“When the kids are united, they will never be divided” – Sham 69
Greetings, Nitty Gritty fans and readers alike year two under coach John Tortorella has me excited as a fan of this team going ahead. So let’s kick the door open. I, for one, think he is the perfect model for this hockey club. He represents dedication, consistency, and due diligence. And in time we will be the perfect model of those thing’s. For now, I say, let the kid’s be kid’s. Let them showcase their skill in the season opener and beyond but also hold them accountable for missing a check or two and commend one on one’s skill on the penalty kill.. we all don’t want to do it, but all in all, it’s about commitment to the team that matters. We are Flyers fans.
It reminds me of my favorite coach, Herb Brooks, who never was a Flyer but with his vision with a young nineteen eighties group of gentlemen. He made it work. What he did reminds me of what Fred Shero once did with a group of misfits, he literally transformed a group of grinders into Stanley Cup champions. This didn’t happen overnight, no, but with Herb and Shero, they focused all their attention on the minor thing’s, plays like playing along the half wall. Tape to tape passes, back checking, proper poke checking, taking the body at the appropriate time will open up opportunity. Opportunities will arise every now and again, but with patience, structure, and accountability, coach Tortorella will mold these kids into a contending team. John Tortorella is the whole package when it comes to Philadelphia. He will stick up for his team and will never blame them for their actions. He will gladly take the bullet for the team and then some.
Going forward, we are rebuilding our defense, and I think that this is what the team needs to address as we are very thin on the defensive end. We lack the depth on the defensive side that, alongside the team, is young and inexperienced at the NHL level. Younger than ever with the likes of Ronnie Attard, Emil Andrae, Ethan Samson, Cameron York, and Oliver Bonk. These kid’s will need steering in the right direction and will be pressured into making mistakes as they will happen. Like miscues on a breakout into the neutral zone, a sloppy pass, that sort of thing, but with generous coaching and engrossing oneself to their craft, they will get better. And believe me, they will.
Players, in general, have the mindset and have the habit of coming into the league thinking they have it made, thinking that’s all there is to it. They made it to the major leagues. But the greater one’s know, that every day is a chance to get better and be coachable. With a coach like John Tortorella, he’ll be at the helm of it all. Teaching these young kids that it’s okay to penalty kill and it can be rewarding, and that it’s okay to play the puck along the boards and battle it out. This only teaches them that determination and commitment will eventually achieve greater thing’s. Plays like springing a teammate on a breakway after digging and tiring out your opponent along the boards, the juice is worth every bit of squeeze so don’t go ahead thinking this team is going to be amazing off the hop, no we need leadership. A player like Marc Staal can completely change the aspects and attitude these youngsters may have. Rather than attacking with the skills you possess, use your skills to attack. The game and pace of the game isn’t what it used to be so rather taking the body to take the hit, why not do the smarter play and use the reach of your stick to disrupt the play. You’d still be in position, and you wouldn’t have wasted any excess energy. Plus, you wouldn’t be behind the play.
There is a quote that goes, “Without good defense, you have no good offense.” And I agree with the quote whole heartedly, long have we had players who stick up for our goaltenders like Moose Dupont sticking up for Bernie Parent, who was traded away from the beginning. Mind you, and then brought back again because you don’t know what you got until it’s gone. But in this day and age, it would be damn near hard to get a talent like Carter Hart back in today’s NHL. Players who aren’t afraid to block shots for Hart are what we need! The goaltenders in the past have come and gone in this town like a plague of yesteryear and are often coming with them injuries and old age. For once, Philadelphia, get your head out of your asses and see what you have in front of you. I can’t fathom the idea of why their are trade talks in regards to Carter Hart, but you just don’t do that. Without him, we literally have no heart. We can’t rely on defensive forwards like Sean Couturier to be on the ice all the time and with defensemen like Ivan Provorov gone, we literally have nobody to block those shots and log the ice time like he did. Rasmus Ristolainen, maybe, but players like Emil Andrae are here. Yes he lead in respective ice time for HV71 but he has to develop at the professional level in North America. But, let’s not get in over our heads here, these kid’s will have their work cut out for them.
Check out our Flyers Nitty Gritty Store
Cool Matvei Michkov merchandise
The Flyers should not hurry the and place the youth on the top pair and expect them to know everything. They have to take a step back in order to take the step forward, and with Tortorella and other coaches guiding them, the hope is they can only get better.
Sorry fellow Flyers fans if this style of hockey is boring to you, but this is what the game has come down to. Speed and skill is what determines whether the team is all in or not, and to do it consistently will take some time. But the Flyers are definitely moving in the right direction. All we need now is for the kid’s to buy into the system, move forward never backwards and have the presence in mind that you’re striving to get better. The leadership will hopefully put these kids in an over the edge mindset and have them hungry. It’s up to the kid’s themselves if they want to show up or not. I can envision a better team defensively in their own zone and hopefully better and quicker in the neutral zone, less sloppiness than before, and better break out passes. A player like Danny Briere has given us that, and thanks to our minds, we can envision that. Faster along the boards and wings respectively, shooting off the rush. Now I’m not saying we will be contenders anytime soon but a better team defensively and better on the breakout. I feel like this is what the team needs to address. Players like Nick Seeler and Marc Staal aren’t here for the long haul per se. They are here temporarily, but hopefully, with players like Rasmus Ristolainen and Travis Sanheim, they can set the example of what it means to be a Flyer. Not that Sanheim needs work himself, but who doesn’t need a little work every now and again. Being coachable isn’t the end of the world, but it is the ability to get better. Day in and day out. It’s the one’s that think they know it all, that will surely fail. The Flyers need help on special teams, I hope Marc Staal will help out the struggling Sanheim and young defensive corps, Cam York included.
Garnet Hathaway, too, will be their to guide the young forwards to help pinch along the boards and get that puck down the ice during key moments! Watch for improvements there. Scott Laughton, as we know, is the short-handed dynamo that he is and what he brings to the table. He will be there, vocally to address and help these youngsters to succeed in these types of game situations. It will be one of the things that need to be addressed moving forward.
Penalty killing is what I’m talking about!
Hopefully, the Flyers will showcase the league and their divisional counterparts that they still belong in this league and that the Philadelphia Flyers aren’t just some old school hockey club who believes in violence and beat’em up style of play. We have displayed in the past that we can win hockey games, and consistently doing so well will reward us in the end. You just have to believe in this team and not have such high expectations going in.
Coaches like Herb Brooks, Freddie the Fog, and Tortorella all have one thing in common, they want to have a high demand and a high commitment level coming from within their players. If you spend the time to understand their systems, take heed and adapt to what they’re trying to teach, and only then will you succeed. Rasmus Ristolainen is a prime example of this as he excelled under the tutelage of Torts. And he was the most improved from last season. Coaches like this are few and far between nowadays, and with the players being in full control of their respective destinies, they need discipline and coaching in order to be successful.
To end the beginning of our season, I would like to say that the defense is an important part of this team going forward, as anything else; not only for the defenders but for the set-up guy’s and powerplay specialists not to mention the penalty killers and men who “eat” pucks for a living. The Philadelphia Flyers front office was not afraid to throw the term “rebuild” around and with Jonesy and Briere being in charge of it all, I’d say building from the net out is a solid breakout and what a better pace to play at and intensity.
I firmly believe that is the correct way of doing it, defense first! Thank you for reading your monthly Monday Motivator.
LET’S GO FLYERS
