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The recent interview that Sergei Bobrovsky gave to Sovetsky Sport showed just how mature and level-headed the soon-to-be 23-year-old goaltender really is.
It is clear that Bobrovsky learned a lot during his first season about the grind of the long season and the constant pressure that is placed on players -- especially goaltenders -- to perform at a consistently high level. What I liked the best about the interview was that Bobrovsky is not the type to rock the boat but is also very much a competitor who still covets the chance to be the Flyers' starter.
Asked about the signing of Ilya Bryzgalov to a huge contract and his own relatively hefty cap hit (because of bonuses counting against the cap), Bobrovsky gave an extremely smart answer. He said, "A contract is not [the one] playing, a person is."
That is exactly the mentality that Bobrovsky needs to take into his second NHL season. It's going to be very difficult to displace Bryzgalov as the starter -- it had better be, in any case -- but strange things happen in hockey.
Last year, Bobrovsky came in with the mentality that he was going to show the Flyers that he was capable of bypassing the AHL. He did just that. This time around, he has to learn from his rookie ups and downs and in to camp with the mentality that he is capable of making the most of whatever opportunities he gets as the backup goalie. All Bob can do is try to give Peter Laviolette and the Flyers confidence that he is capable of becoming the number one goalie again if Bryzgalov were to get injured or, for whatever reason, fail to play up to the lofty expectations that have been set.
Bobrovsky still has to correct some flaws in his game that got exposed at times as a rookie. His puck tracking has to get better. He still has to avoid committing himself too quickly (which is often tough to fix because it's a split-second reaction under game conditions) and leaving himself vulnerable. There is also still work to be done on his puckhandling, although he improved over the course of last season.
If Bobrovsky fails to improve in these areas, it won't be for lack of trying. The young man has a tremendous work ethic and a true desire to learn the finer points of being an NHL goalie. If everything goes as the Flyers plan it, Bryzgalov will be the team's undisputed starter for many years to come. But as long as Bobrovsky stays the course in his own development, chances are that he'll still be a fine NHL netminder in his own right.
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I felt bad for Flyers fourth line center Blair Betts late last season and during the playoffs. His situation was a classic case of an injured player being damned if he does and damned if he doesn't try to rush back into the lineup.
In late February of last season, Betts suffered a serious laceration of his left ring finger. He had trouble gripping a stick and ended up missing two-plus weeks of action (he was initially said to be day-to-day but the absence kept getting extended). Upon his return, he struggled on faceoffs until his last few games of the regular season.
Unfortunately for Betts, he suffered a sprained knee in the Flyers' April 3 game against the Rangers and ended up missing the final three games of the regular season. He came back for the playoffs, starting in every game. But he was extremely ineffective, posting a dismal 39.2 percent success rate on the faceoff and ending up on the ice for a couple of backbreaking goals in the Boston series.
The bottom line with any player is performance. It's never allowed to use injuries as an "excuse" and Betts offered no excuses for his mediocre play down the stretch and during the playoffs. But let's be fair to the player here. He did what was expected of him -- try to come back as soon as possible from a pair of injuries that were clearly hampering his performance.
If it's on the player to suit up if at all possible, it's on the coach to recognize if a player trying to grit out an injury would be better off out of the lineup. That doesn't just go for players coming back from concussions (although the risks are highest in that case). It should go for any type of injury.
Betts has also had significant problems with one of his shoulders over the course of his career and has been prone to separations. I was actually surprised at his relatively smooth return from another round of shoulder surgery last offseason. So it is not always cut-and-dry (even with the same player) whether he is capable of a quick return.
As of now, it looks like Betts will hold onto his 4th line center role with Max Talbot on one of his wings. But that could change at some point. Betts' hold on his job heading into the 2011-12 season is not quite as secure as it was heading into this past season. Especially when a player is not a goal scorer, the margin between being an every game starter and someone fighting to stay off the scratch sheet can get mighty slim. However, it works in Betts' favor that he has generally been a player than Laviolette trusts in his assigned role.
Side note: I found an interesting statistical oddity about Betts. In each of the last four seasons (the last two with the Flyers and the previous three with the Rangers), he has performed significantly better on faceoffs at home than on the road. I don't really have a good explanation for why the discrepancy is quite so wide, even with the last line change matchup advantage and the fact the visiting faceoff center has to put his stick on the ice first considered.
It would be interesting to look at other centers over multiple years and see if similar discrepancies are common year after year.
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If you had to name the five most memorable fights/brawls involving the Flyers, which ones would you pick? I would pick as follows:
1. Flyers vs. Canadiens -- Pregame brawl -- Game 6 of the 1987 Wales Conference Final
I discussed this fight in a previous edition of HockeyBuzz Hotstove. It wasn't so much the fight itself as the emotion of how it arose, not to mention the importance of the game that followed.
2. Dave Schultz vs. Dale Rolfe -- Game 7 of 1974 Stanley Cup Semifinals
The Broad Street Bullies knew they had the Rangers where they wanted them in the culminating game of the series. Schultz fought dirty. He pulled Rolfe's hair. He headbutted Rolfe, opening a cut. Schultz also fought with his hands taped (then a legal practice, now banned). Meanwhile, the other Rangers just stood around and watched their teammate -- who was trying to stand up for his goaltender -- get thrashed.
3. Ron Hextall vs. Chris Chelios -- Game 6 of 1989 Wales Conference Finals
The Flyers were still seething over Chelios' vicious cheapshot on Brian Propp earlier in the series. Late in Game 6, with the Flyers trailing by two goals and their hopes faint for a miraculous comeback to extend the series to a seventh game, Hextall basically conceded the series to Montreal in the name of going after Chelios for what he did to Propp in the first game of the series.
Say what will about whether Hextall and the Flyers should have waited until the next season. I'll say this: If I were in a war, I'd want Hextall on my side. Win or lose, the man always had his comrades' backs. He defended them to the hilt with his words off the ice, even taking blame for goals that were not his fault. He also most certainly defended them on the ice with his actions.
4. Flyers-Senators multiple line brawls, March 5, 2004
There was a lot of enmity between the two clubs leading into this game. The two clubs had played each other in the playoffs in each of the two previous seasons. Apart from the frustration of having lost both series and struggling against the Sens in the regular season, Philadelphia wanted a piece of Martin Havlat as a result of high-sticking incidents against Kim Johnsson (in the 2003 playoffs) and Mark Recchi (when the clubs had played on Feb. 26). The latter infraction resulted in Havlat being suspended for two games, but the Flyers were not satisfied with the league-mandated punishment.
When the teams faced off the following week in Philadelphia, the game remained relatively calm and under control until the final 1:45 of the third period. With the Flyers leading 5-2 (they ultimately prevailed by a 5-3 score), all hell broke loose. By the end of the night, the two teams had combined for an NHL record 419 penalty minutes.
By the way, John LeClair's lone fighting major of his Flyers career (he had only 3 fights in his entire NHL career) occurred in this game, although it was more of a wrestling match than fisticuffs.
5. Paul Holmgren vs. Dave Schultz -- Oct. 10, 1976 (Schultz's return to Philly)
There are many, many memorable fights that are getting left off this top 5 list. This one made it because of the emotion involved more than its actual significance to the season.
An argument could be made it was Dave "the Hammer" Schultz who was the single most popular Flyers player among the rank-and-file Flyers fans -- even more than Bernie Parent or Bobby Clarke and certainly more than Bill Barber, Reggie Leach or Rick MacLeish -- during the height of the Broad Street Bullies era. When the Flyers traded Schultz to Los Angeles shortly before the start of the 1976-77 season, the news was poorly received by the majority of fans.
When Schultz made his first appearance in Philadelphia as a visiting player, he was given an ovation that arguably surpassed the one that Simon Gagne received 34 years later in his first game in Philly as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning. But all that would change by the end of the first period.
Schultz drew the ire of the crowd for cross-checking MacLeish, trash-talking the Flyers' bench and then picking a fight with Paul Holmgren (his replacement on the Philly roster).
Holmgren won the ensuing fight. Schultz was tossed out with a game misconduct and got booed as he left.
Unfortunately, I could not find any Youtube video of the Holmgren-Schultz fight. But I discussed the game and its significance as part of the dismantling of the Cup team roster in a Spectrum Memories article published a few years ago on the Flyers' official site.
Also, later today I will post a transcript of the Ilya Bryzgalov press conference on the message board of this blog. Tim may also write a blog about the PC.
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