After an infuriating year, which had Flyers fans having nightmares of an incompetent goalie locked in for 9 years, Bryzgalov put together an outstanding string of games. Simply top notch. Then the injury came.
Indications are that Bryzgalov picked up the injury in warmups of his last appearance, but played the entire game against TB, which was not his best game. Despite Homer's word after that game that Bryzgalov was fine, X-rays in fact revealed a bone chip fracture in his foot. The Flyers claim this is a short term, even day-to-day injury.
I am no doctor, but apparently the recovery time from such an injury can vary widely. Days, weeks, or months. Even assuming the best, and Bryz is on the absolutely shortest end of that scale, what is the rush to get him back in practice in 3 days? It looks unlikely he will play this weekend, but it sounds like the Flyers are leaving the door open for him to play Sunday.
No one would feel good about facing the Pens or Rangers with Bob or a hobbled Bryz in net. What exactly is the reward for him returning to practice so soon? The Flyers are all but locked in to the 5 seed, with a slim chance of catching the Pens for the 4th seed, resulting in no change of opponent in the playoffs.
I can't help but think of Pronger last year. An absolutely essential player on the team, looking at an injury that is normally a matter of a few weeks, but the team throws him back into practice because he's feeling good enough to try. Yeah, that turned out well.... More recently, Meszaros was out of action for 3 weeks, then all of a sudden he was getting worse and needed surgery. Now he's out until the end of April and the team will replace last season's team defensemen of the year with a minor leaguer for the playoffs.
There is nothing to gain and a lot to lose by putting Bryz back in this weekend. It seems the team wants to put him back in as soon as he feels is capable of playing okay and through the pain. Fortunately, Bryz assures us he is "tough and Russian." We love you Bryz, but that's not good enough.
Under no circumstances should Bryzgalov play this weekend. He should have multiple days of virtually 100% practice before they throw him in a regular season game. A day or two of "okay" practice with tolerable pain is NOT a sufficiently good reason for Bryz to appear in a game this week.
A Welcome Return
Flyers fans loved seeing Eric Lindros practice with the team the other day. Of course that immediately spawned completely unwarranted comeback gossip. He is currently 39 years old. There are older players in the NHL (Jagr being one), and Eric probably still has the skills to play in the right situation. However for that to happen, he has to be completely concussion-symptom free, and he must really want it (as in train hard all offseason to get ready, and have the desire to withstand the regular season grind). There is no indication that either of those requisites are satisfied.
Opinions on NHL topics of the moment, but mostly on the Flyers.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Angling for the Right Seed?
The Flyers are very likely to be in the playoffs, but should they try to target a specific seed to get a favorable matchup? Such angling is usually not pursued, because there is so much out of your control. You usually just want to enter the playoffs playing good, winning hockey and the chips will fall where they may. That said, here's the matchups the Flyers could find themselves in:
-#1 seed, likely opponent-Caps/Sabres
For this to happen, the Flyers have to catch both the Pens and the Rangers. Catching the Rangers seemed far fetched not too long ago, but it's pretty close now. The Pens are also on a tear, which will presumably continue with Crosby and Letang healthy.
Washington on the other hand, still has the talents of Semin, Ovechkin and Backstrom, but it seems like forever ago they started the season so well. They've spent a lot of time on the outside of the playoff seeds. You can never feel too comfortable that a team with talent like that won't put together 4 good games against you, but more likely, they are a team rotting at the core that is at the bottom of the playoff standings for a reason.
Buffalo, the Flyers first round opponent last year, has had a strange season. Last year, in my opinion the Flyers were clearly a better team, but atrocious goaltending on the Flyers part made it a 7 game series. The Sabres were supposed to be an improved team, throwing around lots of money in the offseason, but their first half was pretty terrible. Now Miller is finding his groove and the team is making a push. Still not a terrifying opponent though.
-#4/5 seed, likely opponent-Rangers/Pens
The most likely position in which the Flyers will find themselves, playing whichever of the Pens or Rangers fails to win the division. Of course the Rangers have had the Flyers number this season, though the games have all been close. It's hard to feel very confident from a Flyers perspective though in this matchup, particularly with the Rangers defensive commitment often being kryptonite to the Flyers style of play.
The Pens themselves look formidable right now, but of course if the Flyers play them in this matchup, that means the Pens faltered enough down the stretch such that they did not pass the Rangers. That series would be a war, but the Pens would be the favorite.
-#6 seed, likely opponent-Panthers
For this to happen, the Flyers would have to drop 3 points in the standings to the Devils, on whom the Flyers have a game in hand. I don't like the idea of stumbling into the playoffs like that, personally.
The matchup, however, is a pretty good one to the Flyers. The Flyers lost to the Panthers the other night, and the Panthers can be tough to crack, but I can't see them running with the Flyers in a long series. Despite all their offseason spending, this team was dead last in the east last season.
The bottom line here, is barring a big surge to best both the Pens and Rangers, or a mini-collapse to fall behind the Devils, the Flyers are locked into the 4/5 matchup. Matching up against either the Pens or the Rangers are both bad matchups for the Flyers, but what can you do? Maybe, just maybe, if the Flyers are going down to the final weekend very close to the Devils, they could rest up some banged up players (Timonen, Kubina) and fall backwards into the a favorable matchup with the Panthers without tanking.
-#1 seed, likely opponent-Caps/Sabres
For this to happen, the Flyers have to catch both the Pens and the Rangers. Catching the Rangers seemed far fetched not too long ago, but it's pretty close now. The Pens are also on a tear, which will presumably continue with Crosby and Letang healthy.
Washington on the other hand, still has the talents of Semin, Ovechkin and Backstrom, but it seems like forever ago they started the season so well. They've spent a lot of time on the outside of the playoff seeds. You can never feel too comfortable that a team with talent like that won't put together 4 good games against you, but more likely, they are a team rotting at the core that is at the bottom of the playoff standings for a reason.
Buffalo, the Flyers first round opponent last year, has had a strange season. Last year, in my opinion the Flyers were clearly a better team, but atrocious goaltending on the Flyers part made it a 7 game series. The Sabres were supposed to be an improved team, throwing around lots of money in the offseason, but their first half was pretty terrible. Now Miller is finding his groove and the team is making a push. Still not a terrifying opponent though.
-#4/5 seed, likely opponent-Rangers/Pens
The most likely position in which the Flyers will find themselves, playing whichever of the Pens or Rangers fails to win the division. Of course the Rangers have had the Flyers number this season, though the games have all been close. It's hard to feel very confident from a Flyers perspective though in this matchup, particularly with the Rangers defensive commitment often being kryptonite to the Flyers style of play.
The Pens themselves look formidable right now, but of course if the Flyers play them in this matchup, that means the Pens faltered enough down the stretch such that they did not pass the Rangers. That series would be a war, but the Pens would be the favorite.
-#6 seed, likely opponent-Panthers
For this to happen, the Flyers would have to drop 3 points in the standings to the Devils, on whom the Flyers have a game in hand. I don't like the idea of stumbling into the playoffs like that, personally.
The matchup, however, is a pretty good one to the Flyers. The Flyers lost to the Panthers the other night, and the Panthers can be tough to crack, but I can't see them running with the Flyers in a long series. Despite all their offseason spending, this team was dead last in the east last season.
The bottom line here, is barring a big surge to best both the Pens and Rangers, or a mini-collapse to fall behind the Devils, the Flyers are locked into the 4/5 matchup. Matching up against either the Pens or the Rangers are both bad matchups for the Flyers, but what can you do? Maybe, just maybe, if the Flyers are going down to the final weekend very close to the Devils, they could rest up some banged up players (Timonen, Kubina) and fall backwards into the a favorable matchup with the Panthers without tanking.
Friday, March 16, 2012
249:43
Maybe Ilya Bryzgalov has found the peace in his soul to play in this city. He has been lights out, going 6-0 with 4 shutouts in his last 6 starts. He has been moving quicker, and overall looks far more competitive. The Flyers couldn't ask for anything more.
By stretching the scoreless streak to 2:49, he surpassed the Flyers record of 227:40 set by John Vanbiesbrouck at the height of the trapping era. Bryzgalov's streak is second only Brian's Boucher streak for the league league record in the expansion era.
Still, the point remains that Bryz's needs to make sure this streak isn't just an isolated hot streak. I am all for his new policy of never talking about himself if it makes his play better, but I'm not sure refusing to say a word, or even skating on the ice when a 3 star selection is sustainable.
Overall I think we're seeing positive signs for the Flyers' playoff preparations, namely goaltending and defense. The wins against Toronto and the Isles were not exactly gems to dote on though, so there's still work to do.
Monday, March 12, 2012
A Nice Little Run
Against all odds, the Flyers clamped things down defensively recently and picked up 5 straight wins. It was encouraging to see, and bodes well for the playoffs. It is even better that they did this with many injury concerns.
Perhaps the biggest reason for this run is Bryzgalov looks like a different goalie. I've said it's not reasonable to expect him to flick and switch and be a different goalie, but that is what he has done. He is more aggressive, confident, and most importantly looks like he is out there playing with competitive fire. The key, however, is to carry this new form forward, rather than allowing it to stand as an isolated hot streak. We'll have to check back on April 1 on this.
The Flyers did crash and burn last night to the Devils in a 3rd period collapse, which is understandable. It was the second straight game where the Flyers were clearly out-chanced. The injuries and very busy schedule will catch up with you eventually. Without Mesz, Timo, Voracek, Kubina and JVR, and with Jagr, Giroux and Briere probably not at full health, the Flyers are missing an awful lot of puck moving ability. That element of the Flyers's game should return with rest and health.
The key will be getting the offense back in their game while remaining as scrappy and tight in the defensive zone. If you go back to the start of the Flyers west coast road trip which began 3 weeks ago in Winnipeg (and exclude the Devils game last night), the Flyers only allowed 9 even strength goals in 9 games. That is a huge change for them.
Perhaps the biggest reason for this run is Bryzgalov looks like a different goalie. I've said it's not reasonable to expect him to flick and switch and be a different goalie, but that is what he has done. He is more aggressive, confident, and most importantly looks like he is out there playing with competitive fire. The key, however, is to carry this new form forward, rather than allowing it to stand as an isolated hot streak. We'll have to check back on April 1 on this.
The Flyers did crash and burn last night to the Devils in a 3rd period collapse, which is understandable. It was the second straight game where the Flyers were clearly out-chanced. The injuries and very busy schedule will catch up with you eventually. Without Mesz, Timo, Voracek, Kubina and JVR, and with Jagr, Giroux and Briere probably not at full health, the Flyers are missing an awful lot of puck moving ability. That element of the Flyers's game should return with rest and health.
The key will be getting the offense back in their game while remaining as scrappy and tight in the defensive zone. If you go back to the start of the Flyers west coast road trip which began 3 weeks ago in Winnipeg (and exclude the Devils game last night), the Flyers only allowed 9 even strength goals in 9 games. That is a huge change for them.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Defensemen Statistical Performance
Hockey is hard sport to capture in numbers, and defensemen is probably the position that is the most difficult. People tend to caught up in points, which makes sense, but there are other numbers out there that may be informative. Below is a table of Flyers defensemen performance this season.
I visually separated Kubina and Grossman because those stat lines largely reflect their time on another team, so it's not apples to apples comparisons. I also focus on the rates these players accrue stats per minute played.
Some things are obvious--Meszaros shoots a lot, Timonen limits turnovers, Grossman never shoots...etc There are some interesting tidbits in there though.
-Coburn excels at the giveaway/takeaway balance, but he blocks very few shots and misses the net constantly on his shots.
-Of the Flyers' regulars, Carle has the highest percentage of shots on net, and blocks the most shots. That is unexpected.
-Kubina and Grossman block more shots than any Flyers defensemen. That may be inflated by their time away from the Flyers, but it is noteworthy.
-Meszaros and Coburn have the most takeaways, but those two also are the worst shot blockers. This makes sense with Meszaros' active game, but is surprising with Coburn who plays more passively and does not produce offense.
Some things are obvious--Meszaros shoots a lot, Timonen limits turnovers, Grossman never shoots...etc There are some interesting tidbits in there though.
-Coburn excels at the giveaway/takeaway balance, but he blocks very few shots and misses the net constantly on his shots.
-Of the Flyers' regulars, Carle has the highest percentage of shots on net, and blocks the most shots. That is unexpected.
-Kubina and Grossman block more shots than any Flyers defensemen. That may be inflated by their time away from the Flyers, but it is noteworthy.
-Meszaros and Coburn have the most takeaways, but those two also are the worst shot blockers. This makes sense with Meszaros' active game, but is surprising with Coburn who plays more passively and does not produce offense.
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