Flyers Spend Weekend Treading Water
John Saquella | Oct 26, 2009 | Comments 6
It was the best of times…..wait, I already stole this line from Dickens in an earlier blog. The Flyers took two steps forward and one step back this weekend. Simon Gagne scored his first goal of the season. Braydon Coburn’s struggles continued. James van Riemsdyk scored his first NHL goal. The Flyers followed a good effort against Florida with a questionable one against San Jose.
Stuff I saw:
Mike Richards’ hit on David Booth was clean and legal. If, at the last instant, Booth doesn’t turn his head, it’s nothing more than a big shoulder to shoulder hit. Richards didn’t hit Booth late, he didn’t leave his feet, he didn’t lead with his elbow, he didn’t hit booth from behind and he didn’t intentionally go for Booth’s head. It’s unfortunate that Booth, a dynamite young player is hurt. But it was just a good hit with a bad result.
Gagne’s goal was the result of him going into a high traffic area and making an aggressive move to bury the puck. His game has still ebbed and flowed a bit between being a smart aggressive player and being a tentative, hesitant one, but it seems getting off the schnide was a huge step for Gagne.
I think it’s time to break up the pairing of and Kimmo Timonen. Both guys are struggling, Coburn more noticeably so. Head coach John Stevens actually did separate them Sunday, pairing Timonen with Danny Syvret and Coburn with OK Tollefsen.
On the subject of changes, Stevens juggled his lines in the Florida and the results were evident in the game, a 5-1 win. I’m not sure if Stevens was sending messages with the line changes, or if it was an effort to ignite Gagne and Scott Hartnell.
Jeff Carter has been absolutely snake bitten this season.
Brian Boucher really struggled in his first start of the year against the Sharks. He allowed 4 goals, and every single one could be called weak to some degree. Hopefully, Boucher is just shedding rust, because if he isn’t, Ray Emery might have to play 81 games.
The disturbing trends continue to a point. The Flyers had a rough patch in the first period of the Florida game on Saturday, then came out and dominated the final 2 periods. Against San Jose, they never seemed to really be going after the game as hard as they are capable of playing. They got a ton of shots on Thomas Greiss, but most of them were from the outside and few times was there a lot of traffic in front of Greiss. That isn’t a recipe for a win against a team as good as San Jose.
Stevens’ trend of holding less important players responsible holds, as he tossed Boucher under the bus in last night’s post game presser. No comments on Coburn and his 3rd worst in the NHL +/-. No word on Hartnell and Gagne who have 2 goals between them while eating up almost $10mm in cap space between them. No mention of Richards winning just 18% of his faceoffs. This inability to hold guys accountable evenly is a growing issue.
Filed Under: Featured • Philadelphia Flyers
The issue I have with the Richards hit is why is it legal? It’s a head shot, regardless of which body part you hit the other player. Isn’t the shoulder one of the hardest places on a hockey player’s body? Bob Mackenzie was on Montreal radio today and he brought this issue up… this is a kind of hit that just somehow became legal and there’s no clear reason why it is… it just isn’t illegal.
But people will get up in arms when someone goes for a somewhat low hipcheck like last night in the LA/CBJ game…
IMO a headshot is a headshot, and you can’t blame Richards for going for it as it isn’t illegal and he did have an opportunity, but they’re violent and dangerous and shouldn’t be in the game.
The problem is, if Booth doesn’t turn his head at the last possible moment before contact, Richards’ should makes contact with Booth’s shoulder.
I would have no problem with suspending guys who deliver blatant and obviously intentional headshots. I don’t think Richards was trying for Booth’s melon. He just wanted to land a good hit.
I won’t go as far as saying the hit was dirty, but a shoulder right to Booth’s cheek is a head shot.
It was a head shot, but it was not an intentional headshot. Looking at the replay a number of times, had Booth not turned his head at the last instant, Richards’ shoulder hits him on the shoulder, making it not a head shot.
Headshots, intentional or not, simply don’t need to be in the game. Booth may have been an idiot for turning away from the hit and I’ve always seen the reasoning behind that, but the day is approaching when someone is going to get killed on the ice, and something needs to be done about it.
Once again… intentional or not… it’s still dangerous.
And I know it’s a contact sport, but it’s a sport, and the goal is to score goals and win not hurt the opposing team, whether the former can be accomplished by the latter.
I know Richards isn’t a dirty player and I can see why he didn’t suspended, but they’re not going to get rid of headshots by ignoring these kinds of hits…
So what should Stevens do, bench Coburn, Hartnell, and Gagne? And play who? All 3 need to be better and play through it. This team can’t be a top team without those 3 playing up to their potential. This Coach has a struggling top 4 defensive pairing. Gagne, Hartnell, and Giroux all need to provide more points than they have been so far. Yet they have a winning record. The play of those players isn’t the Coaches fault. Boucher deserved to be called out. He was horrible. I don’t care who he mentions to the press. I care about what he says to the the team and the players. If Stevens deserves criticism than so does Holmgren. This team lacks some skill. They really miss Knuble right now. They have quality role players, but a lack of scoring line players. That’s evident in their 5 on 5 play. Even more compounded by the early Season struggles of Gagne, Hartnell, and Giroux to provide scoring.