bryanc

How come Rinaldo gets game misconduct for this hit?

Could you please someone explained to me what was wrong with this check.

Really, really really, bad call. I have trouble seeing how it was even two minutes. If the ref wanted to send a message that should have been it -- 2 minutes. Tops.

Ugh, I feel ashamed, but I find myself agreeing with Milbury

Makes you feel kinda dirty, doesn't it?

I get your point, it seems like more recently when the Flyers have gotten under the Pens skins, getting them off their games, they've been more successful. I wouldn't run around trying to take Crosby out, but EVERY opportunity, lay into him. I see too many guys pull up when they have the chance to really nail someone.

On that note, how about Couturier getting under Malkin's skin? Combined with Schenn grating on Crosby, it is just funny to think that two guys who are basically college freshmen got so under the skin of the NHL's golden boy and his Tonto.

We need to lay him out next game.

The more I think about it, the more I think the Flyers should do the exact opposite.

Think about it -- how many times have we seen the flyers skate around, trying to extract a little payback, only to end up with the puck in their own net? Don't get me wrong -- if a guy sees a hit he should give it. But it would benefit the Flyers much more, especially if the series goes the distance, to avoid getting into a brawl.

do they even want the 4th seed and home ice advantage considering they have played a little better on the road than at home this year? I think they might do better as the 5th seed where it would only take stealing one game in Pittsburgh to take away home ice advantage

Of course, another way of looking at this is, not only would they have to steal that away game, but they would also need to win all three at home, something that have had difficulty doing.

I think we fans tend to overthink these things. In the playoffs, everyone's home and road record resets to 0-0.

"the game is 60 minutes" crosby

"Joe did the right thing" - crosby

"he shouldn'tve put him out there" - crosby suggesting Lavy shouldn't have put Briere on the ice

I forgot the exact quotes from Blysma but it was more of the same.

yeah, you're right Sid, you're right Dan, we shouldn't have put Briere on the ice in the final 1:14, we should've done what you guys did, send out the goon squad.

Lavy's response says it all: GUTLESS

See how quickly the Pens swarmed after that hit on Briere? Okay a-holes, we'll see you next Saturday...

I am so damn glad Sidney Crosby doesn't play for the Flyers. I'll take Mike Richards, Claude Giroux and a dozen other guys any day of the week. I couldn't care less about his awesome talent, he's a classless punk of a player. Primma Donna doesn't do him justice. Crybaby is closer but he's even worse, he's a fkn Phony.

SInce the game was in Pittsburgh, Bylsma gets the final line change. I'd love to know who he may have had out there originally and if he switched after he saw who the Flyers had out there.

The league has fined coaches for such behavior in the past. They would never do it to Pittsburgh, but they should.

He had Vitale, Englland, and Asham on the ice with 1:15 to go -- Bylsma wanted that to happen and deserves to be fined by the league.

Hartnell had never scored more than 25 goals when he got his contract at almost the same price. He's hit 30 goals twice under that contract.

That said, I'd trade JVR - like any other player - for the right deal.

Well, yeah -- I'd trade just about any player for the "right deal."

Half the talent and size that JVR has, but he "Gets" hockey... he knows what it takes

to succeed. He knows the game and has a passion to be his best. JVR is the complete opposite.

I'm not quite sure how you can reach this type of conclusion on van Riemsdyk. JVR had a pretty good season last year, his second as a full-time pro with the Flyers. He upped his goal total to 21 from 15, but perhaps more importantly he went from a -1 in 78 games in 09-10 to +15 in 75 games in 10-11, which shows he's adapting to playing NHL level defense.

Matt Read has three+ years of age on van Riemsdyk, and those three years are usually when a young player really develops (22-25).

When Gagne was 21-22, he two great seasons, going from 27 to 33 goals. Then he had a season marred by injury where he only played half the season and scored 9 goals.

I think the jury is still out on JVR, especially since the injuries have taken a toll on him this year. He's ahd a lower body injury, an upper body one, a concussion, and now the break.

I think the jury is still out, but there is a lot of potential here. besides, you wouldn't get much in a trade for him right now (which is one of the reasons why so many teams were interested in him).

...this is my belief since we have a history of resigning players before they are allowed to test the market and let other teams drive up the price on them.

I have nothing negative to say about his play so far, and that says a lot. :wub:

For a big man he moves real well laterally, skates well although he may not be the fastest on the ice. He is the crease clearing brute this Dcorp needs.

From a positional standpoint he may only be bested by Kimmo. Blocks shot, and actually moves the puck well which you rarely see (or hear) from a stay at home Dman.

Outstanding game all around and looking at what they gave up to get him, i think Homer and company did an outstanding job (doing their homework), seems they learned from the Parent/ Kreijc(sp) pairing debacle from the Cup run.

Can never have too many experienced Dmen.

He is coming off a contract that paid him a mere 1.6mill (very affordable). So resigning him can help guard against losing Carle.

Now is noway am i saying he is like Carle but he would help ease the loss. Honestly with more experience(playing time) i believe Bourdon can spell Carle, similar game styles with Bourdon a more physical version of him.

So with that said Homer needs to hammer out like a 3-4 year deal and keep him in the fold. Of course before you ask with the NMC/NTC that is the signature Homer hands tied move!

What say you.

Go Flyers!!!!!!

He only has one flaw I've seen, and that's his overall speed (foot speed, skating speed, even stickhandling speed). You can see he is just a step behind the pace of others on the ice but he plays so well positionally that it often makes up for it. He got beat on that breakaway last game, but that's gonna happen to every D-man here and there.

Overall, a solid acquisition by Homer (again) and a perfect mid-roster D-man.

Looking into next year, the Flyers might have:

Kubina

Grossman

Coburn

Meszaros

Timonen

Gustoffson

Not counting Pronger, of course. If he returns it's like getting a big free agent signing.

Since nobody else is starting one, it's about time for a thread about our resident Ferrari Enzo...Eric Wellwood. I figured since he scored the only goal last night (even though it was a fluke) he deserved a thread. I can't believe jammer hasn't been all over this. And as much as I hate those Spitfire bastards, I really like this kids game.

No he's not the most talented player out there. But his work ethic (JVR-take note) and speed make up for other deficincies. Even though he's smaller than most of the guys he's up against, he's willing to battle it out in the corners. All this has paid off with some decent goal production, not to mention a +9 in 15 games. And did I mention his speed? Nice pick Homer.

The guy can flat out sled, no doubt. HE doesn't have the finish yet, but that may not even be that big of a deal. If I was on his line and I saw him speeding up the wing, I would have one destination in mind -- head to the net, there's gonna be a rebound.

Thank you very much for posting the link to that article.

He's been my favorite Wing other than Yzerman and since Yzerman, and this article shows why. This is a man who has not let fame change him any significant way. Maybe even more so than Yzerman, he lets his play on the ice speak for him.

I very much appreciate Dmitry being able to interview him in Russian and translating it to English. So many times, people who interview him in English miss getting the deeper side of Pavel, because he struggles with the language, and because of it his answers are shorter and goofier. And you can see in his face that he wants to express himself, but he doesn't always know how to do it using English words. I don't know that I've ever read an interview with a hockey player that was as genuine as this one. His reaction to Giroux's naming the shot after him was totally genuine, even though of all the lines in the interview, that one could be considered the closest to cliche. It is not.

How can anyone not like and respect this guy? (I can understand not pulling for him, because of his team.)

He's a very classy player, no doubt. The NHL is full of guys like him, very few prima donnas in the league (especially compared to other pro leagues).

Some pretty funny stuff. Burke goes behind Cherry's back to try to get him fired.

I've hated Burke ever since he pulled that **** move with Peter Zezel when he was GM in Vancouver. What a heartless puke.

it wasn't "directly to the head" it was to the chest, which happened to be supporting Jake's jaw at the time.

You dismiss the idea that Jake should have his head up with a "duh" but that is the main point - the difference-maker in this situation.

2 cars collide at an intersection because 1 of them ran the red light, you don't say "duh" when it's suggested "he shouldn't have run the light." It's what caused the accident.

Jake's head down on his chest is what caused the damage; had he been skating with some awareness of his surroundings - like a professional is expected to - he wouldn't have gotten hurt, only tagged by a good hit.

You need to watch the replay in slow motion. The first body part touching Kronwall was Voracek's chin. It is a direct blow to the head, THEN the chest. Not the other wawy around.

yeah, i think they overlapped a little.

i'd like to not call bias. i like shanhan...and campbell didn't raise his voice about kronwall, either. it is definitely weird, though, that the most dangerous player in the NHL (imo) hasn't gotten so much as a "hmmmm, we'll look at it" from the league.

Kronwall had a hit he put on Kessler reviewed this past december. Shanny didn't give him a fine or suspension on the review.

I think it was a clean hit within the rules.

"48.1 Illegal Check to the Head – A hit resulting in contact with an opponent's head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted. However, in determining whether such a hit should have been permitted, the circumstances of the hit, including whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit or the head contact on an otherwise legal body check was avoidable, can be considered."

Contact with the head? Yep. Principal point of contact? Yep. Head targeted? Difficult to determine intent, but one thing for sure is that Voracek did not have a sudden movement to before contact.

Old NHL, it's legal. New NHL? Nope.

Kronwall left his feet and threw himself into a hit? No way!

I just watched the replay again, I don't think he left his feet.

@bryanc

It was dirty and malicious and he not only targeted the head, but hit it dead on. Clear intent to injure a defenseless player. He gets off scott free. I bet its the hit of the week on TSN. The NHL is ********.

He won't get suspended.

Say what you want, but this is the new NHL with a new standard for what is dirty and what is not. That his falls under an intent to injure a defenseless player and they call that **** now. The problem is the don't call it for certain players. This ****** act is getting old. Guys like Kronwall, Cooke, and Lucic are the usual suspects who are allowed to get away with it and other guys are targeted by the league, branded a dirty scumbag, suspended, and tagged for the rest of their careers. Why is it not consistent?

The NHL is NOT serious about removing concussions from the game. If they were they would punish based on the incident and not based on who committed it.

I don't care what Tocchet says, in this NHL that Kronwall hit is illegal.

Tocchet is slightly retarded.

Clean hit, Kronwall moved in but Voracek was admiring how pretty the puck looked on his stick instead of paying attention. Hope he okay but it was his own fault. Now the one the other day on Brierre was a cheap shot but this was clean and much more Voraceks fault than Kronners.

As someone else mentioned, the head was the first thing that was hit. It was anything BUT clean, even if the player who was hit bears some responsibility for not keeping his head up.

Kronwall makes that type of hit a lot. He had one a couple of months ago on Kessler that was much the same thing. He'll show like he's backing off at the line, then step up and whack the player. Most of the time it's a good hit, but this time, it's gotta cost him some games.

Clear shot to the head on a player in a defenseless position. If he doesn't get suspended, it's a travesty.

I'm all for good hits and I like the way Kronwall plays. I know Voracek was looking down. But the hit was direct to the head, no doubt.

How the hell was it not a penalty?

I don't think he stole the game by any stretch, the team played awesome. Bryz absolutely did his job though. I guess this puts him at 'gets the job done' level, but certainly not top tier.

If he can keep this adequate level up though, who knows what can happen April and on.

You don't see how? A lot of the Caps chances in the first period were extremely high quality. At the time of the time out, the shots were 19-9. He stopped breakaways, he stopped good chances in the slot. For a team missing it's top three defensemen, no less.

I just can't imagine what possibly went through his old brain when deciding to sign this stiff Bryzgalov to 9 years (shaking my head) and burden the cap. Pronger is another mistake. As important and tenaceous as the guy is, how could Snider not see him being on the decline? How could this not be anticipated?

Indeed, I mean, how could Snider have possibly not known that pronger would take a stick to his head and have his career ended? Seriously, we all saw that coming.

Sarcasm aside, in the eight years before last season, Pronger played in no fewer than 66 games per year and in all 82 two games for a majority of that time. COnsidering how he plays, and the relative frequency of which players of his position get injured blocking shots, that's significant -- Pronger was showing no signs of slowing down.

//As soon as he sold the team, the new owners took the franchise in a different (i.e., positive) direciton and the team is enjoying its first winning season in a long time.//

I don't know how much you watch the Sixers, but every piece of that current team was assembled before the team was sold, and their good play actually began last year. The new ownership has changed the atmosphere to get the fans back, but that's about it.

Gaustad and a 4th round pick got a 1st in return. Nashville over paid.

That still proves my point. If Nashville overpaid for a physical forward with a first round pick, it seems entirely reasonable that a team would overpay for a defenseman with an offensive upside with a firt and second round offer. that's not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

No way we get a 1st & a 2nd for Carle. No chance.

Really? Gaustad got a first round pick in return for Buffalo, and he is a forward who usually gets fewer points than Carle gets on D. And Dmen go for a premium at the trade deadline.

what kind of message would trading carle for picks send to the rest of the team? 'yah, sorry, we didnt think you were good enough. maybe next year'

sucks to lose a guy to free agency for nothing, but it would be far worse to risk disenchanting the rest of the team by trading a guy we all know we need to do any damage in the playoffs. still plenty of time for things to come together for this team. not likely to happen this year, but how did you feel about the flyers chances after barely squeaking in to the playoffs 2 years ago?

I slightly disagree. The Flyers just picked up 2 defensemen, so they are a little flush at that position. It could have also been a case of "musical chairs", with the pending free agent losing out.

And regardless, this team has looked pretty disenchanted for 2 full months. Its not like we would notice a difference!