sarsippius

@AJgoal @Poulin20 Indeed good to catch up with a couple homeboys from the board, I can honestly say that everyone that I've actually met has turned out to be good people. We should definitely plan for a game this season and get in some pregame festivities

Maybe, maybe not, my crystal ball isn't as clear a some people's. That's a hypothetical not related to the reason that he stopped playing hockey. A guy is on LTIR and can't actually retire without blowing up the team's cap. Clearly that state of affairs would not have existed for such a length of time without the injury. Unless you believe he was ready to quit playing hockey that day and the injury was just a coincidence. Not blaming the league or Bettman or the easter bunny. I just think the rule needs tweaking somehow in the future. That's all.

Potato potahto. If he hadn't taken a stick in the eye we would't be discussing it. Would the age factor have kicked in eventually? Of course. But that is not the reason we are discussing it today or 2 years ago for that matter.

The 35+ rule is there to keep teams from signing guys to contracts until they're 50 years old and spread the cap hit thin. If the guy played 2 seasons then was too old to play anymore, then the smug righteous bs I'm reading here would be valid. But that's not what happened. The guy played 2 seasons and took a traumatic shot to the eye and can't play anymore. It didn't backfire because of his age. I'm not pleading for mercy, the rule is what the rule is and should be enforced as it reads on the books. It should also read differently when the next cba comes up, because yes it ridiculous to LTIR a guy for 5 years because his career was ended by a life altering injury.

Good man, take your beef right to the source!

All right. but you've been warned!

You're fired, turn in your Philly fan card to security on your way out

Like Jim says I'd rather just take nothing back and be done with it, literally just give the contract away. But we get back a contract with only one year left on it at a mil less than vlc makes this year, I can live with it

@jammer2 Honestly I don't they were booing Tock personally, I think it was really the blind booing of the Penguins, and there was definitely that sizable element there last night of people that....well maybe not the most astute hockey historians or fans, let's put it that way. Maybe it was personal from some fans,coming just days after he took the Pens assistant job, I dunno, I just got the feeling that it was all about the logo. Brind Amour got a nice response representing a team the Flyers fans have no grudge with. Anyway I didn't boo Tock, always liked him here, hated to see him leave every time he left. I do wish he got a better reception, but Penguin hate overrides pretty much everything

@hf101 Ya when the Flyers passed on Kappy Jr, we laughed that samifan was probably writing an angry post, hope the Pens trade him and he goes on to win a Cup!

I woulda booed Bettman louder, but my voice was still scratchy from booing the Rags during roll call

Fire Bettman NOW!!!

How the Hell could the cap down? The league didn't have its best revenue year EVER last season?

In Buffalo's situation, it would be beyond foolish to trade that pick for a veteran. The Sabres need to build, they're more than a player away from just being competitive.

Exactly. It seems to me the plan is to shed salary to clear cap space for the future, get younger and cheaper, not trade bad contract other heavy contracts

I didn't vote and I'm not sure how I'd vote if I were on the committee. It's an interesting debate and there's a lot of meat in the arguments pro and con. Above my pay grade

Seriously, do we even need to get "value" back in trading VLC? Signed as a free agent, all you gave up was cap space, just get rid of him and get your cap space back. Eat the 7/1 signing bonus and take back a 3rd round pick in 2015 and call it freakin' day. Get out!!!!!

Yeah I make no argument for him bringing fans to the sport globally, Just pointing out that having the next wunderkind here in Philly brought alot of new fans to the Flyers from some far-flung places.

That point is dead on. Several years ago on that board that shall remain nameless, I started a thread asking Flyer fans outside of the Philly area, how did you become Flyer fans? And depending the age of the poster, there were mainly two answers: Bob Clarke/Broad Street Bullies for the 40+ generation, and Eric Lindros/Legion of Doom for the "younger" set. Lindros undoubtedly was a great gate draw and brought new fans into the fold, and I think it's reasonable to assume the alot of Philly-based Flyer fans became hockey fans because of the impact Lindros had

@yave1964 My pleasure and thanks. Good topic, with a guy like E there will be no shortage of strong oponions!

@ruxpin Thanks man, although the profanity laced tirade about the original helicopter parents was the part that really felt good. Somewhere on this thread you mentioned the Quebec thing, and as a Baltimore Colt fan that got told to go F himself by John Elway, that always bugged me. To me they both thought they were bigger than the game. But nobody talks about Elway's prima dona act with any significance anymore, mostly because after that he was mostly a good citizen and teammate and leader.

And that really is the whole thing isn't it? That's the "big what if" that tortures many a Flyer fan to this day. In the pre-internet days when the Hockey News print edition was still king, when hockey info didn't travel so in the US outside of the usual hotbed areas, we were hearing about this Lindros kid since he was 14. Player with a combination of skill, size and a mean streak like nobody had ever seen. Whoever gets this kid and puts half a team around him is going to win Cups. Plural. We got him. And we didn't get what we were promised. The bar was set high and he never got to it. To me this is the biggest impediment to his getting into the Hall, in the minds of many voters, he shoulda been better. Even though for a time he was the force we had hoped he would be, in the end he didn't live up to those monster expectations. Oh yeah and this, which shouldn't directly impact anything to do with the Hall but...how many players, in any sport, at any time, can you name the player's parents by name???? None right? F*** you Carl, and F*** you Bonnie. You wiped your baby boy's ass when he was grown man, and you meddled in team business. You had as much to do with your son's ultimate alienation from the team as he did.

Happy for Tock. Would rather he got a job in Philly though!

Quite enjoyed that myself, much easier to watch when you know the outcome!

That destiny thing....maybe it was seeing such improbable titles as the '80 US team, '85 Nova hoops and '86 Penn State football championships, all things I was heavily emotionally invested in and which were all still fresh in my mind, I really believed that the improbable was again the most likely outcome after JJ scored. I really never got over losing game 7. And the only man-made structure that ever meant more to me than the Spectrum is the house I grew up in.