Post-Game Talk: #67: Hurricanes 1 at FLYERS 4, Thursday, Mar. 5, 2020, 7:00 p.m. ET

[CanadianFlyer88]

Regardless of Ghost's health status, Hagg sticking up for G bought him undefined capital that probably gives him extra time in the lineup.

 

[baudib1]

NAK has points in 8 of his last 10 games.

Not that it matters, as someone has been saying that any upgrade in 4th liners is minimal at best and pretty much irrelevant for the past several years.

Those points don't matter because 30 teams could have claimed him and didn't.

 

[flyersnorth]

Those points don't matter because 30 teams could have claimed him and didn't.

Is she saying "Are you my dad?" A bit creepy if so lol.

 

[Striiker]

Regardless of Ghost's health status, Hagg sticking up for G bought him undefined capital that probably gives him extra time in the lineup.

Brandon Manning taught him well.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

Is she saying "Are you my dad?" A bit creepy if so lol.

 

[flyersnorth]

Lol so she's actually saying deadhead.

 

[Johnk0728]

Regardless of Ghost's health status, Hagg sticking up for G bought him undefined capital that probably gives him extra time in the lineup.

Winning 8 games in a row and being tied for first in the Metro for the 1st time since 2010-11 has nothing to do with it. Exactly......

 

[905PENS]

Nice to see the flyers being not only relevant again, but at the top of the division and right up there in the standings. I've got ur team as my dark horse this year. I'll admit, I didn't put much stock in the flyers a majority of the year. Quietly you've been climbing the standings, catching teams with thier pants down and passing ur rival penguins. Hope it's flyers vs pens in the east final. Obviously can't pick flyers over pens, but it's still nice to see caps not on top for once haha

 

[baudib1]

"Catch Me If You Can" is a low-key classic.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

Nice to see the flyers being not only relevant again, but at the top of the division and right up there in the standings. I've got ur team as my dark horse this year. I'll admit, I didn't put much stock in the flyers a majority of the year. Quietly you've been climbing the standings, catching teams with thier pants down and passing ur rival penguins. Hope it's flyers vs pens in the east final. Obviously can't pick flyers over pens, but it's still nice to see caps not on top for once haha

Unless the Pens or Flyers get caught by two Wild Card teams that can't happen.

 

[Foggy14]

"The Flyers did not commit a penalty in the game for just the seventh time in franchise history."

That was pretty crazy.

The PK did nothing last night, literally.

Evgeni Farabee needs to start burying those numerous chances he gets.
Sanheim and Myers are going to be fun to watch going forward. Braun just solidly going about his business.

Farabee was working his butt off last night. We had 6 even strength high danger chances when he was on the ice compared to none against.

He rushed a few grade A chances, but when he sees (through video) that he's actually creating time for himself the shots will become less rushed and the selection will improve. I really like this kid.

Sanheim and Myers are going to be fun to watch going forward.

Love watching the twin giraffes do their thing.

Is she saying "Are you my dad?" A bit creepy if so lol.

She's a fan of #8.

"Are you my Hägg?"

 

[Kermit the Prog]

Is she saying "Are you my daddy?" A bit creepy if so lol.

Fixed.

I'll need a minute now...

 

[kudymen]

Let the straaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwmenningggggggg beeeeeeeeeeeginnnnnnnnnnn!

 

[Johnk0728]

Appears Mr. Gudas will be a healthy scratch tonight again tonight for the Caps. And to think some people thought that Niskanen was equal to Gudas. That trade is huge reason that the Flyers are where they are at today in the standing. Even with retaining salary. Fletch won this one.

 

[rinaldo]

Appears Mr. Gudas will be a healthy scratch tonight again tonight for the Caps. And to think some people thought that Niskanen was equal to Gudas. That trade is huge reason that the Flyers are where they are at today in the standing. Even with retaining salary. Fletch won this one.

wasnt Appleyard (others as well not singling him out mind you) against this trade and said gudas was a better player?

 

[Alex K]

The team's riding a winning streak, playing some of the best hockey in a decade, tied for the 1st in Metro, but people are whining about Hägg being in the lineup over Ghost.

 

[Hollywood Cannon]

The team's riding a winning streak, playing some of the best hockey in a decade, tied for the 1st in Metro, but people are whining about Hägg being in the lineup over Ghost.

It's a discussion board and the world isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

 

[Striiker]

The team's riding a winning streak, playing some of the best hockey in a decade, tied for the 1st in Metro, but people are whining about Hägg being in the lineup over Ghost.

Do you want the team to continue winning?

If yes, then you should want the team to fix problems that hurt their chances.

 

[FlyTimmo]

Appears Mr. Gudas will be a healthy scratch tonight again tonight for the Caps. And to think some people thought that Niskanen was equal to Gudas. That trade is huge reason that the Flyers are where they are at today in the standing. Even with retaining salary. Fletch won this one.

At the time of the trade calling them similar quality players wasn't a stretch by any means. Niskanen rebounded, Gudas... not so much. Great move by Fletch.

 

[Alex K]

Do you want the team to continue winning?

If yes, then you should want the team to fix problems that hurt their chances.

I do, as well as I want the old Ghost back but if something isn't broken, you don't fix it.

 

[Striiker]

At the time of the trade calling them similar quality players wasn't a stretch by any means. Niskanen rebounded, Gudas... not so much. Great move by Fletch.

Yup, and that's the key. "At the time of the trade...".

You can also certainly see why some people would have doubted the trade when it occurred, given their results in the previous two years.

From the start of 2017-2018 until the end of 2018-2019...

At 5v5...	Niskanen	Gudas
Games played	148	147
CF%	47.79 (-1.24 rel)	50.93 (2.42 rel)
xGF%	46.57 (-1.79 rel)	50.69 (2.22 rel)
Goals against/60	2.40	2.20
Points/60	0.90	0.85

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

*this was while the Caps were a much better team than the Flyers and Gudas is also younger (29 vs 33).

So either usage is the primary reason for the change this year OR we're very very lucky that Niskanen has bounced back to a version of younger self that he hadn't performed like in a long time.

I wonder how Gudas would have done on our top pair all year, with Provorov and Couturier as his most common partner and center... or how Niskanen would have done on the Caps bottom pair all year, with Siegenthaler and Eller. Maybe Niskanen still wins the comparison but it's a question worth asking.

Niskanen has been very good this year so it worked out for us in the end. But lets not pretend that there weren't perfectly valid reasons for doubt or concern before the season started. Let's also not ignore the importance of usage and teammates when judging how both played this year. Even if Niskanen is better than Gudas in a vacuum, the gap may appear larger than it actually is thanks to their current situations. We'll never know how it would be if they were flipped.

 

[Striiker]

I do, as well as I want the old Ghost back but if something isn't broken, you don't fix it.

It is broken. That's why it should be fixed.

If your car gets a flat tire you change it, right? You don't wait until the entire car won't move.

Same thing here, Hagg is a flat tire. I don't want to wait until the team breaks down to change him. You can still win (drive) in spite of him, but why deal with it when there's an easy and immediate fix available?

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

Winning 8 games in a row and being tied for first in the Metro for the 1st time since 2010-11 has nothing to do with it. Exactly......

The winning streak didn't prevent the team from making deadline acquisitions and inserting them into the lineup immediately, so I am not sure what you're trying to say here.

 

[flyersnorth]

The winning streak didn't prevent the team from making deadline acquisitions and inserting them into the lineup immediately, so I am not sure what you're trying to say here.

The simplest explanation is that there's something about Ghost's game that the coaching staff is not sold on, because if he truly was a better player and better fit in their eyes, he would be in the lineup. Period.

AV is not afraid to make changes. This is one he is choosing not to make. I believe it says more about their view of Ghost than their view of Hagg.

 

[Striiker]

The simplest explanation is that there's something about Ghost's game that the coaching staff is not sold on, because if he truly was a better player and better fit in their eyes, he would be in the lineup. Period.

AV is not afraid to make changes. This is one he is choosing not to make. I believe it says more about their view of Ghost than their view of Hagg.

The simplest explanation is that they're dumb enough to think Hagg is playing well.

The problem certainly isn't Ghost.