UPDATE 1 PM EDT
The Flyers have released their
2013-14 schedule. I will break down the schedule in tomorrow's blog.
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Friday Quick Hits
* There is still no official word yet on whether the NHL schedule will be officially released today. It depends on when the League gets all i's dotted and t's crossed on its final Olympic participation agreement with the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee. If the schedule is released today, I will add a link to today's blog and delve into the schedule framework (volume of back-to-back games, three-in-fours, longest road trips, home stands, etc) in tomorrow's blog.
* For the first time in quite a few years, the Flyers will have a chance to finish in the top half of the NHL in faceoff percentage come next season. With the addition of Vincent Lecavalier and the re-signing of Adam Hall, the team will have three faceoff men (along with Claude Giroux) who finished above 50 percent on draws last season. As a team, the Flyers ranked 23rd in the NHL in faceoff percentage last season with a 48.5 percent winning percentage.
Overall faceoff percentage is a somewhat overrated statistic. Not all faceoffs are of equal important depending on zone and game situation, and even if a team is credited with the win on a draw, it may not result in solid puck possession. With that said, it is still preferable to have better than 50-50 odds of winning the crucial draws when they arise.
The Eastern Conference champion Boston Bruins led the NHL with a 56.4 percent mark and Stanley Cup champion Chicago was 11th at 50.8 percent in the regular season. In the playoffs, Boston was second with a 55.3 percent mark (San Jose led at 55.8 percent) while Chicago ranked 14th among the 16 postseason participants with a 46.8 percent winning percentage in the postseason. It didn't stop the Hawks from lifting the Cup at the end of the playoffs, because so many other things went right for a very deep and fast Chicago club even if they didn't get the initial possession.
The best Flyers teams I ever saw in terms of its faceoff circle dominance were the mid-1990s teams that had Eric Lindros, Rod Brind'Amour and Joel Otto taking the draws. During the period of time when the club had Craig MacTavish as its fourth line center and Otto on the third line. During the 1995-96 regular season, the Flyers had the ability to roll out four separate high-end faceoff men, resulting in roughly a 58 percent chance of gaining possession off any draw, regardless of zone or side of the ice.
* I want to correct a factual error that briefly ran in yesterday's original blog on the top 10 Flyers free agent rookies of all time. Contrary to an often-repeated story, former Flyers forward RJ Umberger does NOT have a Flyers logo tattoo on his body. The confusion began several years ago when Ken Hitchcock, speaking metaphorically, said Umberger had a Flyers tattoo. It ended up being erroneously reported several times in the Philly media until it became an accepted "fact" (although Umberger tried to set the record straight in the Columbus media). About two hours after the blog was published, I received a Twitter message from RJ himself yesterday asking me not to have the wrong info in the blog. I apologize for the mistake. I wasn't aware of the actual story until yesterday, but it's something that Umberger has corrected repeatedly.
* Serva Productions put together a nice Youtube package of video clips of a host of Flyers prospects at the team's recent development camp. Much of the footage in the latter half of the eight-minute video focuses on 2013 first-round pick Samuel Morin and second-rounder Robert Hägg. Watch the video below:
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Former Flyers forward Ian Laperriere, now the organization's Director of Player Development, will be participating in the Ironman Mont-Tremblant: North American Championship on August 18. Apart from competing in the triatholon, Lappy is raising funds for a variety of charitable causes: the IRONMAN Foundation, Ronald McDonald House, the National Pancreatic Cancer Foundation and Go4theGoal Foundation- Tunes4Teens. Laperriere has set a $10,000 fundraising goal. For more information or to make a donation,
click here.
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