It wouldn't kill Jones to spend another year in junior, either. Why rush?
- Jsaquella

It wouldn't but I was thinking if any one does it might be him but yes he could go back add some weight/muscle & further develop his game.

I ask because if the organizarion drafts a d-man I expect them to give him every opportunity to make the big club.

They aren't the most patient.
- flyer_nutter

They give many of their top selections the chance to make the big club, that may never change.

But I am hoping with sending Laughton back this year they are finally seeing they don't need to have every or most top selections on the team right away. Some will but it doesn't need to a majority.

It wouldn't but I was thinking if any one does it might be him but yes he could go back add some weight/muscle & further develop his game.
- ob18

I really hope they don't rush whomever they get. They could land a great prospect, but I'm still hoping for a playoff spot.

They give many of their top selections the chance to make the big club, that may never change.

But I am hoping with sending Laughton back this year they are finally seeing they don't need to have every or most top selections on the team right away. Some will but it doesn't need to a majority.
- ob18

I liked Laughton when he was up with the big club. Look forward to him developing in the future. I'd like to see the organization do with him, as they did with Coots last season. Start him off on the fourth line, and give him lots of PK minutes.

Wonder if Cousins can be an impact player next year.

I really hope they don't rush whomever they get. They could land a great prospect, but I'm still hoping for a playoff spot.
- Jsaquella

I am as well, I like following and reading about the draft. But I am not ready to say let's give up on the season.

Focus will shift on when they are eliminated if that's from playoff contention or from the playoffs themselves.

The purpose of Bill's blog was to state that the Flyers need to do a better job in drafting and developing players at certain positions. I agree with that and have no need to read it again. But I don't recall reading that drafting a top defenseman yourself, makes him a better player then if you obtained that player in another manner. So maybe you need to read it again.

Secondly, a few years ago, when the Flyers had Pronger, Timonen, Coburn, Carle, Meszaros, and O'Donnell, and everyone was raving about the Flyers defense as being among the tops in the League. Were you saying it's not a good defense because the Flyers didn't draft and develop any of them?

So I'll again reiterate my two main points. A good player is a good player, regardless of how you obtain him. And Holmgren has shown he can obtain quality defenseman and build a good defense. Give the guy a chance.
- MJL

"The organization needs a radical shift in its approach to drafting and developing defensemen. It has been a problem for virtually the entire history of the organization."

there have prob been studies that gave certain positions values based on a weighted avg or if not, there should be. a sound statistical model would assign these positions a value based on a given set of factors, i.e. TOI, % of pts and other relevant metrics. i would submit that top 4 dman of a certain quality are the hardest commodity to obtain and at the very least, a top pair level dman, most certainly. since the '05 lockout especially, when dmen could no longer rely on teammates holding back opposing forwards, the position is the hardest skating position to play, with most usual required development time. no wonder they are in the most demand.

it doesn't take a great deal of deductive reasoning to arrive at the tremendous advantage of drafting these players yourself and being able to develop them at the cost of that pick only. if enuf of them are at your disposal, the efficiency of asset utilization is tremendously improved. assets are not squandered and leverage is more likely to be positive. having young, cheap assets at all positions is nice, but some positions amongst the 18 skaters are more valuable than others. in general, i'd rather have a dman to peddle than a forward. i'll likely get more back and then there is the other measurable of cap space. let's just say we've seen a degree of inefficiancy there below a certain par.

not only that, it's the position that demands the highest amt at the TDL, when shrewd buyers could command a king's ransom for a vet, knowing kid could likely step in. that could make a big diff during a down yr.

w/ cap space at a premium ($-10MM) more than ever, and with no buyout options after nxt yr, the time is now to right this ship. the old way (bury redden, souray et al) is coming to an end, so unless you want to keep paying $6MM to a 38 yr old hanging on one more yr cause "that's what the mkt is for FA dmen", you better hope the flyers straighten this obvious shortcoming out starting right now. if you can't grasp this...i'm done.

I liked Laughton when he was up with the big club. Look forward to him developing in the future. I'd like to see the organization do with him, as they did with Coots last season. Start him off on the fourth line, and give him lots of PK minutes.

Wonder if Cousins can be an impact player next year.
- flyer_nutter

I liked Laughton too but he still needed some work & wasn't going to get the ice time here, next year might be different.

Cousins will probably be given a shot as well, might end up in the AHL to start.

"The organization needs a radical shift in its approach to drafting and developing defensemen. It has been a problem for virtually the entire history of the organization."

there have prob been studies that gave certain positions values based on a weighted avg or if not, there should be. a sound statistical model would assign these positions a value based on a given set of factors, i.e. TOI, % of pts and other relevant metrics. i would submit that top 4 dman of a certain quality are the hardest commodity to obtain and at the very least, a top pair level dman, most certainly. since the '05 lockout especially, when dmen could no longer rely on teammates holding back opposing forwards, the position is the hardest skating position to play, with most usual required development time. no wonder they are in the most demand.

it doesn't take a great deal of deductive reasoning to arrive at the tremendous advantage of drafting these players yourself and being able to develop them at the cost of that pick only. if enuf of them are at your disposal, the efficiency of asset utilization is tremendously improved. assets are not squandered and leverage is more likely to be positive. having young, cheap assets at all positions is nice, but some positions amongst the 18 skaters are more valuable than others. in general, i'd rather have a dman to peddle than a forward. i'll likely get more back and then there is the other measurable of cap space. let's just say we've seen a degree of inefficiancy there below a certain par.

not only that, it's the position that demands the highest amt at the TDL, when shrewd buyers could command a king's ransom for a vet, knowing kid could likely step in. that could make a big diff during a down yr.

w/ cap space at a premium ($-10MM) more than ever, and with no buyout options after nxt yr, the time is now to right this ship. the old way (bury redden, souray et al) is coming to an end, so unless you want to keep paying $6MM to a 38 yr old hanging on one more yr cause "that's what the mkt is for FA dmen", you better hope the flyers straighten this obvious shortcoming out starting right now. if you can't grasp this...i'm done.
- isaiah520

I guess I have to say it again. Because this will be the 4th time I have said it to answer a reply you made to me. I agree with Bill and his point that the Flyers have to do a better job at drafting and developing at certain positions, such as goaltending and defense. I have said that with every reply to you. Yet you keep coming back telling me I can't grasp that!

I'll give you a simple scenario, which points out that your premise that drafting and developing a defenseman yourself, is somehow better then trading for one, or acquiring one in Free Agency, is wrong in my opinion. A hypothetical situation just using players as an example. Where the Flyers would trade a player such as Couturier, for a player such as Dougie Hamilton. That is no different then if the Flyers drafted Hamilton themselves. I don't care how they do it, as long as the job get's done.
And you act like the Flyers are routinely giving 6M deals out to "38 year old players hanging on past their prime". That is not the case. What is also not the case, is the Flyers having to bury a high Cap hit player such as Wade Redden or Sheldon Souray in the minors. So I'll ask what are you talking about?

So let's look at what has been the case with Paul Holmgren and his ability to build a defense and add quality defenseman.

He's added

Jason Smith
Kimmo Timonen
Brayden Coburn
Andre Meszaros
Matt Carle
Chris Pronger
Nik Grossmann
Luke Schenn

So what is Holmgren's track record in building his team's defense? Is this year's situation the norm? Or is the situation where the defense is pretty good the norm? So again, let's go back to the main point. Give the man a chance. He's shown that he can get it done. This last off season is the first time he didn't get it done. Holmgren has a proven track record of acquiring quality D men.

Ryan Callahan is a stud

I guess I have to say it again. Because this will be the 4th time I have said it to answer a reply you made to me. I agree with Bill and his point that the Flyers have to do a better job at drafting and developing at certain positions, such as goaltending and defense. I have said that with every reply to you. Yet you keep coming back telling me I can't grasp that!

I'll give you a simple scenario, which points out that your premise that drafting and developing a defenseman yourself, is somehow better then trading for one, or acquiring one in Free Agency, is wrong in my opinion. A hypothetical situation just using players as an example. Where the Flyers would trade a player such as Couturier, for a player such as Dougie Hamilton. That is no different then if the Flyers drafted Hamilton themselves. I don't care how they do it, as long as the job get's done.
And you act like the Flyers are routinely giving 6M deals out to "38 year old players hanging on past their prime". That is not the case. What is also not the case, is the Flyers having to bury a high Cap hit player such as Wade Redden or Sheldon Souray in the minors. So I'll ask what are you talking about?

So let's look at what has been the case with Paul Holmgren and his ability to build a defense and add quality defenseman.

He's added

Jason Smith
Kimmo Timonen
Brayden Coburn
Andre Meszaros
Matt Carle
Chris Pronger
Nik Grossmann
Luke Schenn

So what is Holmgren's track record in building his team's defense? Is this year's situation the norm? Or is the situation where the defense is pretty good the norm? So again, let's go back to the main point. Give the man a chance. He's shown that he can get it done. This last off season is the first time he didn't get it done.
- MJL

Eh, I mean then you give up a Couturier when you don't have too, as opposed to having a Couturier and drafting Hamilton and having him on an ELC for his first three years. But it doesn't make Hamilton a better player, just we trade assets instead of just acquiring them.

Eh, I mean then you give up a Couturier when you don't have too, as opposed to having a Couturier and drafting Hamilton and having him on an ELC for his first three years. But it doesn't make Hamilton a better player, just we trade assets instead of just acquiring them.
- GirouxForTheShow

The Flyers drafted Couturier instead of Hamilton. It wasn't an option of having both players.

Eh, I mean then you give up a Couturier when you don't have too, as opposed to having a Couturier and drafting Hamilton and having him on an ELC for his first three years. But it doesn't make Hamilton a better player, just we trade assets instead of just acquiring them.
- GirouxForTheShow

You'd need to have two first round picks then in the top 10 of that draft. They didn't have that. They had one pick, the 8th pick which they used to select Couturier. Hamilton went 9th. So if they turned around and traded Couturier for Hamilton. No different then if they had just drafted Hamilton themselves.

http://www.philly.com/phi...Flyers_official_says.html

Luukko gives Holmgren and Laviolette the vote of confidence

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20130217_Laviolette_not_on_hot_seat__Flyers_official_says.html

Luukko gives Holmgren and Laviolette the vote of confidence
- Jsaquella

Does it mean he'll be let go by the end of the week?

Does it mean he'll be let go by the end of the week?
- ob18

Monday, by 4:30pm

Monday, by 4:30pm
- Jsaquella

Is DiPietro starting tomorrow? if so, watch out

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20130217_Laviolette_not_on_hot_seat__Flyers_official_says.html

Luukko gives Holmgren and Laviolette the vote of confidence
- Jsaquella

death knell

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/flyers/20130217_Laviolette_not_on_hot_seat__Flyers_official_says.html

Luukko gives Holmgren and Laviolette the vote of confidence
- Jsaquella

Could be worth nothing, but I like that Luukko said they simply have to be patient.

In the article it has Holmgren saying the team isnt playing with intensity and passion. Ouch.

Could be worth nothing, but I like that Luukko said they simply have to be patient.

In the article it has Holmgren saying the team isnt playing with intensity and passion. Ouch.
- flyer_nutter

Well, he read the papers this morning...Giroux and Timonen tipped him off.

and ONE of those players was projected to go top 3...

draft the best available, period.

when is the TDL this year?

Couts was a solid pick. HAmilton would've been a solid pick as well. Both players are already in the league. Arguing any further at this point is pointless.

Couts was a solid pick. HAmilton would've been a solid pick as well. Both players are already in the league. Arguing any further at this point is pointless.
- jstross

mass aversion to points.

Couts was a solid pick. HAmilton would've been a solid pick as well. Both players are already in the league. Arguing any further at this point is pointless.
- jstross

Thanks for pointing that out!

when is the TDL this year?
- 2Real

April 3rd.