Post-Game Talk: #4| Anaheim at FLYERS |Tue., Oct. 14, 2014|

[Striiker]

I am all for hiring Tortorella, and then getting a really good coach when he is sent to prison for beating Panaccio to death with the microphone stand after about a week of being here.

OK, I changed my mind, hire Torts.

 

[Curufinwe]

yea cuz Berube has been amazing ?

i still think Torts brings something this team is missing... everyone just focus's on the shot block thing.. but whateva im not trying to convince anyone else.. but for me Torts is the clear answer over Berube 10/10 times

Torts failed with Vancouver's defense, somehow turning Edler into a -39 player. I don't see him succeeding with ours.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Berube really needs to get Voracek on the ice more. 7 shots, a goal, and +1 in 18:30 ice time. It's not like we were on the PK much. Voracek should be playing more like 21 or 22 minutes every night.

Berube is handcuffing this team right now with some of his TOI decisions

Voracek and Giroux both.

 

[Striiker]

Voracek and Giroux both.

and Simmonds

 

[Curufinwe]

I liked the resiliency the team showed last night. Down 2-0 against a Western powerhouse can be daunting. From the time they got their first powerplay goal to the end of overtime, we were the better team. I'm sure some of that can be attributed to Anaheim playing the night before.

I too wasn't happy with some of Berubes TOI decisions. He had Nick Schultz, our 7th defensemen, on the ice the shift after tying it. Naturally, he collides with Couturier and leaves Beleskey all alone for a goal. He then put Schultz out there the shift after Voracek tied and guess what, he turned it over into the slot from the corner and almost coughed up the lead again.

MacDonald and Schultz have been the top pairing since Coburn got hurt. I don't know if giving his minutes to MDZ or Grossmann would have resulted in better outcomes.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Torts failed with Vancouver's defense, somehow turning Edler into a -39 player. I don't see him succeeding with ours.

I don't want someone convincing Giroux to dive in front of every shot Chara takes either.

 

[Embiid]

Torts was an idiot with Gaborik....can only imagine him with Giroux.

Like somebody said...we don't have the personnel for Torts right now...

 

[Beef Invictus]

and Simmonds

I wanted to eat my own eyeballs and pour bleach into the gaping raw sockets to punish myself for seeing Berube play Umberger more than Simmonds halfway through a game we were losing, where Umberger was merely maintaining vital signs and Simmonds was looking great.

Woe be unto anybody who gazes upon such atrocities. Fat is the Slob who perpetrates them.

 

[Funf]

Berube seems so concerned with building a good '2nd' line that he's sacrificing the success of other lines to do so. Read-Couturier-Simmonds looked downright dominant when they were together - but because the Lecavalier and Giroux lines weren't looking good, Simmonds gets demoted. And now our hottest player is stuck playing with Bellemare and Schenn. They weren't bad but they certainly weren't as good as Read-Couts-Simmonds. And now Read & Couts are stuck with captain invisible.

And Raffl is going to spend all year on Giroux's wing, isn't he? Schenn looked pretty bad there, to be honest, but I'd like to have given him more of a chance...

 

[flyershockey]

Tortorella has slowly lost his mind as a coach. His system in Tampa (which won him a cup) was perfectly suited for today's game. But instead, he's resorted to having his teams play like it's 1999.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Tortorella has slowly lost his mind as a coach. His system in Tampa (which won him a cup) was perfectly suited for today's game. But instead, he's resorted to having his teams play like it's 1999.

It's quite bizarre. NHL network showed the final game from that series a few months ago and it was unrecognizable as a Tortorella team.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

Torts failed with Vancouver's defense, somehow turning Edler into a -39 player. I don't see him succeeding with ours.

thats a poor comparo... Vancouver is a SOFT team.. so soft in fact they actualy got Torts fired after 1 season..

i still cant beleive they actualy did that...Vancouver is never going to change from the type of team it is..

 

[Beef Invictus]

thats a poor comparo... Vancouver is a SOFT team.. so soft in fact they actualy got Torts fired after 1 season..

i still cant beleive they actualy did that...Vancouver is never going to change from the type of team it is..

Who on this roster besides Couturier and Read would be suited to the style Tortorella plays? Giroux, Voracek, and Simmonds, some of our best players, would be held back and have their talents squandered.

 

[flyershockey]

It's quite bizarre. NHL network showed the final game from that series a few months ago and it was unrecognizable as a Tortorella team.

He used to operate under the motto "safe is death". Yet his NYR teams at the end there were about as conservative as a team could get.

 

[Beef Invictus]

He used to operate under the motto "safe is death". Yet his NYR teams at the end there were about as conservative as a team could get.

And he did his best to turn Vancouver into the epitome of conservative. We got to see what happens when a roster not suited to Torts, like ours, is subjected to him.

 

[BernieParent]

I wanted to eat my own eyeballs and pour bleach into the gaping raw sockets to punish myself for seeing Berube play Umberger more than Simmonds halfway through a game we were losing, where Umberger was merely maintaining vital signs and Simmonds was looking great.

Woe be unto anybody who gazes upon such atrocities. Fat is the Slob who perpetrates them.

I have to call you out on jumping to conclusions here, Beef. Do you have objective proof that Umberger was maintaining vital signs?

 

[Beef Invictus]

I have to call you out on jumping to conclusions here, Beef. Do you have objective proof that Umberger was maintaining vital signs?

Well...McCrossin didn't declare him clinically dead at any point.


Then again, McCrossin was part of the staff that did it's best to kill Lindros, so that's not the best source.

 

[deadhead]

I think Berube is doing what Hextall wants him to do, figure out who is going to be in this team's future.

Look, Hextall was hamstrung by Holmgren's contracts, he was able to dump Hartnell but has to eat Umberger, he is stuck with Vinnie who is probably unmoveable and too expensive to buy out for another year or two, he has to live with Grossman and Luke Schenn for now.

He is keeping the kids at Lehigh so they can grow up, learn to play right, and not waste a year of low contracts watching them flounder in the NHL.

But I don't think this team is that bad, more like last year, a 90-95 point team that will probably squeeze into the playoffs but little more.

I like Raffl with G and V, he's added muscle and can skate with them and is willing to do the dirty work.

I'd like to see Simmons back with Couts and Read, I think that's the best group for the #2, but they also want to figure out what to do with Bellamare, who is more talented than I expected, he can fly, and might be a better fit down the road as the #2 C.

B Schenn has to show he can play wing, again, I think this is experiment time, if he can't hack it, look for a trade by January, he got moved to wing because they wanted more speed at center. Figure he can bring a young winger in a trade or a high draft pick.

Umberger is playing right now because Hextall probably wants to see if he can contribute at all, or do they buy him out at the end of the year.

As far as the defense, with Coburn out, there are no good pairings, Schultz is a #7 D-man, they didn't sign him to start, they signed him for this situation, hang in there until Coburn returns.

L Schenn and Grossman won't be here next year, MDZ is getting an extended tryout this season - he either improves or he won't be resigned.

So if you look at it from that perspective, you'll expect them to struggle until players either step up or out. One thing I like is the 4th line, not as effective with Jones, but you can see what they can do with Laughton, Rinaldo (who's actually playing well, only one bad mind fart penalty so far) and Akeson/Cousins/Leier - speed on that line with one or two guys who can actually shot (and imagine if say Ghost was on the ice as well) can disrupt, instead of the goons with feet of concrete we're used to seeing.

Over the next two years a lot of dead wood and their money will be pruned, in the meantime, well, better we watch them struggle than make foolish deals trying to patch a leaking ship rather than build a new hull.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

Honestly, I think with the game last night, Schenn showed that he can do well enough, or at least flashes, on the wing. I don't think he does well all with Vinny, since both love to shoot more than they pass. Bellemare I think was a breath of fresh air Schenn needed on that line and he even started to win puck battles. Plus, Schenn looked much better being in Hartsy's spot on the PP, instead of Vinny.

Umberger is basically doing nothing, but I will say, he's not been awful, he's just been absolutely invisible.

Raffl-Giroux-Voracek line is a damn good line and does very well at cycling and can do well in their own end as well.

Read-Couts-Simmonds NEEDS to happen again. That line was so ****ing dominant and with Simmonds wheels and ability to get into the dirty places, it allows Read and Couts to get open for some good chances.

I could see Schenn-Bellemare-Umberger to be a completely underrated line (this is with Vinny out).

Hear me out on this last one. I think when Vinny comes back, I think Umberger should be put on the 4th line and Rinaldo as a wing. Like Schenn-Vinny-Rinaldo. I say this because Rinaldo definitely has the speed and knowhow to mix **** up for Schenn and Vinny to come in and do some damage. Plus, Rinaldo, at least this season, has shown a bit more of an offensive edge than he has in previous seasons.

Umberger-Bellemare-Akeson as our 4th line would actually be pretty formidable. All 3 players are two-way players and will usually work their butts off.

 

[Cyborg LeClair]

Babcock would roll with whatever players GM Ron Hextall gives him. If Hextall decides Ghost, Hagg, and Morin are ready for the big club and doesn't sign a bunch of vets for Babs to choose over them, then that's what we'll roll with.

A reason Babcock isn't already resigned for next year is that he has been upset with Ken Holland's decision making. He wanted more young players on his team this season but Holland sent them down and signed Cleary again.

However, it IS Babcock's decision to keep putting Abdelkader with Datsyuk. So maybe we'd be in for some Rinaldo-Giroux-Umberger type crap

 

[Larry44]

Babcock would roll with whatever players GM Ron Hextall gives him. If Hextall decides Ghost, Hagg, and Morin are ready for the big club and doesn't sign a bunch of vets for Babs to choose over them, then that's what we'll roll with.

A reason Babcock isn't already resigned for next year is that he has been upset with Ken Holland's decision making. He wanted more young players on his team this season but Holland sent them down and signed Cleary again.

However, it IS Babcock's decision to keep putting Abdelkader with Datsyuk. So maybe we'd be in for some Rinaldo-Giroux-Umberger type crap

Don't know if this is true, but it is true that many teams, including Pittsburgh and Toronto, are expected to make bigtime pitches for Babcock's services. He has no interest in reupping in Detroit until he can get them in a bidding war.

He's not really an option for the Flyers, if those teams are after him.

 

[SolidSnakeUS]

For defense, the big ones that should be gone are Grossmann and Schultz. Waive them, trade them, whatever. I think we should bring up Hagg and Ghost/Alt to replace them. I'd love Ghost up here, but maybe the AHL may be better for him, plus Hagg and Alt have put in full seasons there already and have looked good. Both are more mobile and smarter than Grossmann and Schultz. Gives us a bit of cap room to work with and gets youth into the team. Grossmann is too slow and makes bad decisions. Schultz thinks he can skate where ever, but always gets caught and then coughs up the puck too often.

MacD-Coburn
Hagg-Streit
Alt-Schenn
Ghost

Something like that.

 

[deadhead]

For defense, the big ones that should be gone are Grossmann and Schultz. Waive them, trade them, whatever. I think we should bring up Hagg and Ghost/Alt to replace them.

If you waive them, you're stuck with their contracts.

To trade them, you have to wait until a playoff contender suffers a string of injuries and is happy to give you a draft pick for a 3rd pair defenseman (Grossman and L Schenn, Schultz has limited value).

I want the young defensemen to play 20 minutes a night in the AHL and work on the game, if you bring them up too soon, you're just trading veterans with physical limitations for young players with mental limitations - and you might ruin the confidence of a prospect by bringing them up too quickly. Let them earn their way up by shining in Lehigh, then when you're confident they're ready, you can start shopping your veterans.

There is no quick fix for this team, they don't have cap room, and they're stuck with some hard to move contracts. We're not interested in backing into the playoffs I presume, Flyer fans want a team that's a legitimate cup contender, and that will take a couple years.

 

[YEM]

There is no quick fix for this team, they don't have cap room, and they're stuck with some hard to move contracts. We're not interested in backing into the playoffs I presume, Flyer fans want a team that's a legitimate cup contender, and that will take a couple years.

had they not won 8 of their last 9 or something like that a couple years ago, there's a real possibility that Seth Jones is on the team/in the organization now...

 

[Beef Invictus]

Don't know if this is true, but it is true that many teams, including Pittsburgh and Toronto, are expected to make bigtime pitches for Babcock's services. He has no interest in reupping in Detroit until he can get them in a bidding war.

He's not really an option for the Flyers, if those teams are after him.

Pittsburgh just got a new coach and Toronto is a perennial mess largely because of the organization itself, I wouldn't count Philadelphia out.