Elliot Friedman in his 31 thoughts podcast suggests Hextall is badly trying to bring Laughton to Pittsburgh. Trying to find a third team to facilitate a deal. If he doesn't get him at deadline will be a top target for him in off season.

.... what do the pens even have left to offer and why would the flyers do that ?

Let’s remember what provoked this conversation—someone saying that Coots isn’t a 1C. I think the point should be that Couturier is in fact, statistically, a 1C. Which is the argument that started all this. I also rechecked his stats for the last few years including this one and he ranks consistently between 9-22nd.

The other thing I would point out is who stand in his way. Many times the centers ahead of him are on teams in the western conference or non-playoff teams. Examples that actually stand in his way are on the Penguins and Lightning. Some of the matchup will come down to other players in a 7 game series.
- NC Flyers Fan

Well, addressing the bolded in order:
A. I made it clear in my first line that the context was to add to the general recurrent discussion about Couts.
And further, If you see what the original poster has said, he begins by first ranking Sean as not a top center in a contending club, then goes on to say that he would be a good second line center, then goes on to say that he would be in the bottom third of the top centers in the league, and then finally goes too far by saying he's not a top center at all. So the last statement was not really what he was getting at and it's unfair to focus on that.

B.There is really no other stat that is anything more than peripherally relevant. This normalizes for minutes in ES, and excludes all other special teams situations.

Much is made that he "shuts down" top lines. Here is the thing: the days of the 3rd line checking center going up against the top lines are over. The proof of this is obtained simply by looking at what people making this argument are saying. They're saying that Sean C. is going up against the top lines of the other players but it takes two to tango for that means that the other lines top players and top centers are also going up against Sean Couturier who is our top center.

C. This is a completely different argument. If you leave out playoff teams, and if you leave out teams that are not in the conofference then we're really looking at teams who are 1/4 of the total number of teams the entire league so yeah in that case he would be by definition a top 10 center.

we all do. Jones hit on it the other night. Morin brings something the Flyers don't have but really need. Much Like no one thing is the reason for the Flyers awful play of late....one small move won't fix things but it's going to take a bunch of small steps to get things fixed. Having the other team have to pay a price to go to the front of the Flyers net is a step in the right direction.
- landros 2

Actually, to me, the one thing he brings is not the pugnaciousness, but simply that he looks really happy to be there. I haven't seen one Flyer (even Ghost) who actually seems excited to be playing the game, on the ice, having a chance to win. It's a sad emoji team except for Morin.

One play kind of says it all. Clutterbuck was playing Clutterbuck games in front of Carter and Morin let him have it with a Pronger like cross check at the whistle. Cal would normally use that as a chance to punch, facewash or otherwise jump a guy. He saw it was Morin and backed away without even making a move towards him...even Martin who was to Sam's side just kind of slid over and didn't grab or collar Sam.

He will make an occasional mistake and a dumb penalty here and there, but for now Im willing to live with that because quite frankly all our Dmen take lazy/dumb penalties a couple times a game.
- juiced

Love all of this, imagine anyone else decked Pageau from behind

The sling shot works. Which is why most teams use it. The Flyers need to add some creativity to the PP and they need to shoot more and quicker. When the fancy plays aren't there. Get the puck on the net with traffic.
- MJL

The Flyers slingshot does not work, and has not worked in years. Unless you think
crossing the blue line then dumping the puck in as success. And the eye test says over 50% of the time the puck comes right back out.

dbth
- Scoob

Don't Be Too Homogenized?

Good words to live by (unless you're milk).

What’s with this website lately and ads? Has Ek been losing at the track? It’s unusable on mobile.
- StepfordSam

Get Firefox with the uBlock Origin add-on (at least for Android; not sure about iOS).

Another advantage: If you also have Firefox on other computing devices and create an account then you can sync your tabs across them so when you get home browsing is seamless.

Yup, what is going on when they are breaking down video. The most frustrating part about this team is a lot of what’s going wrong is fixable
- ClaudeFather

We keep saying this, and the Flyers have a coach with over 700 NHL wins, and yet the problems persist. What the is main reason?

The Flyers slingshot does not work, and has not worked in years. Unless you think
crossing the blue line then dumping the puck in as success. And the eye test says over 50% of the time the puck comes right back out.
- Robert's Plant

YUP, and I think 50% is generous.

Elliot Friedman in his 31 thoughts podcast suggests Hextall is badly trying to bring Laughton to Pittsburgh. Trying to find a third team to facilitate a deal. If he doesn't get him at deadline will be a top target for him in off season.

.... what do the pens even have left to offer and why would the flyers do that ?
- Tfaehner

Let him overpay. POJ is young dman; Brian Dumoulin has a few years left on his deal (not sure if pens move him). Dont know much about their top fwd prospects.

Elliot Friedman in his 31 thoughts podcast suggests Hextall is badly trying to bring Laughton to Pittsburgh. Trying to find a third team to facilitate a deal. If he doesn't get him at deadline will be a top target for him in off season.

.... what do the pens even have left to offer and why would the flyers do that ?
- Tfaehner

probably why they would need a third team involved.

Get Firefox with the uBlock Origin add-on (at least for Android; not sure about iOS).

Another advantage: If you also have Firefox on other computing devices and create an account then you can sync your tabs across them so when you get home browsing is seamless.
- Bendecko

If you're used to using Chrome, Brave browser is Chrome-based but w/ very robust privacy features and strong native adblocking. Works on desktop and mobile.

probably why they would need a third team involved.
- MBFlyerfan

They have all their 2022 picks.

EF probably assumes the Flyers won't deal w/ the Pens directly, hence third team. Not really sure that's the case anymore, tho.

Don't Be Too Homogenized?

Good words to live by (unless you're milk).
- Bendecko

Ha.

Bendecko hi, bumhole here, simple question stemming from my innocent desire to piece a person together from behind online persona: what do you do nowadays (you mentioned you were in software in "another lifetime").

And please dont throw a hussy fit, or say yes. If you don't want to answer, ignore me and I will logically proceed on the assumption you are running a Russian hooker site.

We keep saying this, and the Flyers have a coach with over 700 NHL wins, and yet the problems persist. What the is main reason?
- jd250

Ignorance lol I really can’t wrap my head around it [/img]

They have all their 2022 picks.

EF probably assumes the Flyers won't deal w/ the Pens directly, hence third team. Not really sure that's the case anymore, tho.
- Tomahawk

Dumb to not deal with directly if that is the case. You make the best deal you can no matter the team. Equal deal then yes go elsewhere.

We keep saying this, and the Flyers have a coach with over 700 NHL wins, and yet the problems persist. What the is main reason?
- jd250

when you keep getting hired as part of the ole boys club you will accumulate wins. AV is an average coach.

Reposting this from the previous blog, because we often argue about Couts's worth and this large sample set seems to me to fairly comprehensively end the discussion:



Couturier's comprehensive stats:

Eh, lets not play that small sample game. This is less than half of a regular season and Couturier has played the equivalent of about 1/3 of a regular season.

1. Look at the years 2017/18 through now, which is the peak of Couturier's career, with a minimum of 1800 mins played over this span (I chose that window to include some of the younger players). This period is tilted in favor of Couts because it includes his peak years but other players, in particular Point, Aho, and Petersson are very young at this stage and Toews is getting old.

2. Look at 5 on 5 stats, which is far more revealing than ES stats (the latter includes OT, 4 on 4, PK with the goalie pulled and so on), as 5 on 5 is really what we mean when we think of ES.

3. Look only at active centers. Exclude players who have played on wing and center (like Panarin, Marchand, Giroux). I keep Aho and Stamkos, because they are mostly centers and would be called as such today.


Couturier then ranks 18th on that list.

Note, this is right around where he ranks in the nhl.com survey of analysts (he was 17th last year and 18th this year).

EDIT: I mean normalized 5 on 5 stats (5 on 5 per 60 min)
- PT21

This really does not need to be complicated. Sean Couturier is IN the prime of his career right now. Couts is 28 years old, has played almost 700 games and for the past 250 games has scored at close to 1 point/game. And on top of this is one of the best defensive centers in the league. He is smart, has good size, good vision, can score, shoot and defend. He is the total package that right now is in the top 10 of scoring centers that includes names like McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby.

QED.

Let him overpay. POJ is young dman; Brian Dumoulin has a few years left on his deal (not sure if pens move him). Dont know much about their top fwd prospects.
- login

Marino would be my interest but that would be an overpay for laughton.

Sam Poulin is literally the only interesting prospect they have.

They have 2022 picks but that just tells us we're even further away than we thought from competing

when you keep getting hired as part of the ole boys club you will accumulate wins. AV is an average coach.
- login

But even so, that average coach is coaching a team that has had a very un-average month. That is the mystery people are talking about, no?

They have all their 2022 picks.

EF probably assumes the Flyers won't deal w/ the Pens directly, hence third team. Not really sure that's the case anymore, tho.
- Tomahawk

He suggests the flyers may not deal with them directly or because of pens salary cap situation flyers may not be willing to take on a cap dump. For all the things fletcher says that trade makes little sense unless marino poulin come our way. Dont see the pens dealing either.

when you keep getting hired as part of the ole boys club you will accumulate wins. AV is an average coach.
- login

I will put AV's coaching record next to anyone else's you can think of. Go ahead and submit a few coaches to compare against. I think you will find he is more than just an average coach. The problem persist on this team because the players are not that good. To quote a line from Moneyball: "If he is a good player then why doesn't he play good?"

The Flyers slingshot does not work, and has not worked in years. Unless you think
crossing the blue line then dumping the puck in as success. And the eye test says over 50% of the time the puck comes right back out.
- Robert's Plant

Let's assume that you're correct (which you're not), what's your unique, bright idea for getting the puck into the zone more reliably? I'm sure all 31 NHL teams would like to know.

...he begins by first ranking1 Sean as not a top center in a contending club, then goes on to say that he would be a good second line center, then goes on to say that he would be in the bottom third of the top centers in the league, and then finally goes too far by saying he's not a top center at all...
C. This is a completely different argument. If you leave out playoff teams, and if you leave out teams that are not in the conofference then we're really looking at teams who are 1/4 of the total number of teams the entire league so yeah in that case he would be by definition a top 10 center.
- PT21

1—This has been the argument from you all along so it isn’t surprising that you would choose to ignore the fact that Couturier is actually a 1C. Of course, he makes a great 2C, any 1C would...look at Pittsburgh and Tampa. Really, if you average his contributions, looking at faceoffs and defense, he is not in the bottom third...it would be the bottom of the top half.

C—The reason I bring this up is because of the first argument. Being a cup contender and ultimately winning a cup has a path that is restricted to matchups.

This really does not need to be complicated. Sean Couturier is IN the prime of his career right now. Couts is 28 years old, has played almost 700 games and for the past 250 games has scored at close to 1 point/game. And on top of this is one of the best defensive centers in the league. He is smart, has good size, good vision, can score, shoot and defend. He is the total package that right now is in the top 10 of scoring centers that includes names like McDavid, MacKinnon and Crosby.

QED.
- jd250

The first bolded statement makes no comparison to others, who are also averaging a ppg. 😃

I am afraid defensive center is a perk, not an essential attribute. Else, guys like Draisatl would not be on list.

No. 😁😁

I am afraid the last bold does not follow from what you said earlier.