radoran

Rick driving to Newark to pick up Ruff when he hears about this two weeks from now.

One of the very few this ol' Fletch did right. Then he used the assets terribly but he did trade Braun twice.

Again, don't at all hate the player. I'm just worried they overvalue him. I just don't think his intangibles are worth more than the tangibles they might acquire for him. Long term view. Short term thinking is that they need him to make the playoffs this year. After all, anything can happen. Make the playoffs this year, see it as a positive, guys got experience, definitely a playoff team next year! Lather. Rinse. Repeat. I wouldn't include a 30 year old journeyman defenceman who just had a career year in a contract year as a multi-year piece of my rebuild. YMMV

not leading the team - leading the league. Again, it's a valuable asset. It does not in and of itself mean the player is a truly effective defenceman. Timonen and Pronger excelled at a high level, consistently, for years at multiple aspects of the position. Nick Seeler is - again - having a career year at 30. That's a reason Timonen had played 493 NHL games and was captain of an NHL team at age 30 and Seeler is at 287 having played for three at the same age. I don't at all "hate the player" any more than I overvalue him or his contributions.

The next lockout/CBA there will be a push for shorter term contracts given the guaranteed nature. To your estimate, six might be good for both player and team.

As I've said, impression is continually being made. There are points where you sit and evaluate whether what people are saying matches their actions. I am happy to have a reasonable debate about Seeler's value. He was a waiver wire acquisition in his late 20s that's having a career year in a contract year, over performing on a team with no expectations. He hopes to flip that into a multi year deal at a significant raise to his current value. Give me 3 years at $1.25M, get a first for Walker, make a serious run at moving Ristolainen and we can talk. That's a stAsHabLe deal. I know you like his shot blocking. He had two nice blocks during the four minute PK the other day. It's a valuable skill. But leading the league means you're giving up an awful lot of shots and we know this because we've seen it happen for the Flyers before. Andrew MacDonald was coming off a four year $550k deal when Homer sent a 2nd and 3rd to the Islanders and extended him for SIX YEARS AT FIVE MILLION PER. If you wanted a clinic on how to give up the blue line and then "block a shot" you, too, could lead the league. Seeler's primary value for the Flyers rightnow is the asset he can return, which c/should be flipped for other assets.

Have you met Rasmus "signed for $5.1m per for three more seasons at age 30" Ristolainen? #fletched

Nor do I. In addition to free agency there's trades. You know what some teams like to get in trades? Draft picks. And expiring contract journeyman defensemen you got for nothing can get you those picks to upgrade into other assets. I just do not get the whole "don't fall in love" line turning into "we're not looking to trade Seels." (To be clear I am totally aware Torts could be blowing smoke here) Calgary got a prospect, 2nd, and conditional 3rd for Tanev. Would having a higher 2nd this year help with a package of a couple 1sts to move up? We may never know if they're really "not looking to trade Seels" #shesabeauty

In the current "trust, but verify" portion of the rebuild, we are in "verify". I'm not "excited to make the playoffs" if it means changing the overall direction of the rebuild. The holes in this roster are glaringly obvious and holding onto 30-year-old journeymen defencemen - at term - doesn't fill any of them. I'm fine watching what happens.

I think if they start doing the "make the playoffs and anything can happen" line, they're no different at all. We'll see whether the BS line was for the players or the fans. "We're not looking to trade Seels" isn't a good place to start.

Hobbles off the ice and...

Seeler a pair of good blocks on the 4 minute power play.

Chychrun gonna need some time in a dental chair...

I really hate these uniforms.

ol' Forester with a record-setting fifth team penalty shot goal this season. 3-1 Flyers after two.

Well there was this Other Guy... #hewhoshallnotbenamed

Why are the Flyers dressed like the Sens and the Sens are dressed like the Flyers? Very distracting.

Nothing is guaranteed. Betting on the approach that has worked twice out of the past 44 years* is not necessarily advised. That it gets to three out of 57 doesn't really help, either. It's not particularly hard to be a middling, bubble playoff team that bounces in and out of the playoffs year after year, but it always "in the hunt" thinking of themselves as "definitely a playoff team." We lived it for over a decade. #newera * lower than a 4 seed winning the Cup

His point, I think, was that the players shouldn't think of this as "rebuilding" and should go out and play hard regardless. The rubber hits the road right now at the trade deadline. Are they "all in for the playoffs" or are they in a New Era of Orange?

Crazy thought - what if they are negotiating with Walker in an extension to retain salary and trade him? One can hope?

Talk to me when the re-sign Walker and Seeler and Laughton's A ain't going no where. This was a multi-year process when it began and it's not going to go well if they start seeing the group as "definitely a playoff team." I just get the sad feeling sometimes that if they won the Cup Briere and Jones would thank Clarke and Holmgren for their advice and counsel. Which would be why they're never going to win the Cup. We'll know better in a week.

They just needed a push to get over the top. They were really thatclose all the time. It was bad luck. They ran outta gas. They had a flat tire. They didn't have enough money for cab fare. Their tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from outta town. Someone stole their car. There was an earthquake, a terrible flood, locusts! It wasn't their fault! They swear to God! But what we KNOW is that it is the absolute worst stretch of hockey in franchise history. #halloffame

I still marvel at how the prevailing view is that the organization had completely lost its way and had not even a passing resemblance to a Flyers team that it needed to be completely rebuilt from the core of it's very being.. ...after 10 years of "leadership" from the longest serving captain in the history of the franchise. #halloffame decision, that.

Because he won't be the #1 goalie on a team going deep in the playoffs.