Hextall. An amazing job.

[1865]

The HF poll has Carter Hart as the #1 goalie prospect in the NHL.

 

[Curufinwe]

Ghost’s contract is cheaper and 2 years longer than De Haan’s. Let that one settle in.

Ghost's deal is great, but he was an RFA.

Like Hagg, whose new contract should be announced soon.

 

[1865]

Ghost's deal is great, but he was an RFA.

Like Hagg, whose new contract should be announced soon.

But man, it’s great. Super great.

 

[deadhead]

i think its as simple as Giroux being healthy. Its not like giroux has never been good before.

Five years ago. He wasn't injured for four years. 2016-17 can be written off due to injuries.
2014-16: 1.56 pp/60, CF 52.62%, CFrel +4.62, xGF 48.66, xGFrel +1.37
Couts (before last season, when people called him a 3C)
2015-17: 1.79 pp/60, CF 54.46%, CFrel +4.25, xGF 55.10, xGFrel +7.34

Putting Giroux next to Couts was a great move, it revived Giroux's career and helped Couts take it up to the next level.

 

[magnumpi]

Don't care about anything except success on the ice, of which there's been none yet.

Until he delivers playoff Ws, I don't care how many paper victories he has or how well the cap's managed.

Not sure what that means, if anything.

The first step is building a farm system and getting the cap situation in order.
It has nothing to do with paper victories, whatever that means.

If you expected him to provide "playoff w's" given the state of the team when he took over then frankly you're not being realistic.

 

[Mike1167]

I agree with you, BUT the huge caveat is the coaching situation. Hakstok was a good idea that hasn't worked out. I don't really blame him for not firing the clown yet - there is nothing in the world that I want more than for Hexy to fire him, but I can understand not doing it yet - but if he gets extended ... I don't know. If that happens, it's rampage time, for sure, but it feels like that's not enough.

Right. The Pens finished with, I believe, two more points than the Flyers last season- and they had a sshitton of more talent. However, the playoffs were a different story.

Give Haktard one more season, I guess. I mean, we do have some promising kids (Patrick, Konecny, Provorov). Haktard's supposed strength is nuturing their talents. We'll see, I guess.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Can we chill with the "Haktard" nickname please?

It's unnecessarily demeaning -- Just call the dude by his actual name for once.

 

[renberg]

Hextall decided that he was going to blow up the roster, get young and get the salary schedule under control. It is amazing how he was able to rid of some of the overpaid dead wood. By going young, he had to have a coach that could develop players w/o ticking off the better veteran players. Hakstol has done that.
As for trading Schenn, the guy was a PITA. He always wanted to play center and whined about not being able to do that. With Couturier, Patrick and possibly G, here, there was no way to satisfy Schenn so Hexy did the right thing and moved him.

 

[Sam Spade]

I know fans of certain teams are not supposed to like other teams in their division but I really like this Flyers team.

I will be shocked if they don’t do some damage this season. Provorov is going to break out big this season as well.

 

[GagneHanson12]

Once Filp was put on the top line G and Jake were playing short handed. It was almost comical to watch, they looked like 14 year old kids not passing to the worst player on the team and trying to do everything themselves.

No blame on them there, the play would have died on Filps stick and that's on Hak but I couldn't help but shake my head.

 

[deadhead]

Lack of depth means limited options, and usually no good options.
G and V may have struggled with Filppula, but Laughton - Couts - Simmonds was our best line the entire series.

And one reason I think Hextall was really disappointed he couldn't land either Stastny or Bozak, because he saw what a difference having three centers could make.
You know he wants Frost to come to camp as a hard bodied 185 lb stud, blow everyone away and solve his problem.

 

[Deadpool8812]

Can we chill with the "Haktard" nickname please?

It's unnecessarily demeaning -- Just call the dude by his actual name for once.

another stupid nickname curtesy of HFBoards

 

[Rebels57]

I know fans of certain teams are not supposed to like other teams in their division but I really like this Flyers team.

I will be shocked if they don’t do some damage this season. Provorov is going to break out big this season as well.

17 goals (tied 1st in NHL among dmen), 40 points without PP1 time last year. Our boy already broke out

I do think the rest of the league will start to take more notice this upcoming season though. He is still underrated by non-Flyers fans.

As for the Flyers hopes this season, our biggest issue is one that has plagued us off and on for 30 years; goaltending. It's probably going to prevent us from doing any real damage.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

another stupid nickname curtesy of HFBoards

It's just abused too much. I don't like Hakstol, or even if you want to follow every reference to him with "otherwise known as the idiot behind the bench" but I'm just asking us to be better than that and not have to disparage others in the conversation to do it.

I get that it's a message board and people let this kind of language fly like wild, but I'm encouraging us to do better is all.

 

[Sam Spade]

17 goals (tied 1st in NHL among dmen), 40 points without PP1 time last year. Our boy already broke out

I do think the rest of the league will start to take more notice this upcoming season though. He is still underrated by non-Flyers fans.

Yeah, this is what I meant. Right up there with Jones, McAvoy, Werenski, Slavin, as the best young defensemen in the game.

 

[deadhead]

Provorov still has a way to go to be an elite defenseman.
If he could play all season like he did against the Penguins, he's there.

Regular season: pp/60 0.97; CF 49.54, CFrel -0.40; xGF 50.45, xGFrel -0.14
Playoffs: pp/60 1.80; CF 52.05, CFrel +5.84; xGF 52.73, xGFrel +12.70

I think it's a matter of consistency and cutting back on mistakes, especially turnovers in the D-zone.
He's become more confident attacking in the O-zone, he needs to be more in control in the D-zone.
I mean he's all of 21, shouldn't he be a finished product by now?

 

[Flyerfan13]

I know fans of certain teams are not supposed to like other teams in their division but I really like this Flyers team.

I will be shocked if they don’t do some damage this season. Provorov is going to break out big this season as well.

So many great kids coming all of us are excited for the future I think provy already broke out I am expecting big things from Nolan Patrick this year being healthy and having jvr is his left winger.

 

[WestrnPhlyr]

Hexy has done a great job IMO as well. Keeping Hak, I get. Not overly thrilled with it, but I get it.
Lappy, on the other hand....while maybe not "unconscionable", comes pretty close. I just don't get that.

 

[deadhead]

Hextall may feel some guilt saddling his coaches with a lot of marginal players the last four years, every team has a few, but not half their active roster.
Advanced metrics says the PK was much better than GF/GA would suggest.
So maybe Hextall wants to give his coaches real talent before making any final decisions.

 

[WestrnPhlyr]

I get what you're saying deady, I really do. Maybe you will be right in the long run. But right now when I watch games, I don't see advanced metrics on the ice, I see a consistently shitty penalty kill that has ranked near the bottom in the league for what...4 years now? Metrics or no, that cannot fully be laid at the feet of shitty players. The system itself, and thereby the coach has to come into question at some point. Just my opinion.

 

[Striiker]

Hakstol had talent.

He benched it.

 

[BrindamoursNose]

Hakstol had talent.

He benched it.

Eh. You can say that, but he hasn't had a full lineup to work with yet bench or no bench.

Again: Sanheim should've played more, but otherwise I don't know how much would've made a difference. People complain about benching TK and Ghost, but they're doing just fine -- they weren't scarred for life as people suggest. Maybe it's exactly what those players needed, but I doubt anyone here would ever say it is.

 

[deadhead]

System is driven by players, I mean if you were to run an aggressive, puck chasing PK, who had both the speed and smarts to man the forward spots?
If you have limited talent but experienced veterans, a conservative box scheme is easier to implement.

I think guys like Patrick, Frost and Farabee would be well suited to such a scheme, but how fast do you dump that responsibility on them?
I'm not sure I trust Laughton, and TK is probably not disciplined enough right now (an aggressive scheme creates the temptation to overpursue and gamble on forcing turnovers).

A younger Raffl would be perfect, but I think he's slowing down, same with Read four years ago.

Voracek has the speed, but does he have the mentalite for PK?
I don't want Couts and Giroux burning out their legs chasing the puck on the PK.

 

[flyersfan187]

Hextall gets too much hate on these boards. If you asked me how the team would look right now after Homer destroyed the future I would say we would be towards the bottom of the league. The future is bright in Philadelphia!

 

[renberg]

Eh. You can say that, but he hasn't had a full lineup to work with yet bench or no bench.

Again: Sanheim should've played more, but otherwise I don't know how much would've made a difference. People complain about benching TK and Ghost, but they're doing just fine -- they weren't scarred for life as people suggest. Maybe it's exactly what those players needed, but I doubt anyone here would ever say it is.

When TK and Ghost were benched, they weren't doing fine with their defensive responsibilities. They began too get with it and their overall play improved. Its typical of players who were outstanding offensive talents pre-draft. Scoring is usually what gets them drafted. However, most players need to learn to play both ends of the ice. Players like Couturier are rare exceptions.