What "many" forwards? As my Flyer-fan coworkers predicted before the season, the Flyers are a startling parallel to the Philadelphia Phillies: a former offensive juggernaut about to become league-average offensively, or worse. They've bled so much talent over the last couple years. Carter. Richards. Jagr. Leino who, say what you want, did work in that organization. Even JVR. And now with Briere out, and Schenn/Couturier not quite ready for prime time offensively, they're forced to hope guys like Read and Simmonds can replicate career seasons in order to find some offense after Giroux/Hartnell--the latter also coming off a career season. Gone are the days when that team could roll three fearsome lines at you.
I agree. They've bled a lot of forwards, they're not particularly tough anymore (especially with Rinaldo and Hartnell now out), their defense is aging, and Mr. Universe is an enigma. I can see the Flyers struggling quite a bit this year...though I'm not sure they'll struggle enough to miss the playoffs. Giroux alone could will them into the top 8.
What "many" forwards? As my Flyer-fan coworkers predicted before the season, the Flyers are a startling parallel to the Philadelphia Phillies: a former offensive juggernaut about to become league-average offensively, or worse. They've bled so much talent over the last couple years. Carter. Richards. Jagr. Leino who, say what you want, did work in that organization. Even JVR. And now with Briere out, and Schenn/Couturier not quite ready for prime time offensively, they're forced to hope guys like Read and Simmonds can replicate career seasons in order to find some offense after Giroux/Hartnell--the latter also coming off a career season. Gone are the days when that team could roll three fearsome lines at you.
Is more offensive talent than the Sabres and just about any team in the NHL have. They've also got good young prospects in Laughton and Wellwood who are solid top nine guys. It's not that they don't have the talent, they're just starting slowly. Every NHL team goes through a few games where they can't score, especially with the circumstances we're seeing now.
Trying to evaluate them after 2-3 games is just silly. The talent is definitely there for the Flyers, it's nowhere near time for them to hit the panic button.
Is more offensive talent than the Sabres and just about any team in the NHL have. They've also got good young prospects in Laughton and Wellwood who are solid top nine guys. It's not that they don't have the talent, they're just starting slowly. Every NHL team goes through a few games where they can't score, especially with the circumstances we're seeing now.
Trying to evaluate them after 2-3 games is just silly. The talent is definitely there for the Flyers, it's nowhere near time for them to hit the panic button.
Agreed, even with there slow start there still my pick to represent the East in the Finals....
Agreed, even with there slow start there still my pick to represent the East in the Finals....
Not with that defense the way it is. Timonen is aging, Coburn and Meszaros are solid...but Schenn, Grossman, Foster, Gervais...they will need some help back there if they want to make a playoff run.
Especially if Bryz struggles. Though he has been the least of their problems through 3 games.
Should be noted B.Schenn is the first Shanaban of the year. 1 game for a hit on Volchenkov yesterday.
Is more offensive talent than the Sabres and just about any team in the NHL have. They've also got good young prospects in Laughton and Wellwood who are solid top nine guys. It's not that they don't have the talent, they're just starting slowly. Every NHL team goes through a few games where they can't score, especially with the circumstances we're seeing now.
Trying to evaluate them after 2-3 games is just silly. The talent is definitely there for the Flyers, it's nowhere near time for them to hit the panic button.
Briere is injured. Couturier and Schenn are good players, but they're still young. Expecting them to be much more than .5 ppg players this season isn't a smart bet. Voracek is a softer Drew Stafford. Hartnell's career shooting % was under 11% before his 16% last year--hello, regression to the mean. Read shot over 14%, which is likely unsustainable. Eric Wellwood? Who? He of 9 pts in 29 games for the Phantoms? Who's worried about him? Laughton is a nice prospect, and will be a solid player in a few years, but he's far from an offensive dynamo, even in the OHL.
They've bled a TON of offensive talent over the last two years. They're not nearly as deep as they were two years ago, or even last year.
