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The top 4 D is carrying the load, which is both good and bad. Usually teams don’t play their 3rd pair around 10 mins/game until the playoffs, not in October. Full credit to Vladar for taking advantage of his opportunity. It has been refreshing watching Flyers get above .900 save % for multiple games for a goalie. Does not happen very often over the last couple of years. Dvorak is such a redundant center for what is already on the roster with Couts and Cates. I sure hope the plan is to trade him by the deadline. TK and Michkov have not worked together all season. With the insistence of keeping the Cates line in tact, sure seems like the move is to place TK with Zegras and Dvorak. The coaching staff seems like there is a red line that Zegras and Michkov cannot play together at 5 on 5 with the year being described as “we want to better then last season, but do not have to make the playoffs”.
Might be time to move Michkov away from Couts at even strength. Although if the alternative is to have Dvarak be his center, not a better option.
Ersson in goal tonight. I guess the first goalie to thrown in a clunker, the other guy gets consecutive starts.
I do wonder if the crease continues to be each guy gets a start every other game. Has Vladar earned the right to play consecutive games? I think he has considering he has only given up 4 goals over two games to the Panthers. Pretty impressive.
I do think PP1 is still missing a net front presence. Granted, Tippett scored from there against CAR, but I do not see a forward pretty much planted around the crease. Forwards seem to be rotating thru the crease instead. I really hope Grebenkin gets some PP time because I believe he could be an effective net front presence.
When the Flyers have been a relevant contender, the blueline usually was built thru draft picks and savvy trades. I’ll start with ’96-’97 blueline- Desjardins (trade), Therien (draft pick), Niinimaa (draft pick), Svoboda (trade), Dykhuis (trade), Coffey (trade), Samuelsson (free agent signing). ’10-’11 blueline – Kimmo (trade), Coburn (trade), Pronger (trade), Carle (trade), Meszaros (trade), O’Donnell (free agent signing).
There are plenty of lean years with brutal bluelines, no doubt. However, building a top tier blueline can be built thru using all assets available to the GM. It is up to the GM not to over value his talent level found within the organization during his tenure. At the present time even with every Dman healthy currently in the organization, this blueline cannot be built into a top tier level. It is not all bad, but needs upgrades. It will be imperative for Briere to be savvy in the trade market. With the cap rising, the free agent market will have very few difference making options over the next few summers.
Vladar again was very good tonight, pleasant surprise. Zamula won’t be back in the lineup for awhile. Team deserves credit for weathering the storm and get the win in regulation.
at what point does Dahlen and Thompson ask out of buffalo? hoe they want to still play there is mind boggling.
It would be criminal if Briere is not calling Adams everyday and think about a massive swing with a trade. Whatever it takes to get Dahlie, Thompson or even Power. I really do think it is possible to get Dahlin or Power. It will cost a lot, but do not over value the talent in this organization. I just believe it will be harder to pry Thompson out of those 3 players.
I really did not have an issue how Luchanko and Grebenkin were utilized until the third period. The narrative is this weird line “we expect to be better this season, but not be sellers and do not expect the team to be a legit playoff contender”. What better a way to develop young guys who the team is going to need to get better then let play in game 2 of a tight hockey game in the third period. Hopefully it changes as the season progresses, but most hockey HCs seem determined to using the vets even though the team is not good enough to compete over prospects who the hope is to lead them back to contention in the future.
Interested to see if BUF is willing to move Byram now that Josh Norris is expected to be out “long-term”. They are one of a very few teams that has actually been worse then the Flyers over the last decade. I do believe the smoke Tippett is on the market. The regime even if they cannot believe Risto will be reliable enough to stay healthy when he returns to be a mainstay in the top 6 until his contract expires.
I hope eventually we see Grebenkin on the PP as a net front presence. Not sure how Briere is going to resolve this glut at wing, but if the game plan is to be a puck possession team, going to need wingers who can constantly win along the boards and protect the puck. Grebenkin and Foerster are the two best options. Maybe Grebenkin gets more then 11 shifts if the team stops taking dumb penalties, just need to find a way to get him more shifts.
So when is it allowed to get more information on what is going on with Oliver Bonk. He seems like a pretty important prospect that needs to pan out. “Just two more weeks” is getting concerning.
he will have many suitors. flyers at the bottom of his list I would imagine. therefor not really realistic
once that communist socialist mayor is elected in NY it will be interesting to see if it effects athletes wanting to play in NY. he wants to tax the shit out of high earners.
I do believe if the Flyers acquire a Dman, the player will have term left on their contract because the Flyers are not really a destination franchise right now. So I would expect a Byram type Dman to be the player they would acquire.
Dvorak is the Laughton replacement. He is not a top 6 player, but Flyer HCs seem intent on playing them in that that role. I have no issue with the contract, but my hope is he moves down the lineup quickly. No issue managing Luchanko and building him up slowly. Grebenkin has earned the right to be in a top 9 spot and hopefully is inserted there against CAR.
Grebenkin is in the lineup tomorrow. Luchanko may be as well. Deslauriers and possibly Abols come out. Tocc said twice this week that he wants to get both of the rookies into the lineup without sitting them for too long (specific to Grebenkin, he said the Russian would play Saturday if he wasn’t in the opener).
Re:Dvorak, the Flyers have two roster problems that they probably can’t solve simultaneously with the current roster.
* They need more offensive production, BUT
* They also desperately need to play better team D and lower the GAA.So when you look at the better offensive players up front, you find that:
* Michkov is below average defensively.
* Zegras is below average defensively.
* Konecny is strictly average at most defensively (but that’s a big jump from where he started)
* Tippett is also average at best defensively (he, too, started out below-average)
* They don’t want to separate Foerster from Cates/Brink line.What Tocchet is trying to do, but may not be able to keep with, is spread thing out a bit. He’s trying to live with Tippett-Zegras-Konecny line as “2/3 just adequate enough” defensively not to kill you while seeking offense. He wanted two defensively responsible linemates for Michkov because he has a long way to go still defensively. Grebenkin is prone to going to the wrong spots defensively and to turning over pucks coming through the neutral zone.
I appreciate your insight, but I will argue that Tippett and are a lot closer defensively to Michkov then further apart. Only 1 game sample size, but placing Michkov (who has the expectation of developing into the team’s best player) with 2 above average forwards defensive who are not really gifted puck carrying seems like a wonky fit. I understand not wanting to break up the Cates line, but maybe breaking it up gets better balance throughout 3 lines as the roster is currently constructed. Interested to see what happens when Luchanko and Grebenkin get inserted into the lineup.
They need to find some way to get more offense and at least lower the defensive issues a bit (I’m only talking forwards here, not the mess that is the blueline).
By his play Vladar should get this start, but I fully expect Ersson in net. At this rate, Zamula is playing his way out of the top 6 pretty quickly. Undrafted player, who deserves credit for getting this far in his career, but he is trending to be a very fringe 6th Dman. No need to be overly critical with the player, start pointing the finger at the organization cannot figure out a way to build a better top 6 blueline.
after all these years they still cant draft/develop even bottom pair dman.
agree with vlader and zamula
If a team cannot draft and develop prospects at a certain position, it does not have to be the end. Look no further then Vegas’s blueline. The key is for a regime not to over value the talent found within their organization. Use all available assets to improve the NHL first and foremost. This regime is entering year 3 with the expectation of being better then last season. The internal evaluation of all the players who have been on this roster or the AHL since they have taken over, should be done. Zegras trade was a nice start trying to improve the NHL roster. It may not work out, but I will at least give credit for Briere trying. He needs more of these trades to happen over the next year.
Rasmus Andersson, right handed D, pretty good, fits under the cap, end of season UFA. Might be available sooner. We will see. It’s a very safe bet, after the big Frost trade last year, Briere has at least checked in on him.
I thought about Andersson also. With Rasmus turning 29 soon, I do wonder if Briere would use significant assets to improve the blueline for a younger Dman. I do not know, but this top 6 is not playoff contender quality even when/if York and Risto return.
