Dynamo 47

A lot of folks were saying that Ristolin (sp.?) might have been able to step right in and play.

True and if Risto was available I would have preferred taking him but with both he and Nurse gone, I think Morin is a guy who has the most potential of some other 1st round guys on the board. We have to remember that Simon Nolet who scouts in the Q and raved about Giroux also spoke very highly of this kid.

Granted he wont be playing in the NHL next year and maybe not in 2 or 3 but most of the defensemen taken in the first will not play this year. We can only hope that when he is ready we could potentially have a 6'7 or 6'8 230 - 240 mean, physical shut down defenseman.

@Jmdodgesrt4 It's impossible to find 6'7 d-men that can skate. An obvious project type, but I clearly see why this move was made. He's huge, mean, will fill out....the nice skating means he will not be a bust, will play in the NHL someday. His upper tier upside could be a #1 shut down d-man who can contribute on offense a bit. He exploded for 6 pts in 7 games in Rimouski's first round series, although I don't seem has prolofic scorer, but he his offensie has the potential to be respectable if worked on. I love the fact he loves to hit and fight.

Maybe a bit like Tyler Myers minus the offense, or something close to that.

I agree Jammer. Guys who are his size and play with a nasty, physical edge don't grow on trees which is part of the reason he shot up the charts. There were many who were projecting Dallas to take him with the 10th pick.

He is still what, 17? and could grow another inch or two and with work he could develop into a Pronger or even a Chara. Scouts definitely said he is further along in his progress than Chara was at the same point.

Finally there is and always will be a market for big, physical, shut down defensemen. They are a valued commodity and with Risto and Nurse gone I think he has more potential than Pulock, Nikita, etc.

I always liked players like this who play tough, physical hockey but he was rated 171st prospect and we took him 1oo spots earlier than projected? I think we still could have took him in the 4th or 5th round.

I am glad they exercised the option for the reasons most voiced on their posts.

Here are my thoughts:

1) The Bryz signing was totally Ed's decision. I think he desperately wants another Cup before passing on and wanted the Bryz deal done

2) The buyout in conjuction with Briere makes me think there is a major deal in the works that could happen on or around draft day.

First, why do we always have to outbid other teams for guys who's game is leaving them?

Second, if our own D is overrated, how is bringing in 35 year old mark Streit for 4 years going to help? He's just not very good defensively.

Third, I wouldn't mind him for one year, maybe two. But FOUR? See Briere signing, Pronger trade, Bryz signing, and project hartnells contract 4 years from now. I heard the same things then...hows that working out for us? If we're overpaying now, who's going to want him two years from now, when his game has gone further south.

And the best thing is, even if HE realizes his game is gone and he retires, we still take the caphit til the end. Bravo!

Dammit your post made a lot of sense. You make a very good argument as to why the signing was not a good thing.

this draft is good in defenseman but as FC said it is nowhere near '03 in terms of overall talent. I like Nurse a lot and see him differently than a Coburn. The kid can pplay physical and uses his body consistantly... If he is there at #11 I am all for picking him... I would rather have Nurse or Risto than Pulock honeslty but that is just my opinion...

After Jones I am not sure any of the defensemen are cornerstone type guys...

I agree. I think Nurse has the POTENTIAL to be a top pairing defenseman along the lines of Shea Weber someday. He plays more physical than Coburn and I think will develop a more consistent offensive game than Coburn. It would be interesting to see what Pronger could do with helping to develop Nurse.

As intrigued as I am by Nurse's potential, I am leaning more towards Risto. He is much closer to being NHL ready, is physical as Nurse but has a more accomplished offensive game (and is a right handed shot). He also models his game after Pronger so I am sure he would be a willing pupil for Pronger is the Flyers decide to select him.

I had no problem with the signing nor the terms of the contract. We needed defense; particularly a mobile defenseman who can provide some offense. There is little to nothing out there in the free agent market so to acquire Streit without having to give up any of our key youth is a good move in my eyes.

I do not include the first round pick in any trade unless it is for a top 4 defenseman. We need more consistent scoring but we also need defense more than offense. If Risto is there I take him as he has top 4 potential, plays physical and can also play on the power play.

You're named GM, Now you have to make these key decisions, who ya got or what do you do...

1) Who do you buyout, if anyone? Bryz and Briere

2) You get too sign 1 free agent, who is it? Horton from the Bruins. Big, young and can get 20 - 25 goals plus add playoff experience

3) You get 1 trade, who is in it ? I would trade Coburn for ANYTHING of value provided Mez and Grossmann are 100% healthy

4) Who are you going to cut? Not cut but I would let Fedo, Shelley, Knuble, and Hall walk. I also let Huskins, Walker and Foster walk (all UFA's)

5) Do you offer sheet someone, and who? NO although I might try to work out a sign and trade with the Kings for Bernier

6) Any coaching changes? Not initially

7) Do you keep Lauridsen and Gus up? I definitely retain Gus's and the Big O's rights (both RFA) but send Oliver to the A

8) Who do you draft in round 1, or do you trade the pick? I draft the best defenseman on the board and hope its Risto or Nikita

9) Which, if any, of your own F.A. do you keep? Gags is the only one I consider provided his salary demands are realistic

10) Your starters on the ice for the opening whistle next year are?

Giroux centering Horton and Jake

Kimo and Schenn

It was he who forced Holmgren to sign Bryz, there were no other teams interested in signing Bryz

And by the way one of the Vezina finalist is Bobrovsky, oh we had him

Unfortunately at his age, Snider cannot have patience. He doesnt know how much longer he has and wants to experience another Stanley Cup win as much as the rest of us.

Not saying it is right or wrong, just what it is.

@Dynamo 47

His team is stacked. The Hunters do a great job (whether it's all legal or not is another thing) of acquiring talent. The only way to beat them is to have your goalie stand on his head. They play a relentless game and sure seem to get the calls in their favour. Plymouths coach was fined for saying the calls were one way in their series against London, and I can't say I blame him. We counted 5 offsides against the Knights that went uncalled. I mean clear offsides. The crowd was chanting "We want a ref" through quite a bit of the game last night, and we were winning.

Stolarz might look better in a few years when he doesn't look so lanky and uncoordinated. I'm trying to see that in him but watching him play reminds me so much of what we already have in Philly.He mishandles the puck pretty much everytime he touches it. Maybe he's nervous about being in the OHL final, I don't know. Meanwhile I watch the Colts goalie make unstoppable glove saves, acrobatic splits, up, down, up in a second, reflexes like a cat. He doesn't have Stolarz' size, but I'll take him in net all day every day over the guy at the other end.

Thanks for the inside scoop. I guess I was just impressed with him leaving college hockey and jumping right into the "O" and putting up some darn good numbers.

Hopefully with time and coaching his coordination and reflexes will improve.

@Dynamo 47

I've watched Stolarz closely in the OHL finals and all I see is a big goalie. His puckhandling is brutal, he's slow (he's 6'5"ish? and may need to catch up to his size) He looked terrible last night where everytime Barrie scored I'd turn to my buddies and say"Ya, that's Phillys goalie of the future". Put it this way, the series is 2-1 Barrie, swap goalies and London is up 3-0. Neiderberger has been outstanding and should win MVP of the playoffs whether Barrie wins or not. I hope the Flyers have a scout at these games, he'd HAVE to notice Neiderberger.

Thanks for the inside insight. Are his stats misleading simply because of the system or the D in front of him because the save % and GAA are very impressive.

It is less stressful and I can simply watch all the other playoff games and enjoy them BUT nothing beats playoff hockey and I miss the Flyers being there.

I go defense and take the best one available at 11. There should be several decent ones to choose from but I would hope for Nikita or Risto. I like them both and think they would eventually be top 4 material.

I actually think we are good goalie wise. We have our 3rd round pick from last season, Anthony Stolarz. He is a Hextall size kid who plays a butterfly style and left college hockey and went to the "O" where he went to the London Knights and played outstanding. If we had a goalie of the future it will be him

GAA under 2.30, Save Percentage - over 92% both seasons with the Knights.

2012-13 London Knights OHL 20 3 2 1153 44 2 1 2.29 13 3 2 508 0.920 2012-13p London Knights OHL 16 2 0 995 37 1 1 2.23 13 2 1 519 0.933

I agree with Timmy P on Huskins. I would rather see someone like The Big O get time and develop than Huskins.

I have mixed reactions on Hall. I like his size and game but I think that Laughton could play a similar role with a much higher upside.

I for one am all about accepting responsibility for anything I do or am responsible for. I know Snider wants to win as he has shown a committment to winning more than any other Philly owner. I would love nothing more than for him to be able to hold the Cup once more. All that being said there are no excuses for the team this season. All teams had injuries and dealt with schedule issues. Bottom line was there were holes in this team that were not addressed in the offseason and contracts that hurt the team from moving forward.

They have an opportunity to do something about it this offseason but ridding themselves of some of the contracts. I bite the bullet and amnesty Briere and Bryz. While Snider and Comcast will still be responsible for paying out money for the contract it provides some much needed cap space to address the teams needs.

I think that with the amnesty of the contracts, making Mason number one, signing a potential free agent forward like Horton and possibly trading for a defenseman (even if it means giving up Couterier to get him) we can be right back in the hunt next season.

They definitely were dominant. But as far as a rooting interest? I would vote for the old Soviet Red Army team if they were playing Pittsburgh.

That is true Flyercanuck but I think the draft is deep. That is why I wish we had lost a meaningless game or two in the end to improve or lottery positions. That being sad I would not trade up because once you are out of the top 6 we have just as good a chance at a good player at 11 as the player picked 7th or 8th.

@TimKerrFan12

Ya, but we've already got Schenn back there and that's really all Zadorov is. I'd prefer someone with a more rounded game.

I agree. Zadorov seems too much like Grosman and Schenn and what we really need is someone capable of joining the rush and possibly playing the point which I think Risto is capable of (in time)

Last year when the Flyers were eliminated I wanted the Kings to win primarily due to Hexy finally getting his ring (as well as the Flyers connection of Richards, Gags, Williams, Dean Lombardi, etc)

This year it isn't as clear. I would love nothing more than to see the Pens swept in the first round. I will root for whoever is playing the Pens like I do the Flyers.

I don't want another Bettman small market non hockey market team winning this year.

My first choice would be the St. Louis Blues. A US team with a good fan base (their fans were crazy last night) and one that came in with the Flyers in the 1967 expansion and never won. They play a physical in your face type game and have some likable guys on team

If the Blues can't win than any of the Canadian Teams with the exception of Toronto. The Leafs making the playoffs hurt this year as I could no longer taunt my buddy with the Leafs playoff jersey (a golf shirt).

I would have preferred losing some meaningless games at the end to get top 8 but I think we will still end up with a quality defenseman who might be more NHL ready or closer to NHL ready than Nurse.

In looking at several reputable mock drafts, some have Nikita Zadorov and Rasmus Ristolainen falling to the Flyers. I like both of them with a preference for Risto. Both play a physical game with an edge but Risto has more offensive upside.

Zadorov already has NHL size at 6'4/5 230 and adapted well to coming over and playing in the "O". I think he would project more to a physical stay at home top 4 defenseman who can occasionally join the rush. In my opinion Risto has more offensive upside and could eventually play a point on a power play while also having a physical game. I think if ended up with either of these two it would be a good pick

I REALLY like Nurse but that is too high a price to pay. I would rather let destiny takes it's course and take the best defenseman available at 11. In several updated mock drafts some have Nikita Zadorov and Ristolainen falling to 11 so we can still get a quality guy with the pick

A problem there is that Horton will likely cost more than Gags and Rusty combined. He's on for $4M now and in a bidding war will likely get more.

aziz's roster has Gags at $2.5M and Rusty at $1.5M.

That said, if you move Hartnell off Giroux's line, where do you put that $4.75M contract for the next six years?

Good points Rad but I am assuming they amnesty Briere and possibly Bryz for additional cap space so if we let Gags and Rusty walk we could likely sign him for no more than 5.5. I would them move Horton to Giroux and Jake line and my second line would be Hartnell, Schenn and Simmonds

buyout briere and bryzgalov

trade for negotiating rights to bernier - read, mcginn, 2nd

resign gagne - 2yrs, $5mil

resign fedotenko - 2yrs, $3mil

resign hall - 1yr, $750k

resign gustafsson, manning, lauridsen - 3yrs, $3.75mil manning and lauridsen on two way deals

resign bernier - 3yrs, $7.5mil

hartnell - Giroux - voracek

gagne - schenn - Simmonds

fedotenko - couturier - Talbot

rosehill - rinaldo - hall

timonen - Coburn

schenn - grossmann

gustafsson - meszaros

mason

bernier

$60.92mil on the NHL roster

$62.45mil taking gervias' and bourdon's one way deals and bartulis buyouts into account.

$8.27mil in offseason cap space, including the 10% allowed overage.

if the flyers can get to the next-season salary cap and thus get full benefit of pronger's LTIR, they'd have $6.791mil in cap space once the season begins.

the flyers have fair depth at center and a couple bottom-pair defensive options, if couturier needs to be dangled, probably along with a pick and possibly a roster dman for a defensive upgrade, but don't really know who that would be. wouldn't move either schenn, though.

Ii like a lot of that but I would not really want Gags and Ruslan back. I would prefer to try to sign Nathan Horton who would add more size and some skill up front. I think you put him on a wing with Giroux and he can easily score 30 goals again.

It would have been sh-tty sportsmanship to tank all the games.... but nobody could blame them for just losing the last game. 8th pick >>>>>>>>> 11th pick.

That is what is frustrating. I enjoyed seeing the young guys go out and compete every night at the end but there needs to be some long term vision.

If the Devils draft Nurse or Zadorov or Risto and they are a thorn in our side the next 10 years how important would those games really have been in hindsight had we simply lost one or two?