With the Flyers’ season coming to a close soon, most of Philadelphia is looking to this offseason and wondering who will don the orange and black next season – and perhaps more importantly, who won’t. That Holmgren will use one compliance or “amnesty” buyout on Danny Briere’s $6.5 million cap hit is all but a foregone conclusion at this point, but the second big name being thrown about for a potential trip out of town is Ilya Bryzgalov.
With just five games left, the Flyers’ 2013 season has been marred by inconsistency on every inch of the ice. On the surface, it felt particularly frustrating from an offensive standpoint. What appeared on paper to be a roster full of talented, budding forwards was coming up short on a nightly basis for no real reason at all, just one season removed from tormenting its opponents. Now that the year is coming to a close, the Flyers have suddenly begun to find ways to light the lamp, compiling back to back wins while scoring eleven goals in the process. They …
The Yale Bulldogs grew from harmless pups to a pugnacious power in a matter of weeks, leaving their teeth marks in the NCAA record books in the process. For a team that couldn’t buy a goal during the March 22-23 weekend of the 2013 ECAC Tournament, to a scoring machine in the NCAA Tournament, one must wonder what kind of juiced-up puppy chow the Bulldogs ate in April. Oddly enough, the two Connecticut colleges that faced off in the national championship were shut out in the ECAC semifinals. The top-seeded Bobcats suffered a 4-0 defeat to seventh-seed Brown. Third-seeded Yale …
Big, mean and Physical. Normally these are words one uses when describing a player from either Canada or the United States. However, for Finnish defensive prospect Rasmus Ristolainen these are the qualities that make him one of the best defensive prospect in the upcoming draft. In fact, many are comparing the game of Ristolainen to the consensus number one overall Seth Jones. I don’t think that’s a fair comparison at all, but I do see similarities in playmaking and skating ability. Seth Jones is a much better two-way player than Ristolainen in my opinion. At 6’3 210 pounds, scouts are …
Welcome to Around the Net, a weekly look through linkage at the Philadelphia Flyers and other news from around the NHL. Before we get started, I wanted to take a moment to send out thoughts and prayers to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing yesterday. This senseless act of violence will not dampen the spirits of Bostonians, but it will galvanize them and make them stronger. We here at Flyers Faithful wish nothing but the best for those affected by yesterday’s attack. Flyers beat Habs 7-3 Scott Hartnell nets a hat trick: [Broad Street Hockey] …
With this pathetic Flyers season dwindling down the topic of compliance buy-outs will be a hot one into and perhaps throughout the summer.The Flyers’ disappointing season combined with continued salary cap issues on a reduced salary cap next year will lead to a lot of conversation about if, or perhaps more accurately, who the Flyers should use the compliance buy-outs on. Currently, Danny Briere and Ilya Bryzgalov are the most popular targets. I had thought that most people were aware of the details of the compliance buy-outs because it is/was such a highly visible change in the Collective Bargaining Agreement …
The Philadelphia Flyers’ organization signed forward Petr Straka this week. The 6’0″ 194-pound skater is currently helping Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the QMJHL in their postseason run, as the club is set to take on Blainville-Boisbriand Armada in the semifinals. Picked 55th overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2010 NHL Draft, Straka had 41 goals and 41 assists in 55 games for Baie-Comeau during the regular season. He also eight goals and 10 helpers in Drakkar’s eight postseason games so far this postseason, which is good enough for third overall in the QMJHL playoffs. In the NCAA, Shayne Gostisbehere …
Something, something, intro paragraph. Fluff, yay! Let’s start off by facing the cold, hard truth. There is something like a 1% chance (with a 1% margin of error) that the Flyers could make the playoffs this season. Pointless wins are meaningless. Planning for next year is significantly more important at this point. So, what does that mean? Well, for starters, it does not mean that your loyalty as a fan is not contingent upon whether or not you want the team to win the remaining games of the season. The rational choice is to do what it takes to make …
Welcome to Around the Net, a weekly look through linkage at the Philadelphia Flyers and other news from around the NHL. Flyers lose and the playoffs are history That about sums it up: [Broad Street Hockey] [Philly.com] [The 700 Level] Flyers sign Straka No, not that Straka: [The Checking Line] Briere wants to stay But he probably won’t: [CSNPhilly-Tim P.] Bryz Nasty Ilya is mad as hell and he’s not going to take it anymore:[Philly.com] Go see the Flyers secure more ping pong balls in the upcoming NHL Entry draft lottery.Get your Philadelphia Flyers tickets here. That’s all for this week, join …
At the time of my last article, I had a thought about save percentage. We often harp on it, but very rarely do we think of it in practical, dollars-and-cents terms. If a goalie A has a .900 save percentage and goalie B has a .910, for example, what does that tell you aside from goalie B is stopping more shots? A simple way to look at it is that goalie A will let up ten out of every 100 shots he sees, while goalie B only lets up nine. Big deal, right? Prompted by Eric T.’s article over at …