Digityman

Yep pulled groin. The thought is he is out until at least Monday.

He never gives up on a play which reminds me of the was Richards *can* play. He creates his own chances and takes advantage of them when he gets them. Rookie of the first 1/4 of the season. Let's see if he can hold together for 82 games

I think you might be right. Maybe even this year before the trade deadline. Get a serviceable backup with a lower salary and what homer might think is a/the missing piece. Which is? I don't know right now. This team is playing good enough hockey to be in first place.

Lost a leg too. Thanks PPhan.

Here's the internet game feed - http://www.firstrowsports.tv/watch/92502/1/watch-philadelphia-flyers-vs-phoenix-coyotes.html From Bill Meltzer After taking 5 of 6 points on their three-game southern road trip, the Flyers (10-4-3) briefly return home tonight to take on the pesky Phoenix Coyotes (9-4-3, 5-1-1 on the road). The game starts at 7 PM EST and will be broadcast locally on CSN Philadelphia. The game marks the first of two meetings between the clubs this season. The Flyers have lost their last two games against Phoenix. Last season, Phoenix took a 3-2 overtime decision in Philly behind 37 saves from Ilya Bryzgalov and an overtime power play goal by Shane Doan. Philadelphia's Claude Giroux tied the game with 1:13 left regulation to send it to overtime, while Ville Leino scored the game's first goal in the opening period. Tonight's big pregame story, of course, is that the game marks Bryzgalov's first game after the Coyotes since coming to Philadelphia. He'll be opposed in net by Mike Smith (2.19 GAA, .933 save percentage). Smith, who is one of the best puckhandling goalies in the NHL and has a huge frame, has had an uneven history against the Flyers. Overall, in 10 games played against Philly, Smith has a 4-4-1 record, but an unimpressive 3.66 GAA and .884 save percentage. In Phoenix's last game, the club captured a 3-2 win via shootout in Toronto on Tuesday. The skills competition win erased any negative feelings about being unable to hold an early 2-0 lead. Typically, the defensive-minded Coyotes are a hard team to play catch-up against but is far from an offensive juggernaut. On special teams, the Coyotes have a very solid penalty kill (87.3 percent) but little power play punch (15.1 percent). Veteran forward Ray Whitney (6 goals, 15 points), Radim Vrbata (6 goals, 13 points), Doan (5 goals, 11 points) and defenseman Keith Yandle (1 goal, 9 points) trigger the Phoenix offense. Although it has been many years since Danny Briere wore a Coyotes uniform, he usually gets up for games against the team that drafted him and with whom he broke into the NHL. This will be just the fifth time in his career that he's played against Phoenix, because he's played in the Eastern Conference ever since. Briere managed only one assist in last year's game against Phoenix in Philly but his line had a dominant game, and he snapped four shots on goal in addition to hitting the crossbar on a play where he had Bryz beaten. PROJECTED LINEUPS (subject to change) FLYERS Hartnell - Giroux - Jagr JVR - Briere - Simmonds Read - Talbot - Voracek Zolnierczyk - Couturier - Rinaldo Carle - Pronger Coburn - Timonen Lilja - Meszaros Bryzgalov [bobrovsky] COYOTES Korpikoski - O'Reilly - Doan Whitney - Hanzal - Vrbata Pyatt - Gordon - Boedker Torres - Chipchura - O'Sullivan Yandle - Morris Ekman-Larsson - Aucoin Klesla - Schlemko Smith [LaBarbera]

Take it for what it's worth - it's from ESPN Our first Hart Trophy look this season. It’s still early, but six weeks into the season, we can start to have fun and identify some candidates. Speaking of fun, thank you to the massive list of Twitter followers who responded to our Hart Trophy question. To show how democratic we are at ESPN.com, your responses have largely influenced this list: 1a. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers We chatted with Flyers coach Peter Laviolette last week, and what impressed him the most about Giroux was his all-around game. Forget that he’s challenging for an NHL scoring title, there’s so much more to his game than that. He plays 200 feet, plays the penalty kill and plays against the opposition’s top line, and he is out there late in games. Oh, and he’s from Hearst, Ontario. 1b. Phil Kessel, Toronto Maple Leafs You can make an argument he’s just as deserving at this point as Giroux. No question about it. We loved this Hart Trophy response via Twitter from @blairvincent, “As a Habs fan, I hate to say this, but it’s got to be Kessel.” Well, if a Montreal fan can find it in his heart to say that, you know Kessel is deserving. He leads the NHL with 13 goals and 25 points. His all-around game is not as complete as Giroux, but kudos to Kessel for his plus-9 rating. 3. Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins Fifth in the NHL in ice time at 26:46 per game and putting up a point a game, we wonder where the Penguins would be without their all-world blue line, given Sidney Crosby’s absence and all the other injuries the Penguins have had. He plays in all key situations. He’s a horse and he’s a huge reason why the Pens keep rolling along. 4. Anze Kopitar, Los Angeles Kings When you consider that the Kings are only 23rd in the NHL in offense, not to mention some of the overall struggles they’ve had this season, you have to wonder how much worse things would be without Kopitar’s 21 points (8-13) in 17 games this season -- fifth in NHL scoring. Says @potvinrocks via Twitter: “Kopitar has points on like 65% of Kings goals.” 5. Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton Oilers The old goat has a .945 save percentage and has spearheaded Edmonton’s stingy defensive record and surprising start to the season. Honorable mentions: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; Tyler Seguin, Boston Bruins; Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars; Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres; Marc-Andre Fleury and James Neal, Pittsburgh Penguins; Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks; Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars; Shea Weber, Nashville Predators.

@irishflyer1918 @Mad Dog @Spinorama @radoran DGG started it and I just continued with the sarcasm. I wouldn't trade Shelly for Carter at this point let along through in a future #1 goalie. Carter is one of my least liked Flyers of all time. Sorry for the miscommunication.

Regardless of which league the are playing in, who are your top three missed ex-Flyers still playing professionally? 1) Simon Gagne - Injury prone but on the left side of Giroux and Jagr? The man knows how to finish. 2) Patrick Sharp - Over the last four years he's averaging 60pts. Works the PK. Imagine him and Talbot on the PK? 3) Mike Richards - I still think without the weight of Philly (and Carter) on his shoulders he would have been fine here.

Hartford.

@Philly29 Glad you made it over. Let us know if you have any questions or suggestions.

The only problem I had with Carcillo is his timing for penalties and fights. I liked his fire, I liked his ability to be up for most games and I even liked his skill. But he just seemed to not understand when to lay low. The best example of this: 4/25/2009, Game 6 I think. He fights Talbot (ironic) when the Flyers are up 3-0. You can't blame the loss on him but why give any reason for the Pens to get fired up? (That and Upshall was traded for him

I have to say he's number 2 on my list of most misses flyers. Good thread idea though

That's funny. Never thought about that

Follow-up

This is pretty funny.

Wow. ps. I'm going to move this over to the Avs board but I'll leave a link.

I didn't think that they would let that happen last year either. The only additions are Jagr and Talbot in the leadership positions really. Although I can't say enough about Talbot - regardless of his recent scoring. I think the Talbot signing will go down as one of Homer's best overall.

From Tim P: link

Saw this stat - On pace for 53G 58A 111P

Starts December 14th with a 12 minute promo airing either Thanksgiving night or the night after Thanksgiving. The winter classic jersey will be unveiled Black Friday. I wonder if Torts will beat Boudreau's f-bomb record.

@Vincent05 That's a good point. I didn't think about salary. Was just thinking about spots in general. I like how Z is playing. I can take or leave Rinaldo. Shelly/Rinaldo send down?? If that could happen it would be my first choice.

From Tim P: Link

That's a really refreshing comment from Lavy. One has to think that he was really struggling last year with the locker room based on the information that has slowly leaked out. With the leadership in place - Pronger, Timonen, Briere, Talbot and a few others, I'm hoping this team doesn't go into the traditional funk of Dec - Feb.

So, say Rugby-isk?

This is my thought to. While sitting JVR for an extensive period wouldn't be the best thing for him, splitting a spot between Schenn and JVR until both really get going might not be a bad thing. A little pressure on both while not losing someone that is actually contributing.