Bill Meltzer: Wrap" Season Ends with a Whimper in Gamen7 Blowout

well, there goes the season for me. avs are my main team, flyers my favorite in the east. couldn’t care less about these stupid bubble playoffs anymore.

loathe dallas. indifferent about the isles. tampa and vegas in the cup final seems likely, but i’m out. cya all in december.

Nothing left in the tank.

Bill...you continue to be the most knowledgeable and prolific writer on the site. Thank you for all you do! Hopefully this is not a lost off-season...time to trim the fat, so to speak!

just not good enough giroux strikes again

Nothing left in the tank.

Bill...you continue to be the most knowledgeable and prolific writer on the site. Thank you for all you do! Hopefully this is not a lost off-season...time to trim the fat, so to speak!
- BroadSTmayhem

No. Its time to excise the internal organs, except the Hart. The body rots from within and the stench is strong.

We can but hope that our top 3 young D develop to who we think they can be. And that Hart continues to get even better.

But there is a huge dearth of dangerous talent up front. And there is not much in the pipeline.

Couturier has played tough mins for many years now, and has had multiple injuries. I am guessing he has 5 years left as a top tier center at most. He looked slow this playoffs even before the injury. Hayes is not a #1 center.

Sure there will be lots of waffling and sweet talking and accusations of lacking faith.

But here is the bottom line: We are not close

Bill Meltzer: Wrap" Season Ends with a Whimper in Gamen7 Blowout
- bmeltzer

Once again, Bill, thank you for all your contributions to this site. I look forward to your upcoming postmortem once the dust settles, as well as your projections for the draft and the next season. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.

Once again, Bill, thank you for all your contributions to this site. I look forward to your upcoming postmortem once the dust settles, as well as your projections for the draft and the next season. Keep up the good work. Thanks again.
- Bendecko

What he said, Bill.

There is also a typo in the headline of this blog.

There’s always next year. Since 1975.

1976 was pretty great until the Finals.

That might have been the best team they've had.

I’ve personally reached the point where (save for some earth shattering trade) I just don’t t see this team getting any further with G and Voracek as your two big investments up front. They are pretty much non factors when it comes to the playoffs. This team needs high end offensive zone/PP talent in a bad way.

They’ve gotta get rid of JVR and use that cap space wisely. And they’ve either got to decide to ride with Ghost or move him. He’s making way too much to not be playing.

What do the Flyers need? An answer to Mat Barzal.

I’ve personally reached the point where (save for some earth shattering trade) I just don’t t see this team getting any further with G and Voracek as your two big investments up front. They are pretty much non factors when it comes to the playoffs. This team needs high end offensive zone/PP talent in a bad way.

They’ve gotta get rid of JVR and use that cap space wisely. And they’ve either got to decide to ride with Ghost or move him. He’s making way too much to not be playing.
- hereticpride

So many teams seem to draft not just good players, but very god players/all-stars after the 1st round


Kucherov
Palat
Tyler Johnson
Pavelski
Benn
Pastrnak
Marchand
Bergeron
Mark Stone

When was the last time we drafted a stud forward after the first round?

No. Its time to excise the internal organs, except the Hart. The body rots from within and the stench is strong.

We can but hope that our top 3 young D develop to who we think they can be. And that Hart continues to get even better.

But there is a huge dearth of dangerous talent up front. And there is not much in the pipeline.

Couturier has played tough mins for many years now, and has had multiple injuries. I am guessing he has 5 years left as a top tier center at most. He looked slow this playoffs even before the injury. Hayes is not a #1 center.

Sure there will be lots of waffling and sweet talking and accusations of lacking faith.

But here is the bottom line: We are not close
- PT21

I think that is probably accurate. I don't see them being the favorites any time soon to win a cup. Now that doesn't mean they can't win it, but it doesn't provide me with any outright optimism. Hart is a stud for sure so I guess we will always have a shot, but unless some of the guys coming thru are studs or Fletcher hits a home run this year or next, I dont see any high end talent on the roster. I see a collection of very good players, which generally speaking wont win you a cup.

So many teams seem to draft not just good players, but very god players/all-stars after the 1st round


Kucherov
Palat
Tyler Johnson
Pavelski
Benn
Pastrnak
Marchand
Bergeron
Mark Stone

When was the last time we drafted a stud forward after the first round?
- PT21

Lindblom seems pretty good

I think that is probably accurate. I don't see them being the favorites any time soon to win a cup. Now that doesn't mean they can't win it, but it doesn't provide me with any outright optimism. Hart is a stud for sure so I guess we will always have a shot, but unless some of the guys coming thru are studs or Fletcher hits a home run this year or next, I dont see any high end talent on the roster. I see a collection of very good players, which generally speaking wont win you a cup.
- Cootehill

Teams that are well constructed but lack elite talent often d well but at the end usually don't win. Examples: Rangers of 14, Vegas of 18, Devils of 2011, and so on.

Last year, ROR had a career year esp in playoffs, Binnington came out of nowhere, and even then they always had Petrangelo and Tarasenko. But that's about as close as you can get. Every other team has been spectacularly star studded.

Lindblom seems pretty good
- arichardson22

Yeah, I’m not so worried about where we draft them. They’ve hit on Hart and Lindblom and Hagg has been a decent pick. Myers was an absolute steal as well. Ghost, well it was a steal for a bit.

They have to acquire a forward tho. What we have up front is not keeping up with the rest of the league.

Lindblom seems pretty good
- arichardson22

Nowhere in that category as of now, though.

Teams that are well constructed but lack elite talent often d well but at the end usually don't win. Examples: Rangers of 14, Vegas of 18, Devils of 2011, and so on.

Last year, ROR had a career year esp in playoffs, Binnington came out of nowhere, and even then they always had Petrangelo and Tarasenko. But that's about as close as you can get. Every other team has been spectacularly star studded.

Montreal 93
Carolina 06
New Jersey 95 (arguable)
Boston 11 (also arguable)

It is certainly not impossible

Yeah, I’m not so worried about where we draft them. They’ve hit on Hart and Lindblom and Hagg has been a decent pick. Myers was an absolute steal as well. Ghost, well it was a steal for a bit.

They have to acquire a forward tho. What we have up front is not keeping up with the rest of the league.
- hereticpride

The off season looks to be exciting as there are plenty of players available in trade as most teams are going to make big changes.

Teams that are well constructed but lack elite talent often d well but at the end usually don't win. Examples: Rangers of 14, Vegas of 18, Devils of 2011, and so on.

Last year, ROR had a career year esp in playoffs, Binnington came out of nowhere, and even then they always had Petrangelo and Tarasenko. But that's about as close as you can get. Every other team has been spectacularly star studded.
- PT21

Yep, more times than not, you'll need a hall of famer of two on a team to win a cup. If you go thru the last 20 or 25 cup winners , most have hall of famers or future hall of famers

Yep, more times than not, you'll need a hall of famer of two on a team to win a cup. If you go thru the last 20 or 25 cup winners , most have hall of famers or future hall of famers
- Cootehill

this team is just stacked with mediocre poop

Thank you Bill Meltzer for another year of the best blogging on Hockey Buzz. Have a great summer, oh it is summer, my bad. Have a great off season.

Only thing worse than the flyers effort was the Biden commercials.

The one thing that nobody has mentioned is that more than anything Trotz outcoached Vigneault in this series. On paper the Flyers have more talent but on the ice the Isles play as a team, hard work, precision coverage and that is coaching. AV gave them four pp chances with no chance challenges, too many men on the ice, needing some offence and Gost riding the pine. It is all hindsight but line matchups and player usage was not good imo. How can you not get your top six forwards scoring, Konecny was dreadful and could not hit the net if there was no goalie, Giroux is so predictable it is easy to defend, Couts was playing hurt and it showed, JVR is useless as tits on a bull, soft and defensive liability. Gost has to be traded and he will do fine elsewhere. The only guys that really brought their game was Hayes, Hart, Hagg was surprisingly decent, and Provorov was steady as usual. Niskanen was a mess most of the time and Gost would have been a way better option on the pp. Anyway, great season has come to an end. Let hope for some much need changes to tweak this machine. Yes Myers was fantastic and the future is bright for him.

The one thing that nobody has mentioned is that more than anything Trotz outcoached Vigneault in this series. On paper the Flyers have more talent but on the ice the Isles play as a team, hard work, precision coverage and that is coaching. AV gave them four pp chances with no chance challenges, too many men on the ice, needing some offence and Gost riding the pine. It is all hindsight but line matchups and player usage was not good imo. How can you not get your top six forwards scoring, Konecny was dreadful and could not hit the net if there was no goalie, Giroux is so predictable it is easy to defend, Couts was playing hurt and it showed, JVR is useless as tits on a bull, soft and defensive liability. Gost has to be traded and he will do fine elsewhere. The only guys that really brought their game was Hayes, Hart, Hagg was surprisingly decent, and Provorov was steady as usual. Niskanen was a mess most of the time and Gost would have been a way better option on the pp. Anyway, great season has come to an end. Let hope for some much need changes to tweak this machine. Yes Myers was fantastic and the future is bright for him.
- joegreif17

I mean the Islanders top 2 lines are equal if not better than ours. And Pelech and Pulock are nothing to sneeze at. I'll give you that Hart is better than their goalies, but we just lost to them in in 7 games, not sure how we can be considered better or more talented than them. Now, can we beat them in a best of 7 next year, sure, but we didnt do it this year so we're not better than the Islanders.