Yesterday's blog discussed at length my take on the short-term and long-range implications of Chris Pronger's impending month-long absence from the lineup on the heels of missing several games with a virus (which was a legitimate illness and not in and of itself a public cover for his ailing knee, according to reliable sources).
Today, we'll finish up the November in Review series with individual looks at the Flyers' defensemen and goalies in the recently completed slate of 12 games this month.
DEFENSEMEN
Chris Pronger: Temporary cap space from Pronger’s placement on the long-term injured reserve list does not even come close to making up for the impact of his absence. Without Pronger, even when the Flyers are winning, they often have to burn the candle at both ends in terms of managing their energy (all the penalties the team takes only exacerbate the issue).
The Flyers miss Pronger’s presence in all game situations and they miss his abrasive but caring style of leadership both on and off the ice. Pronger did not look like himself in his final game of November – we now know that it was due both to illness and knee inflammation. He also started the month on injured reserve after the scary eye injury in October. In between, he was just starting to recover his timing again.
November stats: 5 GP, 0 G, 5 A, 5 PTS, +5, 6 PIM
Kimmo Timonen: With Pronger having already missed 10 games, I shudder to think where the Flyers would be this season without Timonen. Game in and game out, the little Finnish warrior plays a lot of tough minutes for the team and battles from buzzer to buzzer. He’s mentally tough, rebounding quickly from mistakes or bad games (his worst game of the season was the home loss to Carolina).
When Pronger is around, Timonen does not have to shoulder such a heavy burden. When Pronger is not available, there’s a wear-down effect on the aging and undersized Timonen. The rest of the Flyers should protect Timonen for all they’re worth, because if he breaks down, too, this team is cooked.
Timonen has an incredible pain threshold to play through a variety of injuries but is only human– he suited up for every game last season by necessity, but had a variety of nagging ailments that he probably should have rested at times.
November stats: 12 GP, 0 G, 4 A, 4 PTS, +2, 6 PIM
Matt Carle: Carle is a divisive player, but I am among those who feel that there is sometimes too much emphasis on what he is not (physical, a shut-down defender or a first-option offensive defenseman) than what he is (a valuable puck-mover, occasional secondary offensive threat and more often than not at least decent in his own end of the ice). Carle had a stretch of a few rough games when Pronger first went down with the eye injury but then bounced back to some degree.
When the Pronger-Carle duo is intact, they work well together. When Pronger is injured, Carle needs to elevate his game in the same way he did during his partner’s post-Christmas (foot surgery) absence last year. Overall, the Flyers need Carle to be a little better than he's been without Pronger.
November stats: 12 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 4 PTS, +6, 0 PPG
Braydon Coburn: Coburn is never going to be the franchise-caliber defenseman some thought he’d be. He still has bouts of inconsistency and a tendency to try to do a little too much at times. Coburn is a very bright guy off the ice, and I’ve always thought he’s at his best when he simply plays the game rather than trying to over-think a game plan and then struggling to read-and-react when something unexpected happens.
Despite his bouts of inconsistency, Coburn’s rare combination of size and speed makes him valuable enough to the team for the club to have already re-signed him rather risk losing him to unrestricted free agency after the season. Coburn has yet to truly hit a rhythm this season but when he gets in one of his 5-10 game grooves, he can be extremely effective.
The Flyers need that from him right now. In November, he looked to go to the offensive a little more in the absence of Pronger, and actually had a bit of success.
November stats: 11 GP, 1 G, 5 A, 6 PTS, -3, 14 PIM, 0 PPG
Andrej Meszaros: The reigning Barry Ashbee Trophy winner has been a frustrating player to watch this season. A year ago, Meszaros was a pretty complete package of size, mobility, physicality and an occasional scoring threat. This season, both in October and November, he’s really struggled with his positioning, decision making and shooting accuracy. He’ll have a few outstanding shifts here and there but just as often make costly (or nearly costly) gaffes.
Even with Pronger having missed 10 games to date, Meszaros’ ice time is down slightly. Pronger’s latest injury makes Meszaros a critical player for Philadelphia. You pretty much know what Carle and Coburn are all about. What about Meszaros? If he can regain his Ashbee Trophy form of last season, the Flyers blueline will be much better equipped to deal with Pronger’s extended absence. If not, the defense in trouble.
November stats: 12 GP, 1 G, 1 A, 2 PTS, +2, 8 PIM
Andreas Lilja: Lilja is currently on long-term injured reserve with a high ankle sprain. When healthy, he has been a downgrade from Sean O’Donnell’s play of the first half of last season, but by no means has Lilja been the disaster that some have made him out to be. Lilja has been an adequate 6th defenseman who can usually give the team 12-14 minutes.
I thought Lilja did his job reasonably well from the time he got back in the lineup following Erik Gustafsson’s wrist injury to the point where Lilja himself went down. He’s not a defenseman I would ever want to see play 18-20 minutes but as veteran with a modest cap hit a limited third-pairing role, Lilja has been OK for the Flyers. He’s done better in his games than the more expensive Matt Walker did in the three games he played before being waived and assigned to the Phantoms.
November stats: 11 GP, 0 G, 2 A, 2 PTS, +3, 8 PIM
Marc-Andre Bourdon:After two-plus seasons in the AHL, Bourdon has finally gotten his crack at the Flyers’ NHL roster as a result of all the injuries and the recall-waiver requirements on Matt Walker and Oskars Bartulis. To be honest, Bourdon has exceeded my expectations so far simply by not being a liability on the ice (apart from one horrific attempted pass/clear up the middle in his NHL debut that he got away with).
The Flyers are apparently higher on him right now than on Kevin Marshall, based on the fact that Bourdon played more minutes (13:16 ice time average vs. Marshall’s 10:40). In addition, Bourdon has remained with the big club since his initial callup while Marshall has been the one assigned back and forth to and from Adirondack based on the need to fill a second defensive spot.
Bourdon’s offensive game, which was a major facet of his appeal in junior hockey, has never really emerged as a pro but he still has that potential (along with a heavy shot) plus a willingness to mix it up physically. During his brief time with the Flyers to date, he has kept things simple and not hurt the club. That’s all you can ask.
November stats: 4 GP, 0 PTS, +1, 4 PIM
Kevin Marshall: Marshall’s game is a combination of mobility, hitting and toughness. Positional smarts and puck management have been major issues that have held him back in his career, and kept him at the AHL level for two-plus seasons before getting his initial callup due to injuries and/or recall waiver eligibility of those above him on depth chart. Marshall has done OK in very limited minutes in his two games with the Flyers despite being minus-two in those games.
November stats; 2 GP, 0 PTS, -2, 0 PIM
Erik Gustafsson: The offensive-minded rookie was just starting to gain confidence and hit his stride when he got slashed in the hand during his plus-six game in Philly’s 9-2 rout of Columbus.
Gustafsson saw his ice time increase in November from an average 16:22 per game in his two October matches to a season average of 18:28. Gustafsson’s presence in the lineup was a definite upgrade over Lilja and superior to the other two rookies Philly currently has on the roster. Hopefully, when returns to the lineup from his surgery, Gustafsson can pick up where he left off.
November stats: 3 GP, 0 G, 1 A, +8, 0 PIM
GOALIES
Ilya Bryzgalov: There is no getting around the fact that Bryzgalov needs to be less streaky in his play. I don’t think he’s been awful on the whole, but he hasn’t played close to the Vezina Trophy caliber level the Flyers expect and need of him.
Bryzgalov has given up a few too many funky-looking goals on broken plays where he doesn’t have the paddle of his along the ice. He also needs to come up with a higher percentage of non-routine – but still makeable – saves when there are coverage breakdowns in front of him.
He had a run of four straight good-to-excellent starts in November (including a solid performance against his former Phoenix club) but then finished the month with back-to-back mediocre outings against Carolina and the New York Islanders. He was pulled after the first period in the latter game, and Sergei Bobrovsky has played the 2 2/3 games since.
Nov stats: 7 GP, 4-1-1, 194 SH, 178 SV, 16 GA, 2.53 GAA, .918 SV%, 0 SO, 379:27 MIN
Sergei Bobrovsky: Bobrovsky got off a rough start in November but then closed out like gangbusters. Such is the life of a goalie.
Bob struggled on the heels of being shelled (through little fault of his own) in the first period of the Flyers’ 9-8 loss to Winnipeg last month. Neither of his first two appearances went very well. Peter Laviolette gave him another crack at the Jets, and that one was another rough outing. But Bobrovsky playing stellar hockey in relief of Bryzgalov on Long Island, following it up by outdueling Carey Price in the Black Friday matinee against the Habs and then keeping his team close the next day in a 2-0 loss to the Rangers.
Laviolette has shown that he’ll play hunches and go with the hot hand in goal, so Bobrovsky needs to stay ready for when the call comes. The young netminder still needs to improve his rebound control significantly but his lateral movement is outstanding and both his puck-tracking and puck-handling have improved thus far from his rookie season.
Long-term consistency still remains a major question mark, as he got hot this time last season but then was prone to erratic play.
Nov stats: 6 GP, 3-2-1, 177 SH, 163 SV, 14 GA, 2.44 GAA, .921 SV%, 0 SO, 343:41 MIN
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