Earle'sGaffe

Don't forget Voracek is due for a raise, too. I kind of expected we'd hear about his status before Jagr's.

The Flyers need to figure out where Couturier picked up his head for the game. If it was dad, the Flyers should hire the man; he's a genius! if it was a coach in juniors, the Flyers should take a good look at that program; someone there definitely knows how to develop talent. Realistically, Coots is probably just blessed with rare God-given skill and we just need to be happy he fell to the Flyers at #8. He should be a lot of fun to watch when his offensive game catches up with his defensive smarts.

It seemed this past season that Toronto had some interest in JVR. Is there any chance they might be willing to take him and our first round pick in exchange for the number 5 overall pick? I'm liking Griffin Reinhart toward the top of the draft and would love a chance to get a potential defensive stud. I'm not saying we should be anxious to dump JVR, just that he might be the coin we'd need to fill a bigger need.

Insane. You clip a player with a high stick and it's two minutes, intentional or not. You give him a bloody lip and it's another two minutes, intentional or not. You flip the puck out of play and it's a penaly, intentional or not. And so on. But you drop a player to the ice with a vicious hit and, oh, well, that's okay...as long as you didn't mean it.

Ya gotta wonder what exactly the league said to Neil when they gave him those two previous "warnings:" "If you don't clean up your act you're going to need to make up a filmsy, implausible excuse next time."

It's not a conspiracy theory; it's simple paranoia!

I'm beginning to fear that they're waiting to make an announcement until the East Coast audience has called it a day--in order to keep the outrage to a minimum.

"They should be pretty proud of the guys they have here." But "we haven't played a full game yet." Umm, Sid..? Let 's think about this...

Man oh man, Peggy can fix Tim Thomas's credit card problem faster than the league can rule on these suspensions....

Sid's gone from denying that he's a spoiled child to explaining why he HAS to be one. Hilarious!

You often see teams try to turn the momentum in a series by targeting the opposing line-up's veteran leaders--but this is the first time I've ever seen any team so pathetic that they have to try to take out two rookies that have been totally dominating them! The Penguins just made themselves the jokes of the league.

Hey, give Cindy a break guys. At least he didn't tag anyone in the cajones. That must have taken great restraint.

My personal favorite is this one: "If this series shows anything its that the FLyers can't contain or compete with Pittsburgh best." Ha! What series are they watching over there???

Agreed that the series is far from over and that the Pens showed themselves to be a tough opponent--if we didn't know that already. But I'm hoping the team is feeling the same as many of their fans on their chat boards. Folks over there are talking about dumping Fluery and scrapping their entire defense in the off-season. One said, "I won't feel comfortable with a four-goal lead in this series." I can't imagine the players are that much despair right now after just one loss, but I hope so! The Flyers seem to be getting inside their heads.

Does it strike anyone else as oddly contradictory that the league has fined Torterella for supposedly inappropriate comments, yet they have the video of his rant posted on the NHL website? You'd think if what he had to say was really so offensive, they wouldn't be broadcasting it to the entire civilized world.

Bite your tongue, Rangers dude! Battleship Kelly was a Penguin. The Flyers forward was Bob "The Hound" Kelly.

I think that's the bottom line. Seems a lot was expected from Marshall, and Bourdon was Plan B. But then Bourdon's stock rose as he proved more capable than anticipated. So Marshall was increasingly seen as unnecessary. What's really needed is an eventual replacement for our aging top four, not another 5-7 d-man.

"Funny I don't recall Tortsie having any issues with Avery." I don't think it's accurate to say Tortorella never had a problem with Avery. Quite the opposite. Here's just one example of many, per TSN: "Wednesday night was as close as we've seen Sean Avery to a meltdown in hockey since he's returned to the National Hockey League. Rangers head coach John Tortorella is furious with Avery after he squirted water inexplicably at TSN game analyst Ray Ferraro in the first period of Wednesday's game. In the third period, it really got ugly when Avery took a roughing penalty for his shot to the face of defenceman Milan Jurcina. He couldn't believe the penalty and went back to plead his case before being told to sit down and be quiet by Tortorella."

I can't help wondering how often Sid got ticked off at Mario for leaving the seat up....

Hatcher is Player Development Coach. I'm not sure exactly what all that entails--whether it's strictly about working on game skills or if he also counsels players on dealing with the media and the fans and all the off-ice stuff that goes along with being a professional athlete. I imagine Briere is doing more of that sort of thing.

It's easy to see what's going on here. Crosby just brings out the worst in Milbury.

I hear ya, doom, and I don't really disagree. I had fewer issues with both Richards and Carter than most. At the same time, there was a lot of criticism on this board over the years about their off-ice preparation and alleged love for the high life. I gotta wonder to what extent current team policies are a reaction to previous disappointments. At least, I don't recall billeting rookies with vets being a customary policy four or five years ago, whereas now it seems to be routine. At any rate, my thoughts were meant more as a compliment to the current Flyers rather than a dig at past ones.

Yeah, because of the Crosby/Lemieux precedent I kinda rolled my eyes when I first heard about Briere taking in Giroux, but based on what I've seen so far, I've been won over.

Hey, first-time poster here with a question I'd be interested in hearing everyone's thoughts on. A few years ago, two highly ranked prospects brought great expectations to the Flyers. Richards and Carter never lived up to their potential in the eyes of most fans, and were ultimately moved. The perception among many was that they lacked the dedication and fire necessary to put the team over the top. Since then, two more highly rated prospects at the center position have joined the team in Giroux and Couturier. Possibly as a response the the Richards and Carter experience, both Giroux and Coots spent their rookie seasons under Briere's roof. While it's early on in both their careers, both seem to have the fire that their predecessors lacked. Is it just coincidence, or do you think this arrangement is really paying off? How much credit does Briere deserve for their success so far? And if billeting with a vet really does produce results like this, who would you want the Flyers to designate as a mentor to rookie d-men? Pronger, I'd guess.

Just saw this was already covered in another thread. Sorry for the repeat!