Adamflyers

And I stand by that statement! I do believe we will get some great things out of Streit early on, but as the contract wears on and the team gets better, Streit will be on the down turn and will likely end up being a 5 mil liability out there. I would have rather they did nothing now and save their cap room for when a better option is there. This isn't the draft, where they have to choose the best available option. They could easily stand pat, but I think that is impossible for Homer and Snider.

"if that is the case, the flyers didn't have to do anything. again, the flyers are now a better puck moving team for ~23 minutes per game. they are also a less defensively responsible team for ~23 minutes. they also have $5.25mil less to spend on other pieces for the next four" There it is! That's the reason I'm pissed about this signing. If there were no better options, then maybe doing nothing would have been the answer. But no, Homer locks up a 35 year old player for over 5 mil a year until he is 39. Rather then being patient and letting some of our younger players develop, they sign an older player to fill the gap. I would be OK with this deal if I thought they were in a position to make a run next year, but unless they catch fire, they are not likely to do it. They no longer know how to build a team from the ground up. They just continue to patch holes instead of tearing down and building back up. At his age and cap hit, I would have rather they just signed Carle last year. I guess it is true that the market is just inflated for these kinds of defenseman.

Isn't this the type of thing that so many of us have been begging them not to do? Aren't we sick of giving up on a young player after only 1.5 seasons? I know I'm sick to death of it! I especially would not be giving up on a young player for an unknown commodity like a draft pick. Nurse could turn out to be a tremendous d-man in the NHL or he could end up being a career minor leaguer. Coots could never live up the expectations he he set after his 1st year or he could rebound from a tough 2nd year (I'm leaning towards the latter). So while they are in similar situations, at least we have seen the possibilities of Coots at the NHL level. I'm so sick of seeing other teams benefit from our impatience and utter stupidity! Trading a young player for another young player is at least better than trading him for a vet with an albatross of a contract, but my answer is still no to this.

Fair enough Mojo. I certainly do see value in players like Carle and Yandle, but I did not see those assets as being what failed the D this year. As you stated, guys like that handle the puck a lot and are prone to turn overs, which is a fair assessment, but my point is that I I don't think 5.5 M a year is worth adding turnovers to the line up. Right now, they need responsible guys who don't get lost and confused when the opposition is buzzing in their zone. I did not really intend to make this a Carle debate! LOL I intended to talk much more about Yandle, but my initial post turned into a Carle discussion, likely because I have seen him play far more then Yandle.

Well here is where we agree. When I say a shut down D-man, this is what I am talking about. A legit #1 who is responsible in his own zone, who does not lose his assignments and who is not just a pylon out there. Someone who can keep the crease clear and jump on rebounds in our own zone. I like Schenn and Grossmann (Coby not as much as I used to) but they don't fit eh bill of what I meant by "shut down". Prob should have just said "Stud" I do understand the value of guys like Carle and Yandle, but I don't think they are worth the price tag nor were they the missing piece of this team's D this year. I also understand that Pronger is not coming back, but my point in talking about him is that, IMO, his is the the skill set that was needed most this year. That is obviously a very tough spot to replace.

I agree MC. I was never a huge Carle fan, although I did not completely dislike him either, but I certainly do not blame the Flyers for not signing him to a contract like he got from TB. We can lament how much this team misses Carle till we are blue in the face, but Carle nor Yandle would have done anything to prevent this season from happening. Both are prone to turn overs, something that killed them this year. Neither is the shut down defenseman that would have stablized this group in the face of so many injuries. The guy who is most missed is Pronger IMO. They miss Carle on the breakout and on the PP, although the PP did just fine without him, and they also miss his ability to join the rush and create some offense. The problem is, this team should have more then enough offense from their forwards, that they could do without a guy like Yandle or Carle to create the offense from the blue line. Turnovers and missed assignments killed them this year, even before the injuries. If they are going to pay a kings ransom, they need to do it for a shut down #1 defenseman. Not sure that this type of player will be available this offseason and I don't think they will be in a good enough draft position to pick one up in the draft, which is why I would not be shocked if they did actually trade away the farm for Yandle, at which point I would have rather they just over-paid for Carle last year! I know I'll probably get killed by some for this post, since Carle has had somewhat of a revival of supporters this year, but I don't think he was worth that cap hit last year and I don't think Yandle is worth Coby, Coots and 1st round pick!

As stupid as that deal sounds, it sounds just like the type of thing that they would do!

I was just busting yours and Sid's stones....relax! Sid knows all about busting stones!

Good point, however, you need to actually have 2nd and 3rd round picks to draft guys like that, so I guess we are SOL!

I guess we can say the same for Sid...Boris Valabik's nuts say hello

Yeah, this young D that has allowed Mason to get peppered with 82 shots in his last 2 starts! I'd also be VERY interested to see how Bryz would handle that! Let's not kid ourselves that Mason has had the benefit of better D here. He clearly has not. You don't just need to look at stats to tell that Mason is playing well right now. Just watching his lateral movement and his ability to stay square to the shooter instills so much more confidence in me as a fan, so I can only imagine what it must be like for the players on the ice. I'm not proclaiming Mason as the answer to their goaltending issues, but in his small body of work as a Flyer, he has certainly earned a closer look.

Long term ,I totally agree, but I attended all Flyers-Rags games at WFC, and the way those ass wipes acted in our house had me out for blood! Yes, I was thinking with my heart and not my head, but damn it, that was a fun game to attend! One of the few times I can say that this year. Maybe we can start Bryz for the remaining games and lose out!

The box for your speakers may be right on par with Bryz. You could probably shoot a puck right through it ;-)

Like a shooter-tutor?

I so badly want to see them get a top 5 pick this year. We suffered through some horrible hockey this year, we should at least get something good out of it. This late surge is hurting their chances at that for sure, but I can't bring myself to hope for loses. It makes watching their loses more tolerable, because I can see the good side of them. Lastnight, I wanted them to win so badly just to stick it to the Rags and their obnoxious fans! Their fans have been coming to our building all year and singing their stupid goal song during Rags goals and they have been mocking us every chance they got. Last night was so much fun beacause we finally had the chance to get under their skin, and we did a great job of it. Rags fans were flipping off the crowd, responding with "At least we are going to the playoffs", but of course I had to remind them that they were losing to the us and the Jets were winning their game again Tampa, so playoffs are not guarenteed for them. Last night's game was very theraputic! I wanted to be a part of any effort to keep that team out of the playoffs!

Yeah, but according to Darnell, he and Donovan are really close. Some of his Unc's habits may have rubbed off on him! Maybe a good thing though...in hockey, the diagonal passes SHOULD be along the ground!

Do we really want a relative of Donovan McNabb playing on our team? Puke does not sink into the ice the way it does on grass But seriously, I like what I have read about this kid. I am really hoping he falls to the Flyers!

It has been a very tough season for Briere, but I have never hopped onto the hate train. His cap hit and age makes him a buy out victim, but I have really enjoyed watching him play here, especially during the playoffs!

Yeah, I mean sophomore slumps are unheard of! That never happens in the NHL!

Yeah, thats what I thought. I think NFL is the only leage where it can be done.

I'm with you on this one Andy. I genuinely like him as a player and as a person. Unfortunately, he is at that point in his contract that we all dreaded the day we signed...when his cap hit is much more then the quality of play he is giving to the team. If there was a way to re-do his contract to make it a manageable cap hit, I'd love to see him stay with the team. Not sure it works like that in the NHL. Seems like NFL is the only place you see that happen. This year he has been horrible, so I get the frustration from people.

It won't fix anything? If the replacement goalie can stop a break away once in awhile, it would be an upgrade from what we have currently. Bryz comes up with some cool saves at times, but rarely does he steal games for this team. Not to say that he has not kept them in games at times, but he has not come close to living up to the hype and I think a change is needed. Yes, this team has defensive issues. Too often, guys are caught flat footed, can't clear the zone on the PK, or have bone headed turnovers, which is an issue that obviously needs to be addressed, but to say that bringing in a better goalie would do nothing to help this team is overlooking a major problem. I'm not saying an upgraded goalie is the only thing left to address, but it would be a great start.

Only reason I'm still watching this game is to see how Mason plays. Hope the change if scenery does him some good

5. McGillis 4. Pronger 3. Desjardins 2. Howe 1. Marsh

I hear ya man. Trust me, a very small glimmer of hope still remains in me, especially after seeing them beat the Bruins, but my gut tells me this team does not have it to make that kind of run. This team just can't string good games together this year and some glaring holes still exist. As I always say, I hope I can be proven wrong!