"Chemistry"

I’m not going to lie, I’m in love with that white road jersey when they’re actually playing. It just looks so nice.

I’ve long felt Brown belongs on the 3rd line. He is an excellent defensive checker and is able to to generate bang-bang offense. He would be a huge on the 3rd line.

I agree. I just think he makes too much to be a 3rd liner. Which is why I’d like to trade him and Greene for a really good right wing who can play either with Kopitar or Richards. Fill the Greene hole with Voinov. I know Voinov is considered a defensive liability but lack of offense is the team’s issue, not defense.

Penner and Richards looked good

I think Toffoli will be the next prospect to debut at right wing. I would expect Cliche before Kozun, and that wouldn’t solve the RW2 problem, if we’re calling it a problem. The Murray solution, as we all know, will be to wait paaaaaaaatiently for Brown and Richards to develop “chemistry.”

each little step in the thought process then becomes part of the dialogue in the “community.” i could of course keep these thoughts to myself, but that’s counter-productive since my role here is more or less never to do that. and many of us would be thinking these things privately anyway. this way, it’s all out there, open for discussion.

p.s. 3 of 6

but good luck with that.

Need Pint Runs

but the thing is, I don’t know how good brown’s defensive game is, really. i’m not saying he’s bad defensively, but he seems to go off the reservation a lot. brown’s scoring ability is not in question; the question (or one of the questions) is his ability to mesh with linemates. he hasn’t quite done that with any one center. and last year he was getting easier minutes than simmonds and williams through most of the year.

you mention that the talk of putting brown on the third line sounds misguided. I agree that it sounds misguided. but when you consider that right now richards’s line in getting the toughest assignments, a role filled by Handzus/Simmonds last year, it’s harder to think of the richards line as the “second” line.

what i think is happening is that murray’s entire system has depended on handzus and to a lesser degree handzus and simmonds anchoring a “stopper” line that can also score 40-50 goals a year. now, without those two players, murray is (I think) less sure about who is playing what role. maybe richards (as he is now) will be shouldering those tough minutes, but if so, who are his wingers? now, if the line can keep control of the puck more (frolov and simmonds were both very very good at puck protection), they might be able to do the job. but brown’s main weakness is that he is a turn-over machine, whether that happens by trying to skate through a sea of opponents, or by shooting wide on a three-on-two, he’s just (to my eye anyway) never been consistent on that topic.

so if it’s not richards, then maybe it’s kopitar. kopitar, like richards, is excellent defensively. but williams is not. so we have a different version of the same problem.

so what about stoll? stoll is pretty good on both sides of the puck, and he’s fast, and he’s great on faceoffs. but because of his speed and his heavy shot, it’s tempting to make him the center of a quick, third-threat line (what I usually call the Millen/Donnelly speed line). If Loktionov were up, I would be advocating moving Stoll to wing (which he has done) and having a line of Stoll/Loktionov/Lewis. The problem is, we don’t have Loktionov, we have Trent Hunter and Ethan Moreau, so we’re left with a Stoll line that is neither here nor there.

and because stoll is sort of halfway between a c2 and a c3, we have a “third” line that is halfway between a second and a third line, but not in a good way, because it’s both not defensively sound enough and not offensively dangerous enough.

putting brown with stoll — where he has played at least half of the last two seasons — would at least make use of that familiarity. and if that line is not getting the tough minutes, murray would be comfortable putting clifford on the line — and clifford/stoll/brown would be a great line. not a stopper unit that can score, but a physically-punishing unit that can score.

that’s a great idea. but then…who plays right wing on the second line? the choices are trevor lewis (my selection), trent hunter, ethan moreau, brad richardson…or bring up marc-andre cliche.

the best solution of course would be OSCAR MOLLER, but YOU IDIOT YOU MOVED TO SWEDEN.

your solution, simply to wait for brown and richards to have chemistry, is what murray will do, is doing, and maybe what he has to do. but the chemistry is by no means guaranteed. especially since i have some but not a lot of confidence that murray will be able to adjust his “stopper” unit mentality, and so richards will get that assignment (as he has so far), which will increase the pressure on brown and richards, which will make it harder for them to find “chemistry,” etc. etc.

Ouch. I can only assume that Drewiske (and Westgarth) are being added for size, which would be a typical, conservative Murray tactical move against a team like Philly. Basically try to play their game instead of our game (whatever that may be).

“Hey Dean, you know that Drewiske player you always try to include in your trade offers to us? We don’t really know him. Can you have him play tonight while he’s in town?

Thanks,

Flyers Management"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbTUTNenvCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej0sYdDJQGM