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Homer’s Do’s and Doh’s: Our favorite and least favorite deals under Paul Holmgren

Paul Holmgren became the interim General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers on October 22, 2006. That interim title was removed only weeks later on November 11. Holmgren was able to take a team that finished last in the National Hockey League, and rebuild it to make a deep run all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals the very next season. Yes, some of Holmgren’s moves have been amazing, but he’s also a guy who has gotten this organization into some hot water with the salary cap and was forced to make deals that were head scratchers to say the …

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Then and Now: Lasse Kukkonen

One of the many trades Paul Holmgren made during the 2006-2007 season was one that resulted in Lasse Kukkonen coming to Philadelphia from the Chicago Blackhawks. In exchange for Kyle Calder, the Flyers acquired Kukkonen and Chicago’s third-round draft pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, with which Philly picked Garrett Klotz. After he posted five goals and nine assists in 54 games for the Hawks, Kukkonen went pointless in his first 20 regular season games for his second different NHL team. In May of 2007, Kukkonen signed a two-year contract to stay with the Flyers. The blue liner cost Philly a cap hit of $875,000 for both of the seasons …

This Week in Flyers History 2/12-2/18

The continuation of a new weekly series here at Flyers Faithful, “This Week in Flyers History” aims to provide historical information on Flyers games of the past with some kind of significance, using pictures and videos where appropriate. February 12, 1984 Canucks 6, Flyers 5 – Despite a 20-4 shot edge in the first period and leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 5-3, Philly allows Vancouver to score three straight in the third period to win, culminating when Tiger Williams tallied with 1:56 remaining in regulation. Pelle Lindbergh, who surrendered six goals on just 29 shots, is in the midst of suffering …

The ‘How’ of Homer

When Paul Holmgren took over as the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers on October 22, 2006, I received numerous messages from my friends who grew up as fans of the Hartford Whalers. Those messages ranged from, “Good luck with that,” to “What a terrible choice” to the simple but poignant, “Bwahahahahaha.” These were people jaded by the abysmal record that the Whalers posted during his tenure as Hartford’s coach and his brief stint as GM in the years that eventually led up to Hartford’s relocation to Carolina. (His DUI and stint at Betty Ford likely did not help matters …

Fans and liking other teams

At the moment, I’m waiting on the Flyers/Coyotes game to start. And debating on if two cookies should count for dinner or not. The thing about having Gamecenter Live is that I don’t get any of the pregame stuff. So as local Philadelphians talk about pregame interviews and such, I’m stuck, staring at a blank Word document. I have a Coyotes shirt, actually. Never mentioned it before on here, but I used to follow the Yotes. Not as faithfully as the Flyers, of course, but two of my five live NHL games last year were Coyotes games. My family and …

Flight Plan Week of 11.13.2011

The Philadelphia Flyers lost their only game of last week by a score of 2-1 in overtime against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Never mind that the bizarre tactics employed by Peter Laviolette’s team to try to break the Bolts out of their 1-3-1 neutral zone trap ended up making the game look like a Mexican standoff. Instead, think about how the Flyers are now in third place in the Atlantic Division, below both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers, all because they stopped pressing in a game where they clung to a 1-0 lead through a good portion of the game and …

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 …

Discussing the slump

Last night, ProHockeyTalk published three reasons why the Flyers are struggling. Quickly summed up, they believe the Flyers aren’t desperate enough, the scoring has dried up, and the team can’t seem to close out games in the third period. PHT also points out that the goaltending is not to blame here. For the most part, I agree with the article but I also think it goes a bit deeper than that. The Flyers are in self-preservation mode. The memory of all the fatigue and injuries suffered towards the end of the ’10 season and throughout the playoffs is once again fresh …

RICE & MICE: Shoulder instability

Oskars Bartulis suffered a shoulder injury in last Tuesday’s overtime loss to the Phoenix Coyotes after a late hit when, then Coyotes forward, Scottie Upshall sent Bartulis head and shoulder first into the boards. Bartulis left the game and did not return. The next injury update on Bartulis left many fans scratching their heads when they heard that he was out indefinitely with left shoulder “instability” and would likely need surgery. What’s up with that, you ask? The shoulder is an awesome joint. It is blessed with incredible range of motion to allow you to raise it above your head, …

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