NHL‘s free agency period has only been going on since July 1, but only being six days in does not mean there has not been any craziness. Gritty forward Noel Acciari signed a free agent deal with the Philadelphia Flyers after spending the last three seasons with their crosstown rival Pittsburgh Penguins.
Acciari did everything that an NHL team would want a fourth line forward to do. Acciari skated hard, blocked shots, played a ton of time on the penalty kill, and threw hits. That is what a team looks for, especially Flyers head coach Rick Tocchet and how he likes to run his teams.
But with the veteran forward now out of Pittsburgh and on his way to Philadelphia, he had some excitement and choice words for his new team and indirect words for his former team. Penguins fans might take offense to his words.
Noel Acciari Tells the Truth of What the Philadelphia Flyers Had That the Penguins Do Not
Acciari recently talked to the Flyers media on Tuesday for the first time since signing a deal to play there in free agency. And when Acciari described to the media what he was looking forward to with the Flyers, it could have come off as a jab at his former team.
Acciari talked about the youth that the Flyers have and how playing against them meant something to him and how he wanted to be a Flyer. The Penguins do not have a lot of youth currently in their lineup as they rely on old veterans Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang.
The two teams played each other in the first round of last year’s playoffs, and the Flyers won the series four games to two after winning game six 1-0 in overtime. The Flyers were able to come away with the series because their youth outplayed the veterans of the Penguins.
Players like Porter Martone, Trevor Zegras and others had a huge impact on the series and Martone was a rookie for the Flyers. The Flyers have a ton of what the Penguins do not, a lot of young fast players who can score which was the difference in the series.
Penguins’ Kyle Dubas Knows What He Must Do to Get Up to Level of Flyers
The Penguins problem going into last year’s playoffs were that they relied on their older guys to pick up the slack and do all the goal scoring. Their problem was that outside of Ben Kindel and Egor Chinakhov, the Penguins had next to no youth in the lineup.
The Flyers youth skated circles around the Penguins and made it difficult for head coach Dan Muse’s team to do anything of significance. It took the Penguins going down 3-0 in the series to win two games and almost force a game seven.
It is evident that the Penguins need more youth in their lineup to keep up with that of the Flyers and Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals among other teams. General manager Kyle Dubas has his work cut out for him to get the Penguins up to speed with the others in the Metropolitan Division and to get them into contention again soon.
Flyers’ Noel Acciari Takes Shot at Division Rival After Signing