A couple little bumps but so far so good
Posted 3:12 PM ET | Comments 0
I am a fan of breaking the season down into segments and refraining from doing too much analysis outside of those segments. I like the 10 segment system with 8 8 game segments and 2 nine game segments. Makes the marking periods short but also makes for a better chance of getting a true baseline.
That said, a newsgroup post that I read was looking at the first four games of the season and using the 4 games as a yardstick to look at the team.
Knowing that this would really be an incomplete, I thought I would take the moment to look at the Flyers to date.
GOAL: B-
Emery has pretty much been as advertised. He has had a couple of shaky moments but rebounds from them well. He seems to possess the Grant Fuhr edge...he ignores the score until the game is over.
DEFENSE: C+
Pairing Carle with Pronger has been a success. Carle looks confident and is skating better than I remember seeing him skate before. Timmonen looks good and fresher for not having to log as many minutes let alone as many hard minutes. Coburn looks shaky. He has made several brain cramp plays against the Penguins and just looked uncomfortable against the Caps. On the plus side he looked really good in the first two games. The third pair has been a mess. Parent looks worse for wear. He has not shown any of the defensive chops that lead to his being paired with Timmonen. Syveret has looked average at best, Tollie looked lost. . .
FORWARDS: B-
Richards and Carter are both off to really good starts. Richards has yet to play en entire game at full intensity this year, but it is early. The loss of Betts hurts because the team was really build around having him to spell Richards and Carter from taking so many faceoffs and having to play so much PK. JvR looked great. He used his size well to protect the puck and has softer hands than I remember seeing in his college games. Giroux and Gagne haven't scored yet but both are getting their chances and it is just a matter of time. Briere looks faster and more "on" than he has at any time as a Flyer. Hartnell has played well and looks to be cutting down on his freelancing.
That said, a newsgroup post that I read was looking at the first four games of the season and using the 4 games as a yardstick to look at the team.
Knowing that this would really be an incomplete, I thought I would take the moment to look at the Flyers to date.
GOAL: B-
Emery has pretty much been as advertised. He has had a couple of shaky moments but rebounds from them well. He seems to possess the Grant Fuhr edge...he ignores the score until the game is over.
DEFENSE: C+
Pairing Carle with Pronger has been a success. Carle looks confident and is skating better than I remember seeing him skate before. Timmonen looks good and fresher for not having to log as many minutes let alone as many hard minutes. Coburn looks shaky. He has made several brain cramp plays against the Penguins and just looked uncomfortable against the Caps. On the plus side he looked really good in the first two games. The third pair has been a mess. Parent looks worse for wear. He has not shown any of the defensive chops that lead to his being paired with Timmonen. Syveret has looked average at best, Tollie looked lost. . .
FORWARDS: B-
Richards and Carter are both off to really good starts. Richards has yet to play en entire game at full intensity this year, but it is early. The loss of Betts hurts because the team was really build around having him to spell Richards and Carter from taking so many faceoffs and having to play so much PK. JvR looked great. He used his size well to protect the puck and has softer hands than I remember seeing in his college games. Giroux and Gagne haven't scored yet but both are getting their chances and it is just a matter of time. Briere looks faster and more "on" than he has at any time as a Flyer. Hartnell has played well and looks to be cutting down on his freelancing.