SteelFlyers Football Videos
Flyers’ Tortorella is doing A LOT with very Little
Who would have thought that after two games into the season, the Philadelphia Flyers would be undefeated and sitting on top of the Metropolitan Division? Possibly only the team’s new Head Coach John Tortorella that’s who.
With most of this team’s players having to endure a training camp as they have never experienced before, this new-look Flyers squad may just be a blast from their franchise’s past. Since day one of training camp (where there wasn’t a single puck in sight), Torts has been able to tear down this group of jaded/lackadaisical players who flat-out lost the will to win over the past few seasons; and somehow, in only a few short weeks was able to restore the drive and self-confidence in each one of his players that got them to this level in the first place.
How did he do it, you may be asking? Through hard work and a little elbow grease, that’s how. Taking it back to the basics, Tortorella has managed to do just what he has been preaching about since ownership brought him to Philadelphia. By making sure, this team would be harder to play against. Gone are the days when the Flyers would go down by a goal and simply give up. No longer will not finishing a check be acceptable. Not clearing the opposition out from in front of the net is no longer an option. Go ahead and not get in the face of an opponent after they lay a dirty hit on one of your teammates; that is, if you want to find yourself playing your next game in Lehigh Valley. This group has become something it has not been in years- a TEAM! A group of individuals that come together to achieve a common goal. Now, Tortorella’s tactics may not be innovative, but they are effective! And in this writers’ mind, John’s brash way of telling the players (and media alike) the cold hard truth is refreshing. In summation, he holds people accountable, which is something you must appreciate.
The fans were right to expect more, with inflation making it a struggle for the average person to be even able to afford the cost of admission to a game (let alone a cold brew and something to eat while there); they demonstrated a mass exodus last season when the team appeared as though they were no longer even putting forth an effort. Follow that by a lackluster off-season by management, and the general consensus was that WE (the fan base) would be in for a long season. But under this new regime behind the bench, I believe fans will find a way to make it work to be able to attend these games even though they know that it may take this team a few years before they can return to perennial playoff contenders they once were.
Through these two games, you can see that this team is determined to play a full 60 minutes of hockey every night. Because- despite a lengthy list of injuries, no real star in sight, and no captain yet to be named- this team (for the first time in years) is playing with HEART! With Philadelphia currently playing the game the right way, you can now see this team utilizing a forecheck. For the first time in a long time, the Flyers are standing up the opposition at the blue line by laying an open-ice check instead of just lazily trying to poke-check them as the other team skates right on by (like in years past). They are also playing a better defensive game where they are actually helping out their still young netminder Carter Hart by clearing the porch so he can see the shot coming in, as opposed to their prior method of joining the other team in screening Hart like they did so last year.
This new coach has accomplished all this by calling out his teams’ so-called leaders upon his arrival and thus has gotten results such as a reemergence of the offensive-minded Travis Konecny we used to know, who scored 24 goals for three consecutive seasons. Also spotted this season is that gritty 6’5 216 pound center we thought we were getting in Kevin Hayes when management signed him to that massive contract a few seasons ago. Or how about James van Riemsdyk who is out there skating like he does NOT have cement blocks for skates for the first time in his career?
Now, I do live in reality and realize that the outcome of games may go a little differently for the Flyers over the next week or so when they have to face off against genuine playoff contenders like the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Florida Panthers, and the Carolina Hurricanes. Still, I believe the majority of the fan base will be okay with a couple of losses as long as their team continues to put forth the kind of effort that Tortorella has seemed to reinstill in them. You know that Flyers brand of hockey that fans had come to know and expect from the team’s predecessors- those who worked so tirelessly in the past to earn the leagues respect for anyone wearing the Orange and Black.
The SteelFlyers Podcast “SteelFlyers witnesses the start of the Pickett Era!!”
Also Available On
Episode Description
SteelFlyers All Sports Network Presents:
The SteelFlyers Podcast Season 2 Episode 11
SteelFlyers witnesses the start of the Pickett Era!
* Steelers
vs Jets (Home)
– After a very poor first half Kenny Pickett comes onto the field
– O-Line showing some life and Najee Harris with 18/74
– Mike is right, we are seeing improvement, how little it may be
– Defense let the team down as the Jets march down and score to win.
* Flyers
– Team is 0-4 in preseason
– Coots could be back sooner rather than later
– TK & Hayes have looked good with limited action
– Injuries are coming and Torts takes over the team
– First game is 10 days away!
PSU
– Happy Valley er, I mean soggy Valley as it rained all over Northwestern chances of victory against #11 PSU
– PSU Defense is getting better and better each week, as the defense clamps down on the Wildcats
– Singlton had the drops for about a quarter or two but then was reinstated back into the game
– Sean Clifford played the whole game and TD pass to Strange
*F1
– Singapore was Perez race with his great start pulling away from LeClerk before turn 1 in a heavy rain delayed race.
– Ferrari get 2nd and 3rd on the podium!!
– Verstapen building on his lead and looks to be running away with Drivers Championship!!
Cannot thank you enough for listening and checking us out.
Check us out on Spreaker as well!! www.spreaker.com/show/the-steelflyers-podcast
Now you can find the SteelFlyers podcasts on Amazon and IHeart radio!
THANK YOU to The Overview Effect for providing the great music on this episode!
Please follow me on twitter at @Steelflyers52.
You can also follow me on Facebook as well as the web site at www.steeflyers.com.
Flyers Goalie Coaches: May it now be an Issue about Respect?
In the not-so-distant past, when people like you and I were growing up playing this game, we were always taught to trust our coaches because they obviously would not be where they are today if they did not know what they were talking about, right? Well, I’m afraid that saying may not still hold the same validity in this new information age where a person’s whole life story (or better yet) stats from his playing career can be found on something like a cellular device in a matter of seconds.
Therefore, coaches like Kim Dillabaugh, who oversees the Flyers’ Goaltenders, along with Brady Robinson, who was given the title of Developmental Goalie Coach (by former Flyers GM Ron Hextall), may have lost a certain level of respect from the Flyers guardians of the blue paint since their introduction to the team some seven years ago now.
Why might this be, you may be asking? Well, to fully understand the totality of this, we will have to break it all down. However, an excellent place to start would be the issue of this duo’s combined inability to yet develop one of the most decorated/promising young goaltenders to come out of the draft in the last 15 years in Carter Hart. During the previous two seasons, he combined for an embarrassing record of 22 wins, 35 losses, and 12 OTL, equating to a fireable 0.327-win percentage. The reason for his lack of success most likely stems from the fact that Hart averaged a combined 3.41 goals against average (G.A.A.) and a 0.891 save percentage (SV%) over that same time span.
So, at this point, one would not be wrong in thinking that Dillabaugh has possibly lost the respect of Hart, if not others within the team’s organization. Although, this isn’t because Kim does not know what he’s doing. Before joining the Flyers, he won two Western Hockey League (WHL) Championships, two Memorial Cups, and two Stanley Cups working in the same capacity with other teams. Nevertheless, Philadelphia and their netminders may need to move on from this pair of so-called goaltending experts and replace them with someone that Hart and company can relate to more. Sure, adding a legendary goalie coach like Mitch Korn, Francois or Benoit Allaire, or even Ian Clark would be great, but they all are currently employed by other teams and are not at all who I’m suggesting as a replacement. That’s why when it comes to this younger, “more aware” generation of goaltenders today, I would recommend a mentor of sorts; someone who has skated a mile in their pads and was at one point in the not-so-distant past viewed as elite at their craft.
For instance, the L.A. Kings have the two-time Stanley Cup champ and Conn Smythe Trophy recipient Bill Ranford currently working with their netminders. Bill has over 15 NHL seasons of experience to his credit. San Jose has the 14-year NHL veteran Evgeni Nabokov at their helm. Vegas now has NHL journeyman Sean Burke who played in 18 NHL seasons, helping their goaltenders. Then there’s Florida, who has the newly inducted Hall of Famer Roberto Luongo working in a management role to field any questions the Panthers goaltenders might have.
Meanwhile, over in Philadelphia, Kim Dillabaugh has to try and do his job while still having reoccurring nightmares of that bright red light and goal horn that he saw and heard so frequently back when he was playing in juniors where he plateaued in the Western Hockey League. Where throughout four seasons there, he averaged an abysmal 4.47 goals against average, which he paired with a less than desirable 0.880 save percentage. It hardly compares, right?
Then there’s Brady Robinson, the Flyers Development Goalie Coach, who might be even more to blame than coach Dillabaugh, seeing that he spends most of his time working with the team’s underperforming American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League affiliates. Robinson, who has also been with the team for the past seven seasons, is additionally in charge of checking in with the team’s other already drafted prospect goaltenders currently playing in leagues worldwide. Not to mention the fact that he is responsible for scouting and making suggestions on young draft-eligible goaltenders who he thinks the team should select. That means over the last seven years, Brady might have played a significant part in the Flyers drafting and developing (or lack thereof) all of the following underachieving goaltenders: ’21 3rd round pick Alexei Kolosov, ’19 6th round pick Roddy Ross, ’18 5th round pick Samuel Ersson, ’17 3rd round pick Kirill Ustimenko, and ’16 2nd round pick Carter Hart. This might explain why the largest summit Robinson ever reached during his career was juniors playing in the British Columbia Hockey League. Where over two seasons and only 26 games played for a team known as the Trail Smoke Eaters, Brady’s numbers averaged out to a humiliating 4.52 goals against average with a horrid 0.872 save percentage to boot.
Now, I know that they say, “Not all players can coach,” which to prove that you would need to look no farther than Wayne Gretzky’s career 0.435 head coaching win percentage to back up that statement. And for the most part, the declaration of “Those that can’t play, coach” is true, but in both Dillabaugh and Robinson’s case, they have shown during their time in Philly that they can neither play nor coach! Therefore, out of respect for the team’s goaltenders and the team’s dwindling fanbase, it seems like the Flyers brass should have already given these two washed-up pucks stoppers their pink slips. Just like they did for most of the other teams’ coaches, equipment managers, and training staff this offseason. If they did so, Hart and the Flyers, other struggling bunch of goal post talkers, might have had a better chance to right themselves this upcoming season working under the direction of someone they both know and respect who once played on the same ice surfaces as they do.
A few former players who aren’t that far removed from the game that might fit this role would be the recently retired 40-year-old Henrik Lundqvist, who played his entire 15-year career in what is now known as the Metropolitan Division for one of the Flyers archrivals, the New York Rangers. Or the outspoken 48-year-old, former Boston Bruins netminder Tim Thomas who was the first goaltender since Bernie Parent to win the trifecta of a Stanley Cup, the Vezina, and the Conn Smythe trophy in the same season. Would either of these well-off players have taken the job if offered to them? I don’t know, but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt to ask at this point!