OH1FlyersFan

The only other way the Flyers could perhaps benefit by moving Bryz and replacing him with someone less controversial would be the intangible of getting rid of the distraction he's become. The situation is taking a mental toll. Is there controversy and discontent in the locker room? Is Bryz now at the center of it? It'd almost be a cleanup kind of move similar to getting rid of Richards and Carter. Send the circus packing.

Just thinking --- I should clarify. While Halak's groin injury makes me nervous, I'd still rather see him in goal than Bryz. I'll take my chances on the groin strain versus the brain strained headcase we currently have.

Halak missed something like 10 games with a groin injury. Those things can be nagging......kinda like wives. Look at Jagr. Would this injury become a liability? Makes me nervous.

I actually had Goligoski on my fantasy team this season, so that by no means makes me an expert on the guy. But, I did follow his play and his stats pretty closely over this last season. In my opinion he'd be an improvement over most of whom we currently have on defense, but didn't do anything that overly impressed me. His stats were good but not great. He's a solid defender and didn't hurt my team but he wasn't carrying it either. I'd stand pat with Couts and not make the trade. Couts is what only 20 or 21. Goli is pushing 30. The upside on Couts, assuming he gets past his sophomore slump and can find his game again - which I believe he will do - is huge. He'll be better for this team long-term if we have the patience to hold him and teach him, than Goli would have for the next couple of seasons. Keep Couts.

I would go with Risto based on Brelic's write-up. We desparately need a solid defenseman and he sounds like he'll fit the bill and be the defenseman we need - and given that the others will have gone earlier in the draft, it sounds like he'll be the best remaining choice. We've had some decent luck with Finns, to boot - look at Timmonen. Risto gets my vote.

Ahhhhh, I get it.......a kinder, gentler site.

Now you've got me scared to death. That would be another disaster of bryztastic proportions. I just watched the Carolina game and really liked how Mason looked in the last 2:30 when the Flyers were playing 4 on 6. He looked really good. Calm, not panicked, made some really good point blank saves. I'm thinking leave the kid pretty much alone and let him do his thing. Just work on rebuilding his confidence.

True. And my Kuato guess may be off because he too was able to form a sentence in a somewhat coherent manner. Maybe Murraycraven is right - this could be old Buffalo Rick......ha.

Ha. But my money was on Kuato......

No. But at the rate our Russian friend is going, I think Mason will get us to the Cup before Bryz does. I hope you don't think that even if we got to the Cup that Bryz would win it for us. Even with a healthy, and decent, defense in front of him.

Yes. I've scheduled tomorrow for complaining about the offense. And then on Saturday from 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. I'll be complaining about the defense. I've set aside all day on Sunday to complain about coaching and management.

I say sit Bryz for the rest of the season and play Mason. I agree with Doom - everybody looked better when he was in goal. Totally different vibe and energy level was much higher.

Every year I think this is the year we get a break from the injury bug - after so many years having been bit bad. We deserve that break, by God! But it never fails and just when you don't think it can get any worse, it does. Not to be overly pessimistice, the good news is that our youngs guys are getting some good experience, like you said. But being the paranoid Flyers fan that I am, now I'm expecting all these young guys on defense to have that sophomore slump that seems to be hitting most of our youngs guys on offense this year after the pretty good performances they put in last season. Ha!

Thanks, Howie! What a HUMONGOUS relief. Awesome news. And Doom, that's good advice. From now on, I'm adding at least an extra 30 minutes!

Hey Howie. Thanks for that post! You know what kills me are those two games we lost just previous to these two wins - especially the loss to the Jets, who had lost something like 5 in a row before their win against us. Same thing with Ottawa - they had lost five in a row, too, before beating us on April 11. It sure would have been nice to have snagged four points from those struggling teams earlier in the month.

Ok, so I dvr'd the game tonight and of course the recording cut off with like 8 minutes left in the game - just when they cut to commercial because apparently Mason was being pulled after being attended to on ice. I saw Bryz was suiting up to come in to replace him which scared the bejeezus out of me. I never got to see or hear what exactly happened to Mason. Needless to say, I'm freaking out. Mason looked darn good tonight. Almost like a goalie that finally could play some competitve hockey and make a positive contribution to this team. It would be a tragedy of Hindenburg-esque proportions if he's now down and out with some crazy injury. It would be an epic tragedy, a tragedy for the ages, the way he's been playing - I know this sounds like hyperbole, but I'm so desparate for a halfway decent goalie that this potential disaster can't be understated. Of course, it's not entirely unexpected, as this team, this franchise has been the subject of some sort of horrendous curse for the last 35 years. Somebody please give me some good news!!!!

Hey! Haha. As the originator of this thread......I'd actually be fine with it because it's devolved into an almost Kuato-esque exercise in futility.

Couldn't disagree more. From a morale and psychological perspective, a goalie most certainly can make a team better. As an aside, some goalies can even add a little bit of offense by moving the puck - and a few can even score a goal here and there. It would be ignorant to discount the impact those two aspects of the game can have on performance - both individual and the team. I don't argue that the offense needs to do a better job scoring goals, but at least the offense has demonstrated it can. Bryz has NEVER demonstrated to me that, since he's been on this team, he is a reliable, consistent, and above-average goaltender capable of being "the man." That is the bigger issue. That is what needs to be fixed. If you can't see that, then you need to spend a little more time watching the game. This is pretty basic stuff.

My only fear is recurrent injuries. Timo is aging and is/could become more injury-prone. Bourdon has had his bell rung. Hopefully he shakes it off and doesn't have recurrent concussion issues. But he's the one I'm most worried about. Mesz has had this nagging shoulder situation - something that could be hard to fully recover from - I fear his better days may be behind him. Schenn seems durable enough and thankfully has avoided problems so far. I would be ok with this group too if perfectly healthy, but there's a huge risk here with this group, in my opinion.

I still believe in Couturier. If he was pushing mid-twenties, I'd be a lot more concerned. Give the kid another season, maybe two. He's got a lot of growing up to do.

That's how I read it too. And after this season, I'm ready to consider other options. While Mason may not be Martin Brodeur in his prime, he is only 24 and has potential. What I've seen too is something that almost looks like confidence. He projects surety in goal, like he isn't always scrambling, panicky, and two steps behind -- unlike Bryz.. This is something the rest of the team can feed off of and build on --- something Bryz has not instilled in them. And God knows the offense could use a bit of a boost. With Bryz in goal, everyone, offense and defense, is too fragile. So let's take on yet another goalie project and rebuild Mason. He's young, quick, shows sparks of talent, and seems to be pretty stable back there. Not to mention he's cheap. If he can find his confidence, he's going to be much better than the current option, which, despite a couple of decent games this season, I just can't see being part of the solution going forward.

And by "special", you mean like touched in the head, short bus kind of special? Because that's about the only special I've seen in Bryz since he started here.

I liked his quickness. I liked the fact he didn't duck in the face of hard shots fired at his head. I liked the way he handled the puck. I liked how spry and energetic he looked out there compared to Bryz. I say start him the rest of the season and see what he can do. Too bad about the only goal. This team is snakebit this season so such a fluke thing didn't surprise me at all. Of course such a thing would happen to this team to cause them to lose this game, handing the season's only shutout win to Buffalo's backup goalie. Of course! Hard to blame Mason for that, though. If any blame is to be handed out this game, I blame the offense which apparently decided to take the day off.

Now I'm torn. I really want to see Bob succeed and do well because I genuinely like him. That said, I also want to see him fail miserably because he will become a thorn in our side for the next 20 years - just like you say. He has the potential to be our next Brodeur. And having said that, part of me thinks that might not be a bad thing either - because it will be a constant reminder to this organization what it gave up and the collosal mistake it made.

This is exactly right. Totally agree. Well said!!!