Digityman

@Vanflyer

I think that's the million dollar question Van. He's a role player. Decent in his own end. Doesn't (or can't?) score but any team in the NHL could play him on the 4th line or even fill in for an injured 2nd-3rd line player. I guess you have to think that Homer tested the market before doing this move. Right?.....Right?

@DaGreatGazoo

By all means....

@DaGreatGazoo I know. I laughed when I read it. Must be. Google translator.

(fyi - if you quote someone with any of the quote buttons you don't need the "@member" - they get a notification if you use either - they get (2) if you use both....) just saying B)

I don't think the alumni game has ever been televised before. I remember them showing hightlights, but not the actual game.

You're right. I didn't read before posting. Alumni I don't remember them ever showing it like you said.

I'm not sure why though. This year's Alumni game might be more desirable .....

Can a mod change the topic title to Nodl waived / claimed by Carolina or something like that?

Done.

And the only person who's name should be at the top of the list for "cap relief" is "Jody Shelley"

Ranking the flyers players in greatest value (skills compared to salary)..... Nodl is a far better value.

I don't understand them waiving Nodl first.

Nodl claimed by Carolina

Andreas Nodl was claimed by the Carolina Hurricanes today, according to the team's official Twitter acount.

Per FRANK SERAVALLI

Btw, I expect that one of you will provide us with a perfect translation to his blog...

Well it's not perfect but....

"It's just a piece of paper," let the attacker Philadelphia to hear from journalists overseas, when the conversation turned to marriage.

Before Jágrovým his mustache Inna escaped to Florida

Jagr started, but was injured again. Return I uspechal, admitted

Jagr again conquered the NHL. Fans passed the Czech star to Earth song

Comeback Jaromir Jagr: mustache suits me as a bitch, right?

Jagr pulled groin, acupuncture helps him: as if pulled into my knife

The wedding is famous too nepožene 68. The child was apparently considered but Jagr. "Of course I want to be one of my dad," devoted to the U.S. On the occasion of thanksgiving and private issues journalist.

"But I wanted to be like my parents and I want to devote to the children as well as they did me, something I'm not ready yet," divorced his thoughts on the follower hockey family.

"Maybe next year when my hockey career is nearing an end," he said before the American reporters, who also told that without their parents would never be so great things failed.

"If I had a mom and dad for someone else, now I did not play in the NHL. I know quite certainly," he said. "They belong exactly the types of parents who gave up his own life due to the fact that their children were better and were successful," wrote Jaromir Jagr compliment mom and dad.

From John Boruk

He is one of the most active NHL general managers and during his five-year tenure, Paul Holmgren has pulled off an eye-popping 48 trades.

You can evaluate trades based on statistical performance, but I wanted to come up with Homer’s top five trades that have been the most influential/beneficial to the franchise.

1. Peter Forsberg to Nashville for Scottie Upshall, Ryan Parent, a first- and third-round pick

This one move during the team’s dismal 40th anniversary season has set up the Flyers for the past half decade, especially after Holmgren returned the first-rounder to Nashville for the exclusive signing rights to Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. Looking back, Timonen for Forsberg straight up would have been a win in itself for the Flyers.

2. Luca Sbisa, Joffrey Lupul, two first-round picks and a third-round pick to Anaheim for Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle

There’s a couple of reasons why I didn’t bump this up to No. 1. First off, you could still argue the price was a little high, especially with two first-round draft picks, plus two former first-rounders in Sbisa and Lupul. I firmly believe the Flyers don’t make it to the Stanley Cup Final without Pronger’s presence and now with the “C” he’s the leader the team has been looking for in recent years. Pronger’s ongoing health concerns are why it’s Homer’s No. 2. By the way, Dingle is playing in Italy this season.

3. Alexei Zhitnik to Atlanta for Braydon Coburn

Nine days after the Forsberg trade, Holmgren caught another GM (in this case Don Waddell) in a vulnerable position of a win-now philosophy. As part of the Flyers’ rebuilding process, Homer “stole” Coburn out of Atlanta with the Thrashers looking to add a veteran presence during their first ever trip to the postseason. Coburn would be a top-four D-man on any team in the league. He is now the longest-tenured Flyer and that shouldn’t change after signing a four-year extension.

4. Steve Eminger, Steve Downie and a fourth-round pick to Tampa Bay for Matt Carle and a third-round pick

This steal came during the short-lived Barry Melrose era in Tampa. Steve Downie had potential, but I’m not sure with his undisciplined style he would have reached it here in Philadelphia. The Lightning clearly did not realize what they were getting with Eminger and, for whatever reason, they were ready to ship out Carle after just 12 games in Tampa. Carle has been steady both offensively and defensively and has only missed seven games in three years.

5. Ole-Kristian Tollefson and a fifth-round pick to Detroit for Ville Leino

Over time the Jeff Carter trade to Columbus will likely break into the top five, but for now this deal had no downside. Tollefson wasn’t setting the world on fire defensively in Philadelphia and Leino was simply a salary cap dump for Detroit GM Ken Holland. Leino’s greatest contribution came during the 2010 playoffs when he set the NHL rookie record for most points in a single postseason. Along with Danny Briere and Scott Hartnell, they were clearly the best Flyers’ line in the playoffs. Leino chipped in with 53 points last season. The Red Wings released Tollefson just hours after the trade was completed.

Next: Paul Holmgren’s five worst trades.

E-mail John Boruk at jboruk@comcastsportsnet.com.

From Jim Jackson on CSN

Being at Madison Square Garden over the weekend and taking in the excitement surrounding the buildup to the Bridgestone Winter Classic and the matchup with the Rangers reminded me of how much I appreciate the rivalry that exists between the two clubs.

There is just something special in the air when the Broad Street Bullies meet the Broadway Blueshirts. This is precisely why the league chose these two clubs for this season’s Jan. 2 outdoor showdown.

It got me to thinking about which teams currently rate as top rivals to the Flyers. Any list of a team’s most intense opponents is bound to be quite fluid. Playoff meetings tend to be the surest way to create a rival. Thus, if a certain club appears on the postseason schedule frequently, a rivalry is bound to be enhanced.

But other factors are involved, too. As we currently sit, here are the teams I consider the top five rivals of the Flyers, in reverse order.

5. New Jersey Devils

As recently as three or four seasons ago, the Devils would have been much higher on the list. From 1995-2007, either the Flyers or the Devils wound up at the top of the Atlantic Division. They were constantly battling for divisional superiority.

And for quite a while, the Devils seemed to keep getting in the way of the Flyers' Stanley Cup dreams, twice beating the Flyers on the way to their own Cups and taking three during one nine-year stretch. That certainly was a bitter pill to swallow for Flyer fans, intensifying the rivalry.

However, the Flyers conquered those demons to some degree with playoff series victories over New Jersey in 2004 and 2010. And with the Devils now having run into some serious postseason issues of their own (no playoff series wins in four seasons), the edge to this rivalry has softened some.

Still, the Devils are just an hour-and-a-half up the New Jersey Turnpike. Proximity also plays a part. They are still in the same division. And three banners hang from the rafters in their new home, the Prudential Center, as a cruel reminder to Philadelphia fans of what the Devils accomplished, sometimes at the Flyers’ expense.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning

The animosity between the Flyers and Lightning is beginning to perk up again. These two clubs have a little history to build upon. They experienced two ferociously competitive playoff series, with each team claiming victory once. They even, once upon a time, came close to blows in the parking lot, gang style, outside of the St. Pete Times Forum.

But it is much more the present that leads me to put the Bolts on this list. The gamesmanship that took place in Tampa in mid-November serves to set the stage for more of the same in future meetings. Guy Boucher sometimes orders his club to sit back and the Flyers are bound and determined to wait them out.

The Flyers seemed to get most of the media and public support for trying to expose Boucher’s strategy. However, the Lightning eventually took home an overtime victory. We’ll call it a draw and await the next meeting next week. Either way, such intrigue creates a rivalry.

3) Boston Bruins

Back in the ‘70s, this was one of the NHL’s top rivalries. The Broad Street Bullies vs. the Big Bad Bruins. They were frequent playoff opponents and, of course, met in the 1974 Final as the Flyers upset the B’s to take their first Cup.

After a couple of decades in hibernation (pardon the pun), this rivalry is back. All it took was a couple of playoff meetings. The Flyers' epic comeback from down 0-3 in 2010 will live on for ages. But, Boston fans may choose to point out the Bruins' sweep the following year that not only helped push them to a Stanley Cup, but also led to a personnel shakeup in Philly.

When the Flyers opened this season by spoiling the Bruins’ banner raising party at TD Garden, one more log was thrown onto the fire of this once again red hot rivalry.

2. New York Rangers

The only thing missing from this rivalry in recent years has been postseason confrontations. These teams haven’t met in the playoffs since 1997. In most cases, the buzz between two teams would fade with so much time between a series against one another. Not so in this instance.

Perhaps it’s simply the New York-Philadelphia thing. Or maybe it's agitators such as Sean Avery and Scott Hartnell stirring the pot. But, somehow, there is always extra excitement in the air when the Flyers and Rangers meet. The NHL clearly understood that in scheduling these two clubs for the Winter Classic.

Call it a smoldering rivalry right now. By the time the "24/7" documentary is done building things up and the outdoor game takes place on Jan. 2, Rangers-Flyers will find an even higher level in intensity and animosity. It will most likely do more than any playoff series would in fanning those smoldering flames of a rivalry.

1) Pittsburgh Penguins

What’s been missing from the Flyers’ season thus far? A meeting with the Penguins, that’s what.

Hard to believe that nearly one-third of the season will have passed before hockey’s Battle of Pennsylvania is on display. But soon enough (Dec. 8), the Wells Fargo Center will be humming with electricity as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and the Pens come to town.

This rivalry has it all. The cities are relatively close so the respective fan bases get many opportunities to interact. The clubs have met twice in the postseason in recent years. And, there are central figures for villains, starting with Sid the Kid (can we still call him that?) who has become one of the more reviled opposing sports figures in our town.

It’s no wonder fans from both cities and members of the respective organizations were less than pleased with an NHL realignment proposal that would put the two teams in different divisions, seeing each other only twice all season. The Battle of Pennsylvania needs more exposure than that.

As mentioned earlier, this list is current. I wouldn’t be shocked if in about seven weeks I was asked to construct such a list and the Rangers were No. 1. The buildup to the Winter Classic could have that kind of impact. We shall see.

In the meantime, 21 of the Flyers' final 59 games are against teams from the list above. That makes for some great matchups and rivalry renewals. Should be a lot of fun.

E-mail Jim Jackson at jjackson@comcastsportsnet.com

i hope Holmgren doesnt get strong armed and overpay for some typical old washed up stiff.

I think that is what would happen at this point. I agree on the need for a dman.

What do the Flyers really have to offer at this point?

• They have each of the first 3 round draft picks for 2012 & 2013 (whether by trade or their own).
  
• Bob – at this point with Bryz sucking, I’m assuming he’s off the table.
  
• JVR – a potential power forward (& winger that drives the net) the Flyers have been lacking since…..LeClair?
  
• Schenn - not sure how much he is worth right now.
  
• Hartnell – My guess is GMs will look straight through his recent point production level to his salary.
  
• Shelly (or insert misc, little value 4^th liner).
  

I’m probably missing a few but with my list it’s Bob or JVR + 2012 1^st + another pick ….. at the very least for a future #2-#3 young defensemen that can play right now.

Does anyone know if this game will be televised? I can't seem to find a definite answer anywhere on the net.

It's usually on NBC isn't it?

From Bleacherreport

Just when you thought the Crosby-Foligno elbow fiasco was ready to die, in swoops Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray with a shot of adrenaline.

Murray was seething after Sidney Crosby elbowed Ottawa’s Nick Foligno in the head Friday night. But when Crosby and Pens head coach Dan Bylsma accused Foligno of running goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, Murray went on the offensive.

Here’s what he told Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun:

“The rules are very clear now. If you fall into a goaltender and touch a goaltender, an elbow to the head and a butt end to the head is fair game. Dan Bylsma said that’s OK for them. Sidney said Nick Foligno is that kind of player.

“I wish (Foligno) was that kind of player. I thought the referees in that game, watching it and hearing the comments, it was 2-on-2. He fell over the goaltender. He was cross-checked four times. There was no question, did he get pushed? I don’t know. He got cross-checked, I thought he got a butt end, but it might have been a full elbow. (Chris) Kunitz comes in with a cross-check and the penalties were even.

“So, (NHL disciplinarian Brendan) Shanahan said that’s a good play. That’s a hockey play. Dan Bylsma said it’s good for them and Pittsburgh were the biggest ones on the head injuries. I’m remiss. I made a mistake. We didn’t have (Chris) Neil and (Matt) Carkner play in the game. We didn’t have enough toughness, so when we play Pittsburgh that’s something you can bring up to me again.”

Okay then!

Murray’s apparent boiling point was when Crosby accused Foligno of “making a big deal out of nothing” on the play.

“He’s [Foligno's] probably lucky it was me that was handling it and not someone else,” No. 87 added. ”I think if he’s going to do that, he should be ready to expect a response.”

Bylsma lobbed equally harsh criticism Foligno’s way.

“We’re talking about a player that bumped into our goalie three times,” Bylsma said. “With the score 5-1 and intentionally going into our goalie, he can expect more than Sidney Crosby coming at him and talking to him during the game. That’s how we feel about those situations. He was in our net falling over our goalie, and I don’t think there was any question about the intent.”

The Pens and Sens meet again on Dec. 16 at Scotiabank Place. Might wanna mark that one down on the ol’ calendar.

From Bill Meltzer -

OVERVIEW

Historically, the Flyers have been a strong November team. Many seasons, in fact, November has been the month of the season in which the team has posted its single best record. This year, the Flyers experienced a lot of ups and downs, playing some truly inspired hockey at times and truly horrific hockey at others.

All in all, the team's 7-3-2 record during the month was moderately satisfying when you consider the fact that Chris Pronger was limited to five games by an October eye injury and a later November illness, while the team as a whole was beset with injury-related absences.

Even so, the month also could have been a lot better. On paper, November should have been one of the team's "easiest" months of the season, with a heavy concentration of games against opponents who rank at or near the bottom of the standings. The Flyers lost consecutive games in regulation to the 13th-place (Winnipeg) and 14th-place (Carolina) teams in the Eastern Conference and fell behind the last-place New York Islanders, 3-1, before rallying late to tie the game and win in overtime.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

1) Offensive depth: Despite all the injuries in the lineup, the Flyers averaged 3.25 goals per game (39 in 12 games) in the month of November. Although the Claude Giroux line is the backbone of the attack, Philadelphia got strong support from the third line (Matt Read and Max Talbot) in particular. The team was shut out by the New York Rangers in its final game of the month, but that does not take away from a strong overall performance in the offensive zone.

2) Penalty killing: The Flyers' penalty kill dropped off in the latter part of the month but was a major roll in the early to middle portion. Overall, the PK performed at a success rate of 85.5 percent (47 for 55), raising the club from 18th in the NHL (81.5 percent) at the end of October to 13th overall (83.5 percent) now.

3) Successful southern road trip: The Flyers took 5 of 6 possible points during their three-game road swing through Tampa Bay, Sunrise and Raleigh. The club played some of its best hockey of the young season in those games. However, the single best 60 minutes of all-around hockey the team played this month came in a 2-1 home win over Dave Tippett's Phoenix Coyotes. In that game, the team matched Phoenix's renowned work ethic and also got a stellar game in goal from ex-Coyote Ilya Bryzgalov.

WHAT WENT WRONG

1) Inconsistent team defense and goaltending: Some games, the Flyers were just fine on defense and/or in goal. Other times, they were in utter disarray. The team allowed 32 goals this month (2.67 per game), which included six games in which the Flyers held opponents to one or two goals and six in which they yielded three or more (with a high of 6 goals allowed to Winnipeg). Injuries and inconsistency were both factors. Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky both had a couple stellar games and a couple forgettable ones.

2) Too many penalties: This has been a problem all year. The Flyers have had to kill more disadvantages (109) than any team in the NHL. Even when the club has been successful on the PK, there is a wear-down effect. For example, at the rate Peter Laviolette has had to assign tough minutes to Kimmo Timonen, the aging defenseman will have nothing left in the gas tank by the stretch run. The team has talked endlessly about cutting down some of the needless stick infractions and lazy restraining penalties but has not done so.

3). Power play woes: Although the Flyers were very successful putting the puck in the net at 5-on-5, the man advantage really struggled without Pronger. Things picked up a bit over a three-game stretch in the latter part of the month but the club scuffled again in the final game. Overall, the Flyers went just 7 for 54 (13.0 percent) for the month, and saw their overall rank drop from 6th in the league (22.2 percent in October) to 13th (17.6 percent) over the course of the last month.

Later today, I will update the month in review with a look at the individual performances of each of the players on the team during November.

11-28-11

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capitals-insider/post/capitals-fire-bruce-boudreau-dale-hunter-named-new-head-coach/2011/11/28/gIQARU1d4N_blog.html

The Washington Capitals have named Dale Hunter the team’s head coach, replacing Bruce Boudreau.

Hunter, 51, will make his debut behind the bench tomorrow as the Capitals host the St. Louis Blues at Verizon Center.

Much more to come soon.

From Bill Meltzer

In the grand scheme of things, I don't think anyone should get too bent out of shape about the Flyers 2-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers played virtually a perfect game for 60 minutes and the shorthanded Flyers just didn't have the legs or the horses to win the game.

Before each game, HockeyBuzz's CaptEO and I have a little ritual of exchanging predictions of the final scores and the Flyers goal scorers for the game. We both had it as a decisive Philadelphia loss, and EO even predicted the Flyers would get shut out (although he had it as 4-0 Rangers). I did not think Philly would manage as well as it did defensively, and I had it down as a 6-2 loss.

You never want to use injuries or fatigue as an excuse but the simple truth of the matter is that the Flyers were playing for the third time in four days (although the Rangers were, too) and fourth time in six days.

Over that span, Philadelphia had played without Chris Pronger all week, had the services of Jaromir Jagr for only one-plus period and had also lost James van Riemsdyk and Andreas Lilja midweek. As a result, Peter Laviolette had little choice but to play Claude Giroux and his top three defensemen (Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn and Andrej Meszaros) for massive numbers of minutes.

Thus, even before the opening puck dropped at Madison Square Garden, it was pretty clear that the Flyers were going to need a lot of things to go their way in order to win. They needed to strike early, manage their energy wisely to have anything left for the third period and get a virtually flawless game in goal from Sergei Bobrovsky along the way.

Bob played fine. The emotion and effort were there. Even so, the Rangers were clearly the better team pretty much all game. When Henrik Lundqvist thwarted an early breakway attempt by Scott Hartnell with the greatest of ease, it already looked like scoring even a single goal was going to be an uphill climb.

Bobrovsky did a nice job in getting the game to the third period with just a 1-0 deficit. Defensively -- with the exception of New York's second goal that sealed the game-- Philly pretty much did a good job of bending but not breaking. But on a day where the Flyers just couldn't generate any sort of sustained forecheck, that wasn't quite good enough.

In terms of big-picture takeways from the game:

* The Flyers are going to need to do a better job of handling teams that play a 1-3-1 or 1-2-2 system against them. Yesterday, apart from getting hemmed deep in their own zone for much of the game and habitually getting shot attempts blocked, Philly had a miserable time trying to break out of their own zone and navigate the neutral zone.

* Philly had better hope that Pronger gets healthy soon and starts staying healthy for a change. At the current rate, Timonen is going to be out of gas by the start of the stretch drive.

* New York is NOT a team against whom its ever advisable to chase the game. Buoyed by the goaltending Lundqvist, even a 1-0 deficit after two periods can be a mountain to climb.

Since start of 2010-11 season, Rangers are now 36-0-1 (7-0-1 this season) when leading after 2 periods -- that's the best winning percentage in the NHL in that situation. Meanwhile, Philly has won just twice in 30 tries since the start of last season (1-7-0 this season, 1-16-5 last year) when trailing after two periods.

* Bobrovsky deserves immense credit for his play in the last two games. He created his own monster on the Hagelin goal -- and was not helped by his team running around aimlessly in its own zone -- but has otherwise been almost flawless in the last eight periods. In late November, there is no goaltending controversy. However, Iya Bryzgalov had better pick up his play to the point where, come April, there is no doubt as to which goaltender gives Philadelphia the better opportunity to outplay a top opposing netminder.

Coming tomorrow, I will write my November in Review blog.

That's a good deal for Columbus but I doubt Ryan wants to go there. Who does at this point.

No Digity, why I keep getting that warn status.

No more warn stats LOD.

Look better?

From Tim P

About the only thing that could possibly mar a strong first quarter of hockey for Jaromir Jagr was an injury.

Jagr will miss his second straight game and fourth in the last five Saturday at Madison Square Garden with a groin pull as the Flyers meet the Rangers for the first time this season.

Jagr has 17 points for the Flyers in 19 games. The chemistry he has shown with Claude Giroux, who is having an MVP-type season, is pretty obvious.

Jagr said this week he is thrilled to be playing on a team with younger players he can mentor. He says it’s given him a valuable role in his later years – the ability to pass on advice.

So the obvious question we had for him was whether it’s sparked something inside of him to perhaps ask the Flyers for a contract extension.

“It’s too early to tell,” Jagr replied. “I want to wait for the whole season and playoffs. I just don’t want to be somewhere where I can’t help the team, just sit around. It’s not me. I want to be a big part of the team to help the team, either way.

“It’s not about points, it’s about the whole team. Could we make the playoffs? How we’ll do in the playoffs. That’s the hockey you want to play – the playoffs. That is what I missed the most. NHL playoffs and other leagues [iIHF World Championships] are totally different.”

Jagr said one thing was for certain. He will be playing hockey somewhere next season.

E-mail Tim Panaccio at tpanotch@comcast.net.

Nope. But if you find them bring them over. Looking for some bloggers for Hockeyblogs

@flyerrod You started something now....

Tomorrow we'll be reading "Heatley to Columbus" e3

Do the flyers have any dmen left?

@Vanflyer Can't argue with that. Hopefully Jagr gets back in the lineup soon....

(I moved this to the Flyers forum)

My two friends decided they wanted to be two rows from the field -- stood for three hours and didn't see the puck once.

That's why I didn't go to Boston to watch the game. All my friends couldn't believe I didn't want to go.

That's a large amount of money to stand there and not really see the puck or the flow of the game.

It's a shame they couldn't use the LINK instead of CBP

Win tickets to the winter classic ----

http://impossiblesweeps.nhl.com/