Watching Myers play and just looking at his raw physical skills, it really boggles the mind how he wasn't drafted. Big, long reach, skates well. Who knows.
- MJL

Don't think he was as strong and fast at draft time. Awkward beanpole.

I understand & agree with pretty much everything you said. I am very excited about the future as well. My negative sounding comment was solely directed at the sentiment of the team "being ahead of schedule."
- Big_E_88

Well if they had played this whole season like they have the last half of it we would be "being ahead of schedule "

If they didnt flounder out of the gate we are already in the playoffs today.
But they did this ish last year too.
I really think the kids being given bigger roles has helped "get on schedule"
You know....that same made up schedule us arm chair GMs had given them in past blogs 😂

He isn’t using his players properly. All this says is the PP has improved numbers wise, it doesn’t mean he’s using personnel properly. With the talent we have and how bad we were the first half of the season, we could only go up. Everyone knows that Giroux is a much more dangerous threat on the left half wall.
- SuperSchennBros

Yet their record is what second best in the league over the past 2 months?

Yet their record is what second best in the league over the past 2 months?
- opeth_pa

Giroux isn't in the other side on the PP. Doesn't matter what the PP has been or the team record.

We were on the same page but now you lost me. I vehemently disagree that Hakstol kept the kids down. What Hakstol did was develop the players and teach the hard lessons that they needed to learn to be good pros. To work on the detail in their game to correct the flaws that needed to be corrected. Hakstol did a great job with that in my opinion. The Flyers like many teams used veteran players as stop gaps while younger players developed. We'll never know what Hextall would've done in the future but its pretty clear how well he set this team up for the future.
- MJL

Hakstol developed these players? I think Hakstol was the one to stunt their growth by keeping them in the press box while other players who were clearly not as talented were allowed to play, especially where we were in the standings. NHL experience to young kids is invaluable, and as evidenced by how majority of the league handles their young talent, would rather do it when there's not much on the line so the kids can take their bumps and bruises without the added pressure. The only way I would agree is if our team was in a playoff spot and you wouldn't want to put more pressure on younger players to keep pace with other teams during a playoff push. I think Gordon should be given more credit for developing guys like sanheim, lindblom, myers, and guys like Patrick and Ghost, and even Provy, are developing by being allowed to play. Even Konecny was healthy scratched after having a bad game or two. Your opinion obviously differs, but it is my opinion that you allow a kid to learn from those mistakes on the ice, and not healthy scratch him for guys like Jori Lehtera. He did demote some of these guys which can be another way of teaching a lesson, which still keeps them on the ice, and thats fine. Let them atone for their mistakes still in the lineup, but on a 4th line where not much is expected compared to being on the first or second line.

Yet their record is what second best in the league over the past 2 months?
- opeth_pa

I don’t know what this means. We were talking about the PP.

Hakstol developed these players? I think Hakstol was the one to stunt their growth by keeping them in the press box while other players who were clearly not as talented were allowed to play, especially where we were in the standings. NHL experience to young kids is invaluable, and as evidenced by how majority of the league handles their young talent, would rather do it when there's not much on the line so the kids can take their bumps and bruises without the added pressure. The only way I would agree is if our team was in a playoff spot and you wouldn't want to put more pressure on younger players to keep pace with other teams during a playoff push. I think Gordon should be given more credit for developing guys like sanheim, lindblom, myers, and guys like Patrick and Ghost, and even Provy, are developing by being allowed to play. Even Konecny was healthy scratched after having a bad game or two. Your opinion obviously differs, but it is my opinion that you allow a kid to learn from those mistakes on the ice, and not healthy scratch him for guys like Jori Lehtera. He did demote some of these guys which can be another way of teaching a lesson, which still keeps them on the ice, and thats fine. Let them atone for their mistakes still in the lineup, but on a 4th line where not much is expected compared to being on the first or second line.
- sjk540

In my opinion, Myers was good enough to make the team right out of camp this season. It was just a numbers game with defenseman with so many regulars, the signing of Folin and Mac’s health.

During the 2017 training camp, Morin should have made the team above Sanheim but Hakstol went the other way.

I do question a number decisions made by Hakstol. He seemed satisfied with having a one line team (Giroux, Couturier, Konecny/Voracek) but never could get the rest of the team going. I see a difference with Gordon behind the bench.

Hakstol developed these players? I think Hakstol was the one to stunt their growth by keeping them in the press box while other players who were clearly not as talented were allowed to play, especially where we were in the standings. NHL experience to young kids is invaluable, and as evidenced by how majority of the league handles their young talent, would rather do it when there's not much on the line so the kids can take their bumps and bruises without the added pressure. The only way I would agree is if our team was in a playoff spot and you wouldn't want to put more pressure on younger players to keep pace with other teams during a playoff push. I think Gordon should be given more credit for developing guys like sanheim, lindblom, myers, and guys like Patrick and Ghost, and even Provy, are developing by being allowed to play. Even Konecny was healthy scratched after having a bad game or two. Your opinion obviously differs, but it is my opinion that you allow a kid to learn from those mistakes on the ice, and not healthy scratch him for guys like Jori Lehtera. He did demote some of these guys which can be another way of teaching a lesson, which still keeps them on the ice, and thats fine. Let them atone for their mistakes still in the lineup, but on a 4th line where not much is expected compared to being on the first or second line.
- sjk540

You can't allow a young player to keep making repeated mistakes without realizing there are consequences to it. Ice time is earned, not given just because of who you are or where you were drafted. Konecny was a player who repeatedly made bad decisions with the puck and poor plays away from the puck. Hakstol forced him to change those habits and he became a much better player. If you were already a player who played well away from the puck and managed the puck more, you played more. Examples are Patrick and Provorov. I find this thinking that Hakstol stunted their growth puzzling. He did the opposite. He did a fantastic job developing young players in his time here and we're now seeing the results.
Joel Quenneville is often mentioned by those who want to see him as the next head coach. He is a stickler for detail in players games. If you don't play the right way, your ice time will be effected. Letting young players to keep playing with the same bad habits over and over is about the worst way to develop players. Hakstol had it right and it shows. There is no evidence to show that Hakstol stagnated young players. The evidence to show that they developed them correctly is overwhelming.

In my opinion, Myers was good enough to make the team right out of camp this season. It was just a numbers game with defenseman with so many regulars, the signing of Folin and Mac’s health.

During the 2017 training camp, Morin should have made the team above Sanheim but Hakstol went the other way.

I do question a number decisions made by Hakstol. He seemed satisfied with having a one line team (Giroux, Couturier, Konecny/Voracek) but never could get the rest of the team going. I see a difference with Gordon behind the bench.
- SuperSchennBros

you must be forgetting those games he moved konecny to the 3rd line to try to balance the lines a bit and people were freaking out.

Hart in net tmrw night

Hart in net tmrw night
- arichardson22

this makes me a little bit nervious if i'm being honest. chased from the net his past two games and he's coming off an injury. hoping for a solid game.

this makes me a little bit nervious if i'm being honest. chased from the net his past two games and he's coming off an injury. hoping for a solid game.
- Ftown19125

I could be off, but I think I read he was injured in the MTL game and didn’t tell the Flyers and played through it. But Gordon explained some reasoning to starting him tmrw vs tonight. Said he’d get more practice time for the home game and it was better than coming back and going right out on road

You can't allow a young player to keep making repeated mistakes without realizing there are consequences to it. Ice time is earned, not given just because of who you are or where you were drafted. Konecny was a player who repeatedly made bad decisions with the puck and poor plays away from the puck. Hakstol forced him to change those habits and he became a much better player. If you were already a player who played well away from the puck and managed the puck more, you played more. Examples are Patrick and Provorov. I find this thinking that Hakstol stunted their growth puzzling. He did the opposite. He did a fantastic job developing young players in his time here and we're now seeing the results.
Joel Quenneville is often mentioned by those who want to see him as the next head coach. He is a stickler for detail in players games. If you don't play the right way, your ice time will be effected. Letting young players to keep playing with the same bad habits over and over is about the worst way to develop players. Hakstol had it right and it shows. There is no evidence to show that Hakstol stagnated young players. The evidence to show that they developed them correctly is overwhelming.
- MJL

I agree the evidence to show that the young players developed is there, but I will wholeheartedly disagree it was Hakstol. what is the reason that Hakstol would continue to play veterans who were clearly less talented than the young guys, who would routinely make the same mistakes that the young players would make? Just because he has played in the league a few more years, for a team who was dead last in the standings at one point, it is counter-intuitive to keep players who will clearly be apart of your future, in the press box. Say what you want, and yes I agree you can't allow young players to make those same mistakes game in and game out, but there are different ways of going about it. We are in our position, standings wise, because of Hakstol in my opinion. Not only who he would and wouldn't scratch, but his line decisions, how he handled the goalies workload, how he would mess with players chemistry when the numbers clearly showed something was working and he would then go and mess it up, (i.e. Laughtons play in the first couple months and being demoted to the 4th line, Konecny last year being dropped from the first line to fourth when you could arguably say they were our best line in March and April of last year, which they were). There are more examples of Hakstol doing what has pretty much been proven to be wrong, than there are to be right. Hakstol had zero hand in developing guys like Myers or Sanheim, yet as soon as Sanheim was given the reigns to be a top pairing D guy he has flourished. And please don't kid yourself about Patrick or Provy's growth being a product of Hakstol's, Provy only started to turn it on almost immediately after Hak was fired. Patrick has recently started turning into what looks like an absolute gamer in the last few weeks. Neither of these players showed anything close to what they are doing now than when Hak was here.

I could be off, but I think I read he was injured in the MTL game and didn’t tell the Flyers and played through it. But Gordon explained some reasoning to starting him tmrw vs tonight. Said he’d get more practice time for the home game and it was better than coming back and going right out on road
- arichardson22

I'm assuming you mean Thursday rather than last night. Makes sense to me, just a little bit nervous going right up against Washington his first game back.

I agree the evidence to show that the young players developed is there, but I will wholeheartedly disagree it was Hakstol. what is the reason that Hakstol would continue to play veterans who were clearly less talented than the young guys, who would routinely make the same mistakes that the young players would make? Just because he has played in the league a few more years, for a team who was dead last in the standings at one point, it is counter-intuitive to keep players who will clearly be apart of your future, in the press box. Say what you want, and yes I agree you can't allow young players to make those same mistakes game in and game out, but there are different ways of going about it. We are in our position, standings wise, because of Hakstol in my opinion. Not only who he would and wouldn't scratch, but his line decisions, how he handled the goalies workload, how he would mess with players chemistry when the numbers clearly showed something was working and he would then go and mess it up, (i.e. Laughtons play in the first couple months and being demoted to the 4th line, Konecny last year being dropped from the first line to fourth when you could arguably say they were our best line in March and April of last year, which they were). There are more examples of Hakstol doing what has pretty much been proven to be wrong, than there are to be right. Hakstol had zero hand in developing guys like Myers or Sanheim, yet as soon as Sanheim was given the reigns to be a top pairing D guy he has flourished. And please don't kid yourself about Patrick or Provy's growth being a product of Hakstol's, Provy only started to turn it on almost immediately after Hak was fired. Patrick has recently started turning into what looks like an absolute gamer in the last few weeks. Neither of these players showed anything close to what they are doing now than when Hak was here.
- sjk540

Not a Hakstol lover or anything. I personally think you're maybe not giving him enough credit and MJL might be giving him too much. But Provy played well last season under Hak until he got hurt and Patrick turned it on similarly in the second half of last season too.

It's really a shame that Hextall won't be around to see what he had a large part in building. I don't think there has been anything different that has happened that wasn't going to happen under Hextall.
- MJL

He's not dead. He can still see how some of his moves work out. If he was still here I think we'd likely still be watching Weiss and Lehtera and possibly Folin. I think Hakstol would still be here and we wouldn't be having as much fun as we are now watching the team.

I agree the evidence to show that the young players developed is there, but I will wholeheartedly disagree it was Hakstol. what is the reason that Hakstol would continue to play veterans who were clearly less talented than the young guys, who would routinely make the same mistakes that the young players would make? Just because he has played in the league a few more years, for a team who was dead last in the standings at one point, it is counter-intuitive to keep players who will clearly be apart of your future, in the press box. Say what you want, and yes I agree you can't allow young players to make those same mistakes game in and game out, but there are different ways of going about it. We are in our position, standings wise, because of Hakstol in my opinion. Not only who he would and wouldn't scratch, but his line decisions, how he handled the goalies workload, how he would mess with players chemistry when the numbers clearly showed something was working and he would then go and mess it up, (i.e. Laughtons play in the first couple months and being demoted to the 4th line, Konecny last year being dropped from the first line to fourth when you could arguably say they were our best line in March and April of last year, which they were). There are more examples of Hakstol doing what has pretty much been proven to be wrong, than there are to be right. Hakstol had zero hand in developing guys like Myers or Sanheim, yet as soon as Sanheim was given the reigns to be a top pairing D guy he has flourished. And please don't kid yourself about Patrick or Provy's growth being a product of Hakstol's, Provy only started to turn it on almost immediately after Hak was fired. Patrick has recently started turning into what looks like an absolute gamer in the last few weeks. Neither of these players showed anything close to what they are doing now than when Hak was here.
- sjk540

There was something to be gained by limiting young players ice time to show that they had to earn their ice time and had to play the right way. It was an investment being made. Players are scratched or played for different reasons. How can you not see how ice time was used to force a player like Konecny to improve areas of his game? Veterans were used as stop gap players. Stating that Hakstol had nothing to do with Sanheim's development is disqualifying and shows a clear bias.
As does your comments concerning Provorov. How did Provorov play in his rookie season or in his second season leading the league in goals for defenseman, yet you claim Provorov only "turned it on" after Hakstol was fired. You've mentioned a pretty clear pattern of how ice time was used concerning young player but I don't think you're even aware of it.
Saying it's counter intuitive to keep young players in the press box doesn't make any sense. If their play warrants it, if they're making the same mistakes over and over even after having ice time reduced, then they go to the press box. It's a time tested development tool.
What you state has been proven wrong is actually the opposite. Player makes repeated mistakes, player is demoted to the 4th line. Player improves in areas and becomes a better player and then is moved up in the lineup and succeeds. That's proven wrong! No, its proven correct.

He's not dead. He can still see how some of his moves work out. If he was still here I think we'd likely still be watching Weiss and Lehtera and possibly Folin. I think Hakstol would still be here and we wouldn't be having as much fun as we are now watching the team.
- Dkos

Players like you mentioned were always here temporarily. How long or what would've been done if Hextall was still here is speculation.

I'm assuming you mean Thursday rather than last night. Makes sense to me, just a little bit nervous going right up against Washington his first game back.
- Ftown19125

Whoops I thought today was Wednesday lol long day. But yeah he didn’t want him out on the road first game last night compared to being home against Caps. But yeah I agree, Caps are rolling right now too.

Not a Hakstol lover or anything. I personally think you're maybe not giving him enough credit and MJL might be giving him too much. But Provy played well last season under Hak until he got hurt and Patrick turned it on similarly in the second half of last season too.
- Ftown19125

In all my discussions in player development, the player always has to get most of the credit. A coach cant coach a player into having talent or polish a turd into a diamond. A coach can however guide a player into becoming better at the details of the game that make a big difference and Hakstol did a great job with that.

The prevailing belief is that Sanheim was always this good but Hakstol just didn't want a player this good in the lineup because he preferred MacDonald.

Players like you mentioned were always here temporarily. How long or what would've been done if Hextall was still here is speculation.
- MJL

I'm aware that it's only speculation. Isnt that what we're doing here?

I'm aware that it's only speculation. Isnt that what we're doing here?
- Dkos

With Hakstol or Hextall?

With Hakstol or Hextall?
- MJL

Either. Both. What's the difference? I'm speculating on how the team would be different today with Hextall/Hakstol instead of how it is now (in reality) with Fletcher/Gordon. You said, "I don't think there has been anything different that has happened that wasn't going to happen under Hextall." You're speculating. I'm speculating. That's a given. I'm just trying to say there is no need for you to point out that I'm speculating.

this makes me a little bit nervious if i'm being honest. chased from the net his past two games and he's coming off an injury. hoping for a solid game.
- Ftown19125

Same

Just imagine if we were 2 or 3 games better through January. How would that 6 points feel right now? Ugh! I forgot about that game we blew against Sens until Bill reminded us.
- cdearth23

The team was something like 5-11-4 from the time they fired Hextall to the time they started their run in January. Think about that for a minute.