMac 6.18
Manning 5.63
Niskanen 5.56 (this season) 5.83 in Wash
Hagg 5.15
Braun 4.99 (this season) 6.67 in San Jose
Myers 4.77
Sanheim 4.69
Provorov 4.66
Ghost 2.31
Giroux 2.11 (lowest on the team)

Hits taken is a better metric of toughness, some is a matter of anticipating hits, but it mostly reflects the willingness to take a hit to maintain possession of the puck in the corners and along the boards.
Usually forwards get hit a lot less than defensemen (a4th line forecheckers get hit the most among forwards), but Farabee has been a freakin' Pinata so far this season.

Those stats are not accurate....if takeaways, giveaways, shots, missed shots, etc...are not accurate, those are not either.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I don't like how timid Sanheim is. Maybe that's just him, and it's not fair to expect him to be more assertive. He can still be a fine defenseman, but man, it would be nice if he developed a bit of an edge to his game. It's a bit vanilla. Kinda like Coburn.

I’ve lamented his lack of assertiveness for as long as he’s been a Flyer. It’s his Achilles heel, along with a high center of gravity & mediocre strength.