Laughton was well under a PPG his draft year and only had 23 points the year before as opposed to guys like Couturier and Schenn who were well above a PPG even as 16 year olds, those are guys that don't need time to develop their offensive skills, though it could be argued that Couts could have benefited from it. Laughton isnt a guy who's been dominating offensively at every level he's been at and he just needs to bring that to the NHL, his offensive game has just really taken off the last 2 seasons. Obviously the skill was always there but it's still developing in my opinion.
We can just agree to disagree I guess because we'll never know what's best for him unless he steps in day 1 and is solid defensively while putting up decent numbers. I just think he needs some fine tuning of his offensive skills and that he can further progress them playing top line minutes and PP in the AHL for a season(or even half as I suggested before) rather than with plugs on the 4th line in Philly.
I am generally very skeptical of post draft year offense translating to the NHL. Leier is nearly producing at Laughton's pace, is only 3 months older, and no one is claiming he will be an offensive player at the nhl level. If Laughton turns into a reliable 3rd liner, that is good enough. Anything more is gravy.
Yup, thing is people around here say this (not you necessarily) but don't understand what a third liner really is. I've heard people say B Schenn is gonna be a 3rd/2nd line winger. Meanwhile he's on pace for 45+ pts, was last year as well and is 22. Being a 50ish pt winger makes you a 1st line winger in this league so even if he doesn't improve he's already a solid 2nd line contributor, who's on the boarder of being a 1st line winger. Being a 30 pt center is a 3rd line center but people around here will not be happy with Laughton if he's an annual 30 pt player.
B. Schenn was supposdely "the best player not in the nhl" as a prospect. That equates to a first line potential. he does not look like he is achieving his expectations. If Laughton is a two way 15-20 goal scorer, that isn't bad.
This is exactly what I'm talking about though. If he's expected to have first line potential then he's right on his way. He's on pace for 45+ point in his third yr, counting an injury shortened year and a lock out shortened yr (in which he also was on pace for 45 pts) as his first two. I don't see how he isn't meeting expectations when being a >50+/-2 point forward in this league makes you a top line winger. I'm not just making this up the numbers are there on NHL.com to back this up if you don't believe me. For some unknown reason apparently being a top line player means you have to be a 70+ pt guy which would put you in the top 25 in scoring in most years. That's just ridiculous.
If Laughton is a 15g/15a guy he'll be in the middle of the pack in terms of 3rd liners. If he's expected to be breaking 40 pts then we're talking 2nd line player here statistically. Again, Flyers fans need to lower their expectations when it comes to the young players.
B. Schenn was supposdely "the best player not in the nhl" as a prospect. That equates to a first line potential. he does not look like he is achieving his expectations. If Laughton is a two way 15-20 goal scorer, that isn't bad.
Yup, thing is people around here say this (not you necessarily) but don't understand what a third liner really is. I've heard people say B Schenn is gonna be a 3rd/2nd line winger. Meanwhile he's on pace for 45+ pts, was last year as well and is 22. Being a 50ish pt winger makes you a 1st line winger in this league so even if he doesn't improve he's already a solid 2nd line contributor, who's on the boarder of being a 1st line winger (without getting 1st line minutes). Being a 30 pt center is a 3rd line center but people around here will not be happy with Laughton if he's an annual 30 pt player. Greedy ****ers!
This is exactly what I'm talking about though. If he's expected to have first line potential then he's right on his way. He's on pace for 45+ point in his third yr while playing the 8th most minutes among forwards (under 16 minutes), that's almost dead last out of our top nine. Btw this is counting an injury shortened year and a lock out shortened yr (in which he also was on pace for 45 pts) as his first two. I don't see how he isn't meeting expectations when being a >50+/-2 point forward in this league makes you a top line winger. I'm not just making this up the numbers are there on NHL.com to back this up if you don't believe me. For some unknown reason apparently being a top line player means you have to be a 70+ pt guy which would put you in the top 25 in scoring in most years. That's just ridiculous.
If Laughton is a 15g/15a guy he'll be in the middle of the pack in terms of 3rd liners. If he's expected to be breaking 40 pts then we're talking 2nd line player here statistically. Again, Flyers fans need to lower their expectations when it comes to the young players.
I see what you're saying but you keep saying Schenn was on pace for 45 points but you aren't using the pace of other players too, your just using the total points. It would be like saying Taylor Hall had 53 points in 2011-2012 and Schenn was on pace for almost 50 so they are roughly the same player. Until you notice that Hall only played 60 games or whatever it was, his pace though would be closer to a 70+ point player.
Going scrictly on PPG looking at 2011-2012(last full season) the 90th best forward in the NHL after removing guys that played very few games, as far as PPG was Bobby Ryan at .7ppg and he had 57 points in 82 games. There were guys like Lecavalier who had 49 points in 64 games which is a 63 point pace so while he had less than 50 points, he clearly would have easily eclipsed that if you use pace the way you use Schenn's pace.
It's really more the pace of scoring that makes you a first line player. If a guy has 40points in 55 games hes clearly a first line player. If that same player had 40 points in 82 games, I'm sure they would be looking to move him off of that line.
Also, just because there are 90 guys playing on a first line in the NHL doesn't necessarily mean they are all first liners depending on your opinion of a first line player. That's like saying there are 30 #1 defenseman in the NHL when even the most optimistic Flyers fan will admit we don't have a #1 anymore.
Nothing against Schenn here, I'm taking a very patient approach to a lot of our young guys because I'm tired of seeing guys get run out of town and then tear it up somewhere else. I just wouldn't call Schenn a borderline first liner right now.
I'd say the Refs stepped in before Morin hurt that guy.
ADK was losing 1-0 after one to Hartford.
Akeson tied the game at one, going into the third shortly.
Holmstrom put ADK up 2-1. Game is now 2-2 though.
Game in OT at 2-2.
OT not enough, SO starting.
Phantoms win 3-2 in SO. Akeson and Straka were the two scorers in the SO.
I'm so excited for the Phantoms to be here in the Lehigh Valley so I can watch all the games either live or on the local cable channel...
When they were in Philly the games were barely ever televised. Do you know for a fact that'll change now that they are moving to Lehigh Valley?
I'm 99.99% sure they said every game will be televised on Service Electrics cable TV channel.