Breezy looks horrible

[Jmdodgesrt4]

He can't handle a rebound to save his life. Seems to be getting lucky right now.

[doom88]

Well, he did make one big save, lucky or not. Otherwise, yep.

[doom88]

Yep, just the one big save so far, otherwise the guy SUCKS. He owes B Schenn a steak dinner and the team an apology, or strippers.

[Jmdodgesrt4]

Is one of the wilds goal tenders available ? We need a capable goalie. Nothing special. Just one that makes the basic saves and once in awhile makes a high light type save. This team looks scared every time a shot is taken on leaky.

[Phillygrump]

Lets get Bernier and just buy out Bryz. He's a disaster.

[RonJeremy]

Meanwhile look at how well Bob is doing in Columbus . Bob had the most natural skill of any goalie we had since Lindbergh ,and here we are saddled with the same problem weve had since Pelle Lindbergh died. Over 25 years without a good goalie.I dont count Hexy cause he had one good year. The Bob trade will end up being just as bad as the Patrick Sharp trade.

[RonJeremy]

No. 2 Star: Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

Bob earned his first career NHL shutout with a 30-save, 3-0 blanking of the Detroit Red Wings. Cam Atkinson, Jack Johnson and Nick Foligno all scored for the Blue Jackets to give them their third straight win over the Red Wings this season. Columbus has won their season series with the Detroit for the first time in franchise history.

Edited March 11, 2013 by RonJeremy

[fan4ever]

I know many on this board were/are not fans of Bob, but I hated to see him go and wish we had him back. I think he'll turn out to be one hell of a goalie (the kind we need now). I feel it was very short-sighted of the Flyers to trade him away. I think we should have stuck with him and the rest of our young core to allow him to develop instead of signing Bryz to an albatross of a contract which will probably be bought out anyway, with NO backup plan.....

Sad..

[flyercanuck]

@fan4ever

The real sad part is we traded a perfectly good backup with upside and brought in 2 guys to take his place that are both on the wrong side of fading and never that good to begin with careers. It made zero sense, other than to take the pressure off Bryz. And if a guy who just signed an albatross of a contract can't handle that kind of pressure, what the heck are you signing him for in the first place????

[brelic]

I understand why they traded him. When you sign a guy for 9 years, you don't want the young and upcoming goaltender to unseat him 2 years later. It would just be embarrassing, especially when that 9 year contract carries an NMC. You'd be stuck with a $5.5M backup, which makes no sense.

So, Bob needed to develop and they felt it wasn't going to be in Philly.

Fine. But explain why Schneider was perfectly capable of developing in Vancouver. They're kind of in a similar situation. Decade contract to their franchise goalie, unproven young goaltender vying for the starter position. Makes things uncomfortable, but that's the way the NHL is supposed to work. You earn your spot and if a better/younger player comes along, you either have to level up or lose your spot. The natural cycle of things.

I think we should have kept Bob as a backup, though he might never have signed a second contract knowing he was behind Bryzaster for the better part of a decade. Maybe the thinking was "we may as well get something while we can."

[flyercanuck]

I understand why they traded him. When you sign a guy for 9 years, you don't want the young and upcoming goaltender to unseat him 2 years later. It would just be embarrassing, especially when that 9 year contract carries an NMC. You'd be stuck with a $5.5M backup, which makes no sense.

So, Bob needed to develop and they felt it wasn't going to be in Philly.

Fine. But explain why Schneider was perfectly capable of developing in Vancouver. They're kind of in a similar situation. Decade contract to their franchise goalie, unproven young goaltender vying for the starter position. Makes things uncomfortable, but that's the way the NHL is supposed to work. You earn your spot and if a better/younger player comes along, you either have to level up or lose your spot. The natural cycle of things.

I think we should have kept Bob as a backup, though he might never have signed a second contract knowing he was behind Bryzaster for the better part of a decade. Maybe the thinking was "we may as well get something while we can."

As opposed to NOT having a backup plan when your $52 million goalie craps the bed and you have the entire fanbase screaming to buy him out. Which is more embarrassing?

[canoli]

The Bob trade will end up being just as bad as the Patrick Sharp trade.

Frankly I think it's already worse than the Sharpe trade. Forwards are a dime a dozen, even good ones. A young, promising goaltender is a rare find. Look at what he did his rookie year - till Lavy wore him out, coupled with the team mailing in their efforts in the 2nd half of that year - factor in that the kid couldn't even understand English his first year and you get some idea of his potential.

He was so ready to take the reigns of a young, developing team. Yes he would've made mistakes, he would've looked lost and lousy many nights. But he also would've delivered on that promise of potential, as he's beginning to do now in Colombus.

So instead of Bob and Whoever competing to win the #1 job we have an overpriced, not-very-talented primma donna who is quickly falling back into last year's performance level, and 2 backups who are competing for Miles on the bus up in Adirondack...

[King Knut]

Y'all must have only been watching the past week.

Dude's been carrying the team on his back. They were only ever at .500 because of him. And as much as I would have liked to have seen better from him this past week (especially in Pittsburgh) they didn't lose those games because of him. They STUNK! They team played horrible uninspired hockey against decent teams that decided to show up.

That said, I'm not in love with the guy or his salary. I like Bernier and some others around the league (Reimer's backup in TO looks good too - up until a week and a half ago that is) That's all beside the point though.

The point is: Get rid of Bryz, dont' get rid of him, it won't make a difference. He's not this team's problem right now and I think you all know that.

He's a disaster.

[colorado_al]

Give us a couple #1 D men and he's look a lot better.

[King Knut]

You're nuts.

Bob wasn't a promising young goalie. He was a younger Roman Cechmanek with better personal hygiene.

He needed A LOT of work to be a capable NHL goaltender. Two years later and there is absolutely NOTHING about him that says that this team is any worse off with Bryzgalov than if they'd been playing Bob all year.

You can look to the past and blame Bryz all you want, but no capable hockey mind would look at this team, this year and the games they've won vs. the games they've lost and say, "Bryz is the problem."

Looking into the future with his salary and the cap, I can see thinking ahead and wanting to go in a different direction and I'd support that. But if you look at the three losses last week or even the win last night and say that Bryz is the reason they lose or Byrz is the reason last night got close, then you're just fooling yourself and I don't know why.

Bryz is fine. he's saved their asses a few times. Long term, his numbers and his age create a problem, but the TEAM (and probably their age) is the problem and the reason they're 2 below .500 again.

Frankly I think it's already worse than the Sharpe trade.

[canoli]

Well I certainly don't want to tangle with a "capable hockey mind" - I argue with myself enough. So here's the thing we both know - there are problems at every defensive position including net, usually (thankfully) not the same one every night. But every team has holes in its roster (xcept Chi apparently); every team's goalies struggle at times.

It's no secret I don't like the guy. I never liked the guy as far back as when he faced and beat that tremendous juggernaut known as the Wild (a 1-line team if there ever was one) in the SC QF ... about 40 years ago... which is his big claim to fame - Mr. Cup-Winner Ilya Bryzgalov who played all of 4 games. Behind one of the best Team D systems and some of the best pairs of D-men ever.

But okay that's ancient history. Take a look at Hecht's goal last night - shorthanded. Bryzgalov is squared up in plenty of time, even though it was a 2-on-1. The puck goes through him. A bit later...unless B.Schenn snags the puck off the goal-line it's a tie game - why? Because again the puck goes through Bryzgalov. That happens so often there's no point in keeping track of them.

[edit: I never said, nor do I believe he's the only reason the Flyers can't crack .500, but most "capable hockey minds" agree he's a big part of the reason. You bet he is.]

Edited March 11, 2013 by canoli

[Phillygrump]

The point is: Get rid of Bryz, dont' get rid of him, it won't make a difference. He's not this team's problem right now and I think you all know that.

He's not the main problem, but he's still a problem. The Flyers aren't going anywhere with him.

[King Knut]

I couldn't disagree more. If the rest of the team was playing like an NHL team, they'd be at the top of the division. I can point to 2 losses all season that I could even remotely hang on Bryz.

We've had bad goalies that have made the rest of the team bad and Bryzgalov is not that. He coughs up rebounds, but they aren't as dangerous as many and what's more, he's usually in a decent position to make the next save.

Sure, you'd love to have a guy who doesn't give up rebounds, but there just aren't that many of them.

Trust me... a half decent & healthy defense and a bit more experience at forward and this team is at the top of the division with this goalie.

He's not good enough to get the team there without those things, but he's just not bad enough to be the reason they're in the position they're in.

The Flyers got to the cup finals on mediocre goaltending. They lost in the cup finals because Leighton and Boucher were both hurt and the rest of the team couldn't compensate enough to make up for that and still score enough goals to win.

You put this version of Bryzgalov in net for that Flyers team and I have no qualms suggesting things go differently. He's a good goalie. He's not a great goalie. He's a complete head case who you can tell has a mental state hanging by a thread, but he's played well this year. I'm sorry, but you start to sound pretty silly when you blame the curent state of affairs on him.

The Flyers aren't going anywhere with him.

[Phillygrump]

@King Knut

I disagree. I think he will eventually let in a soft goal or bad rebound that will turn the game. I think he is part of the problem with this team mentally. I don't think they trust him behind them.

[brelic]

As opposed to NOT having a backup plan when your $52 million goalie craps the bed and you have the entire fanbase screaming to buy him out. Which is more embarrassing?

I'm not excusing the organization... just trying to find some sort of rationale for why they did what they did.

[jammer2]

@King Knut Wow, we are seeing a totally different goalie. His rebounds ARE a huge concern, AND he is rarely in a position to make the next save when he serves up the pefect rebound right out in front. He's usually down and out because HE CAN'T GET UP QUICKLY. The Flyers won dispite of Bryz and his respectable stats early on, now he is not only part of the problem, he's dangerously close to being *the* problem. Bottom line, you can't win in this league spotting the opposition 1 or 2 softie goals, and that is what Bryz consistantly kicks out on a nightly basis.