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Quick Hits: Goalie Market, Armstrong, Hart and More |
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Quick Hits: July 30, 2021
1) Flyers president of hockey operations and general manager Chuck Fletcher was a guest on 97.5 FM yesterday morning, speaking about the team's off-season moves and what may be to come. Much of the discussion reiterated Fletcher's press conference on Wednesday afternoon, following the signings of Martin Jones, Keith Yandle and Nate Thompson after the earlier acquisitions of Cam Atkinson, Ryan Ellis and Rasmus Ristolainen. However, Fletcher elaborated a little bit further on the Jones signing.
Fletcher said there was a group of goaltenders that he considered initially. As he did his due diligence on each, candidates were eliminated for various reasons. In some cases, the interest was not mutual. In others, it was dictated by market price. Additionally, on Wednesday, the market moved very quickly (meaning that immediate decisions were needed on both the team and agent sides lest all of their remaining signing candidates/potential destinations went away).
Fletcher didn't name any names, of course. But it's not hard to infer the players considered. In terms of market price, the Flyers simply didn't have the cap space to compete with the $4.125 AAV on Jonathan Bernier's two-year deal with the New Jersey Devils. Other goalies in the general cap hit range in which the Flyers signed Martin Jones for one year ($2 million), such as James Reimer ($2.25 million) and Laurent Brossoit ($2.325 million) got two-year deals.
Linus Ullmark got a big raise and a multi-year deal ($5 million AAV, four years) from the Bruins, along with an opportunity to slot in as the No. 1 goalie ahead of youngster Jeremy Swayman with Tuukka Rask unavailable for at least half a season and 36-year-old Jaroslav Halak signing a one-year ($1.5 million) deal with the Vancouver Canucks.
There is no doubt that Jones, formerly a workhorse starter for the San Jose Sharks and a goalie who backstopped his former team to a Stanley Cup Final and a Western Conference Final, has struggled the last three seasons. But the team as a whole has had a downturn after being a perennial contender for many years. Jones wasn't the only Sharks goalie who had a rough time. Neither Aaron Dell (now on a one-year, $750,000 deal with Buffalo) nor former Vezina Trophy finalist Devan Dubnyk (who remains unsigned) had any more success playing behind the team than did Jones. Twenty-three-year-old Josef Korenar had a tough 10-game NHL indoctrination with the Sharks this past season.
I asked Fletcher on Wednesday how he determines how much of a situation like this is a reflection of subpar goalie play, how much was due to team defense struggles and how much is a combination of the two. The same thing also applies to the struggles of Carter Hart and veteran Brian Elliott (now with Tampa Bay) last season.
"it's a hard thing to do, but we saw it here last year too. Our goaltending numbers weren't very good. Our team defense wasn't very good. Really, it started up the ice. It was a full team effort," Fletcher said.
"We didn't manage the puck well. We lost the third guy, lost our third forward all the time. We gave up too many odd-man rushes. We didn't defend well in-zone. We didn't kill well, and we didn't get enough saves. It was a combination. When you don't play well in front of your goaltenders, it makes life very hard on them. You can lose confidence. You start compensating and cheating in different ways. It’s hard to know. I can only speak to our situation. I can't speak to what happened in San Jose. I do know that if we defend better in front of our goaltenders, they in turn will play well and allow our players to be more confident, too."
In short, the hope is that an upgraded defense corps and penalty kill -- plus a teamwide recommitment to structure and two-way play at five-on-five -- will put Hart and Jones in much better position to succeed.
I have confidence that Hart will be fine. Last season, he played better than his pre-March numbers suggested although there was some inconsistency in his own performances. In March, Hart's own play was well below par. He started to pull things back together in April and his final start of the season (a 2-1 shootout win in Pittsburgh where goaltending carried the Flyers in stretches) was one of his best before he sat out the remainder of the season with a minor knee issue.
In Jones' case, I am a little more skeptical. Three straight years of declining performance, regardless of team-wide issues in San Jose, is concerning. At the same time, I think you have to keep and open mind and wait to judge how it works out. A couple of years ago, after back-to-back down seasons in Edmonton and (briefly) Philadelphia, I thought Cam Talbot looked to be in irreversible slide. Lo and behold, he turned things around again and had good seasons for Calgary in 2019-20 and Minnesota this past season.
Could Jones do the same? Sure. But until he shows that he's back on the right path, concern is merited. He's one a one-year deal in Philly and was bought out by San Jose for a reason: he needs to prove him again.
2) Dave Eid, the sports director of WGME-TV in Portland, Maine, reported yesterday that Riley Armstrong has stepped down from his position as head coach of the (Comcast-Spectacor owned) Maine Mariners of the ECHL. He has accepted an offer from the Flyers organization to become an assistant coach for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms under new head coach Ian Laperriere. No official announcement has been made yet.
3) Likewise, although there has not yet been an official announcement made of his hiring, Mike O'Connell was at the NHL Draft in the Flyers' War Room in Voorhees last weekend. He is working in an advisory capacity under Chuck Fletcher.
The longtime NHL player, minor league head coach, NHL assistant coach, general manager (Boston Bruins) and developmental program director (LA Kings) has worked in NHL hockey operations capacities for the quarter-century. Most recently, up through the 2020-21 season, O'Connell was a senior advisor and developmental coach for Los Angeles. The 65-year-old O'Connell is close with Dean Lombardi, who brought him to LA at the start of O'Connell's 16-year stint with the Kings.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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