Tuesday's Talk - 8/15/17
The weekly reader's mailbag questions answered!
Editor's Note: The weekly Tuesday's Talk feature will remain a free article for everyone to read after our premium content kicks into effect in September. We want to continue interacting with our readers, clearing up common misunderstandings/misconceptions around the American Hockey League (AHL) and more.
@ruthbeck2000 on Twitter - Has Taylor Leier's value in the [Philadelphia Flyers] organization dropped? Why only a 1-year deal when other RFAs like Bardreau, Vecchione, and Laughton got multi-year?
I don't think a contract length on a restricted free agent calls for any change to the concern level of Leier's value in the Flyers organization. Simply put, Leier's coming to terms with the Flyers over the summer could have simply been accepting the Flyers' qualifying offer with little reistance between both parties. I wouldn't read into that one too much.
And sure, Leier will have to clear waivers to be assigned to Lehigh Valley (AHL) this season. He will likely be waived back to the Phantoms for the start of their season on October 7th at home against Hershey. Remember, there will be plenty of names on the waiver wire, and any player claimed on waivers must remain placed on an NHL roster.
It's definitely a big year for Leier coming up this fall, but I wouldn't say the Flyers have written him off yet.
@lghtning on Twitter - What's your thoughts on the 300/400% price markup of the Outdoor Classic tickets based on just another reg season game?
If I recall correctly, the outdoor game I attended as a fan at HersheyPark Stadium back in 2013 had tickets quite similar to this year's event price-wise. I'm not a mathematician, and I tend to shy away from doing math but I'm not sure if the markup is quite that high for this event or not. An interesting perspective though, and possibly something to look into around the league with how this event compares to a regular season game in terms of ticket prices.
As someone who has attended an AHL Outdoor Classic before (and it was a good game between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Hershey too that time), I'd say it's definitely something worth experiencing in person at least once in your lifetime.
It may be 'just another regular season game' at the end of the day, but for the two teams involved and their respective fan bases it's an opportunity to attend one of the league's premiere events and cross another to-do off your hockey list!
@markleach58 on Twitter - With fighting being discouraged, were there less fighting PMs last year and if so, will the trend continue?
During the league's annual 'State of the Union' address in January on 2017 AHL All-Star Classic weekend, AHL President/CEO David Andrews spoke about figthing being down (to that point) by more than 20% and that he wasn't sure if another step was needed to further diminsh fighting. Here's the full transcript of his response to a question posed about fighting in the AHL, etc:
I don't know that a next step is required. We'll have to see how the year plays out and what's happening. You always have to be careful how you word this, but if you look at the changes that we made they were intended to be a drag on players who primarily fought.
They weren't intended to necessarily eliminate fighting in our league. If you look at our statistics, they have achieved what we set out to achieve - which is to hopefully reduce/eliminate staged fights and to make it less likely that a player would be playing in our league for essentially the sole purpose of being a fighter.
We've seen what's happening the NHL kind of organically. Unfortunately for us what happened in the NHL put a lot of players into our league who really had played that role over a period of time. It became clear that we had too much of that happening and we wanted - it wasn't a crusade - but at the same time we had, surprisingly to me, when we brought this most recent rule forward at our annual meeting it was a unanimous vote. 30 teams voted in favor of this rule. - David Andrews, President/CEO of the AHL
@hockeyinthecac on Twitter - Will Jon Landry still be in the league this season?
The 34-year-old defenseman is still a free agent as of the morning of August 15th - the original date of publication for this week's Tuesday Talk story. He's still a useful veteran defenseman at the AHL level and could be a great depth option for a team needed to sure up their defensive lineup.
Landry had a 33-point season in Bridgeport in 2012-13, and has since moved around the AHL with stops in Iowa, Hershey and Utica before returning to Bridgeport last season - tallying four goals and adding 14 assists in 53 games in 2016-17.
@AnthonyAcastell on Twitter - If Morin and Hagg make the main [NHL] roster, does Sanheim become the first one up if a Flyers' D-man gets hurt?
This topic will be discussed thoroughly by many in the coming weeks, but the common belief right now that two of these three guys - Robert Hagg, Sam Morin and Travis Sanheim - can make the NHL roster out of training camp this fall.
If that is indeed the case, then the odd man out here would likely become the defacto first man up in case of injury/suspension during the season.
