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The Stars and Stripes Starting Six: Flyer targets from the USA U-18 team

By Jared Abbott
Posted on 02/26/2013 at 1:00 pm

Here are six players on the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (USNTDP) Under-18 squad I believe the Philadelphia Flyers should target in the 2013 and 2014 NHL Drafts. Goalie: Thatcher Demko (San Diego, Calif.) We will start out in net with the most impressive player on the ice for the USNTDP Under-18. Demko is still a junior in high school, but is so talented and “mature beyond his years” as Coach Don Granato puts it, that he is in an accelerated program to earn the required high school credits before heading to Chestnut Hill. It says something about the …

Czech Please…Voracek named NHL’s First Star

By Bob H
Posted on 02/25/2013 at 11:45 am

Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek has been honored as the NHL’s First Star for the week ending February 24. Voracek earned top honors thanks to a career-best scoring run last week, totaling a league-high 11 points (4G, 7A) in four games. The 23-year-old Czech scored at least one point in every contest, totaling a career-high four assists in a 7-0 rout of the New York Islanders in Uniondale one week ago, then registering his first career hat trick in a 6-5 win at Pittsburgh two days later. After adding a goal in a loss to Florida last Thursday and then …

Analyzing Giroux’s faceoff opponents; is he just cleaning up on weak competition?

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 02/25/2013 at 11:00 am

Through 20 games in the 2013 season, Claude Giroux has been winning faceoffs at a clip of 55 percent. That places him at 18th in the league in faceoff percentage for anyone playing at least 10 games (as of Sunday 2/24). Last Wednesday against Pittsburgh, Giroux struggled winning only 12 of 31 for 38.7 percent, while Sidney Crosby–who many of those draws were against, who ranks 10th at 57 percent–was 21 of 28 for 75 percent. It got me thinking, is Giroux just not good enough to hang with the big boys? As our only good faceoff man, is Giroux …

RICE & MICE: Matt Read’s rib cage muscles and Zach Redmond’s femoral artery

By pavialax
Posted on 02/24/2013 at 4:01 pm

Injuries giveth and injuries taketh away. Just as it was announced that Scott Hartnell was nearing a return to the Flyers lineup, it was announced that Matt Read would miss around six weeks with torn rib cage muscles. Read left the February 20 game against Pittsburgh after the first period and did not return. Now, when players injure their wrist, we can put a brace on it. Shoulder injury? Put the shoulder in a sling. Ankle? Give them some crutches so they can rest the ankle. Rib muscle injury? Well, we can’t exactly tell a player to stop breathing …

Medical Miracle: Hartnell Returns

By Bob H
Posted on 02/23/2013 at 11:44 am

It was just 32 days ago that we feared the worst as Scott Hartnell went limping off the ice in Newark after taking a shot to the left foot from teammate Kimmo Timonen. Now, at the conservative end of his recovery timetable, Hartnell has returned to the lineup, per head coach Peter Laviolette, after a 16-game absence as the Flyers take on the Winnipeg Jets at home this afternoon. Hartnell had undergone surgery to correct the fracture three days after the incident, and had initially been given a 4-to-8 week turnaround. But in typical Flyers fashion, things progressed quicker than …

Poll: With the trade deadline less than six weeks away, what is the Flyers’ biggest need?

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 02/23/2013 at 11:00 am

You could argue that the Flyers have a number of needs as the team currently stands. They could use a scoring winger for the top six–if not, the top line–especially with Read’s injury. Erik Gustafsson has the potential to help, but a puck-moving defenseman would be nice. I’m sure some people out there still want a goaltender, if only a backup. Outside of Giroux, the Flyers are pretty dreadful on faceoffs. I, for one, am not a fan of either Talbot or Fedetenko playing the fourth-line center spot, so that could be a need as well. With the trade deadline less …

Philadelphia – Without the Flyers

By ecnewman
Posted on 02/22/2013 at 3:00 pm

President’s Day weekend found me in your city: Philadelphia. My school takes a four day weekend then and I so desperately wanted to see my best friend and come back to where I didn’t have to defend my Philadelphia Flyers love, so I went. I’ve been twice before this trip (as far as I can remember) and both times prior involved hockey. The first was my inaugural NHL game where the Flyers won against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was thrilling and I remember being unable to eat or even sit for most of the game because I was so …

Panthers ensnare Flyers in trap game, win 5-2

By Bob H
Posted on 02/21/2013 at 9:45 pm

After a heart-stopping finish to Wednesday’s one-goal win over Pittsburgh where every move seemed to be the right one, Murphy’s Law caught up with the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday as they kicked off a five-game homestand. Peter Mueller, Tomas Kopecky and Jonathan Huberdeau scored in the first period — the former two in a 29-second span and the latter on a penalty shot, fueling the Florida Panthers’ 5-2 victory. Mueller and Huberdeau both ended with a pair of scores, and the latter ended up with a career-high four points, while Scott Clemmensen improved to 5-1-1 lifetime against the Orange and …

At least it’s not a concussion: Read out 6 weeks with rib muscle injury

By Bob H
Posted on 02/21/2013 at 6:41 pm

Matt Read left Wednesday’s thrilling 6-5 win over the Penguins with an upper-body injury and did not return. Speculation ran rampant that this might have been one of those euphemisms for the dreaded “concussion.” But no. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren stated before the end of that contest that Read was hit in the chest with a puck, and that’s at least more of a creative use of the truth than the actual truth. The actual truth, from Holmgren prior to Thursday’s game against Florida, is that Read is expected to miss the next six weeks with torn rib cage muscles. …

Crashing the Crease: Know Your Enemy! Who are the best shootout forwards?

By Kevin A
Posted on 02/21/2013 at 9:00 am

Last night, Patrick Kane scored yet another shootout goal that displayed a huge amount of finesse and once again reminded Flyers fans that the draft lottery is the devil. Even though Schneider got his pad on Kane’s attempt and initially appeared to stop it, the puck bounced off of him and in the net, adding yet another tally to Kane’s career numbers. It wasn’t as fancy as his numerous SO goals, but it got me thinking aloud: is Kane the most dangerous shootout forward for a goaltender to face? The immediate counter argument that sprang up was “no, Datsyuk is.” …

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