James van Riemskyk QOD
by OrangeNblacK on Aug 5, 2010 10:56 AM EDT
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Due to everything going on around the Flyers this off-season, I feel one major story has fallen through the cracks. That is the development of former second-overall pick James van Riemsdyk. We have had so much to talk about whether it was the signings, re-signings, trades, the loss of Gagne, the emergence of Testwuide (hopefully), the goalie situation, the farm system, Homer, and once we started to get excited about the offence next year, we certainly weren't talking about Reemer. Most people are ecstatic about having a healthy Carter, our new best friend Ville Lieno, a star in the making in Giroux, and a focused and determined Scott Hartnell, that the development of our highest pick since... ever (have to look that up, not positive) ... has gotten lost in the jumble that is the NHL off-season.
It is hard to really grade JVR. Do you compare him to Patrick Kane? An NHL ready-from-day-one unanimous number one pick? Do you compare him to Jonathan Tavares? A guy who from the start got 18 minutes per game to Reemer's less than 13? Do you compare him to the other wingers on the Flyers who have been in the NHL for years and years? No. Its pretty tough to compare him to anyone at all. Considering he won his spot in camp, when management really didn't think he could, that's a win for him right there. He now comes into this year as a vet, not a rookie. If JVR were 32 years old, winning a spot in camp, working your way into 78 games, and racking up 30 points would be amazing. However, being the highest draft pick by a franchise ever, 30 in 78 just wont cut it.
The stats were decent, and expected. He started hot (expected). He got extremely cold (expected). He got bashed ALLLL SEASON by Mario D (expected- had to throw that in there, and where is MarioD by the way???). He caught his second wind and finished off decent (expected). 15 goals, 20 assists, 35 points, -1 rating. Decent. He had the 8th most points for freshmen skaters, while not placing in the top 60 for TOI/G (other top 7: 18,18,24(D-man),18,18,19(D-man)) and not even getting a minute and a half of PP time (other top 7: 3,4,3(D),2.5,1,4(D)). His point per ES TOI was highest in the league for rookies, which is really all you can ask for from a rookie third liner, getting less than 13 minutes a game. His defensive game was lacking, but a -1 on a team where everyone was minus wasn't bad either.
All of that said, the numbers only tell half of the story. The other half is how he matured through out the year. I honestly think his physicality and ability to play the boards got much better as the year went on. His defensive positioning got much better as he went along. It just looked like he generally got more comfortable as time went on. He and Claude started to click and that helped him a lot. When kids with that much talent start having fun together, that is when the big numbers click. JVR has limitless potential. His frame is perfect for that power guy in front of the net, all he needs is to bulk up. I think he'll have a shot to nab the LW spot with Carter and Richards, or at least play with Giroux and Zherdev, with worst case scenario being him with Claude and Carcillo. His PP time will go up from 1.5 to about 2.5, with his TOI being around 15-16 this year.
I think that there is great regular season improvement to be had on this upcoming Flyers team. Lieno, Hartnell, Carter, Zherdev, Briere, and Giroux will all have better years this year than last year, but JVR's improvement should top them all. How do you think he will play this year?
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Virtually impossible to tell
While JVR has improved and matured, so much of his production is gonna depend on the line combinations that I really don’t know how we can even guess.
Maybe it should read "reformedpenguinsfan" since I have retired my Lemeiux jersey ... and purchased an Orange and Black Pronger jersey.
I'm feelin over 20 goals if
JVR needs to gain 20 pounds …….and I think the flyers need to to hire John LeClair to just coach JVR and teach him his magical ways of standing in front of the net and 50 goal scoringness
I think that JVR will have a pretty good season. As you said I think he started to click with Giroux, and I really hope that Zherdev will be on that line (just because I want him with Giroux). If JVR is working out and bulking up he can be what we expect him to be. I expect almost everybody to have a better season compared with last season.
FYI we have had a 1st choice overall in the past, Mel Bridgman we picked 1st overall in 1975 draft.
#1 Flyers Fan in New York
Good bye #12, you will always bleed Orange and Black.
Way before my time, I was only basing my prediction off the fact that we never finished dead last before, and we didn’t have the first overall pick in our expansion draft. Correct me if I’m wrong, but we did pretty good the year before the 75 draft, eh? So we had to have traded for that.
Hey no problem. It’s way before my time too. I really don’t know how we had a first overall pick the year after we won the cup. Probably traded for it as you said. I just wanted to let you know we did have a #1 overall.
But your logic of us never finishing dead last before was pretty good, I only knew we had a #1 overall reading it somewhere before.
#1 Flyers Fan in New York
Good bye #12, you will always bleed Orange and Black.
Indeed…we traded Don Maclean (crazy I know, I mean ‘American Pie’ was a huge hit…lol), and Bill Clement along with the #17 overall pick to the Capitals for the #1 overall pick.
Cheers,
Fezzy
http://fezzysworld.blogspot.com
Jesus Saves...He Passes, He Shoots...HE SCORES!
Minor correction – it was the #18 overall pick.
That was also when the Flyers became the first team to draft a Soviet player (!), by picking Viktor Khatulev in the 9th round. Khatulev didn’t even learn he had been drafted until 1978.
Honor is no substitute for victory.
We became the first team to draft a Soviet Player???? Now that I didn’t know.
And he didn’t know until 1978 that’s really crazy. “Hey, we drafted you 3 years ago, do you want to play in North America?”
#1 Flyers Fan in New York
Good bye #12, you will always bleed Orange and Black.
by Lindbergh 31 on Aug 10, 2010 11:33 PM EDT up reply actions
So that’s how we got it! Thanks. We still should have had the #1 overall pick in 2007 but I won’t go there…
#1 Flyers Fan in New York
Good bye #12, you will always bleed Orange and Black.
His productivity all depends on his line. His line with Giroux and Asham last year wasn’t good for him, working with a fellow rookie and a grinder. I know it’s a long shot, but I hope to see him with Richards and Carter at the start of camp. This will give him the opportunity to prove to everyone what he is capable of. He would benefit from playing with these two. But if he plays with Giroux and lets say Carcillo, he won’t get as many points.
where is MarioD by the way???
He ran and hid when the Flyers started winning, realizing that he could no longer babble on about how much this team sucks without having facts refuting his case thrown back in his face.
I had a Pens fan like that on Yahoo…Very similar to Canadien Fans…
Canadiens fans always want to talk about their 24 cups (13 of which were prior to the 1967 expansion when only 6 teams vied for the cup each year and they had a 16.67% chance to win each year, not a 3.3% chance like it is currently) but do not like to talk of their futility since their last win 1992-93…
I find alot of Pens fans do not want to acknowledge that the team existed prior to them tanking 18 of their last 21 games in 1983 in order to draft Lemieux in 1984. Most Pens fans seem to want to start the team history in 1984 and ignore the 17 years of mediocrity that preceded his being drafted…
And before any Pens fans out there blast me, their own coach admitted to it…look it up, I found it at Wikipedia…
Heading towards the end of the season ahead of the New Jersey Devils, who were placed last, the Penguins made a number of questionable moves that appeared to weaken the team in the short-term. The Penguins posted three six-game winless streaks in the last 21 games of the season (out of which they won only three) and earned the right to draft Lemieux amidst protests from Devils president Bob Butera.4 Pittsburgh coach Lou Angotti later admitted that a conscious decision was made to end with as the team with the worst record, stating in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that a mid-season lunch prompted the plan, in light of the fact that there was a high chance of the franchise folding if Lemieux was not drafted.
Here in Flyerland, we may have a 35 year drought, but I for one am DAMN PROUD of every year of our franchise. The Bad years build character, the Good years renew faith…We have made the playoffs 35 of 42 seasons and are second only to Montreal in franchise All-Time Winning Percentage…GL FLYERS!
Cheers,
Fezzy
http://fezzysworld.blogspot.com
Jesus Saves...He Passes, He Shoots...HE SCORES!
Agreed. I never knew that they intentionally tanked but doesn’t surprised me. Habs fans do like talking about all of their cups but a lot did come before, they had quite a few after (like the 4 they had starting with ending our hat trick in ’76).
I am proud of our franchise. With the exception of that stretch from ’89 to ’94 and that season that shall not be named, we have always had a great chance by making the playoffs and have had 6 shots at the cup since we won them. I do want one in the future, but I will see us hoist the cup before I die.
#1 Flyers Fan in New York
Good bye #12, you will always bleed Orange and Black.
I need them to win so I can finally go get my tattoo (which oddly will be my first that has anything to do with the Flyers), I refuse to go get it until they win the cup. I have seen them hoist 2, but I was 6 and 7 years old…I, as all of you, long for one NOW!
PS…that should have said: GO FLYERS!!! at the end of my prior post.
Cheers,
Fezzy
http://fezzysworld.blogspot.com
Jesus Saves...He Passes, He Shoots...HE SCORES!
Oh yes, and another correction to my previous post…15, not 13, of Montreal’s Cups were prior to expansion, they won 9 (nothing to sneeze at or anything) from 1968-69 through 1992-93…my bad for the fudged up fact…
I am just tired of hearing some of these cretins rave on about 24 cups when I know they were not alive for more than maybe 2 or 3 of them…
Cheers,
Fezzy
http://fezzysworld.blogspot.com
Jesus Saves...He Passes, He Shoots...HE SCORES!
Poll is skewed
Not to be negative or anything (cause we don’t do that here in Philly ), but you don’t have an option for “Regresses from previous season”. The possibility for a sophomore slump exists.
If JVR takes a step forward, it’s because he starts to pay the price in front of the net. He’s got a big body, but he needs to plant himself blocking the goalies vision a la Mike Knuble and some guy named LeClair did for us. Otherwise, I dont think he makes a leap forward just because there’s an offensive wing upgrade from Asham to Zherdev.
But he needs to make that his game now, I just didn’t see it last year. The same way Carter is a center who shoots more than passes, JVR was a power forward who didnt play in front of the net.
At 6ft 3in and slightly of 200lb he was not going to get anywhere playing in front of the net, he needs to be more bigger like you all said another 20lbs.
I see him more a Joe Thorton Rick Nash type. Not a crease camper. But a net driver and power forward maker who can use his big frame to protect the puck and get it into high traffic areas.
He skates too well and passes to well to be a Knuble, LeClair, Kerr type.
The only way he puts up less thatn 35 points is if he gets hurt. Its hard to “sophmore slump” when your rookie year was a semi-slump.
by OrangeNblacK on Aug 10, 2010 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m not sure it can be seen as a slump. Gabe Desjardins’ NHL Equivalencies nailed his performance exactly.
We may have wanted or expected more (including myself), but NHLE is pretty good (just look at how it did with Richards and Carter).
Man-crushin' on Boucher since 1999
Broad Street Hockey - Makin' it look mean since 1967.
by Geoff Detweiler on Aug 10, 2010 8:13 PM EDT up reply actions
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