Bill Meltzer: Meltzer's Musings: Power Forwards in 2013 Draft, Connections Matter

Hartman is a little "ball of hate"

No doubt many of the hyped names won't live up to the expectations while players like Roy will seemingly come out of nowhere to make a difference in the NHL.

Here's hoping the Flyers find a few of the difference-makers in the year's draft.

Thanks for the info, Bill.

Is it June 30th yet?

So Torts gets fired, Vigneault gets fired, Tippett likely to be let go...

and yet here we are, stuck with Lavy. An underachieving head coach. Fan(frank)ingtastic.
Thanks Homer and Snider for keep this POS coach with us for 1 more year of a 2nd round exit

As busy as NHL amateur scouts are during the course of the hockey season, logging thousands of miles and evaluating scores of prospects, there are only so many times they can get to view certain players. That's where networking and tipoffs play an important role in pointing NHL team's scouting departments in the right direction.

Wasn't there some sort of connection between former Flyers scout Simon Nolet and Simon Gagne when Gags was drafted?

So Torts gets fired, Vigneault gets fired, Tippett likely to be let go...

and yet here we are, stuck with Lavy. An underachieving head coach. Fan(frank)ingtastic.
Thanks Homer and Snider for keep this POS coach with us for 1 more year of a 2nd round exit
- FLYERSROCK!

How many wins have you coached a team to victory for in the NHL? I would hardly qualify Lavy as a POS head coach.

So Torts gets fired, Vigneault gets fired, Tippett likely to be let go...

and yet here we are, stuck with Lavy. An underachieving head coach. Fan(frank)ingtastic.
Thanks Homer and Snider for keep this POS coach with us for 1 more year of a 2nd round exit
- FLYERSROCK!

Hockey fans lose with Torts leaving the New York market, if only, because of the great battles between he and Larry Brooks.

Tortorella to Flyers?

How many wins have you coached a team to victory for in the NHL? I would hardly qualify Lavy as a POS head coach.
- hockeylover

The way he handled our sophomores, namely Couts was awful. The way he handled Bryzgalov was awful, he was one of the best goalies in the league at the start of the year, then they burned him out by playing him too much.
Didn't adjust the team at all to the shorter season.

2 underachieving coaches got fired, and a very underachieving coach hasnt got fired. how does that make any sense?
i expect McLennan(sp) to be fired as well. Pretty much any coach out there is better than Lavy. Ruff, Eakins, Vigneault, Tippett (if he doesnt renew) and McLennan (if fired which seems pretty likely) are all better coaches. Hell i'd take Marc Crawford over Lavy right now
Torts is a better coach than Lavy too. And Boucher

all. better. coaches.

Tortorella to Flyers?


- GoFlyersGoSlovakia

ugh...

The way he handled our sophomores, namely Couts was awful. The way he handled Bryzgalov was awful, he was one of the best goalies in the league at the start of the year, then they burned him out by playing him too much.
Didn't adjust the team at all to the shorter season.

2 underachieving coaches got fired, and a very underachieving coach hasnt got fired. how does that make any sense?
i expect McLennan(sp) to be fired as well. Pretty much any coach out there is better than Lavy. Ruff, Eakins, Vigneault, Tippett (if he doesnt renew) and McLennan (if fired which seems pretty likely) are all better coaches. Hell i'd take Marc Crawford over Lavy right now
- FLYERSROCK!

Murray should be next in line. But I wonder if Terry is going to be in the organization next year if he doesn't get promoted?

Wasn't there some sort of connection between former Flyers scout Simon Nolet and Simon Gagne when Gags was drafted?
- johndewar

Only that Nolet very strongly recommended Gagne.

Fonzie has officially jumped the shark.

Hey Torts.....

Tortorella to Flyers?


- GoFlyersGoSlovakia

Rangers fans are rejoicing the firing of Torts because they've been demanding a more creative system to free their stars to score goals.

Flyers fans are bemoaning the keeping of Lavi because they've been demanding a lock-down system to emulate the Rangers (and their ilk).

What delicious irony.

Tortorella to Flyers?


- GoFlyersGoSlovakia

I'm not calling for Laviolette to be let go, but I wouldn't mind Tortorella behind the Flyers bench for a while.

Murray should be next in line. But I wonder if Terry is going to be in the organization next year if he doesn't get promoted?
- wolfhounds

im done with Lavy. Yes POS was over the line but he was an awful coach last year. there is absolutely no way with all that talent we shouldve failed as badly as we did. that is on the coaching, and yes on the players as well, but its up to the coach to get his team motivated and playing well

So Torts gets fired, Vigneault gets fired, Tippett likely to be let go...

and yet here we are, stuck with Lavy. An underachieving head coach. Fan(frank)ingtastic.
Thanks Homer and Snider for keep this POS coach with us for 1 more year of a 2nd round exit
- FLYERSROCK!

Easy there Rock. Laviolette is a good coach. Tortorella was fired equally for being a complete bumhole. You can't conduct yourself the way he does, it wears thin on everyone. Most importantly the players.

Only that Nolet very strongly recommended Gagne.
- bmeltzer

Thank god for Simon Nolet...

22 Simon Gagne
23 Milan Kraft
24 Christian Backman
25 Jiri Fischer
26 Mike Van Ryn
27 Scott Gomez
28 Ramzi Abid
29 Jonathan Cheechoo
30 Kyle Rossiter
31 Artem Chubarov
32 Stephen Peat

So Torts gets fired, Vigneault gets fired, Tippett likely to be let go...

and yet here we are, stuck with Lavy. An underachieving head coach. Fan(frank)ingtastic.
Thanks Homer and Snider for keep this POS coach with us for 1 more year of a 2nd round exit
- FLYERSROCK!

1.) I don't think there's any guarantees that any of the fired coaches you mentioned will be hired this summer for a head coaching job in the NHL.

2.) As someone who helped drive the "Fire Lavy" bandwagon early this past truncated season, since they have chosen to keep him, I'm actually glad they are giving him a full training camp and an accompanying short leash to see if he can make it happen with this group. If he's as smart as everyone says he is, we are about to find out.

3.) If team starts off unevenly or poorly, I would imagine some of the coaches you mentioned would be available for work around the holidays (my estimated time that Lavy will be given if things don't start well).

Only that Nolet very strongly recommended Gagne.
- bmeltzer

Bill, why don't more teams spend more money on scouting?

You have a guy in Montreal, Trevor Timmins, who has an amazing track record of finding amateur players. Why not offer him the moon to come work for your team?

Easy there Rock. Laviolette is a good coach. Tortorella was fired equally for being a complete bumhole. You can't conduct yourself the way he does, it wears thin on everyone. Most importantly the players.
- PLindbergh31

there's so many better coaches than Lavy out there... if Tippett gets fired teams would be lining up for him, because hes a great coach.
in all aspects he hasnt done anything special with the Flyers besides 2010. The talent we've had in past years should've been division leaders, and we miss the playoffs, and end up being the 11th worst team in the NHL this past year. How in the world does 3 straight years of failure mean he gets to keep his job? i dont get it. it's time to move on and get a good coach while they're still out there

Next year if we decide to fire him options will highly be limited. Get a coach while they're good, and theres about 5 better options out there right now

Rangers fans are rejoicing the firing of Torts because they've been demanding a more creative system to free their stars to score goals.

Flyers fans are bemoaning the keeping of Lavi because they've been demanding a lock-down system to emulate the Rangers (and their ilk).

What delicious irony.
- Tomahawk

I don't recall anyone demanding that the Flyers play a system that emulates the Rangers. Most fans, myself included, recognize the need for the Flyers to be a better two way team. What want is for the Flyers to find some middle ground. There are 3 teams ledt in the playoffs, that play boths sides of the puck equally well. Without losing offensive aggressiveness, and creatvity.

Fonzie has officially jumped the shark.
- MBFlyerfan

there's so many better coaches than Lavy out there... if Tippett gets fired teams would be lining up for him, because hes a great coach.
in all aspects he hasnt done anything special with the Flyers besides 2010. The talent we've had in past years should've been division leaders, and we miss the playoffs, and end up being the 11th worst team in the NHL this past year. How in the world does 3 straight years of failure mean he gets to keep his job? i dont get it. it's time to move on and get a good coach while they're still out there

Next year if we decide to fire him options will highly be limited. Get a coach while they're good, and theres about 5 better options out there right now
- FLYERSROCK!

I agree this is an important year for Laviolette. He has to have success to stick around. That said, the GM has to provide some better players and some depth to be at the coach's disposal.

there's so many better coaches than Lavy out there... if Tippett gets fired teams would be lining up for him, because hes a great coach.
in all aspects he hasnt done anything special with the Flyers besides 2010. The talent we've had in past years should've been division leaders, and we miss the playoffs, and end up being the 11th worst team in the NHL this past year. How in the world does 3 straight years of failure mean he gets to keep his job? i dont get it. it's time to move on and get a good coach while they're still out there

Next year if we decide to fire him options will highly be limited. Get a coach while they're good, and theres about 5 better options out there right now
- FLYERSROCK!

HE'S AWFUL! DUDE'S NEVER WON A THING! BURN HIM BUUUUURRRRN HIM!