watched Blues vs Blackhawks Flyers are lite years away

[Mario99]

Flyers game just started and what a difference between Blues and Hawks game

and Flyers vs Caps, they have no puck control/possession and are years away from being that good

[briere48]

i know, im not surprised, i saw it coming when homer started get rid of players. im realistic, this team is a long way from contending.

[flyer4ever]

That is why Hextall needs to blow this up. St Louis and Chicago were brutal for years, they both rebuilt thru the draft, not by signing 35 yr olds to long term contracts.

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

Once the Flyers can get some semblance of a decent defense, the rest will start to fall into place.

 

Thing is though, as good as Mason has been (albeit with chronic IR time), he most likely WON'T be the guy in net by the time Philly fields a contending defense.

[ruxpin]

Once the Flyers can get some semblance of a decent defense, the rest will start to fall into place.

 

Thing is though, as good as Mason has been (albeit with chronic IR time), he most likely WON'T be the guy in net by the time Philly fields a contending defense.

 

Agreed.  But the good news is that his children will be playing age by then.

[Adamflyers]

Once the Flyers can get some semblance of a decent defense, the rest will start to fall into place.

 

Thing is though, as good as Mason has been (albeit with chronic IR time), he most likely WON'T be the guy in net by the time Philly fields a contending defense.

I'm curious why you think that he won't be here when they are ready to compete. Mason is only 26. Unless he has trouble staying healthy beyond this season, I would expect him to be the goalie here for awhile. I don't think this team is many losing seasons away from being back in the mix. They have not been trading away their prospects and have a nice stockpile of defenseman building up. The current issue is the contracts that Homer has this team buried under. Hextall doesn't have the flexibility to be anything but patient unless he can unload some of the albatrosses he has around his neck. He has a nice core in place to build around already. It is a shame that defense is in such shambles

[TropicalFruitGirl26]

I'm curious why you think that he won't be here when they are ready to compete. Mason is only 26. Unless he has trouble staying healthy beyond this season, I would expect him to be the goalie here for awhile. I don't think this team is many losing seasons away from being back in the mix. They have not been trading away their prospects and have a nice stockpile of defenseman building up. The current issue is the contracts that Homer has this team buried under. Hextall doesn't have the flexibility to be anything but patient unless he can unload some of the albatrosses he has around his neck. He has a nice core in place to build around already. It is a shame that defense is in such shambles

 

Well, I didn't rule out Mason being the goalie for the Flyers once they get a good defense, but yes, I did say he LIKELY won't be.

 

We can start with the injury issues. We all already know it is chronic (and lo and behold, he is injured once again), he has two years left on his contract before being a UFA with a cap hit of $4.1M.

He is only 26 now (soon to be 27), but at the end of the contract, he will be 28 (soon to be 29), and will likely require quite a bump in salary (probably well over the $5 or 6M mark, going by the number one goalie market now), and one simply has to wonder if the Flyers would be willing to hang their hats (and their checkbooks) on an almost 30 year old goaltender with a history of injury and at that point will have a large price tag.

 

Is the Flyers' system that devoid of goalie prospects that in two years they won't have a more reliable (health wise) and more cost effective solution?

Not to mention, that by the time Mason's contract needs re-upping with the subsequent substantial raise, perhaps the Flyers have found a way to unload some of the more undesireable contracts on the team and they might even have some money to go and sign a FA goalie from somewhere else.

 

Again, I don't knock Mason. I actually like him and he has done just about all you can do, aside from staying healthy, to anchor down this poor playing Flyers defense.

But I really do think that good defensemen, not just 'ok' ones, will take some time for this team to develop and get playing at full NHL speed and that it could take longer than what Steve Mason has left on his contract.

 

Now...for all I know, Philly could see a sudden surge in d-men development, Mason could finally put all his injury issues behind him and be able to BE that reliable starter beyond his current contract.

But going by recent history in defensive play for the team and injury problems for Mason, I would say that particular scenario, in that short a time is not likely.

[Adamflyers]

Well, I didn't rule out Mason being the goalie for the Flyers once they get a good defense, but yes, I did say he LIKELY won't be.

We can start with the injury issues. We all already know it is chronic (and lo and behold, he is injured once again), he has two years left on his contract before being a UFA with a cap hit of $4.1M.

He is only 26 now (soon to be 27), but at the end of the contract, he will be 28 (soon to be 29), and will likely require quite a bump in salary (probably well over the $5 or 6M mark, going by the number one goalie market now), and one simply has to wonder if the Flyers would be willing to hang their hats (and their checkbooks) on an almost 30 year old goaltender with a history of injury and at that point will have a large price tag.

Is the Flyers' system that devoid of goalie prospects that in two years they won't have a more reliable (health wise) and more cost effective solution?

Not to mention, that by the time Mason's contract needs re-upping with the subsequent substantial raise, perhaps the Flyers have found a way to unload some of the more undesireable contracts on the team and they might even have some money to go and sign a FA goalie from somewhere else.

Again, I don't knock Mason. I actually like him and he has done just about all you can do, aside from staying healthy, to anchor down this poor playing Flyers defense.

But I really do think that good defensemen, not just 'ok' ones, will take some time for this team to develop and get playing at full NHL speed and that it could take longer than what Steve Mason has left on his contract.

Now...for all I know, Philly could see a sudden surge in d-men development, Mason could finally put all his injury issues behind him and be able to BE that reliable starter beyond his current contract.

But going by recent history in defensive play for the team and injury problems for Mason, I would say that particular scenario, in that short a time is not likely.

Honestly, besides his time with the Flyers, I know nothing of Mason's injury history. Are these lower body injuries that he is suffering a carry over from his days in Columbus? Looking at his games played from his bluejacket days, it didn't seem like he was injured a lot but as I said, I don't know for sure.

If he has had a relatively clean injury record until this season, then I am not ready to write him off as chronically injury prone. If Mason proves he can stay healthy and he continues to play at a high level, I see no reason why the Flyers would not re-up a goalie at 30 years old. 30 is not that old as far as goalies go. I have to chuckle a bit at your question as to the Flyers being devoid of goalie prospects. The last goalie they developed who turned into a full time starter is now our GM! A couple others like Boucher and Nitty stuck around and bounced between being back ups and starters but that's all I can think of. Bobrovsky was never really developed here. He was brought up his first year here, showed promise and then traded after we signed the cosmonaut.

I think the Flyers will be back in the mix before masons contract is up anyway. Unless Stolarz shows he is going to be a good NHL starter and Mason continues to get hurt in the coming seasons, and of course if they have the cap space for a raise, I would expect him to be here for another contract.