2018-19 Regular Season Thread

[Tripod]

It's called a rebuild.

Hextall traded a 3rd for Mrazek last year - that's the only trade in four years where he lost a net draft pick.
JVR was the first major FA signing, the others were depth or short-term (Weise, MDZ, Schultz, PEB, etc)
Manning, VdV, Cousins, Leier were organization scrubs.

The consistent theme the last four years was to add prospects and draft picks and build up one of the worst talent pipelines in the NHL.

Now the process is starting to bear fruit.
It's frustrating, mostly because Holmgren refused to blow it up after 2012-13.

And this year you said you could judge Hakstol.

We are 9-9-1.

Judge away.

 

[Magua]

they absolutely do. and both teams have acknowledged it. their incompetent front offices have certainly been a major factor, but there absolutely are teams that have become numb to losing.

Edmonton Oilers look to abandon decade-old culture of expecting to lose: ‘That definitely needs to change’

“We’ve just got to change the whole culture in the Oilers room,” McDavid said. “For so many years now, we’ve had that expecting-to-lose kind of mentality going in. You know; ‘Oh, we’re lucky if we get this one,’ kind of thing. And we’ve got to start changing our view on that. You know, take pride in who we are and what we’re about. That definitely needs to change.”

https://www.tsn.ca/sabres-gm-we-have-a-losing-culture-here-1.1054220

"Right now we have a losing culture here," (Sabres GM) Botterill said.

Perhaps I could've worded myself better. What "losing culture" to me is a non-descriptive catch-all to explain away what those teams either can't or don't want to explain away. It's an easy answer for a hard explanation. I didn't mean to suggest that losing can't breed more losing because it very much can. But the ineptitude of the front offices of those two particular teams is beyond a doubt. They lose because they cannot get out of their own way. Teams like the Lightning, Blackhawks, Penguins, Leafs, etc. have come out more than unscathed from years of losing. And it's not magic as to why.

But just because you tank or lose doesn't mean you have a losing culture -- no more than trying to win (like the Flyers) automatically produces a "winning culture." It's an overly simplistic notion. If those teams hired competent coaches, GMs, and built a better product, watch that losing culture fade away. The bungling of these two teams is deep rooted, but it's not intrinsic (or unique) to teams that tank. What is McDavid supposed to say publicly? "I'm a hockey demigod, and my GM is destroying my team"? No, he blames the losing culture boogeyman. Sabres have been doing this for years too; just hiring more incompetent people in the wake of the other incompetents. They're not dead to winning if they get their acts together.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Buffalo & Edmonton are both on what like their third or fourth GM since bottoming out/tanking? Tambellini, MacTavish, & Chiarelli for Edmonton & Regier, Murray, & Botterill for Buffalo. They’ve both been a through a slew of coaches since then too.

Toronto wasn’t very good most of the times during the Burke & Nonis eras but it wasn’t deliberate & by plan. After they canned Nonis & hired Shannahan they put in a deliberate plan to be bad to get their high end talent. But they didn’t make bad trades, signings, drafts outside the top picks, bad coaching hires, etc. like Buffalo & Edmonton thus why they’re in a better standing right now.

 

[Garbage Goal]

You don’t have to possess a doctorate to know that if your team is a dung pile for a decade then people associated with it aren’t going to have a positive outlook or vibe. Management produces success or failure (and other variables), success or failure produces emotions, sustained emotions produce a culture.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but Magua is just saying culture is one of those lazy hockey terms people defer to, essentially. Much like puck luck, getting shots to the net, or playing heavy. There’s something else that produces culture but people talk about culture like it lives in isolation as an excuse or reason for failure instead of a byproduct.

 

[Hiesenberg]

Ya know...I caught my first Sixers game last night.

I've been to numerous Flyers games in the Hextall era (and obviously before).

The Flyers crowds are corpses compared to the Sixers crowd. The Flyers in game entertainment is laughable compared to the Sixers entertainment. My daughter who doesn't really care for most sports said that the Sixers game was hands down the best things she's ever been too.

Maybe winning will change that?

 

[deadhead]

Winning will definitely change that, the organization erred in not admitting they were rebuilding, for some reason (probably Snider's legacy) that was a dirty word for the organization. The Sixers embraced "the Process", but not so much the FO (firing Hinkie, hiring the snake and his progeny) but the players, coach and fans - though I remember when the "the Process" was a laughing stock - especially in the media, which bought the foolishness that winning 30 games was better than winning 10. Continued mediocrity is the most boring thing in sports, since it exhausts all hope of improvement.

The Flyers need to embrace their process because it's working, when you look at the young players on the team and the ones on the way the next few years, you can see how deep and talented this team will become - and when that happens, the fans will get excited.

 

[Adam Warlock]

Winning will definitely change that, the organization erred in not admitting they were rebuilding, for some reason (probably Snider's legacy) that was a dirty word for the organization. The Sixers embraced "the Process", but not so much the FO (firing Hinkie, hiring the snake and his progeny) but the players, coach and fans - though I remember when the "the Process" was a laughing stock - especially in the media, which bought the foolishness that winning 30 games was better than winning 10. Continued mediocrity is the most boring thing in sports, since it exhausts all hope of improvement.

The Flyers need to embrace their process because it's working, when you look at the young players on the team and the ones on the way the next few years, you can see how deep and talented this team will become - and when that happens, the fans will get excited.

The flyers never admitted to a full rebuild because they never needed a full rebuild. If this team is gonna win a cup, its going to be with G,Voracek, and Couts leading the way...not guys not even in the NHL yet. They didnt need to start from scratch so this process shouldnt need to take 5 plus years.

When Hextall took over the biggest need was defense. As of 2015 he had Hagg, Provy, Ghost, Morin, Sanheim, and Meyers in the system. It is 2018 now. That rebuild should be pretty much over and we should have a solid D core to compliment our elite offensive core which was gifted Patrick and now includes JVR.

Instead, we are wasting more prime years of our best players because Hakstol snd Gordon have screwed up our Ds development and Hextall is too stubborn to make a coaching change or a trade.

As for goalie...yes we have to wait for Hart...but nothing is stopping Hextall from upgrading goalie right now.

 

[Curufinwe]

How did Gordon screw up the D development? All the D prospects have gotten big minutes down there.

Of the six D prospects you named, four are every game players in the Flyers top 6, one is injured, and the other is a 21 year old.

 

[Curufinwe]

The popular rumor was Siemens. I would have lost my **** if they took him over Hamilton.

Yeah, he busted real hard.

Still, we would have been better off with Brodin than a checking 3C. Right, Boxscore?

 

[Striiker]

Yeah, he busted real hard.

Still, we would have been better off with Brodin than a checking 3C. Right, Boxscore?

I wonder if Simmonds is still way better than Voracek...

 

[Tripod]

I wonder if Simmonds is still way better than Voracek...

Simmonds is our true captain......so I read.

 

[Striiker]

Simmonds is our true captain......so I read.

And the only reason our players don't get hurt by dirty hits!

 

[FLYguy3911]

Penalty Kill. That's a goal every 5 minutes short handed!!!

 

[kudymen]

Penalty Kill. That's a goal every 5 minutes short handed!!!

Casual gif incoming

5 minutes! Thats insane. Visually better than what. 4 minutes?

 

[Stizzle]

Caption this gif, please.

 

[gertbfrobe16]

Caption this gif, please.

the coach thinks we are playing a good game

 

[kudymen]

Caption this gif, please.

the coach thinks we are playing a good game

He really said "set up shots from the blue line only, dont even go to the slot!"

 

[Magua]

Caption this gif, please.

“I’m going to take your spot on PP2 one day, Provy.”

 

[BernieParent]

Caption this gif, please.

"You should have seen Hak when you grabbed that puck in the neutral zone and drove into the offensive zone AHEAD of the forwards! It looked like he was standing on a 10,000-volt wire!!"

 

[Curufinwe]

The four day break after the game in Pit on 12/1 is going to be very interesting if they go something like 1-3-1 in the next five with the PK continuing to flounder.

 

[Beef Invictus]

The four day break after the game in Pit on 12/1 is going to be very interesting if they go something like 1-3-1 in the next five with the PK continuing to flounder.

Nah. Nothing changes. This is hell

 

[Curufinwe]

20 games into the season and this current line-up is about as good as we could have hoped for a couple of months ago. But the team is still struggling badly.

(9 - 9 - 2)

LW	C	RW
Claude Giroux	Sean Couturier	Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom	Nolan Patrick	Jakub Voráček
James van Riemsdyk	Jordan Weal	Wayne Simmonds
Dale Weise	Scott Laughton	Nicolas Aube-Kubel

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Injured: Michael Raffl

LD	RD
Ivan Provorov	Robert Hägg
Andrew MacDonald	Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim	Radko Gudas

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[Harhis]

20 games into the season and this current line-up is about as good as we could have hoped for a couple of months ago. But the team is still struggling badly.

(9 - 9 - 2)

LW	C	RW
Claude Giroux	Sean Couturier	Travis Konecny
Oskar Lindblom	Nolan Patrick	Jakub Voráček
James van Riemsdyk	Jordan Weal	Wayne Simmonds
Dale Weise	Scott Laughton	Nicolas Aube-Kubel

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Injured: Michael Raffl

LD	RD
Ivan Provorov	Robert Hägg
Andrew MacDonald	Shayne Gostisbehere
Travis Sanheim	Radko Gudas

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Same incompetent coach, same results.

 

[Hakroach]

Caption this gif, please.

"Fire Hakstol"

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Same incompetent coach, same results.

Basically this.