Just saw the potential lineups for tonight. Looks like they may be breaking Zamula in on RHD. They suggested he would be paired with Seeler.

Tentative:
Forwards

Giroux — Couturier — Konecny
Lindblom — Brassard — Atkinson
Sushko — Rubtsov — Willman
Ratcliffe — Bunnaman — Foerster

Defense

Provorov — Ellis
Yandle — Braun
Seeler — Zamula

Goalies

Hart
(Ersson)
- juiced

ex selke
brassard
rubtsov
bunnaman

is that a cup contending group of centers?

ex selke
brassard
rubtsov
bunnaman

is that a cup contending group of centers?
- Ftown19125

get a life, its a preseason game.

That is just simply not true. While I would agree that he is better at wing than at center, he is still an effective center. He should be centering the 3rd line and not Brassard.
- MJL

Leight but I agree with MJL.. he is solid at 3c in my book

ex selke
brassard
rubtsov
bunnaman

is that a cup contending group of centers?
- Ftown19125

stronzo the unoriginal

Leight but I agree with MJL.. he is solid at 3c in my book
- Bob Habib

It’s early in training camp, getting some looks tonight. I agree that with the wingers the Flyers have Laughton can play 3C. I don’t know about Brassard, but he is getting the first look. If he doesn’t work out there, they do have other options including Laughton.

Again, not the case. Laughton is an effective two way player who scores at a high rate at 5 on 5 play. He absolutely belongs in the top 9.
Labeling Couturier as a 2nd line center when he's a legitimate first line center in this league doesn't do you any favors.
- MJL

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.
- Phillywhiteout

you don't mean 20-25 goals do you?

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.
- Phillywhiteout

At even strength he actually scores enough to be a top six forward. He ranked 153rd for forwards in the NHL in ESG last year.

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.
- Phillywhiteout

Also, there were only 119 forwards on pace to score 20 goals last year.

Regarding the sling shot, I observed several times last year opposing teams were not even playing the initial puck carrier because they knew he was going to drop it back to the trailing player. This is what I am talking about, you have to use it selectively, equally using the trailing player as a decoy so you keep the PKs off balance. Last year the Flyers were way too predictable in their use of the sling shot and their desire to generate offense from point shots on the PP and it killed them.
- jd250

That's due to poor execution and timing. The idea of the sling shot is for the initial puck carrier to attack and push the defenders back so that they are stationary, then the trailer can enter the zone with speed against flat footed defenders. That is the entire idea. When executed properly, it does not matter if the entire rink knows that the puck is going to be dropped back to the trailer.

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.
- Phillywhiteout

Name me one team whose 3rd line center scores 20-25 goals a year?

At even strength he actually scores enough to be a top six forward. He ranked 153rd for forwards in the NHL in ESG last year.
- mickel25

In the last 3 seasons. Scott Laughton ranks 54th among players listed at center in Points/60 at ES. He's scored at ES at a higher rate than Claude Giroux has. So many are uninformed.

Name me one team whose 3rd line center scores 20-25 goals a year?
- MJL

The ones that win the Cup every year which is the objective here last time I checked!

The ones that win the Cup every year which is the objective here last time I checked!
- Phillywhiteout

I will say playoffs series…. Your third and fourth lines are a huge factor.

One hour

I firmly disagree with your sentiment here as far as Laughton is concerned. My comment about Coots was a bit tongue in cheek, but Laughton does not score enough to be in the top 9 on a true contender. A third line center on a true contender needs to pot between 20-25 a year and Laughts doesn't do that. He has spells where he couldn't put the puck in the ocean shooting off a pier.
- Phillywhiteout

20-25 goals? For a 3rd line center?

20-25 goals? For a 3rd line center?
- MBFlyerfan

EA sports be a GM mode, his third line center is O’Reilly

What are we arguing here? Scott Laughton is a really good offensive player…the only thing holding him back is lack of PP time? Really?? Travis Konency was getting the PP time and still had a bad season. So someone explain to me why the gifted offensive threat Scott Laughton didn’t replace a number of guys who played on the power play who had a down year?

EA sports be a GM mode, his third line center is O’Reilly
- ClaudeFather

Go look it up. Last year's Cup champs had Yannie Gourde as their 3rd line center. He had 17 goals in 56 games. Go back over the last 10 years and check out the Cup champs' roster and you'll see what I am saying. The Pens had Jordan Staal as their third line center....yep, 20 goals or more. I stand by what I said. You want Laughts and his 12 goals a year as your 3rd line center? Good luck! As I said before, Hayes' numbers are really 3rd line center numbers. Not disrespecting the guy. I just think he is a 4th line center on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Go look it up. Last year's Cup champs had Yannie Gourde as their 3rd line center. He had 17 goals in 56 games. Go back over the last 10 years and check out the Cup champs' roster and you'll see what I am saying. The Pens had Jordan Staal as their third line center....yep, 20 goals or more. I stand by what I say. you want Laughts and his 12 goals a year as your 3rd line center? Good luck! As I said before, Hayes' numbers are really 3rd line center numbers. Thanks!
- Phillywhiteout

I think the lack of 82 games reached the last two seasons hurts your argument. People are losing their minds and forgetting what great offensive numbers from great offensive teams look like. Once upon a time Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Danny Briere centered their own lines and all three were potting 20 plus. What I’m reading here is madness.

The ones that win the Cup every year which is the objective here last time I checked!
- Phillywhiteout

Name me one team!

Name me one team!
- MJL

Tampa Bay last season. Yannie Gourde had 17 goals in 56 games. I think we're all smart enough to figure out that would be more than 20 for an 82 game season.

Quick note for those planning to watch/record the replay on NHLHD:
While no doubt that both replay airings tomorrow will be edited for time constraints, the 4am EDT one will be 2 hours long, while the 10am EDT repeat will only be 1.5 hours long. So you might want to record the earlier replay to see more game play.

Also, Thursday's (9/30) game at Boston will be aired live on TNT at 7:30 EDT.

Finally, my on-screen guide indicates the 1st Center Ice broadcast will be vs the Caps (in Philly) on Saturday, 10/2 at 7pm EDT.

Tampa Bay last season. Yannie Gourde had
17 goals in 56 games. I think we're all smart enough to figure out that would be more than 20 for an 82 game season.
- Phillywhiteout

How many goals did their other centers score?

Go look it up. Last year's Cup champs had Yannie Gourde as their 3rd line center. He had 17 goals in 56 games. Go back over the last 10 years and check out the Cup champs' roster and you'll see what I am saying. The Pens had Jordan Staal as their third line center....yep, 20 goals or more. I stand by what I said. You want Laughts and his 12 goals a year as your 3rd line center? Good luck! As I said before, Hayes' numbers are really 3rd line center numbers. Not disrespecting the guy. I just think he is a 4th line center on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.
- Phillywhiteout

Last year, there were only 57 centers in the entire league who scored at a 20 goal pace. The season before there were only 50. In 18/19, 54 centers scored 20 goals.

The St' Louis Blues, who won the cup in 2019, had one center on their entire team who scored 20 or more goals. Same with Washington in 2018. Two centers, Backstrom Kuznetsov scored 20 or more goals. Pittsburgh in 2017 did not have a 3rd line center that scored 20 goals. Same in 2016. Chicago in 2015? Nope. Toews had 28, next up is Richards with 12 goals. How about the Kings in 2014? Their 3rd line center, Mike Richards had 11 goals. Blackhawks in 2013? Nope. Need I go on?

You don't have the facts.