icehole

This is my plan. First, amnesty Bryz and Briere. Pick up a goalie (possibly in later draft rounds), pay him less than $1 mill to start every tenth to fifthteenth game. Pick up two good defensmen. Let Mason start for half the season and see how he does. Hopefully he plays to the potential that a lot of people think he can play to and with the combination of a solid defense, they will be greatly improved. After half the season and before Mason and his agent start to think about getting major money, offer him a 3 year/$3.5mill extension. I think that is a fair number for him to accept. If he still plays well two years into that extension, give him whatever it will take to keep him out of free agency (I'm thinking of a 6 year/$5+mill deal). Mason looks pretty good and could be really good if they can improve their defense. This plan gives the flyers an easy out until they are sure he can play for them for a while. It also keeps him away from other teams that might want him. If he ends up to be really good, they give him a big contract at the age of 28. If he flops, they still have a young promissing goalie they can get rid of. They were burned by Bryz because nobody wants a 7 year/$5.5mill per year contract for an older goalie with a save percentage of like .885.

That's a little better scenario than I expected but I'm not so sure Snider wants to get involved in too many of these in the future (not that he has many more years left). For me, as a guy that would be forking over that money, I'd have to choose my amnesties very carefully. I wouldn't want to amnesty Bryz, decide to amnesty another guy 7 years later, and look back in the books and still see that I'm paying Bryz $1.6mill for another 7 years on top of it. It starts to add up. Hopefully they stop handing out these long term deals. If there was only 3 years left on his contract, it would be a lot easier to amnesty him. I still don't know how their scouts and Homer couldn't see the flaws in his game. After watching Mason for 4 periods, you can see everything Bryz is lacking. Mason sends his forwards up the ice like he is a defensman. You would think a 9 year $54mill goalie would be able to do that.

Could someone explain to me the terms of an amnestied contract? Does the amnestied player get paid the full amount of his contract? For example, if a player makes $5mill/yr and the team wants to amnesty him with 5 years remaining on his contract, do they have to pay him $25mill or is it a fraction of that to buy him out? Also, there is still a cap hit for that right...the cap hit doesn't go to $0 does it? Can that player just go to any other team and get a new contract while getting paid the money from the team that amnestied him? It's easy for us to say amnesty Bryz but imagine having to pay out like $35mill to make a guy go away and only have it free up $4mill in cap space. That would be very hard for me to do no matter how much money I had in my pocket.

The flyers have a lot of work to do before next season. It starts with firing the Homer. They need to have a new one lined up first before they do that. I just can't take the monster contracts, no trade clauses, and over the cap nonsense anymore. Hopefully the new GM will do a couple of buy-outs, draft the right guy this time (assuming they get the first or second pick again), and get guys in here that want to play. If he sees that Coots is untouchable like Homer does then here is what I propose. First, tell him that this is the time to work as hard as you have in your life to earn your spot on this team. If he doesn't put the work in this summer, he will either be traded or playing in upstate NY. Hopefully he wants to do whatever it takes and set him up with a routine like this The season is over at the end of April. Take a month off, visit family, and relax until the first week of June. Then your weeks go like this Monday - Legs: Squats, leg extensions, leg press, calf raises - heavy, heavy, heavy Tuesday - Chest and Back: Bench press, lat pull-downs, dumbell press, pull ups - heavy, heavy, heavy Wednesday - Light skate, light practice drills, review video Thursday - Session with skating coach. Bring in Malkin's old skating coach. I forget what his name is but he's a crazy Russian guy that does things that I've never seen before. Worked for Malkin. Friday - Arms and Shoulders: Curls, Military Press, Tricep extensions - heavy, heavy, heavy Saturday - Plyometrics and Balance - Do the thing where Crosby is balancing on a board that rolls on a pipe. Sunday - Rest Do that for three weeks and take the fourth week off. Do that until mid August and you will have done three different three week training sessions. Take a couple of weeks off. Come back in early September for some light skating before camp starts. Hopefully he puts on about 20-25lbs of muscle. Is that too much to ask for a professional athelete making millions of dollars. That's a good plan for Cotouier but why not get the entire team involved. Giroux should LEAD the guys to really want to do this,

Is he still out of shape from being out a few weeks or have we seen the best of him? As soon I saw the replay of that stupid penalty last night, I said "why...what was the point of that?" I'm glad Lavi saw it the same way and benched him. Rinaldo didn't look too bad on the 1st line but he doesn't have the talent to be there. I think hartnell can be moved to the second line with Briere and simmonds should move up with Girox and Voracek.

I'm not suggusting we give up on him just yet but I think we should be concerned. He had a good year last year and I was looking forward to him getting in the gym and working on some things. Instead, it looks like he got even skinnier and I think that really effected his skating. It seems like he does a lot of coasting and always gets there a second late. He seems to be the guy in every replay of the opposing team's goals, just staring and not being where he should be. If I were the coaching staff, I'd get him in the gym as soon as the season ends.

Last night was a perfect example of why I would want a goalie in net at the end of the game. Claude Giroux didn't care about anything but clearing the zone. He pointed himself somewhere toward the net and pushed it down the ice. He missed by a couple inches but if that easy, effortless shot goes in, Tampa wouldn't have those great chances to tie it at the end. I believe if they had five guys completely selling out offensively they could have outworked the Flyers and had the same or better chances without the fear of having one go in their empty net. Good arguements on both sides.

Powerplay goals are scored because it is most likely a 5 on 4 or 5 on 3 with a goalie in net. If there wasn't a goalie in net, you wouldn't see as many powerplay goals because the defenseman can't be as aggressive and the amount of shorthanded goals with outnumnber powerplay goals by a great margain.

If you are down one goal with a minute or two left, giving up another goal completely changes things. I want a chance to tie it, up to the last second of the game. Of course you're going to go all out to win but it's not worth the risk if you're most likely going to give up that goal that puts you two down and gives you no chance.

I just wish one coach would think outside the box and not pull the goalie every once in a while. If he has the right strategy, I think it could be very effective.

If you are strictly in attack mode you will most likely still overload the defense. It's easier to make plays with 10 guys out there rather than 11. I have simmonds for the screen or rebound and hartnell for the side rebound.

Not what you do to try to get pregnant but trying to get an extra attacker to try to tie a game in the last minute or two. Since I can remember, the "smart" move to do when you're down a goal or two with a minute or two to play, was to pull the goalie in favor of an extra player to help score a goal. I just accepted that all coaches and experts knew what they were doing and never thought twice about it. After thinking hard about it, I don't believe any coach in his right mind should remove his last line of defense to give him a minimal advantage on offense. Let's look at the pros and cons. Pros: 1. You have one more skater than the other team. 2. There is no 2...that's it. Cons: 1. You leave the goal wide open for an easy shot from any angle. 2. You add more congestion and confusion to the offensive zone making it more difficult to make a play. 3. Your defense still has to be "defensive" to prevent the opposing team from getting a good chance to shoot. 4. The opposing team doesn't have to think too hard about scoring after they hit the redline...they can just fire at the net. Really, how often do you score a goal when you pull the goalie? How many times are you scored on when you pull the goalie? How many goals are scored during 5 on 5 gameplay compared to how many goals are scored by a team having 6 skaters to 5 skaters? I'd be willing to bet the amount of goals scored against is 10 times (or more) more than the goals scored for during a 6 on 5. I'd also bet that more goals are scored on 5 on 5 than are scored 6 on 5. So why pull the goalie?!?!?! This is my proposal. Keep the goalie in net. Send out 4 forwards and one offensive, PP QB type defenseman to run the point. Put one big, strong forward in front of the goalie, place another big, strong forward to the side of the goalie, put one skill forward at each circle and your defenseman at the point. The only focus should be offense offense offense. The only defense you play is strictly to get the puck back to go on offense. The defensman pinches every chance he gets and the forwards do not rotate back unless to chase down a player going the other way. If a player does break down the ice, he's still forced to take it all the way and make a good move to score because YOU HAVE A GOALIE IN THE NET! If the opposing team scores, at least you did everything you could. On a healthy flyers team, I would put simmonds in front of the goalie, hartnell to the side of the goalie, briere and giroux at the top of the circles, and timonen at the point.

I'm sure carle won't take a paycut and I'd be fine with him going anywhere else (especially one of the flyers' rivals). Thanks for the stats...hadn't seen positive carle stats in like 2 minutes. If you're a stats guy, that's fine. I watch every game and see carle's mistakes. He's not reliable and he's soft. The NHL network shows a quick highlight of him making a big hit. How long did they search for that highlight? I don't think Suter is worth $7M either. I don't see him play enough to say he's worth that. I just want carle off the team. If they replace him with anyone, except for wideman, I'd be happy. We don't have to worry about wideman now.

I don't know how these POS players weasle their way into a butt load of money. When Wideman was playing for Boston, I was listening to their sports radio up there. They couldn't stand him. When he just stood there without a stick and watched Gagne skate right by him, the Boston fans wanted to kill him. I thought he went to another team before going to washington. It doesn't seem like he made any impression and he's two years older. It doesn't make sense. Carle is the same guy on a different team. The "experts" love him. Everytime he's on the ice, I get nervous. I hope someone like NY, BOS, NJ, PIT, or any other contender in the east gives him $6 mill. I'd love to play against Carle 6 or more times a year.

I can't believe what I am reading. I wouldn't give carle $3 mill to stay with the team. If his price is $5.25 mill, I'll pack his bags and drive him wherever he needs to go. I like Suter but his price is a little steep. I would still go with him before I signed carle.