Concerned, but not.

[Ernie Hudson]

The thing is you might not have to trade much for a "stop-gap" At the deadline, I bet someone like Bouwmeester might be had for a 2nd and 3rd round pick...

So J-Bo was on ice for 6 of 7. But I'm just curious what his Ice time is, and how many were PP goals where he was defender... He is a mobil D-man that can be had for cheap because of his contract. And his contract expires at the perfect time for the Flyers, the year Giroux, Schenn, and Couts are RFA.

To be honest I really don't want him, but he wouldn't be a bad option to add for the playoffs if there is no-one else. You dont have to trade anyone for him.

My hope is that if we can make it to the playoffs, that Colorado bottoms out so we can make a deal for Jan Hejda or somethin. Obviously anybody would want either Landeskog or Erik Johnson, but I'm not so sure they'd be easy to acquire.

[1908_Cubs]

My hope is that if we can make it to the playoffs, that Colorado bottoms out so we can make a deal for Jan Hejda or somethin. Obviously anybody would want either Landeskog or Erik Johnson, but I'm not so sure they'd be easy to acquire.

Jan Hedja: more of the same.

Older, slow, shot blocking defesnemen? We have enough slow footed d-men right now. We have enough older d-men right now. What we should be looking for defensively is exactly the opposide of Jan Hedja.

[Youarewrong]

Jan Hedja: more of the same.

Older, slow, shot blocking defesnemen? We have enough slow footed d-men right now. We have enough older d-men right now. What we should be looking for defensively is exactly the opposide of Jan Hedja.

How about that Number 1 pick Seth Jones! If the Flyers arent that great this year, then they should try and move up the the draft to get him. He will be a stud. But fear not, they will be fine, and they will pick up a puck moving D-man either soon if they dont turn things around, or before the deadline. Its a shame they didn't give Ghost a shot. I wonder why? Is he in college or Major Juniors?

[StryderSox]

agreed. team is full of young talent. I mean you wanna go guys 25 and younger:

G
Voracek
Simmonds
B. Schenn
L. Schenn
Couts
Read (ok so he's 26)
Gustaffson
Laughton


only real problem i see there is that out of those guys only 2 are defensemen. that being said, their draft pick from this past draft, Gostisbehere, has really impressed. i watched those world junior games during the lockout. the kid can play. skates well, really moves the puck, has a pretty damn good shot from the point. he's not a big, physical guy, but he can really move the puck and skate. i like what i've seen from him thus far.


the team really does have some great young pieces. it may take a while to develop but it will be worth it in the end. teams like chicago, pittsburgh, and even now edmonton can be used as examples of that.

100% on board with this plan. Whats the worst thing that could happen? We crap out and miss the playoffs in a 48 game shortened season and get a top 10 pick to add to the youth we have? I can live with that and then we go looking for some good young defenseman in the offseason. I think this is a great year to evaluate exactly where we are at with all these young guys and find out which ones are the real deal.

The sky is not falling people. Take a deep breath.

[StryderSox]

How about that Number 1 pick Seth Jones! If the Flyers arent that great this year, then they should try and move up the the draft to get him. He will be a stud. But fear not, they will be fine, and they will pick up a puck moving D-man either soon if they dont turn things around, or before the deadline. Its a shame they didn't give Ghost a shot. I wonder why? Is he in college or Major Juniors?

^^^ THIS depending on the cost. I think I would wet myself if we were able to trade up to get this kid cause he is going to be a stud on the back end.

[Ernie Hudson]

Jan Hedja: more of the same.

Older, slow, shot blocking defesnemen? We have enough slow footed d-men right now. We have enough older d-men right now. What we should be looking for defensively is exactly the opposide of Jan Hedja.

Yeah but I'd rather see Hejda take the number 6 spot over Foster, Gervais or god forbid Lilja anyday. He's a pretty damn good puck moving d-man too and is like a club bouncer on the blue line, nobody gets in on his watch. Also I'm one of the few people who thought that trading JVR for Luke Schenn was not a great move. I watched a lot of Leafs games these past two years (among many other teams) with Center Ice and I saw enough of his work to get a grasp on him. It seemed like anytime he was on the ice the Leafs were getting scored on. Above all that, he turns the puck over way too often and takes stupid penalties. JVR was becoming too injury prone but he was atleast useful offensively. I understand it had to happen because we were lookin to bulk up the defense and not to mention a guy with a right handed shot. I also understand that people were excited about the idea of having the Schenn brothers on the same team. To me that **** doesn't matter at all, but I guess I can understand it. And listen I'm not trying to give the guy any **** because he's only 23 years old and he's still got time to develop and pull the lead out of his *** but so far he hasn't done anything to make me believe that he's worth it.

In reality the guys I wanted the most were Shea Weber or Lubo Visnovsky. We missed out on Weber and it doesn't look like Lubo will be coming back to the NHL anytime soon. He's a great example of a puck moving d-man, he's got the hard right handed shot with brilliant accuracy and he's almost guaranteed to put up 10-15-20 goals which is phenomenal for a defenseman. His only flaw is every now and then he's bested by your Kovalchuks, your Heatleys, your Havlats etc any guy who can dance around a d-man, but who doesn't fall flat on their face when it comes to those guys? Hell, I love a defenseman who can score and you know what, we could definitley use some of that. Especially if our boys up front don't start steppin it up.

I mean there's a bunch of possible options, I mainly just threw Hejda's name out there because I'm predicitng Colorado's gonna miss the playoffs again and be willing to move a couple guys, with the exception of Erik Johnson who's a young strong defenseman who has a nice scoring touch and Landeskog who's eventually gonna grow to be an excellent top 10 goal scoring forward. But as far as Hejda goes, he can always be found wherever the puck is and he's not afraid to jump in front of a hard slap shot, which at this time, we're lookin like we need to throw Bryz a bone here with that type of help. He's delivering some tight *** netminding right now but all the guys in front are leavin him hangin, there's only so much he can do.

How about that Number 1 pick Seth Jones! If the Flyers arent that great this year, then they should try and move up the the draft to get him. He will be a stud. But fear not, they will be fine, and they will pick up a puck moving D-man either soon if they dont turn things around, or before the deadline. Its a shame they didn't give Ghost a shot. I wonder why? Is he in college or Major Juniors?

Hey Youarewrong, I figured I'd ask you cuz I can't find any current info on Gus. Is he still injured? And if so what's the estimated time table for his return?

[Randall Stevens]

honestly, idk about this offense. Too soon for any decisions on that matter with Briere missing, but Briere is sadly the only legit goal scorer/sniper left on this team. MAYBE Read will develop into one. But...

-Giroux and Voracek are really best as playmakers (Giroux can obviously shoot, but lets face it hes a playmaker)
-Hartnell and Simmonds are power forwards who can put up dirty goals.
-Couturier, Schenn, and Laughton are your 2way/effort guys.

By no longer having JVR and Jagr, I think this team has a huge void in the regular season goal scorer dept. NYR rely on Gaborik (and now Nash), Devils have Kovy, etc etc. Not like JVR ever managed to fill that role for this team, but the idea was any day now he would be the guy.

I start looking into goal scoring snipers on the trading block for whenever the deadline is. Only one I can think of is the obvious in Mr. Cherry Hill, because I really think this team needs their shoot-first go-to-guy for 30+ goals in a season. Cant expect Hartnell to pull that off every year.

[johnnyonthespot]

not looking good......hartnell either broke or fractured his foot

[Randall Stevens]

not looking good......hartnell either broke or fractured his foot

http://www.csnphilly.com/hockey-phil...373&feedID=704

so tomorrow night we'll see last years offense, but without JVR, Jagr, Hartnell, Briere, or Schenn.

[jc27]

That top pick in the draft is looking good!

[im_cruzin]

JVR update. 3 points against the Pens, was dominant. Is the first sighting of him in the three games.

[Ace23]

There is serious potential but almost all of this is on the shoulder of two kids who are 21 and 20, not only to step up and be contributors, but step up and be amazingly important pieces. We're talking kids who, in a full season, would have been counted on 50-60 points when neither topped 30 last year. They'd have had to have doubled their production coming into this season. Counting on Voracek who's been around a 50 point player to step up and add 10-15 points.

The expectations of the young kids seems to be out of whack. They're good kids. Real good. But they struggled to dominate at the AHL level. I don't quite trust them yet. We're seeing how much trouble we're having without Briere right now in generating scoring.

We're great long term, but we're a long shot cup team today. We're around a top 10 team, but we're not a top team.

And yes, while NJ was a shock last year, LA was not. LA was considered pre-season as a real possibility.

LA was considered a middle-of-the-road team by the Vegas oddsmakers pre-season.

They were ranked below (no particular order):

Washington
Vancouver
San Jose
Detroit
Chicago
Boston
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay

In fact, mid-season at the all star break, ten (10) teams had better odds to win the Cup.

Just saying.

[Randall Stevens]

LA was considered a middle-of-the-road team by the Vegas oddsmakers pre-season.

They were ranked below (no particular order):

Washington
Vancouver
San Jose
Detroit
Chicago
Boston
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Tampa Bay

In fact, mid-season at the all star break, ten (10) teams had better odds to win the Cup.

Just saying.

ehhh I agree with Cubs, I remember post trades/free agency last year and the "experts" were all predicting the Kings would go far (mainly after the Richards deal and signing Gagne)

JVR update. 3 points against the Pens, was dominant. Is the first sighting of him in the three games.

I thought for fun I'd check to see the +/- rating of Malkin and Neal for that game, lol didnt disappoint

[phillyeaglesman]

How about that Number 1 pick Seth Jones! If the Flyers arent that great this year, then they should try and move up the the draft to get him. He will be a stud. But fear not, they will be fine, and they will pick up a puck moving D-man either soon if they dont turn things around, or before the deadline. Its a shame they didn't give Ghost a shot. I wonder why? Is he in college or Major Juniors?

Ghost plays for Union College, currently in his sophomore season i believe.


like i said, idk if anyone else watched the junior worlds during the lockout, but i like what i saw from this kid. clearly not ready for the bigs just yet, but he's got great potential.

[Ace23]

ehhh I agree with Cubs, I remember post trades/free agency last year and the "experts" were all predicting the Kings would go far (mainly after the Richards deal and signing Gagne)



I thought for fun I'd check to see the +/- rating of Malkin and Neal for that game, lol didnt disappoint

It's easy to be an expert when you don't have money riding on it. I'm just saying, the people who make hundreds of millions of dollars a year doing this didn't think LA was for real. And to be frank, LA's offense was a joke until Jeff Carter (go figure) showed up after the trade deadline.