Philadelphia Flyers

As you probably already know, the Flyers acquired Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle from Anaheim for Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, their 2009 1st round pick, their 2010 1st round pick, and a conditional 3rd round pick.  I’ve been seeing a lot of mixed reactions regarding the trade. The majority of them tend to be that it was way too much to give up. My thoughts…we clearly paid a VERY heavy price, however, I am absolutely thrilled with this trade. I will admit, the thought of Pronger leaving after his one year is up, makes me cringe a bit, but I do believe Holmgren has every intention of signing him to an extension. Ideally, we can sign him to a reasonable 2-3 year deal (sadly, I think that’s optimistic) and we can lose the salaries of one of, if not both of, Jones and Carle. If those things were to happy, my grade of this trade would go from a B to an A.

Continue reading "Analyzing the Chris Pronger Trade"

Part 3 of my “Goaltender Options for the Flyers” series will include a couple of “international” goaltenders, and additionally, I will give you my final opinion on what I’d like the Flyers to do.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 3"

Part 2 of this series will include Restricted Free Agent options as well as possible acquisitions via trade.

In Part 1 of this series I covered some of the more realistic Unrestricted Free Agent options for the Flyers in their quest to acquire a starting goaltender. In addition to the Unrestricted Free Agent options, there are several viable Restricted Free Agent options. The benefit of restricted free agents is that they are all young…that is, after all, why they are restricted free agents. They are often times coming off their entry level contracts, and just haven’t played enough seasons to be eligible for unrestricted free agency. The bad part about restricted free agency is that, depending on how much the player is signed for, the team is required to pay some sort of draft pick compensation.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 2"

With both Marty Biron and Antero Nittymaki scheduled to become free agents, the Flyers are left without an NHL caliber goaltender on their roster. Clearly, the Flyers plan to acquire a goalie in some manner this offseason.  This past March the Flyers signed 27 year old Swedish goaltender Johan Backlund. It was only a one year deal, and I don’t believe the Flyers ever considered that he could possibly be their starter next season. At best Backlund could be a relatively cheap backup option. There are quite a few options for the Flyers, however there is no clear cut #1 option. Part 1 of this entry covers the Unrestricted Free Agent Goaltender options.

Continue reading "Goaltender Options for the Flyers - Part 1"

8)      Kimmo Timonen
Kimmo Timonen is the MVP of the Philadelphia Flyers; not Richards, or Carter, or Gagne. Without Kimmo Timonen our defense is completely lost. We saw that in the Eastern Conference Finals last year against Pittsburgh. Being the only elder statesmen on the Flyers blue line, Timonen brings a calming presence and allows young guys like Coburn, Parent, and Carle the ability to just react and play, rather than think. He plays in every situation for the Flyers, and he excels at it. I fear what the Flyers would be like without Kimmo Timonen.

Continue reading "My Top 10 NHL Defenseman"

One of the most common conversations I see among Flyers fans, or hockey fans in general, is that the Flyers are in cap “hell.” With big contracts in place for Richards, Carter, Gagne, Timonen, Hartnell,  and Briere, the extension for Joffrey Lupul kicking in next season, the expiring Hatcher contract, and the perpetual resident of Long Term Injured Reserved Mike Rathje, it isn’t a horribly farfetched statement. The common rebuttal to such a statement is that the Flyers can just trade Lupul because, frankly, he’s unnecessary (an argument for a later time), and gain roughly an additional $4.25 million in cap space. That is of course barring taking back any roster players. More often than not, these people are scoffed at for believing that Joffrey Lupul has any trade value.

Continue reading "The Myth About Joffrey Lupul's "Untradeable" ..."

Goaltender Antero Nittymaki has won the starting job from Marty Biron.  After a solid weekend of play, Nittymaki had Philadelphia analysts talking about a goalie controversy.  Coach John Stevens proved them right this week, announcing that Nittymaki would be the starter until further notice.

Continue reading "Nittymaki Gets the Nod"

Jeff Carter helped the Flyers stay lucky, scoring two goals and handing out one asist in a 3-2 win over the Thrashers in Atlanta on Sunday.  Antero Nittymaki made several outstanding saves in net, helping hold off a third period surge from Atlanta.

Continue reading "Still Lucky..."

Just what the doctor ordered.  The Flyers completed an amazing comeback in Boston this afternoon, beating the Bruins 4-3 in overtime when Randy Jones fluttered a shot from the blue line that bounced off the leg of a Boston defender and into the net.

Continue reading "Flyers Finally Get a Lucky Bounce"

The Flyers announced today that two key players will not be joining the team for their trip to Boston today.  The Flyers are scheduled to take on the Bruins in the second game of a home-and-home series tomorrow afternoon.

Continue reading "Sick and Tired Of Being Sick and Tired"

The Boston Bruins walked into the Wachovia Center last night and showed the league how they have taken control of the Eastern Conference.  They played a puck control game, won the battles in the corner, and peppered goaltender Marty Biron with rubber most of the night.

Continue reading "Bruins Prove They Are the Class of the East"