Polaris922

And agreed about Carter & Richards doing well because of not suffering the limelight. They won't get minus on the PK though so your number isn't skewed. The Kings just have a whole team mentality right now. Everyone is accountable!

Any word on Gagne's return? Forgot about Williams. And my opinion of Hextall wouldn't be welcome here. Lol

I agree about potential but my point was simply that he's not there YET. The true gamble is whether his heart is able to live up to his potential. Barring any recurring injuries if course, which I don't wish upon anybody. I'd take Kane over JVR right now. Give it a season or two though and that may reverse.

And Gretzky proved not all great players can be great at managing or coaching a team either. You guys see more of Berube since he retired, think he has what it takes?

I know you guys are fond of the Flyers West nickname because of Richards and Carter, but the Kings have so much more than just these two going for them. Kopitar, Briwn, Doughty, Quick... Even their role players are having major impacts on the game. And look at how well Quick is making reflex saves! Talk about piquing at the right time!

Dude, WTF with the pick of someone doing the technicolor yawn on the person next to them? Is that really the avatar you are going for?

My take on JVR is he is going to be a solid top line player.....somewhere else. Do you think Columbus would take him for Jack Johnson?

Not even up for Johnson. Flyers would have to add something to sweeten the pot.

I agree. I don't think Kane will ever be more than what he is now, a good perimeter player. If JVR does ever put it together he'll be a force.

Kane is a much better player than JVR regardless of any off ice distractions. I'm hoping he outgrows them, but on talent, production, success... He's head and shoulders ahead.

I think JVR is a good player and may yet become a great power forward, but he's not intimidating to other teams yet. He barely gets any mention outside of Flyers channels. I think it's another example of team media hyping up a player more than he deserves as of yet.

I understand listening to parents. I'm sure they were a major influence, but most 18 year old boys think they know everything, and certainly a star in his own right at that point. I can't believe this was a case of mommy and daddy said to do it.

Cleveland hasn't win a major sports championship since 1964....

Only thing worse than the mistake by the lake is San Diego hasn't won one since 1963... Though with less pro teams than Cleveland has hosted.

Yeah I'll say.. but those shirts always seem to get out after the series is decided. Now I think they ship them off to starving nations or something. Saw a championship jersey on a hunger awareness commercial for a team that hadn't won one. I think it was Vancouver a couple years ago.

I saw an article that described the Yotes as "outmatched" and I think it is an apt term. Hard to imagine Phoenix making it close let alone winning the series. They are getting beaten by a bigger, faster, deeper more skilled team with better goaltending that is playing well. There is not a lot Phoenix can do about it.

They were very lucky to get past the first two rounds.

No shame in losing to the Kings.

Agreed on all counts... the Kings are awfully tough right now. They peaked at the right time it would seem.

And if you don't think, when healthy, that Lindros wasn't a force in the league, you didn't watch him play.

The tanking issue was two fold. First, the players never did any such thing. You would never get a team full of professional hockey players to do it. They're ALL too competitive. Secondly, the allegation that the management did tank? Two or three moves considered questionable to shore up the future when you've already lost the season? How many teams trade top dollar players now for prospects? Can you say Richards/Carter? Difference is your team was already competitive and had a great season after. Mine wasn't back then and had no hopes. Honestly, I don't have a problem with a team that came in last the previous year, and barely out of last in the current year, making the difficult decision with the hopes of saving the franchise. I mean even if the management DID tank, yeah it's low down, but without a little low down that year, I wouldn't have a hockey team to follow. So given the choice of having nothing or the management being a dirty and more or less setting themselves up for failure... I'd rather the latter. Having said that, all they really did was trade away Randy Carlysle for a first round pick that ended up being Doug Bodger, and who would later be Moe Mantha. And they sent a nobody goalie Romano down for winning a couple of games and brought up Tremblay, another nobody who admittedly sucked even worse. It's not like the Pens were winning regularly before the moves, having already been 13-41-5 before the moves. How can you sabotage an already sinking ship significantly? They were last place the year before as well. It's not like they paid players to throw games or any such nonsense.

I DO think Lindross was a great player. I just don't think he was as great a player as Forsberg. His approach to Quebec is why I can't stand him. If he'd handled it with more class, I could accept him making trade demands down the road. He never even gave them a chance. Inept or not... where does a rookie come off saying I won't play for anybody?

perhaps 3 years of KHL and having a teammate die in his arms changed his priorities.

he came back to the NHL with a whole new outlook this year

Well that's good to hear. We don't hear much about him here to be honest. Not exactly a fan favorite anymore. Primarily because of how he left. It didn't help that he signed with you guys this time around either. The simple fact is you guys paid him almost three times what we were willing to give him. I don't think you got your money's worth, but I still like the guy.

We just saw Phoenix quit. They know they can't win this series (just like Pitt vs. the Flyers).

Just remember we took the next two games... and made a series of it again. I don't know if Phoenix has that in them though. The Kings are playing pretty darn good hockey right now. And like you siad, Carter stepping up cannot bode well for opponents. They were doing well without his contributing...

Well, there is no pressure or expectation on the Kings to win, so Richards & Carter can just relax & play hockey.

And if they win, LA will go nuts.

I truly hope they win. Will always be a big fan of Richards.

Just wish Gagne could play right now & finally get his name on the Cup.

They way they're thumping Phoenix.. they sure seem poised to take it all...

Buy out Pronger and Timmonen.. they're really not worth having anymore. You're asking a lot for JVR if you expect more than an even trade for Schenn. I could see Toronto maybe going 1 for 1 though. I think Weber is a pipe dream though... Weber will be hugely sought after by clubs that throw money at unreasonable levels (read Kovalchuk), and other than Bryzgalov, your Flyers haven't really been that kind of Club. Neither have my Pens for that matter.. so I think we'll all be spectators on this free agency.

I agree on your points about Jagr except him being a "leader" in the locker room. You guys obviously saw more of his efforts this season than I did, but I know his track record. If he was a benefit in the room it's because he hoped to make it all the way and it benefits him first and foremost. I wouldn't expect it two years running, and you overpaid for him this year. I'd free up the cap space. (And I actually like the guy, believe it or not, having met him several times).

Weber is going to be a run for the roses. Whomever comes up with the best offer wins. I'd be shocked if you, or my Pens for that matter, really stand a chance here.

Same thing about Parise as with Weber. We've seen time and time again teams throw unbelievable contracts at a player to get them, and traditionally the Pens and Flyers are not those teams. Barring the mind blowing Bryzgalov contract, your team doesn't really throw Kovalchuk money out there any more than mine does. I think we'll all be sitting on the sidelines for these two.

I really can't stand him.

Ouch. Clever shirt concept though. D*ck.

I thought so... LOL

2)I don't get the basketball reference but then again I don't follow that sport either.....

3) It doesn't hurt near as bad when you know the shots fired have come from a sank ship......

Well the shirt concept isn't basketball so much as the correlation between the basketball team being the 76'ers and your hockey team not winning a cup since '75.. hence the 75'ers. As for the sank ship... it sucks for us both! Neither of us made it far from harbor it seems... shame when people were saying the series should've been the conference final!

Honestly, the Flyers-Lindros rift makes more sense than this.

No doubt.. I didn't realize how much had transpired between Clarke and Lindross till you guys got me interested and I started searching for news about it. Thanks for the enlightenment.

Lindross refusing to play for a team because they lost a lot is what I can't stand. I think ANY rookie, talented or otherwise, refusing to play for an NHL team that drafted them is crap. I think he should have been banned from NHL play until donning the Nordiques blue for a season, simply out of principle. Lemieux stated quite clearly he would play for whatever team drafted him. His refusal to don the sweater was because of contract negotiations prior to the draft with Eddie Johnston, which Johnston later even stated was largely because of his reluctance to "get with the times" and pay big money to big prospects. I don't see Lemieux as being overly greedy, singing onto a recently bankrupted team for $600,000 a year and a $150,000 signing bonus for two years. Lindross wasn't upset about money or trying to get a fair market price for his talent. Lindross was being a baby about playing for a losing team, claiming they had no marketability and he didn't want to speak French. Quebec only traded him because the league got involved and pretty much made them. I found great pleasure in the Nordiques moving to Colorado and winning Stanley Cups while Lindross never achieved the goal. I know it was because of the players acquired for Lindross in the trade partly, so I found some poetic justice there. I have always wondered what would have happened if Peter Forsberg had played for the Flyers. A far greater player to have.

Really? I can name worse 50 goal scorers. Kevin Stevens did it twice. I'd rather have Carter. Gary Leeman?

Carter over Stevens?? Not a chance! How many 50 goal scorers did it with his brutal playing style and wracking up over 200 penalty minutes in a season. Anyone who got in his way paid for it, and the guy had great hands! Stevens was a GREAT power forward... until he smashed his face, became a drug using alcoholic and banged hookers all the time.. but up till then...!!!

How in the world does someone who has played hockey his whole life miss that shot? Especially a guy who is known for having a great wrist shot?

Stress! I know it sucks but simple fact is a lot of great players have their moments of "squeezing the stick too tightly". but you knew that... LOL

@Polaris922

Without spilling a bunch of details.....something obviously was an issue when your GM and ownership anoints two players as the core leaders of the team......signs them to long, long, term deals. And then quickly removes them after seeing some of their true colors.

I've read a little after your posts. Is there a chance the team made them look a little worse than they really were to be able to justify the moves to the fan base without a civil war on their hands? Wouldn't be the first team to do it (Pittsburgh / Jagr)

Anything can happen, but I expect the Kings to win this series.

And I think Richards & Carter will both come up big. (Carter is just due.)

They sure seem to be playing well there. Maybe it came from the Flyers expecting too much of them? They're both good players but Richards wasn't exactly eased into the position. Seems sort of rushed into it really.

I wouldn't want to be a fan of the team that gets him. Sure he's an amazing talent, but he's also a mind-numbing cancer. I don't know that there has been so selfish a player in the league since Lindross refused to play for the Nordiques

Turnabout is fair play right? After your boys cleaned mine out of the playoffs, I took the shots with a smile and tried to remember the sportsmanship around it all. Well now that a week has gone by and I am hoping some of you have recovered enough to take a barb or two.. here goes...

*This videotape is now available on eBay: "Flyers: The Glory Years." $5 for the tape, $300 for the Betamax player.

*A Philadelphia brewery sold a product called Crosby's Tears. Will a Pittsburgh bakery start producing Bryzgalov's Turnovers?

THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS!? Jesus didn't live that long...

(Thanks to Mark Madden for collecting these on his radio show)

And lastly... they've come up with a new team concept for you guys...

Okay... please don't kill me LOL