GDT: #42 | Ducks at Flyers | Saturday, January 11, 2025 | 7:00 PM | NBCSP, 97.5 FM

[Ghosts Beer]

Anaheim: Carlson (2), McTavish (3), Gauthier (5), Mintyukov (10).
And they have Zegras (9) on IR and Sennecke (3) who didn't make team Canada.
How many high picks before a team becomes decent?

Anaheim is both dirty and soft, a hard combo to pull off.
A lot of cheap shots, but they didn't win many battles.

Gauthier is a marshmallow, Flyers weren't headhunting, but they stripped him of the puck a few times, no fight along the boards, doesn't go to the net. He's got size, good speed but not that slick of a skater, good shot, but plays like a 180 lb forward. Compared to Foerster as a 22 year old rookie, there's no fight in this dog. He'll score with that shot, but not much else unless he develops some cojones.

Couts may be finished as a center, another game where he was a nonfactor, despite playing with Lycksell and Michkov. But you're not breaking up the Cates line, Frost with TK and Tippett looked great, so how do you put a third line together? Laughton - Poehling - Michkov?

Who wants to whine about keeping TK instead of getting a late 1st, 2nd and a "B" prospect?
Not only is he becoming an elite player, he's "our rat," similar to Marchand in that he bring energy and 'tude. And it rubs off, look at Brink hitting guys 30 lbs heavier.

Nice shutout for Ersson, when he's on and healthy he looks like a #1, but he's struggled with consistency and staying healthy. But they can afford to let him grow on the job.

I agree Gauthier played like a marshmallow.

The Flyers hit him every chance they got, and he was intimidated.

He skated out of a scrum and let his teammates do all the dirty work. Then Hathaway grabs him and jaws at him and Gauthier wouldn't even look at him.

At one point Gauthier was on a rush on the left wing nearing an offensive zone entry, and he simply lost the puck untouched because he was afraid he was about to get hit.

He stayed on the perimeter and was completely uninvolved the whole game, like he just wanted to get it over with.

It's all well and good when you can out-athlete people at lower levels, but for all of his false bravado in interviews, he wants no part of any conflict on the ice.

Closest he came was he thought he could sort of save face by half shoving little rookie Michkov, and Michkov whacked him a few times and that was the end of that. Michkov is a nasty competitor, Gauthier is soft.

To your other point, you mentioned Frost looked "great" with TK and Tippett.

I thought Frost was the worst forward on the team. In the first period he made a horrendous unforced turnover on a pass near his offensive blueline, which he is wont to do, and it sent Anaheim on a break that could have ended up a goal against.

Then he had that other ridiculous play in the defensive zone where he inexplicably skates it in front of his own goalie and nearly causes a complete disaster.

Yeah, he had a lucky goal that bounced off his skate because he missed the deflection with his stick (I think the second time he's scored this season because he missed the puck and it bounced off his skate and went in), but he's simply an ineffective player who makes far too many mistakes and bad turnovers.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Worst on the team, apparently:

 

[Chicken N Raffls]

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Worst on the team, apparently:

View attachment 959963

Frost was carried by TK and Tippett in the xGF column. If you watched the game, you'd know he made multiple completely boneheaded plays that could easily have turned into Anaheim goals and changed the course of the game.

But good for him. He had a lucky goal go in off his skate, and got to play with TK who was incredible, and Tippett who was very good.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Frost was carried by TK and Tippett in the xGF column. If you watched the game, you'd know he made multiple completely boneheaded plays that could easily have turned into Anaheim goals and changed the course of the game.

But good for him. He had a lucky goal go in off his skate, and got to play with TK who was incredible, and Tippett who was very good.

Your player evaluations are not trustworthy. Remember your "heavy insinuations" that Hagg was better than Ghost?"

Were Tippett and TK carrying Frost defensively, too? Frost is the defensive strong point on that front. Led the team, actually.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Frost was carried by TK and Tippett in the xGF column. If you watched the game, you'd know he made multiple completely boneheaded plays that could easily have turned into Anaheim goals and changed the course of the game.

But good for him. He had a lucky goal go in off his skate, and got to play with TK who was incredible, and Tippett who was very good.

He made one very boneheaded play. I didn't count any others.

Though it's kinda hard to make boneheaded plays against a team as bad as that Ducks one was tonight. They were just awful.

I miss when the crowd was like that every night and had good reason to be.

 

[Beef Invictus]

Basically, Frost kept up offensively at minimum (Tippett and TK's xGF numbers tank out when with Poehling compared to Frost, so their high number with him isn't a surprise. It's in line with normal, indicating he isn't dead weight they're dragging around. They strongly tend to work really well as a trio) and turned in a good defensive performance.

But he made a couple mistakes, so his entire game was trash.

This is a poor evaluation. The kind of evaluation I've seen before, driven entirely by an agenda that requires ignoring all good play to only find and fixate on deficient plays. I know, based on past experience, that if I watch this game I'll see the Frost gaffes but also know they'll be buried in a sea of competent play. This tale has played out so many times before, with Frost and other players.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Your player evaluations are trustworthy. Remember your "heavy insinuations" that Hagg was better than Ghost?"

Were Tippett and TK carrying Frost defensively, too? Frost is the defensive strong point on that front. Led the team, actually.

I flat-out stated that Ghost was a better player than Hagg.

This disingenuity is your constant insinuations that I said Hagg was the better player when I *explicitly* stated the opposite.

My point was that Ghost was in a rut, not playing well at all at the time, way off his game, and the team for that month or whatever it was had a better record with Hagg in the lineup, so I could understand the temporary decision to play Hagg over a super struggling slumping Ghost.

If a coach benches a super slumping star baseball player for some games and plays a backup, it doesn't mean the backup is the better player overall. But it does mean the struggling star is hurting the team at the moment and maybe it's best to give him some time off to regain his bearings and maybe the backup for a brief period can fill in and give the team a better chance to win.

It happens. You know this. And you know what my point was. And you know I explicitly stated that Ghost was the better player overall. You just resort to your usual disingenuity, and really what boils down to personal attacks, when you're losing an argument.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I flat-out stated that Ghost was a better player than Hagg.

This disingenuity is your constant insinuations that I said Hagg was the better player when I *explicitly* stated the opposite.

My point was that Ghost was in a rut, not playing well at all at the time, way off his game, and the team for that month or whatever it was had a better record with Hagg in the lineup, so I could understand the temporary decision to play Hagg over a super struggling slumping Ghost.

If a coach benches a super slumping star baseball player for some games and plays a backup, it doesn't mean the backup is the better player overall. But it does mean the struggling star is hurting the team at the moment and maybe it's best to give him some time off to regain his bearings and maybe the backup for a brief period can fill in and give the team a better chance to win.

It happens. You know this. And you know what my point was. And you know I explicitly stated that Ghost was the better player overall. You just resort to your usual disingenuity when you're losing an argument.

No. You did not at the time. At the time, what you did, was repeatedly wondering who was truly better if the team was winning while Hagg played and Ghost didn't. You did that.

Your dishonesty and bad faith warping of timelines is something else tonight. Like pretending that G being traded at the deadline makes it impossible for the team to have been going for it once the off-season started. Why not enjoy the win?

 

[Beef Invictus]

"I said Ghost is better" is another open lie about now that played out, too. I specifically asked numerous times during those "heavy insinuations" who is better and at the time you refused to say. You'd just point at the team record.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

He made one very boneheaded play. I didn't count any others.

Though it's kinda hard to make boneheaded plays against a team as bad as that Ducks one was tonight. They were just awful.

I miss when the crowd was like that every night and had good reason to be.

He made two horrible mistakes that could easily have ended up as Anaheim goals and changed the course of the game.

The obvious one was the idiotic skating it out in front of his own goalie.

But earlier in the game he made an egregious turnover right at the Flyers' offensive blueline that sprung the Ducks the other way.

This is the problem with Frost. He makes too many boneheaded plays, turnovers, and even boneheaded stick penalties at times.

And he doesn't do nearly enough to offset his mistakes. He's just ineffective out there 95% of the time. Has the puck, slow pace, does nothing with it. Always on the perimeter.

Occasionally, yes, he'll make a nice play. But he's too old to keep making these dumb mistakes that can really cost a team.

Some guys make mistakes, but they aren't of the type that can immediately spring a goal against. Well, Frost makes way too many mistakes that can easily lead to backbreaking goals against.

 

[deadhead]

What "sheer amount of talent?"

The top teams tend to have two good scoring lines, 3 top D-men, and a starting goalie.
Few cup winners have more than 6 players scoring 30+ at ES.
Most have 3 legitimate top 4 D-men (top 80, above the median for 3rd D-men).
Some have net positive STs (PP + SH - PA - SHA), some are close to zero.
Few have both top PP and PK units.

Top teams aren't loaded top to bottom, even if they could find that much talent, they can't pay it with the Cap for very long. If you're paying 9-10 top players, you're filling the rest of the roster with marginal veterans and inexperienced second tier prospects.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

No. You did not at the time. At the time, what you did, was repeatedly wondering who was truly better if the team was winning while Hagg played and Ghost didn't. You did that.

Your dishonesty and bad faith warping of timelines is something else tonight. Like pretending that G being traded at the deadline makes it impossible for the team to have been going for it once the off-season started. Why not enjoy the win?

Oh please. You're the most dishonest poster on this board, and everyone knows it.

I explicitly said Ghost is a better player than Hagg. But, at THAT PARTICULAR POINT IN TIME, when Ghost was struggling mightily and the team had a better record with Hagg, well, maybe Hagg was playing better. It happens.

You know very well what I meant, but you love playing these little petty games.

 

[deadhead]

Basically, Frost kept up offensively at minimum (Tippett and TK's xGF numbers tank out when with Poehling compared to Frost, so their high number with him isn't a surprise. It's in line with normal, indicating he isn't dead weight they're dragging around. They strongly tend to work really well as a trio) and turned in a good defensive performance.

But he made a couple mistakes, so his entire game was trash.

This is a poor evaluation. The kind of evaluation I've seen before, driven entirely by an agenda that requires ignoring all good play to only find and fixate on deficient plays. I know, based on past experience, that if I watch this game I'll see the Frost gaffes but also know they'll be buried in a sea of competent play. This tale has played out so many times before, with Frost and other players.

Tippett - Poehling - TK, 58 minutes, xGF 51.18%, HDCF 51.77%
Tippett - Frost - TK, 44 minutes, xGF 56.58%, HDCF 57.38%
Both samples are too small to make conclusions, but to say they "tank out" with Poehling isn't supported by the numbers.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Here: From a 2019/20 thread:

• Feb 4, 2020

• 
  
• Add bookmark
• #890

Oh we've all read it and seen your heavy insinuations. I've asked you directly to clarify your point and you've refused the opportunity. Don't hold me responsible for the things you choose to say and do.

If you're trying to communicate anything else besides "Hagg is better than Ghost" (or really, better than any dman on this roster or half of LHV) than you should do so, and stop being ambiguous about whether you believe that or not.

It clearly doesn’t help for me to repeat “Ghost is better than Hagg” & “Hagg stinks” for the thousandth time because you’re one of those people who ignore what people actually say & instead tell them what they think.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Here's another from 2019/20:

• Jan 27, 2020

• 
  
• Add bookmark
• #881

Are you under the impression that offense is the only aspect of a defenseman's job, or what? And frankly, he is fine defensively. He's been able to carry Hagg and Myers defensively. He anchors those pairings while performing well. This was just covered pretty thoroughly, but I'm sure you still reject all statistics and results that don't confirm your feelings.

Again, you should clarify: Do you think Hagg is equal to or better than Ghost? Because your current single-minded obsession with a single aspect of play sure is making it seem like that's what you're trying to assert.

I addressed Ghost’s defense. You ignored it.

You say stats show Ghost is good defensively? What stats? His D-worst 43.54 xGF% (per Corsica)? His -6.26 x+/- (only Stewart is worse at -6.38)?

This is all despite having by far the most advantageous Zone Start Rating on the team (an obvious indicator they don’t trust him in his own zone & feel the need to shelter him.

Those stats are plenty flawed, but I’m wondering what these alleged “stats” are you say show Ghost to be some kind of defensive stud. Most stats seem to indicate otherwise.

Why do you need me to clarify if I think Hagg is equal to or better than Ghost?

A) That’s not the point I’m making. My point is that if you’re getting outproduced 5 on 5 by the lousy Hagg, who has played 160 fewer minutes, then the team probably isn’t going to be crippled by your absence unless you are providing great value in other phases, which I don’t think the 3rd pairing, sheltered, non-PKing, PP2, Ghost is. His value to the team is being insanely overstated.

B) I’ve said numerous times I think Ghost is better than Hagg. You know that. My issue is the failure of posters to acknowledge Ghost’s decline. The on-ice value difference is shrinking. The value Ghost is offering the team right now is completely replaceable, but you ain’t getting Getzlaf or Carter for Hagg.

 

[Juicy Pop]

This game really broke my will to follow this team completely... nice win and all I hear personally is nonsense about a player who left the team...

Everyone I know personally who follows this team is apparently just a f***ing moron

 

[trostol]

This game really broke my will to follow this team completely... nice win and all I hear personally is nonsense about a player who left the team...

Everyone I know personally who follows this team is apparently just a f***ing moron

i kinda am feeling it..the fans(not so much here) are starting to turn me off them

 

[Boocowski]

That was a really fun to watch hockey game. Probably the best game all year. Maybe in several years. The Gauthier booing was hilarious but it was just a good entertaining win.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Gauthier said at the draft he was "born to be a Flyer," and a year later he is refusing to talk to John LeClair, Patrick Sharp, and Danny Briere, and is demanding a trade, saying he will never play for the Flyers.

That's an insult to the organization and Philadelphia, and the fans had every right to boo him, and the players on the Flyers had every right to hit him at every opportunity. You don't insult my team like that you entitled 19 year old.

It made for an electric crowd atmosphere and it was a ton of fun.

I don't feel bad for Gauthier one bit.

This is the city that threw batteries at JD Drew for refusing to play for the Phillies. (OK, that went too far, but Philly fans aren't going to like you if you reject our city's teams. That's fandom. F-you if reject Philadelphia. We want the Bryce Harpers who love being here.)

Torts in his presser rightfully tried to deflect from it. He wants that kind of passion to come from being a winning team, not from a sideshow about an arrogant kid. But deep down I guarantee you he understands. It just wouldn't look good for him to admit it.

The overarching goal is to create excitement from being a powerful, winning team, not a vendetta against an entitled teenager. He's focused on building the team, not a circus. But again, I know deep down he understands and appreciated the team and fan response.

 

[Juicy Pop]

Gauthier said at the draft he was "born to be a Flyer," and a year later he is refusing to talk to John LeClair, Patrick Sharp, and Danny Briere, and is demanding a trade, saying he will never play for the Flyers.

That's an insult to the organization and Philadelphia, and the fans had every right to boo him, and the players on the Flyers had every right to hit him at every opportunity. You don't insult my team like that you entitled 19 year old.

It made for an electric crowd atmosphere and it was a ton of fun.

I don't feel bad for Gauthier one bit.

This is the city that threw batteries at JD Drew for refusing to play for the Phillies. (OK, that went too far, but Philly fans aren't going to like you if you reject our city's teams. That's fandom. F-you if reject Philadelphia. We want the Bryce Harpers who love being here.)

Torts in his presser rightfully tried to deflect from it. He wants that kind of passion to come from being a winning team, not from a sideshow about an arrogant kid. But deep down I guarantee you he understands. It just wouldn't look good for him to admit it.

The overarching goal is to create excitement from being a powerful, winning team, not a vendetta against an entitled teenager. He's focused on building the team, not a circus. But again, I know deep down he understands and appreciated the team and fan response.

Counterpoint, maybe he has every right to be put off by the org. We're not exactly a key destination despite the natural prestige of the location and the recent glamour that we should be seeing from the Phillies/Eagles rise in popularity.

Maybe it's just very visible that this organization is inherently toxic from the outset for some people?

I wouldn't doubt it.

 

[trostol]

yeah cause clearly the Flyers have no fault in it at all

 

[FLYguy3911]

I love how the same people who told us how great Gauthier was as a prospect when he was Flyers' property are now pointing out how flawed of a player he is.

 

[Juicy Pop]

I love how the same people who told us how great Gauthier was as a prospect when he was Flyers' property are now pointing out how flawed of a player he is.

The real issue I have is that he's a popular figure at all. I just vastly dislike that our general fanbase is focusing on him when he really hasn't done anything at all.

If he scores a few goals and beats us up, sure... hate him... but without that it seems pointless.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

Counterpoint, maybe he has every right to be put off by the org. We're not exactly a key destination despite the natural prestige of the location and the recent glamour that we should be seeing from the Phillies/Eagles rise in popularity.

Maybe it's just very visible that this organization is inherently toxic from the outset for some people?

I wouldn't doubt it.

He was a 19 year old who rejected the organization and refused to meet with esteemed team alumni. What do you expect the fans and players to do? Ignore that?

If the players who are actually in the organization agreed with him, and thought the organization was "inherently toxic" and a bad place to play, they wouldn't have run him all game like they did. They obviously took it personally, as an affront to a franchise they love playing for.