Bill Meltzer Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
MELTZER'S MUSINGS: JUNE 14, 2015
1) Outside of Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel, one would be hard-pressed to find a playmaking prospect in the 2015 NHL Draft pool with the pedigree of Seattle Thunderbirds center Mathew Barzal. Averaging north of an assist-per-game at the WHL level, Barzal showed an ability to make players around him better with his combination of passing acumen, patience with the puck and ice vision.
Barzal is of average to slightly below-average size, but it should be noted that he is bigger than Claude Giroux at the same age. The righthanded-shooting center has also shown a willingness to play both sides of the puck and has good feet, so there is potential to be a 200-foot player at the NHL level. He could actually stand to be a little less unselfish with the puck and, while he has a quick release, his shot won't overpower anyone. As is the case with the majority of prospects his age, Barzal will need to add muscle to compete at the pro level.
Barzal lost about 10 weeks of the 2014-15 season to a knee injury but came back strong, and did not hurt his Draft stock. He is one of a group of prospects -- along with the likes of power forward Lawson Crouse, big and skilled Finnish forward Mikko Rantanen, gifted but risky Czech forward Pavel Zacha, USHL standout Kyle Connor, Swiss scoring winger Timo Meier and defensemen Noah Hanifan, Ivan Provorov and Zach Werenski -- who could be a viable selection when the Flyers make their first pick of the Draft with the seventh overall selection.
2) If and when the Dallas Stars hire former Flyers goaltending coach Jeff Reese as their new goalie coach, the Flyers will not be owed any compensation from Dallas. It is also expected that incumbent Dallas goalie coach Mike Valley will remain in the Stars organization as a goaltender development coach for prospects in the system.
3) A host of Flyers and Alumni notables share June 14th birthdays: Flyers Hall of Fame defenseman Eric Desjardins (1969), speedy and gritty little fan favorite forward Sami Kapanen (1973), current Flyers winger Matt Read (1986) and late-1970s offensive depth forward Yves Preston (1956).
4) June 14th also marks the 37th anniversary of a major trade in franchise history. General manager Keith Allen's plan to retool the Flyers' Cup-team roster following the departure of coach Fred Shero became crystal clear with the June 14, 1978 trade that sent offensive-minded defenseman Tom Bladon and veteran forwards Ross Lonsberry and Orest Kindrachuk to the Pittsburgh Penguins. In exchange, the Flyers received the sixth overall puck of the 1978 NHL Draft.
The Draft was held the following day in Montreal. The Flyers used the pick acquired from Pittsburgh to swing for the fences with big, aggressive and talented, but chronically risk-taking defenseman Behn Wilson. With the seventh overall pick -- acquired from the Rangers as compensation to settle a tampering claim over New York's hiring of Shero away from the Flyers -- Philly picked playmaking, stick-swinging center Ken "the Rat" Linseman.
5) If you have never seen the short film that Christopher O'Brien did on the life and prolific career of longtime Flyers public address announcer Lou Nolan, it's worth a watch. Along with iconic broadcaster Gene Hart, Lou's voice became one of the most recognizable and distinctive parts of Flyers history during the glory years at the Spectrum. Meanwhile, he has continued right on throughout the 19-year history of the arena currently known as the Wells Fargo Center.
Nowadays, long-tenured TV broadcaster Jim Jackson and radio broadcasterTim Saunders are the easily identified play-by-play voices of Flyers hockey to a generation of fans who were not born during Gene Hart's career. In the meantime, Lou Nolan is still the recognizable PA voice during Flyers home games, just as he was in the Broad Street Bullies era.
6. June 14th marks the 14th anniversary of the passing of former NHL player and longtime Flyers scout Gerry Melnyk at age 66 after a bout with leukemia. If not for Melnyk aggressively lobbying for the selection of Bobby Clarke in the 1969 NHL Draft -- both with the Flyers' first-round pick and then again in the second round after every team passed on him at least once -- the history of the Flyers' franchise would probably have looked very different.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»