caluso

Why not title it, Groundhog Day - Flyers. I know the preseason is meaningless, but it is the same ole story for the men in O & B: Horrible defensive play, passionless shift after shift, no implementation of a "system." The only good news is that Lavi will be gone 15 games in and Gomer will be sent out to pasture shortly thereafter. Can we say, rebuild?

i appreciate your reply and i dont think you are being a jerk. we just see things differently, that's all. i have been a flyers fan for many, many years and find the manner in which they go about their business to be head-scratching and frustrating. you don't. i ask you one question: what's their plan? other than mimicking last year's Cup winner. imo, the Vinny signing makes no sense, none. C is our deepest position, we are loaded with promising young prospects at that position. why tie up valuable cap space AND block the development of a prospect.... and, with the exception of the bryz signing, muir is dead on - we cant develop Goalies so we are always making due with second tier players. (and in the rare instance we do - bob - we trade him. by the way, this is not 20/20 hindsight; i was one of bob's biggest fans and posted so many times) i don't see what there is to be excited about in the future. we have a very slim chance at making the playoffs, let alone winning the cup. decades and counting....

http://nhl.si.com/2013/07/08/nhl-free-agents-winners-and-losers/?sct=uk_t12_a5

your post is one of the brightest, most articluate posts i have read here. what the flyers management does is literally the defnition of INSANITY. they do the same thing over and over again, yet expect a different result: they keep signing players who are past their prime (again, the Lecavelier signing was unnecessary) and mismanaging the salary cap (Gomer hasn't grasped that this is a HARD salary cap league - why give Streit such a long deal????). year after year it's the same madness and, not coincidentally, they haven't won a Cup in decades. we've seen this movie...and it NEVER ends well.

no matter how you cut it, Lecavelier takes minutes from both of those guys. we did not need a C. it is a waste of valuable cap dollars. let schenn be the second line center. or, if you want Schenn on the wing, move Cout up to the second line and promote Laughton. give youth a chance! like i keep saying, lecavelier is a waste of cap dollars: we need a winger and d-men....we have centers who can do the job.

since voracek is our best forward, that is absurd.

your logic is seriously flawed. who cares that Vinny was captain of a stanley cup winning team. that was years ago. using your reasoning, had the flyers signed wayne gretzky or mark messier, winners of 5 and 6 stanley cup rings respectively, that wouldn't stunt or be bad for the team, either. the simple fact is that Vinny will be centering the second line, displacing Schenn to wing, and keeping Couturier as a third line centerman (4th if he keeps playing the way he did). how is that helping those two develop? Schenn is forced to play out of position while Couturier will be forced to play sparingly. And, then there's Laughton.....relegated to the minors. also, you mentioned that centerman was a missing piece. REALLY? C was our deepest position: G, Schenn, Cout, Laughton. Vinny's money would have been better spent finding a young winger or young d-man. and, i argue that you don't make a move for Vinny unless he is that one piece who puts you over the top; otherwise, why spend 4.5 million per year for an ageing C who not only ties up valuable cap space, but blocks the development of younger players. THIS IS A HARD SALARY CAP LEAGUE, EVERY DOLLAR MATTERS.

Haven't we seen this movie before: signing past-their-prime players to absurd contracts and concomitantly rewarding one of your best players with a bloated contract before he really earns it (I love Giroux but he is very inconsistent: mediocre defensively and average at 5 on 5 play). What happened to the youth movement? The signing of Vinny stunts the development of Schenn, Couturier and Laughton. And, for what reason? Lecavelier is not the missing piece - the player who puts us over the top. We are very slow up front, lack bangers who can get the puck in the corners, our defense is terrible and we have a huge question mark in goal. We are not one player away from competing for the Cup. Sorry. Wouldn't we have been better off rebuilding and commiting to a youth movement. This team is mired in mediocrity for a reason and it is not a coincidence that we haven't won the Cup in decades: horrible management that lacks a vision - with no idea how to construct a team. As long as Snider and Gomer are in charge, expect to see the same, sad movie over and over again.

Tell Homer he is a moron and needs to step down. I am serious. Or, set up a meeting and I will tell him myself.

i couldnt agree with you more, though i do hate the signing. we are very deep at center so why tie up 4.5 million for a 33 year old who has already played 15 seasons in the league, irrespective of how much he has left in the tank, this is a hard salary cap league - something that Gomer hasn't quite grasped yet. to tie up that much money for a guy who doesn't improve a position of weakness is INSANE. i am sick of the way the team is run. no vision, no long-term plan. we will never win the cup with this management.

Have you seen him play? I have and he isn't so tough. That so-called mean streak was usually directed at much smaller, less physical players. Go to hockeyfights and watch him get whoooped by a guy half his size. And, frankly, it doesnt matter because, no matter how he develops, this was a TERRIBLE pick. ABSOLUTELY NO VALUE PICKING MORIN AT 11. Its simple: If Gomer and his staff liked / loved Morin, then it was imperative that they trade down and get something, anything to slide a few spots and still get there man. That's what a clever GM would have done.

Why Gomer needs to go. There are very, very few people on this board who believe - deep down, in their core - that Gomer is capable of improving the team without sacrificing too much. Furthermore, if we are honest with ourselves, it should be clear that Gomer has no vision, no plan. We will not win a Cup as long as Gomer is in charge. (I know, I know, weere close a few years ago. Please, did anyone really think we had a shot with Leighton?)

His track record demonstrates his stupidity.

I couldn't agree with you more. I don't think there would be a single complaint from any real Flyers fan if the team went into a "rebuilding" mode. The problem is that Gomer (Snider) has NO REAL PLAN. He has NO VISION. He has NO PATIENCE. And, quite frankly, its apparent he has a mediocre eye for talent. He is always chasing LAST year's cup, building the team to compete with whomever won LAST year. They were committed to the "left-wing lock" (ugh) until they saw the success that the Rangers had last year so they tried to mimick what the Rangers did, despite the fact that there was no training camp to implement new strategy; and, oh yea, the Flyers' roster and the Rangers' roster were constructed totally differently. What a joke!

Hockeybuzz reports this rumor. I am not saying they are reliable, just that the rumor is out there. No way do I want Byfuglien, no way!

I wonder if the Flyers can trade Briere to another team before the buyout date, have that other team amnesty Briere, and then re-sign Briere here in Philly for a much lower rate?

i get sick watching Bob play though i wish him lots of success. maybe his success will get Gomer canned. we can hope. not only was he talented, but he was a hard worker.

I started the thread so allow me to clarify: under no circumstances do I hold Couturier responsible for the team's wretched play this year. Gomer, Laviolette, Hartnell, Briere, Read, Coburn, Meszaros, Giroux, Bruzgalov, et al... all have a hand in this mess. Voracek and Simmonds are probably the only players who played up to their expectations. However, I watch every game, either in person or on TV, and the guy who jumped out at me for his indifferent, lazy, sloppy, disinterested, poor play was Couturier. He has been a turnover machine, he loses almost every puck battle and his lack of hustle has astounded me. The last straw was watching him against Buffalo: he was terrible! Coincidentally, after the first period, the announcers also singled out Couturier for his poor play, laziness and lack of hustle. I just don't believe the hype and I want it on record that I think he has a very low ceiling and he would be better served sitting and earning his ice time instead of having it handed to him because he is a "core member of the future." And, If that's the case, we are in trouble. Additionally, I am amazed he still gets time on the PK, as he has been reduced to standing in no man's land - challenging no one - while the power play happens around him.

Canoli, i hope you remember from the other board how high i was on Bob. I understood Snider's frustration at the time, but to sign Bryz and then give up on Bob made no sense to me and is yet another example of how mediocre management will lead to mediocre results. It makes you wonder how Reese, Gomer and Laviolette could all give up on Bob and still have their jobs. We had been searching for a franchise goalie for decades and then when we finally find one, we trade him. Mediocre management leads to mediocre results. Let's not forget that Bob played a year of hockey without any break whatsoever: KHL, rookie camp, training camp, NHL. It was obvious that he was tiring as the year wore on. Was he perfect? Absolutely not. But I had never seen a goalie with his athleticism and quickness in a Flyer uniform. Never! Laviolette jerked Bob in and out of the lineup and then Gomer caved to Snider's whim's and wishes - like a eunuch - and so we are stuck with Bryz while Bob develops into a star in Columbus. Oh yea, I just got done watching Columbus beat Colorado in OT and the announcers were saying that Bob really worked on staying taller in the butterfly. Such a small adjustment it makes you wonder how come Reese never saw it.

i never said to trade him. in fact, i said that we wouldnt get anything decent for him if we traded him now - BECAUSE HE HAS STUNK THIS YEAR.we have no choice but to hope that he comes back invigorated and motivated next year and his play improves. because the reality is if his skating doesn't improve, he has BUST written all over him...

you mentioned age, not draft position. and, there are a lot more 20 year olds who can cut it nowadays than before. and, the point i keep trying to make is that Couturier's weak skating will never allow him to be a top 6 forward (sadly, his speed and explosiveness are insensitive to age: either you have it at this point, or you dont). the fact is, which people keep skating around, he lacks explosiveness and speed and seemingly desire. a very bad combo.

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.hamilton,huberdeau, b schenn, galchenyuk, yakupov - to name a few - are also very young with much better games. so what exactly about his game do you like? how has he impressed you?

Nichuskin plays a gritty, physical game - compared to Rick Nash. I think he'd be exactly what we need. A down low, dirt area force!

It should be an exciting off-season. Lavy should be gone. And we figure to pick 5 or 6 so we should be able to get a great prospect. Id rather have Nichuskin than Drouin or Mckinnon.

our best player is a CZECH