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It would be hard to be worse. I think they will fall short of the playoffs. So somewhere in between 4th worst and 16th worst overall. Still not making the playoffs is not “significantly” better to me. I am not upset that they will not make the playoffs. Just feel like finishing outside of the bottom five does not do much for their long term success.
You don’t get to long term success without incremental improvement from where they were at the end of the season. The goaltending was putrid. Ersson has to play better and it would be nice if Vladar can be close to this year’s Kevin Lankinen. If that doesn’t happen, yeah they’re in trouble. The D remains an issue too with two Top 4 guys coming up short of what was needed in York and Drysdale. That has to improve too. Briere decided in season last year that Frost and Farabee weren’t answers and essentially gave them away. I think those slots were filled nicely this off season. The forward corps actually looks good. Being competitive for a playoff spot this year will be satisfying to me. If they sneak in, great. Again, the rest of the conference isn’t that great.
Finished last in conf. Facts don’t back that up
The Flyers finished last in the league in 06-07 by 11 points and made the conference finals the next year. That’s not going to happen this year, but I just mention it in passing. In 24-25, MTL improved 15 points and OTT improved 19 points over 23-24.
The Flyers will be significantly better this year. Do you think they’ll be worse? How come?
Unfortunately, the Flyers offered no proof of that last season.
Hahaha, well that was last season. It’s not like I see all roses on the way this year. I saw plenty of troubling things that may or may not get fixed. Guys who just weren’t delivering up to what their roles required and a lot of bad puck support. Watching the playoffs more closely this year, both those things really matter. Of course, when I name names, I’m criticized here for that by people who seem to prefer a more generalized and thoroughly more consistent dump on the team. The Flyers can’t do anything right! Hahahahaha! The puck support stood out as inadequate to me. I hear Tocchet say he’d like to see more give-and-go plays to drive offense. Well, you need puck support to be able to make those short, fast give-and-go passes work. I want to see how that plays out. One bright spot from last year: They were 8th in the league in allowing the fewest shots against. Weird.
Cheer up and enjoy!
1. zegras is not top end talent and marone hasn tplayed 1 nhl game as of yet. jumpong the gun a tad. hope and “ifs” the flyers mantra
2. vlader’s past play shows he is unlikley to deliver.
3. next brad shaw.
5. whats more important, developing zegras as a top 6 center or winning a few more games? not sayin dont use ex selke or dvorak in some situations. let zegras do it. see if he can handle it as better to fin out now than next season.
6. again no logjam at all. dvorak will likely play wing more than cates.
you say only need to make up 15 points or a tad more. they would have to pass 8 teams. you also dont accpunt for other teams being better. playoffs are an unrealistic goal imo.
1. You mean Zegras isn’t a needle mover? Hahahaha! He played well down the stretch last year. If he stays healthy, I predict he’ll top his PPG those first two years in ANA. Martone will deliver. So now, it’s not enough the Flyers acquire potential top end talent, they must already be top end talent. Very realistic.
2. Unlikely to deliver what I think they might need from him. .900+ sv pct is not wildly out of reach but I think he might need to do that in as many as 50 games. The Flyers also seem to have more confidence in Ersson than I do. We’ll see.
3. Rierden is the big add on D, like it or not. I still think they need to revamp a lot of their D unless Todd can pull a couple rabbits out of his hat.
4. The two aren’t mutually exclusive. Zegras will take plenty of draws. You really put your best faceoff guys out there for key draws. Obvious example: A defensive zone draw late in a game when you have a 1 goal lead. Not complicated.
5. Dvorak is, without question, a better faceoff man than Cates. Of course Cates, like Zegras, can get better.
There are five teams in the conference that are already playoff locks: FLA, CAR, TOR, WSH, TB. The Flyers are light years away from being better than those teams. The rest of the conference is not that great. MTL, on paper, looks improved. NYR will get a boost from roster moves and Sullivan . . . or not. OTT ran a nice end season hot streak into the playoffs. NJ isn’t the team of the future as some predicted. The rest of the conference sucks worse than the Flyers.
1.the flyers need to add top end talent. first and foremost. once again the flyers are chasing their tail trying to emulate the current trend. Their is no payoff and wont be for years, if at all.
2. they still need a goalie. there is likely to be no payoff with vlader. not addressed in my eye.
3. they didnt and their is no payoff. they added a fn 6/7th dman at best.
4. agree.
5. doesn’t matter at this stage.
6. there is no logjam at center in any way.
1. Well, yeah but that doesn’t happen in one off season. The hope is obviously they added two TE talents in Zegras and Martone and already have three in Konecny, Michkov and Sanheim. I think a player can also be a top end talent in his role which can expand the definition a little. Cup winners have that.
2. We can just hope for the best that Vladar delivers what they need. His numbers don’t look bad except for games played. The Flyers might need him for 50 games. It is what it is now.
3. Todd Rierden will turn them all into Norris candidates. He’s that good a coach. What else can I say there?
4. What???!!!
5. When you’re trying to win hockey games in the best league in the world, every aspect of game play matters.
6. There’s already speculation from credible sources somebody will have to flip to wing. You heard it first from me here but scoffed. That’s without penciling in Luchanko and Nesbitt. There’s still a good chance Luchanko gets some games in this year. Nesbitt, of course, is a good two years away.
Pre-season optimism tells me the Flyers could be a bubble team and with some breaks sneak in. Only 91 points got teams in last year, so adding 15 points gets them there. On the down side, it usually takes 95-96 points to get in. The bottom of the conference sagged badly last year and the very top teams scooped up more points than usual. Lots of confounding factors. I just want to see entertaining hockey this year.
– yes it can be developed. that is why it is important to let zegras take the majority of the draws. let him learn on the job to improve. potential short term pain for long term gain. would that not be best for the future?
– its pretty obvious the path the flyers are on? do tell.
– Yes I want reasonably accurate prediction for what the flyers are going to do. again do tell.
You’ve already gotten several and are now pretending you weren’t critical of each of them at the time.
1. Flyers need to get bigger and stronger. Payoff: The draft and not tendering Pelletier.
2. Flyers need a goalie. Payoff: Signed Vladar. I’m not thrilled with this, but they did address it.
3. Need to upgrade the Dmen. Payoff: Again, not thrilled with the end result, but they did add there.
4. Need to fill holes at center. Payoff: Zegras trade and Dvorak signing.
5. Need centers who can win faceoffs. Payoff: Dvorak again.
6. An impending logjam at center might cause a center to be flipped to wing. Payoff: Now a few observers, not named FlyerFrank, are discussing this. I’ve been suggesting it since this board opened.
Unless something falls into Briere’s lap, this is the team that goes to camp and opens the season.
Anything else?
Mentioned that above. Though id Zegras is a long term fit at center he will need to improve and take those face offs.
That can be developed but Dvorak and Couturier are both really good on the draw right now. Cates is sub-.500 at the dot too. I’ve been suggesting a Cates flip to wing was in the offing since before Dvorak was signed. It’s pretty obvious the path the Flyers are following and, in general, it’s the correct one based on their current composition. You want a reasonably accurate prediction for what the Flyers are going to do, just ask.
The likeliest scenario is that Tocchet will do a lot of experimentation in training camp and early in the regular season. Zegras may primarily play center but he may also periodically take shifts on wing. Ditto Cates for different reasons.
Zegras gets every shot at center. Cates could fill the Jochen Hecht/Ville Leino role on left wing the way those guys did for Briere when he was creating offense down near the goal line. Third man stays high. That’s Cates. Getting to suddenly play on a line with guys like Zegras and Michkov and jack his own scoring numbers will ease any pain. Cates and Dvorak are both too good to not be Top 9 guys on this team.
Maybe they use him on wing and take face offs
Dvorak- Zegras- mmHahahaha! Exactly! Seriously though, there will be instances of Couturier and Dvorak both being on the ice for defensive zone draws late in games where the Flyers are up. I think the better Dvorak plays, the more likely he’ll be traded if the Flyers fall out of any race by the deadline. That’s all speculation now. We need to think about more pressing matters like who claims Brink when the Flyers waive him.
