2023-24 #2: Phantoms (AHL), Reading Royals (ECHL), NCAA, Jrs., Int'l, etc.

[VladDrag]

Never forget when Morin and Friedman dressed as forwards. Ahhh Lake Tahoe. Such simpler times.

They sat David Kase in favor of a defenseman who last played forward at 10 years old.

 

[Appleyard]

The Flyers have used 3 defensemen with an empty net, 2 defensemen in OT, and 2 defensemen on every PP (including the half wall), so I think they're ahead of the curve when it comes to position-less hockey. And that position-less is forward.

Cycle hockey should be positionless. It's the shitty turret defensemen who bog that down. But if you're skilled and a good passer, there's ample room for switches, funneling to the middle, etc. You see someone like MacKinnon who regularly initiates his cycle offense from where defensemen operate -- almost 3 across -- to build downhill speed. Creating offense from the boards isn't prioritized/fostered in defenders, but that's a developmental evolution thing more than fact of life. The same applies to back-skating and footwork being prioritized/fostered in defensemen. That change has to start at lower levels. Diminished size bias on defense helps. Obviously, there are skill-set limits.

Where hockey differs from positionless basketball is rush offense/defense. Yes, there are fast breaks and sporadic full court presses, but generally, any good basketball team retreats into its half court defensive set after a possession change. Solving the NZ is a unique problem to hockey, and forwards are the first to break out for obvious reasons. If you want to take out forward passing again, sure.

Couturier was mentioned, but you know who I think would have been an elite defensemen in an alternate reality? Giroux.

I remember saying years ago that Couturier-Giroux would be a fantastic D pairing in an alternate reality...

 

[Strawberry Fields]

Deslauriers was drafted as a dman

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Damn. What a bullet by Celebrini.

 

[BernieParent]

Deslauriers was drafted as a dman

He regressed from D to F.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Tony Amonte 3D jersey in the crowd.

 

[FLYguy3911]

Cutter no showed in a big game.

My boy Gabe showed up though.

 

[wasup]

Robert Hagg is jealous of Bonk's luck.

I'm sorry that RH name has been banned from this site .

 

[Magua]

Cutter no showed in a big game.

My boy Gabe showed up though.

Again?

You can’t root for a Ranger. You can, however, root for a 1st round pick of the Honolulu Ghibli.

After my top 6 guys in the class -- all taken -- I could go in many directions. Can I trade down? No? Okay, then I'm feeling this one.

The Honolulu Ghibli select as our Futurehead......Gabe Perreault



The leading point getter at Boston College and non-stat padding medal round hero at the WJC. What a guy. Just not good enough for 22nd overall on Earth Prime.

****

@DancingPanther -- fetch the warmest of linens and make the bestest of picks, my bröther!

 

[FLYguy3911]

Again?

You can’t root for a Ranger. You can, however, root for a 1st round pick of the Honolulu Ghibli.

This is the closest I've gotten to that thread.

 

[Magua]

This is the closest I've gotten to that thread.

It’s the best thread on the website. Iykyk. Never too late for the Gainesville Badonkadonks to be birthed into existence.

 

[landsbergfan]

Cutter no showed in a big game.

My boy Gabe showed up though.

Your boy???

 

[FLYguy3911]

Your boy???

I must have missed your rankings.

 

[BigToe]

Bonk on hatty watch. 2 ppg’s.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Flyers have to at least kick the tires on trying Bonk in that bumper position on the PP in the NHL, right? He’s obviously excelled at it

Does London ever lose?

 

[macleish1974]

Flyers have to at least kick the tires on trying Bonk in that bumper position on the PP in the NHL, right? He’s obviously excelled at it

Does London ever lose?

Bonk no.1 star. Barkey no.2 last knight; Barkey up there in OHL with shorties, first goals, assists, total points. PK of Barkey and Cowan is as good as it gets. Bonk had 8 sog last knight……

 

[Magua]

Flyers have to at least kick the tires on trying Bonk in that bumper position on the PP in the NHL, right?

I'm sure the most mishandled PP in the NHL for years now will put a below average NHL skill defender in the bumper spot because of outlier unsustainable numbers in the OHL. The Knights currently have the best PP in modern OHL history. The closest I've found were the 97-98 Plymouth Whalers and the 13-15 McDavid/Strome/DeBrincat Erie Otters. And this London PP is 3% better at nearly 34%!

No competent NHL PP is playing defenders in those positions. In 2019-20, the Sabres experimented with net front Ristolainen on their *wait for it* 20th ranked PP. Even the Flyers tried and quickly moved off that. Bonk stands off puck in the slot/net front and leads the historic Knights in PP points. It's like Simmonds having more PP points than Giroux -- it doesn't pass the smell test. We're in the Twilight Zone of production.

I'm going to guess a defender with 6 non-PP goals on the season (including 2 last week which were own goals) doesn't possess outlier finishing ability, warranting Farabee, Konecny, Tippett, Foerster, etc. making way for his finishing talent. The bumper position is more complex in the NHL, PKs are ferociously more aggressive, and Bonk is often more a double screener than a true bumper. There's little skill shit I can critique too like his footwork/shot readiness there.

 

[macleish1974]

Flyers have to at least kick the tires on trying Bonk in that bumper position on the PP in the NHL, right? He’s obviously excelled at it

Does London ever lose?

The team hardly loses. The police force and district attorney’s office is a different matter wouldn’t you say????? I wonder what the Hunter brothers said to the team after the “boys” were “visiting” the court offices.

 

[blackjackmulligan]

I'm sure the most mishandled PP in the NHL for years now will put a below average NHL skill defender in the bumper spot because of outlier unsustainable numbers in the OHL. The Knights currently have the best PP in modern OHL history. The closest I've found were the 97-98 Plymouth Whalers and the 13-15 McDavid/Strome/DeBrincat Erie Otters. And this London PP is 3% better at nearly 34%!

No competent NHL PP is playing defenders in those positions. In 2019-20, the Sabres experimented with net front Ristolainen on their *wait for it* 20th ranked PP. Even the Flyers tried and quickly moved off that. Bonk stands off puck in the slot/net front and leads the historic Knights in PP points. It's like Simmonds having more PP points than Giroux -- it doesn't pass the smell test. We're in the Twilight Zone of production.

I'm going to guess a defender with 6 non-PP goals on the season (including 2 last week which were own goals) doesn't possess outlier finishing ability, warranting Farabee, Konecny, Tippett, Foerster, etc. making way for his finishing talent. The bumper position is more complex in the NHL, PKs are ferociously more aggressive, and Bonk is often more a double screener than a true bumper. There's little skill shit I can critique too like his footwork/shot readiness there.

Why do you think he is a below average NHL skill defender? I agree with you on the PP take as it wont translate.

 

[Curufinwe]

Flyers have to at least kick the tires on trying Bonk in that bumper position on the PP in the NHL, right? He’s obviously excelled at it

Does London ever lose?

Rocky will put him on the right wall

 

[wasup]

Rocky will put him on the right wall

Nope he will put him in the corner grinding with himself if there is nobody there to grind with lol .

Get your mind out of the gutter boys .

 

[Magua]

Why do you think he is a below average NHL skill defender? I agree with you on the PP take as it wont translate.

To be clear, I didn't say sub-NHL skill. But if he's an NHL defenseman (let alone top 4, as some project), I think he's on the below average side, not catastrophic. I feel reasonably confident about that. He's a bottom heavy stick handler, lacking great touch/feel with pucks. Visually, you can pick that one up pretty quickly. He's not bad in stride, but from a footwork perspective, his pivots/edges are on the clumsy side. In general, he's clunky in tight spaces. He's not that much of a factor 5v5 besides occasionally trailing to shoot. He pretty much adds nothing in lane creation/manipulation or solving forecheck pressure -- he's very one read on breakouts, and frankly, he's not terribly involved in exits/entries.

The good news is he's using white stick tape now instead of black, so there's a clear hunger to look more skilled.

 

[Appleyard]

 

[wasup]

Do you watch many LV games ? Their shitty goaltending { ranked 46th and 50th out of 52 ranked goalies on SV% } and defensive turnovers are much more of a problem than lack of scoring .

Never mind shitty coaching putting guys like Gardner out as center of your first line the #1 center on both pp and pk as well as starting him in over time . He has 5 goals and 3 assists all year ffs .
Hell last game Lappy dressed 7 D and put that D at forward the whole game while he sat a guy he called up from Reading the day before who he inserted onto the 2nd line and put out in overtime the game before . It's mind boggling .

There is way more problems down there than just saying they can't score .

I have been watching a lot more LV games this year cause I can't stand watching Torts' without wanting to throw something thru the TV . Lappy is a nice guy but he has no clue what he is doing .

Ps ... I don't mean any disrespect Appleyard as I do quite like your posting on here but there are a lot of problems down there that are not player related .

 

[freakydallas13]

Hell last game Lappy dressed 7 D.

And people say the farm team doesn't run the same system as the Flyers