Post-Game Talk: #5| FLYERS at Dallas |Sat., Oct. 18, 2014|

[RJ8812*]

I'm glad we won, but ****, this team is so bad defensively

 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

I'm glad we won, but ****, this team is so bad defensively

Gonna be a lot of 6-5 games this year. Hextall said the team was going to take a step back this year in order to move forward next year. We're seeing that right now. I'm sure things will eventually come together, but I'm not holding my breath either. My main concern right now though is Steve Mason and he doesn't look sharp at all, other than the opening game against Boston. If the Flyers are expected to compete, they need a sharp Mason to be on the top of his game.

 

[RJ8812*]

As long as at least 2 of Grossmann, MacDonald and Schenn are gone by next season, we'll be looking good

 

[Prongo]

Voracek is playing like a beast right now. Love watching him hit the ice on his shifts. Always making things happen.

 

[blinds]

On the ice... It was his deflection in front that enabled Couturier to score.

But he's always late and slow, and worse defensively than Rinaldo. This place is a gold mine for people peddling their predetermined narratives which don't reflect what happened on the ice.

Yeah, I've noticed that a lot. People just assume a player plays a certain way because that's what fits in with how they feel about that player. Umberger was completely fine defensively, don't remember any mistakes other than when he tried to skate it through the neutral zone backwards.

 

[SaveHextall]

Gonna be a lot of 6-5 games this year. Hextall said the team was going to take a step back this year in order to move forward next year. We're seeing that right now. I'm sure things will eventually come together, but I'm not holding my breath either. My main concern right now though is Steve Mason and he doesn't look sharp at all, other than the opening game against Boston. If the Flyers are expected to compete, they need a sharp Mason to be on the top of his game.

Hextall actually said that?

 

[Bernie Parent 1974]

shouldnt that have been an automatic goal call in ot ?

you pull down a guy going to shoot the puck into an empty net

 

[Rebels57]

How you're playing in October does not matter at all. All that matters are points. Any way you can get them. We showed a ton of resilience again tonight despite the defensive issues that are plaguing them.

Things should settle down once is Coburn is back..and i'm not writing off Timonen for the second half either. He isn't going to want to end his career on any other terms than his own.

 

[Striiker]

Timonen isn't coming back. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[Rebels57]

Del Zotto has been fine this seasons so far. He's contributing with puck movement and he isn't as bad defensively or with decision-making as I was led to believe. If this D were actually a good D full of actual NHL caliber players then he'd be a fine bottom three D I think.

Grossmann is far worse and definitely far more limited in his capabilities. Schenn too probably.

Edit: Really though, outside of Coburn, Streit, and I guess Mac there's a pretty big drop-off so not much point in arguing who is on top.

Agreed. MDZ hasn't stood out in a bad way in any game and has shown some nice skills with the puck. His spin-on-rama then toe-drag to escape pressure was incredible.

 

[Rebels57]

Timonen isn't coming back. Don't get your hopes up.

I'm not because he's a shadow of his former self anyway and not enough to make sure a contender but I just have a strange feeling. He is a tough SOB.

 

[Rebels57]

Hextall actually said that?

No, I don't think he did.

 

[Rebels57]

I posted a thread about that season on the analytics board. I said that he should have won the hart that year and some advanced hockey stat guys listed him and ovie as the two favriotes

Makes it all the more incredible that his game disintegrated so quickly.

 

[Philadelphia Ducks]

As long as at least 2 of Grossmann, MacDonald and Schenn are gone by next season, we'll be looking good

I can't see any team wanting MacDonald with that contract, atleast not with us taking back a ****** contract in return.

 

[Curufinwe]

MacDonald with four or five years left at $5million and no trade protection would not be hard to move if Hextall wanted to.

 

[Appleyard]

Makes it all the more incredible that his game disintegrated so quickly.

Last year he started like he was his old self... I watched quite a bit of him and he looked good as well. I remember there were even rumblings round November of him getting a team Canada role as a 4th liner.

And then his game just fell off completely and he looked lost.

Actually, just looked it up:

First 32 games last year:

27 points. +6.

Last 50 games last year:

14 points. -12.

That is pretty silly really.

 

[Funf]

I really wonder how much conditioning plays into it then. LA was apparently very unhappy with how he took care of himself during the offseason the past few years and made him commit to hiring a trainer (for the first time ever) and getting back in shape. Dean Lombardi even went as far as showing up at his house uninvited to work out with him, to make sure he actually followed through on his word.

 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

No, I don't think he did.

He said it around the time Kimmo was diagnosed with the blood clots.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

I really wonder how much conditioning plays into it then. LA was apparently very unhappy with how he took care of himself during the offseason the past few years and made him commit to hiring a trainer (for the first time ever) and getting back in shape. Dean Lombardi even went as far as showing up at his house uninvited to work out with him, to make sure he actually followed through on his word.

I don't think getting his brain scrambled as many times as he has recently helps neither.

 

[Funf]

I don't think getting his brain scrambled as many times as he has recently helps neither.

Honestly, I'd have to agree. He just doesn't look like he has the same awareness on the ice as he used to.

 

[SgtJoseph*]

Gonna be a lot of 6-5 games this year. Hextall said the team was going to take a step back this year in order to move forward next year. We're seeing that right now. I'm sure things will eventually come together, but I'm not holding my breath either. My main concern right now though is Steve Mason and he doesn't look sharp at all, other than the opening game against Boston. If the Flyers are expected to compete, they need a sharp Mason to be on the top of his game.

Respectfully, i think Mase is the reason we have been in every game this early season with a chance to win . Most goals he has given up were not his fault for the most part . Can he play better ? of course he can, but he has been pretty darn solid despite is GAA avg which don't reflect guys wide open out front , crazy misdirected shots etc .He gas given us a chance to win each night thus far .

 

[RJ8812*]

MacDonald with four or five years left at $5million and no trade protection would not be hard to move if Hextall wanted to.

teams aren't lining up to take on a $5m bottom pairing defenseman

 

[Curufinwe]

teams aren't lining up to take on a $5m bottom pairing defenseman

Only trolls and morons say he's a 3rd pairing guy. GMs aren't as ignorant as that.

A third of our goals last night came from great offensive plays by MacDonald.

 

[RJ8812*]

Only trolls and morons say he's a 3rd pairing guy. GMs aren't as ignorant as that.

A third of our goals last night came from great offensive plays by MacDonald.

and 2/3rds of our goals against came from awful plays by MacDonald

 

[Jack de la Hoya]

and 2/3rds of our goals against came from awful plays by MacDonald

That simply isn't true.