I think this series has been a picture of how inconsistent our D has been this year. Some games (like game 1), everyone has stepped up and been able to shut down the flyers.
It seems period to period, I don't know how that defense is going to play. Now, some of this is to Philly's credit. They have done a good job at applying pressure. However, I have to think that some of it is on our side as well
Our vets lack skill - Montador, ShaMo and Leopold have all looked like **** at times this series. A guy like Lydman would be a godsend on the backend right now.
The kids are.. kids. Grags has played admirably, Myers has been decent and at least mean and physical. Weber, Butler... inconsistent. A healthy Sekera would be great, but sounds like he won't be back this series.
We're still paying for the sins of the previous owners - on D, and at forward. Lack of depth at center is still hurting us, and even worse, the Ghost of Danny Briere continues to haunt us.
With the injuries we have, and the opponent we're up against, I have a hard time faulting Lindy for much of anything right now, as we head into a game 7 against one of the deepest teams in the East with a roster full of AHL players and NHL journeyman.
Youth. Every defense pairing this team has includes a player under 25. Our top pair are both under 25. They have skill, they just don't have the pose you would like out of a rock solid defense. Personally I think they'll gain it if they continue playing together. You have three definite young guys going into next season that now have some real playoff experience (Myers, Butler and Weber) and a possible fourth in Grags. Their experience this season and another full regular season next year should put them in a pretty decent spot for the playoffs next season.
That said, this team absolutely needs a veteran or two. Leopold's been good, but they need a veteran defensive defenseman in free agency, ideally two.
When you are relying on Butler to eat minutes you're going to run into some problems. He's played admirably but this was a guy who was stuck in the pressbox for 30 games this year. I think in a year or two these young guys are going to be the strength of the team but at this point they just can't hold up in the face of sustained Philly pressure.
If it wasn't for the play of this "young, inexperienced" defense, there would not be playoff hockey let alone a Game 7 with the #2 seed. Myers, Weber, and Gragnani have played huge and with more grit and poise than ANYBODY on the Flyers blue line. ANY ONE OF THEM. Butler had a bad game, and he's had his pocket picked in this series a few times. It's been tough sledding out there for him but expect a more determined and focused effort from Butler in Game 7. We need him at his best and he just has to put this game behind him and refocus his energy into a positive outcome for himself and his team. Anybody can struggle, young or old, experienced or inexperienced.
And I'll tell you this, I wouldn't trade that Sabres blue line group for that Flyers group EVER. Not ever.
At some point the offense has to share responsibility for their (in)ability to keep it out of our side of the ice as well...
Agreed, only Gaustad's line had any kind of sustained zone time in game 6. Boyes has 0 points in 6 games, and that is beyond unacceptable for a player of his talents. Vanek and Stafford could have buried the Flyers and this series but missed their chances.
Everybody has to play their best game of the year for the Flyers to win Game 7, even Miller.
chris butler is playing at another level right now.. but playoff games/series are a grind and his lack of awareness/composure is going to show its ugly head every once in a while..
overall, i think out D plays a great system and if you watch close theyre always making the right, smart, perfect decisions for the first 10 minutes of the game then some of them (montador, butler, occasionally myers) take mental vacations for a few shifts and leave their team mates out to dry.
i like our system but for a few guys i think its about maturity and a few others i think its just about skill not being there.
imo locks going forward: gragnani, myers, leopold, sekera, maybe weber. if we can pick up two stud stay at home guys i think this team will be dominant defensively next year.
chris butler is playing at another level right now.. but playoff games/series are a grind and his lack of awareness/composure is going to show its ugly head every once in a while..
overall, i think out D plays a great system and if you watch close theyre always making the right, smart, perfect decisions for the first 10 minutes of the game then some of them (montador, butler, occasionally myers) take mental vacations for a few shifts and leave their team mates out to dry.
i like our system but for a few guys i think its about maturity and a few others i think its just about skill not being there.
imo locks going forward: gragnani, myers, leopold, sekera, maybe weber. if we can pick up two stud stay at home guys i think this team will be dominant defensively next year.
Thats my take as well.
I would love to see at least 1 (preferably 2) top 4, vet, mobile, defensive dman acquired in the offseason.
4 of the 6 in the line-up (Myers, MAG, Weber, Butler) and 5 of the 7 d-men used this playoffs (the aforementioned + Sekera) are all 24 or younger. Mistakes are going to happen.
Mostly youth and some skill. The kids are getting invaluable experience in this little run and Kudos to them for what they have contributed. There have difinately been some miscues along the way, but that is to be expected against the forwards they are being subjected to. I don't have much hope for game 7 without 3 of our best defensive forwards unless our "skilled" forwards find a renewed sense of defense to help the youth out. At this point, if they're gonna win, it's going to be another 1-0 win.
Sekera, Butler and Weber are coming off 1.5 half mediocre-to-bad seasons.
Sekera found it early, then hit a bump in the road, then found his game again and got injured.
Butler looked weak in the early part of the season, but has been a rock down the stretch, and even though he had some rough moments in games 5 & 6, still easily the best Buffalo defenseman in this series.
Weber came back from a real bad season with a strong one and, yeah, he had some bad games, but overall, he's been very good.
Gragnani showed up, and I honestly thought he was gonna be so bad defensively that he won't be a regular NHLer... Yet, he's held his own, played decent defensive hockey and contributed offensively.
Monty and Leo started out strong, then fizzled out as the season went on... Injuries, inconsistency, etc.
Leo wasn't all that good defensively even when he was racking up points.
ShaMo... Is just a bad signing IMO, I said it at the time, and he's not shown anything to defer me from that opinion.
They miss a Lydman, badly. Still can't believe Golisano/Quinn would rather have Leo than Loods at that price. /shrug
...
Anyway, point is...
They're young, they've had injury issues, playing in new roles, and even if they don't beat the Flyers in game 7, I think with a good veteran defensive D-man addition, they'll be real solid in the future.
I think our poor defensive play has as much to do with the forwards as it does the D. Our forwards don't support the D when breaking out, so the D don't know what to do with the puck and can't react with three Flyers forwards swarming them. And all of the Flyers being wide open in our zone shows that our D is panicking too much. They're trying to just get the puck and get it out, instead of being smart and making sure they at least have a guy covered. Philly is too skilled of a team to just collapse on in your own zone, that strategy works against Boston but not against this team.
Some guys are just really young. And for others, it really is just a lack of skill. We need some high end talent on the backend. Myers, Butler, Grags, Sekera, and Weber are all very exciting, and probably part of the future, but we need one more top 2 defenseman in there before we're a Cup contender.
The vets that are supposed to stabilize the defense are either playing hurt (Leopold) or simply playing crappy (Montador, Morrisonn).
The young guys have to play all way beyond their capabilities because of that. Butler shouldn't be playing 25+ top-pairing minutes, Gragnani shouldn't be playing 22+ minutes on any night, Myers would be served better with an experienced shutdown guy ont the top-pairing and Weber is getting dragged down by Montador.
Frankly I don't think the young players are the issue, they are simply asked to do way more than they should because the vets have been disappointments in the playoffs and if you ask a guy like Butler to play nearly half a game, he will have his brainfarts at some point.
Imagine the line-up with a solidified Leopold-Montador like in the first half of the season that can eat 20+ minutes without being a liability, then you only need to split 80- minutes between Myers, Butler, Gragnani and Weber. Big difference there.
This defense could look at lot better with an unspectactalur minute-eating d-man *cough* Lydman *cough* .
Our defense in the series thus far has hinged on Chris Butler and that's a very scary thing. When he's been on we've looked alright and when he's been off we've looked terrible.
I will be very happy if we keep this core together or years to come, I would like to see one more Rightie added to the mix. I wish Montador didn't have so much hiccups otherwise it could be him.
I could see Darcy trying to acquire Cory Sarich, would be fitting considering his love-affair for former Calgary defenders ..
Butler-Myers
Leopold-Sarich
Sekera-Weber
Gragnani
I bet Montador ends up in Toronto, Not so sure about Morrisonn though..
There's no consistent, veteran defensive d-man on this team who's capable handling 20+ minutes a night against top competition. Not one.
The vets are just flat out not good enough to handle those kinds of minutes. The youth are too green. Even if they were in their prime, I don't think players like Weber or Gragnani will ever be capable of that anyway.
I think we got away with it for a lot of the season due to being well coached, but in the playoffs you've simply gotta have the horses in place, and we don't.
