xganarchy

Another thing to consider is a team has to have a "perfect storm" of sorts. You need those cheap contracts/players to come in at just the right time, whether that be a rookie/young guy who hasn't earned a big paycheck yet (Read, Couturier, etc) or an aging vet who has to accept a cheap contract to stay in the league. It IS refreshing to see young guys who come in and play great like Read and Couts have, but to say you could get 10 of them instead of a high priced guy is a little misleading. I'd take a team of hardworkers over primadonnas too but that doesn't always get the job done. This season the team would have looked great if Pronger was healthy, Briere was consistent, and Bryzgalov lived up to expectations. Jagr, Read, Couts were all just rolls of the dice that worked out.

I've been wondering what the deal is with Betts also

I don't think anyone here wants to throw away one of our prospects/rookies for just a rental of Suter. IMO, i think any trade for Suter would be only if we're sure we can sign him to a contract.

I had high hopes for JVR after his play last season/playoffs. He definitely shows some glimpses of greatness but our weakness right now is d. I'm not sure I'm 100% sold on Giving up JVR for Schenn, I think we could get someone better using that chip (Suter? Weber?) I'd definitely take Luke Schenn on the team though.

Am I the only one who is fairly happy with Carle, Coburn, and Meszaros this year? I think they make a fantastic #2-4 dmen corps. They all have the ability to jump up in the play and be "2 way" dmen. I still feel we need a true #1 if/when Timo/Pronger are gone of course (PLEASE be Weber or Suter even!)

Read/JVR/Bartulis for Weber/1st sounds good to me

maybe the NHLPA is hoping the NHL will expand enough to make all the divisions equal in size? What is it, 8 teams per?

Half a season and people are going to THESE extremes?? The team is playing a more wide open, offense first type game! Buying out Bryz is NOT the answer.

Bryzgalov really only let in that one bad goal, five hole. He saved their butts with some nice saves a few times too. This was just a total team failure, allowing too many odd man chances and not picking up the free man in front.

I think the whole thermos thing is Bryz making fun of himself, acknowledging he's been playing horribly. Why is that such a bad thing? I'm sure he feels bad about it. Many goalies have "hot" and "cold" streaks. He's been playing better than this most of his career so hopefully this is just a phase and he gets over it.

Wow, i know someone joked about it but last year people ripped on Richards for showing no emotions and not being available to reporters. Now Bryz is the typical "class clown" and everyone jumps down his throat? I know it would be different if he was playing well, but I'll make a prediction that later this season he'll go on a hot streak and people will be saying how awesome he is.

I missed last night's game (power outage!) but what was the deal with Hartnell & Malone, who came off the bench? I heard it was a chippy game all night which i love, anyone care to share some more details as to who and what happened during the game?

A future Hall of Fame defenseman gets a bit more leeway (sp?) than a career punk, right?

THIS is the reason there seems to always be goalie controversies in Philly. If Bryz continues to struggle for a few more months, then yes you have to keep Bob in there. But Bryz hasn't been "horrible" like so many are saying. Every year Philly wants to play the back up goalie, back up QB, etc. Both Bob and Bryz will have good games and bad games. I just think it's too early to panic.

Nice to know the Flyers fans are representing in other cities! Thanks for showing your support!

i've said it before, it's too bad we didn't have a competent GM during the era before the salary cap! Really, we just needed a solid goalie and maybe another solid dman and 2nd line scorer and we would've won a Cup with Lindros/Legion of Doom years

omg Ott deserved a beatdown, and there were a FEW Flyers trying to go with him. Pushing/blocking a coach? What a punk.

You don't just sign a guy to a contract and he automatically plays at the level you're paying him. There are many factors when signing someone to a contract. That being said, yeah he's not quite at the same level as he was in Phoenix but this team has been plagued by injuries and, again, plays a more wide open offensive style. I would think when the playoffs start, everyone will be focused on being more responsible defensively. I don't think it's really fair to compare the current team's stats against last years either. How many more rookies are in the lineup? The TEAM has sucked at home (for some reason), not JUST Bryzgalov. It's understandable to look for ways to improve the team, but it seems like everyone always wants to start a witch hunt to find a scapegoat. Does anyone really believe if Bob was in net, we'd be winning the few games we've lost? The team has shown resilience in coming back from big deficits, which is a good thing, but the Bruins were just a much better team the other day.

wow, reading some of these posts you might think we haven't won in 10 games. I'm ecstatic being in the position we're at right now, I was ready to write this entire season off while the new kids got adjusted. But we're COMPETING here! We're right there with the top teams, surprisingly. We're more of a run and gun type team so far this season, and yeah we're going to have some defensive breakdowns.

I don't think anyone is saying Gill is going to be an offensive dman who will skate end to end. He'd be a compliment to a more offensive minded dman, someone to clear the crease and useful against big opposing power forwards (Lucic maybe?). Coburn sometimes has that mean streak going but other times, he doesn't. Same with Meszaros. I think most of our dmen are offensive minded enough to use on the PP but we lack a "bruiser" type back there.

Yeah, I know there have definitely been many careers ended by concussions...i didn't realize Staal's concussion was from last season, for some reason i thought that happened this season. I'm just hoping Pronger can come back from this, in part due to not really remembering him having any concussion problems in the past. All it takes is one that is serious enough though.

Wow, that must be horrible. I thank you for sharing your story. It's definitely scary to think how many kids/adults experience this and don't realize how serious it is.

I think Gleason would be an interesting option. I'm with phlfly though...I really can't see the concussion really keeping Pronger out the entire season AND playoffs. I can only really remember Crosby (i'm sure there's been a few more) recently who sat out an entire season with a concussion.

lmao hilarious! I hope Briere doesn't get jealous!

Flyercanuck, did your nephew relate any particular anecdotes to you about Avery? Did he talk down to his teammates or something? I'm sure he's a douche in person just as he is on the ice to opponents. That being said, I would think a team who wants to raise fans could bring in Avery as a sort of "gimmick", like the Bluejackets.