After shocking the hockey world with the blockbuster trades of Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, the Flyers created a number of questions that need to be answered before the regular season starts. Many of these questions will be answered during free agency and training camp. It’s too difficult to answer many, if not all, of these questions now. Nevertheless, it is important to identify them to make better sense of unexpected moves if and when they happen. Here, we will try to identify as many of the major questions as we can. Will Brayden Schenn and/or Sean Couturier make the …
Then and Now: Janne Niinimaa
What do Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, and Janne Niinimaa all have in common? They were all drafted in the 1993 NHL Entry draft. How many were drafted by the Philadelphia Flyers? Only Janne Niinimaa. Pronger went second, to the Hartford Whalers, while Timonen could be considered the hidden gem of the draft going 250nd to the Los Angeles Kings. Well, we know what Pronger and Timonen are doing with their careers now, but what about Niinimaa? Before the aforementioned question is answered, let us remember Niinimaa’s brief time spent in Philly. Spending three seasons with Jokerit in the SM-liiga after …
Is Paul Holmgren still the right man for the job?
Paul Holmgren is a bold man, sure of what he wants and unflinching in his actions. He is willing to pay extra to beat the surge of activity to get his man. As a result, he’s built a team capable — in theory and in his own mind — of competing for the Stanley Cup. However, these actions are adding up and taking an increasing toll on a team that put its eggs in one basket for the 2011 season. That ultimately-failed course has been run, and the team did not win the Cup, yet again, and it is now …
Pronger answers burning questions at Thursday press conference
Q: How did the surgery go and how are you feeling? ”Well, as far as I was told it went very well. It relieved a lot of the weakness I was having in my leg and now it is just a matter of how the nerve regenerates itself and the range of motion and all the rest of that stuff. How it recovers and that stuff are probably another four to five weeks before we see where that is at.” Q: Can you tell us about the decision to have the surgery, was that an option you were given or …
The case against Mike Richards
I’ve made it a point to stick up for Mike Richards recently. While the general consensus seems to be that the captain of a professional sports team should be someone who is public relations savvy, I prefer to believe that a captain should be someone who is capable of leading his team on the ice. If he’s great in front of a microphone, well then that’s just icing on the cake. The way I see it, for every smooth orator like Julius Caesar, there is a Genghis Khan. Each has very different skill sets but both were great leaders. After …