The New Unending Flyers thread

[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!

[Austinfan]

The Cates line has been lights out for the last month, xGF% close to 70%, which is ridiculous.
And they're not sheltered since Torts considers Cates and Foerster two of his best defensive forwards.
Whether they can sustain this level of play remains to be seen, but they're clearly the best line right now.

Cates has worked hard to improve, his skating went from below average two years ago to average and now above average. He played on a defense first team in college, and has struggled to shift to a more offense oriented role.

People should listen to Torts' pressers on "X", it'll shock you how reasonable and mellow and patient he's become, even with some of the media fools. Age will do that to you. He's never going to be a cliche spouter, which to me is a good thing.

[LegoDoom]

You should also realize that dead legs are only a thing in short series. Where has Tippett been the last 3 games? It's conditioning and efficient skating that keeps you from dead legs.

Torts is going to keep the team relevant while not actually advancing it.

[zambonir]

The grind and pace of the NHL schedule is something he's never experienced before, by a significant factor (he's already played 35 games this year; his career high is 47).

Of course he also played yesterday, and scored a goal. Some will say that means the benching worked, others that it really didn't make a difference. But either way, nothing to see here.

[LegoDoom]

Literally the worst time to make the grind of the schedule argument.

He's also young. We are now narrowing down fresh legs to an age group? It has nothing to do with that.

[zambonir]

But he was playing badly and looked tired. Even after the holiday break.

Anyway, doesn't matter. In the end Torts said he didn't play him in the third because he didn't trust his defense in a close game. Which is a bit of a paradox obviously. Regardless, he's a very young rookie and a work in progress who needs coaching. Both on and off the ice. And Torts is the coach.

[LegoDoom]

Has Tippett looked tired? Was he benched?

Torts is awful.

[Austinfan]

Tippett never looks tired. He's a f----g horse.
He's also 6'2 210 and one of the fastest players in the NHL.
He punishes other players.

[zambonir]

You say that as if it's not possible Tortorella wouldn't bench a veteran at any time! But there's still a big difference between those two players in terms of their experience (both with playing 80 games a year and playing NHL hockey in general).

And the Flyers won the game in which Michkov was benched because he wasn't trust to play defense, and lost the game in which he had two points. Sure, bad coach.

[LegoDoom]

Tippett never looks tired. He's a f----g horse.
He's also 6'2 210 and one of the fastest players in the NHL.
He punishes other players.

Are you actually watching the games? He disappeared because he skates over his feet. He's not efficient and is the definition of dead legs.

Tippett is going to make $6M+ for the next 8 seasons. He's a 40-50 point player. You keep talking about advanced stats, but him being a "horse" isn't an advanced stat. I think a decent comparison is Jagr because of the playing style. Jagr had 54 points at age 39 for the Flyers.