Vanflyer

Despite all the bashing that Carle gets here, he is actually having a pretty decent year (contract year and all that). With pronger being out, he and Coburn have been picking up more minutes (they regularly are alternating 23-25 minutes a night instead of dumping those minutes on the not so spry Kimmo).

When did Kaberle ever play D?

@Digityman- No offense, but that might be one of the most idiotic blogs I have read. Hal Gil is a 36 y/o pilon that has been a combined -24 over 2 + seasons with Montreal. Campoli is out INDEFINITELY with and injury(months, not weeks). Why in the world would Montreal move Kaberle whom they just acquired to try and jump start their anemic power play?? Add to that, why would the highest scoring team in the league (philadelphia) be looking for a d-man like Kaberle (whom they could have acquired directly from Carolina). Then of course there is the fact that Montreal is HURTING for d-men with both Campoli and Markhov on the shelf. Lastly, the author never mentions who the Flyers would get to take Hartnells spot as the second leading scorer on the team and an astounding +18??? That article should be called a boggle not a blog because that is exactly what it did to my mind in reading it.

Interesting. Allot of people have said Ron Francis.

Its code: The virus was really the knee and the surgery caused him a concussion.

Well stated Jack. And I wont knock either of those guys either- particularly Richards. However, if you read anything that Lavy ever speaks regarding the budding superstar, its not so much his superb talent that is praised (yet acknowledged), but his tenacity to always fight to win all the battles. The guy does not give up on anything. Truly, that is what separates him from the allot of other really talented players (and puts him in a class with crosby- because I think begrudgingly that crosby is of the same ilk / demeanor). We never hear stories of Roo out canvasing the town for parties and trim. Does not mean it does not happen, but when the coach speaks the accolades he does about giroux and work ethic, it speaks volumes. I remember reading (and maybe seeing) that prior to his first rookie camp he was training and one of the drills was to race a horse. I was very happy to read another time that he and JVR became fast friends because Giroux's off ice training has become somewhat infamous (not to Jagr level) and that would rub off on JVR.

Check out all the love that Giroux is getting from hockey fans across North America. Almost to a man, everyone LOVE watching the kids play and his style of game. Toronto fans, Ranger fans, Buffalo fans, Cannuck fans. You name it. I can't remember us ever having a player that was so universally liked. Everyone thought lindros was a monster, but begrudged him because of his mom / dad antics. Clarke was respected as a competitor, but thought to be dirty and cheap. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=382212#YourCallTop

I really liked the player and would have done this trade 4 years ago. I have three reasons why I would not do this: 1) Jerome is starting to get a bit long on the tooth. 2) He is a UFA after next season. I am not really interested in giving up assets (especially youth) for a short time player with an albatross of a contract. 3) a) Jaro Jagr: 3.3 M gp 22 9g 13a = 22 pts B) Matt Read: 900 K gp 23 11g 7a = 18 pts c) Jakub Voracek: 2.25 M gp 26 4g 13a = 17 pts c) Wayne Simmonds: 1.75 M gp 26 5g 4a = 9 pts I know there is some movement in positions with Read and Voracek, but you get my point. Our natural right wings combine for 29g 37a and 66 pts for a total cost of 7.51 M. So, in essence I could have a Jerome for 7m and 9g 9a 18pts or our current quartet for a bit more money and allot more points.

I sort of defended him a few days ago in regards to GAA / Sv Pctg. I said if you threw out his two back to back clunkers against Montreal and Ottawa that his gaa would be 2.45 and his sv pctg .917. Both middle of the road in the NHL. But, I might have to take that back if he doesn't start steadying the ship. What happened the guy that played 6 games in a row in the beginning of November and had sparkling numbers?

Good lord this is like one of those picture games where you have to find the hidden objects, but instead of pictures you have to find the grammatical errors. Do they not have a editor there- at least a proof reader? I am going to apply for a job there. I can at least match this skill level. (missed the game- looks like sloppy first and then tighten down the hatches the rest of the way) Flyers rally from three-goal deficit to beat Sabres 5-4 Wednesday, 12.07.2011 / 11:55 PM NHL.com 0 0 0 Email Print THREE STAR SELECTIONS 1st Claude Giroux Right Wing - PHI GOALS: 1| PTS: 4| ASST: 3 SOG: 3| PLUS/MINUS: 3 VIDEO › 2nd Zack Kassian Right Wing - BUF GOALS: 1| PTS: 2| ASST: 1 SOG: 3| PLUS/MINUS: -1 VIDEO › 3rd Drew Stafford Right Wing - BUF GOALS: 1| PTS: 1| ASST: 0 SOG: 4| PLUS/MINUS: 1 VIDEO › The Philadelphia Flyers can rally from big deficits no matter which side of the country they're on. Five days after overcoming a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 win at Anaheim, the Flyers rallied from another three-goal hole for a 5-4 overtime victory in Buffalo on Wednesday night. Claude Giroux's breakaway goal 2:27 into OT gave Philadelphia its third consecutive victory. "That's the type of team we are, we don't quit," said Giroux, who also scored the OT winner in Anaheim. "We have a lot of character, and we're having a lot of fun here. The second period we played our game, and the third period, too." The Flyers trailed 3-0 when Thomas Vanek scored with 22.5 seconds left in the third period. But Max Talbot beat Ryan Miller at 19:59 to start the comeback, and the Flyers got goals by Matt Read, Scott Hartnell and Jaromir Jagr in the second to go ahead 4-3. "It's something you don't want to do, get behind three goals, because sooner or later it's going to come back and become a bad loss," Hartnell said. "But there was lots of hockey left, and we kept going. As the game went on, we got stronger and stronger." Jagr's snap shot past Ryan Miller at 17:43 of the middle period gave the Flyers their first lead, but the Sabres tied it with 1:35 left in regulation when Drew Stafford raced to the crease and snapped home Marc-Andre Gragnani's passout for his fifth of the season. However, Gragnani made the key mistake in overtime when he tried to make a pass from the left half-wall to defense partner Christian Ehrhoff at the right point. Giroux picked off the pass and went coast-to-coast before deking and beating Miller with a short wrist shot. "I'll take the blame for that," Gragnani said. "If I saw him, I wouldn't try that pass." Giroux, who set assisted on all three second-period goals for a four-point night, moved into the NHL scoring lead with 37 points. The Sabres, who've struggled after a good start to the season, were upset with themselves after seeing a three-goal lead produce only one point. They fell to 14-11-2 and have lost three of four -- with all three losses at home. "We basically gave them all their chances, making east-west plays, and they capitalized on that," Stafford said. "We had the lead, we had the kind of start we talked about -- coming out strong, sticking up for teammates. "It's not acceptable. We battled back and got the point, but we should have had two." The Flyers improved to 16-7-1, including an NHL-best 10-3-1 away from home as they head to Pittsburgh for a game on Thursday. "We don't ever seem to back off, or say, 'Not tonight," coach Peter Laviolette said. "Guys keep fighting for it, which is impressive." The game started as well as the Sabres could have wanted. Buffalo went ahead 10:16 into the game on a goal by ex-Flyer Ville Leino, who had nothing but net to shoot at after Luke Adam stripped Brayden Coburn near his own blue like and fed Zach Kassian for a quick 2-on-1. Kassian could have shot, but instead dropped the puck into the slot for a put-away by Leino. It became 2-0 at 18:55 on a tremendous individual effort by Kassian, who controlled the puck along the right boards in the neutral zone, carried over the blue line and used defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon as a screen before zipping a 35-footer past Ilya Bryzgalov. Vanek's power-play goal from the left circle dribbled through Bryzgalov for a 3-0 lead. But with the period running out, Buffalo's Nathan Gerbe overskated the puck in his own zone, and Jakub Voracek set up Talbot for a quick one-timer an instant before the period ended. "That goal was huge," Giroux said. "It gave us a little momentum, a little life, and in the second period we played our game." Miller suffered a cut near his right eye 2:02 into the second period when teammate Brayden McNabb fell on him as he tried to get back into his crease. The goaltender's mask came off Miller's mask came off and he was hit near the eye by Hartnell's shot during a scramble. After some medical attention, Miller stayed in the game. But he couldn't hold off the energized Flyers, who made it 3-2 at 5:17 of the second period when Read deflected Kimmo Timonen's slap shot from the left point past Miller. Hartnell tied it at 14:45 when he took Giroux's feed and fired a wrister from the right faceoff dot that hit Ehrhoff's skate and went past Miller. Jagr's wrister from the top of the left circle put Philadelphia ahead. Material from team and national media was used in this report

I thought the exact same thing on both your points fish. Point a) he was deflecting from his team, instead of ripping them (and I think we can probably guess that Carlye was always ripping them- thus why they tuned him out). Point B) perhaps a rip on the refs, but something they handle better behind closed doors.

But Langkow did have some decent years in Calgary. That was a good fit with him. Interesting that you bring up the anthology of Langkow with Carter, etc. I had forgotten all of that!! I guess that was the era when we getting #1 draft picks in trades instead of giving them away!!

Wasn't asham a casualty of Flyers cap management??

Yup!!

@doom88 I am not sure about bad luck. If you look at the league leaders of svpctg and gaa the league leaders (top 10 with 16games played) are all home grown goalies- with exception to Khabibulin. So the only thing to really take from that is that the Flyers are inadequate in drafting solid goalies and / or developing them. Look at every stanley cup winner in the past 10 years. Every goalie that won was home grown / drafted. On the other hand, you can take a team like Detroit. I have never regarded Chris Osgood as an elite goalie. I always thought he was a by-product of the defense and team in front of him and adequate enough to give the team a chance to win every night. That is why I am in the Bobs camp of developing him.

Yes and no. There are 10 goalies in the NHL that make 5M plus cap hit. Of those 10, if you look at the GAA leaders, only 3 of them are in the top 10. Similarly, if you look at SvPctg leaders, only 2 of them are in the top 10. So, while I am not happy with the contract (I think the amount is too high, but as a UFA, bryz was in the driver seat), there are many goalies that are paid very well, but not performing to the level / value of their contract. I posted in another thread that my expectation for a number goalie is: 1) to not crap the bed (which Bryz has done at least 3 times); 2) Steal 3-4 games during the regular season; and 3) raise level of play come playoff time and be a difference maker. Too early to see about 2 and 3 (obviously).

@brelic While I get what you are saying, if you throw out the two clunkers ("lost in the woods") that Bryz had on back-to-back nights against Montreal and Ottawa where he allowed 9 goals on 38 shots, his numbers are drastically improved: The look like this: Bryz, 16GP, 10-3-2, 2.43 GAA (15th in NHL*), .917 save % (14th in NHL*). *= at least 16 games started. When looking at that compared to his last year at Phoenix its very similar. I guess the thing for me is that those numbers are only marginally better than Bobs last year (2.59gaa and .915 sv pctg). The thing is that I think that everyone was thinking that if Bryz could put those kind of numbers up in Phoenix with and inferior team, what could he do with and elite team like Philadelphia. So far, nothing different. So, if we just would have stayed the course with Bobs and assuming that he would progress in his sophomore season, would we be in the same position?

Or that the folks that make Eskimo Pies would go out of business. http://www.google.com.ph/search?q=eskimo+pie&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=eT3bTqniIKX6mAXCo4X0Cw&ved=0CEQQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=662

I looked but could not find anything other then "upper body injury" and he missed the entire 3rd period. It would be a shame because he has been red hot for them (9 g in last 10g).

Yes, but he could be moved at the Trade Deadline for considerable assets. I forget the math on it, but his cap hit to the team he is joining would not be his full salary. It would be prorate by games remaining. So a team would not be taking on his 6.33 m, but a % of that. Of course because he has one more year, the team would need to absorb that hit for the following season. If Kimmo goes anywhere, I would foresee it happening next year to a legitimate contender (assuming we are not one), if it is indeed to be his swan song. I am also of the opinion that you don't chop off your healthy leg when your other leg is maim or crippled.

This is actually very easily explained. The two key factors are income based. The first one is "Revenue" and the second one is "Gate Receipts". 1) Revenue (which is the net of stadium revenues used for debt payments) was down 11 million. 2) Gate receipts were down 8 million. So 19 million in less income. It wasn't because people were not spending, it was merely because the Flyers played 60% less home playoff games as the prior year when they went to the SCF. Look at the teams that jumped over them this year: 1) Chicago- Their revenue (net stadium) only decreased 2M and gate receipts same decrease as the Flyers. The difference in revenue caused the valuation to be greater than the Flyers this year. 2) Vancouver- They were in the SCF so both revenue and gate receipts were significantly higher, thus why they moved ahead of us. So, in the end, the Flyers and Philly market are not on the decline, it is just a matter of simple results on how well you do in the playoffs. This should be a clear indicator to everyone why the playoffs are such an economically important aspect to the sustainability of a hockey franchise. *Note- That both operating expenses and Player expenses were not dramatically changed from the prior year, as one would expect because they are pretty much known quantities.

Wow- that was fast! It also certainly does grind a halt to the Ryan trade talks. Supposedly either one of them were going to go because of operational limitations (ie. Ducks are still on the hook for tweedle dees contract). The question for me would be why Boudreau? Not that I have a bad opinion about him, but I can't think that they weren't looking at other candidates for a while and then all of a sudden Boudreau gets canned and he is Anaheims man?? Wow.

@radoran You forgot- I sent Simmonds and Briere to Anaheim for Ryan. That may get it close. I figure Crosby for 10 for 5 years. Neal 3.5 (maybe four if he keeps performing the way he is). Letain is going to need 4.5 or more). So, on the safe side, maybe 20 for those three. Centers: Coururier Schenn Crosby LW: JVR Eric Wellwood Harry Z RW: Voracek Read Ryan Jagr ??? D: Pronger Letang Meszaros Coburn Guftason Bourdon Marshall Still some holes.

Call me crazy, but I would give Giroux for Oneal and Letang and then pursue Crosby as a UFA after next season.

The thing is that it could have been Pronger with "X" (who might have been Carlson) AND Carlson with "Y" (Coburn, Timmo, Mesz etc.). So, odds are that Carle is gone at the end of this season and what do we have left to show for it? Squat!! To boot, Carlson is currently THE best d-man on Washington. More points than Green (or any other d-man). 6'3 212 lbs and only 21 years old and we could of had him AND pronger!!