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Meltzer's Musings: Practice Features Some Different Looks |
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POST-PRACTICE UPDATE: SOME DIFFERENT LOOKS
With two days left to prepare for the regular season opener in Tampa Bay, Philadelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol made a few small changes at practice. Some may hold through opening night, while others were just a one-day look.
Matt Read skated on the left wing of the Sean Couturier line, while Brayden Schenn was on the left wing of the Scott Laughton line. Afterwards, Hakstol said he was leaning toward going with Schenn on Couturier's line for the opener.
With seven defensemen on the opening night roster, the Flyers rotated Radko Gudas and Luke Schenn with Evgeny Medvedev during practice. Hakstol said afterwards that he undecided as to whether Gudas or Schenn will play in Tampa, but acknowledged that his final lineup decision will come down to one or the other. In other words, Brandon Manning will be an opening night starter, paired with Michael Del Zotto.
The team also changed things up a bit during the second half of practice, which was largely devoted to special teams. The team's normal first-unit set up is an umbrella with Jakub Voracek covering the area from the right point down the bottom of the right circle. For part of the session on Tuesday, the team took a look at a two defensemen at the point setup with three forwards down low. Both power play units tried it out, although the first unit will no doubt stay with the umbrella setup that has been successful the last few years, especially during 5-on-4 power plays.
Hakstol said the tweaked practice setup was mostly for the benefit of the second power play unit.
"We had two lefthanded defensemen running it off the strong side with Couturier," said Hakstok. "It's different look, so that's something we wanted to run today. There's a couple different looks we can have with that unit. In terms of a benefit, you are looking at ways to maximize each of the two units. We haven't had a lot of time to work with the Couturier unit -- obviously, with him being out of the lineup -- so we're touching on that in the last day or two."
With Michael Raffl back in the lineup and ready to go for the opener, the Austrian left winger went back to playing on the top power play unit, with Brayden Schenn moving to the second unit. That arrangement is likely to stay intact going into the season.
"We have several different players who can play that 'middle' role, and they all bring different abilities," said Hakstol. "Raff brings a heavy body in the middle. He shoots the puck well. He goes downhill for rebounds and loose pucks. Those are things he brings and we need in that spot."
QUICK HITS
* Sam Gagner left practice early but Hakstol said afterwards the player is fine. Hakstol also said that felt Gagner actually had a pretty good training camp but needs to focus on certain areas of his play, and the two have discussed it. While Hakstol declined to elaborate, it is pretty clear that the coach wants the player to play a "harder" game with more attention to two-way responsibilities.
* Scott Laughton has switched from his training camp uniform number 49 to number 21. A big part of the reason why he made the opening night roster was that he was one of the team's best players in practice. That was also the case in Tuesday's practice; Laughton was the hungriest forward in puck battle drills and also scored a pair of nice tip-in goals.
* The Flyers briefly worked on shootouts in the second half of practice. Evgeny Medvedev scored the "Peter Forsberg postage stamp" goal against Michal Neuvirth. while Claude Giroux successfully pulled of a lateral change-of-direction in close against Steve Mason.
* Mason was sharp throughout practice. Along the way, he made a spectacular diving stick save on Wayne Simmonds with a 2-on-0 near his net.
* Mason tends to be a rather vocal goalie out on the ice, and Gudas said he's already noticed that the goalie is one of the better communicators with whom he's worked.
"He's very good, actually. I've had a great experience with him on the PK. Like sometimes he calls out where to clear -- which was to clear to -- and that is a big help. I'm really happy to have him out there," said Gudas.
* Last year, Mason made clear to his defensemen that he only wants them to block shots if they get the whole thing; he'd rather get a clear look at the puck than deal with a partially blocked shot that unpredictably changes direction or get accidentally screened by his own teammate. Veteran Flyers defenseman Nick Schultz, an accomplished shot blocker, said that split-second decision making is the key to making sure shot-block attempts do not end backfiring.
"A lot of it comes down to reads. If I guy is setting up for a one-timer, a lot of times it's better to get out of the way and let your goalie see it. There are certain reads a defenseman has where you know you can get in the way and stop it. If you are going to try and stop it, you have to make sure you can get it. If it goes by you, you're just creating another screen for your goalie," said Schultz.
* Schultz is not a big fan of judging players' values based on individual and comparitive puck possession metrics.
"Playing in Canada, in Edmonton, it was crazy. Every day, it was all anyone talked about. People weren't even watching the game, they'd just look at a guy and what his Corsi number was. They would rate a guy the next day based only on what his Corsi number was. It got crazy. People got a little out of control with it," said Schultz.
"I think there is some correlation, but a lot of it is common sense, though. Obviously, if you have the puck more, you're going to attempt more shots. That's just common sense. But in hockey, there's not a lot of analytics like in baseball. I don't personally look at it, but in some places around the league, it's talked about more than others."
* Mark Streit said that he likes Hakstol's coaching style so far. According to the alternate captain, the coach makes it clear who is the boss but he usually does so in a soft-spoken way.
"The coach is a good communicator in telling a player what he wants and what he doesn't but he also has a certain calmness as well. So it's a great mix," Streit said.