Adamflyers

My brother said it best when he said that this will be one of those Sean O'Donnell deals where at 1st we are like "oh wow he is actually pretty good, great job Homer" and then during the stretch run we are like "ugh where is Lilja when you need him?" as people are simply skaing around him on the rush as his age begins to show.

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.

@adamsflyers

not going to kill you about your post there, though i do want to say guys with yandle/ carle's skating ability handle the puck a great deal more than their less mobile partners, so they will have more turnovers because they have more opportunity and face more forechecking pressure.

Carle got 5.5 over what 5 years... buddy that's what the market is for a guy with his set of skills, we could have had him for 5.25 which would have been a bargain.

i was on the "he's not worth the money" boat too until a guy (james wisnewski) signed his contract that was in the carle ball park for term and cap hit and carle has had better numbers and is a better player... so yeah it sucks but the market for those puck moving defensmen is rather bullish .

those speedy guys win the race to the puck in the corner, don't panic when a guy is bearing down on them, and create opportunities for offense going the other way, who on our team did that for us this year ?

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.

I would not trade Couts for Yandle, not because Yandle wouldn't help but because if you're trading Couts I would rather it be for a legit #1 d-man (which I don't think Yandle is, and it would take more than Couts for such a player anyway) or for a package of young players that would add some defense and forward depth to the team. Coburn + Couturier + pick is too much for 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 must be in the minority here but Yandle is not "that type" of defenseman. Everyone around these parts wanted Carle gone and Yandle is very much the same player. He turns the puck over a lot and you are going to have to pay him more than Carle. He is a very good player but not worth the bounty you are going to have to pay the Yotes. I think Yandle is a very good #2 type defensmen but not a cornerstone #1.

I rather keep Cooter and Coburn and go in a different direction but with Homer you never know what is going to happen.

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!

@radoran

@murraycraven

@Adamflyers

Show me one thing Sid has ever done to put another player's career at risk. I can show quite a few for Pronger.

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!

Karma and Dean McAmmond say hello

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

yeah but when the overpaid defense like coburn, mez, timms, grossman comes back you think mason will be any better, i like to see if bryz can play good behind this defense, if this young defense can play better behind bryz, then the problems are the overpaid vets.

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.

@Adamflyers

I'd prefer to watch Darnell Nurse paste Rangers into the boards and qb our pp for the next decade and a half.

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!

@Adamflyers

In my garage? With Bryz' skillset? How about an old cooler? Some firewood? The boxes for my speakers?

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

Who? There's 45 goalies in the NHL with better stats than him. What did Mason cost us? A bum and a 3rd? It's not hard to replace the "talent" or "skillset" that Bryz brings. I could probably find it in my garage.

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!

They're not related by blood, just marriage. Don't worry.

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!

I hope Nurse falls to where the Flyers are going to pick.

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!

i dont care about

his play has regressed, not improved, with age. i hate to see how lethargic and slow will be when he is 22.

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

Can't restructure contracts in the NHL.

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

Honestly, I'd like to see him stay with the Flyers if there were a way to reduce that cap hit. (I think he has been playing through injury.) Would like to see him get one more crack at a big playoff run with the Flyers.

If not for Leighton wetting himself in the Finals against Chicago, Briere wins a Cup and a Conn Smythe for us that season. He has earned his keep up until this season.

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.

this team has serious issues and they are being ignored, fixing the goaltender is not going fix anything, it's not going to matter what goalie comes in here, if the holes on this team is not addressed, it's going to be the same problems, nothing is going to change.

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

@Adamflyers

That's the thing about hockey playoffs. You never know what'll happen until you get there. You brought up the Kings. That's a perfect example of what can happen. We haven't had a run yet this year. Why not start now? Is it highly unlikely? Yes but you never know. I'm trying my best to be optimistic...

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!