That's where he belongs on the PP. Flyers need to give the umbrella a shot. Right now they get out worked down low with the advantage and can't feed a dman to save their lives.
- Flyersgod

Aren't they using the umbrella? Streit seems more content to play catch w/ the guys on the sidewalls, or walk the blueline with the puck, than rip one-timers at every opportunity.

Hitting is part of the game on the ice... you might notice that the second a fight breaks out, the whistle blows and the game stops.
- Tomahawk

Speaking of which, has Rinaldo stopped hitting as much as he used to?
He was good for one big mostly clean hit a game last year.
Are they telling him to tone it down?

So you are for the removal of fighting?
- Flyersgod

20 years ago I'd have stood on a soap box and preached against it.

Today, if you throw a punch, automatic ejection and one game suspension. Repeat offenders should be treated more harshly.

Speaking of which, has Rinaldo stopped hitting as much as he used to?
He was good for one big mostly clean hit a game last year.
Are they telling him to tone it down?
- Marc D

Now that you mention it he has cooled off. Last big one I remember was against Carolina - the hit on Staal.

He's a classic "95% player"... can penetrate the zone, deke a defender at the top of the circles, get into great shooting position, then fail to cap off the sequence with a goal or even a shot on goal. He's like a progress bar that hangs at the very end.
- Tomahawk

You just described regular season Leino (actually stepped up in the playoffs).

20 years ago I'd have stood on a soap box and preached against it.

Today, if you throw a punch, automatic ejection and one game suspension. Repeat offenders should be treated more harshly.
- mayorofangrytown

They know the risk.

I admit you're great at changing the point of a debate. And you articulate your thoughts extremely well.

No idea how you can argue what you're arguing.. and I can't debate you on it. Too many false prrmises and fallacies to navigate through.
- Flyersgod

Let the players do it for you. After-all they are the ones playing the game.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=433260

https://www.suntimes.com/...as-a-place-in-hockey.html

"“That’s definitely where fighting has a place in the game,” Hawks enforcer Brandon Bollig said. “You have to keep guys honest and hold guys accountable.”

Did the fight erase Hossa’s grueling, seven-month recovery? No. Did it make up for the Hawks’ first-round loss to Phoenix? No. Did Torres suffer anything close to what Hossa did? No. Did the fight accomplish anything?

Yes.

It prevented a much worse, much more dangerous form of retaliation. Because while fighting is dumb, vigilante justice is a whole lot dumber. And that’s what players insist would happen if fighting is removed from hockey."

The article also states:

What the NHL needs to do is get rid of the useless fights — the staged ones at face-offs, the forced ones during blowouts, the ones where all a guy is trying to do is wake up a sleepy bench or a bored crowd. Players and fans might like those — as Kane put it, “From a fan’s perspective, there are probably three things you love in hockey: scoring goals, big hits, and the fights” — but they serve no real purpose. They police nothing, they solve nothing.

But I have this to say. How useless is a fight if it DOES get a sleepy bench woken up? Max Talbot might say not very useless. How useless is a fight that energizes a crowd, if the team feeds off that energy... not very useless. How useless is a fight when your getting blown out? I dont know... ask Ray Emery.

Dont take fighting out of the game. You want to reduce staged fighting, fine, give out a 10 minute misconduct for any fight off a face-off. Have the NHL fine a coach for putting nothing but goons on the ice in a blow-out. Give a suspension to a guy that fights an unwilling participant. But dont take it out of the game.

Let the players do it for you. After-all they are the ones playing the game.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=433260

https://www.suntimes.com/...as-a-place-in-hockey.html

"“That’s definitely where fighting has a place in the game,” Hawks enforcer Brandon Bollig said. “You have to keep guys honest and hold guys accountable.”

Did the fight erase Hossa’s grueling, seven-month recovery? No. Did it make up for the Hawks’ first-round loss to Phoenix? No. Did Torres suffer anything close to what Hossa did? No. Did the fight accomplish anything?

Yes.

It prevented a much worse, much more dangerous form of retaliation. Because while fighting is dumb, vigilante justice is a whole lot dumber. And that’s what players insist would happen if fighting is removed from hockey."

The article also states:

What the NHL needs to do is get rid of the useless fights — the staged ones at face-offs, the forced ones during blowouts, the ones where all a guy is trying to do is wake up a sleepy bench or a bored crowd. Players and fans might like those — as Kane put it, “From a fan’s perspective, there are probably three things you love in hockey: scoring goals, big hits, and the fights” — but they serve no real purpose. They police nothing, they solve nothing.

But I have this to say. How useless is a fight if it DOES get a sleepy bench woken up? Max Talbot might say not very useless. How useless is a fight that energizes a crowd, if the team feeds off that energy... not very useless. How useless is a fight when your getting blown out? I dont know... ask Ray Emery.

Dont take fighting out of the game. You want to reduce staged fighting, fine, give out a 10 minute misconduct for any fight off a face-off. Have the NHL fine a coach for putting nothing but goons on the ice in a blow-out. Give a suspension to a guy that fights an unwilling participant. But dont take it out of the game.
- youarewrong

Agreed.

Speaking of which, has Rinaldo stopped hitting as much as he used to?
He was good for one big mostly clean hit a game last year.
Are they telling him to tone it down?
- Marc D

Might have something to do with him getting called more this year. He isn't getting the close calls, so has to let up on the hits a bit. But he also seems to be trying to play hockey a bit. Probally something Lappy said, you have to improve your positioning if you want to be on and stay on the PK.

Aren't they using the umbrella? Streit seems more content to play catch w/ the guys on the sidewalls, or walk the blueline with the puck, than rip one-timers at every opportunity.
- Tomahawk

I was also under the impression we were using the umbrella. The passing between Giroux, Timonen and Voracek would suggest as such, while Hartnell and Simmonds set up a double screen.

Andreas Raffl will get his first goal tonight. He will also get his second and third goals tonight as well. Mark it down.

20 years ago I'd have stood on a soap box and preached against it.

Today, if you throw a punch, automatic ejection and one game suspension. Repeat offenders should be treated more harshly.
- mayorofangrytown

More like mayor of crazy town!

Might have something to do with him getting called more this year. He isn't getting the close calls, so has to let up on the hits a bit. But he also seems to be trying to play hockey a bit. Probally something Lappy said, you have to improve your positioning if you want to be on and stay on the PK.
- youarewrong

I wonder about the coaches telling him to tone it down.
His open ice hits when clean (and 90% were) was the best part of his game.
I think he really could disrupt the other team when he was hitting.

I was also under the impression we were using the umbrella. The passing between Giroux, Timonen and Voracek would suggest as such, while Hartnell and Simmonds set up a double screen.
- Schenn2shine

I dunno.. swore they had two point men all the time.

More like mayor of crazy town!
- Flyersgod

that was my ex-girlfriend's title

I think Rosehill gets singled out only because he holds the title "enforcer". If Rosehill did not hold this title, fans wouldn't constantly repeat themselves of the same silly complaints. Jay Rosehill's game is no different from Tom Sestito's game, which nobody really had a problem with. We had Jody Shelley hanging on to the enforcer role, so fans were blind to what Sestito was.

With this said, Rosehill didn't hold the Flyers back from the collection of points the team gathered in September and was apart of the eight game points streak, while eating over seven minutes a night.His only issue is he doesn't kill penalties. Other than that, he's a better player than he gets credit for.
- Schenn2shine

He loses his cool too easily and takes dumb penalties.

I dunno.. swore they had two point men all the time.
- Flyersgod

I think this shows what they do on the first unit:

I expect big games from Scott Hartnell and Brayden Schenn tonight. Every regular season games against the Red Wings I've seen that Hartnell was apart of, he's shown up every time. In fact last time he was healthy and at the Joe, he came out to the bench before warm ups to get a look at the crowd/fans.

They need to reconfigure the top unit to get Vinny on it.

that was my ex-girlfriend's title
- Marc D

Must be related to my wife!

I think this shows what they do on the first unit:

- Tomahawk

I don't hate that but I'd rather have a true umbrella where you feed the point and have 2 guys on the boards. Maybe too much nhl14 has ruined my concept of the umbrella. The NPCs in that game are frigging brain dead.

They need to reconfigure the top unit to get Vinny on it.
- Feanor

100% agree. Get him out there at the right circle, and teams will have to think twice about pressuring G too closely. Voracek just isn't a credible scoring threat from distance, right now.

I'd love to see Baby Schenn work the right circle on the second unit... he used to pump one-timers in from there in junior... I think they're wasting his skill by parking him in front of the net.

I wonder about the coaches telling him to tone it down.
His open ice hits when clean (and 90% were) was the best part of his game.
I think he really could disrupt the other team when he was hitting.
- Marc D

IMO it was the best part of his game. I think they are trying to get a bit more out of his game then big hits. He has speed. If he could work on positioning he could become more then a 4th line player. Part of being in position is not crossing the ice to lay a huge hit.

More like mayor of crazy town!
- Flyersgod

Works at the amateur level. Not like I came up with it off the top of my head.

I don't hate that but I'd rather have a true umbrella where you feed the point and have 2 guys on the boards. Maybe too much nhl14 has ruined my concept of the umbrella. The NPCs in that game are frigging brain dead.
- Flyersgod

Vanilla umbrella looks something like this:


Only thing that Flyers do differently is do a high-low kind of setup in the slot, with Hartsy up high for one-timers.