One Month Down

October is over, and the Flyers' season is approximately 4 weeks old.  Or, as Sean Avery might measure it, one menstrual cycle is complete.  Either way, a good time to stop and see where the Flyers are.

Among the themes to which I've already commented;
-The Flyers sit at 6-4-1, and hopefully have righted the ship with a solid win over Carolina.  Again, this is a decent enough start for a team with so many new faces.

-Since my post saying don't worry about Bryzgalov, he hit rock bottom against Winnipeg, but played a solid game against Carolina.  I think he'll be fine, and that he's a quality goaltender--one month in Philly won't kill him.  My own evaluation of him was that he was becoming too passive and slow, even if it's his game to be a passive shot blocker.  He needed to be a little more active, particularly on recovering from shots.  Goalie coach Reese also said he thought Bryz was distracted, and in terrible news for the local sports media, the Flyers are muzzling his pre-game interactions with the press.  All of this will sort itself out, and falls under the general settling in process.

-Since my post saying be worried about Hartnell, Laviolette "promoted" him to the top line with Giroux and Jagr, and it has worked unbelievably.  Not just for Hartnell, but for the whole line.  Laviolette took some heat for disrupting winning chemistry when Schenn was called, though in my opinion none of the Flyers lines were exactly clicking 5-on-5.  Even with Giroux racking up goals, 5-on-5 production from he and Jagr (which is how you should judge how well a line is playing) was very poor.  A clear illustration;

5-on-5 stats in 6 games of JVR-Giroux-Jagr
JVR - 1g, 1a, -1
Giroux - 2g, 1a, -1
Jagr - 0g, 0a, even

Compare that to the numbers since Laviolette juggled the lines;

5-on-5 stats in 5 games of Hartnell-Giroux-Jagr
Hartnell - 3g, 7a, +4
Giroux - 1g, 4a, +2
Jagr - 4g, 2a, +3 

Night and day.  Either way, Hartnell has reclaimed his role on this team and will stick with Giroux and Jagr for the foreseeable future.  Also, so much for Jagr's lack of goals that some people were whispering about....

-Schenn is injured again.  Bummer.

Team Stats

Goals - 3.73/game (2nd in NHL)
Goals against - 3.27/g (28th)
Faceoffs - 46.4% (29th)
Power play - 22.2 % (6th)
Penalty kill - 81.5% (18th)  (the Flyers have also been shorthanded 34 times, the 2nd most of any team in the league)
Shots For - 32.8/g (6th)
Shots Against - 26.3 (2nd)

Other player evaluations;
-Voracek is improving, but still not terribly effective.  At least he's up on his skates and is getting chances.

-JVR is also improving, but is not looking anything like the player on a tear last spring.  His play will have to improve from its current form for him to hit the 30+ goals target I was hoping for.

-I'm eager to see what Gustafsson can do in an extended audition.

-Timonen is looking healthier and stronger than last spring.

-After his brush with a very serious injury, Chris Pronger is still a wiseass.

-Couturier looks to be staying for the duration, though honestly I'm a little concerned about him being parked on the 4th line, getting very few even strength minutes.  His long term outlook remains very strong though.

-Rinaldo has made a strong case to hold a roster spot.  He won't play many minutes, but the guy is instant energy that appears to spark his teammates.

-Simmonds has some stone hands going, but he is always battling and some goals could come very soon on the PP.

-If Matt Read can keep playing with jump he will be a valuable winger for this team.