I personally don't beleive that the players have tuned Berube out.
- MJL

If thats the case then we have dressing room and leadership issues like the Maple Leafs because this team has the same problems with inconsistancy and effort.

Never...
- FlyersGrace

So true! It would require them to actually WATCH the games!

I don't think we have the personnel to carry the puck like the Red Wings do.
- SuperSchennBros

That's for damn sure.

I personally don't beleive that the players have tuned Berube out.
- MJL

So you believe the players on the team that is the problem and not the coach? So the Flyers should get a team that fits the coach and not the other way around?

I agree. What they need to do is to take the number of starts he has, divide by the number of letters in his last name, multiply it by the number of times he makes a save on the PK, subtract the ratio of saves made per game to the length of his goal stick, and put it in pie graph form. Then we can fully and properly evaluate him.
- jmatchett383

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. When in doubt, I take an insightful player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.

I also got argued with over whether Simmonds fighting in the second period -- expressly for the purpose of trying to inject some emotion and energy into a pretty lifeless game up to that point -- was a good thing for him to do. Several teammates -- B. Schenn, Giroux, Voracek -- and Berube all pointed to it as something that kick-started the bench when energy was ebbing, yet ppl were arguing with me that "it's stupid for the team's top scorer to remove himself for five minutes in a scoreless game and risk injury."

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

It's a similar thing with goaltending. Not even raw save percentage is always a perfect indicator of how much the goaltending lifts or deflates a team. Goals against average alone is a very poor indicator, actually.

Mason said after last night's game that he always feels like he can do more any time there isn't a W at the end of the night. He feels like any goal -- power play or otherwise -- is at least partially on his own shoulders.

I love that attitude in a goalie. It resonates, and also puts the goalie in position to speak up (within the internal dressing room context) when other guys aren't pulling their weight. Part of the reason why Bryzgalov was so disliked by teammates in Phoenix and Philly was that he was quick to entirely dismiss himself from blame on any goal that was deflected or screened but quick to pin it on others.

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.

If thats the case then we have dressing room and leadership issues like the Maple Leafs because this team has the same problems with inconsistancy and effort.
- GOA88

And defense and secondary scoring and penalty killing. All of these can be attributed to leadership.

So you believe the players on the team that is the problem and not the coach? So the Flyers should get a team that fits the coach and not the other way around?
- Daveflyers36

Berube's singular hockey genius must be retained at all costs.

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. I will always take the player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.

I also got argued with over whether Simmonds fighting in the second period -- expressly for the purpose of trying to inject some emotion and energy into a pretty lifeless game up to that point -- was a good thing for him to do. Several teammates -- B. Schenn, Giroux, Voracek -- and Berube all pointed to it as something that kick-started the bench when energy was ebbing, yet ppl were arguing with me that "it's stupid for the team's top scorer to remove himself for five minutes in a scoreless game and risk injury."

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

It's a similar thing with goaltending. Not even raw save percentage is always a perfect indicator of how much the goaltending lifts or deflates a team. Goals against average alone is a very poor indicator, actually.

Mason said after last night's game that he always feels like he can do more any time there isn't a W at the end of the night. He feels like any goal -- power play or otherwise -- is at least partially on his own shoulders.

I love that attitude in a goalie. It resonates, and also puts the goalie in position to speak up (within the internal dressing room context) when other guys aren't pulling their weight. Part of the reason why Bryzgalov was so disliked by teammates in Phoenix and Philly was that he was quick to entirely dismiss himself from blame on any goal that was deflected or screened but quick to pin it on others.

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

Well said, Sir!!

And defense and secondary scoring and penalty killing. All of these can be attributed to leadership.
- jmatchett383

I'm not saying the Flyers should have all of those things just that the heart and effort are clearly lacking. Thats what bothers me the most.

Its amazing what players can do with a great coach.
- GOA88

That is why if there is a coaching change I would look at Blashill the Grand Rapids coach. He was the one who had those guys all ready to step into the NHL.

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

...

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

Sports, beyond the obvious skills required, are just as much will and emotion as they are physical. If people don't know that, I'm guessing they never played anything competitively in their lives.

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. When in doubt, I take an insightful player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.

I also got argued with over whether Simmonds fighting in the second period -- expressly for the purpose of trying to inject some emotion and energy into a pretty lifeless game up to that point -- was a good thing for him to do. Several teammates -- B. Schenn, Giroux, Voracek -- and Berube all pointed to it as something that kick-started the bench when energy was ebbing, yet ppl were arguing with me that "it's stupid for the team's top scorer to remove himself for five minutes in a scoreless game and risk injury."

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

It's a similar thing with goaltending. Not even raw save percentage is always a perfect indicator of how much the goaltending lifts or deflates a team. Goals against average alone is a very poor indicator, actually.

Mason said after last night's game that he always feels like he can do more any time there isn't a W at the end of the night. He feels like any goal -- power play or otherwise -- is at least partially on his own shoulders.

I love that attitude in a goalie. It resonates, and also puts the goalie in position to speak up (within the internal dressing room context) when other guys aren't pulling their weight. Part of the reason why Bryzgalov was so disliked by teammates in Phoenix and Philly was that he was quick to entirely dismiss himself from blame on any goal that was deflected or screened but quick to pin it on others.

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

I don't disagree with using analytics as part of player evaluation. But when you have people (like an unnamed Penguins writer) who use graphs generated from (somewhat arbitrary) equations as the be-all/end-all of player evaluation, it's just wrong. There are so many factors that go into how a player plays on any given night or over any given stretch that pure analytics can't properly evaluate a player.

Also, after the Ranger's series last year, a friend of mine sent me a picture of some chart showing how many Flyers were good or bad based off of some stats (can't remember it exactly). I didn't disagree with it, but I also said I could have told him that just by watching the series and evaluating it. If a player is playing well or poorly, the stats generally will reflect that, but when you simply use stats as a pure indicator of a player, you're doing yourself a disservice,

If thats the case then we have dressing room and leadership issues like the Maple Leafs because this team has the same problems with inconsistancy and effort.
- GOA88

The Maple Leafs issues are Phil Kessel and Dion. 14 Million per year for two VERY inconsistent hockey players.. And this is their core!
Our core is MUCH better. I think Berube can only do so much with this team as he is what he is. Berube is not a top coach in this leauge and IMO there are better guys out there right now that could get more from this team

He almost did, actually. He was bothered by it, but still had some impact. Voracek, on the other hand...my God. He's able to create offense out of thin air it seems.
- jmatchett383

If you watch the highlights of last night on NHL.com. Besides Simmonds goals it is all voracek.

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. When in doubt, I take an insightful player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.

I also got argued with over whether Simmonds fighting in the second period -- expressly for the purpose of trying to inject some emotion and energy into a pretty lifeless game up to that point -- was a good thing for him to do. Several teammates -- B. Schenn, Giroux, Voracek -- and Berube all pointed to it as something that kick-started the bench when energy was ebbing, yet ppl were arguing with me that "it's stupid for the team's top scorer to remove himself for five minutes in a scoreless game and risk injury."

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

It's a similar thing with goaltending. Not even raw save percentage is always a perfect indicator of how much the goaltending lifts or deflates a team. Goals against average alone is a very poor indicator, actually.

Mason said after last night's game that he always feels like he can do more any time there isn't a W at the end of the night. He feels like any goal -- power play or otherwise -- is at least partially on his own shoulders.

I love that attitude in a goalie. It resonates, and also puts the goalie in position to speak up (within the internal dressing room context) when other guys aren't pulling their weight. Part of the reason why Bryzgalov was so disliked by teammates in Phoenix and Philly was that he was quick to entirely dismiss himself from blame on any goal that was deflected or screened but quick to pin it on others.

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

excellent post, they should pay you to write here

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. When in doubt, I take an insightful player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.

I also got argued with over whether Simmonds fighting in the second period -- expressly for the purpose of trying to inject some emotion and energy into a pretty lifeless game up to that point -- was a good thing for him to do. Several teammates -- B. Schenn, Giroux, Voracek -- and Berube all pointed to it as something that kick-started the bench when energy was ebbing, yet ppl were arguing with me that "it's stupid for the team's top scorer to remove himself for five minutes in a scoreless game and risk injury."

There are still elements of emotion and team psychology very specific to hockey that play out very differently on the bench and the dressing room than they may seem from upstairs in the press box or on television.

It's a similar thing with goaltending. Not even raw save percentage is always a perfect indicator of how much the goaltending lifts or deflates a team. Goals against average alone is a very poor indicator, actually.

Mason said after last night's game that he always feels like he can do more any time there isn't a W at the end of the night. He feels like any goal -- power play or otherwise -- is at least partially on his own shoulders.

I love that attitude in a goalie. It resonates, and also puts the goalie in position to speak up (within the internal dressing room context) when other guys aren't pulling their weight. Part of the reason why Bryzgalov was so disliked by teammates in Phoenix and Philly was that he was quick to entirely dismiss himself from blame on any goal that was deflected or screened but quick to pin it on others.

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

(frank)ing jsaq

These intangibles are still very real and still part of the game. Combining these things with the more quantifiable analytics gives you something closer to a panoramic picture of the sport.
- bmeltzer

Agreed.

Luck and intangibles have a far higher impact on results than some people give them credit for.

I'm not saying the Flyers should have all of those things just that the heart and effort are clearly lacking. Thats what bothers me the most.
- GOA88

Maybe the players are getting deflated and/or apathetic because they're people and have emotions that can swing based on the performance of themselves and/or their teammates. I know we want these guys to be robots, but they're not.

A season like they have, especially over the stretch before last night's 3rd period, can be very trying and unnerving, and cause them to play so cautiously as to try to not make a single mistake, which breeds boring, lifeless hockey. Also, this is why you don't want to take young players and just throw them into the fire like this.

Prior to yesterday's game, Wayne Simmonds was asked about his recent goal slump (one in nine games). He could have made excuses like "hot goalies" etc but said he didn't think he was getting to the scoring areas efficiently enough of late -- a very honest and self-effacing answer -- and so he was getting checked or goalies were getting over whereas in his hot run before that, he was getting to the scoring areas a little better.

I mentioned that on Twitter and some well-meaning poster said something like, "That's wrong... his Shooting Heat chart proves otherwise. He's just run into an abnormally high goalie save percentage."

That's were the analytics crowd doesn't do itself any favors sometimes. When in doubt, I take an insightful player's own self-analysis over that of a chart. There were split-second things happening of late -- being just a hair off in his timing -- that were behind why he had just one goal in nine games. Simmonds tends to be a little streaky like that, anyway, although the effort is beyond reproach. He scores in bunches and also has a few lengthy droughts each season.


- bmeltzer

This sort of discrepancy is also probably why many players openly disparage the advanced analytics aspect of the game.

What? Difference in opinions among who??
- SuperSchennBros

Amongst the Hbuzzers

Maybe the players are getting deflated and/or apathetic because they're people and have emotions that can swing based on the performance of themselves and/or their teammates. I know we want these guys to be robots, but they're not.

A season like they have, especially over the stretch before last night's 3rd period, can be very trying and unnerving, and cause them to play so cautiously as to try to not make a single mistake, which breeds boring, lifeless hockey. Also, this is why you don't want to take young players and just throw them into the fire like this.
- jmatchett383

A coach needs to absorb and/or mitigate a lot of that negative energy, keep the players playing and, as much as possible when losing, having fun. Especially with young players.

I don't know anybody who likes losing, but I'm going to guess most of these guys snap out of their funk once they step off the ice and/or get out of the building. Unless they've had exceptionally horrible game and their buddies keep razzing them for it. But their in-game confidence can certainly take a hit during seasons like this one. Case in point: Matt Read. That dude seems checked out.

i still cannot fathom david perron being worth a first round pick, but it made me think.....if you could get a first in this draft for simmonds would it be a good idea to move him?

If thats the case then we have dressing room and leadership issues like the Maple Leafs because this team has the same problems with inconsistancy and effort.
- GOA88

By all accounts, this is a close knit group, despite their struggles, so I don't think that's the case either. The leader of this team is Claude Giroux. Who does everything for this team, and shows up to play every game. Including last night on one leg, while still being one of the team's best players. I don't know what else Giroux could do from a leadership standpoint.

i still cannot fathom david perron being worth a first round pick, but it made me think.....if you could get a first in this draft for simmonds would it be a good idea to move him?
- hogweed

No. Simmonds is a proven heart and soul, goal scoring winger. Trading him for a draft pick alone is risky. IMO

i still cannot fathom david perron being worth a first round pick, but it made me think.....if you could get a first in this draft for simmonds would it be a good idea to move him?
- hogweed

What's the reasoning behind trading Simmonds? Doesn't make sense to me. I think he has raised his game 5 vs 5