Bill Meltzer: Flyers Gameday: 10/30/21 @ CGY; Phantoms Update

Good morning Bill

Any update on Ellis ?

What’s up with Monohan on the fourth line? Secrecy about Ellis is also annoying, give us an update

Good morning Bill

Any update on Ellis ?
- 3flyerkids

Day to day is becoming week to week

Seriously. Watch this turn into surgery……would be our luck.

Seriously. Watch this turn into surgery……would be our luck.
- Peter Richards

Unlikely. It's widely suspected to be a groin pull/ hip flexor (although not officially acknowledged as such). Those can be tricky and you don't want it to linger but he's able to skate/practice. Just not to where he could play without risk of making it worse and having to leave a game and be back at square one in terms of return timetable.

Unlikely. It's widely suspected to be a groin pull/ hip flexor (although not officially acknowledged as such). Those can be tricky and you don't want it to linger but he's able to skate/practice. Just not to where he could play without risk of making it worse and having to leave a game and be back at square one in terms of return timetable.
- bmeltzer

Hoping with them winning they are just being cautious, hoping they can head home with him fully healed and rested

What’s going on with the Phantoms? Good young guys seem to be regressing.

What’s up with Monohan on the fourth line? Secrecy about Ellis is also annoying, give us an update
- ClaudeFather

That's the way of the NHL now. There's no locker room access and injured players (even if they practiced) are now off-limits to interview. Even the upper-body and lower-body designations aren't automatic anymore; you see more and more undisclosed or ultra-generic ("bumps and bruises") descriptions.

Vigneault is usually pretty honest during the regular season about his level of optimism for a player to play the next day but it's not much to go on.

There was no media access yesterday (off-day). And much of the last postgame press conference, with questions only taken from attendees and no one accessing it via Zoom, was occupied with reporters trying in vain to get AV to comment on the Chicago situation -- including an out-of-left-field question on whether there'd been consideration of canceling the game. So the press conference was over before any questions related to injury updates that could impact the next game.

What’s going on with the Phantoms? Good young guys seem to be regressing.
- Dkos

It's a real mess right now. Very fragile team. I really thought they were positioning themselves to finally win last night -- the process was much better for most of the first two periods, minus the power play -- but then it all fell apart again until a futile late push with the outcome sealed.

Hopefully this is a game where the Flyers can catch the Flames off guard! First home game after a long successful road trip can be a good time to play a team even if they are hot. Getting concerned about the Ellis injury. Could this be lingering from last year when he missed lots of time? I know he said he had a broken hand, but you never know with all the secrecy about injuries these days. On another note, PLEASE remove Lappy from this organization!! This should have been done years ago! Stop giving guys jobs based on merit(blocking a shot with your mouth in a playoff game). They all didn't lose their confidence at the same time. He sucks as a coach!! Thanks!

Poor Lappy seems to be over his head. Wonder if they give him a full year if it does not get much better.

Samu Tuomaala is really getting great development. Senseless to not have him in juniors.

Thanks. Was a little tongue in cheek but also don’t like the answer a v gave with could be this or could be that. It was a couple days ago but seems the same.

It's a real mess right now. Very fragile team. I really thought they were positioning themselves to finally win last night -- the process was much better for most of the first two periods, minus the power play -- but then it all fell apart again until a futile late push with the outcome sealed.
-bmeltzer

But Bill, benching and scratching players is not the answer, at least in the minors, unless there is a real discipline problem. The purpose of the minors is to give players reps and help them hone their game, get them ready for the NHL. How is benching Foerster, or sitting Tuomaala or Ratcliff going to accomplish this? I mean, look, I'm not watching the games and I don't know what is going on behind the scenes, but on the surface this seems like the wrong approach to me. I really hope Lappy is not requiring players to block shots with their faces!

What’s up with Monohan on the fourth line? Secrecy about Ellis is also annoying, give us an update
- ClaudeFather

I was thinking the exact same thing regarding Monahan. Weird.

Poor Lappy seems to be over his head. Wonder if they give him a full year if it does not get much better.

Samu Tuomaala is really getting great development. Senseless to not have him in juniors.
- hello it's me 2050

I am not one to rush to judgment. And I will argue with someone who says he wasn't a good assistant coach or a good developmental coach -- guys he coached disagree with that pretty vehemently, on or off the record. But being a head coach is a different animal, from 5-on-5 systems oversight and implementation to personnel management to adjustments from period to period. Right now, as someone who has never been a head coach in a pro or even major junior league -- always an assistant -- he's getting a baptism by fire. It's a struggle, any way you slice it.

In terms of the day-to-day part, Lappy is very good at being the guy who is the confidant and advocate who is well-liked and his needling is usually good natured; the good-cop assistant who is just being himself. As head coach, it's a different dynamic. He's going to the whip with some frequency already. It's not unmerited but, at the same time, there are so many team-wide issues right now that it seems to be making an already fragile team that much more fragile.

I really like Lappy and a person and I am certainly not going to write him off as a head coach just a few weeks into his first time holding that role. But, no it's not going well at all so far and it HAS to get better.

That's the way of the NHL now. There's no locker room access and injured players (even if they practiced) are now off-limits to interview. Even the upper-body and lower-body designations aren't automatic anymore; you see more and more undisclosed or ultra-generic ("bumps and bruises") descriptions.

Vigneault is usually pretty honest during the regular season about his level of optimism for a player to play the next day but it's not much to go on.

There was no media access yesterday (off-day). And much of the last postgame press conference, with questions only taken from attendees and no one accessing it via Zoom, was occupied with reporters trying in vain to get AV to comment on the Chicago situation -- including an out-of-left-field question on whether there'd been consideration of canceling the game. So the press conference was over before any questions related to injury updates that could impact the next game.
- bmeltzer

Gotcha, thanks Bill. Your prior comment gave some insight as well.

If the Phantoms are this bad.....are the prospects this bad?

Poor Lappy seems to be over his head. Wonder if they give him a full year if it does not get much better.

Samu Tuomaala is really getting great development. Senseless to not have him in juniors.
- hello it's me 2050

No, its senseless that he is not playing every night for the Phantoms! I would rather lose games giving my top prospects multiple reps than lose games with them sitting!

Re Monahan questions:
It appears that he's a bit slow to recover from off-season surgery and Sutter is relieving the pressure to score until he's up to it. The rest of the team has really stepped up so he's not critical to our success at this point. Also, how many teams have a first class sniper on their 4th line?
You may benefit from us playing the first home game after a road trip but then - maybe not. Looking forward to a great game tonight.

Anybody know the timeframe with Hayes, morin , and Allison ?

I am not one to rush to judgment. And I will argue with someone who says he wasn't a good assistant coach or a good developmental coach -- guys he coached disagree with that pretty vehemently, on or off the record. But being a head coach is a different animal, from 5-on-5 systems oversight and implementation to personnel management to adjustments from period to period. Right now, as someone who has never been a head coach in a pro or even major junior league -- always an assistant -- he's getting a baptism by fire. It's a struggle, any way you slice it.

In terms of the day-to-day part, Lappy is very good at being the guy who is the confidant and advocate who is well-liked and his needling is usually good natured; the good-cop assistant who is just being himself. As head coach, it's a different dynamic. He's going to the whip with some frequency already. It's not unmerited but, at the same time, there are so many team-wide issues right now that it seems to be making an already fragile team that much more fragile.

I really like Lappy and a person and I am certainly not going to write him off as a head coach just a few weeks into his first time holding that role. But, no it's not going well at all so far and it HAS to get better.
- bmeltzer

Interesting. I was wondering if Lappy was trying to erase that “good-guy” perception by being a hard ass.

Hopefully this is a game where the Flyers can catch the Flames off guard! First home game after a long successful road trip can be a good time to play a team even if they are hot. Getting concerned about the Ellis injury. Could this be lingering from last year when he missed lots of time? I know he said he had a broken hand, but you never know with all the secrecy about injuries these days. On another note, PLEASE remove Lappy from this organization!! This should have been done years ago! Stop giving guys jobs based on merit(blocking a shot with your mouth in a playoff game). They all didn't lose their confidence at the same time. He sucks as a coach!! Thanks!
- Phillywhiteout

Your continued insinuation that they gave Lappariere a coaching job because he was hit in the mouth with a puck is absurd.

Stop giving guys jobs based on merit?

Anybody know the timeframe with Hayes, morin , and Allison ?
- jmdodgeser4

Hayes cannot come back until the Flyers 11th games of the season.

I am not one to rush to judgment. And I will argue with someone who says he wasn't a good assistant coach or a good developmental coach -- guys he coached disagree with that pretty vehemently, on or off the record. But being a head coach is a different animal, from 5-on-5 systems oversight and implementation to personnel management to adjustments from period to period. Right now, as someone who has never been a head coach in a pro or even major junior league -- always an assistant -- he's getting a baptism by fire. It's a struggle, any way you slice it.

In terms of the day-to-day part, Lappy is very good at being the guy who is the confidant and advocate who is well-liked and his needling is usually good natured; the good-cop assistant who is just being himself. As head coach, it's a different dynamic. He's going to the whip with some frequency already. It's not unmerited but, at the same time, there are so many team-wide issues right now that it seems to be making an already fragile team that much more fragile.

I really like Lappy and a person and I am certainly not going to write him off as a head coach just a few weeks into his first time holding that role. But, no it's not going well at all so far and it HAS to get better.
- bmeltzer

Lappy has been shuttled around the organization and not able to stick to one particular role. As far as him benching players I am ok with that if it is warranted. What I wonder is if it is a case of him showing everyone I am boss right off the bat to try to make a point

Why are they waiting to send Samu Tuomaala to juniors? Kid needs to play. Not like he had a full season last year.