NHL Manipulators (Mount Up!)

By Kim Pollock
Posted on 10/18/2012 at 11:00 am

On Monday, Deadspin revealed that the National Hockey League had hired a PR team to lead focus groups with the intention of skewing the public’s image of the league and team owners in a positive direction. Now, the idea of a company employing this tactic isn’t anything new. Every organization wants to be painted in the best light possible, and would pay good money to make that happen. But that really isn’t the biggest issue that lies within this action taken by the league. The issue is, among others, that the NHL spent an arm and a leg for this …

NHL proposal, as is, hurts Flyers

By Kevin Christmann
Posted on 10/18/2012 at 6:00 am

On Tuesday, the NHL made a new proposal to the NHLPA in which they offered a 50/50 split of Hockey Related Revenue, down from their initial proposal of 57/43. It was seen by many to be the first step towards some real progress in coming to an agreement on a new CBA, and saving an 82-game season. Yesterday, NHLPA Executive Director Don Fehr sent a letter to all players and agents in which he explains why he is less than thrilled with the proposal. Personally, I’m not the least bit surprised by the response. In fact, I think anyone who …

Nik Grossmann should fit in well.. pic c/o Getty Images

Definitive Defensive Deficiencies

By Marc Siciliano
Posted on 10/17/2012 at 3:00 pm

There is nothing wrong with good news regarding the lockout; but if the season were to get underway soon, would you be comfortable starting the cup run with the defense as it stands today? It would seem that the thin blue line is unable to withstand any more big blows after losing Andrej Meszaros before the season began, and even after trading a young, talented winger in James van Riemsdyk for defenseman Luke Schenn, the Flyers defense still remains anything but complete. There are some notable familiar faces who remain. Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn lead the pack, and Nik …

It’s a trap!

By Bob H
Posted on 10/17/2012 at 8:00 am

Have you fans already forgotten the wisdom and warning of one Admiral Ackbar? Man, the NHL really has you by the short and curlies, don’t they? Go ahead. Admit it. It’s the first step. Stand up in the circle, announce your first name and last initial, and say you’re an addict. Wait for the affirmation, because it’s there. Darth Vader himself, Gary Bettman, goes on record in making a conciliatory overture to the players which involves a seductive come-on to get the deal done and play a full season. You’re so desperate to see top quality hockey action that in …

Hockey Hilarity: Stanley Swag

By Nick D
Posted on 10/12/2012 at 9:00 am

Friday funnies brought to you straight from hockey’s own players and media personnel. We’ll be mucking it up every week right here, examining puck ups, puns, tweets, and more! You know, there used to be this professional hockey league called the NHL. That stands for National Hockey League. Back in the days where seasons didn’t get entirely cancelled, even if they were put on hold for nine days or postponed for a few months, there was this guy who played for this team called the Detroit Red Wings. His name was Steve Yzerman. He was one of the greatest players in …

The Phantoms player I’m most interested to follow during the lockout may surprise you

By Tim McManus
Posted on 10/12/2012 at 8:00 am

In three seasons covering the Adirondack Phantoms, only two players made me stop and say, “Wow.” Brayden Schenn and Matt Read belonged in a different league from their first shifts. Instead of rookies, they looked like 16-year-olds with forged birth certificates who faked their way into some 13-and-under house league. They were the only sure things. And you didn’t need to be a hockey genius to see it. If you asked me, however, who was the third most impressive forward I covered, I bet you’d be surprised by the answer. This time last year, Matt Ford was a third-liner for the …

Sean Couturier has room to grow in many areas

The Lockout – Who wins, who loses?

By Marc Siciliano
Posted on 10/10/2012 at 3:00 pm

Now that games have officially been cancelled, it’s no longer possible to think of the Flyers roster as a whole. However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of room to speculate how the time away from the Wells Fargo Center will affect each individual piece of it. So who stands to benefit the most and the least from the lockout on the Flyers roster? Sean Couturier and Brayden Schenn A package deal based on their status amongst the Flyers forwards as baby-faced rookies, these two budding forwards actually might be able to gain a lot from their time in the …

Allow me to reintroduce myself

By Tim McManus
Posted on 10/10/2012 at 1:00 pm

Every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in. When I left The Post-Star of Glens Falls in September after nearly six years to return home to Philadelphia, I thought my days of writing about the Phantoms were over. Honestly, I wanted it that way. I’d been covering the Phantoms as a full-time beat for three years, and had been writing about the saga of the AHL’s return to Glens Falls for even longer. The stories seemed to be stuck on repeat: the team was never any good, the city always on the cusp of losing hockey for …

European Updates: Voracek injures knee, Simmonds fights

By Filip Strych
Posted on 10/09/2012 at 8:30 am

Extraliga Martin Ruzicka isn’t well-known in the NHL but he’s a hell of a forward in the Czech Extraliga as well as in the KHL where he spent his previous season. This season Martin returned to Trinec and he has scored in the first 9 games of the Extraliga. In the 10th game he had no goals and Ocelari Trinec (Trinec Steelers) lost to Zlin 2:3. Trinec is now 3rd behind last year’s finalist Kometa Brno (Comet Brno) and PSG Zlin (PSG is a plastic window manufacturer and head sponsor of Zlin). Jagr’s Kladno is in fifth, one point behind HC Skoda …

Bitter Harvest

By Bob H
Posted on 10/08/2012 at 5:00 pm

Yes, in addition to Columbus Day — a.k.a the time of the year we Americans celebrate some old, white disease-ridden Europeans who crossed the seas and invaded a land already populated by native peoples and gave them gifts of assimilation and annihilation — today is also Canadian Thanksgiving (Jour l’Action de grace). Fun fact: while the U.S. day of tryptophan worship and football viewing was brought into being by George Washington in 1789 and celebrated annually since 1863, the Canadian version was not solidifed until an act of Parliament in January of 1957. It is also three days until what …

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