Vanflyer

The injury parade has come to town in St Louis. 5th straight loss tonight. Nothing left to play for, might as well dress and AHL squad to avoid any further injury and rest / heal the regulars.

Columbus might have something to say about that.

The thing MD is that there are some really good hockey clubs right now. In the last few years, there has been allot of parity. This year is the first year in awhile (perhaps since pre-cap days) that we can all say there is an echelon of teams that are head and shoulders above the rest. On any given night any team can beat any team (well except for Buffalo), but there are 5 teams right now that are just tops. That said, once the playoffs start, anything can happen. The playoffs are as much about survival as skill. I really want to face Pitts in the first round. I think Berube can outcoach Blysma. While Pitts definitely has more superstars, I think the Flyers are deeper at forward- but unexperienced regarding playoffs. I think character has allot to play into it too. I really like the character of this club. Their is no derision on the team (unlike the Carter / Richards / Pronger days). The guys all like each other and play for crest on the front and not on the name on the back. That goes a long way. I said on another thread, this team reminds me allot of the mid-late 80's poulin teams.

Once they were elimin8ted, they decided to play hockey again. Freaking joke- playing to save their jobs!!! Jettison Ovie (ala Kovy) and get on with rehabbing the team. You can have the "Hart" "Art Ross" winner, but he will never bring you a championship. I used to think he (8lienated) was better than Crosby (a few years back). How sadly mistaken I was.

Good point. I guess the way I look at is when those goals come. That first goal was a pisser and puts the team on their heals right away. But the play for the next 40 minutes was very good- and if not for Linderback, the Flyers would have pulled ahead. The ebb and flows of the game also has an impact on when goals (good or bad) are allowed. Emery made some great stops in the second which rallied the Flyers. But he slide off the slope in the last 10 of the third. If the Flyers solve Linderback second / beginning of the third, maybe those 2 bad goals never happen. Would of could of should of mentality for sure.

All good points. If they are going to falter (and they most certainly will at some point as I don't think they are a SCF), I just want to see them give 60+ minutes of effort and be smart. Thats all. Yesterdays game and the Florida game, they lolligagged half the time and the result is what happens when you do that.

If I am coach, I put this in bold letters on the locker room board so they can get the message. I said three games ago, bag skate. We all know what they are capable of and it just tics me off to see them dive bomb like this. Its not a fatalist approach, but they were in the drivers seat. The team I see in the drivers seat now in the East is Columbus, NY, and Boston.

It depends on what detroit does as well. At this juncture (in my feeble mind- w/o aneurysm). I believe its just Detroit / Columbus / Flyers jockeying for positions. Tampa is set with Montreal. Here is the way to look at it: 1) If the flyers retain 3rd in the division, they face to Rangers with the rangers having home ice (no longer possible for flyers to get that with todays outcome). 2) If the Flyers fall to the 1st wildcard spot, they will play Pitts. 3) If the Flyers fall to the 2nd wildcard spot, they will play the B's. 2

We got subpar goaltending in the first two minutes and the last 10 minutes. I am not an Emery apologist, but without him in both the 18 minutes and 20 minutes of the 1st and 2nd, the game would have been blown wide open. Same could be said of Linderback (sp). For me, the since of urgency (as has been the case of late) was waning. I call it a 30 minute hockey game for the Flyers- not withstanding Linderback (sp) play. I don't mind losing. I don't mind losing to a hot back-up goalie. But I absolutely detest losing with only half effort.

Forgot all about that. Truth be told, while its a roll of the dice, I don't see the Flyers past the first round (unless its against Pitts- and only because they have their number). Not a naysayer, just a realist.

Truthfully, other than Bruins, Columbus is the next team that scares me out of the east. I don't have anything substantial to say why, but its just a gut feeling I have. I would absolutely love to see Columbus go against Boston first round, but if I am reading the tea leaves correctly, Detroit is pretty much there. Truthfully (and I mentioned this on game chat today), Columbus-NYR would be great because of the irony. Philly-Pitts because both teams hate each other, and Detroit-Boston because Detroit has Bostons number this year (but need a prayer from the injury ward).

Nicely played.

No retort. I agree with everything you stated. (ok almost no retort): there are no guarantees. For me, Kane, Voracek (biased) and Couture are the cream of the top 10 of that draft class. So, that 1, 7, and 9 positional picks.

Forgot about him- actually I would do him over StL. You can give StL the benefit of knew team / system / role, etc. That does not apply to Nash.

Never thought about that- and you would know better then I. It is interesting to see the chain though, and I do also believe Parise would have stayed. Not withstanding that playoff run, do you think NJ really had to make that move? More-so, sign him to that monstrous contract?? (note, I get the marketing / new building / face of the team thing).

I think its going to be the other way around. I smell a Kovy situation coming down the pike. Washington internally and externally has had enough of him. Half his points have come on the PP. Even strength, he is on the ice for 2 goals scored against for for every point he produces (note- not goal). A while back (5-6 years ago), I thought he was better than Crosby (perhaps because of my disdain for Crosby at the time), but now, Ovie can not hold a candle to Crosby and the Hart he got last year was a travesty. He should just put the Caps out of their misery and go play in the KHL.

Well stated Jammer. B. Schenn has heart. He has some skills. He is a 22 y/o .5 ppg player over last abbreviated season and this year. He is third on the team in hits. Erratic and inconsistent at times, he still rarely goes more than two games without a point. Is he the second coming of Gretzky, no. However, he is allot better than JVR. I will use Kyle Turris as a good example of patience. Kid was a monster in Junior and some / many of us might have wanted him instead of JVR. But he struggled for a long time in Phoenix and is just now getting his legs underneath him at 24 y/o after 6 years in the league. B. Schenn is in his 3rd season. And for all those guys that squirm about Bobby Ryan, Schenn is producing near the same as him. (jammer- my rant is not meant towards you, and I fully support the let youth develop program. The irony is that had simmonds turned out just to be a 3rd line grinder, people would be calling heads to roll?).

Well stated. That means more that the outsiders know. This team in some ways reminds me of the Poulin era.

Me either. But I think I give him a day off down the stretch. He has been looking tired the past few games.

Last two seasons in the playoffs: .931 / .934 sv pctg with 5 shutouts. (2 last year and 3 the year before). Rangers are 4th in the league in goals allowed this year. Their offense if still nothing to write home about, but I prefer to take a pass on King Henry for the 1st round. At the end of the day, no matter what, you are going to have to beat the best. However, the playoffs are a war of attrition and I would prefer to not face the beasts (ie Boston) in the first round. Also, NYR are charging into the playoffs (as is Columbus and Montreal) - in the east. Boston is biding time. The Flyers and Pitts are up / down, more the Flyers.

Rumor is that Miller wants to go to Anaheim to be close to his family. Jonas Miller is a UFA at the end of the year and despite the ducks success this year, he has not been overwhelming (at least not in the Raask / Quick kind of sense). Same age, similar contracts. I could see it happen. Sucks for St Louis, unless they do something meaningful in the playoffs.

Thanks. I haven't paid much attention to the NJD ownership situation for awhile. I just know before that they were nearly in bankruptcy court. On Kovalchuk, Here is how i look at the winners loser of that trade: 1) Thrashers / Jets- They got Byfgulien (via Chicago), 2013 2nd (Eric Comrie- G) & 3rd round pick (J.C. Lipon- RW) via Oduya trade to Chicago. 2) Chicago- They got two blue chip prospects (kevin hayes- LW / C plays on Goudreaus top line at BC and Justin Holl-D Plays for the Minnesota Gophers) & Oduya 3) NJD- They got a malcontent Kovy and Jon Merrill and an empty wallet. Seriously, Merill looks ok, but still in development. One of Lou's worst moves ever.

Not going to be that special after losing to Union today. He will win it, but what a special night it would be to win the championship and the HB on the same day.

I wouldn't really call solidifying the 8th spot by 6 points "sneaking" in. Its not like they qualified on the last game of the season and had to pray for other teams wins / losses. That to me is "sneaking" in.

I remember midway through his first season here, one of the beat writers did a "back story" on him. He comes form a low-middle class family and his father is / was a miner. The jist of it was that his family instilled in him a tremendous work ethic and humbleness. He has had to scratch and claw for everything he has in hockey. Within the same story the Flyers trainers were quoted as saying he is the hardest working player on the team. Always in the gym, always striving to get better / stronger.