Would have more confidence in you than the current guy
- THE BLACK HAND

Amen to that. You could do the monkey test that they use on wall street to compare investment recommendations and it would outperform CF.

I hope you are wrong. That would be some serious roster mismanagement. Ugh.
- iamscore2day

Well in this scenario it is possible. Ivan wants out, Sanheim wants to test free agency. Other scenarios as well.

Yes he would..... The Snider era wasnt any different. Do you not remember Holmgren's continuous retool or Snider forcing Homer to sign Bryzgalov?
- xShoot4WarAmpsx

Simply then, does he deserve to keep his job? And who is Scott accountable too? I have no faith this team will ever find its way until it is sold. The corporation does not need it to be successful...it is only a tiny part of their portfolio.

Not absurd at all. He may not be an actual introvert cause I have no idea what he's like in the room, but he certainly doesn't have a fiery demeanor. I didn't say Atkinson was a clear cut winner. Just sounds like he'd certainly be considered. He was also known as a good leader in Columbus and as Bill said he seems to play hard and actually wants to be here.
- Phillywhiteout

I would disagree. When healthy he is an animal on the ice. Couturier doesn't want to be here? He signed an 8 year deal. Couturier doesn't play hard?

A much improved second half by Sanheim doesn’t mean you trade Provorov. The overall body of their careers in comparison, Provorov is easily the better player.
- SuperSchennBros

Who has been the better player the last 2 years? What one has improved? What one has stayed static?

You seem to be more angry than usual ...
- jd250

Angry? No I was actually laughing at your post.

I would disagree. When healthy he is an animal on the ice. Couturier doesn't want to be here? He signed an 8 year deal. Couturier doesn't play hard?
- MJL

Should the flyers build around Couturier?

Well in this scenario it is possible. Ivan wants out, Sanheim wants to test free agency. Other scenarios as well.
- hello it's me 2050

The future will be bleak if all that plays out. I keep coming back to Jake V's statement that outside of the locker room, the Flyers were a weird place. I know some say you need to discount that, but it seem apocryphal when I read posts like this.

Not sure how you can say it has ZERO to do with it? If a guy wins an award named after the best captain in team history and also the class guy award(meaning he deals well with the media and such) I would think that would mean he would at least be on a list of the top 3 candidates. Probably give it to the introvert Couturier know on this team.
- Phillywhiteout

The Flyers just committed 8 years and over $60M to Couturier. You don't commit this much to a player that is not going be a key part of your leadership. Couts will be the next captain and I am fine with that.

Bill, what are the chances that Briere is named the GM this off-season and Fletcher focuses on President of Hockey Operations?

I'm sure Comcast is desperate to change the narrative and start a fresh spin on the team, even though the macro direction is going to stay the same (Action Bias, Agressive Retool, etc).

Angry? No I was actually laughing at your post.
- MJL

Ok, so in other words, business as usual ...

I'm starting to think that most fans do not have any faith in Fletcher to turn this around ...

When do the optics become too much for the Flyers and they decide to clean house regardless of their personal feelings about Fletcher?
- jd250

I mean he did a stellar job last off-season trading for ellis, rr, and atkinson, bringing in a prized group of free agents like yandle and thompson, I mean who in their right mind would doubt him and his abilities to turn things around?

The future will be bleak if all that plays out. I keep coming back to Jake V's statement that outside of the locker room, the Flyers were a weird place. I know some say you need to discount that, but it seem apocryphal when I read posts like this.
- iamscore2day

Jake was a malcontent imo. He was part of the problem.

Let the aggressive retool commence!
- MBFlyerfan

Haha geez, this is going to be quite the off-season

Give Yandle something to recognize him having the worst plus minus in the league. Racking up a -45 is an incredible effort when you only play 14 minutes a game.

Jake was a malcontent imo. He was part of the problem.
- hello it's me 2050

Usually when you remove people that are part of the problem, things get better, not much worse.

Bill you mentioned yesterday you can see them bringing back Zac in a top 12 role.

So much for the analytical dept having a say. So much for the pro scouts who watch the games; doesn't say a lot about their evaluation skills. He does zero to help the team. He drags down his line.

Though you are 100% correct they will re-sign him to a 2/3 year deal.
- hello it's me 2050

This brings up a much bigger point: What does the Analytics department do?

The short answer is that they track, intepret and explain a wide array of data, with the main goal to be getting into the hands of all the various components of Hockey Ops including Chuck Fletcher, the coaching staff, Brent Flahr and now Danny Briere and Alyn McCauley the kinds of data THOSE GUYS want and ask for.

Most coaches want easily digestible data they can compare against the eye test and video to see if it matches their observations. That's all they want, much of the time.

The GM may want a variety of different data. With some players, they might be focused on puck possession/ shot quality data. With others, that might NOT be a major focus because that guy is there in the first place to be a board battles guy, a PKer/faceoff guy or whatever.

All of that stuff is kept highly secretive... no one shares proprietary data. One exception: One time, with all the cameras and microphones off, Craig Berube told us that they tracked which defensemen on the team were good/poor at clearing rebounds. Not suprisingly, there was Kimmo Timonen WAY at the top and then everybody else. The best among the "everybody else" at that niche was Nick Grossmann.

I mean he did a stellar job last off-season trading for ellis, rr, and atkinson, bringing in a prized group of free agents like yandle and thompson, I mean who in their right mind would doubt him and his abilities to turn things around?
- corduroy

Well, I think its important to be fair here. Every GM, and I mean, every GM would have traded for Ellis last season. We saw what this team looked like with a healthy enough to play Ellis (well I guess now we realize he was never healthy) playing regular shifts. RR is polarizing, but he is not as bad as some on here make him out to be and I think he has more positives than negatives (I still would not have resigned him), and Atkinson was a good hockey trade that really helped the Flyers. Yandle is a complete disaster and will go down as one of Fletcher's worst moves in his entire career. Thompson is a good depth center that is good on faceoffs, good on the PK and heavy to play against. Jones was more than a capable backup, and played really well this year. Seeler was picked up as a depth defenseman and if he was limited to that role would have been fine, unfortunately he was forced to play many more games and minutes than he was ever intended to. So if you look at the off season in an objective way, it was a very good off season for Fletcher, it just didn't work out for a number of reasons, the top 2 being 1. injuries to key players for long periods of time and 2. the team quickly developed a disdain for AV.

Gene Hart Memorial (Heart, dedication, work ethic): Zack MacEwen



Feanor in shambles.....
- hockeylover

Could be worse, they could give it to Nate Thompson. The so called defensive specialist who just happens to have the worst 5on5 defensive results on the team.

Bill, what are the chances that Briere is named the GM this off-season and Fletcher focuses on President of Hockey Operations?
- StepfordSam

It's possible.

A much improved second half by Sanheim doesn’t mean you trade Provorov. The overall body of their careers in comparison, Provorov is easily the better player.
- SuperSchennBros

Provorov's body of work is sketchy as hell. Almost always possession negative. Very few primary assists for a guy in that role. Regular defensive miscues.

The one thing he does better than most (scoring goals) is way down on the list of things you need from your top dman.

It's possible.
- bmeltzer

Lol, did he finish his course at Wharton yet?

Lol, did he finish his course at Wharton yet?
- Tomahawk

He's a final and an internship away.

This brings up a much bigger point: What does the Analytics department do?

The short answer is that they track, intepret and explain a wide array of data, with the main goal to be getting into the hands of all the various components of Hockey Ops including Chuck Fletcher, the coaching staff, Brent Flahr and now Danny Briere and Alyn McCauley the kinds of data THOSE GUYS want and ask for.

Most coaches want easily digestible data they can compare against the eye test and video to see if it matches their observations. That's all they want, much of the time.

The GM may want a variety of different data. With some players, they might be focused on puck possession/ shot quality data. With others, that might NOT be a major focus because that guy is there in the first place to be a board battles guy, a PKer/faceoff guy or whatever.

All of that stuff is kept highly secretive... no one shares proprietary data. One exception: One time, with all the cameras and microphones off, Craig Berube told us that they tracked which defensemen on the team were good/poor at clearing rebounds. Not suprisingly, there was Kimmo Timonen WAY at the top and then everybody else. The best among the "everybody else" at that niche was Nick Grossmann.
- bmeltzer

Analytics is a tool to give you more info and make player assessments. All the peeps in that dept can do is pass on the info they have and possibly give their opinion.

It is up to the GM at that point to listen or go on his own. Clearly he went on his own on pretty much every decision he made. So how much does he listen or even value analytics?

As far as proprietary data, yes they have their own which differs from what is available to the public. RR according to analytics is one of the worst dman in the league for several years now. I cant imagine the Flyers data shows that much if any at all any significant diff otherwise. The GM had a raging boner for RR for years he self admitted. That tunnel vision he displayed has now cost them.

Analytics is not a be all end all in any way. Some of the phantom stats they produce crack me up really.

Should the flyers build around Couturier?
- hello it's me 2050

Why wouldn't they build around Couturier? He is one of the best two-way centers in the league and also a point per game player. Why would he not be part of the solution here?