Mad Dog

It's either Rick or Vader, which is why he wouldn't come here. Whoever that guys is..... what a loser!

I have no problem watching hockey as a national "niche" sport. That doesn't mean there can't be "hockey" in other places.

Tampa's drawing 19K and 96.3% capacity. LA sells out 99.9% this season.

Columbus was supposed to be a primed market with proven support for an AHL franchise. Being godawful since inception has killed that.

I think Colorado would be back with some success.

Phoenix, Miami and Carolina? Hmmm... Does St. John's, Newfoundland have an NHL franchise yet?

But that's just it. Since the mid-80's expansion, Tampa - and to a lesser degree Florida Panthers - was the only franchise who somehow managed to attract a decent fanbase. And honestly, I am not 100% sold on Tampa, even now. I was at Tampa on business about 4 years ago and went to a hockey game. Let me tell you something. People in stands still have a very vague idea what they are even watching. You might not believe me, but many of them have no clue what the blue line is and what icing really means.

When Tampa was sucking (before they won the Cup), they were not selling nearly as much as they are selling now. They were hardly selling at 60% and the owner threatened to move the team to a new city. The team’s popularity picked up only about 2 years after they drafted Lecavalier. That’s what? 16 years after the team was formed? Hardly a measuring stick, no?

LA largely gained popularity thanks to Gretzky. Can we even argue about that?

But even with that, I’ll give you Tampa and LA. OK. Who else? Anaheim? They sell, but it’s been sporadic. Just like most of the expansion teams, their fanbase seems to reacting only to winning. Have a losing season, and they don’t get drawn nearly as much…

Atlanta? Nashville? Columbus? Minnesota? Carolina? Please….

I am not against expanding. I am against doing it stupidly. The fact that soccer in America starts drawing more fans tells us all we really need to know.

Article the other day said MLS has now eclipsed NHL in average fans per game:

http://www.midwestsp...age-attendance/

A lot of this has to do with terrible teams in bad hockey markets, but it also referenced the idea that MLS put teams in areas that had a big interest in soccer. They went where the amrket was, they didn't expect a pro team to trickle down and develop interest.

I'm curious to see how Winnipeg reacts to having the Atlanta Thrashers over the next few years. If all you have is godawful hockey, how much do you really wanna go watch it?

Pitiful and sickening are the only words that come to mind to react to this. A sheer inability of this league to recognize and project where hockey will be watched is beyond inapt. But then, nothing really surprises me about Bettman and his aids anymore.

The only thing I wonder is whether it's just real, true cluelessness on their part or just intentional effort to inundate American markets with hockey knowing full well that it would be a total failure. I tend to lean towards the later, which makes it even more disgusting.

I'll vote for Gagne, was a true team guy and a class act.

From production standpoint, Sharp was the biggest loss IMO. That was just a typical Clarke's miscalculation, misdjudgment and just about every other mis' that can be applied. That move personifies Clarke's cluelessness and reactionary tactics.

But trading Gagne was a move to free up a cap space. And I get all that. The Flyers had no interest in Matt Walker. But the truth is, good, flexible GMs find a way to keep those players who you value. I don't think there is much disagreement as to what Gagne meant to this team: highly likeable, very skilled two-way player, who also proved to be a clutch performer in the playoffs and as you put it, a true class act. I am yet to be convinced that the move was relly that necessary and there were no other ways.

Ironically, *if* that would have happened last summer instead of two years ago, and Homer woudl find himself in a spot were he would have to just give regular roster players away, I am sure he would have shipped Richards or Carter instead of Gagne without even thinking twice. Oh well......

Every time I think of Patrick Sharp, my teeth clench. WHAT WAS CLARKE THINKING?? Oh wait...

Give this team some time and they will become scary good. Ducehsne, Stastny, Quencey, David Jones, Ryan Wilson, Eric Johnson, Ryan O'Reilly... I mean, Geez....... What a plethora of young talent. All this team really need is to mature together.

He most definitely did not 'help' them win the cup... imo, they won it in spite of him. He kinda showed some positives during the last round, but he was AWFUL for the first few. They definitely did not get much out of him.

Completely agree, Fish. He was basically a sapre wheel there. He didn't do much to hurt them, but he hardly helped either. Put it this way: Boston would've won with him or without him.

Anyway...... he is not what the Flyers need. Too prone to mistakes, not as fast as he used to be, and just not very good defensively overall. No thanks!

It wasn't a real admin and most threads over the last 72 hours or so were started by not real Rick. B)

Regardless, what a fitting end to that forum. I am a bit saddened though, because I've been a member of that forum since its inception. It’s regrettable what that forum was reduced to at the end, but for the most time, I do have some good memories. The battles, the conversations, the controversies........ I will always look back at it with a smile.

No way I am giving up Bob at this point unless it's for a stud d-man, which frankly, is the missing link right now on this team.

The Flyers do NOT need Carter. Look at it this way. When everybody is healthy, Couturier is playing on the 4th line. That's not where he belongs. He should be playing no lower than on a 3rd line; he proved he belongs. Bringing Carter won't help him move up and, again, this is not what this team really needs. Pass...

We can start taking bets on when the resigning talk will start. The guy is ageless (so far).

I don't think it's too early to at least start wondering whether he would get re-signed or not. Looking at his play *now*, how can you not? Everything about this signing has been excellent........ so far.

Why is so much hype about Simmods? He had total good 3-4 games, all other games he was invisible. I think he is Carter type of guy, moody. I think he is a good candidate for trade + someone for good D.

Com'n, invisible? Really? I thought he was *very* visible, especially in terms of being aggressive on the puck and in forechecking.

Comparing him with Carter is odd, to say the least. Carter is a one-dimensional player, who only knows how to score goals. And when Mr. High and Wide doesn't score, he is virtually useless. Simmonds is a tough player to play against. He is difficult to move and he won't back down from anybody - even bigger players. That's Flyers hockey!

Sure, you want him to score more. But that's not his cup of tea. He will give you 16-20 goals a season. But you need to have players like him in the lineup. The team was really soft last year, especially in the playoffs. That's been addressed.

Gee.... can people ever be happy?

At this point, after what I've seen Couturier can do, I would even do Carter for Couturier straight. But with Voarcek, it's a no-brainer.

I'm loving the signing. Perhaps the best of all teams this off season...

I never thought I would say or even think that, but yeah, so far this has been the best signing of the off-season by ALL the teams.

Jagr, so far, has been everything that his reputation says he is NOT. I don't know what got into him. Age? Desire to win one more championship? But whatver the cause may be, he and Giroux are splitting an MVP nomination for this team right now.

When I read that before the season even started he asked Homer for a full access to the skating rink 24/7, that told me right there that the guy is committed, and committed seriously.

What I find refreshing - and this is what this thread addresses - is that we are seeing one new component in Jagr's game that he wasn't quite known for. He really looks to be making plays for others. He's always been known as a finsisher, but man...... can the guy create chances for others. He's been using his size to create space and he has soft hands to make that difficult pass in traffic. And that's a lethal combination. If he keeps it up and stays healthy, this line will be unstoppable.

He's been a big crybaby ever since he's been in the League. Every damn interview with him - after a loss - it's always "we got a raw deal" - some variation of that.

Well, does that really surprise you, though? He has a great role model in that department - his coach, who is the biggest complainer this league has ever seen.

And the whole rule is stupid anyway. I've always had a problem with that rule. The very sound of it (not avoiding contact with a goalie) just sounds really asinine. It's almost like there is an admission that there *may* be a contact. Doh? It's hockey - contact is a big part of this psport!! You don't want to be ran over? Stay the **** in your crease. When you are contacted with when in the crease - OK, maybe the league has a point. But this was a classic example of why this rule is so flawed. Why should there even be an effort made on a player's part to avoid the contact? I'd say if a goalie wants to play the puck, the burden is on *him* to avoid contact and not the other way around.

Miller called Lucic a piece of ****. LOL. Lucic seemed to have given him an extra nudge, though. After having watched this video, I can understand Miller's anger. But he should've known better coming out of the crase so far. You have to expect a player skating at a high speed having difficulty stopping. But clearly Lucic made no effort to stop.

I am a bit stunned to read this.

So am I, VF, as I am sure most of the people. As has been noted, the Flyers had a compeltely different vision of Richards' future here when they turned the keys to the team to him. At really looks like they didn't know him at all and his true colors started coming out much later.

I heard one day the Flyers players went on some tour to downtown Philly and players started giving money away to a group of homeless. Richards refused and said something like, "Why don't they go get a ******* job... what a bunch of losers". And that left most of his teammates just speachless.

Why do people keep getting concerned with decreasing offense? Scoring doesn't necessarily make a game entertaining... sheesh, the three blowouts that we had this season were terrible terrible hockey.

Exactly. Did playing low-scoring or boring hockey prevent the Devils from winning 3 Cups? I don't think their fans have much to complain about. If it's boring, so be it. I'll take it if it gurantees success.

One day I hope we hear the whole complete story. It's kind of fascinating to me. This kid comes in and is looked at as Clarke jr and given the keys to the kingdom. In a few short years, he falls from grace and is gone. To me it's amazing.

I know. And that's what leads to me to suspect that something huge must've happened. Or it may be as simple as the Flyers just overestimated Mike's abilities to lead on and off the ice.

Was it really our defense? Or the anemic Boston offense, which was already short Savard (for most of it) and then lost Krejci? Montreal was also poor on offense.

Our defense was completely exposed against Chicago.

I would say both. Boston players didn't help themselves, but I thought games 4 and 6 were where our defense really played near-perfect games.

I agree about the Chicago series, but remember, in that series we had players like Bartulis, Lukas Krajicek and Parent. Parent, particualry, was God awful, which made Homer go out and bring Meszaros. That was just not a good defensive unit. Timonen and Pronger were burdened with playing ridiculous mintues and were burned out.

No way this defense should struglle so badly even without Pronger. On paper, these are good players.

But we've been poor defensively ever since he's been here.

I don't know if I completely agree with that, Bre. The year this team went to the Finals to play Chicago, the D played more responsible. Especially in that famous series against Boston, it really the Flyers' defense that allowed them to come back from the 3-games deficit.

You are right in a sense that Laviolette's style is playing a more wide-open hockey, which inevitably leads to exposure at the blue line. But I don't recall such glaring issues with defense that I am seeing now: leaving an open man hanging around the crease, not being able to clear the puck, constant miscommunication issues, etc., etc.... Did Coburn, Timonen, and Carle suddenly get worse? I don't think it's the style; it's something else. What it is - I have no idea.

Where he *did* fail is to get a consistent effort out of JVR. Certainly, JVR himself is a bigger culprit, but a mark of a good coach is to be able to get the most out of a player's abilities and maximize on his potentials, especially your 2nd overall pick.

I also blame the mess our defense is on him as well. No way the defensive corps that talanted should be struggling that badly and look like a bunch of rookies.

I like Laviolette and think highly of him as a coach, but something seems off this year.

I hope Homer didn't do somehting stupid. Hopefully we'll hear the details soon.

They do need a goalie and a center. Hmmmm Bob, Schenn and ++?

Well, Smith is playing some really strong hockey so far. If he keeps it up, they may as well just roll the dice with him...

Someone I like is Yandle from Phoenix but would cost us a lot more.

LOVE Yandle... He is by far Phoenix's MVP.... which is why the Yotes are not trading him.