The New Unending Flyers thread

[Aquapong]

16 non empty net goals in the last 3 games. The Flyers stopped playing defense when December came and they are 1-6-1 since.

[Aquapong]

Andrae sent to the Phantoms. Interesting move since he seemed to be doing well. Honestly I would have considered Drysdale first, but I’m not sure if he needs to go through waivers.

[Austinfan]

Drysdale and Zamula are out of options, Andrae is down for the X-mas freeze in case they have to call up a forward.

Real problem is what to do with Fedotov.

[zambonir]

He'll probably clear waivers and go down, they just don't want to do that yet, especially with Ersson either struggling or not 100%.

[xogfog]

Flyers down 2-0 heading into the 3rd period, win 5-4 in OT.

[xogfog]

Flyers end win streak with 1, lost 7-3 to Penguins, not as bad as it sounds, two empty netters for the Penguins after a 5-3 game.

[xogfog]

Flyers beat Anaheim and the traitor, 3-1

[Austinfan]

Cates line is red hot, continues to be their best line.

[zambonir]

Guess the Flyers have their J.D. Drew

[flyers19rw]

Tortorella benched Michkov for the second half of the game. Briere needs to intervene and stop this nonsense.

[Austinfan]

Michkov has dead legs, just compare him a month ago to the way he's playing now.
He just turned 20, he's not a big player, and he's not used to the NHL schedule or competition.
38 games in 3 months v 47 games last year in a full KHL season.

[jimbomill]

he's not used to the NHL schedule or competition

Still, isn't the better approach to rest is to not suit him up at all? You can then suit up another player to take a regular shift.

[flyers19rw]

I doubt that Michkov has dead legs. He is twenty which should mean that his legs are strong enough for this game. He’s accustomed to Russian hockey which has more motion and skating to it than NA hockey. Watching him play, I sense that the difference in playing styles is what frustrates Michkov more than anything else. What he needs is more ice time to get involved with the NA style of play. Participating teaches more than watching.

[VoteForKalas]

Rookies hit walls all the time during a season. Torts knows what he is doing and I'm sure is communicating with Michkov.

He is having a successful season so far and needs to continue making the transition to the NHL level.

[zambonir]

Torts and Briere are clearly on the same page. Michkov has already been scratched a few times and that may be what happens next. He was in a slump, and the break didn't help.

[phillychuck]

"Torts knows what he is doing."

I'm not sure that opinion is unanimous...

Personally, I think Torts is seriously lacking in personnel management skills and his hockey acumen is questionable at best. He and his chosen assistant coach certainly suck at creating a viable power play, for instance. I guess it's not serious until Michkov requests a trade, though.

[LegoDoom]

Michkov has dead legs, just compare him a month ago to the way he's playing now.
He just turned 20, he's not a big player, and he's not used to the NHL schedule or competition.
38 games in 3 months v 47 games last year in a full KHL season.

So a 20 year old has dead legs? It's the way you are conditioned, not your age.

You also love Cates for some reason. Yes, I liked him on the national team and Duluth, but he is a good player on a lower line on a good team. Just trade him to a team that can actually use him for the appropriate role.

[zambonir]

The PP issues are notable. But I don't see where this team has been anything other than better than its personnel, or where Torts' coaching style hasn't been A) effective and B) flexible. The players who have gotten better with him, or come out of their blow-ups with him better, outnumber the ones who haven't (and those guys may have never been good enough to begin with which is also part of the point).

It's certainly possible he's not the coach next year with MIchkove here unexpectedly soon but that was always true anyway.

[VoteForKalas]

Torts is one of a kind, but he has been a NHL head coach for over 35 years, won 742 games, been coach of the year twice and won a Cup. He is also the first American coach to win 500 games. In other words, he walks into the HOF when he retires.

As Z said, he has developed many young players successfully. Does his style work with everyone? No, but many who have complained about his high standards and toughness have shown at the time or later it was more about them than him.

I like what he has done here so far. He may not be here when we finally win something, but he will have helped us get there. I have always thought of him as similar to Larry Brown.

[zambonir]

I have always thought of him as similar to Larry Brown.

As opposed to Larry Bowa!