brelic

I didn't even see Schenn get hit last time he played. Was it bad? Dude is like the North American version of Gaborik.

No, it cannot be done for contracts that are considered 35+. Pronger's current contract came into effect after his 35th birthday. And the rules for those kinds of contracts are that even if you bury a player in the minors, or even if he 'retires' and doesn't play anymore, the full cap hit will count for the duration of the contract.. i.e. another 6 years. The Flyers got caught trying to circumvent the cap because they didn't understand the rules.

Oh really? He hits like a freight train, and usually keeps it clean, but he does have a mean streak and will throw the occasional questionable hit.

We can only hope that Giroux never ever ever accepts the captaincy. It's cursed, I tell ya.

Clearly, their system isn't working because they're like 10th in the conference and we're 1st.

As much as I dislike Kaberle, that's a great trade for Montreal. Spacek wasn't playing, and the dude is getting old. Nice upgrade for them.

True enough. But he definitely has a mean streak.

LOL, gotcha. In any case, reputation plays a role for sure, as does 'status' in the league. I was honestly surprised when OV was suspended for a few games for a boarding call. He often leaves his feet when he hits, but somehow when he does it, no one even blinks. Oh, and to be fair, Richards is a bit of a cheap shot artist too. Loved it when he was in Philly, but I can still see that he wasn't afraid of the cheap hits.

Not even sure what this means.

But he's not a man. He's done cheap shots like this before.. once in the playoffs and he wasn't even suspended. IIRC, it was in the Cup finals the year they won the Cup. It was definitely in the playoffs, but I can't find the footage right now. Bettman rule #1 - Pens shall not be suspended. Look at what this punk did to Simmonds WITH 15 SECONDS LEFT IN A GAME THEY WERE WINNING 4-1!!! People here love to hate on Crosby, but he's a classy player on the ice, just like Giroux. Sure, they do their share of whacking and slashing, but that's part of the game. Hits to the head and rabbit punches are for cowards. And look at this one.. notice the score (3-0) and time left (13 seconds in the 3rd). Malkin has no class.

Can you imagine the Pens response if someone tried to do that to Crosby? Someone should have pummeled Malkinstein. Giroux is not only our best player, he's the best player in the league right now.

1 game suspension http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=605449

Beyond goaltending, the Pens are just a very very good team. We're right behind them, but I'd say we're overachieving when you consider the subpar goaltending we've gotten, scatterbrain defensive play, and injuries. I really think the re-emergence of Hartnell has had a lot to do with our dominant top line, and that kind of trickles down the lineup. Early on, Hartnell was being bumped around and it seemed whatever line he was on kinda stumbled.

Exactly. As @TedZep said, I guess Shanny saw the same thing we did, and more, because Leino had a hearing for his elbow to the head of Read.

The reality of it, though, is that there's no way Bryzgalov plays 9 years in Philly. None. I know that his contract and his NMC say otherwise. But you can pretty much take that to the bank. Bryz will not be here 9 years. Period. I doubt he'll even be the starter in 4-5 years. So, it sucks now and looks like a boat anchor (though lighter than Pronger's osmium anchor), but the Flyers can and will get out of it if they want to. That's the bottom line. It'll be like a neat magic trick. Poof!

So have we. Considering all the injuries we've had, including our captain, we are near the top of the league. The one thing against us tonight is that it's the back end of a B2B, and yesterday was a hard fought victory. 3-1 Flyers.

From http://www.hockeybuz...nguins/45/40354 PREVIEW 7:00 AM EST Fresh off a comeback overtime victory in Buffalo last night, the Flyers (16-7-3) return home to the Wells Fargo Center tonight for an Atlantic Division showdown with the first-place Pittsburgh Penguins (16-8-4). The game starts at 7 PM and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philly and nationally on NHL Network. This is the first of six meetings between the cross-state archrivals this season. Last season, the Flyers won four of six games (all in regulation) while the Pens took one regulation victory and prevailed once by shootout. Philadelphia has been the NHL's best road team this season (10-3-1) but needs to get better at home (6-4-2). Meanwhile, the Penguins have not been particularly good on the road so far. The Pens are just 8-6-2 in away games, but have gone 8-2-2 at home. Last night in Buffalo, the Flyers fell behind, 3-0, in the first period. A Max Talbot goal in the final second of the opening period gave Philadelphia life, and the team went on to pretty much dominate the rest of the game. Matt Read's deflection goal early in the second period brought Philly back with a goal. At 14:45 of the middle stanza, Scott Hartnell took a pass from Claude Giroux (1G, 3A) and snuck one in the short side past Ryan Miller. Three minutes later, a spectacular two-way effort by Jaromir Jagr -- making a nice backchecking play to help prevent a Buffalo goal and then, as play swung the other way, executing a nifty curl and toe drag and then rifling a tracer of a wrist shot past Miller -- put Philly ahead, 5-4. The Flyers did a masterful job in most of the third period, hemming Buffalo in their own zone for much of the period. However, they were unable to add to their lead and a single late-game coverage breakdown on a 6-on-5 led to Drew Stafford's game-tying goal that sent the game to overtime. In the extra frame, Giroux intercepted a cross-ice pass, sped off on a breakaway and snapped a shot through the five hole to win the game. Ilya Bryzgalov had an uneven game in goal last night. He was tremendous through most of the first period, keeping the game scoreless with Buffalo generating the majority of the pressure. Bryzgalov had no chance to prevent Ville Leino's power play goal off an 3-on-1 down low that put the Sabres ahead 1-0. He also had no real shot at stopping Zack Kassian's goal from the high slot, because rookie defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon unwittingly provided both a screen and a deflection on the play. However, Thomas Vanek's power play goal that made it 3-0 was a soft goal that, on many nights, would have been a backbreaker. That was one the Philadelphia goaltender absolutely could not afford to give up in that circumstance. For most of the remainder of the game, Bryzgalov was barely tested. The Flyers' forechecking work last night was outstanding. There won't be nearly as much skating room tonight against Dan Bylsma's Penguins. However, if Philadelphia brings the same energy and focus that they showed last night, they'll eventually generate scoring chances against Marc-Andre Fleury. In playing against Fleury, it is imperative to get traffic to the net and win battles down low. He is a very talented and athletic goalie but one who is prone to leaving rebounds in the opposite slot. The team in front of him usually does an excellent job of boxing out in front and cleaning up the rebounds. The power play was a non-factor for Philadelphia last night, as the team received only one man advantage in the entire game despite numerous infractions in what was a pretty chippy game (both ways). In the Flyers' two previous December games, the power play was red hot. Pittsburgh is generally an excellent penalty killing team, checking into this game at 88.7 percent efficiency. Meanwhile, the Flyers' penalty kill has had its share of problems lately. Last night, allowing two first period PPGs for the Sabres dug Philly a deep hole. Sometimes the goalie has to be a team's best penalty killer, and Bryzgalov has not been equal to the challenge often enough this season. Entering tonight, Bryz has a penalty killing save percentage of .837 (Sergei Bobrovsky's is .884, the league average for goalies is .876). Bryz currently ranks 55th among the 68 NHL goalies who have faced a PK situation this year. Needless to say, that's nowhere close to being good enough. Danny Briere's status for tonight is unknown as of this writing. First of all, he has been under the weather this week, although he returned to practice on Tuesday. Last night, he got high sticked in the head right off an offensive zone faceoff -- something he was penalized in game and then suspended for doing to the Islanders' Frans Nielsen last season but went unpenalized last night when he was on the receiving end. He skated right off to the bench. Briere soon returned to action, he only played 9:22 for the game and not at all in overtime. The Flyers remain without injured defensemen Chris Pronger (LTIR, arthroscopic knee surgery), Andreas Lilja (LTIR, high ankle sprain) and Erik Gustafsson (LTIR, wrist surgery). Rookie forward Brayden Schenn (upper body injury) did not make the trip to Buffalo and his status is also unclear. Tonight's game marks the first time in three seasons that Jagr will have played against the team with whom he is most associated. There is also the subplot of Jagr having spurned the Penguins' off-season contract offer this summer to sign with the Flyers. In 36 career games against Pittsburgh as a member of the Capitals and Rangers, Jagr posted 17 goals (6 PPG) and 19 assists for 36 points. Pittsburgh has been up-and-down of late, posting a 5-4-1 mark over its last 10 games. Of course, the big news for tonight's game is that Sidney Crosby will be held out after colliding with teammate Chris Kunitz and not feeling well. He will miss at least two games. It is encouraging that Crosby passed an an ImPACT (neurocognitive) test, which revealed no abnormalities. However, it should also be noted that the test is not infallible. Among others, the Pens' Kris Letang have passed the test only to have symptoms persist and later be diagnosed as a concussion. Even without Crosby, the Pens have proven to be plenty dangerous both last season and this year. Former Dallas Stars winger James Neal currently leads the team with 14 goals and 25 points, while Evgeni Malkin has 9 goals and 24 points and two-way center Jordan Staal has tallied 12 goals. Letang (3 goals, 19 points) provides a constant threat from the point but is currently out of the lineup. However, the hallmark of Bylsma's team is its defensive discipline. The club usually makes opponents fight for every inch of space, and Fleury (2.16 GAA, .921 save percentage) is having an All-Star caliber season in goal. PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change) FLYERS Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr JVR - Briere - Simmonds Read - Talbot - Voracek Zolnierczyk - Couturier - Rinaldo Timonen - Coburn Carle — Mezaros/ Bourdon Marshall/Bourdon — Meszaros Bryzgalov [bobrovsky] PENGUINS Sullivan - Malkin - Neal Kunitz - Staal - Dupuis Cooke - ???? - Kennedy Vitale - Adams - Asham Orpik - Niskanen Martin - Picard Despres - Bortuzzo Fleury [Johnson]

He looked good in the fight though. He knew it was coming. But for the hit, sheesh... Gerbe saw him coming and had plenty of time to, you know, actually face him to avoid getting hurt, but instead deliberately turns his back to Bourdon. MAB might get suspended, but now Gerbe is hurt. Stupid.

From what I've read on Philly.com this morning, it would be possible for two teams from the East to battle for the Cup.

http://www.csnphilly.com/blog/flyers-talk/post/Rock-n-Roll-legend-Alice-Cooper-rocks-Fl?blockID=606036&feedID=6572 Too bad he's wearing #18, though I get why he's wearing it

Per Timmy P. http://www.csnphilly.com/blog/flyers-talk/post/Meszaros-Briere-Schenn-miss-practice?blockID=606040&feedID=695 There were lots of missing bodies at today's Flyers practice in Voorhees. Brayden Schenn was given a maintenance day off the ice. Briere was given the day off because he wasn't feeling well. The more interesting issue was defenseman Andrej Meszaros. Although Meszaros was also listed as having a maintenance day, even though he was hit fairly hard in the final seconds of Saturday’s win at Phoenix by Raffi Torres and reportedly went off the ice wincing in pain. General manager Paul Holmgren said he expects Meszaros to rejoin the team Tuesday. James van Riemdsdyk (upper-body injury) said he felt good and remains possible for Wednesday's game in Buffalo. There's no change in Chris Pronger’s status, which implies his virus continues to linger. Right now, his virus seems a bigger concern than his rehabbing of the left knee, which was operated on last week.

Right. But he has to legitimately be unable to play and making an effort to return to the game. Now, I don't know how severe they are with those requirements, but since they've already investigated the Pronger contract (and we all *know* instinctively that it was done to circumvent the cap), you can be damn sure they will check up on good ol' Prongs if he hits the LTIR for a significant amount of time. Really, the best bet is to buy him out if teams get a special buy out period after the new CBA, or trade him to a team needing to hit the cap floor.

The strange thing is that Leighton overachieved. In 27 GP two seasons ago, he was 16-5-2, 2.48 GAA and .918 save %, almost identical GAA and save % that Bryz had last year. Which, of course, doesn't support my "right coach, average goaltender" theory in Philly because it was the same coach, lol.

Totally agree.. Just to clarify, I meant that in the same vein as you, that as of right now, the Carter deal is a win and Richards deal a loss. Of course, these deals go beyond statistics, and Richards was just plain done in O&B, so not sure he would have been as good or a positive influence here.

So, Bryzgalov is a better goalie than Mike Smith, right? Well, maybe not. Before last night, Smith had a 2.02 GAA. Here are his numbers so far: Smith, 21GP, 12-6-3, 2.24 GAA, .932 save % (5th in NHL). To put this in perspective, his career GAA is 2.66, and save % is .909. He's an average NHL goaltender. Here are his stats last year, in Tampa Bay: Smith, 22GP, 13-6-1, 2.90 GAA, .899 save %. Basically, he was a backup, and has a career-high of 42 GP in a season. He's a 29 year old, 5th round draft pick. And then there's Bryz. Bryz, 18GP, 10-5-2, 2.83 GAA, .900 save % (31st in NHL). His career average is 2.55 GAA, .915 save %. His stats last year, in Phoenix: Bryz, 68GP, 36-20-10, 2.48 GAA, .921 save %. Point being that whoever you put in net in Philly is going to see their numbers drop and whoever is in goal in Phoenix is going to see their numbers get better. Which also means it would have been cheaper to hire the right coach with an average goaltender than the wrong coach with a prized and pricey UFA goalie acquisition.