While us penguins continue to wilt in the usual Northeastern Summer heat, pining for the days when a cool iceberg awaits our collectively scorched behinds, thoughts about the upcoming (and too far off) season still seep their way into our Sun-addled brains. This is the first in a five-part series which intends to examine the ways the Flyers front office, though publicly professing to want to win the Cup by any means necessary, just ends up conducting business as usual year in and year out. It could have been said any time over the last 25 years: At the end of the painful …
Some quick camp observations
Before today, I never literally found myself in a “you snooze, you lose” situation. After my first trip to development camp, I came home and napped for the first time in years. Yup, that’s right; I took a nap and it was awesome. I saw no urgent reason to rush to post something on camp, as I could offer little more than the meaningless observations I posted on Twitter earlier: Tom Sestito is big! Oliver Lauridsen is tall! Kevin Marshall and Erik Gustafsson know how to skate! So, I took time to collect my thoughts and actually sleep on it, …
Putting some of the roster changes in perspective
In order to make sense of the destruction left in the wake of Hurricane Holmgren, we need to compare these roster changes to a version of the 2010 Flyers and see how those parts changed. Here is a look at that the forwards from team: Gagne – Richards – Carter Hartnell – Briere – Leino JvR – Giroux – Asham Carcillo/Powe – Betts – Laperriere So, what’s different? A lot, on paper. Here’s my attempt at projecting the 2012 offensive lines, barring any other changes: JvR – Giroux – Voracek Hartnell – Briere – Jagr Nodl – Schenn – Simmonds …
An open letter to Paul Holmgren II
Hey Paul, I hope you’re doing well. Did you get my last letter? I understand if you haven’t had time to read it. After all, you’ve been a busy man. I’m writing you again today to express another concern of mine. In recent years, you’ve made Scottie Upshall cry, shocked R.J. Umberger, broke Simon Gagne’s heart, saw Nikolay Zherdev escape giddily after being waived, and sent Jeff Carter into seclusion. Including Joffrey Lupul, you’ve signed three players to significant deals and traded them before the no-trade clause kicked in. You also shipped out at least that many players who were …
Let the dust settle
Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. The Flyers finally have their bona-fide starter. They have some size and grit. They have wingers. They have cap space, and draft picks, and prospects. As Dick Enberg is fond of saying…Oh my! They got all of the assets that we perceived to be lacking in the franchise and for the low, low price of the captain and one of the alternates. The cost is nothing more than a top-tier, team-leading scorer and a heart-and-soul, leave-it-all-on-the-ice leader. Really, it’s a mere pittance. First-line centers. Cornerstones. Franchise players. That’s it. Anyone …
Bring Back Gagne? A look at the pros and cons.
We have 25 days until free agency and I’m sure each and every one of those days will be rumor laden until July 1 arrives. Paul Holmgren was fairly active last season, adding Andrej Meszaros, Sean O’Donnell, Jody Shelley and Nikolay Zherdev, while retaining Darroll Powe and Daniel Carcillo. However all of that activity caused casualties of the cap. Arron Asham signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent and Simon Gagne, the longest- tenured Flyer at the time, waived his no-trade clause in a much maligned deal with Tampa Bay, while we took on Matt Walker — or more precisely, his two hip surgeries. …
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 …
2010-2011 Flyers Season: Closed
The Lulz feature was originally inspired by the lolcats site but features hockey pictures with funny, quirky, ironic or just plain mean captions. This feature should run weekly on Mondays, just to try to make your Monday a little brighter.
In case you missed it: Useful insights from Bill Meltzer
Not long after the Flyers’ 2011 season came to a close, Bill Meltzer revealed some useful bits of information on Twitter that are simply too important not to point out. In case you missed it, here they are: Too many Flyers failed to compete. There were also egos that got a little out of control this season. Too many guys more worried about their ice time than winning, too many guys who wanted the easy way out. There’s a lot of blame to go around. I think some of the offseason moves will answer the questions as to which players …
What’s wrong with the Flyers?
It’s too easy to blame Brian Boucher for this loss. After all, he gave up four goals on 20 shots and was pulled from the game. Regrettably, he has not performed above his abilities during the playoffs this season. He’s let in some soft goals and been pulled more times than a sixteen-year old’s wang. His .800 SV% tonight was also woeful at best, but let’s not hang him out to dry just yet. Bill Meltzer likes to state that bad things happen when you don’t move your feet. The Flyers skaters are providing him with plenty of evidence to …