Honestly, if the Flyers sucked enough to draft in the top 5, I would trade the pick back into the early-middle 1st round to draft Josh Morrissey if MacKinnon and Jones were off the board. This way they get a good young defensive prospect and some value for a high pick. This is obviously me just having fun speculating though. I still think the team makes the playoffs or just barely misses.
- NickTheKid87

Id rather suck real bad and miss hard than barely miss. At least well have the draft to look into.

C'mon, you guys know if the Flyers finish last this year they'll somehow end up with the 4th pick or something. I know any of the 14 non playoff teams can win the #1 pick in the draft, but is there any more information than that about how the draft lottery works now? Can teams still only drop 1 position in the draft based on overall points?
- eayost

#14 can win the lottery and pick first. But, nobody drops more than one placement position.

A knee jerk reaction after 3 games would be dumb.
- Pecafan Fan

Yes. When they get their ish together and start playing like they can, then it will be time to assess the needs. It's hard to analyze what the problems are when most of them are simply playing crappy, undisciplined hockey.

In person or on the phone?
- Scoob

Not specified.

Nope. It's a weighted lottery. Team with the worst record gets the greatest odds of landing the top pick, but could end up at 14, too
- Jsaquella

Yea I got that, but were there any other changes to the lottery system besides that? Just expanded the teams in the lottery, no other changes?

I agree i keep the youth but try to move pronger and briere to contender for picks and prospects....
- Philly1980

That's fine, but Briere's not likely to agree to waive his NMC. He's divorced, and his ex-wife has settled in the area, so he's unlikely to agree to leave and face custody and other issues associated with a move.

Timonen has his family in the area as well. He could very well decide that he's willing to move, but he also may decide that family stability trumps going to a contender.

The Flyers have a lot of young players in key spots. And they are not a finished product in terms of building the team.
- MJL

Like defense?

#14 can win the lottery and pick first. But, nobody drops more than one placement position.
- spatso

Got it, thanks

Kovalchuk is dynamite. No doubt about it

A glaring difference from this team compared to the 2006-07 team is Claude Giroux. Nobody close to his skill level was healthy consistently (Forsberg played 40 games).

glad some of you aren't gm's in real life.


I have to miss work today because I got a concussion from the sky hitting me in the head.

Honestly, all this talk of systems and footspeed is immaterial until they start executing better.

Not one of the three goals last night was due to system or footspeed, but poor execution.

The first goal saw a total team breakdown that left Travis Zajac all alone in front of the net with all 5 Flyers skaters one the opposite side of the ice.

The second goal was more of a fluke than poor execution. That said, Guys have to be ready for what Clarkson did on the play.

The third goal came off a turnover. Kovalchuk pressed Timonen, who got the puck down the boards. When he did, Kovalchuk circled out to the neutral zone, and when the other Devils forward pressed and stole the puck off the boards, it was simply to spring Kovalchuk for the breakaway that led to the penalty shot.

Now, I'm not saying the Flyers couldn't use more speed-especially on defense-and that Laviolette's attack style needs to be tweaked to better fit the players on hand now. That said, the execution of simple hockey play, regardless of system has been dreadful. They could be playing a neutral zone trap, but if they execute the way they did last night they'd still lose badly.

All this talk of speed and systems is fine, but it means nothing until the execution improves.
- Jsaquella

not to mention their basic passing has been horrid. Passing in the skates or way off. too many passes bouncing off of sticks. Driving me nuts.

#14 can win the lottery and pick first. But, nobody drops more than one placement position.
- spatso

This. They only make one selection, and that team has the 1st pick. After that, it's in order of record.

In person or on the phone?
- Scoob

For that hit? Are you kidding me??

That's fine, but Briere's not likely to agree to waive his NMC. He's divorced, and his ex-wife has settled in the area, so he's unlikely to agree to leave and face custody and other issues associated with a move.

Timonen has his family in the area as well. He could very well decide that he's willing to move, but he also may decide that family stability trumps going to a contender.
- Jsaquella

If its a chance at a cup he might do it.....

not to mention their basic passing has been horrid. Passing in the skates or way off. too many passes bouncing off of sticks. Driving me nuts.
- nastyflyergirl

That's a large part of what I mean about execution. It's done more to expose the lack of mobility on the blueline than anything else, IMO.

That's fine, but Briere's not likely to agree to waive his NMC. He's divorced, and his ex-wife has settled in the area, so he's unlikely to agree to leave and face custody and other issues associated with a move.

Timonen has his family in the area as well. He could very well decide that he's willing to move, but he also may decide that family stability trumps going to a contender.
- Jsaquella

I don't believe either guy would command much of a return either. Timonen's deal expires at year end and he's not half the player he was. Briere still has a year left (which might mean the Flyers would have to pay some of his cap hit) and is aging as well. Plus, both guys would handcuff the Flyers with their NMC because they could cut down the amount of potential trade partners.

To a certain extent, yes. And the Flyers have made tweaks, like keeping a forward high more often than in years past. But with the piss poor execution, the lack of speed hasn't been the biggest issue.

What I am saying is, with the poor execution, it's hard to say that the tweaks have been bad or not
- Jsaquella

My team plays that system. Defense pinches almost every time and the high forward drops back and the far side defense drops back into the neutral zone.

If its a chance at a cup he might do it.....
- Philly1980

He might....but counting on it happening is premature....so is counting the Flyers out after 3 games.

I have to miss work today because I got a concussion from the sky hitting me in the head.
- hockeylover

Trade Giroux for picks

I don't believe either guy would command much of a return either. Timonen's deal expires at year end and he's not half the player he was. Briere still has a year left (which might mean the Flyers would have to pay some of his cap hit) and is aging as well. Plus, both guys would handcuff the Flyers with their NMC because they could cut down the amount of potential trade partners.
- NickTheKid87

I think both could land them a decent prospect/young player and a pick. Especially Briere considering his playoff history.

But that's getting way ahead of ourselves.

I'm not one for blaming Lavy when the team has done such a poor job of executing these past 2 games, but....

Is anyone else frustrated by the fact that these games look similar to those from the playoffs last year? After practically getting swept by the Devils last year, I was hoping that he would come out with a plan to combat New Jersey's defensive style of hockey. I won't go into systems this, and systems that. But the fact of the matter is, similar to last year, we could hardly complete a pass without having it deflected or we were always getting out-manned in every scrum 2-1. I know we lost against Pit and Buf, but they weren't such frustrating losses. This loss hurts because it's as if both teams didn't change a thing from last year and the Devils came out on top again.

I'll blame the players for execution, that's fine. But I place a heavy blame on the coach when it looks like I'm watching a replay of the playoffs from last year.

[quote=Giroux_Is_God]

He left his feet. That usually results in a call from Shanahan

I think both could land them a decent prospect/young player and a pick. Especially Briere considering his playoff history.

But that's getting way ahead of ourselves.
- Jsaquella

Yes, too far ahead to be sure.