Time for a Switcheroo

Coburn Returns

So far this season the Philadelphia Flyers defense has been less than spectacular.  The lack of speed and lateral movement has been exposed in a league that is quickly moving in the direction of speed and athletic ability.

The return of Braydon Coburn will help the defense either tonight in Chicago or tomorrow in Pittsburgh.

Coburn may not be a sexy defenseman and will never be considered for a Norris trophy, but his skill set is desperately missed.

His penalty killing skills are missed along with his mobility and puck movement skills.  Having him in the lineup will stabilize a defensive corps that has been lit up over the past few games.

During the playoffs last year the New York Rangers took advantage of Ray Emery’s lack of lateral movement, allowing them to beat the Flyers in seven games.

Last weekend the Dallas Stars took advantage of the Philadelphia Flyers lack of mobility on the blue line and chased Steve Mason from the game.

The Flyers did come back and get their first win of the season coming from behind, but the lack of speed and movement on the blue line was exposed by a young, quick skating team.

Break up the top Lines

Last week I mentioned breaking up the top line of MichaelRaffl, Claude Giroux, and Jakub Voracek based on their even strength play so far this year.

The idea has gained traction elsewhere and as a further suggestion to that point I would swap Wayne Simmonds for Voracek on the right side of the top line dropping Voracek to the second line opposite Brayden Schenn and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

The benefits would be adding Simmonds physical play to the top line, replacing the physical, dirty work done by Scott Hartnell, who was traded to Columbus Blue Jackets in the offseason.

The addition of Voracek to the second line would add some skating and playmaking ability to a second line that was a bit too physical with both Schenn and Simmonds on the wings.

In short the idea of swapping Voracek and Simmonds allows a better balance in the top two lines which appear to be leaning a bit too much on the skating and physical sides. 

Goaltending

Last season, Steve Mason appeared to have regained the Calder Trophy form and the Flyers gave him a short contract extension.

This season Mason appears to be reverting back to the form that caused Columbus to trade him. 

During the Dallas Stars game they did not just expose the Flyers lack of mobility on defense, they were able to chase Steve Mason from the game.

His 3.78 GAA and .865 save percentage is not enough to get the job done.

The Flyers have latched onto this small problem the last few years where they give up the early goals and are forced into a position of playing from behind for most of the game. 

When they play from behind it puts more pressure on the team; most of all the goaltender.  In order for the Flyers succeed, the Flyers need better play from Steve Mason, who needs to regain the form that has endured him to Flyers fans since being traded.

Trade Rumors

It is the back end of October and the annual Coburn and Couturier to Edmonton rumors have started.  I heard it will be a blockbuster 25 team deal with the Flyers getting Weber and Ryan.  Sarcasm mode off.

Philadelphia Flyers Week in Review – Not the Start we Expected

The first week of the 2014-15 NHL season started out on a difficult note for the Philadelphia Flyers.  They opened the season with a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins where they played quite well against a team that is expected to contend for Lord Stanley’s Cup.

The next night saw the Flyers drop a 6-4 game to the New Jersey Devils where they fell behind early, came back, but were not able to pull out a victory.

The third game of the week saw the Flyers fall to the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-3 shootout loss which saw the Flyers collapse in the 3rd period after jumping out to a 3-0 lead.

Last night saw the Flyers fall behind early to the Anaheim Ducks, in what has become commonplace over the last few years, rally to tie the game before falling once again in the shootout.

I will take a quick look at the first two games and skip the third for the most part, since I chose to watch the Phantoms opener against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.  A game that the Phantoms won convincingly 5-2.

Starting with the game against the Boston Bruins the Flyers played a solid game.  The fourth line of Zac Rinaldo, Jason Akeson, and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare were the most impressive.  They used their plus skating ability to move the puck up ice and disrupt the Bruins offense with the exception being Zac Rinaldo penalty early on which led to a goal.

With the role of the slow, physical enforcer on the decline fourth lines across the league will be looked at to provide energy and grit without resorting to dropping the gloves and the fourth line did just that.

The effort was solid for the entire game and despite falling short the game gave fans hope coming into the season opener.

The second game saw the Flyers start slow falling behind 3-0 before clawing back to tie the game at 3 before ultimately falling 6-4. 

Much has been made of the play from the line of Luke Schenn and Michael Del Zotto, who were a minus five and minus four respectively, but not enough talk has been focused on the play of Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Michael Raffl who were all minus four each. 

Through the first four games the top line has not been effective enough.  The Brayden Schenn experiment was ended quite fast and they seem to be out of position at times.

On Saturday night, I missed most of the Montreal Canadiens game, choosing to catch the season opener for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms as they took on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. 

The Phantoms won the game easily 5-2 with a number of players filling the score sheet.  They looked like the sharper team from the drop of the puck and easily handled a Penguins team that appeared out of sync.

Of particular note Mark Alt and Robert Hagg were by far the best two players on the ice and the top defensive pairing.  Chris Vandevelde is an early favorite to be called up if GM Ron Hextall deems it necessary to call up a forward.

Highly touted defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere played a good game, but he showed why he needs a year of seasoning at the AHL level.  Standing at only 5' 11" and 170 pounds Shayne Gostisbehere needs to adjust to a faster pace, playing against guys weighing 50 pounds heavier than him, and the mental aspects required to succeed at this level.

There is one small area that needs adjusting; playing until the end of his shift.  On one occasion Gostisbehere skated from end to end with the puck dumping it in deep to a forward.  Instead of taking a hard stride and turning around the face the play, he took three small strides with his back to the play.  If his deep forward lost the puck Gostisbehere would have his back to the play, giving the defense the chance to skate or push the puck past him for a break.

Notes:

A quick observation from watching the first two games is that the Flyers need to play less like a team on the ice and become more selfish.  Over the years when the team is not scoring they have a penchant for making that extra pass. 

The Flyers need to stop taking that extra pass and look to shoot more.  While they are getting a more than acceptable amount of shots the quality could be much better.  When the shot totals are tallied post-game how many quality chances do you remember? 

In terms of Braydon Schenn, it appears as though the LW experiment on the top line opposite Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek has come to a strange end during the New Jersey Devils game.

While it is odd that the experiment would be cut short so fast his replacement, Michael Raffl, was a disaster logging a -4 in only 8:28 of even strength ice time.

While it may appear that they are playing well; an elite player in Claude Giroux centering the top line they should be doing much more.  In short, the line should be dominating opponents.  Instead, when they are on the ice and they appear to be just playing acceptable hockey.

In terms of overall play the Flyers going into Tuesday night's game, the Flyers are the second least penalized team in the NHL.  An emphasis on discipline is shown with a faster skating team that continues to play physical yet understands the lines drawn on the ice.

Zac Rinaldo, in particular, is playing a more restrained game using his natural plus skating talent  to provide energy to the fourth line.

In fact the fourth line has been the best line this season without scoring many goals.  They are skating, hitting, and playing with discipline while not putting themselves in the penalty box proving that the Flyers do not need a pugilistic line to be effective.

Wayne Simmonds is the best player on the Flyers right now.  His hot start is making a strong case for him to be inserted alongside Claude Giroux instead of Jakub Voracek.

Mark Streit, on the other hand is clearly showing his age early on this season, moving slower, but still able to handle the responsibilities on the top defensive pairing.

Steve Mason appears to be reverting back to Columbus form.  He has let in a number of goals that should have been stopped.  A low start or mean reversion is disconcerting after last year’s breakout.

I think it would be for the best if the following changes were made to the lines.

1.  Michael Del Zotto needs a better partner than Luke Schenn on defense.  His speed is sorely needed on the back line and a better partner would strengthen the overall defense.

2.  The pairing of Jakub Voracek and Claude Giroux should be broken up with Voracek pushed down off the top line.  Last night’s lack of effort from Voracek in the shootout when compared with the effort shown by Claude Girous is disconcerting.  Wayne Simmonds right now appears to be the best partner for Claude Giroux. 

The Flyers need a better goal song, again.

2014-15 Philadelphia Flyers Goaltending and Defense

Defense

The much maligned defense of last season will be returning once again for the 2014-15 campaign with the addition of Michael Del Zotto who is replacing Kimmo Timonen.

Starting with the top pairing of Andrew MacDonald and Braydon Coburn the Flyers will get two workhorse, yet unexciting, defensemen whose jack-of-all-trades skills are underappreciated by Flyers fans.

Coburn led the team in total ice time last year with 22:26 per game and MacDonald jumped into the fray with the second most ice time tallying 21:59 since his arrival late last year from the New York Islanders.

On the penalty kill Coburn tallied 3:59 of ice time leading more than the team; his shorthanded ice time lead the entire NHL greatly contributing to the Flyers being one of the top shorthanded teams in the league.

While much has been made by fans of his giveaways, Coburn’s giveaways are far less than the top defensemen in the NHL.

This pairing is not a sexy top line defensive pairing, but both Coburn and MacDonald will log a lot of minutes and do a lot of the dirty work while not gaining a significant amount of attention.

The second pairing of Nicklas Grossman and Mark Streit provide the smooth skating and power play QB roles that fans will be watching closely.  Streit will provide the puck movement and smooth skating necessary to push the play up ice while Grossman hangs back in a defense role.

This pairing may be the most interesting to watch.  Grossman is known for his shot blocking and stay at home skills nicely complements Streit’s offensive prowess. 

The final pairing of Michael Del Zotto and Luke Schenn are two defensemen looking for redemption after disappointing campaigns last year. 

Luke Schenn showed some flashes of the skills that made the Flyers take a risk by trading for him two seasons ago, but last year reverted back into his old, bad habits.  The Flyers are hoping that this year he can once again show the skills that made the Flyers take a chance on him.

Michael Del Zotto is a smooth skating defenseman who has yet to live up to his potential with both the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators.  Teams were wary to sign him allowing the Flyers to pick him up on a one year low-risk contract.

While Del Zotto will not replace Kimmo Timonen he will be given a significant opportunity with the Flyers to help fill Timonen’s 3:25 of ice time per game on the power play.  While nobody expects Del Zotto to completely fill Timonen’s shoes he is being given the opportunity to make a significant impact with the Flyers on special teams.

This pairing will be seen as a reclamation pairing for the season with Schenn having the most to prove.

Nick Schultz will be the teams seventh defenseman and called upon to provide a veteran presence on the blueline should one of the regulars go down.

While not sexy the defensive corps for the Flyers were more than able to hold their own last year and will be asked to do the same this year until the next generation of Flyers defensemen are ready to take their place.

Goaltending

The tandem of Steve Mason and Ray Emery will be back for another season between the pipes for the Flyers.  While not a sexy combination, Steve Mason has solidified his game since coming over from Columbus and Ray Emery has filled in as an adequate backup. 

This pairing may be of greater concern if Steve Mason goes down for an extended period of time as Ray Emery’s lack of lateral movement was exposed is last years seven game playoff series with the New York Rangers.

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Tomorrow my thoughts on the upcoming season for the Flyers.

Follow me on Twitter @dcurban1.