The Ended Flyers Thread

[Squire]

I was watching last night too. I normally prefer when we get higher ranked guys but I don't think I have ever heard commentators GUSH about a pick that was "off the board a little" than they did with O'Brien. So I'm fine with it. Especially since they took a chalk pick at 14. Would love to get one of the better ranked D guys (Samuelsson or Wilde) today but we don't have much valuable ammo to move up from 50.

[flyers19rw]

Bill Meltzer predicted that the Flyers would make their two picks in the first round and not make any deals with them. He was correct on that. He also didn't think that the Flyers would trade any of their current players over the weekend. We'll see how that goes today. Further, he felt that the Flyers would be marginal players in FA on July 1. If he is right with that as well, its going to be a boring summer for the team's followers. Maybe that's where the franchise is now. Develop the talent that it has and allow it to fill in where it merits. It could be boring but effective.

[jimbomill]

I saw Farabee as high as number 5. Same service had O'Brien as #55.

NHL Draft big board: Final rankings of top 100 prospects in 2018 class

[jimbomill]

On first blush, I'd have preferred Merkley or Kupari, too, amongst others.

[LegoDoom]

In case you want way too much information, this site has a lot of statistical analysis and a takes note of other sites that rank players. If you scroll to the bottom, they have the top-100 players ranked with write-ups.

CANUCKSARMY’S 2018 NHL DRAFT PROFILES: #14 Joel Farabee

[flyers19rw]

So many of these scouting sites focus on players who were considered to be hot going into their draft years. These are the ones that get picked for the U-18 squads. O’Brien was too old for the U-18 teams but too young for last year’s draft so he was caught in limbo. The best that he could do was play at Thayer Academy against U.S. high school competition. He did that and put up ridiculous numbers making him the H.S. Player of the year. Guys like him fall through the cracks on scouting services. Fortunately the Flyers scouts caught on to him and they beat other organizations to him.
Before the draft Hextall said he was looking for some potential scorers. With O’Brien and Farabee he nailed two of them. Hextall is a straight shooter. If people listen closely to what he says, he usually does exactly that. As a fan, I appreciate that. Look for Simmonds to be extended soon. Why? Because Hextall said that was what he wanted to do-unless the numbers get silly from Simmer’s side.

[jimbomill]

So many of these scouting sites focus on players who were considered to be hot going into their draft years. These are the ones that get picked for the U-18 squads. O’Brien was too old for the U-18 teams but too young for last year’s draft so he was caught in limbo. The best that he could do was play at Thayer Academy against U.S. high school competition. He did that and put up ridiculous numbers making him the H.S. Player of the year. Guys like him fall through the cracks on scouting services. Fortunately the Flyers scouts caught on to him and they beat other organizations to him.

That's good additional detail, thanks!

[LegoDoom]

Rumors are that the Flyers will sign JVR. 5 years @ ~$7M per.

James van Riemsdyk expected to sign with the Flyers on Sunday

[Squire]

Hey it worked for Nick Foles and the Eagles. Anyway; I am guessing that Simmonds might be on the move now

[xogfog]

Andrew McDonald hurt himself while working out, going to miss around 6 weeks, but it doesn't sound like they don't want to bring up Myers, they think he needs more time in the AHL,

Right now, they have Gostisbehere, Provorov, Sanheim, Hagg, Gudas and Christian Folin (who they picked up in the offseason, likely to be their 7th defenseman. Morin is out until Feb, recovering from his injury. Now you are probably looking at T.J. Brennan, Reece Willcox or Mark Friedman as the 7th unless they bring in a free agent vet

Flyers Rookie camp starts on Monday at the Skate Zone in Voorhees NJ. The practices there on Mon, Tue and Wed are free to to the public, if you want go get some glimpses of Morgan Frost and Carter Hart, etc...

[xogfog]

Well, no Morgan Frost this year, he was sent back to his Junior team. Apparently, the injury to MacDonald is not as bad as initially feared, so he may not miss much time.

[Austinfan]

Myers has an inside track for a top six job, when they start playing a prospect almost every exhibition game, usually means they're testing their stamina for a 82 game season, and so far Vorobyev and Myers are passing with flying colors.

[flyers19rw]

Lindblom with two goals in the first period tonight. Time for him to break through. He's going to be a beast.

[Philsmania]

The Phanatic, Swoop, Franklin and the Union's snake have a new friend and he is going over like a lead balloon.

Social media reacts to the Flyers' new mascot

[LegoDoom]

I didn't see the 3rd period last night, but I thought the Flyers got outplayed in the 1st and were decent in the 2nd. A few favorable bounces and a bad game from Fleury, but I'll take it. If the Voracek-Patrick-Lindblom line can come around, then I think the 3rd line is pretty solid.

Stolarz waived for Pickard. I'm not sure I've seen Pickard, but this is a little surprising unless Stolarz isn't 100% healthy.

Oh, and Gritty is awesome!

[Austinfan]

Picard has NHL experience, 2 years as a backup, 1 year as a starter in Colorado when he struggled behind a tanking team. Also has a better AHL career than Stolarz and is only 26 years old.

Stolarz needs to go to the AHL, play some games behind Hart and show that the knee is 100%.
I doubt anyone claims him on waivers, have to keep him on the roster for 30 days.

Vorobyev was a 4th rd steal, Lindblom a 5th rd steal, it's nice to accumulate draft picks, even better when you make good use of them.

[LegoDoom]

JVR to miss 5-6 weeks with a lower body injury. Weal to replace him on the 3rd line. Lindblom to replace him on the 2nd PP unit. I'm not sure there is a big dropoff on the PP unit as I think Lindblom can excel there if he can handle the physical play in front of the net. He has good hands a nose for the net, so he could do well there.

[Lawman]

Gritty. Someone please explain.

[zambonir]

Well, Scott Hartnell needed a job after hockey.

It was funny how mocked it was initially but now twentysomethings on the Internet love him and it seems kids love him and that's pretty much who your customer base is. Just surprised they didn't call him Bully.

[bkeich]

Is it time to start wondering if Dave Hackstol is a problem, or at least not a solution? This team has some quality players, with 2 lines of guys that any team would want, but all of them are being wasted as they are all aging together and getting to the age where decline is likely very soon. We just are not seeing any improvement, the same issues exist, poor penalty killing, only 1 power play unit that does anything, the other is almost completely useless (although did score a few nights ago), good defense with the same momentary, horrible lapses and goal keeping that is not "shutdown" when it needs to be. Is it not enough talent or is Hackstol just not able to do any better than "average"? I honestly don't know. Are their issues in Scheme? It seems like when we need a goal we rarely get it and when we need to shut down the other team too often we get beat.

This team looks exactly like last years, which looks exactly like the one before. No real progress is being made and our core is going to start to age, which is a shame, because we have 4-5 really good offensive players but the next group doesnt seem to have that guy that will compete for scoring titles.