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2013 Draft Eligibles: Sweden well represented once again; Lindholm, Wennberg, Burakovsky, de la Rose, Haag

Since the year 2000, there have been 29 Swedish born-and-bred players selected in the first round of the NHL draft — the highest number of those coming in 2009 with seven players selected overall. (Victor Hedman, TB, #2 overall, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, PHX, #6, Magnus Paajarvi, EDM, #10, David Rundblad, STL, #17, Jacob Josefson, NJ, #20, Tim Erxion, CGY, #23 and Marcus Johansson, WSH, #24). Last year, only two players were selected in the first round. If you recall, the Anaheim Ducks plucked defenseman Hampus Lindholm fourth overall from Rögle Bandyklubb and the Washington Capitals selected Filip Forsberg 13th overall from …

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NHL Fandom Survey: Flyers/Penguins best rivalry in the league; Penguins the most loved and hated franchise

A friend recently pointed out an extremely interesting survey he discovered on Reddit. The survey asked for feedback from NHL fans on how they felt about all of the other franchises throughout the league. For every franchise you could choose love, like, indifferent, dislike, or hate. This information was then aggregated in a number of interesting ways. The original survey can be found here; credit to reddit poster WoundedLeprechaun. The analysis was then provided by another poster TeroTheTerror. For anyone that wants the cliff notes version; with respect to the Flyers: 9th most “Loved” team 12th most “Loved” or “Liked” team …

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Future Flyers Report: Konan/Akeson finish season with Flyers, three prospects in 2013 IIHF World Championship, Titans finished, Canadian junior updates

Another pair of Philadelphia Flyers’ prospects made their NHL debut this week, as both Matthew Konan and Jason Akeson appeared in contests for the Orange and Black. Konan made his debut in the Flyers’ 2-1 win on Thursday against the New York Islanders at the Wells Fargo Center. He had two hits and a blocked shot in 13:09 of ice time. In Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Ottawa Senators, both Konan and Akeson suited up for the Flyers. Konan had four shots on net, three hits, and one blocked shot in 18:42 TOI during his first NHL appearance. As for …

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Mason earns 100th career win in victory over Senators

The Philadelphia Flyers ended their season with a 2-1 road win against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Steve Mason was the story of the game, as his 43 saves was the highest save total for any Flyers’ goaltender this season. Jason Akeson scored his first goal in the NHL and Jakub Voracek potted the game-winning goal to let Philly end their campaign on a four-game winning streak. Voracek’s decisive tally came with 9:58 left in regulation on a wrist shot from the circle to Craig Anderson’s left. After the forward carried the disc into the Senators’ zone, Voracek was looking cross …

Thanks to Wikimedia Commons

Team Canada’s World Championship roster has Flyers flair

When the 2013 World Championships take place in both Helsinki and Stockholm from May 3-19, Team Canada will be there, with a dose of Philadelphia Flyers flair. As reported last night by TSN of Canada, four members of the Orange and Black were invited, and all have accepted out of the first 13 players to be named to the roster. Claude Giroux, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Read and Luke Schenn will all be sporting the Maple Leaf in Red and Black overseas. Giroux ranks first on the club with 33 assists and 47 points in 47 games. Simmonds ranks second in …

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2013 Draft Eligibles: Is Aleksander Barkov the Finnish Eric Lindros?

If the 2013 draft did not headline a trio of top-tier prospects, Aleksander Barkov would be getting a lot more attention. Unfortunately, with the consensus number one overall pick in Portland Winterhawk Seth Jones, and the next two picks coming from the Halifax Mooseheads (Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon) little attention is being focused on European talent. My good friend Tom Zulewski earlier profiled Finnish defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, who is the top-rated defenseman among European skaters. Ristolainen’s countryman Aleksander Barkov is the number one draft-eligible European skater on NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking that was released Wednesday. Despite conflicting rankings …

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Around the Net April 26 2013: Flyers beat Isles; Voracek wins Bobby Clarke Award, more

  Welcome to Around the Net, a weekly look through linkage at the Philadelphia Flyers and other news from around the NHL. Flyers team awards announced Jake Voracek was voted MVP, Kimmo won the Barry Ashbee: [Broad Street Hockey] [CSNPhilly-Tim P.] [The Checking Line] Flyers win, screw up draft position The Flyers win a game the Islanders actually wanted to win: [Philly.com] Around the NHL Eric Karlsson is a medical miracle: [Kuklas Korner] [Ottawa Sun] The Rangers made the playoffs and won’t get out of the first round. You heard it here first.[Puck Daddy] Need tickets? Go here for your …

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Hockey Hilarity: Oliver Lauridsen, from Anton Khudobin and Zdeno Chara?

  Friday funnies brought to you straight from hockey’s own players, media personnel, and broadcast botches. We’ll be mucking it up every week right here, examining puck ups, puns, tweets, and more! Hopefully everyone watched the Philadelphia Flyers-Boston Bruins game this past week. It was a good game, there was a wonderful opening ceremony before puck drop, a lot of money was raised at the game for victims of the Boston Marathon via the 50/50 drawing, and the Flyers won! Surprised? Me too. Everyone was in a giving mood that night as Oliver Lauridsen treated fans to his first NHL goal, with some …

Cal Heeter was selected for the U.S. National team at the IIHF.  Photo is courtesy of the AHL

Heeter, ex-Flyer Carle make the U.S. World Championship squad

On Thursday afternoon, U.S.A. Hockey announced the names of the first 15 players that will be on the roster for 2013 Men’s National Team at the World Championships, which will be held between two sites, Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden, between May 3-19. Among those chosen are that of current Adirondack Phantoms goalie Cal Heeter and former Flyers defenseman Matt Carle. Heeter has played 32 games in his first season with the Phantoms, going 12-16-3 with a  2.92 goals- against average and a save percentage of .908. Heeter has also logged the most minutes in net for the Phantoms at …

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Atlantic Watch: Pens at the top of the Eastern Conference, Islanders clinch playoff spot, Rangers hanging on to eighth

After learning that they wouldn’t be in the playoffs for the second time in the last 18 seasons, the Flyers pulled off two straight wins. The Orange and Black look to end the campaign on a strong note with one more home game and one more away game. The Flyers were shut out by Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils on Thursday in a 3-0 loss at the Wells Fargo Center. Brodeur stopped 23 shots from the Flyers to end the Devils’ 10-game losing streak, while the trio of Ryan Carter, Matt D’Agostini, and Adam Henrique scored in Jersey’s …