2006-07 Flyers Season Thread

[ice grillin you]

i disagree

with both of you

[Seabiscuit36]

Coburn learning on the Job

Even more than his imposing size, the first thing that stands out about Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Braydon Coburn is his surprising mobility. The 6-foot-5, 220 pound defenseman has the fluid skating stride and rapid acceleration of a smaller player, coupled with a penchant for throwing his weight around.

That unique combination of assets made Coburn the eighth overall selection in the deep 2003 Entry Draft, one spot ahead of burgeoning Calgary Flames superstar Dion Phaneuf. But while Phaneuf has rapidly vaulted into the upper echelon of NHL defensemen, Coburn had difficulty getting full-time NHL duty until he was recently traded from the Atlanta Thrashers to Philadelphia in exchange for veteran defenseman Alexei Zhitnik.

Until coming to Philadelphia, Coburn spent the majority of his career with the AHL's Chicago Wolves. The 22-year-old brought just 38 games of NHL experience with him to Philadelphia.

"You can't take it personally. The Thrashers have been in first place (in the Southeast Division) most of the season and they were looking for another veteran for the playoffs. I learned a lot in Chicago, and I just want to help the Flyers now any way I can," Coburn says. "The good thing is they have shown a lot of confidence in me here, and I'm getting to play in situations where I can prove myself."

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With Philadelphia rebuilding around younger talent, Coburn has been inserted into the NHL team's lineup, paired with veteran Derian Hatcher. Through his first 13 games with the club, Coburn has one goal, four points, 12 penalty minutes and a minus-four defensive rating while often playing 20 minutes a game.

For the most part, Coburn has looked like he belongs. In particular, he used his strength and speed effectively in games against the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, while avoiding turnovers. He earned a plus-four rating over the two games and was rewarded with his first NHL goal in the Pittsburgh game.

"It wasn't pretty, but I'll take it," Coburn says with a laugh. "I shot it from the blue line and it took a big hop into the net."

Coburn was never a big offensive producer in junior hockey, topping out at 12 goals and 44 points for the Portland Winter Hawks. Junior numbers such as those typically translate into a blueliner being a strictly defensive defenseman at the NHL level. Nevertheless, Coburn possesses a heavy shot and snaps crisp, accurate passes to teammates. Those skills suggest he could improve offensively over time.

For his part, Coburn says he worries mostly about taking care of business in his own end of the ice and any offense he generates is a bonus. When he's on the top of his game, he dishes out body checks and skates stride-for-stride with his man. Although not a regular fighter, he will also drop the gloves when necessary.

"I need to play physical and play with an edge. When I do that, it gives me a little more room out there to skate. That's something I'm working on. Hatch has always played that way, and it's something I can learn from," he says.

Flyers coach John Stevens, himself a former defenseman, says Coburn is just at the tip of the iceberg in terms of his development, at both ends of the ice.

"He can fly out there, and he's been working hard for us. It often takes defensemen, especially big guys like Braydon, a little longer to feel comfortable and really tap into their ability. Braydon has been good for us so far, but I'd say there's a lot of potential to be unlocked in the future," Stevens said.

As with all young defensemen, especially those on struggling teams, the sailing hasn't been entirely smooth for Coburn with the Flyers. In the NHL, scoring chances develop faster than at the American Hockey or major junior level and Coburn on several occasions has been caught out of position or forced into turnovers on plays where he likely would have had more time to recover in the AHL.

After his strong start, he was minus-seven over a five-game stretch. Recently, Coburn was victimized by Florida Panthers captain Olli Jokinen. Seconds after exiting the penalty box, Jokinen took an errant clearing pass in the neutral zone as Coburn drifted a stride too far over the blue line. The Finnish center then circled around the backpeddling defenseman, went in alone on goaltender Martin Biron and beat him for what ultimately proved to be the game-winning goal.

Coburn's veteran partner, Hatcher, says the youngster recognizes plays like these are all part of the learning process every young defenseman must go through.


Coburn faced his former team when the Flyers hosted the Thrashers on March 15.

"I told him you can't worry about mistakes, but he's pretty level-headed and mature. He's got talent and size and I've enjoyed playing with him. He's pretty aware of the situation on the ice," Hatcher says.

In 40 games played this season between the Thrashers and Flyers, Coburn has 19 giveaways, 13 takeaways, 30 hits and 32 blocked shots. Secondary stats such as those are important for a player of Coburn's style. For a player of Coburn's size to truly effective, he needs to increase the frequency of the hits and blocked shots. However, his takeaways (which would lead the Flyers defense if prorated over a full season) demonstrate his defensive anticipation and quickness with the stick.

"With any young defenseman, it's a work in progress," says Flyers General Manager Paul Holmgren. "We've seen a lot of things we like about Coburn."

Coburn's former Thrashers teammate, Niclas Havelid, believes that the only necessary attribute missing from the youngster's game is one that will fall in place in due time.

"Confidence -- that's something that comes when you start playing a little bit more," Havelid told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. "When (Coburn) gets his confidence up, he'll be a great player."

Over the remainder of the 2006-07 regular season, the Flyers would like to see how Coburn reacts to being placed in a variety of game situations. Already, he has seen both penalty killing and second-unit power-play duty as well as being kept with Hatcher in late-game situations when the score is close or the team is protecting a lead.

The most encouraging sign so far is that Coburn doesn't seem to buckle in pressure situations. For now, he has seemed comfortable on a rebuilding squad that, when healthy, has become a hard team to play against. It remains to be seen until future seasons whether he will remain as poised in games with playoff implications. Time and experience will tell the true story.

"You can see he's got the ability to become an impact player," says Flyers defenseman Denis Gauthier. "You look at him at think he's going to be a very good player for our hockey team."

[Rome]

Wow - Flyers trounce Carolina 5-1 putting a serious dent in their playoff hopes.


Carter's Empty Netter Was A Thing Of Beauty

[Seabiscuit36]

Great game last night!  Craig Adams should have gotten a major for the board on Gauthier, and instead he gets nothing, and Jones gets 4 minutes for sticking up for Gauthier.  The refs were a JOKE last night

[ice grillin you]

in only 57 games ben eager leads the nhl in pims

[Seabiscuit36]

eager is my favorite flyer next to Richards.  He's at the point where he just gets penalties for being near scrums

[SD_Eagle5]

Biron was awesome lastnight, the penalty shot they awarded Williams was bullshtein.

[BigEd76]

Last trip to Continental Airlines Arena and they clinched the worst record in the NHL, so they'll pick no lower than #2 in the draft... 

[dis12]

Flyers sucked...again!   but Pitkanen is worse than suck, he fargin sucks!

with the exception of Eager's 2 goals (yes Eager), another horrible night.

[SunMo]

one of the other Flyers boards is saying that Ryan Parent will be in the lineup tonight

[Seabiscuit36]

I'm really excited to see him in action.  He looked good against the US in the World jr's back in january. 

[Seabiscuit36]

Last nights OT loss in Toronto showcased the worst case of hometown advantage.  Toronto was offsides, skated in, a hooking penalty was called on Carter which no replay even showed any flyer touching a leaf, then the flyers had to make contact with the puck 2 times just to being the PK.   The Leafs won on the ensuing PP, the referee crew was an all Ontario crew who should be banned from the game. 

I'm not mad the flyers lost, but im mad at how horrible the calls were.  They were what makes hockey a joke. 

[Rome]

I was reading John Buccigross's latest column on ESPN.com and came across this funney:

Hi John,

Since the playoffs are almost upon us and the Flyers' season will be ending soon, I was wondering, who do you think should be the next captain? I don't see Forsberg coming back, so I'm thinking it might be Simon Gagne. He is a player that has proven he can be counted on, and he is going to be around for a while. But what do you think?

Go Flyers!
Dan Hartman
Hamburg, Pa.



Daniel Briere.

Hockey wood.   

[rjs246]

Hi John,

Since the playoffs are almost upon us and the Flyers' season will be ending soon, I was wondering, who do you think should be the next captain? I don't see Forsberg coming back, so I'm thinking it might be Simon Gagne. He is a player that has proven he can be counted on, and he is going to be around for a while. But what do you think?

Go Flyers!
Dan Hartman
Hamburg, Pa.



Daniel Briere. Chris Drury.

Much better.

[Seabiscuit36]

I'd rather have Scott Gomez over those two