2013 NHL Playoffs

Flyers Faithful Staff Playoff Predictions

Whelp, it’s playoff time and unfortunately the Flyers are not participating this year. While some people may be able to temporarily adopt a team during the playoffs, others need more useless methods of fabricating fandom…such as predictions. So here we go! Marcello De Feo  This is a weird season and I expect the topsy turvy nature of the season to continue throughout the playoffs. Western Conference Chicago 3 Minnesota 4 Predators fans further lament the loss of Ryan Suter, who helps lead the Wild over the Blackhawks in a stunning upset until the draft comes around, the Preds draft a …

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Flyers hold 11th spot in the 2013 Entry Draft

  The National Hockey League held its annual draft lottery tonight in Toronto. The lottery system allows the teams with the worst records a real chance at improving.  This year will mark the first time that all 14 of the non-playoff teams will have a shot at winning the first pick.  Basically it breaks down like this:  the worse the record of the team, the more likely the chance that they win the first-overall pick. The team with the worst record in the NHL this season, the Florida Panthers, had a 25 percent chance of winning the lottery.  Other teams …

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Homer sez (once and for all) Laviolette’s staying; more Flyers heading to Worlds

He said it angrily. He said it calmly. The meaning didn’t change. Paul Holmgren reaffirmed the fact that Peter Laviolette will remain behind the bench next season for the Philadelphia Flyers. Exit interviews conducted team-wide back at their practice facility in Voorhees on Sunday, following Saturday’s season-ending 2-1 win at Ottawa revealed little scoop in that area, despite rumor and speculation that Laviolette’s job was in jeopardy after missing out on the playoffs. “Peter Laviolette’s the coach. I don’t know where all this crap came from,” said the perturbed GM at the mandatory presser. “I don’t know who your sources …

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2013 Draft Eligibles: Sweden well represented once again; Lindholm, Wennberg, Burakovsky, de la Rose, Haag

Since the year 2000, there have been 29 Swedish born-and-bred players selected in the first round of the NHL draft — the highest number of those coming in 2009 with seven players selected overall. (Victor Hedman, TB, #2 overall, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, PHX, #6, Magnus Paajarvi, EDM, #10, David Rundblad, STL, #17, Jacob Josefson, NJ, #20, Tim Erxion, CGY, #23 and Marcus Johansson, WSH, #24). Last year, only two players were selected in the first round. If you recall, the Anaheim Ducks plucked defenseman Hampus Lindholm fourth overall from Rögle Bandyklubb and the Washington Capitals selected Filip Forsberg 13th overall from …

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NHL Fandom Survey: Flyers/Penguins best rivalry in the league; Penguins the most loved and hated franchise

A friend recently pointed out an extremely interesting survey he discovered on Reddit. The survey asked for feedback from NHL fans on how they felt about all of the other franchises throughout the league. For every franchise you could choose love, like, indifferent, dislike, or hate. This information was then aggregated in a number of interesting ways. The original survey can be found here; credit to reddit poster WoundedLeprechaun. The analysis was then provided by another poster TeroTheTerror. For anyone that wants the cliff notes version; with respect to the Flyers: 9th most “Loved” team 12th most “Loved” or “Liked” team …

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Future Flyers Report: Konan/Akeson finish season with Flyers, three prospects in 2013 IIHF World Championship, Titans finished, Canadian junior updates

Another pair of Philadelphia Flyers’ prospects made their NHL debut this week, as both Matthew Konan and Jason Akeson appeared in contests for the Orange and Black. Konan made his debut in the Flyers’ 2-1 win on Thursday against the New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center. He had two hits and a blocked shot in 13:09 of ice time. In Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators, both Konan and Akeson suited up for the Flyers. Konan had four shots on net, three hits, and one blocked shot in 18:42 TOI during his first NHL appearance. As for …

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Mason earns 100th career win in victory over Senators

The Philadelphia Flyers ended their season with a 2-1 road win against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Steve Mason was the story of the game, as his 43 saves was the highest save total for any Flyers’ goaltender this season. Jason Akeson scored his first goal in the NHL and Jakub Voracek potted the game-winning goal to let Philly end their campaign on a four-game winning streak. Voracek’s decisive tally came with 9:58 left in regulation on a wrist shot from the circle to Craig Anderson’s left. After the forward carried the disc into the Senators’ zone, Voracek was looking cross …

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Team Canada’s World Championship roster has Flyers flair

When the 2013 World Championships take place in both Helsinki and Stockholm from May 3-19, Team Canada will be there, with a dose of Philadelphia Flyers flair. As reported last night by TSN of Canada, four members of the Orange and Black were invited, and all have accepted out of the first 13 players to be named to the roster. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and Luke Schenn will all be sporting the Maple Leaf in Red and Black overseas. Giroux ranks first on the club with 33 assists and 47 points in 47 games. Simmonds ranks second in …

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A Stick Tap to Boston and an Ode to Sports

Sports are an amazing thing. Games, and the athletic culture which wraps around society as part of the 24-hour news cycle, are needed in a variety of ways. This was all too obvious over the past couple of weeks. Sports, and the refuge it provides from the nastiness of the outside world, were a big reason that we, as a country, were able to move forward after the horrendous bombings that took place at the Boston Marathon on April 15. My thoughts are not here to belittle what happened on that fateful Monday. Three people lost their lives in the …

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2013 Draft Eligibles: Is Aleksander Barkov the Finnish Eric Lindros?

If the 2013 draft did not headline a trio of top-tier prospects, Aleksander Barkov would be getting a lot more attention. Unfortunately, with the consensus number one overall pick in Portland Winterhawk Seth Jones, and the next two picks coming from the Halifax Mooseheads (Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon) little attention is being focused on European talent. My good friend Tom Zulewski earlier profiled Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is the top-rated defenseman among European skaters. Ristolainen’s countryman Aleksander Barkov is the number one draft-eligible European skater on NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking that was released Wednesday. Despite conflicting rankings …