the TEAM D needs to be better ... like they were in March.
Bryz needs to be more consistent & like he was in March. he also oughtta stay away from the press, his job is to concentrate on playing goal, not entertain the media. he should respond with bland, 1 word / short / generic answers & make the press look elsewhere for stories.
exactly. you had to give him that first year to get goin. people are insanely impatient as am i but i know that when you make that many moves, get that young and lose your best player to career ending injury things aint gonna be smooth. bryz will only come back stronger since he really did unfairly take the blame for last season. it just bothers me that people are so simple in blaming the easy target. i thought we were more sophisticated and knowledgeable here in philly.
If average shots against is any indicator, our best defensive months overall were October (avg 26 shots per game...had Pronger), December (27..I recall Timonen and Couturier being exceptional), and March (27...toned back forecheck to account for rookies on D). Bryz was pretty damned bad at times in October and December; very bad. On top of that, our defense in March wasn't that great overall due to injuries and an influx of rookies; There was a lot of inconsistency from game to game that simply isn't present in the other months. If you'll remember, some of our wins in March came because Bryz bailed the team out in games where he was taking a buttload of heat. A lot of his wins in March came when the team was allowing 30+ shots...not indicative of great defensive play.
So...like I've been saying. The defense wasn't that big of a factor for Bryz's numbers in March. The biggest factor was Bryzgalov getting his own game together, finally, after 5 months. There was a game against TB in December where we held them to 16 shots (a great defensive performance) and Bryz let in 5 goals. That example doesn't exactly establish a positive correlation between defensive performance and Bryz's own performance.
Bryz did great in March not because the defense dragged him along/picked him up/whatever, but because Bryz was flat out great in March on his own accord. I don't get why you two are so eager to give Bryz less credit for his performance in that month; I guess so you can falsely blame the D for his obvious deficiencies the rest of the year?
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If average shots against is any indicator, our best defensive months overall were October (avg 26 shots per game...had Pronger), December (27..I recall Timonen and Couturier being exceptional), and March (27...toned back forecheck to account for rookies on D). Bryz was pretty damned bad at times in October and December; very bad. On top of that, our defense in March wasn't that great overall due to injuries and an influx of rookies; There was a lot of inconsistency from game to game that simply isn't present in the other months. If you'll remember, some of our wins in March came because Bryz bailed the team out in games where he was taking a buttload of heat. A lot of his wins in March came when the team was allowing 30+ shots...not indicative of great defensive play.
So...like I've been saying. The defense wasn't that big of a factor for Bryz's numbers in March. The biggest factor was Bryzgalov getting his own game together, finally, after 5 months. There was a game against TB in December where we held them to 16 shots (a great defensive performance) and Bryz let in 5 goals. That example doesn't exactly establish a positive correlation between defensive performance and Bryz's own performance.
Bryz did great in March not because the defense dragged him along/picked him up/whatever, but because Bryz was flat out great in March on his own accord. I don't get why you two are so eager to give Bryz less credit for his performance in that month; I guess so you can falsely blame the D for his obvious deficiencies the rest of the year?
he was definitely up and down. maybe I'm wrong but i remember weak lazy defensive plays in bad areas that directly led to goals and i read his bad play after as a confidence thing that got compounded by the contract. It was definitely his fault that he had some of the bad games he did but i can understand what happened and i watched him play a lot in phoenix and he needed to adjust his game. we are a different team. he thought "well i was awesome in phoenix, I'm really gonna kick ass in philly" just like everyone else and this season turned into a major project in terms of everyone adjusting to everyone else with him struggling the most. i just get mad when he's written off as a failure and a mistake that needs to be bought out. its that "time to move on" attitude that drives me nuts. he just got here. so the only conclusion i can come to about those opinions are that those people just hate him and either never watched him play or had other ideas about who we should've gotten. so i pretty much agree with what you said up there. we'll find out soon tho. i can't wait for this **** to start tho. I'm sitting here watching the winter classic practice like a psycho on NHL network. I'm dyin ova here. my wife thinks I'm a mental patient.
he was definitely up and down. maybe I'm wrong but i remember weak lazy defensive plays in bad areas that directly led to goals
he certainly had bad games & goals against. but shots against do not tell the story. a breakaway shot counts as much as a weak dump in that goes on net. and the slam dunk by a guy completely wide open counts as much as a 3 inch away rebound shot into his pads .... the puck bouncing off the Nashville players pants counts just the same as a slow dribbler that was fanned on by the shooter .....
far too many golden opportunities were allowed by this team, with a few notable exceptions, most people can see the opportunities as the issue, not the fact that Bryz didn't have a 99% 'cover up the mistakes' rating ....
it's really a lose-lose situation, and can easily be seen through:
Bryz makes the save you see to the left of this post & it's "well, he's getting paid $51 million to make that kind of save" - he gets no credit.
if he doesn't make that save, it's "jesus, we're paying him $51 million to make that kind of save & cover up for a defensive lapse" - he gets no credit.
he certainly had bad games & goals against. but shots against do not tell the story. a breakaway shot counts as much as a weak dump in that goes on net. and the slam dunk by a guy completely wide open counts as much as a 3 inch away rebound shot into his pads .... the puck bouncing off the Nashville players pants counts just the same as a slow dribbler that was fanned on by the shooter .....
far too many golden opportunities were allowed by this team, with a few notable exceptions, most people can see the opportunities as the issue, not the fact that Bryz didn't have a 99% 'cover up the mistakes' rating ....
it's really a lose-lose situation, and can easily be seen through:
Bryz makes the save you see to the left of this post & it's "well, he's getting paid $51 million to make that kind of save" - he gets no credit.
if he doesn't make that save, it's "jesus, we're paying him $51 million to make that kind of save & cover up for a defensive lapse" - he gets no credit.
Every team allows breakaways and commits turnovers. The Flyers aren't the only team with those breakdowns. Plenty of other teams were worse than the Flyers defensively, as well. Yet their goalies performed better than Bryz. How do you account for that?
I don't understand why it's so difficult to realize/accept that he had a bad year. Hell, Bryzgalov himself says he had a bad year.
Bryz sucked until March. (fact)
Bryz was INCREDIBLE in March. (fact)
Bryz was just decent to pretty good through the end of the season and through both rounds of the playoffs. (fact)
Bryz still SUCKED until March. (still a fact)
exactly. you had to give him that first year to get goin. people are insanely impatient as am i but i know that when you make that many moves, get that young and lose your best player to career ending injury things aint gonna be smooth. bryz will only come back stronger since he really did unfairly take the blame for last season. it just bothers me that people are so simple in blaming the easy target. i thought we were more sophisticated and knowledgeable here in philly.
If average shots against is any indicator, our best defensive months overall were October (avg 26 shots per game...had Pronger), December (27..I recall Timonen and Couturier being exceptional), and March (27...toned back forecheck to account for rookies on D). Bryz was pretty damned bad at times in October and December; very bad. On top of that, our defense in March wasn't that great overall due to injuries and an influx of rookies; There was a lot of inconsistency from game to game that simply isn't present in the other months. If you'll remember, some of our wins in March came because Bryz bailed the team out in games where he was taking a buttload of heat. A lot of his wins in March came when the team was allowing 30+ shots...not indicative of great defensive play.
So...like I've been saying. The defense wasn't that big of a factor for Bryz's numbers in March. The biggest factor was Bryzgalov getting his own game together, finally, after 5 months. There was a game against TB in December where we held them to 16 shots (a great defensive performance) and Bryz let in 5 goals. That example doesn't exactly establish a positive correlation between defensive performance and Bryz's own performance.
Bryz did great in March not because the defense dragged him along/picked him up/whatever, but because Bryz was flat out great in March on his own accord. I don't get why you two are so eager to give Bryz less credit for his performance in that month; I guess so you can falsely blame the D for his obvious deficiencies the rest of the year?
Yup. Like I stated earlier, up until the finals we were in the top 3 for least amount of shots against. Yet however we were in the bottom 3 for goals against.
Bryz sucked until March. (fact)
Bryz was INCREDIBLE in March. (fact)
Bryz was just decent to pretty good through the end of the season and through both rounds of the playoffs. (fact)
Bryz still SUCKED until March. (still a fact)
most of those apply to the team D
the team D sucked until March. (fact)
the team D was INCREDIBLE in March. (fact)
the team D was just decent to pretty good through the end of the season, but not in either round of the playoffs. (fact)
the team D still SUCKED until March. (still a fact)
Defense in March seriously wasn't that great. It was much better in December when Timonen and Couturier really hit a stride for a month. Hell, Couturier's GAON/60 dropped to .98 during that stretch; yet Bryz didn't cut it. The team was incredibly inconsistent in their own end in March; part of the reason Bryz's performance was so impressive then was because he was singlehandedly bailing out the team when they were collapsing in their own end for entire periods or games, and he was stealing wins.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Shafer
I will laugh my ass off if we have a legitimate competition between Leighton and Bryzgalov.
Beat me to it. Yes, our D did play slightly better during "runs" but that does not excuse the performance elsewhere. Any sane person can admit that Bryz did not live up to both the standards that we set for him AND the standards a goalie of his stature both should and do have.
dude. your goin way backwards. get in your time machine and go back to october when this started with these posts. this is now a time of healing. I'm kidding btw. i refuse to use those little smiley bast ids.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris Shafer
I will laugh my ass off if we have a legitimate competition between Leighton and Bryzgalov.
that would be the saddest sight i ever saw, until i watch a drunken kane score on leighton again in the 2013 finals to end it.
Last edited by Beef Invictus: 07-27-2012 at 12:23 PM.
Reason: merged
I can't even deal with the fact that MFL will most likely play 20 games
I'd rather have to bail out Leighton at 0.9m/year than Bryz at 5.67m/year.
That's how depressing this situation.
What's even worse is that I used to make the argument that it was more cap-responsible not to pay for a goalie and just build the best team around him because goalies leave too much to chance. Despite the fact that it's the truth, it doesn't even matter anymore. For the first time it appears as though even Holmgren can't spend to the cap meaning it doesn't matter that Bryz could be overpaid by 3.00m/year (and he is until proven otherwise).
the team D sucked until March. (fact)
the team D was INCREDIBLE in March. (fact)
the team D was just decent to pretty good through the end of the season, but not in either round of the playoffs. (fact)
the team D still SUCKED until March. (still a fact)
I am sure you think the amount of goals Bryzgalov allowed that were his fault is somewhere between 0 and 1 right?
I am sure you think the amount of goals Bryzgalov allowed that were his fault is somewhere between 0 and 1 right?
Team defense and Bryz were both brutal against Pittsburgh. We get smoked if MAF doesn't just completely and totally fall apart. Bryz made a few noteworthy saves, MAF made maybe 1-2, but also allowed some absolutely brutal team-crushing goals as well.
The team as a whole completely fell apart against NJ. Not a single good aspect of the team in that series (some good individual performances). Bryz was decent, not horrible nor spectacular against NJ.
Well this year is critical for Bryz to play at an elite level with the defense possibly being a weakness. I think our defensive unit will be fine IF Bryz plays at a high level AND the team defense gets better with rookie forwards knowing the defensive side of the game more. Also players that were new last year being more comfortable in Lavys system knowing what do do.
