Bill Meltzer: Flyers Drop Season Finale, Phantoms, Prospects, A Special Thanks, Alumni

First. Let's go Hextal build us a winner!

Go to bed, Bill.

First. Let's go Hextal build us a winner!
- jstross

I am impressed by Hextal's reflective inactivity. I think he believes in the draft as the only way to build an elite contender. I think he makes moves to acquire picks. And, I think he chooses to miss another year and rebuild the talent base.

LA had some great drafts and built a potent base of talent but they never rushed development. Even when they were on the edge of contending they would not do quick fixes (give up picks or prospects) for accomplished players. Everybody could see they were a good team but they were very patient in waiting for the team to grow into elite status.

Great story and a great moment for your son Bill. I bet it was the same for you. As a father, moments like that, stay in your memory forever. It's priceless.

I am impressed by Hextal's reflective inactivity. I think he believes in the draft as the only way to build an elite contender. I think he makes moves to acquire picks. And, I think he chooses to miss another year and rebuild the talent base.

LA had some great drafts and built a potent base of talent but they never rushed development. Even when they were on the edge of contending they would not do quick fixes (give up picks or prospects) for accomplished players. Everybody could see they were a good team but they were very patient in waiting for the team to grow into elite status.
- spatso

Drew Doughty - Drafted 2nd overall in 2008. Played 81 games in 2008-09.
Dustin Brown - Drafted 13th overall in 2003. Played 31 games in 2003-04

Let's not romanticize that every player spent 3+ years in the minors honing their craft. There are probably more who didn't spend alot of time in the minors.

What they did do is build up one hell of a farm system. It was really that depth that put them over the top. One of the ways they did that was by being really bad in the regular season. The Kings aren't the Kings without drafting 2nd overall, 4th overall, and 5th overall.

You don't have a highly touted 5th overall pick in the minors to trade to the Flyers for one of their stars if you didn't get the 5th overall pick to draft him.

The bottom line is that the kings were content to suck for several years and they reaped the benefits of that sucking by drafting high and drafting well.

You want the Flyers to have their Drew Doughty? To emulate the Kings Drew Doughty wasn't available after the 2nd pick that year. If the Kings had drafted 3rd that year would they have still won a Stanley cup?

Let's also not forget the Kings have not been a very good regular season team. The team was built for the playoffs but getting there has been a problem for them. They have not been dominant in the regular season of either of their Stanley Cup runs including firing their coach during the regular season while squeaking in the first time.

Now some of their decisions are coming back to bite them such as the Mike Richards trade.

You want to be like the Kings? Draft in the bottom 5 a few years (ohh no .. the Oilers ... baaddddd!), build up the farm system and stay away from the mega contracts for aging vets. Then when you think the time is right, trade from a position of strength by having both the assets to trade from the farm team and the cap room for the high priced stars you want to acquire.

Even with all that, it was still a roll of the dice that you even qualify for the playoffs every year.

Hopefully the Flyers have found their Drew Doughty in Morin. If not, they will regret passing on chances to draft Seth Jones and Ekblad because there's no Mike Milbury to trade them a Zdeno Chara for your garbage.

Also, in the vein that winning cures all ills and losing exposes them :

Via the New York Post:

Slap Shots has been told by two sources that the Kings locked the door to their locker room following a defeat on the road within the last two weeks so that Sutter could not get in and deliver what the players apparently expected to be another in a series of lectures/tirades.

Model franchise!

Edit : Fixed typo in Dustin Brown's Draft year

Great story and a great moment for your son Bill. I bet it was the same for you. As a father, moments like that, stay in your memory forever. It's priceless.
- MJL

just to see the look in my son's eyes and the excitement in his voice was incredible to me.

Bill Meltzer: Flyers Drop Season Finale, Phantoms, Prospects, A Special Thanks, Alumni
- bmeltzer

It sounds like you and your son had a wonderful time. The best way to get a kid hooked on hockey is to take them to games as a kid and get them involved in playing...even if it's as a goalie

Really great of Zepp to go out of his way to make sure Benjamin got a special treat, too.

Drew Doughty - Drafted 2nd overall in 2008. Played 81 games in 2008-09.
Dustin Brown - Drafted 13th overall in 2003. Played 31 games in 2003-04

Let's not romanticize that every player spent 3+ years in the minors honing their craft. There are probably more who didn't spend alot of time in the minors.

What they did do is build up one hell of a farm system. It was really that depth that put them over the top. One of the ways they did that was by being really bad in the regular season. The Kings aren't the Kings without drafting 2nd overall, 4th overall, and 5th overall.

You don't have a highly touted 5th overall pick in the minors to trade to the Flyers for one of their stars if you didn't get the 5th overall pick to draft him.

The bottom line is that the kings were content to suck for several years and they reaped the benefits of that sucking by drafting high and drafting well.

You want the Flyers to have their Drew Doughty? To emulate the Kings Drew Doughty wasn't available after the 2nd pick that year. If the Kings had drafted 3rd that year would they have still won a Stanley cup?

Let's also not forget the Kings have not been a very good regular season team. The team was built for the playoffs but getting there has been a problem for them. They have not been dominant in the regular season of either of their Stanley Cup runs including firing their coach during the regular season while squeaking in the first time.

Now some of their decisions are coming back to bite them such as the Mike Richards trade.

You want to be like the Kings? Draft in the bottom 5 a few years (ohh no .. the Oilers ... baaddddd!), build up the farm system and stay away from the mega contracts for aging vets. Then when you think the time is right, trade from a position of strength by having both the assets to trade from the farm team and the cap room for the high priced stars you want to acquire.

Even with all that, it was still a roll of the dice that you even qualify for the playoffs every year.

Hopefully the Flyers have found their Drew Doughty in Morin. If not, they will regret passing on chances to draft Seth Jones and Ekblad because there's no Mike Milbury to trade them a Zdeno Chara for your garbage.

Also, in the vein that winning cures all ills and losing exposes them :

Via the New York Post:

Slap Shots has been told by two sources that the Kings locked the door to their locker room following a defeat on the road within the last two weeks so that Sutter could not get in and deliver what the players apparently expected to be another in a series of lectures/tirades.

Model franchise!

Edit : Fixed typo in Dustin Brown's Draft year
- Flyers_01

It's not the mike Richards trade they regret it's not using the compliance buyout on him that was lombardi's major screw up

I am impressed by Hextal's reflective inactivity. I think he believes in the draft as the only way to build an elite contender. I think he makes moves to acquire picks. And, I think he chooses to miss another year and rebuild the talent base.

LA had some great drafts and built a potent base of talent but they never rushed development. Even when they were on the edge of contending they would not do quick fixes (give up picks or prospects) for accomplished players. Everybody could see they were a good team but they were very patient in waiting for the team to grow into elite status.
- spatso

Hextall definitely believes in the draft, but to be fair, he didn't have a lot of room for free agents or many young assets to deal away for immediate help, and unless he was willing to trade away high picks (a lot of high picks, to be honest) he wasn't going to land what the Flyers really need.

I'd like to see more drafts like their 2014 class. They went for pretty much straight skill up and down the board, and avoided selecting a tough guy or agitator, which had been a semi regular feature of the Holmgren era drafts.

The Fyers need more talent and raw skill in their system, especially up front. They have plenty of guys who project as middle six and bottom six forwards. They have a handful of solid defense prospects, headed up by Travis Sanheim, and have an outstanding opportunity to add more with picks added at the TDL by Hextall.

bill do you see berube returning next season?

Bill,

Great story about your day with your son, and kudos to Mr. Zepp. Another example of how hockey players completely get it!

I know what you mean about young kids getting overly frustrated. I started teaching my 6 year old daughter tennis a week ago. She has picked it up quickly and seems to have very good hand-eye coordination. But if she misses three or four balls in a row, she gets this look like her puppy just ran away and someone stole all her dolls. And then the tears rain down (haha, at least you probably don't have to deal with that!)

So I had the same conversation with her yesterday as you had with Benjamin. Hopefully they'll both catch on quickly.

Hextall definitely believes in the draft, but to be fair, he didn't have a lot of room for free agents or many young assets to deal away for immediate help, and unless he was willing to trade away high picks (a lot of high picks, to be honest) he wasn't going to land what the Flyers really need.

I'd like to see more drafts like their 2014 class. They went for pretty much straight skill up and down the board, and avoided selecting a tough guy or agitator, which had been a semi regular feature of the Holmgren era drafts.

The Fyers need more talent and raw skill in their system, especially up front. They have plenty of guys who project as middle six and bottom six forwards. They have a handful of solid defense prospects, headed up by Travis Sanheim, and have an outstanding opportunity to add more with picks added at the TDL by Hextall.
- Jsaquella

From your lips to Hextall's ears brother!

Also glad that someone else out there realizes that guys like Leier, Cousins, etc are likely nothing more than call-ups or role players.

From your lips to Hextall's ears brother!

Also glad that someone else out there realizes that guys like Leier, Cousins, etc are likely nothing more than call-ups or role players.
- TheGreat28

I'm fine with that, because you need role players and stars. But yeah, expecting Cousins or Leier to score a ton at the NHL level is probably expecting too much.

Now expecting them to become 10-12 goal scoring, solid middle or bottom six forwards is fair. I think that they have that kind of potential. There's likely not a guy who will be a top six scoring line forward, outside of maybe Aube-Kubel.

Frank Seravalli ‏@frank_seravalli 7m7 minutes ago

Only 6 players finished the season w/ more defensive-zone starts (687) than S. Couturier. Average age of those 6 is 31. Couturier is 22.

Doing their best to turn the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft into Steve Kasper

Very cool of the Zepper, Bill. I'm a little jealous of Ben...he better keep a good eye on that stick.

Frank Seravalli ‏@frank_seravalli 7m7 minutes ago

Only 6 players finished the season w/ more defensive-zone starts (687) than S. Couturier. Average age of those 6 is 31. Couturier is 22.

Doing their best to turn the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft into Steve Kasper
- Jsaquella

Being good defensively is the only thing holding Couturier back! If he was a worse player defensively they might let him have more offensive zone starts.

They really have sacrificed his long term development due to short term roster deficiencies. You'd think a defensive forward would be one of the things UFA is for.

Frank Seravalli ‏@frank_seravalli 7m7 minutes ago

Only 6 players finished the season w/ more defensive-zone starts (687) than S. Couturier. Average age of those 6 is 31. Couturier is 22.

Doing their best to turn the 8th overall pick in the 2011 draft into Steve Kasper
- Jsaquella

Seems like a faceoff problem. After G and Couts comes Bellemare in faceoffs taken. And after that? Laughton. Maybe White can step in and take some of the defensive draw load off Couts next season.

Being good defensively is the only thing holding Couturier back! If he was a worse player defensively they might let him have more offensive zone starts.

They really have sacrificed his long term development due to short term roster deficiencies. You'd think a defensive forward would be one of the things UFA is for.
- Flyers_01

From the very first, he's been used in a primarily defensive role, and it's obviously given him a mindset that he has to be the shutdown guy.

He has to work on his skating and getting stronger, and must do a better job at converting the chances he does get, but he's got to be used in a manner that really gives him an opportunity to become more than Steve Kasper or Guy Carbonneau

Seems like a faceoff problem. After G and Couts comes Bellemare in faceoffs taken. And after that? Laughton. Maybe White can step in and take some of the defensive draw load off Couts next season.
- wolfhounds

It is. But look at Couturier's FO%. It's not as if he's stellar and there's no other options.

I think the Flyers simply need to look at the long term for Couturier and not so much at the short term. If you want a great shutdown center, fine. If you want him to be more, to be a guy who can be a two way, second line C, you need to adjust his usage.

It's not the mike Richards trade they regret it's not using the compliance buyout on him that was lombardi's major screw up
- consigrn

No question about this. What a screw up.

It is. But look at Couturier's FO%. It's not as if he's stellar and there's no other options.

I think the Flyers simply need to look at the long term for Couturier and not so much at the short term. If you want a great shutdown center, fine. If you want him to be more, to be a guy who can be a two way, second line C, you need to adjust his usage.
- Jsaquella

Babcock will find the perfect balance for Couturier!

Bob Roberts ‏@BobRbrts 9m9 minutes ago

Couturier was the only forward in the league this year to play 1000+ even strength minutes and be sub-40% OZstarts

Bob Roberts ‏@BobRbrts 9m9 minutes ago

Couturier was the only forward in the league this year to play 1000+ even strength minutes and be sub-40% OZstarts
- Jsaquella

It almost sounds ridiculous to ask who we should blame but who should we blame?

Bob Roberts ‏@BobRbrts 9m9 minutes ago

Couturier was the only forward in the league this year to play 1000+ even strength minutes and be sub-40% OZstarts
- Jsaquella

False data