Post-Game Talk: #71: FLYERS 6 at Maple Leafs 7, Friday, Mar. 15, 2019, 7:00 p.m. ET

[prototypical4thliner]

I have no problem with that, I want to see if Morin has anything or is just an urban (ok, Canadian heartland) myth.

Thinking that replacing Hagg (or VdV, Filppula, Lehtera, Weise, Weal, et al, before him) is the solution to this team's problems is nonsense.

Changing the nameplate on the locker doesn't make the team significantly better.
It's finding better players that makes you better.
Otherwise, we're just tethering a different goat as bait for T-Rex.

It doesn’t magically make a playoff team, but multiple incremental improvements can. You can’t not make a move to improve the team just because it’s a marginal improvement. Every improvement is worth something.

This is something that the baseball nerds got right—a good analysis of wins above replacement goes a long way in showing this. The mentioned players are all replacement level, at best. Replacing them with even a marginal improvement could net a couple standing points over the course of the year. We got below replacement level goaltending to start the year, part of the reason we are in a hole. Got above replacement level and we start climbing. That’s no different for us clamoring for improvements on our bottom six and bottom pair. Every point counts.

 

[Rebels57]

I'd rather have Schlemko paired with Gudas than Hagg.

Fairly simple decision to be honest.

Ideally though, it should be:

Provorov - Ghost/Myers
Sanheim - Gudas
Morin - Myers/Ghost

 

[wankstifier]

I'd rather have Schlemko paired with Gudas than Hagg.

Fairly simple decision to be honest.

Ideally though, it should be:

Provorov - Ghost/Myers
Sanheim - Gudas
Morin - Myers/Ghost

I wouldn’t mind dressing 7D just to give Morin a look at NHL game speed.

Another note, I like the possibilities with 7D, but I don’t think Gordon has the ability to take advantage of them on the fly. His game management skills are pathetic. (Honestly, I’d be really bad at it, too.) Ideally, all 7 defenders should be more active 5v5 at pushing play toward the offensive zone and maintaining possession in that zone. If a defenseman is able to play more than 18-20 minutes, they’re not skating hard enough.

The Flyers have 3 rovers who can cheat in as forwards on the rush or during extended offensive zone play. Traditionally, a cheating defenseman settles back to the point when a forward is available to cycle in or play has slowed around the boards. I don’t see the point of this. I’ve seen a lot of possession changes because of the stubborn commitment to traditional positional awareness.

I’d notch up the aggression and pull a defender for a forward who doesn’t have the skill to act as a rover if the team settled in to the OZ. In addition, oZS would be 4F/1D.

I think rolling with 11 forwards is fine, especially since the Flyers have at least one player they can give a specialized role to. JvR can slot in on the fly with extended OZ play. He’d be on the ice for most oZS as well—in place of a 2nd D. The Flyers can go with 3 traditional lines for the majority of 5v5 play:

Giroux-Couturier-Voracek
Lindblom-Patrick-Konecny
Raffl-Laughton-Hartman
JvR, Knight/Varone

JvR fills in during the mentioned situations. I can’t figure out what to do with Knight/Varone.

 

[CanadianFlyer88]

And how the **** can we be healthy and only carry 11 fwds ???

All because we insist on not waiving Farmer and carrying 3 goalies and 100% refusing to even dress one of them.

So **** stupid.

I've been thinking about this in the last few days and I really don't mind this roster with 11 forwards because the 4th line is so poor that it's better to roll a top 9 forward with the other two than to roll with 3 4th line players.

Where the problem arises, though, is that they're not easing Morin into the fold. This is actually a perfect opportunity, with 7 D, to attune Morin's minutes to easier 5-on-5 matchups while giving him heavy PK doses.

This was all based on the idea that the Flyers still had a shot at the playoffs, but Carolina has pretty much nixed any chance even with their tough schedule.

I don't think we'll see Morin until they are essentially mathematically eliminated, which may not be until the last week of the season.