QUICK HITS: JULY 3, 2017
1) Ron Hextall spoke with the media via conference call on Sunday to discuss the team's single NHL-level move in free agency (signing goaltender Brian Elliott) and outlook for the rest of the offseason. As expected, the Flyers' general manager praised Elliott's professionalism and competitiveness, past experience playing in 1A/1B platoons and success in highly structured systems. He declined to answer any questions geared toward comparing Elliott to the now-departed Steve Mason but said that he felt a change was needed despite what he noted as a good body of work that Mason turned in during his four-plus years with the Flyers.
2) In Elliott's introductory conference call on Saturday, the veteran goalie noted how much parity there is among NHL goaltenders in today's game and said that everyone has had the experience of being the "best" or the "worst" netminder in the league on any given night.
Former goaltender Hextall reiterated a similar theme on Sunday, saying that even elite goalie such as Braden Holtby and Carey Price periodically go through rough spells during a season. All players do, Hextall said, but it is simply more visible when it's a goalie.
Raw numbers don't always tell the story. Games where a goalie sees a low volume but high difficulty of shots are often among the statistically deceptive when a few go in the net. Just because a goalie stopped only 14 of 17 didn't mean he was lousy that game. On the flip side, stopping 25 of 27 (.926 SV% for the game) didn't necessarily mean it was a strong game because most of the shots may have been routine ones and both goals may have stoppable ones. It all depends on the game and the situations that present themselves.
Last season, especially early on and then during the team's post-Christmas swoon, there were too many games where the Flyers didn't give up a high number of shots but there big breakdowns after long stretches without a shot. Then mix in a goal or two that was neither easy or nor impossible to save and it made for ugly save percentages.
Certain types of goals (heavily screened shots getting through from the point or deep slot, short side top corner from the faceoff dot on the rush, etc) goals are quite common leaguewide and not exclusive to Flyers' goalies. The truth of the matter, though, is that much of what gets blamed on goalies are actually breakdowns in front or perfectly placed shots, and much of what gets credited solely to the goalie is actually a product of solid team defense that gives the goalie a reasonable chance at making a save.
That said, every team needs its goalies to come up with the occasional high difficulty save or to survive a rough penalty kill solely because the goaltender was tracking the puck exceptionally well and came up with multiple tough saves. The ability to do this with some consistency is the area where the good goalies (i.e., most of the starting-caliber goalies in the NHL) get separated from the elites.
3) Hextall was asked about Anthony Stolarz. The GM responded that while he feels Stolarz has improved each and every season since turning pro and if the team had a starting goalie like the retired Martin Brodeur who could handle 70 to 75 starts a season, he might have been comfortable with Stolarz as the NHL backup next season. Given the injury history of Michal Neuvirth and the plan for a 1A/1B arrangement, however, Hextall did not feel comfortable with Stolarz's readiness to handle a relatively high volume of NHL starts next season.
The GM also said that people should not overlook Alex Lyon on the organizational depth chart, saying that Stolarz and Lyon will continue to compete for playing time on the Phantoms next season.
4) Stolarz and Lyon are both restricted free agents this summer. Hextall said that, apart from the re-signing of Vecchione, he has not yet spent much time on restricted free agent negotiations. However, he added that he does not expect any difficult negotiations among the team's remaining RFAs.
5) With a lot of youth on the Flyers blueline next season -- as many as two rookies, plus second-year pro Ivan Provorov and third-season Flyer Shayne Gostisbehere -- Hextall said that having a bit of on-ice leadership from the goalie position will be helpful. Elliott is known for being a strong communicator on the ice. The GM said that this, in combination with support from veterans Andrew MacDonald, Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning, will be valuable in keeping everyone on the same page.
6) Flyers restricted free agent forward Roman Lyubimov is heading back to Russia. He has signed a three-year contract with CSKA Moscow. The Flyers retain his NHL rights as he was presented a qualifying offer. This is a formality, however, as it is unlikely the checking forward will be back in the NHL.
7) Hextall noted that the Flyers will carry a $1.0625 million overage penalty on the salary cap this season due to performance bonuses collected by their entry-level contract players. Ideally, he would like to prevent that situation in 2018-19 by having enough cushion beneath the cap ceiling. That is doable.
Strictly from a roster numbers game perspective, the Flyers may have to pare down by one or two veterans if both Nolan Patrick and Oskar Lindblom make the opening night roster. If both are on the team come opening night-- which has an above-average chance of happening assuming solid training camp performances and good health -- a veteran could be in trouble.
Start with the automatics: Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Sean Couturier, Travis Konecny, Valtteri Filppula, Jordan Weal, Jori Lehterä and, likely, Dale Weise (who finished strong last season after struggling for most of the first three-quarters of the campaign) all have spots on the opening night roster.
If both Patrick and Lindblom earn opening-night roster spots, that makes 11 forwards with one starting spot and either one or two additional roster spots available (depending on whether the team carries 13 or 14 forwards). The candidates for these spots would include Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Scott Laughton, Mike Vecchione and Taylor Leier.
The most vulnerable roster veteran right now seems to be Read. Keep in mind, however, that there is bound to be an injury or two by opening night, as it is not the norm to go through training camp and the preseason without anyone suffering an injury that will cause missed time at the start of the season.
8) For reasons spelled out above apart from Hextall's assertion that the team is done for now in the free agency market (unless a can't say no bargain arises) is unlikely that Alexander Radulov is signed by the Flyers, regardless of whether he started following the team on Twitter. This outlook would only change if the Flyers had a major trade in the works that freed both additional cap and roster space. Nothing of that nature seems imminent.
9) Toyota Flyers Charity Classic: Flyers fans who are interested in participating in the event on July 16 now have seven different teams captained by Flyers Alumni that they are welcomed to join by participating in any of the four events. The two newest registered teams are the Hands of Cement (captained by Bill Clement) and the Briere Bunch (captained by Danny Briere). There is also the Ides of Marsh (Brad Marsh), the Italian-French Connection (Bernie Parent and wife Gini), Propper Guffaw (Brian Propp), Lappy's Team (Ian Laperriere) and Holmgren's Heroes (Paul Holmgren). Sign up
here or consider making a donation.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
Join the Discussion:
»