Anyone wants to meet for a beer send a pm

So if the Flyers do not resign Emery for next season, who do you think they will get to replace him? Bring up Heeter? Sign a veteran like Giguere or Clemmensen?
- Streit2ThePoint

Go for a younger backup like Greiss or Montoya or Peters or Hutton. No more old/physically-limited backups.

Flyers need to be better and it starts with berube behind the bench. Let's hope they spent these 2 off days wisely.
- Just5

I hear they're having a pizza party today

It's like a complex math problem with words. I don't get it at all.

So Akeson has a CF% (rel) of 19.5%. DOes that mean the team has more shots when he's not on the ice?
- Flyersgod

It's his CF relative to the team average. So he's 19.5% better than the team average, or you could look at it as the team having the puck 19.5% more when he's on the ice versus when he's off.

Ek really needs to get these ads under control. They're killing me on the laptop.

No I haven't watched the Kings lately. I do know they don't score a lot though.
- Flyersgod

Richards, God bless him, is a fourth-line center for them. I don't know which came first: His inability to score, which dropped him to the fourth line, or being dropped to the fourth line impacted his ability to score, but his ability to create offense...let's just say there are questions about his ability to create offense right now.

His skating, which was never a strong suit, is just...average now. He struggles to get up to peak speed.

He still sees the ice well, still has great instincts, especially defensively.

But boy...he's got problems with pace, too. The Sharks can get up and down the ice pretty freaking well, and it just exposes what Richards isn't anymore, at least against elite teams.

It's his CF relative to the team average. So he's 19.5% better than the team average, or you could look at it as the team having the puck 19.5% more when he's on the ice versus when he's off.
- Tomahawk

Let's do it like this.

Good ='s having a higher %
Bad ='s having a low, or negative, %

?

Let's do it like this.

Good ='s having a higher %
Bad ='s having a low, or negative, %

?
- Flyersgod

Yes

Yes
- Tomahawk

Ok thank you. Some confusing crap. Some of it seems pretty stupid.

Regress? At 29?
- Flyersgod

Yes. Same can be said with Vinny. He started going downhill around 30. Not saying either player is horrible, just not as good when they were in their primes.

Richards, God bless him, is a fourth-line center for them. I don't know which came first: His inability to score, which dropped him to the fourth line, or being dropped to the fourth line impacted his ability to score, but his ability to create offense...let's just say there are questions about his ability to create offense right now.

His skating, which was never a strong suit, is just...average now. He struggles to get up to peak speed.

He still sees the ice well, still has great instincts, especially defensively.

But boy...he's got problems with pace, too. The Sharks can get up and down the ice pretty freaking well, and it just exposes what Richards isn't anymore, at least against elite teams.
- AllInForFlyers

Really makes you thankful we have Simmonds and Schenn now! Can't imagine what this team would like with Richards as a top two center

Who would you rather have question #2:

For 2014-2015 (and beyond):
Brayden Schenn or Mike Richards, keeping in mind their age, contracts (or current lack thereof, but you can ballpark Schenn's), and any perceived progression/regression.
- jmatchett383

Schenn. Richards is still a solid player, although he's struggled as a King this season, but that contract is onerous.

Lecavalier controls the puck 30% of the time he's on the ice? That's not bad, considering there are 10 skaters on the ice. That means he is one of the top-3 (at least) puck controllers every time he's on the ice.
- jmatchett383

Well done

Regress? At 29?
- Flyersgod

That's usually when regression starts.

Let's do it like this.

Good ='s having a higher %
Bad ='s having a low, or negative, %

?
- Flyersgod

Anything positive is good, but the higher the better.

But you need to add some context. If you start 70% of your shifts in the offensive zone, it's easier to get a higher corsi number or percentage. Compared to someone like Couturier who takes a ton of starts in the defensive zone.

Ok thank you. Some confusing crap. Some of it seems pretty stupid.
- Flyersgod

It seems daunting at first, but the concepts behind it all are pretty simple. The guys who came up with all this just didn't bother to make it approachable at all.

In ES close situations (1-goal game or tied), Vinny's only been able to control the puck 30% of the time he's on the ice. That's almost 20% worse than the team average.
- Tomahawk

Another misuse of stats. Lecavalier is not typically a player that controls the puck. He is not a puck carrier. His is a shooter. All about context.

CF% has these players lower than Vinny....

Rinaldo dead last at -13.8%
Hall -13.7
Raffl -10.6
Amac -6.1
L Schenn -3.6
Timonen-3
Simmons -1.7
Vinny -1.1


Hell same goes for Fenwick as well.

I'm sure you guys discussed it when I wasn't around - but thoughts on cooke's suspension?
- FlyersGrace

Not long enough when you consider his past history. I would have gave him at least 15, maybe 20.

That's usually when regression starts.
- Jsaquella

Well don't tell my wife that.

Richards, God bless him, is a fourth-line center for them. I don't know which came first: His inability to score, which dropped him to the fourth line, or being dropped to the fourth line impacted his ability to score, but his ability to create offense...let's just say there are questions about his ability to create offense right now.

His skating, which was never a strong suit, is just...average now. He struggles to get up to peak speed.

He still sees the ice well, still has great instincts, especially defensively.

But boy...he's got problems with pace, too. The Sharks can get up and down the ice pretty freaking well, and it just exposes what Richards isn't anymore, at least against elite teams.
- AllInForFlyers

if he got bought out, hed definitely be a great pickup for somebody on a shorter more reasonable term as a third line center

Yes. Same can be said with Vinny. He started going downhill around 30. Not saying either player is horrible, just not as good when they were in their primes.
- Streit2ThePoint

More and more -- actually, that's a lie. I'm already convinced -- but this game is rapidly turning into a young man's game, a skating game.

Over an 82-game regular season, where 6-8 teams are awful/ bad/below average, then another six are pretty average, you can still play and be effective as an average to minus-skater.

But what I'm seeing in the playoffs now...man, you have got to be able to move. You have flat-out got to be able to turn and go, make plays at speed. The game is sooooooo much harder, exponentially harder, if you are an average-to-below skater right now...I can't remember the last time it was quite like this...maybe...1994/95 or so?

On the plane to Philly now.
Hoping for a celebration Friday and not a funeral.
Don't care what the lines are at this point.
All 18 skaters have a role.
Go Flyers
Rangers suck
- Marc D

Regress? At 29?
- Flyersgod

http://beta.thescore.com/news/487597

Richards has at times looked slow, and frequently seemed less involved. He only scored 11 times in 82 games, barely scratching over the 40-point mark with a Corsi-rel of -3.0%. The edge to his game that’s seen him average close to a PIM-per-game in his career dropped to a mere 28 penalty minutes. (PIMs aren’t good, but if you’re a player who plays with some sandpaper, they’re bound to happen.)

His last five full season his total shots are 238 (Flyers, 79 games), 237 (Flyers, 82 games), 184 (Flyers, 81 games), 171 (Kings, 74 games), and 157 (Kings, 82 games). With shooting percentages generally hovering around comparable levels in the NHL (he had decent luck last year, bad luck this year), your ability to generate shots is crucial to your ability to generate goals.

His ice time fell to 16.7 minutes a night in 2013-14, and in playoffs it’s only been 15.3, where he’s racked up zero goals and zero assists for no points.

It’s sort of the chicken and the egg: are his offensive numbers so low because the Kings can’t score, or are the Kings offensive numbers lower because he can’t?

The questions of age are ones the general public won’t buy - he’s only 29, and has five years left on his contract - but they really need to be considered. I think he’s slowing down fairly significantly.

He’s moved out of his scoring prime, which for offensive players is roughly the 22-27 range, and he’s played a ton of hockey compared to most 29-year-olds. He’s laced up the skates for 758 NHL games including 101 brutally physical post-season battles (over only eight NHL seasons), most of which have come towards the latter half of his career. And, that style he’s played isn’t exactly one that’s allowed him to float around and get through many games without contact. He’s never been the most fleet-of-foot guy in the league, so losing a half-step is bound to affect his game more than most.

More and more -- actually, that's a lie. I'm already convinced -- but this game is rapidly turning into a young man's game, a skating game.

Over an 82-game regular season, where 6-8 teams are awful/ bad/below average, then another six are pretty average, you can still play and be effective as an average to minus-skater.

But what I'm seeing in the playoffs now...man, you have got to be able to move. You have flat-out got to be able to turn and go, make plays at speed. The game is sooooooo much harder, exponentially harder, if you are an average-to-below skater right now...I can't remember the last time it was quite like this...maybe...1994/95 or so?
- AllInForFlyers

Jagr is slow as crap and still plays pretty well. It's about puck possession more so than speed. If they can't take the puck from you, it doesn't matter if you're slow.

Flyers have speed. They just don't know how to use it. Voracek is really started to grasp this I think.

Only one player has less minutes than Vinny. Rinaldo.

Rounded up, Vinny has 31 minutes of game time after 3 games. Rounded up - 5 minutes on the powerplay.

That's 26 minutes of ES hockey over 3 games. Lets rag on the dude that barely even sees the ice.
- Flyersgod

Hes getting ragged on bc thank god hes not playing more minutes than that.
He was signed for specifically this time of year when our younger players like B Schenn are likely to struggle.
He is a total liability out there at 4.5 per.
Hes a bullseye and deservedly so