I dont think it has, and I think we have a glaring need of a good dman. our defense was pathetic last yr and allowed the most shots on goal I believe. Holmgren talked about revamping the defense cuz of the play of the defense last yr. i havent really seen anything new. Vanaanan is like Kuks, blocks shots and eminger could be a steal, but i still say we need one more good dman. Doesnt have to be a big name, just an above average defender. Steve montedor would be great

We replaced Smith and Modry with Eminger and Väänänen. We lost experience, but got more mobility that was needed. Of course we don't know yet, but I'd say we did improve.

No money for big name defenders.

This is a good question and the answer remains to be seen. I think having Parent play regularly will upgrade our mobility and we added some youth which will give us more energy. I think our biggest ? is now experience level.

Where are you getting this " one more guy " Money from?

Only time will tell. As Kappy said, we have lost a lot of experience in Smith, but it would have 'rubbed' off on the likes of Jones and Coburn (who is into his 2nd full season with us now?!). We know the D is going to be worked on a lot this summer in camp. If Hatcher goes, then we don't have a lot of experience left. But we have picked up on speed and 'mobility' so to speak.

Interesting times ahead.

We lost some exprience in Smith, but IMO Hatch has more than Smith ever did.

That's a fair comment, actually!

It's to hard too tell. IMO it did some. But like Kappy and Dave said, we lost experience, but we gained mobility.

Yes, it has improved.

I am not so concerned about our Defense personel wise as I am system wise. We lost to pittsburgh IMO because our D would get control of the puck, take it behind our net and begin a predictable, slow breakout. The pens were able to trap us because we gave them so much time before we transitioned. Look al the way Detroit does it, as soon as the puck is turned over to their D, no matter where, they turn it up the other way in a rush and trap the other teams forwards who are deep. Now, we dont have the same team make up as Detroit and I am not saying copy them, but a faster breakout would take some of the predictablity out of our trasition game. I am relativlely happy personel wise, Homer chooses to keep our fowards as our strongest point. We are gonna score a ton of goals this year, just have to keep enough out to make them count.

Our defense definitely has to play a faster transition game, but let's not forget that we were missing Timonen and Coburn for most of the Pens series. They make a huge difference.

Hatcher and Smith may have brought experience and wisdom, but that didn't stop us from giving up way to many shots, and it didn't stop us from scrambling in our own end all the time, and it didn't stop us from blowing lead after lead after lead. We needed to get younger and faster, and we did. Factor in the further development of Coburn and Parent, and I think it's fair to say at least the potential is there for an improved D. I don't think it will get worse.

It's hard to say at this point. I think I'll reserve judgment until I actually see these guys play together.

We had been working more on passing the puck out of the zone than carrying it. It took some time to get it right, but it was working pretty well against Washington.


This. Our breakout was slow and predictable because our top two D-men were out, and the rest of the corps was playing it safe, trying to keep from getting burned by Hossa and Malkin. With Kimmo and Braydon in the lineup, that would have been a COMPLETELY different series.

Smith and Jones seemed to work pretty well together last season and will probably continue to do so this year. We also have a great vet in Timonen who has provided tons of leadership, especially for Coburn. I think that has been overlooked this offseason.

I think our defense did get better but the question is, how much? And, as jeffjd said, it's hard to say at this point.

Vaananen had a stellar year in the Elitserien last year and we have to see how that will translate in the NHL. People are saying he's like a bigger, more solid Kukkonen. That's fair but Kukkonen was also a bit like Smith. All three of these guys block shots. Unlike Smith, though, Vaananen is more mobile. So, I'm not sure if Vaananen (do we have a nickname for him yet? I'm getting tired of typing that out already. How about Vaany?) is replacing Kukkonen or Smith. Either way, he's a bit of an upgrade.

Whether we like Jones's contract or not, he is only going to get better. Same with Coburn. BTW, Jones is listed on the Flyers' roster page now.

Hatcher is a big question mark.

Parent will get better too but it's hard to say whether he'll continue his trial by fire in the NHL or if they'll leave him in the AHL for more seasoning.

As for the rest of the D we picked up, I'm starting to look at it as if Holmgren held his own private drafted. He plucked a bunch of young guys with high ceilings. Aside from Eminger, it didn't really cost too much to do that. Now the chips will fall where they may. Chances are, one or two of them will reach their potential. I think people would generally agree that, despite some other shortcomings, Homer has been a pretty good judge of talent. So, I'll trust him on these moves.

Why did Niskala go? I completely missed that until I seen him go to Tampa.

I think he refused to have a two way contract, and that didn't work for the Flyers. So, they shipped him off.

Ahh, right. Thanks.

On paper, it looks like we improved the mobility of our defense as everyone has already said. As far as experience goes, Kimmo has a lot, Hatch has a lot and all of the young guys have a few years under their belt. And Vaananen has a good deal as well. We will find out in the fall if our defense improved at all.

We've gotten a bit more mobile, but it remains to be seen if we actually have improved. I'm not convinced we have.

So many people are whining about how the defense didn't get any better this offseason (still funny to hear the past tense when the FA period is only 6 days old)... Here's a question, did it get worse?

We got younger, faster, and did that without sacrificing talent or payroll. To me, thats an improvement. Yes, we lose experience, but experience can only get you so far, and it didn't get us far enough last year. With that being said, with how far this team went last year, now everyone has experience.

Before I hear one more person whine about how this offseason is such a failure, I request to hear one good thought out reason to why we're now worse than we were. Until then, you're just whining for the sake of whining.

+1

What he said.

I say the defence did improve. Not by alot, but we won't have two pylons back there with the names Smith and Hatcher. Hatcher was good on the pk, but would let guys get around him because of thier speed. Smith never really impressed me that much, but I will give him credit for playing with two dislocated shoulders in the playoffs. Over all I think we did what we could with having no wiggle room with the cap.

Agreed. Short, sweet, and to the point.

"Hey look, a dead horse. Let's beat it some more."

Only time will tell.

Does this thread need to be here?

The thread starter already has one whiny thread about Homer's moves this offseason, do we really need this carbon-copy?

Well you coudl say we got faster, and more mobile, but the grit of Hatcher and Smith are in question. Lets not forget, Smith played with 2 seperated shoulders in the playoffs, and Hatcher had to drain his knee everyday. Those are battle wounds, that I'm not sure these new Defencemen could take. But experience is gone, but speed it there for sure.

Vanaanen brings that grit your talking about.

Experience is huge in the D-man dept. Speed kill us last year and we definately improved there, but I think we lose way too much exp. if Hatcher does not return. As of today lack of exp. is going to kill us. Good news is theres still time to make some kind of move to get someone here.

There's an Eminger thread with 18 pages. I guess we just need something to talk about.

This would hold more value if it was your 1ST post here.

Yes, it did improve.

Vaananen will be wearing #23 and Eminger takes Kappy's #24.

Lame. Those numbers are so tame. I wonder who's to blame?

Eminger have extremly big shoes to fill...

losing smith is huge, eminger has potential, and vannanen is a joke. if hatcher stays he will be a HUGE pylon and if he goes we're going to have a hole. i'm not pleased with the D

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

terrible choice

Homer likes 'em young. No. Wait. That doesn't sound right.... Start over: Homer likes to give Stevens young talent to develop - and that formula seems to work. Coby and Richie alone are testaments. Richie was not and never would be the player he is now if not for Stevens giving him responsiblities Hitch never would. And Coby's outlet pass and shot from the point were huge improvements for him last year. Homer has declared Stevens is his guy, and as an AHL turned NHL coach, talent developement is his strength (it's certainly not match-ups). In a cap constricted world, that appears to be Homer's play. Honestly, Homer's in uncharted territory himself, I mean, he "apprenticed" with the Flyers in a no cap world - were the Flyers ever really known for being cheap? (They gave away $15M and six players for Lindros. In the 94/95 lock-out, the Flyers were one of the teams that didn't support a cap. Cheap? I think not.) Yes, you could say all GMs grew up in a cap-free environment, but many teams had tougher owner-imposed restrictions.

Until they're on the ice and playing, who knows. But it'll be awesome to watch.

+200

Seriously, great point after great point. And you're right, Stevens knows how to develop young players, he's done it so many times its become second nature to him. Its the reason the Phantoms won the Calder Cup and its the reason he was able to get players like Carter, Richards, Coburn, etc to be the guys they are now.

Also, about that Homer being in uncharted waters thing, you couldn't have nailed it any better. Some teams, and I'll use my hometown Carolina Hurricanes as a prime example, have had to limit themselves to a self-imposed cap for years. Jim Rutherford has had to hold the Canes to a cap since the day they moved to NC because the ticket sales just weren't there (fortunately they are vastly improved to the point where they are really in no danger of leaving). Even this past year, he had to hold the Canes to a self-imposed cap of $40 million even though the league cap was $47 or so just to keep the team in the black on the year. Its a big reason he was able to amass the kind of team he was able to over the course of the lockout to lead them to the Cup, because now everyone had to play by the rules he had for years. Its also one of the reasons the 2002 run to the Finals was so impressive. But that being said, Homer doesn't know what its like to have to deal with that. However, judging from the deals he's made, the players he's signed, and the personnel he now has on this team, its obvious he's a quick learner. Bobby Clarke would get eaten alive in the league nowadays (worse than he did when he was our GM). This is not a league where you can go out and get those big name FA and be able to load up on the talent and send out some All-Star team every year. Its just impossible with this Cap, so you have to load up on the undervalued, underappreciated talent that has been overlooked by other teams and hope it comes together in a chemistry conducive to a champion. Thats what he has been tryin to do this offseason, especially to the defense, and its just a shame that this concept is completely and utterly lost on the vast majority of whiners on here.

I agree with you on what you said. But I want to tweak it a bit and add on that you can do like what the Rangers are doing but then you are stuck for years to come. The one thing I said about our defensive core is that if this team is a contender we could upgrade for a rental player (which I'm not a fan of but hey that's today's league) to fill a hole if needed, and if it doesn't work out we're not stuck with all of them for more than 2 years.

Also I ask that you add a two sentence summary, for those of us with ADD that can't read your entire para- Wanna go ride bikes?

You made a good point there Shawny. Although I really don't care for rental players, at least you can get the talent that you need at the moment.

anytime

we've improved slightly in some areas. we've also taken hits in some others. our mobility and youth/potential have gone up but our experience and knowledge of the game have gone down. i remain hopeful.

Agreed

No offense dude but you should take your own advice. You whined non stop like a baby on these boards during the caps series, things like might as well not watch game 7 this teams done, their pathetic. And now your preaching to everyone not to whine. Hypocrite maybe just a little?

This from one of last seasons leaders of the "Fire Stevens Campaign" , you got some serious balls calling others whiners.

For now I will say no it did not improve. The Flyers need a clear cut #3 guy. Someone who was very solid in their own end. They didn't get any of that.

I think Eminger will be able to fill that almost right away. Although I agree and wished for Commodore or Hainsey, hopefully Eminger will get his asss in gear in camp along with Parent. Parent and Eminger I think can both fill this 2nd pairing void the Flyers have. Coburn is also going to have to step it up like he did towards the end of the season to complete the top line.

Flyers have solid depth, there is just a major void for a second pairing. I have high hopes for camp and pre season though. I think it will all work out.

So my answear is yes.