Jones out, are you happy?

by Travis Hughes on Mar 17, 2009 10:18 AM EDT in Philadelphia Flyers Commentary

Randy Jones will miss "about a week" with one of those dreaded lower body injuries. Jones is easily the biggest scapegoat in this corner of the internet. He turns over passes, he plays defense like a lost puppy, he gets way too much ice time and he makes way too much money. We all have our reasons. But, as much as we complain about the guy, and as much as we wish there were another option, there really isn't.

Danny Syvret is the guy coming up to replace Jones. He's played 26 NHL games, and not one since the 2006/07 season. He has one -- count it, ONE -- NHL point. I'm not trying to knock Syvret at all -- I've never seen him play, that wouldn't be fair. I'm purely playing devils advocate. Syvret will not play the ice time Jones does and he apparently has a little bit of an offensive touch this year (48 points). But seriously speaking, can this guy be better than Jones? His first game is going to be against one of the best teams in the league, and that could be a lot of pressure.

The question, then, is simple. Is having Danny Syvret in the lineup better than having Jones?

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With the way Jones plays, the answer has to be “we’ll see”. This is where Sbisa and Vaananen would be helpful, but that ship has sailed. Looking at Syvret’s statistics, this year is an anomaly. Other than 2004-2005 in the OHL, he has never scored more than 31 points. The thing that worries me is that he’s 5’11" 203. That’s not very big. Think Freddy Meyer (5’10" 192). But Randy Jones can’t hit anybody, or turn around to see the people standing in front of the net, so I’ll give anybody a chance.

by Geoff Detweiler on Mar 17, 2009 11:20 AM EDT reply actions

well, theoretically

he has to be faster, right? and have a quicker stick? and be a better skater?

guh. tonight is going to hurt. briere’s salary and injuries have killed us. excuse my naysaying, but am battling the flu and a headache at work.

World F#$king Champions

by psudrozz on Mar 17, 2009 11:34 AM EDT reply actions

Serviceable........

…….. is what I would consider Jones. He’s not Bobby Orr (or Kimmo Timonen or Braydon Coburn for that matter) but he’s not Chris Therien either, be thankful for that. Somewhere in between, in the Vaanenen / Mark Eaton / Freddy Meyer category. Anyhow, I do believe he is a better option than Syvret just because of his experience against a tough Detroit team.

Speaking of Coburn, we’re lucky we’re not down 2 D-men after his bad hit on Antropov on Sunday (although that weasel Antropov certainly sold it well). If his last name were Cote, Asham, or Carcillo, he’d be suspended right now (yes, there is a huge double standard in the league!). Thank god he’s not suspended, we’ll need him tonight…..

by cjr144 on Mar 17, 2009 12:31 PM EDT reply actions

you guys are really gay

a a flyers fan, im ashamed that this is the blog we get, all you guys do is bash our own players. lets face it, this guy is just a hater, jones is a +13, 2nd best on the team while missing half the season. i think you hate the guy cause hes not a flashy player, maybe hes not the fastest, but not the slowest, hes an average scorer, but he moves the puck up the ice better then any of our defensemen and hes the only other player besides parent who plays somewhat physical in front of the net. the fact is that for some reason you hate the guy and look past the 90% of great/smart hocky plays and only focus on the 10% of bad plays. if you really belive that jones is our worst d-man then that means you dont know or watch hockey.

by JpH89 on Mar 17, 2009 12:59 PM EDT reply actions

BAM! Roasted

Are you ashamed, or are you… arron ashamed?

What’s the JpH stand for? The 89? Is that your birth year? Where do you go to school? Are you sure hockey is spelled hocky? Are you sure that we’re all gay? Is that a bad thing? Do you hate gay people? What other types of people do you hate? If it’s just gay people, is that a result of a fear of facing your own sexuality? Would it be wrong if it was? What are some of the 90% of his hockey plays that are so great/smart? Wouldn’t that percentage mean he’s one of the best defensemen ever?

In short, shut up and get out of here. You raise fine points, but your delivery is lacking in class, intelligence, and basic human social skills.

by Alon on Mar 17, 2009 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions

You actually make acceptable points that had the potential to add to the conversation of the blog. Yet you felt the need to invalidate them with the immaturity of the first half of your post. Welcome to this blog. There are other Flyers’ blog links on the left in case you’re too “ashamed” to read this one anymore.

by Have a Seat on Mar 17, 2009 1:16 PM EDT up reply actions

i agree

jones is nothing special… but he’s not a bad player for the flyers and he pretty much plays a decent defensive game. nothing fancy with the puck… but most importantly; he doesn’t take too many stupid penalties…

by fitzy first on Mar 17, 2009 1:53 PM EDT up reply actions

well, i think jph’s points would be fine and acceptable if they were in any way true. he is the furthest thing from a physical defensemen, he has as many turnovers at our blueline as the rest of the defensive corps combined, and the fact that he’s carrying a good +/- is the result of sheer luck/great goaltending behind him, which is where scorers often wind up.

also, what happened to sbisa? i’ve been saying since the day jones came back that it’s far better to have him at the blueline, he’s actually got upside, and you know when he fucks up egregiously there’s at least the possibility he’ll learn from it. this seems like the perfect reason to call him back up. (if he’s hurt or been playing terribly or something i’m sorry i haven’t been paying hardly any attention to the phantoms this year)

and to conclude, jph, to say that anyone who reguarly reads or comments on this blog doesn’t know or watch hockey…well, that’s ignorance beyond reproach.

by eeeeee on Mar 17, 2009 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

all we do is bash players? aside from Jones and the occasional jab at Briere/Cote, what are you talking about?

and randy jones moves the puck up the ice better than any of our defenseman? I wasn’t aware Timmonen, Carle, Coburn, and Parent werent on the Flyers anymore…

I dislike Randy Jones not because he purely sucks as a hockey player, but because from a cost-benefit analysis in terms of salary/ice time, he sucks.

he has some talent and will occasionaly make a nice play in the defensive zone. he has good (not great) stick checking skills and he’s an average skater. he has a slight physical touch to his game but he doesn’t really bring a checking force to the blueline. hes borderline terrible with the puck and as such he struggles at getting the puck out of our zone.

bottom line is hes an average defender. all of that does not amount to him deserving of all that ice time, and above all else, a 3 million dollar cap hit. to put things into perspective, Carle makes about 3.5 mil (also a little too much) and Coburn makes somewhere around 1 mil. for a team that is so handcuffed by the cap, Jones’ salary is simply way too much. he is a servicable player who can fill in nicely, but for a team that wants to contend for the cup he is a terrible investment.

by njh3293 on Mar 17, 2009 3:14 PM EDT up reply actions

My beef with Jones is and always will be his contract/ice time. He is a third pairing guy. Period.

Making valid points, which you did a bit, is certainly fine and welcome around here. Defending Randy Jones is fine, too. But the beginning and end of your post was a clear violation of the guidelines. Don’t let it happen again.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 17, 2009 5:00 PM EDT up reply actions

wow of all the post, travis was probably the nicest one, but remember that his contract was made when we had the cap to spend, its a little much right now but we lose both hatcher/rathji(i know thats wrong spelling) plus one of our goalies pending which one we keep. his absence was also shown tonight, syvret played like trash tonight and 2 goals could have been spared with a better d-man on the ice. and his ice time is only high because kimo loves playing with him, there chem is great together. the only reason i get annoyed with the jones bashing is cause im just not seeing it, and neither do my friends who watch the games, i can get on cote cause he blows at fighting and basic hockey skills, fence on danny, i love his skill and his playoff performance’s, but his inj this year is hurtn’. and on sbisa, cant go to the flyers till his season is over, and he cant play for the phantoms cause hes not 20 years old yet(age limit in ahl, dont know why)

by JpH89 on Mar 18, 2009 12:19 AM EDT up reply actions

just because you have cap room doesnt mean you overpay, thats a terrible philosophy. Sure I may have the money to buy a 20 dollar fancy pen, but I would never do that because it’s a waste of my 20 dollars that could be spent far more wisely.

and Timonnen usually plays with Parent.

by njh3293 on Mar 18, 2009 4:19 PM EDT up reply actions

oh and...

Alon’s comments = lol

and dont hate a hater of a player hater

by fitzy first on Mar 17, 2009 2:02 PM EDT reply actions

Jones is WAY better than whoever is seventh. What he makes isn’t relevant after the trade deadline, and he’s got a real solid plus minus.

Swing by The Flyer Frequent. You have nothing better to do.

by Ben Rothenberg on Mar 17, 2009 2:13 PM EDT reply actions

eeeeee - Sbisa...

got returned to juniors…… so he’s ineligible to play for the rest of the regular season as a pro either for the Flyers or Phantoms – I think that is how the rule goes. Not sure about the playoffs……

by cjr144 on Mar 17, 2009 2:54 PM EDT reply actions

I’m not 100% sure about that. He might be able to come back once his junior season is over.

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by Travis Hughes on Mar 17, 2009 5:01 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t think that it’s Jones as being a bad Defenseman, more so to do with his high contract . He’s making way too much for a 3rd pairing D-man.

by jello44 on Mar 17, 2009 3:12 PM EDT reply actions

thank you for the head’s up, cjr. this is very sad news to me. why we’re wasting time letting him stew when he’s already proven he can handle the job better than jones (and that’s admitting that he still has plenty to learn) and for way less money is beyond me, but so it goes.

and for my money, jello, the high price tag is just the icing on the crap cakes that is randy jones. my favorite part is that as bad as he’s been throughout his time in the nhl, he was by far at his worst in the playoffs last year, so i can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us this year.

also what happened to lasse kukkonen? (again, haven’t been paying any attention to the lower levels this year) i know he was waived like 27 times, but noone ever picked him up, did they? are they going to give syvret a chance because they think he has potential to have a higher ceiling than kukks? if so i could respect that decision, until playoff time. come playoff time i’ll gladly take a gritty shot-blocker who isn’t caught out of position half as often as many who haven’t been waived this year and who doesn’t take many stupid penalties.

by eeeeee on Mar 17, 2009 4:13 PM EDT reply actions