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 …
RICE & MICE: Leighton’s Back
RICE & MICE will periodically review injuries that are common, uncommon or just plain unique in hockey. I hope to provide some insight to the “how’s, why’s, and when’s” of the injuries that might keep players out of the lineup. The Flyers announced last night that the NHL granted a two game extension to Michael Leighton’s conditioning stint with the Adirondack Phantoms that allows him to stay on LTIR status for another week. Leighton underwent surgery on October 11th for a herniated disk in his lower back and while the surgery was successful, he is still experiencing residual numbness and weakness …
Hamhuis is in. So, who’s out?
The Flyers traded defenseman RFA Ryan Parent to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Dan Hamhuis, who is set to become a free agent on July 1. Parent, a former first round pick of the Predators, suffered a rash of injuries and never lived up to his potential in Philadelphia. Though the Flyers have not signed — or, at least, announced — a new contract with the physical defender, it’s reasonable to assume they will do so. As pointed out on Twitter by Greg Wyshynski, of Puck Daddy fame, it was 3 years and 1 day ago that the Flyers …
Upgrading via free agency
Given the Flyers’ current cap situation, they are unlikely to make a splash in free agency unless they manage to shed a really big contract or two without taking back salary. This shouldn’t be an issue, though, as they don’t need to target the Ilya Kovalchuk’s of this UFA class. They need to add affordable depth. The first thing the Flyers should do is to add some additional scoring punch to the third line and finally give Claude Giroux a viable, consistent threat on the wing. Vinnie Prospal is a reliable scorer that would have instant chemistry with Giroux. Prospal …
What went wrong?
One goal and one game. That’s how close the Flyers came to claiming the Cup as their own for the 2010 season. Facing such adversity with their backs against the wall from game 82, they were, as their slogan proclaimed, relentless. The Flyers hung in there against teams that were supposed to steamroll them and made history in the process. If you asked any player in orange, he would have told you the Cup was destined to come to Philadelphia. So where did it all go wrong? How did their season come screeching to a halt on the most anticlimactic …