311 WAS AN INSIDE JOB
- Mordecai

Loved Gagne - probably my #6 favorite Flyers player
- Scoob

See, I put out my top five and added that Gagne I wished that I could add Gagne to my five. Like, Gagne is very close when it comes to every name I mentioned. To me, there was nothing like watching Gagne play his first nine seasons. When he returned during the half season, only being a shell of his former self, even with scoring I felt he made the team better with his two way play. The forwards were not helping the defense until we brought him home from LA. In fact, if he was on the ice with G and Jake, Gagne hustled back quicker to even the odds with the defense. If we had made the playoffs after a massive flow start, Gagne would have been a large reason why.

Injuries were a big factor for many of these players. I'd personally have though Joe Watson (with the team from 1967-68 inaugural season through 1977-78) would have had the most games played but he played 746 games (2nd in franchise history among D-men) to Bundy's 753.

The current top 30 entering the 2016-17 season:

1 Chris Therien 753
2 Joe Watson 746
3 Eric Desjardins 738
4 Ed Van Impe 617
5 Jim Watson 613
6 Mark Howe 594
7 Kjell Samuelsson 545
8 Andre Dupont 539
9 Braydon Coburn 537
10 Kimmo Timonen 519
11 Brad Marsh 514
12 Tom Bladon 463
13 Doug Crossman 392
14 Luke Richardson 387
15 Terry Carkner 376
16 Brad McCrimmon 367
17 Dan McGillis 340
18 Behn Wilson 339
19 Matt Carle 308
20 Bob Dailey 304
21 Kim Johnsson 291
22 Barry Ashbee 270
23 Gord Murphy 261
24 Wayne Hillman 258
25 Glen Cochrane 257
26 Nicklas Grossmann 250
27 Garry Galley 236
28 Petr Svoboda 232
29 Karl Dykhuis 227
30 Randy Jones 217
- bmeltzer

I guess it's official. Desjardins holds the tie breaker over Timonen. I'm a little disappointed in games played when it comes to Timonen and Coburn.

y tho?
- YuenglingJagr

Did he rig the ping pong balls?

311 , no thanks..
- opeth_pa

I dig 311

- jmatchett383

YES & THANK YOU!

Did he rig the ping pong balls?
- Scoob

No, that was Boyd Gordon

No, that was Boyd Gordon
- YuenglingJagr

"We think that Boyd is a excellent candidate to rig the...I mean, um, to help our team in the defensive zone."

Matisyahu. Unreal.

ONE DAYYYY ONE DAYYYY ONE DAYYYYYAYYYY!
- Giroux_Is_God

WAH YAH YAH YOOOOO

king without a crown > One day doe.

Read is skating 3 weeks early with the kids. He has to be feeling pressure. It is nice to see his response to come in at tip top shape to compete with the youngins. Already a great sign that vets will be pushed that extra bit.

Read is skating 3 weeks early with the kids. He has to be feeling pressure. It is nice to see his response to come in at tip top shape to compete with the youngins. Already a great sign that vets will be pushed that extra bit.
- Konalover

"Veterans don't really give 100% in camp."

"Veterans don't really give 100% in camp."
- jmatchett383

Well, 3 weeks early seems like a 100% commitment to keep a job.

Read is skating 3 weeks early with the kids. He has to be feeling pressure. It is nice to see his response to come in at tip top shape to compete with the youngins. Already a great sign that vets will be pushed that extra bit.
- Konalover

NHL or AHL youngins? (just kidding)

NHL or AHL youngins? (just kidding)
- arichardson22

Midgets from south jersey

Well, 3 weeks early seems like a 100% commitment to keep a job.
- Konalover

Come on man, it's well known that veterans don't really try during camp. And that the GM makes the opening night roster based solely on the previous season, not training camp.

gagne scored some of the biggest goals in flyers history. terrific player. hated him being a cap casualty. thanks, holmger.

gagne scored some of the biggest goals in flyers history. terrific player. hated him being a cap casualty. thanks, holmger.
- hammarby31

agreed

Come on man, it's well known that veterans don't really try during camp. And that the GM makes the opening night roster based solely on the previous season, not training camp.
- jmatchett383

So by that logic all AHL players are going to be judged by last season too?

The problem isn't that Giroux was suddenly "afraid" to venture into traffic. The problem was that he couldn't find the time and space to go there and got forced to the perimeter.
- Bill

I don't think it's about being "afraid." He's never played afraid; he's a battler. It's more a mentality. I also don't think his work in the o-zone was really because of his skating. Off the rush in stride, fine, but not so much in the o-zone, where it's more about agility. I didn't think that part of his game suffered last year. Jordan Weal is a smaller, worse skater than Giroux, even an injured Giroux, and he had no issue. Something few acknowledge is that Giroux has always been a 5v5 perimeter player, though perimeter player =/= soft, as some disparagingly think. Last year it got exacerbated.

It is a fact he shot the puck from further out this year than any forward in the NHL, though he's usually a distance shooter, which goes to the above. He turned from a normal perimeter player to an absurdly perimeter player. Combine that with an unsustainably low shooting %, on-ice points %, nagging injury, and a team wide funk, and that's Giroux's season at 5v5. But the Flyers were an incredibly perimeter team in general, as has been oft discussed, opting for safe, perimeter low-high plays. It catered to some of his worst tendencies, and he's far from alone in having felt the repercussions. I watched plenty of the World Championship, and he played mostly the same, even if everyone was praising his better skating: conservative, uninspired, basic. Even if he's clearly past his prime, his skill-set and creativity is not eroded, skating and otherwise. To say his on-ice mentality is off doesn't mean he's "afraid."

So by that logic all AHL players are going to be judged by last season too?
- Konalover

sarcasm, sir, sarcasm

So by that logic all AHL players are going to be judged by last season too?
- Konalover

Yes, they decide before camp which AHL players will make the roster.

Training camp is apparently all an illusion used to make the unknowing fan think that players are actually competing for jobs. In reality, it's all a ruse. Apparently.

His decision gave us Nolan Patrick
- YuenglingJagr

But seriously. That 1 exhibition game, a month before the season, where he got a minor ding, didn't affect his year, and there's no proof of it. He came back in the tournament to play another game and mostly sat recovering anyway for reasons that weren't entirely injury related.

But seriously. That 1 exhibition game, a month before the season, where he got a minor ding, didn't affect his year, and there's no proof of it. He came back in the tournament to play another game and mostly sat anyway for reasons that weren't entirely injury related.
- Mononoke

I dont think it was necessarily that WCOH injury, but the overall recovery from offseason surgery that would be the issue. Who knows, but I don't think it is hard to believe he wasn't 100%. I don't think that was entirely the reason for his poopty year though

But seriously. That 1 exhibition game, a month before the season, where he got a minor ding, didn't affect his year, and there's no proof of it. He came back in the tournament to play another game and mostly sat anyway for reasons that weren't entirely injury related.
- Mononoke

The WCoH injury is a plausible theory.

Yes, they decide before camp which AHL players will make the roster.

Training camp is apparently all an illusion used to make the unknowing fan think that players are actually competing for jobs. In reality, it's all a ruse. Apparently.
- jmatchett383

got it...