Poehling was an absolute idiot for gliding into the middle of the ice with his head buried, but the brunt of the hit was directly to the head and that’s the rule right or wrong. Should have been a major.
- ClaudeFather

https://x.com/NHLPlayerSa...tatus/1880362095407165728

How is Poehling's head buried? He hardly moves it, and is focused on getting his shot on the goalie. He appears to have his head up the whole time.

If you have a video showing his head buried, I would like to see it.

https://x.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1880362095407165728

How is Poehling's head buried? He hardly moves it, and is focused on getting his shot on the goalie. He appears to have his head up the whole time.

If you have a video showing his head buried, I would like to see it.
- TheFreak

Bit of a blind side hit….it’s tough but even if he was aware he’s looking where he should be….the net. Surprised it was 3 games after refs view not even a minor ? Talk about a disconnect.

I wish they explained why the refs decided there was no penalty on the play.
- MBFlyerfan

Doesn't add up. Refs had the benefit of video replay and ruled that is wasn't a penalty. There is no doubt his head was hit but after hitting his shoulder. Sometimes physics just comes into play. I would like to look at it some more.


Edit: After watching the replay, there was far less of an impact on the shoulder than I originally thought from last night and far more on the head.

https://x.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1880362095407165728

How is Poehling's head buried? He hardly moves it, and is focused on getting his shot on the goalie. He appears to have his head up the whole time.

If you have a video showing his head buried, I would like to see it.
- TheFreak

I think it's just a figure of speech saying he was unaware of what was coming at him.

https://x.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1880362095407165728

How is Poehling's head buried? He hardly moves it, and is focused on getting his shot on the goalie. He appears to have his head up the whole time.

If you have a video showing his head buried, I would like to see it.
- TheFreak

Because he had zero awareness of a player coming to run through him in the middle of the ice, doesn’t mean looking at the ground.

https://x.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1880362095407165728

How is Poehling's head buried? He hardly moves it, and is focused on getting his shot on the goalie. He appears to have his head up the whole time.

If you have a video showing his head buried, I would like to see it.
- TheFreak

He was looking where he was shooting. It was a blindside hit. I don’t see how Poehling could be faulted for anything there.

He was looking where he was shooting. It was a blindside hit. I don’t see how Poehling could be faulted for anything there.
- Dkos

No me neither...NHL stars make that cut to the net all the time and don't get t-boned like that.

This is a very interesting opportunity: https://www.broadstreetho...ree-agent-maxim-shabanov/

Doesn't add up. Refs had the benefit of video replay and ruled that is wasn't a penalty. There is no doubt his head was hit but after hitting his shoulder. Sometimes physics just comes into play. I would like to look at it some more.


Edit: After watching the replay, there was far less of an impact on the shoulder than I originally thought from last night and far more on the head.
- MJL

What bothered me about the hit is Tsyplakov made a B line to Poehling and made no attempt with his stick to deflect the shot or poke the puck away. He just made a straight path and laid his shoulder into Poehling's head from the blind side. It honestly reminded me of something the thug Scott Stevens would do. I understand his elbow didn't fly up and he kept his arm against his body for the most part, but never once did he make any attempt to go for the puck.

I think we have to realize that this Flyers team with better goaltending would be firmly entrenched into a playoff spot right now. It's the Tortorella effect. He gets the most out of a team. The Flyers are not as good as the top 6 teams in the Eastern conference, but out of the remaining teams the Flyers play the best hockey to win, even though they don't have the most talent. With this realization, if the Flyers are 2 or 4 points out of the playoff spot around the deadline, I wonder if Briere would make any moves at all? Risto for example is playing the best hockey of his career and is earning his contract. Would Briere decide he is now part of the solution and future versus trading him for another 1st or 2nd round pick? Frost is once again starting to pick it up in the 2nd half of the season. Trading Frost is not going to bring back much to the Flyers. Does Briere decide instead to keep him and extend him? To me this is where a GM has to put his money where his mouth is. He and Jones have said many times this team is not close and they will not sacrifice the long term plan for short term success. Well Briere, here is your chance to show everyone that you were serious, because if the Flyers start to get better goaltending as they have lately (7 out of 8 points in the last 4 games), its going to take balls to trade players and tell the team, the fans and Torts the playoffs right now are not important. If I had to handicap it, I think the Flyers stand pat and do nothing at the deadline, don't add and don't subtract. Subtracting from a team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs would be considered tanking, and Briere and Jones have also said they are not going to do that. My hope currently is a team gets so desperate they make Briere an offer he cannot refuse.

This is a very interesting opportunity: https://www.broadstreetho...ree-agent-maxim-shabanov/
- jd250

While the Flyers do need more skill, I dont think they need another midget forward who IMO would be another NHL/AHL tweener. (mainly because of his size)

BUt what do they have to lose besides a roster spot.....

I think we have to realize that this Flyers team with better goaltending would be firmly entrenched into a playoff spot right now. It's the Tortorella effect. He gets the most out of a team. The Flyers are not as good as the top 6 teams in the Eastern conference, but out of the remaining teams the Flyers play the best hockey to win, even though they don't have the most talent. With this realization, if the Flyers are 2 or 4 points out of the playoff spot around the deadline, I wonder if Briere would make any moves at all? Risto for example is playing the best hockey of his career and is earning his contract. Would Briere decide he is now part of the solution and future versus trading him for another 1st or 2nd round pick? Frost is once again starting to pick it up in the 2nd half of the season. Trading Frost is not going to bring back much to the Flyers. Does Briere decide instead to keep him and extend him? To me this is where a GM has to put his money where his mouth is. He and Jones have said many times this team is not close and they will not sacrifice the long term plan for short term success. Well Briere, here is your chance to show everyone that you were serious, because if the Flyers start to get better goaltending as they have lately (7 out of 8 points in the last 4 games), its going to take balls to trade players and tell the team, the fans and Torts the playoffs right now are not important. If I had to handicap it, I think the Flyers stand pat and do nothing at the deadline, don't add and don't subtract. Subtracting from a team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs would be considered tanking, and Briere and Jones have also said they are not going to do that. My hope currently is a team gets so desperate they make Briere an offer he cannot refuse.
- jd250

I disagree...they are nowhere close to be a good team...they have spurts where they play hard, but like last year, it is not maintainable.

The best thing for this team is to fail, miss the playoffs, and get a high pick. The playoffs should not even be a thought.

This is a very interesting opportunity: https://www.broadstreetho...ree-agent-maxim-shabanov/
- jd250

why is it a very interesting opportunity?

I think we have to realize that this Flyers team with better goaltending would be firmly entrenched into a playoff spot right now. It's the Tortorella effect. He gets the most out of a team. The Flyers are not as good as the top 6 teams in the Eastern conference, but out of the remaining teams the Flyers play the best hockey to win, even though they don't have the most talent. With this realization, if the Flyers are 2 or 4 points out of the playoff spot around the deadline, I wonder if Briere would make any moves at all? Risto for example is playing the best hockey of his career and is earning his contract. Would Briere decide he is now part of the solution and future versus trading him for another 1st or 2nd round pick? Frost is once again starting to pick it up in the 2nd half of the season. Trading Frost is not going to bring back much to the Flyers. Does Briere decide instead to keep him and extend him? To me this is where a GM has to put his money where his mouth is. He and Jones have said many times this team is not close and they will not sacrifice the long term plan for short term success. Well Briere, here is your chance to show everyone that you were serious, because if the Flyers start to get better goaltending as they have lately (7 out of 8 points in the last 4 games), its going to take balls to trade players and tell the team, the fans and Torts the playoffs right now are not important. If I had to handicap it, I think the Flyers stand pat and do nothing at the deadline, don't add and don't subtract. Subtracting from a team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs would be considered tanking, and Briere and Jones have also said they are not going to do that. My hope currently is a team gets so desperate they make Briere an offer he cannot refuse.
- jd250

This line of thinking cracks me up. The "if" factor. Does the "if" factor apply to other teams or just the flyers?

If the pens had better goaltending, they would be firmly entrenched in a playoff spot. If team A had more scoring, they would be firmly entrenched. So on and so forth. Every team has an "if" factor.

If Torst has got the best out of this team, then this team really isn't that good. How many have taken a step forward and progressed?


look at the teams they are beating. Get back to me when they beat good teams consistently.

What bothered me about the hit is Tsyplakov made a B line to Poehling and made no attempt with his stick to deflect the shot or poke the puck away. He just made a straight path and laid his shoulder into Poehling's head from the blind side. It honestly reminded me of something the thug Scott Stevens would do. I understand his elbow didn't fly up and he kept his arm against his body for the most part, but never once did he make any attempt to go for the puck.
- jd250

That is not a situation where a player should make a stick check. It is a situation where taking the body is the right play. Basic defense.

I’m not big in to these deep stats and metrics but I know some of you are analytics junkies. Certainly these things are an important tool in today’s NHL and the Flyers coach doesn’t seem to understand or care about them which is moronic. Anyway, this breakdown is quite interesting and I found it quite enlightening.

https://thehockeywriters....-matvei-michkovs-offense/

I think we have to realize that this Flyers team with better goaltending would be firmly entrenched into a playoff spot right now. It's the Tortorella effect. He gets the most out of a team. The Flyers are not as good as the top 6 teams in the Eastern conference, but out of the remaining teams the Flyers play the best hockey to win, even though they don't have the most talent. With this realization, if the Flyers are 2 or 4 points out of the playoff spot around the deadline, I wonder if Briere would make any moves at all? Risto for example is playing the best hockey of his career and is earning his contract. Would Briere decide he is now part of the solution and future versus trading him for another 1st or 2nd round pick? Frost is once again starting to pick it up in the 2nd half of the season. Trading Frost is not going to bring back much to the Flyers. Does Briere decide instead to keep him and extend him? To me this is where a GM has to put his money where his mouth is. He and Jones have said many times this team is not close and they will not sacrifice the long term plan for short term success. Well Briere, here is your chance to show everyone that you were serious, because if the Flyers start to get better goaltending as they have lately (7 out of 8 points in the last 4 games), its going to take balls to trade players and tell the team, the fans and Torts the playoffs right now are not important. If I had to handicap it, I think the Flyers stand pat and do nothing at the deadline, don't add and don't subtract. Subtracting from a team that has a decent chance to make the playoffs would be considered tanking, and Briere and Jones have also said they are not going to do that. My hope currently is a team gets so desperate they make Briere an offer he cannot refuse.
- jd250

That Tortorella gets the most out of his teams is a myth. He has had several quality teams that he has taken nowhere. He has only taken a team past the 2nd round of the playoffs once in the last 20 years.

It is completely false that Ristolainen is playing the best hockey of his career. He had 3 seasons of 40 + points and 30+ assists in Buffalo. He has 12 points on the season. Below are his defensive metrics for the season and his team rank.


xGA% 2.38% ranks 6th on the team
SCA/60 26.09 ranks 4th
HDCA/60 10.3 ranks 6th

I’m not big in to these deep stats and metrics but I know some of you are analytics junkies. Certainly these things are an important tool in today’s NHL and the Flyers coach doesn’t seem to understand or care about them which is moronic. Anyway, this breakdown is quite interesting and I found it quite enlightening.

https://thehockeywriters....-matvei-michkovs-offense/
- mikeyo27

good read

That is not a situation where a player should make a stick check. It is a situation where taking the body is the right play. Basic defense.
- MJL

can you show us some tutorials?

This line of thinking cracks me up. The "if" factor. Does the "if" factor apply to other teams or just the flyers?

If the pens had better goaltending, they would be firmly entrenched in a playoff spot. If team A had more scoring, they would be firmly entrenched. So on and so forth. Every team has an "if" factor.

If Torst has got the best out of this team, then this team really isn't that good. How many have taken a step forward and progressed?


look at the teams they are beating. Get back to me when they beat good teams consistently.
- login

The Flyers just beat the Stanley cup champions the other night. The only thing stopping this Flyers team from winning more games consistently this season has been their goaltending. Fedotov is coming on now, but the first half of the season he was not very good. Ersson has been hurt multiple times, but even when he was in there, by his standards he was not playing as well as we know he can. And Kolosov, though he has shown spurts of good play, should be developing in the AHL. With consistent goaltending, not even great stand on your head goaltending, the Flyers would be in the 7th position. To me they are clearly better than the other teams fighting for the last two playoffs spots.

I only bring this up because we have seen the goaltending improve significantly in this second half so far, and if this continues I believe the Flyers will be right there in the mix at deadline time. So its going to be interesting to see what Briere does. I know what I would do, and possibly what you would do. I was pretty confident the Flyers would be sellers at the deadline. Now I'm not so sure.

The Flyers just beat the Stanley cup champions the other night. The only thing stopping this Flyers team from winning more games consistently this season has been their goaltending.
- jd250

I stopped reading at this point. The Flyers PK ranks 21st in the league at 77.5%. Their PP ranks 28th in the league at 16%

Do you recall a recent play that you complained about where Laughton turned over the puck and went for a line change when they were up 2-1 in the 3rd period leading to a 2 on 1 goal against that the goalie had no chance to stop? Cost them from winning the game in regulation. That was on the goaltending?

The Flyers have beaten 5 good teams all season

Clearly, goaltending is not the only thing keeping them from winning more consistently.

That Tortorella gets the most out of his teams is a myth. He has had several quality teams that he has taken nowhere. He has only taken a team past the 2nd round of the playoffs once in the last 20 years.

It is completely false that Ristolainen is playing the best hockey of his career. He had 3 seasons of 40 + points and 30+ assists in Buffalo. He has 12 points on the season. Below are his defensive metrics for the season and his team rank.


xGA% 2.38% ranks 6th on the team
SCA/60 26.09 ranks 4th
HDCA/60 10.3 ranks 6th
- MJL

How much PK time has Risto had this year? Also, what is Zamula's HDCA/60? These metrics have a lot to do with situational play and the performance of the other 4 players on the ice at the time. They are not an accurate measure of one players individual performance. No serious NHL coach or analytics nerd evaluates players this way. As far as points, in Buffalo Risto was the guy. In those seasons where Risto had 30+ assists in Buffalo, he was also a -96, so he wasn't playing much defense. It's easy to put up points when you don't play defense nor play within a structure, and you are getting the bulk of the PP minutes. All knowledgable hockey analyst have agreed that Risto is playing the best hockey of his career currently.

While the Flyers do need more skill, I dont think they need another midget forward who IMO would be another NHL/AHL tweener. (mainly because of his size)

BUt what do they have to lose besides a roster spot.....
- MBFlyerfan

I’d much rather they get Lycksell into the damn lineup consistently

The Flyers just beat the Stanley cup champions the other night. The only thing stopping this Flyers team from winning more games consistently this season has been their goaltending. Fedotov is coming on now, but the first half of the season he was not very good. Ersson has been hurt multiple times, but even when he was in there, by his standards he was not playing as well as we know he can. And Kolosov, though he has shown spurts of good play, should be developing in the AHL. With consistent goaltending, not even great stand on your head goaltending, the Flyers would be in the 7th position. To me they are clearly better than the other teams fighting for the last two playoffs spots.

I only bring this up because we have seen the goaltending improve significantly in this second half so far, and if this continues I believe the Flyers will be right there in the mix at deadline time. So its going to be interesting to see what Briere does. I know what I would do, and possibly what you would do. I was pretty confident the Flyers would be sellers at the deadline. Now I'm not so sure.
- jd250

that was impressive. how many wins do they have all season against good teams?

Sam is overrated around here. Look at his career numbers. average at best at every stop.

nothing what you posted changes what I posted. Do "if" factors apply to other teams as well other just the flyers? Has goaltending killed the pens?

How much PK time has Risto had this year? Also, what is Zamula's HDCA/60? These metrics have a lot to do with situational play and the performance of the other 4 players on the ice at the time. They are not an accurate measure of one players individual performance. No serious NHL coach or analytics nerd evaluates players this way. As far as points, in Buffalo Risto was the guy. In those seasons where Risto had 30+ assists in Buffalo, he was also a -96, so he wasn't playing much defense. It's easy to put up points when you don't play defense nor play within a structure, and you are getting the bulk of the PP minutes. All knowledgable hockey analyst have agreed that Risto is playing the best hockey of his career currently.
- jd250

and? the bar was set so low only place to go really was up.

What cup contenders would he be in the top 4? lets start there.