2018-19 Regular Season Thread

[Prongo]

Lol. If we could steal Alex Pietrangelo for any package including Myers I think you need to pull the trigger. Myers highest upside is a player like petro. I would do that in a god damn minute.

 

[Oskar Man]

I think the most depressing thing about Hextall in 2018 is that I don't even see 1% of the "fire" that defined him as a player. He's like post-hypnosis Peter in Office Space. Doesn't seem like anything bothers him, even the things that should. WTF happened to him in LA?

Live next to Peter - can confirm.

 

[Rebels57]

Live next to Peter - can confirm.

I was hoping you replied in character

 

[Striiker]

All these complaints about the rebuild would make more sense if it wasn't for all the progress that's been made.

There's obviously problems that still need to be fixed, but this "5 years" timeline everyone is so obsessed with is such a strange thing to be hung up on. Did you honestly expect it to be quicker than this?

Coaching is a legit complaint, goaltending is a legit complaint, some of the players still on the roster are a legit complaint... this seems like a reach.

 

[bennysflyers16]

All these complaints about the rebuild would make more sense if it wasn't for all the progress that's been made.

There's obviously problems that still need to be fixed, but this "5 years" timeline everyone is so obsessed with is such a strange thing to be hung up on. Did you honestly expect it to be quicker than this?

Not at all, didn’t expect the team to be bottom of division and close to bottom of nhl by thanksgiving all with no injury to G Ghost or Provy.

 

[Striiker]

Not at all, didn’t expect the team to be bottom of division and close to bottom of nhl by thanksgiving all with no injury to G Ghost or Provy.

Because of coaching (including PK) and goaltending.

If those two things were fixed then we'd be in great shape because of what most of the roster looks like.

 

[deadhead]

Basically it's the PK and the goaltending.
The rest of the rebuild is coming along just fine.

And I think with the young legs coming in, a more aggressive PK will be feasible (be honest, would you want an aggressive PK with players like VdV, L Schenn, Schultz, AMac, Lehtera, etc., and as Leier showed, just b/c a kid can skate, doesn't mean he can PK).

Goaltending isn't just Hart, we have two decent prospects in Lyon and Stolarz at an age when many goalie emerge, we just need to get lucky with one of them. 2-3 years down the road, we should have plenty of options with all the goalies we've drafted and whom are doing well. Just have to get through the next couple seasons.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Not at all, didn’t expect the team to be bottom of division and close to bottom of nhl by thanksgiving all with no injury to G Ghost or Provy.

I'm going to need you to edit that to say "U.S. Thanksgiving" - I need my fix, please and thank you.

 

[bennysflyers16]

I'm going to need you to edit that to say "U.S. Thanksgiving" - I need my fix, please and thank you.

Lol, silly Americans.

 

[Rebels57]

All these complaints about the rebuild would make more sense if it wasn't for all the progress that's been made.

There's obviously problems that still need to be fixed, but this "5 years" timeline everyone is so obsessed with is such a strange thing to be hung up on. Did you honestly expect it to be quicker than this?

Coaching is a legit complaint, goaltending is a legit complaint, some of the players still on the roster are a legit complaint... this seems like a reach.

 

[achdumeingute]

View attachment 156219

except he's not wrong. Complain all you want, but when you have no cap, no farm at all, nothing to trade (no farm), and can't use FA...it's going to take time.

But yeah the coaching blows and something should be done there.

 

[Striiker]

View attachment 156219

Just saying that the one thing we have going for us is that the roster rebuild (outside of goaltending) has gone really well so far, so these complaints are strange.

It's not like it's been "5 years" and we haven't made massive progress. You can see what's taken that long and why. The cap was f***ed, prospect pool empty, and the roster had massive problems. Now we have a perfect cap situation, a lot of great young players on the roster, still a deep prospect pool, and (if we get a coach who allots icetime properly) the forwards and defensemen are in pretty good shape. New coach and a new goalie and we're knocking on the door of being contenders.

 

[deadhead]

It took a long time to create this mess (check the drafts from 2004 to 2013, Giroux, Couts, and Ghost, Laughton, Hagg and Morin in the pipeline, unless you want to count Cousins and Leier).
And the team had limped along just enough to avoid top picks, 2014 we picked #17.
With no cap room, Hextall had to dump players (Hartnell, Coburn, Kimmo, the Vinnie trade) before he could think about adding players.

Hextall could have accelerated the rebuild by trading picks for players, but short-term gain for long-term pain.
Instead he built up the talent base, not just 8 1st rd picks in 5 years, but guys like Lindblom, Myers, Friedman, Laczynski, Vorobyev, Kase using those later round picks, including some he picked up in trades.

 

[achdumeingute]

So I have been thinking of potential shake up trades the Flyers could make to add some excitement around here. There didnt seem to be many good options but I think I found a potential target.

Alex Pietrangelo.

The Blues are under achieving again and are probably desperate to make a move. It sounds like he has been struggling and could fall into "needs a change of scenery" category. He would fit our top 4 perfectly and take pressure off of provy. Hes got this year and next at 6.5 mil, so the Flyers have some flexability there.

No idea what it would take...but Id start the package with Simmonds and maybe Myers plus something else.

Yeah none of this will happen and I am sure people wont like the idea but hey I had fun thinking about something other than Hak still being our coach!

I would LOVE to try for Pietro, its just the cost. Your package won't get it done.

 

[achdumeingute]

Just saying that the one thing we have going for us is that the roster rebuild (outside of goaltending) has gone really well so far, so these complaints are strange.

It's not like it's been "5 years" and we haven't made massive progress. You can see what's taken that long and why. The cap was ****ed, prospect pool empty, and the roster had massive problems. Now we have a perfect cap situation, a lot of great young players on the roster, still a deep prospect pool, and (if we get a coach who allots icetime properly) the forwards and defensemen are in pretty good shape. New coach and a new goalie and we're knocking on the door of being contenders.

And some of our guys just need more seasoning. Guys like Lindblom, TK, and Patrick you can see how good they can be, and probably will be. They have some room to still grow as young players learning how to play the speed of the game.

 

[Striiker]

And some of our guys just need more seasoning. Guys like Lindblom, TK, and Patrick you can see how good they can be, and probably will be. They have some room to still grow as young players learning how to play the speed of the game.

Yup, the roster isn't even close to it's peak yet. It sucks guys like Giroux and Voracek are getting older, but the young guys are on the way up, plus the prospects not on the team yet. We won't have the same high end talent, but we should have better depth than G or V ever had behind them.

 

[Stizzle]

Excellent Tweet from @Ted Brown. I have grown very tired of the pro Laughton propaganda.

 

[Striiker]

 

[Striiker]

Seems like some pretty meaningless statistics though.

It's not shocking he hasn't been able to accumulate more scoring chances when you consider his usage/linemates. Get's tossed out there with trash linemates, short shift, and then sits for a long time.

And nobody is saying he should be 2C, he's just an available tool who can be used in a specific way. I keep saying, his best assets are his skating and shot... so just use him as a turret. He gets the puck, he shoots the puck. Nothing more. He doesn't need to be drive play, just put him with people who can and let him shoot.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Yeah, I don't get it. He's uniformly described as a bottom 6er here.

 

[1865]

All these complaints about the rebuild would make more sense if it wasn't for all the progress that's been made.

There's obviously problems that still need to be fixed, but this "5 years" timeline everyone is so obsessed with is such a strange thing to be hung up on. Did you honestly expect it to be quicker than this?

Coaching is a legit complaint, goaltending is a legit complaint, some of the players still on the roster are a legit complaint... this seems like a reach.

We disagree a lot Striiker, but i completely agree here. I understand frustrations, but we were in a real hole when Holmgren left and it was a choice of a quick, cheap and temporary rebuild or we take our time and do what Tampa did - and we have. For their Vasi we should have Hart. For their Hedman we have Provorov. Their Stamkos is Giroux. Their Kucherov will be Patrick. We have a farm system that isn't going to stop producing talent and keep supplementing the team.

Hex isn't perfect, but if he changes the coach and somehow fixes the goalie issue then he's done everything he can.

 

[1865]

Oh, and i'm completely done with Simmonds. I didn't want us to sign him due to the contract not quite being worth it, but i just don't want him on the team any more. He's a turnover machine and someone who's only 'good on the powerplay'....and isn't even good at that any more. He's a black hole at 5 on 5 and i don't want him in the top 9 any more.

 

[JojoTheWhale]

Yeah, I don't get it. He's uniformly described as a bottom 6er here.

The major thing that comes to mind is that many were calling for him to get a shot on the second line last year because the other option was Filppula. I know I was.

But yeah, there was a weird little undercurrent of him being the best Flyer this year, which is absurd. That could have just been GDT venting, etc.

 

[BernieParent]

Lol. If we could steal Alex Pietrangelo for any package including Myers I think you need to pull the trigger. Myers highest upside is a player like petro. I would do that in a god damn minute.

To get Pietrangelo, Hextall would probably have to send multiple top prospects. St. Louis trading him means a full tear-down and the price would be sky high.

Or Nylander for Pietrangelo +.

 

[Garbage Goal]

I turned down great seats to the Vegas game, was a wise choice.

People are very justified in bringing up the five year thing. It’s a fact we’re bottom of the league five years into it with still horrible D, horrible coaching, and horrible goaltending. He’s had five years to fully resolve all of these and hasn’t. We talk about having great prospects but impact players generally don’t take more than a few years to make an impact in the NHL.

Here we are with Myers, Morin, Stolarz, etc. still being soft cooked in their early 20’s going to mid 20’s. Sanheim still can’t get more than 16/17 minutes a night no matter how well he plays or how trash anyone else is, Vorobyev gets sent down immediately, NAK gets 5 minutes a game, Konecny goes from top line to middle six and 12 minutes a night in the playoffs, and Lindblom goesfrom middle six minutes to 8 minutes a night sometimes. Most of these guys are well over 20 years old.

5 seasons is a lot of time, especially when half your core never changed. Most successful rebuilds, with successful the operative word, take no longer than that and some less.

All three of the problems mentioned were problems five years ago and none are fixed. I don’t get how you can marginalize the D, goaltending, and coaching. You can’t just say “that’s all it is”. Those are pretty freaking huge things. Literally just throw in forwards and you covered the entirety of the NHL components. Hextall has had control of the coaching and the slow cooking of prospects these five years. So even if you assume these prospects pan out and aren’t being badly developed, Hextall is still the one most responsible for them not getting opportunity.

He hasn’t hired a single good head coach yet and, arguably, made a non-nepotistic hire for it yet. He’s overtly ignored league-worst PK results for the entirety or almost the entirety of his tenure. He’s currently ignoring glaring developmental flaws, underperformance, and fan opinion/interest.

If he said it was a five year rebuild and here we are five years later with the same issues and half our prospects either not in the league yet or being underutilized then, yeah, it was a lie. You can’t just brush it all off as no big deal. f*** Hextall until he shows otherwise at this point.