While Crosby was getting over his concussions, giroux was busy carrying around this team on his back. Crosby has less miles because of it.. Lots of factors.
- JFlyers00

Hmmmm Sid have played a ton more games than Claude,and the flyers was way deeper offensively. back then

I think Crosby plays with a better supporting cast 5 on 5. I don't think G is a one man force anymore. There was a time when G looked great playing on the third line with Arron Asham.
- SuperSchennBros

connor sheary and bryan rust?

connor sheary and bryan rust?
- stayinthefnnet

1st its Conor

2nd BOTH STANLEY CUP CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!!!!

The interesting thing with HaK. A coach you'd expect would benefit young players.

Outside of Provorov has he really helped any of the young players he has had a chance to?

Laughton, Stolarz, Leier, Konecny, Ghost.
I am starting to question those ohhh so amazing developmental skills.

He is favouring vets far too often (godly Provorov aside) when this is a team of transition.

Giroux wasn't even invited to participate in the last two Olympics

#FunFacts

Giroux wasn't even invited to participate in the last two Olympics

#FunFacts
- penguininnevada

Those were mistakes. He was a damn good player some time ago.

Carrying this poop show for years without help is catching up. Organization has itself to blame.

Hell a basic example is the face offs. How many times was he taking far too many, and leading the league or close to it. They decided to finally try and help take off some of the load and the best they found was Boyd Gordon.

Lie in the bed you made.

Those were mistakes. He was a damn good player some time ago.

Carrying this poop show for years without help is catching up. Organization has itself to blame.
- flyer_nutter

Olympic Legends
Mike Richards
Jeff Carter

Those were mistakes. He was a damn good player some time ago.

Carrying this poop show for years without help is catching up. Organization has itself to blame.
- flyer_nutter

Agreed.

Rust and Sheary aren't that great.
- Pelle31Forever

I wouldn't know. I'm not a Penguins fan.

Olympic Legends
Mike Richards
Jeff Carter
- penguininnevada

That doesn't bug most people.

Richards was fading. Interesting that Giroux is in a similar position.

Carter would never be the player he was in LA if he didn't get a kick in the ass via trade.

The interesting thing with HaK. A coach you'd expect would benefit young players.

Outside of Provorov has he really helped any of the young players he has had a chance to?

Laughton, Stolarz, Leier, Konecny, Ghost.
I am starting to question those ohhh so amazing developmental skills.

He is favouring vets far too often (godly Provorov aside) when this is a team of transition.
- flyer_nutter

The #1 job of an NHL coach is to win. Majority of coaches are going to favor veterans over younger players.

Konecny is having a good season for a 19 year old in the NHL, so what is your point with him?

We don't even know if Stolarz is an NHL goalie or will be. What exactly did Hakstol do to ruin Stolarz as a player? Hakstol did what pretty much every NHL coach would've done when he was called up due the Neuvirth injury. Play him only when needed. Hakstol has had Stolarz on his team for very little time.

Leier was called up, played a few games, and sent back down. That's the GM's decision. What did Hakstol do to setback his development?

Gostisbehere played real well last season when he was called up. Was Hakstol a good development coach then? Having a young player, especially a defenseman regress is not uncommon.

Sometimes, you have to look at the players. Some are doing well, such as Provorov and Konecny, and some have regressed such as Laughton and Gostisbehere.

connor sheary and bryan rust?
- stayinthefnnet

Seriously guys, I'm a Flyers fan. Combined with the fact that lines change and this isn't Crosby's first and only season. There is a better supporting cast in Pittsburgh.

Agreed.
- feelingkettle

Sam Gagner: 14 goals 18 assists in 44 games this season, $650,000
Claude Giroux: 10 goals 28 assists in 47 games this season,$9,000,000

You would think you would want more goals then assists in a player earning 9 million dollars base salary and counting 8.25 million against the salary cap

That doesn't bug most people.

Richards was fading. Interesting that Giroux is in a similar position.

Carter would never be the player he was in LA if he didn't get a kick in the ass via trade.
- flyer_nutter

Carter was a 80 point scorer and a 47 goal scorer here in Philly. He was also a strong two way player. Reality is he was a very good player here, long before getting traded to LA. He was just under appreciated by some when he was here.

well they are still paying umberger

Carter was a 80 point scorer and a 47 goal scorer here in Philly. He was also a strong two way player. Reality is he was a very good player here, long before getting traded to LA. He was just under appreciated by some when he was here.
- MJL

oh silly, he was very appreciated

Seriously guys, I'm a Flyers fan. Combined with the fact that lines change and this isn't Crosby's first and only season. There is a better supporting cast in Pittsburgh.
- SuperSchennBros

i have zero issue acknowledging that giroux is a great player, but i just cant buy some notion that crosby has had more help. even if you want to go with the fact that the pens have had better teams overall, crosby's even strength linemates have been a whole lot of meh. granted, thats the nature of both the salary cap and the fact that by all accounts he can be difficult stylistically to find fits with.

but aside from a smattering of games in a stretch run with hossa, crosby hasnt had anything approaching voracek.

i have zero issue acknowledging that giroux is a great player, but i just cant buy some notion that crosby has had more help. even if you want to go with the fact that the pens have had better teams overall, crosby's even strength linemates have been a whole lot of meh. granted, thats the nature of both the salary cap and the fact that by all accounts he can be difficult stylistically to find fits with.

but aside from a smattering of games in a stretch run with hossa, crosby hasnt had anything approaching voracek.
- stayinthefnnet

In my opinion, Crosby is the best player in the NHL.

That doesn't bug most people.

Richards was fading. Interesting that Giroux is in a similar position.

Carter would never be the player he was in LA if he didn't get a kick in the ass via trade.
- flyer_nutter

i think there is definitely something that's just not working right now, but i dont see the complete fade from giroux yet. richards simply couldnt even keep up with that was going on around him.

i have zero issue acknowledging that giroux is a great player, but i just cant buy some notion that crosby has had more help. even if you want to go with the fact that the pens have had better teams overall, crosby's even strength linemates have been a whole lot of meh. granted, thats the nature of both the salary cap and the fact that by all accounts he can be difficult stylistically to find fits with.

but aside from a smattering of games in a stretch run with hossa, crosby hasnt had anything approaching voracek.
- stayinthefnnet

I never suggested Crosby wasn't a great player. In fact, I didn't bring up Crosby, someone else did.

i think there is definitely something that's just not working right now, but i dont see the complete fade from giroux yet. richards simply couldnt even keep up with that was going on around him.
- stayinthefnnet

Right now, Giroux is a shadow of the player he was just a few years ago. That being said, he is still likely to be a 60 point player. He's not getting it done now, and needs to improve in a number of areas.

I never suggested Crosby wasn't a great player. In fact, I didn't bring up Crosby, someone else did.
- SuperSchennBros

i dont think i implied that you didnt haha relax man. admittedly i didnt exactly do a thorough backread. but the idea that crosby had better linemates to me was odd, unless jake is all of a sudden trash.

Right now, Giroux is a shadow of the player he was just a few years ago. That being said, he is still likely to be a 60 point player. He's not getting it done now, and needs to improve in a number of areas.
- MJL

i agree with that. i obviously dont have the answer as to why. if its an age related slip as some have hinted, i really dont see any one skill or trait thats starting to lag as opposed to years past.

even in his prime, its not as if giroux was an upper shelf goal scorer anyway. but something is amiss

Leier was already called up when injuries occurred and was sent back down. This is an overreaction. In my opinion you don't call up players to give them a chance to earn icetime, you do what is best for the player, rather than place them in this environment.
Laughton needs to be left in the AHL to improve in the hopes that he can get his game back. Leier doesn't improve the team.

MacDonald is currently one of their better defenseman. Unless any of young Phantoms defenseman are ready for the NHL and are an improvement, then what is the point?
The regular season of the NHL is not for tryouts. The Flyers are currently 1 point out of a playoff spot. It is not time to give up on the season.

Maybe if the Flyers best players would start playing like their best players, things would be differently. Replacing the role players is not going to change much.
- MJL

Macdonald is one if the teams best defensemen?

"This is an over-reaction".

i dont think i implied that you didnt haha relax man. admittedly i didnt exactly do a thorough backread. but the idea that crosby had better linemates to me was odd, unless jake is all of a sudden trash.
- stayinthefnnet

Well how great are Matt Read and Michael Raffl in comparison to Crosby's line mates? What it really boils down to outside of Crosby simply being better than Giroux, Crosby is on a Cup contender every year and Giroux isn't. Especially right now.