News Article: Flyers need players like Max Talbot to step up offense

[shipwreck]

Flyers need players like Max Talbot to step up offense

Talbot, coming off a year in which he posted career-highs in goals (19), assists (15) and points (34), is the Flyers' only regular forward without a goal this season. Five defensemen already have netted their first goals of the year ahead of him.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...d_players_like_Talbot_to_step_up_offense.html

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[Beef Invictus]

Disagreed. Expecting Talbot to repeat a fluke year is unreasonable. They need forwards like Schenn and Voracek to step up much more than Talbot, though Talbot does need to play better overall.

Edit: And why did they use a picture that looks like it came from an old Razr?

 

[Garbage Goal]

If your team relies on a guy like Talbot to be a scorer then you have a lot of problems to begin with.

 

[laundryman]

Schenn and Voracek are the ones who need to step up. We came into this year expecting them to fill the scoring void left by Jagr and JVR. Expecting Talbot to do so is stupid

 

[Mgkibbles]

Another brainless Frank Seravalli article, oh yay.

 

[flyershockey]

Yes Frank, we need the fourth liner to start picking up the offensive slack. Let's just keep ignoring the elephant in the room that our big prize from the Richards trade has still yet to show any consistency at the NHL level.

 

[Flyotes]

Expecting Talbot to step up on offense? That is an odd choice.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

agreed. Expecting last years output from Talbot is unrealistic.
Voracek has been terrible this year and Schenn hasnt been much better.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Schenn has been worse than JVR ever was. JVR would generally, at worst, be invisible. Schenn has been very visible in a bad way. He spends a lot of time chasing the puck like an 8 year old in NHL13.

 

[Garbage Goal]

Yeah at this point Schenn reminds me of JVR in a lot of ways. My personal opinion is that well have another JVR type case with Schenn in a year and a half where people lose faith in his development.

 

[SAINDON]

Briere, Couturier, Schenn, Voracek need to step up their offense. They were signed to score goals and complete nice passes. Talbot is here for the intangibles he brings to the ice, not his goal scoring prowess. Talbot needs to become a better PK'er, not take stupid penalties and forecheck. If/when he scores, its a bonus.

 

[Coffe]

So out of all the players who so far has underachieved offensively, the reporter picks a guy whos main job is to prevent the other team from scoring...

Brilliant stuff!

 

[Prongo]

These boards are always good for knee jerk reactions. Schenn is in his second year playing in the NHL, and hasn't even played a full 82 games, but we are all saying his development isn't going accordingly. Also he didn't play over seas during the lockout, so that also could answer some questions about a slow start. Patience people, JVR had three years, and besides one good playoff run, he was practically invisible(not to mention injured frequently). Schenn has what? 70 games of NHL action under his belt. Give the damn kid some time, not every player comes into the NHL and lights it up like Crosby. Look at Richards 2nd pro year...

Oh and nobody should have expected talbot to match his numbers from last year. We lost our depth, and with that comes more difficult matchups for our top lines. Last year we could roll 4 scoring lines, now we only roll basically 2. Talbot is being put into more of a defensive role than anything.

 

[BillDineen]

Yeah at this point Schenn reminds me of JVR in a lot of ways. My personal opinion is that well have another JVR type case with Schenn in a year and a half where people lose faith in his development.

Problem is, when JVR was off it appeared as lack of effort. With Schenn, the effort is there, but he seems to play at an AHL pace and loses the puck off his stick mysteriously, can't get the puck out of his zone, fans on shots etc. I still hope he can be the player he was in the playoffs more consistently, but he has looked completely lost out there this season.

 

[FlyersFan61290]

The vets need to step up not the sophomores. B. Schenn and Couturier not contributing offensively was/is expected and ok in my book. Looking to talbot though is stupid, you wouldn't look to fed for more offense. Jake, Briere and Giroux need to pick up the slack.

I just know in a couple yrs when Couturier and B Schenn aren't putting up 60+ pts or playing inconsistently/having injury problems fans will be complaining and calling them busts. Patience guys, it took G a while to get to where he is. He don't have superstars here just guys that will grow over time into quality players

 

[Ryker]

The vets need to step up not the sophomores. B. Schenn and Couturier not contributing offensively was/is expected and ok in my book. Looking to talbot though is stupid, you wouldn't look to fed for more offense. Jake, Briere and Giroux need to pick up the slack.

I just know in a couple yrs when Couturier and B Schenn aren't putting up 60+ pts or playing inconsistently/having injury problems fans will be complaining and calling them busts. Patience guys, it took G a while to get to where he is. He don't have superstars here just guys that will grow over time into quality players

Well, OK, but if you look at it like that, then we're ****ed. You can't look at three guys to provide all or most of the offense. I'm not saying Couturier and Schenn should be tearing it up, but I expected much more. When teams rely on a small selection of players to provide most of the offense, then those players are usually elite. Briere and Voracek are far from elite, and so are the missing Hartnell and Simmonds. Giroux is really good, but he's also nowhere near Malkin or Crosby. Or even Stamkos, for that matter. He's a bona-fide top 10 or maybe top 15 player, but he can't do it all himself. So for me it's quite reasonable to expect more from the rest of the guys if we're to do well.

edit: To put it into somewhat more concrete terms (not adjusted for a 48-game season), I fully expect Schenn to get around 50 points and Couturier also at least 40 - 45.

 

[Garbage Goal]

These boards are always good for knee jerk reactions. Schenn is in his second year playing in the NHL, and hasn't even played a full 82 games, but we are all saying his development isn't going accordingly. Also he didn't play over seas during the lockout, so that also could answer some questions about a slow start. Patience people, JVR had three years, and besides one good playoff run, he was practically invisible(not to mention injured frequently). Schenn has what? 70 games of NHL action under his belt. Give the damn kid some time, not every player comes into the NHL and lights it up like Crosby. Look at Richards 2nd pro year...

Oh and nobody should have expected talbot to match his numbers from last year. We lost our depth, and with that comes more difficult matchups for our top lines. Last year we could roll 4 scoring lines, now we only roll basically 2. Talbot is being put into more of a defensive role than anything.

Guys with the pedigree and hype Schenn has and had are expected to produce sooner rather then later. Otherwise he wouldn't have gone fifth overall. So the fact that he doesn't look good out there and has never put up considerable NHL numbers at 21 is concerning. Couturier managed to make a bigger impact at the age of 18. Giroux showed impressive performance and almost put up 50 points around the same age. Heck the guy he's commonly compared to, Mike Richards, made a large impact at a younger age as soon as he stepped into the NHL.

Point is that the older a prospect is the more they need to prove themselves. Half the reason rookies don't perform more then they do is because they're not physically ready yet. Schenns 21 going on 22 so he doesn't have that excuse. Heck, if not having games played were as big a factor as you make it out be then Matt Read shouldn't be having the impact he is (which is more then Schenn). You only get so long to prove yourself especially with his pedigree and hype.

 

[Breeze 44]

He changed his number and lost his mojo. he isn't really getting the ice time and his linemates continually keep getting changed.

 

[CootaRoo]

If we NEED Talbot to score points for us to succeed we are in more trouble than I thought! 3rd/4th line tweeners shouldn't be driving your offense, fluky season prior or not.

 

[Ryker]

He changed his number and lost his mojo. he isn't really getting the ice time and his linemates continually keep getting changed.

Well, that's true, but they probably keep getting changed because he's not producing, not the other way around. I mean, I understand you need a certain amount of chemistry to make the lines work, but he was touted and is expected to be a player who doesn't need a specific line to produce. I'm not throwing him under the bus yet and won't be doing so anytime soon, but I think it's perfectly fine to analyze his game fairly and point out all the warts and whatnot.

 

[JDinkalage Morgoone]

Guys like Tye McGinn and Eric Wellwood need to step up the offense big time! Bruno Gervais needs to lock down the opponent's star player better! Michael Leighton needs to pitch more shutouts!

 

[FlyersFan61290]

Well, OK, but if you look at it like that, then we're ****ed. You can't look at three guys to provide all or most of the offense. I'm not saying Couturier and Schenn should be tearing it up, but I expected much more. When teams rely on a small selection of players to provide most of the offense, then those players are usually elite. Briere and Voracek are far from elite, and so are the missing Hartnell and Simmonds. Giroux is really good, but he's also nowhere near Malkin or Crosby. Or even Stamkos, for that matter. He's a bona-fide top 10 or maybe top 15 player, but he can't do it all himself. So for me it's quite reasonable to expect more from the rest of the guys if we're to do well.

edit: To put it into somewhat more concrete terms (not adjusted for a 48-game season), I fully expect Schenn to get around 50 points and Couturier also at least 40 - 45.

thats unrealistic imo. i dont even know if they'll put up those numbers next season. and yes we are ****ed but in paul's defense they went into this season expecting a healthy briere, hartnell and simmonds in addition to giroux and voracek that's 5 of your top 6 right there. meaning the youngs weren't necessarily going to be relied on to provide a significant amount of offense. i'm not saying i didn't expect the sophomores to produce at all but it's called a sophomore slump for a reason.

i for one didn't really think the flyers had a true shot at the cup but i did consider them a playoff team and once the playoffs start anything is possible. but again i didn't expect them to be contenders, its a work in progress.

 

[GKJ]

Aside to not be repetitive, Talbot only has 7 shots on goal through 9 games. He averaged over 1.4 last year, had a couple empty net goals, and an exaggerated shooting percentage. If he scores 5 goals (on a goaltender), the team should be happy.

 

[dingbathero]

Schenn has been worse than JVR ever was. JVR would generally, at worst, be invisible. Schenn has been very visible in a bad way. He spends a lot of time chasing the puck like an 8 year old in NHL13.

I resemble that remark.

 

[PALE PWNR]

Sestito must read HFBoards and think of himself as a taller Talbot