jammer2

@Pegulaville26 I got to see Mike Weber play for a full 3 and a half years on the Spitfires....I must say, he fooled me. Never once did I think he would be an NHL player, just did not think he was physical or fast enough. He's etched a nice little spot for himself. I'm no Sabres expert, but it seems l like he's a pretty reliable 5-6 guy with a nice low cap hit. Would be a shame to see him get the boot, but agreed, the Sabres look like a different team with McNabb at the point. Also agree, as most here will, Erhoff was a horrid signing...not as bad as Leino, but in 3-4 years the pain will start to hit hard....lol. 10 years...good Lord.

UNREAL....never, ever expected the Fins to pull off this monumental upset....turned it on it was 1-1 mid way through the 3rd. Then WHAM....WHAM...2 goals in 29 seconds, one of them went of D-man Merrick's skate, but Gibson looked pretty weak on a few of those goals. Flopping around and whatnot. Guess it's back to Campbell for the next game. They are a better team than what they showed today.

Really, really odd thing happened today. I just posted the passing of Johnny Wilson passing yesterday because I had heard about him in local circles, basically a pretty well known Red Wing back in the day. After I posted I found out he was indeed a Windsor Spitfire, played on the same line as HOF'er Marcel Provonest (sp)....now today, I mention it to my uncle (who I had not seen in years), turns out when he went to high school, Johnny Wison, my Uncle Pat and Al Arbour all atended High School together....I guess Johnny Wilson was a very good friend of my family and a lot of family members plan to attend the funeral....wow, weird how stuff works out, small world.

I believe this injury will go a long way to determining the landscape of the deadline trades. *If* Ryan Ellis looks ok while filling in for Weber, it *may* make Suter expendable...thus putting a top notch d-man on the market. As most know, Suter is a UFA, so trading him for offense seems to make sense, depending on how young Ryan fills in....esp on the power play and in his own end.

4 time Stanley Cup Winner Johnny Wilson died yesterday. He won all his Cups with the Wings and at one point was the NHL Iron Man with over 500 Consecutive games played. From what I've heard a classy guy and a big loss to the hockey community. Condolences to his family, which includes his nephew Ron Wilson, coach of the Leafs. http://www.freep.com/article/20111227/SPORTS05/111227031/Johnny-Wilson-who-won-four-Stanley-Cups-Red-Wings-dies

Wow, seems like only yesterday Gags was playing the 99 World Jr's....vividly remember him becoming one of only 4 Canadian players to score 4 goals in one game in the tournament. Time to hang them up Simon, you were an excellent Flyer, classy guy....time to hang them up before you drool before you're 40.

@flyercanuck New lines for the next game. I'm really worried about losing Smith-Pelly for the American game, we need his physicality and energy. http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/story/?id=383572

Yep....Wilson confirms it in this story....contact was agreed upon 4 to 5 weeks ago during a Leafs five game road trip. Nice that Wilson thought Christmas morning was a good time to announce the contract...but how about the 15 or so hockey writers that had to leave their families unwrapping presents to write about this mess....no thought about them on Christmas morning, what a tool! http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/27/leafs-wilson-feels-extension-is-hard-earned

@Vincent05 No mention of the timing of the contract, but WHEW...is the sh!t ever hitting the fan with the Toronto media....HA HA HA!!! http://www.torontosun.com/2011/12/25/burke-puts-himself-on-the-hook-should-the-maple-leafs-go-splat

Ha ha...not exactly Hextallian stuff there huh Oz? Oh Well, counts....Henrique made a valiant effort diving at the point, man oh man was Kovy WAY off on that pass!

@AlaskaFlyerFan Nice find AFF....thanks very much!! Very disappointing....not a single Flyer pick in the tourny this year....don't even remember the last time that happened!! The Wings (as usual) seem to be well represented...and the Minnesota Wild seem to have a boatload of young talent coming their way.

@Vincent05 The scoop I'm hearing from my Leaf buddies is the extension happened a few weeks ago, and Burke gave Wilson permission to announce it when he saw fit. Kinda odd don't you think? Was this set up intentionally to deflect criticism? Just when did he get the extension...during a 5 game losing streak? Nothing new from these two losers. They are joined at the hip, and will continue to do so. Wilson just makes me ill. Whenever they play bad he throws the players under the bus, when they win he takes a lot of the credit. I hope they sign them both till 2020....can't think of a city that deserves these two tools more than Toronto.

I agree Block, no fake in that touching rendition of our anthem....just a bunch of kids wearing their patriotism with pride....very emotional. More to come...lol. A nice preview I found...http://senshot.com/2011/12/26/preview-world-junior-championships/

I've been looking for a comprehensive list of players drafted by NHL teams playing in this tourny and have not been able to find one. Off the top of the my head, I'm not aware of any Flyer picks in the World Jr's, but I could be wrong. Can't believe the Senators plucked Stone in the 6th round.....what a steal!!! I'm assuming Pearson of the Barrie Colts could very well be a first round pick this summer, and could be there when the Flyers pick due to his age (19).

Well, second over, Canada has a nice lead and seems to have the game at hand. Visitin still looks shaky if you ask me. The blocker save he made early in the second was very telling. Didn't need to go after it, took him out of position and was very lucky the Fins did not tap it in for an easy goal. If there was an question whether Hudereau was ready, the second period buried any of that, he looked great with Stome and Stone. His shot reminds me a lot of Tavares, the accuracy and release are identical. Worried about Smith-Pelle's ankle/foot injury, we need him against the bigger physical teams like the Americans. The more I see of the Gormerly/ Hamilton paring, the more I like them.

Well, the first is over....a 2-0 lead, but I have some questions. Nice start, but not really satisfied. Most of the problem is with the goaltending selection. With each save, you can hear a nation getting ready to say "I knew it" if Visitin let's in a stinker. It's a LOT of pressure to be under. I respect Hay for making the decision, because it would have been really easy to say "time for a switch" after the Sweden stinker.....but Hay went with who he thought was best for the job....don't agree, but respect it. I strongly disagree that Visitin was not responsible for the Sweden game goals. He got beat clean on one when he should have come out and cut off the angle more, two were simple rebound control problems....should have easily been wrapped up and he let out the tricklers into the crease and quickly were in the net....this is an ongoing problem. Wedge will get his chance, I just hope Visintin does not cost us large. Love the balance in the lines. Howden and Smith Pelle make a great 2/3rds of any line. Had no idea Stone was as good as he is, even though he was leading the WHL in scoring, his play has been a pleasant surprise. Really like the Stone/Strome combo together...also like what I'm seeing from Gallagher...great work ethic. Really, really like our depth on forward the more I see them. Funny, you can't really get an accurate read from the exhibition games, it's only when it really counts that you see the real player....only get little hints from the earlier games. Gormerly and Hamilton make a great combo back there, defense as a whole looks very impressive. From what I can see, the hallmark of any Don Hay team is ALWAYS having a outlet option in Canada's own end should problems arise. It's kind of a "leave no man behind" strategy....that outlet man is in perfect position should a strong forecheck occur from the opposition. That's strong discipline and good solid coaching. Liking what I'm seeing that respect. .

@flyercanuck.... I'm really upset with the New Year's Eve game....it's a direct conflict with UFC 141 and the Brock Lesner main event. I'm thinking I will watch the first period and tape the rest because I'll have a house full of UFC addicts who will not tolerate the Team Canada conflict. Sucks, but I'd rather record it than watch it with no volume on a second tv.....this schedule sucks. I'll be in game chat for the finland game....

@Vincent05 It's funny, how different organizations have a variance in their d-man developmental time. I guess the average, speaking in pure generalities is 1 to 1 and a half years. I know for a fact the Wings average is around 5 years. Brendan Smith just made their team after being their first round selection in 07. In Smith's case, they let him play out his 4 full years at Wisconsin and only sent him to Grand Rapids for a year and a half. Basically, the Wings insist on perfection in their own zone before they even contemplate a call up. Any sign of defensive zone weakness and BANG...back down for more re-seasoning. Same is true for WIngs forwards....Cory Emmerton, who would have made many, many other teams has been waiting a long time to crack the Wings line up. They are just super patient and the results are obvious. Flyers fall somewhere inbetween, they certainly don't rush kids, but the waiting time (slightly longer for d-man than forwards) is probably around a year and a half. I remember Joni making the team right out of camp (think so, not sure), but that was due to his high draft status more than anything else. He was probably rushed IMHO. Then there is Woywitka, who I seem to remember making it fairly quick, which did not really help his long term development. Bourdon is right on schedule, I think they did a great job at acclimating him to the pro game without stagnating his growth potential. Prefect time for a call up in my books.

@Lunatic I dunno about a dramatic improvement, but he does look slightly more fleet footed. His strong suit has always been positioning, to make up for lack of foot speed.....I expect his to continue, along with minimal skating improvements. I think the guy has proven, he is a legit NHL d-man....he will only get better.

@RonJeremy I've been saying this all year. Rags are a dangerous team....built for the playoffs. Defense is solid, they can roll 4 solid lines that all have elements of size and grit. Most importantly, they have the best goalie. The defense is more experienced and their youngsters play a mature game....yep, def dangerous. Edit...like Bak wisely pointed out, the real X factor here is Marc Stall, they look great without him, could be cup material with him.

Nice Yahoo article on draft eligible players in this years World Jr's. http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/juniorhockey/blog/buzzing_the_net/post/WJC2012-Scouts-take-on-top-2012-draft-prospect;_ylt=ArDfOA6DHeQvxhqMRE8HHqh7vLYF?urn=juniorhockey-wp5163

@Lunatic I think the answer is Bourdon....he has an excellent shot from the point....I know he played the pp in junior, so he has a history there....not much to lose in trying him out.

@flyercanuck just ran across this, thought you might find it interesting... http://www.thescoutingreport.org/tanner-pearson-1st-pick/

Hope everyone has a warm and fuzzy Christmas....friends and family....and little baby JC...that's what it's all about!!!

@flyercanuck yeah, saw the Swiss game and the Visintin *meltdown* against the Swedes. Best thing that could have ever happened to Canada was getting throttled by the Swedes. First, it give Wedger the clear route to #1 goaltender and did not cost us a actual tourny loss to accomplish the feat. Plus, it puts Canada into a healthy state of mind, knowing they are beatable and gives us some stuff to work on. Sometimes, a big loss can bring a team together, a kind of "us against the world scenario" that only the trials and tribulations of a big loss can bring.