Forwards: Brendan Ranford is the standout prospect this month. He has got off to a blazing start in the month of October. He is currently tied for 6th in the WHL for points and is 3rd in goals. He also leads the Kamloops Blazers in goals and points. He is currently on pace to finish with 99 points which would be a 34 point increase from his career high of 65 points last year. October is a month Phantoms forwards would like to forget. They’ve been one of the most offensively inept teams in the AHL. Andrew Rowe leads the …
North American Prospect Weekly Report (10/15 – 10/31)
The North American Prospect Report follows the weekly progress of Flyers prospects playing in the various leagues throughout North America. Forwards: Andrew Rowe stepped up big after Patrick Maroon’s dismissal with 2 goals and 1 assist on Saturday. Jonathan Kalinski also stepped up with a goal and 2 assists. Stefan Legein gets back on the score sheet this week with 2 assists. Dave Labrecque and Michael Chaput each recorded a goal and an assist in QMJHL action. Brendan Ranford continues his point per game pace with also a goal and assist. Shane Harper recorded his first point of the season …
North American Prospect Weekly Report (10/18 – 10/24)
The North American Prospect Report follows the weekly progress of Flyers prospects playing in the various leagues throughout North America. Forwards: Patrick Maroon continues his goal scoring prowess this week as he registered his 5th goal in 9 games this season. Eric Wellwood scored his 3rd of the season to become the Phantoms 2nd leading goal scorer. Outside of those two, it was a pretty pitiful week for Phantoms prospects who managed to score a grand total of 4 goals in 3 games this week. In junior action Brendan Ranford potted 2 more goals to bring his total to 12 …
North American Prospect Weekly Report (10/11 – 10/17)
The North American Prospect Report follows the weekly progress of Flyers prospects playing in the various leagues throughout North America. Forwards: Patrick Maroon continues his strong start to the season with 2 more goals and 2 assists. He has 4 goals in 6 games so far this season.Eric Wellwood recorded his first and second goals as a professional along with his first assist as a pro. Luke Pither also recorded his first assist as a professional. Brendan Ranford continues to tear up the WHL with 4 goals and 6 points total this week. His 17 points in 11 games is …
North American Prospect Weekly Report (10/4 – 10/10)
The North American Prospect Report follows the weekly progress of Flyers prospects playing in the various leagues throughout North America. Forwards: This week was a pretty good for the forward prospects. Brendan Ranford lead the pack this week with 7 points in 3 games including 3 goals. Tye McGinn also had a great week with 4 points in 4 games. Patrick Maroon has gotten off to a hot start by scoring a goal in each game this weekend. Jonathan Kalinkski, Dave Labrecque, David Laliberte, Stefan Legein, and Mike Testwuide all also had solid performances this week by averaging a point …
The morning after: Flyers vs. Islanders 9.29.10
“The morning after” is a review of the previous night’s Flyers’ game which, in theory, provides a more objective perspective on the game. The Flyers celebrated their first regulation win of the preseason last night. It was the second consecutive game that did not go to a shootout. Whew. The team faced off against the New York Islanders, who were playing their first game of the preseason. This was an expected win for the Flyers, as the Islanders dressed many of their prospects. Perhaps the biggest story of the night was that Ville Leino, Blair Betts, and Johan Backlund returned …
The morning after: Flyers @ Leafs 9.24.10
“The morning after” is a review of the previous night’s Flyers’ game which, in theory, provides a more objective perspective on the game. Michael Leighton played an average game in net last night and suffered a back injury during the game. It’s hard to say exactly how this affected his play but it was far from the first time that Leighton was unable to steal a game when the team in front of him was playing poorly. Fortunately, Nikolai Zherdev and Claude Giroux had instant chemistry last night and helped the team rally back. Zherdev scored two goals and Danny …
The morning after: Leafs vs. Flyers 9.23.10
“The morning after” is a review of the previous night’s Flyers’ game which, in theory, provides a more objective perspective on the game. James van Riemsdyk is transforming into an exciting player to watch but that needs to start translating into points too. Bill Guerin was much more visible tonight than he was against the Devils, scoring a goal in regulation and one in the shootout, and playing a strong game on both ends of the ice. Ben Holmstrom continues to win me over. I hope he develops into the next Manny Malhotra. Oskars Bartulis played a solid game and …
Evaluating Flyers prospects
I want to introduce another way of evaluating prospects using a NHL Equivalency or NHLE for short. Gabriel Desjardins, a prominent blogger in the hockey analysis world developed NHLE. He has figured out the production equivalency for lower leagues and how they translate into the NHL. Meaning we can take a player’s stat line from a lesser league like the Canadian junior hockey league and figure out what the NHL equivalent for the player’s performance would be. This gives us an idea of how a prospect would perform offensively at the NHL level. It’s not a perfect method for evaluating …
Are the Flyers a better team?
This question was recently asked on the Flyers Forum and, admittedly, it caught me off guard. For all of the knee-jerk reactions we are accustomed to giving as fans of Philadelphia sports teams, I had a hard time saying no to this question. I wanted to lash out about how management backed themselves into a corner with the cap and it forced them to trade the beloved Simon Gagne for garbage, or about the illogical acquisition of overpaid defender, Andrej Meszaros, while plenty of good free agent defenders were available. I had a million reasons to complain about how I …