The Forgotten: Andreas Nodl - Fantasy Sports Forums

duballstar014 · #1 11-14-2010, 08:46 PM

What a difference a few years makes. For most of the 1990s and early 2000s, the Philadelphia Flyers were a force, making the playoffs for 11 straight years, with 3 Conference Finals appearances and one Stanley Cup Finals appearance. Despite falling short of the Championship goal, this was still a strong team who was in contention every year. That is, until 2006-07, when the Flyers dropped from 101 pts the previous season to a miserable 56 points, good enough for last place. It was clear that Philadelphia needed to rebuild by tapping into their draft picks and developing them. The top prospects at the time were none other than Claude Giroux and Steve Downie. Next in line though, was a guy who many had high hopes and dreams for. A guy by the name of Andreas Nodl, selected #39 overall in the 2006 NHL entry draft, 17 spots behind Claude Giroux. Over time, Nodl would frustrate both fantasy GMs and Flyers fans, and find himself out of favor with both groups.

When drafted, Nodl had decent size at 6'1" and had just come off a great year in the USHL. It was expected that the Austrian would attend college at St. Cloud State, where he went on to post just over a point/game average in his freshman and sophomore years. It was during Nodl's freshman year that fellow Austrian, Thomas Vanek, had a breakthrough year, dazzling fans with a 43 goal, 41 assist campaign. Many people began to compare the two, due to their country heritage and friendship, but over time they would find this wasn't a fair comparison. At the end of his sophomore year, Nodl made the plunge, joined the Philadelphia Phantoms, and adjusted somewhat well. Nodl was ahead of the curve in his skating ability, but quickly found it wasn't as easy to put the puck in the net as it had been in the lower leagues. He was now playing among men and struggled to keep his offensive touch.

In the summer of 2008, Claude Giroux was a lock to make the Flyers. Fans had seen a glimpse of Giroux on an emergency call-up the previous season, and people were drooling over the idea of finally seeing him wear a Flyers uniform all season. John Stevens had other ideas though and gave Giroux's spot to Andreas Nodl at the end of training camp. Stevens viewed Nodl as more "defensively responsible" and that's exactly how he used him. Defensively. On the penalty kill and on checking lines even strength. He got plenty of shifts with Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell, but the chemistry just wasn't there and it wasn't going to be there. Philadelphia had so much offense, Nodl wasn't supposed to contribute offensively but was instead supposed to cover anytime #17 and #19 got caught deep in the offensive zone. The result of this stunted Nodl's offensive development and confidence tremendously. He ended up splitting time that season in the NHL and AHL, followed by full time AHL duty in 2009-10.

Enter Peter Laviolette. Laviolette is known for getting the best out of his players (and also for using his timeouts better than any other coach in the league). The new coach called Nodl up into NHL action for only 10 games that regular season, but also used him for another 10 in the playoffs. It was clear that Laviolette wanted to re-grow Nodl's confidence and he would eventually give him the ice time to do so.

Around this point, just about every fantasy owner in the world had given up on Nodl. In fact, the clear message was "cut bait." But why? His production had dipped in the NHL and the AHL, so folks thought he would never regain an offensive touch, when really his dip in production was easily explainable. The NHL club was stacked at offense and had a coach who didn't use Nodl properly to promote offensive growth. Then, when he played in the AHL, the Phantoms were atrocious (and still are)! The Phantoms would lose night in and night out and the coaching staff would do little to help turn things around or boost player morale. That might be why former leading scorer Jonathan Matsumoto was shipped out, why the leading scorer through 9 games this season (Patrick Maroon) was cut, and why coach Greg Gilbert was recently let go. For these reasons, you have to look beyond Nodl's statistics and track his development and confidence.

Peter Laviolette likes Andreas Nodl and sees in him the potential for great things. I watched a few Flyers preseason games and I was in shock at the play of Nodl. He looked like the best player on the ice at times, was fast, and strong on the puck. More importantly, he got offense started with his hard work.

Fast forward to this last offseason, and fan favorite Simon Gagne was dished off, the end result being a LW job opening on Mike Richards' line. A little experimenting here and there and wouldn't you know it, Andreas Nodl got the job. Now here he is finally getting a shot at an offensive role with the Flyers. In the beginning stages of skating on this line, Nodl looked nervous and afraid to make mistakes. Coach Lavvy has calmed Nodl since then and shown confidence in him, something that no other pro coach had done yet. The result has been an energetic, feisty, offensive Nodl, who's notched 6 points in 9 games so far and continues to skate with Mike Richards and Nikolay Zherdev.

So, at first glance, it definitely looks like Nodl's recent surge has come out of nowhere, but that in fact is not the case. Nodl has been working his ass off trying to catch a spot on the Flyers again, but has always been timid and quite honestly, you could see in his play that he was afraid the next mistake would have him shipped back to Adirondack. It got to the point where he needed either a trade or a new coach, and he ended up getting one. Despite the lack of confidence, he was still developing and learning the game at the pro level.

So far it looks like Laviolette is willing to keep the Nodl-Richards-Zherdev line intact and that should make you as a fantasy owner raise your eyebrow. If this line does stick for another month or so, it's likely the line will stick even longer than that, which will see short term success for the Austrian and more importantly, a cheap offensive forward who will be a RFA at the end of the year for the Flyers. Philly also has Zherdev, Leino, Carcillo, and Powe to re-sign, but Nodl should find a home in Philly next year without a problem.

Philadelphia recently locked up Giroux and Carter to multi-year extensions. To me, that says they are confident in those players and that they also have enough young, inexpensive talent to justify the investment in the two signings. Sooner or later, the Flyers won't have enough cap space to keep all of these guys though, and if any top 9 Flyer gets traded, look for a heavier role to be given to Nodl. He still needs 1-2 years of NHL development, but he's on his way to offensive success after already figuring out the defensive part of his game. They say it typically takes 4 years before a player breaks out. I'd put Nodl in his 3rd year now and by the end of this regular season, he could very well be a guy who Philadelphia is expecting 50-60 points out of in 2011-12.

Keep an eye out for this guy because Philadelphia is a team that has many desirable fantasy assets, and this one could be a cheap pickup, especially in a deep league where you can stash him on a farm or prospect system for a year. Below you'll find where I have his potential both short and long term.

Short term - 15 goals, 25 assists
2-3 years - 25-30 goals, 35-40 assists

GMGates · #2 11-14-2010, 09:25 PM

Stellar article on Nodl, Dub.

I parted with Nodl last season in one of my leagues... now you're making me want him back!

GMG

duballstar014 · #3 11-14-2010, 09:28 PM

I honestly didn't think I'd be writing on him for my first piece here, but I think too many people have given up on him and after watching some games this season, it just seemed like a good topic. Should develop nicely...he is after all, only 23 years old and Philly will have a need for him the way they've been handing out contracts.

Shakedown · #4 11-14-2010, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duballstar014

I honestly didn't think I'd be writing on him for my first piece here, but I think too many people have given up on him and after watching some games this season, it just seemed like a good topic. Should develop nicely...he is after all, only 23 years old and Philly will have a need for him the way they've been handing out contracts.

I admit , I am one of those people that bailed on him. I shall have to keep tabs on him going forward though. Thanks for this piece on him!

Flyer Fan · #5 11-14-2010, 09:44 PM

Great Post! On the money! ...except for one small error, ....I've checked with other Flyers fans, and we're all quite certain that there was no " 51 point, last place finish" in 2006/7.

I'm afraid 2006 was just the SECOND year of the lockout.

again, there was NO LAST PLACE FINISH!

(these are merely disparaging lies being spread by the nefarious Lou Lamorillo and the evil Sidney Crosby)

Never happened.

Never.

Ever.

...but other than that it was a great post, and yeah Nodl seems to have finally arrived.

UKflames · #6 11-15-2010, 06:04 AM

I held onto this guy right up until this summer and then bailed as I needed the farm space, really regretting that now as I had high hopes for him.

I should have kept the faith.

Shoeless · #7 11-15-2010, 11:18 AM

Tucked him on a deep farm a little over a year ago (cap league) - not expecting much. Delighted these days.

fulcrum · #8 11-16-2010, 08:47 AM

Great Article Dub. My leagues aren't deep enough to own him just yet, but your articale has made me add him to my watch lists in three leagues that he is on the fringe right now.....Thanks for the heads up, I wouldn't have done it wiithout the article.

duballstar014 · #9 11-16-2010, 11:00 AM

Nodl missed last night's game due to a toe injury. It didn't sound too serious, but I sincerely hope the injury doesn't keep him out of the lineup for too long. That could be a setback in the development and something to watch for.

Rusty Pickles · #10 11-24-2010, 10:10 PM

9 points last 10 games.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode

Fantasy Ranking

Login Form