toughbrotherlylove

I think I would have a heart attack if Philly got Kane to play along side giroux, kid is a MONSTER. If you had Giroux, Kane, JVR(Hartnell, Voracek) or whomever that would be one fast, big, point producing line. Only problem i heard about Kane, he has been victimized by the press of having attitude issues, wether that holds true or not is beyond me, just something i heard. If that is true, he would have to get his act straight, but kid defiantly has the talent to be an elite goal scorer with right personnel around him and the right mind frame. Hopefully Flyers take that into consideration and make a series offer sheet for him.

I do not think its a matter if NJ wants to resign him or not, obviously who ever would not want to resign/sign Parise should go get a cat-scan. I think it is more a matter of him wanting or not wanting to be with NJ, or play in a bigger market, and if that is the case he will not be back in NJ. Only reason i can think he was rumored to go to Minnesota is that is where he was born. Might want to play in his home town and be "the guy" there?

awesome discussions! all you guys are gems. great thoughts here!

Thank you! I appreciate it.

lol only in a perfect world. I wish

If that is the case maybe they will try and trade his rights and resign suter. In which case, what do you guys think would be a fair trade to acquire the rights of Shea Weber?

Those are my thoughts too. The Flyers can not afford to get in a bidding war with Weber because if Nashville loses Suter to say Detroit, then they will have tons of cap space to sign/match any offer sheet thrown at Weber. Flyers need to trade for his rights if they have a hope of signing him. But if somehow they can outbid Nashville for Weber in a offer sheet, I do think 4 1st's would be worth it. Even after those 4 years of not having a 1st round pick, Weber still would be only 30 and have some more good playing years ahead of him. Plus you could always try to acquire others first round picks throughout the course of seasons if push come to shove.

Obviously everyone knows that the Flyers major concern this offseason will be defensemen. Not only is Pronger’s health a huge concern, but also Timonen’s age. The Flyers already loss Pronger, in my mind, for the rest of his career and you could see Kimmo slipping a little bit down the stretch and in the playoffs this year. With these two staple defensemen basically done in the orange and black, it is up to Homer to right the ship on this position. He can start by going out and getting another big time d-man and also draft heavy at the position so we have a deep line of prospects there to develop. When I say get a big name defensemen everyone is going to turn to Weber or Suter, my opinion on this matter is, go Weber or go home. Weber is the type of defensemen Philly needs more than anything. He is 26 years old, big body at 6”4 230, and he is not afraid to use it with crushing hits or blocking shots. He has a ROCKET of a right-handed shot and to top it off he has leadership qualities that you look for to stabilize the back end. Homer needs to do whatever he can to get this guy, even though it could be a stretch, because Philly desperately needs him. The reason I say “go Weber or go home” and disregard Suter is because if the Flyers can sign Carle, for rumored less than market value because he wants to stay in Philly, then there is no reason to spend a lot more money on Suter when the two are comparable. Yes I said they are comparable. I have read tons of articles on this over the past months and it is true. Carle gets a bad rep from Philly fans because they watch him for 82 games of the season and the duration of the playoffs, but how many times do they watch Suter. I have heard people say Carle was only good before cause Pronger was on the opposite side of him. Well who is on the opposite side of Suter? What is Shea Weber, chop liver? Carle is a fairly reliable defensemen with good ability to get the puck going the other way. Yes I understand he has costly turnovers at times, but what defensemen doesn’t? I know for a fact Suter does because I have watched him. If the Flyers were to bring Suter in at $5-6+ mill cap hit, compared to Carle’s $4-4.5 mill, and see him make the same mistakes as Carle would for that much more, well I have a feeling all would not be well. I do understand to resign Carle and to go out and get Weber some how, cap would have to be relieved and that is where our offensive depth comes into play. Right now, according to Capgeek.com, we have a little over $3mill in cap space for next season. Homer said earlier he expects the cap to go up to $69 million, plus LTIR relief of Pronger when season comes around, would allow Flyers cap space/relief of $73.9 mill, which would increase the Flyers cap space to $12.7 mill for the 2012-2013 season. I also understand that the CBA expires and this new cap and LTIR rules are not necessarily set in stone. With that $12.7 mill say Flyers sign Weber (RFA) or trade for his rights, and if he makes same $7.5 cap hit, that brings them to $5.2 mill. Then if they chose to resign Carle at that point for $4.5(same as Coburn cap hit) that leaves them with 700k in cap space, and D parings of Weber-Carle, Coburn-Grossmann, Timonen-Mesz. Another scenario is sign Weber; you are left with the $5.2 mill cap hit. Then do a trade of JVR for L. Schenn, which would actually give the Flyers 650k worth of cap space back, bringing total cap space to $5.85 mill. With this money you can then resign Voracek (no matter what they should resign him), and other depth players via FA. D-parings would look like this Weber – Grossman, Couburn - Mesz, and L.Scheen –Timonen. Also I would like to see, in that JVR- Schenn trade, the Flyers try to pry Toronto’s 1st round pick away from them. If we can, then we would be able to draft WHL defensemen Ryan Murray, if he is available still, Morgan Rielly, or Mathew Dumba. All three would be a great start to building prospects in the defensive position. Follow me on twitter: @EbbonDerr and be sure to visit my blog site: www.toughbrotherlylove.squarespace.com

Obviously everyone knows that the Flyers major concern this offseason will be defensemen. Not only is Pronger’s health a huge concern, but also Timonen’s age. The Flyers already loss Pronger, in my mind, for the rest of his career and you could see Kimmo slipping a little bit down the stretch and in the playoffs this year. With these two staple defensemen basically done in the orange and black, it is up to Homer to right the ship on this position. He can start by going out and getting another big time d-man and also draft heavy at the position so we have a deep line of prospects there to develop. When I say get a big name defensemen everyone is going to turn to Weber or Suter, my opinion on this matter is, go Weber or go home. Weber is the type of defensemen Philly needs more than anything. He is 26 years old, big body at 6”4 230, and he is not afraid to use it with crushing hits or blocking shots. He has a ROCKET of a right-handed shot and to top it off he has leadership qualities that you look for to stabilize the back end. Homer needs to do whatever he can to get this guy, even though it could be a stretch, because Philly desperately needs him. The reason I say “go Weber or go home” and disregard Suter is because if the Flyers can sign Carle, for rumored less than market value because he wants to stay in Philly, then there is no reason to spend a lot more money on Suter when the two are comparable. Yes I said they are comparable. I have read tons of articles on this over the past months and it is true. Carle gets a bad rep from Philly fans because they watch him for 82 games of the season and the duration of the playoffs, but how many times do they watch Suter. I have heard people say Carle was only good before cause Pronger was on the opposite side of him. Well who is on the opposite side of Suter? What is Shea Weber, chop liver? Carle is a fairly reliable defensemen with good ability to get the puck going the other way. Yes I understand he has costly turnovers at times, but what defensemen doesn’t? I know for a fact Suter does because I have watched him. If the Flyers were to bring Suter in at $5-6+ mill cap hit, compared to Carle’s $4-4.5 mill, and see him make the same mistakes as Carle would for that much more, well I have a feeling all would not be well. I do understand to resign Carle and to go out and get Weber some how, cap would have to be relieved and that is where our offensive depth comes into play. Right now, according to Capgeek.com, we have a little over $3mill in cap space for next season. Homer said earlier he expects the cap to go up to $69 million, plus LTIR relief of Pronger when season comes around, would allow Flyers cap space/relief of $73.9 mill, which would increase the Flyers cap space to $12.7 mill for the 2012-2013 season. I also understand that the CBA expires and this new cap and LTIR rules are not necessarily set in stone. With that $12.7 mill say Flyers sign Weber (RFA) or trade for his rights, and if he makes same $7.5 cap hit, that brings them to $5.2 mill. Then if they chose to resign Carle at that point for $4.5(same as Coburn cap hit) that leaves them with 700k in cap space, and D parings of Weber-Carle, Coburn-Grossmann, Timonen-Mesz. Another scenario is sign Weber; you are left with the $5.2 mill cap hit. Then do a trade of JVR for L. Schenn, which would actually give the Flyers 650k worth of cap space back, bringing total cap space to $5.85 mill. With this money you can then resign Voracek (no matter what they should resign him), and other depth players via FA. D-parings would look like this Weber – Grossman, Couburn - Mesz, and L.Scheen –Timonen. Also I would like to see, in that JVR- Schenn trade, the Flyers try to pry Toronto’s 1st round pick away from them. If we can, then we would be able to draft WHL defensemen Ryan Murray, if he is available still, Morgan Rielly, or Mathew Dumba. All three would be a great start to building prospects in the defensive position. Follow me on twitter: @EbbonDerr and visit my blog site: www.toughbrotherlylove.squarespace.com thanks for reading

Last off-season the Flyers brought in Ilya Bryzgalov to solve the dreaded goaltending issue that has been one well, for about as long as I can remember. When news broke that the Flyers acquired Bryz’s rights and then finally signed him, I will admit, I was pretty excited. I agree with most people that his contract length is too long, but if Bryz plays to his full capability, the cap hit of $5.6 million is very reasonable, and I will certainly see the glass as half full rather than half empty. Moving onto the actual season. Bryz started fine beating the defending champs 2-1 making many big saves. Then he continued his strong play in game 2 of the season against the Devils, bringing the first shutout to Philadelphia in a very long time. After these strong games, Bryz started to slip a little, and then a little more until it snowballed and he ended up finishing his first month as a Flyer badly. Bryz then rebounded in the month of November going 5-2, with a little over a 2.00 GAA and a .918 save percentage, pretty respectable numbers that regained the confidence of the Flyers Faithful. Then December came upon us, HBO’s 24/7 started up and the hype for the winter classic bolstered into a frenzy, and we saw the worse Bryz we would ever see. Putting up numbers (30 goals in 10 games and an abismal .878 save percentage) that would have any fan base question, “why did we sign this guy?” It seemed after his horrible play that month, the fans took a turn for the worse on him. In actuality after the month of December Bryz started to improve month after month. In January he posted a 2.75 GAA and a .912 save percentage. In February he posted a .909 save percentage and only let in 21 goals in 8 games. In March, well I do not have to tell any Flyers fan about Bryz’s month of March, it was absolutely phenomenal. Bryz faced a lot of scrutiny over his first season here in the Orange and Black. Fans and media were never happy with anything he ever did (generalizing of course, I realize there are some that are excluded from the majority). Bryz recently came out in an interview and made some questionable remarks saying he would not wish on his enemies what he went through this season. I still am a Bryz supporter and maintain, now that he has a full season under his belt with the Flyers and knows what its like to be in a city that has intense passion for the sport he will be better next year(Mentioned this a few days ago on my blog site “Season over..” post). No HBO 24/7 and hopefully with less scrutiny from the fans and media, this guy will be able to focus on stopping pucks at the level we all have seen from him. I understand as fans we have the right to speak our minds freely, complain and rejoice on all different sorts of occurrences. But does Mr. Universe have a point? I mean also as fans we want our players to be the best they can be, and if us not getting on Bryz’s case makes him his best, shouldn’t we refrain from it? Follow me on twitter @EbbonDerr

Last off-season the Flyers brought in Ilya Bryzgalov to solve the dreaded goaltending issue that has been one well, for about as long as I can remember. When news broke that the Flyers acquired Bryz’s rights and then finally signed him, I will admit, I was pretty excited. I agree with most people that his contract length is too long, but if Bryz plays to his full capability, the cap hit of $5.6 million is very reasonable, and I will certainly see the glass as half full rather than half empty. Moving onto the actual season. Bryz started fine beating the defending champs 2-1 making many big saves. Then he continued his strong play in game 2 of the season against the Devils, bringing the first shutout to Philadelphia in a very long time. After these strong games, Bryz started to slip a little, and then a little more until it snowballed and he ended up finishing his first month as a Flyer badly. Bryz then rebounded in the month of November going 5-2, with a little over a 2.00 GAA and a .918 save percentage, pretty respectable numbers that regained the confidence of the Flyers Faithful. Then December came upon us, HBO’s 24/7 started up and the hype for the winter classic bolstered into a frenzy, and we saw the worse Bryz we would ever see. Putting up numbers (30 goals in 10 games and an abismal .878 save percentage) that would have any fan base question, “why did we sign this guy?” It seemed after his horrible play that month, the fans took a turn for the worse on him. In actuality after the month of December Bryz started to improve month after month. In January he posted a 2.75 GAA and a .912 save percentage. In February he posted a .909 save percentage and only let in 21 goals in 8 games. In March, well I do not have to tell any Flyers fan about Bryz’s month of March, it was absolutely phenomenal. Bryz faced a lot of scrutiny over his first season here in the Orange and Black. Fans and media were never happy with anything he ever did (generalizing of course, I realize there are some that are excluded from the majority). Bryz recently came out in an interview and made some questionable remarks saying he would not wish on his enemies what he went through this season. I still am a Bryz supporter and maintain, now that he has a full season under his belt with the Flyers and knows what its like to be in a city that has intense passion for the sport he will be better next year(Mentioned this a few days ago on my blog site “Season over..” post). No HBO 24/7 and hopefully with less scrutiny from the fans and media, this guy will be able to focus on stopping pucks at the level we all have seen from him. I understand as fans we have the right to speak our minds freely, complain and rejoice on all different sorts of occurrences. But does Mr. Universe have a point? I mean also as fans we want our players to be the best they can be, and if us not getting on Bryz’s case makes him his best, shouldn’t we refrain from it? Follow me on twitter @EbbonDerr

Thanks for the welcome! I agree with the points made. I do not think Jagr returns next year which takes a winger away from our top 6, I agree with thoughts about Danny B also. He is vastly overpaid for the type of seasons he has and is not getting younger, would much rather use his cap space else where to fix other needs. Plus as you made mention we are stacked down the middle with great young promising talent. As for JVR, I see your point that if Jagr leaves, a spot opens up in our top 6 and could be filled by him, question still arises can he even play big enough to fill that spot, he is very soft majority of the time, but on the plus side he is still young so there is still time. I am hesitant on trading him but also hesitant on keeping him as well, heres why. I feel if we trade him he will come back to bite us in our rear (see Patrick Sharp and how he has developed) and all of Philly will regret it, but if we do not trade him then I have a feeling the hockey gods will curse us and not let him develop into what he is supposed to become. Thanks for the posts and reads! love the insight by people!