Post-Game Talk: #42 | Capitals at Flyers | January 11, 2023

[blackjackmulligan]

He might well be moveable with $500K retained, there are teams that want that edge.
I don't think the idea of Deslauriers was bad, 4 years of Deslauriers was bad.
He did bring an edge to the forecheck that rubbed off the younger players, and provided a security blanket for them.

But bench him for a month and I'm sure he'll waive his NTC.

It was a market value deal you forgot to mention......

 

[BernieParent]

Would you rather be Carolina or Buffalo?

Yes.

YES

I obviously don't back read.

 

[FLYguy3911]

And to think Deslauriers said he improved his speed this offseason and the Flyers liked what that saw before that.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

It's been reported that Briere was a driving force behind signing Deslauriers.

#maximumpain...

this is the way...

 

[deadhead]

Not only is the idea of Deslauriers bad, the execution is bad.


A complete void on offense in a league steering towards offense is bad. It's a dumb idea. Filling the obsolete goon role is a dumb idea. They do nothing.


There is no move that will not be defended.

Actually, the league isn't steering toward offense, that trend has probably peaked,
There was a jump due to changes in goalie equipment, then changes in rule enforcement that favored smaller, skilled players.

1974-1992 scoring was much higher than today.
crashed to 2.63 per game in 1996-97, reached 3.08 in 2005-06, then below 2.8 from 2010-2018.
Last five seasons: 3.01, 3.02, 2.94, 3.14, 3.18.

Checking, goaltending are still key to winning.
What has changed is the really slow players are mostly gone (L Schenn survived the asteroid for some reason).
But there's still a limited supply of skilled players.

 

[dragonoffrost]

What the hell does this mean? The idea of Deslauriers. He's as useless in year one as he will be in years two, three, and four. And he always would have been. The idea of Deslauriers. They didn't need to go to imaginationland to figure out what he was, he's a real live (quasi-) NHL player with hundreds of games to look at for reference. The idea.

And man, if the team needed f***ing Deslauriers to teach the youngsters how to forecheck, the entire hockey operations staff should be deepthroating shotgun barrels.

 

[Curufinwe]

Actually, the league isn't steering toward offense, that trend has probably peaked,

Another strangely confident pronouncement with nothing to support it except hope.

 

[kudymen]

The idea of Deslauriers was good, they just happened to give him an NTC. So as said the execution was bad. But the idea was good. So give him a pass. Another good move by Fletcher.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Actually, the league isn't steering toward offense, that trend has probably peaked,
There was a jump due to changes in goalie equipment, then changes in rule enforcement that favored smaller, skilled players.

1974-1992 scoring was much higher than today.
crashed to 2.63 per game in 1996-97, reached 3.08 in 2005-06, then below 2.8 from 2010-2018.
Last five seasons: 3.01, 3.02, 2.94, 3.14, 3.18.

Checking, goaltending are still key to winning.
What has changed is the really slow players are mostly gone (L Schenn survived the asteroid for some reason).
But there's still a limited supply of skilled players.

Changes to rules at lower and higher levels have ended the big hit era. Instead of spending all their time protecting themselves as youths, players can actually grow skills and take risks without fear of having someone try to cave in their skull. The players who most benefit from that trend are just beginning to enter the league. This trend is just beginning. The Flyers are going backwards instead.

There is not going to be any sudden regression wherein Deslauriers becomes a good idea. This pronouncement will age as well as your proclamation that slapshots are obsolete and have no place in the game.

 

[landsbergfan]

The idea of Deslauriers was good, they just happened to give him an NTC. So as said the execution was bad. But the idea was good. So give him a pass. Another good move by Fletcher.

please tell me this is sarcasm

 

[kudymen]

please tell me this is sarcasm

I read this bullshit on the last page so I thought I would rewrite it in multiple sentences

 

[Curufinwe]

Reminder that if the Fletcher hadn't signed Deslauriers for 4 x $1.75m and promised him he would play 82 games if healthy, he could have claimed Martinook's 2 x $1.8m contract on waivers before the season started.

Jordan Martinook Contract, Cap Hit, Salary and Stats - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Jordan Martinook contract, salary, cap hit, salary cap, aav, career earnings, lifetime earnings, aav, advanced stats, transaction history, trade history, and rfa or ufa free agent status

www.capfriendly.com

Martinook has 20 points, all ES, in 41 games.

 

[blackjackmulligan]

Changes to rules at lower and higher levels have ended the big hit era. Instead of spending all their time protecting themselves as youths, players can actually grow skills and take risks without fear of having someone try to cave in their skull. The players who most benefit from that trend are just beginning to enter the league. This trend is just beginning. The Flyers are going backwards instead.

There is not going to be any sudden regression wherein Deslauriers becomes a good idea. This pronouncement will age as well as your proclamation that slapshots are obsolete and have no place in the game.

miss those days at rizzo rink.

 

[kudymen]

If you put a banana on the wall of a room with Deslauriers in it, the banana would be bigger and less ripe object in the room

cc @JojoTheWhale

 

[wasup]

Every win sets this team back that much more, and I'm not talking about draft picks

Winning 5-7 more games ain't the difference between getting a house cleaning or not . I'm not happy with management either but I don't get worked up about it . The young guys look good and I mean all of them . Frost Tipper York Allison Hart Cates Ersson all look like keepers and do believe Laczynski will replace Brown once he is back but do expect him to be sent down first to regain conditioning since with lower body injury he will have to start from zero again .

I'm being entertained a lot more this year than last so at least there is that .

 

[wasup]

You must love being a middling team and little chance of being a multiple cup winner in a market that shouldn't have challenges. This team used to be a destination for players to want to be here and not just players from this area. Now it's just another team.

It's called a salary cap , have you heard of it ?

 

[Columbus Hockey Dad]

I'm torn. My head knows that we need to lose every game possible to get the best pick in the first round we possibly can. BUT, seeing the team slowly start to become less than dogshit and actually get competitive is a nice thing...particularly seeing it happen because of the improvement of the kids. That said, we obviously still need to be sellers with a minimum of JVR, Provorov, and Hayes moved. We also need to yield a return of hopefully 1st/2nd round picks in THIS draft. But it's hard to root against a young team that gives it everything they have every night. Some of you are better at this than I am.

 

[deadhead]

Flyers were one of the smallest, softest teams in the NHL the last couple years.
And yes, it matters, look at the top teams, Washington, Boston, Vegas, etc.
So yeah, Deslauriers made sense in a transition season, on a one year deal. Change the mindset ("we're not gonna take it . . .")

I didn't like the 4 year deal at the time, it's just not that expensive, you can bury it for $500K. But made no sense.

 

[freakydallas13]

The idea of Deslauriers was good, they just happened to give him an NTC. So as said the execution was bad. But the idea was good. So give him a pass. Another good move by Fletcher.

"The idea of the ford Pinto was good, just poor execution, your honour! How can we be at fault for a poorly executed good idea?!"

 

[Beef Invictus]

Flyers were one of the smallest, softest teams in the NHL the last couple years.
And yes, it matters, look at the top teams, Washington, Boston, Vegas, etc.
So yeah, Deslauriers made sense in a transition season, on a one year deal. Change the mindset ("we're not gonna take it . . .")

I didn't like the 4 year deal at the time, it's just not that expensive, you can bury it for $500K. But made no sense.

Size doesn't matter as much as ability to play hockey. Having a big player who sucks ass is always worse than having a better small player. Always.

 

[Beef Invictus]

And imagine insisting the Flyers don't overvalue size for its own sake over actual ability while defending the Deslauriers signing that does exactly that. Legendary lack of awareness.

 

[deadhead]

Changes to rules at lower and higher levels have ended the big hit era. Instead of spending all their time protecting themselves as youths, players can actually grow skills and take risks without fear of having someone try to cave in their skull. The players who most benefit from that trend are just beginning to enter the league. This trend is just beginning. The Flyers are going backwards instead.

There is not going to be any sudden regression wherein Deslauriers becomes a good idea. This pronouncement will age as well as your proclamation that slapshots are obsolete and have no place in the game.

This is fantasy. There are plenty of big hits, just no more head hunting. Guys like NAK get suspended for throwing elbows.

What benefited smaller players wasn't eliminating fighting, but cutting down on grabbing, hooking, slashing and interference.
That let them skate unimpeded (or at least with less contact than before).

In response the league has gotten faster (and slightly lighter, by about 5 lbs), which means the windows are smaller, forecheckers are faster so D-men have less time and have to win board battles to maintain possession. Checking lines have fewer 220 lb forwards, but more 200 lb players with above average speed.

In the future, as overall speed increases, skilled smurfs will have less of a competitive advantage as bigger players can still check them and lean on them, but there will be less room to skate. Bigger players also have a wider stick radius to break up plays with the speed to get to spots where they can block and harass smurfs.

Eventually, like all evolutionary battles, the league will come to a new equilibrium.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Reminder that if the Fletcher hadn't signed Deslauriers for 4 x $1.75m and promised him he would play 82 games if healthy, he could have claimed Martinook's 2 x $1.8m contract on waivers before the season started.

Jordan Martinook Contract, Cap Hit, Salary and Stats - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Jordan Martinook contract, salary, cap hit, salary cap, aav, career earnings, lifetime earnings, aav, advanced stats, transaction history, trade history, and rfa or ufa free agent status

www.capfriendly.com

Martinook has 20 points, all ES, in 41 games.

There are so many moneyball type guys out there that they could've grabbed up if they weren't busy stacking idiots until they reached the contract limit. Imagine you just don't sign Deslauriers or nab Bellows on waivers or ink any of the wasted minor league fodder like Belpedio, and instead grab Matrinook, Milano, and Tolvanen. Those are all top-9 NHL forwards for free. They exist and you can get them every year if you go looking. Worst case they're padding stats on a bad team until they become deadline flips. Free assets!

Now, they need centers more than anything, but.

This is fantasy. There are plenty of big hits, just no more head hunting. Guys like NAK get suspended for throwing elbows.

What benefited smaller players wasn't eliminating fighting, but cutting down on grabbing, hooking, slashing and interference.
That let them skate unimpeded (or at least with less contact than before).

In response the league has gotten faster (and slightly lighter, by about 5 lbs), which means the windows are smaller, forecheckers are faster so D-men have less time and have to win board battles to maintain possession. Checking lines have fewer 220 lb forwards, but more 200 lb players with above average speed.

In the future, as overall speed increases, skilled smurfs will have less of a competitive advantage as bigger players can still check them and lean on them, but there will be less room to skate. Bigger players also have a wider stick radius to break up plays with the speed to get to spots where they can block and harass smurfs.

Eventually, like all evolutionary battles, the league will come to a new equilibrium.

OK, let me get this straight:

The trend went from big and tuff to speed and skill. Now the skill and speed guys are getting bigger (or, the bigger guys are getting speedier and, uh, "skillier"). So little skilled guys will be less advantageous.

Given that the guy has no f***ing speed or skill to speak of, how does any of this have anything to do with our discussion of Deslauriers?

 

[landsbergfan]

I read this bullshit on the last page so I thought I would rewrite it in multiple sentences

Haha okay I figured it had to be. Didnt backread, plus I have lots of that hidden anyway

 

[deadhead]

OK, let me get this straight:

The trend went from big and tuff to speed and skill. Now the skill and speed guys are getting bigger (or, the bigger guys are getting speedier and, uh, "skillier"). So little skilled guys will be less advantageous.

Given that the guy has no f***ing speed or skill to speak of, how does any of this have anything to do with our discussion of Deslauriers?

Desluariers should have been a one year deal to add some grit to a soft team and protect a bunch of kids.
In that context it made sense for a rebuilding team.
Maybe even move him at the TDL for a team that wants some toughness going into the playoffs.

Briere can appreciate the value of a "bodyguard." Even in today's NHL.

Like I said at the time, the 4 year deal made no sense. But it's not that hard to bury.