News Article: How to Fix Flyers

[Striiker]

Hmm.... if we're going to pretend he was having issues from the beginning of the year, blaming it on his legs, then how do we explain his production dropping from 0.588 PPG from the start of the year until being healthy scratched (17 games), to 0.368 from after being scratched until New Years (19 games)? Was it being scratched that ruined his legs?

Almost as if you're making stuff up to defend Hakstol... but you wouldn't do that, would you?

It wasn't his legs that suddenly changed, it was his mentality. He stopped worrying about his idiot coach yelling at him and just played like he used to.

 

[deadhead]

Hmm.... if we're going to pretend he was having issues from the beginning of the year, blaming it on his legs, then how do we explain his production dropping from 0.588 PPG from the start of the year until being healthy scratched (17 games), to 0.368 from after being scratched until New Years (19 games)? Was it being scratched that ruined his legs?

Almost as if you're making stuff up to defend Hakstol... but you wouldn't do that, would you?

It wasn't his legs that suddenly changed, it was his mentality. He stopped worrying about his idiot coach yelling at him and just played like he used to.

If he's that fragile, trade him, because he's certainly not going to be able to handle playoff pressure, or bad calls from the refs when we play the Penguins.

Like Giroux, you have to look at ES production, because both are completely different players on the PP.

December to February, 33g 1-15 16 (ES 0-3 3) -19.
March/April: 20g 2-10 12 (ES 2-5 7) +3

So it seems either he remained in a three month funk from being benched or his legs came back in March.

 

[Striiker]

Or maybe it was when he stopped worrying about the getting yelled at by the coach... you know... like he literally said himself.

Seems a bit more likely than saying his legs suddenly got fixed in March. Odd that an offseason surgery wouldn't effect a player to start the year (closer to when the surgery happened...), suddenly become an issue for a few months, and then go back to normal...

 

[Striiker]

And a player isn't fragile for trying to listen to his coach.

The coach suddenly punishes him for no reason, so of course he's going to try to listen to that coach and make whatever changes he says. Problem is, the coach doesn't have a clue what he's talking about so instead of helping, it hurts. Now Ghost's playing a game he isn't suited for, trying to be too safe and not using his skill, and that kills confidence. Once your confidence is gone it's tough to get it back, especially when you know you could suddenly get scapegoated for the teams issues by an inconsistent "accountability" philosophy. Then towards the end of the year he decides to play the way he should be, and things get back to normal.

 

[daa5250]

And of course some will try to pretend that Ghost played better because of being scratched by Hakstol (which is obviously bull****), when in reality it was because he stopped listening to Hakstol. We know that because Ghost literally said it in an interview.





http://www.crossingbroad.com/2017/04/takeaways-from-a-disappointing-flyers-season.html

This hilarious. Didnt you adamantly claim Giroux's struggles had nothing to do with health or losing a step and then when Giroux literally said that was the case in an interview you refused to admit you were wrong?

 

[Striiker]

This hilarious. Didnt you adamantly claim Giroux's struggles had nothing to do with health or losing a step and then when Giroux literally said that was the case in an interview you refused to admit you were wrong?

No, that isn't what happened, but I'm not surprised you'd think so, considering you didn't even read my posts. If you'd like, you can still go back to that thread and read my last post over again, since it obviously didn't sink in.

 

[daa5250]

Lamenting about letting Gagner go and signing Weise is pointless. Gagner played on CBJs 4th line for a lot of the season for a reason. He's a defensive liability that doesnt score enough at 5v5 to be in the top 6. That's why he was literally signed to a 1 year sub 1 mil deal because there was very little demand for him in the league. Almost all his points this year were on the PP which he would have gotten very little time of in Philly.

Weise is making 2.3 mil a year and while he underperformed its only 2.3 mil and he scored 6 goals in the last 14 games alone. Not a big deal.

As many others have pointed out the bottom 6 has already been fixed with the additions of Weal, Filppula and a healthy Raffl and addition of Lindblom will only add to that.

The team's 3rd line was Weise-Couturier-Schenn to end the year and Konecny played on the 4th liner for a lot of the end of the year.

Next year the team will have plenty of forward depth and perfectly adequate if not good bottom 6.

 

[daa5250]

No, that isn't what happened, but I'm not surprised you'd think so, considering you didn't even read my posts. If you'd like, you can still go back to that thread and read my last post over again, since it obviously didn't sink in.

Lol thats exactly what happened. Iv never seen someone who was proven wrong try so hard to dig their way out and claim they werent.

 

[Striiker]

Lol thats exactly what happened. Iv never seen someone who was proven wrong try so hard to dig their way out and claim they werent.

Like I said, feel free to do a little reading in that thread since you clearly haven't done so already.

 

[daa5250]

Like I said, feel free to do a little reading in that thread since you clearly haven't done so already.

Oh i already did plenty. It's very clear what happened. Still not sure why you just refused to admit you were wrong about the health like any rational normal person would. Not that big of a deal.

 

[Tripod]

Oh i already did plenty. It's very clear what happened. Still not sure why you just refused to admit you were wrong about the health like any rational normal person would. Not that big of a deal.

Holy **** let it go. No one cares.

 

[Striiker]

Oh i already did plenty. It's very clear what happened. Still not sure why you just refused to admit you were wrong about the health like any rational normal person would. Not that big of a deal.

Please read the posts. Not going to argue with you about it all over again in a different thread.

 

[Rebels57]

Round and round we go.

 

[BobbyClarkeFan16]

I still don't understand why Hakstol and Murphy tried to fundamentally change Gostisbehere's game. He's an offensive producer with the puck. If anything, they needed to continue to build off that skill and then partner him up with someone who's stronger defensively to cover up for him. Instead, they tried to turn him into a defensive stalwart. He's never going to be that kind of defenseman, yet they were determined to turn him into something he's not. I'm sure though someone will come on here and quote all kinds of Corsi stats and other bull **** to justify scratching Ghost, rather than stating the obvious - the coaching staff were inept and oblivious with their handling of Ghost.

 

[daa5250]

Holy **** let it go. No one cares.

Probably should.

 

[Striiker]

I still don't understand why Hakstol and Murphy tried to fundamentally change Gostisbehere's game. He's an offensive producer with the puck. If anything, they needed to continue to build off that skill and then partner him up with someone who's stronger defensively to cover up for him. Instead, they tried to turn him into a defensive stalwart. He's never going to be that kind of defenseman, yet they were determined to turn him into something he's not. I'm sure though someone will come on here and quote all kinds of Corsi stats and other bull **** to justify scratching Ghost, rather than stating the obvious - the coaching staff were inept and oblivious with their handling of Ghost.

And instead they do the opposite and put him with Manning, who plays an even riskier style... minus any potential reward at the end of it.

Or, if not Manning, the corpse of Mark Streit or down-year-MDZ...

All awful awful awful awful players.

 

[Rebels57]

I still don't understand why Hakstol and Murphy tried to fundamentally change Gostisbehere's game. He's an offensive producer with the puck. If anything, they needed to continue to build off that skill and then partner him up with someone who's stronger defensively to cover up for him. Instead, they tried to turn him into a defensive stalwart. He's never going to be that kind of defenseman, yet they were determined to turn him into something he's not. I'm sure though someone will come on here and quote all kinds of Corsi stats and other bull **** to justify scratching Ghost, rather than stating the obvious - the coaching staff were inept and oblivious with their handling of Ghost.

It definitely hurt us only having 3 good defensemen last season. Had we had 1 more, we could have put together two solid pairs and it would have stabilized both the team and Ghosts game.

Provorov - Gudas
_______ - Ghost

Del Zotto's game falling off a cliff really ****ed our D last season..coupled with some peculiar decisions by Hakstol.

I suppose it all worked out for the best though. If we made the playoffs, we weren't winning more than 1 round in all likelihood and we wouldn't have the #2 overall pick.

What is better long-term? Winning a round in the playoffs or drafting a cornerstone player?

 

[deadhead]

I still don't understand why Hakstol and Murphy tried to fundamentally change Gostisbehere's game.

I never got the impression that they were trying to fundamentally change his game, they just wanted him to be more careful with the puck and to get back on defense and challenge forwards driving to the net.

His size limits him, but just compare his play defensively with Kimmo, who was also aggressive offensively (not quite to the same extent, but still pretty aggressive). Kimmo started as a defensive defensemen and worked his way into an offensive role, but had the defensive fundamentals down cold. Ghost has always been a star on offense, making highlight plays, but it's obvious his defense needs work.

There is no point pushing the offense if you consistently make careless plays that lead to goals to the other team. This doesn't mean Ghost should pull into a shell, rather, he should have more ice awareness and know when he should take chances and when he should play it safe. It's called "situational awareness" and it's one of the innate skills that the best players possess.

 

[deadhead]

It definitely hurt us only having 3 good defensemen last season. Had we had 1 more, we could have put together two solid pairs and it would have stabilized both the team and Ghosts game.

Provorov - Gudas
_______ - Ghost

Del Zotto's game falling off a cliff really ****ed our D last season..

MDZ flaking out really killed the defense, b/c he and Gudas were the best pair from the previous season. They should have been the first pair, taking pressure off Provorov.

And Streit totally losing his legs (which wasn't that hard to predict) meant you no longer had a competent veteran to pair with Ghost. Schultz didn't have much left in the tank, and Manning and MDZ weren't trustworthy partners for an offensive defenseman.

Provorov and Ghost might work this year, but it's easy to forget that Provorov had his own struggles the first couple months. He came a long way from October to April

 

[Striiker]

Timonen is more like Provorov than Ghost. Shorter than Provorov, but very very solid. If Ghost was built like that he'd be a very different player, offensively and defensively.

Also, acting like Ghost doesn't have situational awareness or hockey IQ or whatever you want to call it... come on now. You're just making up things now because you have an agenda. You defend trash players that Hakstol defends and complain players that Hakstol complains about. It's so transparent.

 

[deadhead]

No, Ghost made a lot of bad mistakes that led to goals. The numbers show it, and the eyes showed it. Denying that is denying reality.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

easy fix for the Flyers for this season, but its not going to happen until this season is lost..

remove Haks and put in a REAL NHL head coach like they should have done after firing Lavi...

realyl going to suck watching another full season get wasted...

 

[Striiker]

No, Ghost made a lot of bad mistakes that led to goals. The numbers show it, and the eyes showed it. Denying that is denying reality.

That applies to literally every single player in the league, especially offensive defensemen. It happens, it's normal, but they make up for it by being offensive catalysts. If that's what you want to dwell on that aspect then you could make a case that most of the elite offense defensemen in the league are liabilities that deserve to be scratched. Have you watched Subban? Karlsson?

If you're expecting elite offense and elite defense then you're going to be disappointed. His defense is limited by his size so you need to let him try to be as dangerous offensively as possible to make sure his impact on the game is an overall positive one. The worst thing you can do is what Hakstol did, try to stop him from making risky plays, which will lead to the same amount of goals against but also neuter his offense.

 

[bobbythebrain]

Fixing the Flyers is easy:

1) draft Nico/Nolan
2) sign Lindblom and put him in the top 9
3) let Cousins, Laughton, Weise/Read/Raffl, MV and PEB fight out out for 4th line duties
4) bring up Morin, Sanheim and Hagg, and exile MacDonald
5) unleash the hounds!

Realistic post

1) Draqft Nico/Nolan
2) play Linblom top 6
3) let Konecny , etc, etc fight for 4th line duties. At some point expect Voracek, Linblom and Schenn to do long stretches there...cuz
4)Bring in Morin, Sanheim and Hagg. Despite production and play of any, Amac will replace these guys for not being perfect and while still outplaying him
5)Unleash the hounds. Then quickly reel them in and punish them repeatedly to set examples

 

[Striiker]

Konecny won't be on the 4th line...