Vanflyer

Interesting thought and one that I like. I guess how do you moderate a guy sitting at applebees from imposing his will in the voting process (think all star game voting)?

I thought the current format was to intensify divisional rivalries? Right or wrong, to give up on it after one season is a load of horse crap. It would be like changing the divisional alignment after one season (ie. Detroit going back to the western conference, etc). If you want to grow fans, stop tinkering every minute. Do studies and analysis BEFORE you make the change and make an informed decision. Don't do a "live" trial balloon and then change your mind.

The habs did not lose because of that blatant hit. The lost because the other 18 skaters were not as good as the Rangers. I also think that the Boston series drained allot from their tank. Lastly, the size / speed differential was pretty stunning. Montreal is a smallish team and that normally translates into a speedy team, but the Rangers had size and equaled / surpassed the Habs speed.

TFG- Thanks for the response. I get and understand every point you make. I guess for me, no matter what, I want to get value for value. Even if Tokarski was meant to be an AHL goalie, he was still a championship goalie (with the Admirals). That certainly has warrant significantly more than tampa got for him via trade- especially given his age. Montreal has some things to think about this summer. Granted 3 games does not warrant much, but they were the SCCF and the kid posted fabulous numbers. What do you do with Bjudai if you are montreal? Do you say, okay, you are under contract, but we went with the better goalie at the moment and say "sorry"? Or do you say, Bjudai, are you interested in playing someplace else that we can trade you to as we would like to give this kid a crack. The one thing I havent looked at is if Bjudai can be sent down (ie. let Bjudai and Toskarski fight it out in camp and may the better goalie win).

I had to look it up, but it seems Tokarski is a big game player. Not bad during the regular season, but steps up during playoffs. He won the Calder cup with the Norfolk Admirals in 2011. Interesting trade by the Bolts. Be interesting to see TFG's take. They give a Tokarski (23 y/o at the time) for a Cedric Desjardin (27 y/o at the time). Desjardin appears stapled to the AHL, yet Tokarski seems to have a much higher ceiling.

There is an innuendo there, but I am not going to touch it. (snickers)

I would get rid of Budjai and put Takarski (sp) as back-up. He is the heir-apparent for price. Not to say I would ditch price (he is under contract 3 more years), but Budjai is not the answer in back-up at this point after what happened this spring. Toskarski is 24, looks ready for prime time. The question is, is he better off riding the bus in the AHL and getting big minutes or advancing to the show getting small minutes and great exposure / coaching?>

Officially, but there are rumors or behind the scenes pipe laying as well. To each their own of course.

You are giving me way too much credit. I know zero about the inner workings of any pro sports league / marketing / tv / etc. My POV is only from what I know and have seen. To another posters point, its about the owners making money. All well and good (until the next lockout), but wouldn't it serve the best interest of even the casual fan to have a game on every night and not a two day lay off once every round for every match up?? Drives me bananas. For the banged up player its a reprieve, but for the rest of the squad, they are chomping at the bit to get going again. Again, I know nothing about the economics of it or the "venue" scheduling (ie. when the circus was in town, the Flyers couldn't play- thus a break). In the 80's, there was none of this problem. Hockey was the only game in town, other than the Grateful dead doing a run of 3 shows in the spring. They were the only balls you needed to juggle (oh and the random sixers run). Now there are many more events. Yet I would like to think the schedulers could solve most of that.

Where does doc fit in and who will be the new announcers for No Brain Channel for hockey?

Agreed. He was no slouch. Their is just a big difference between watching ritchie run around and carter glide around. People get confused about the effectiveness of being 6'3 and able to skate well (not first gear skate, but 2nd to 4th), plus your stick.

Thats kind of a misnomer regarding Crater. Its a bit of a dichotomy when you would watch richards shift v. carter shift. Richards had to huff and puff much more and certainly was more tanasive, but Carter was not a slouch- just not to the tenacity of Richards and certainly not physical. Hitch whipped both those boys hard regarding the d-end (and thus why Hitch is no longer with the Flyers). Ritchie always had the instinct to play 200 feet. Carter did as well in Jr., but waned a bit at the pro level. Now, I see that Carter has finally figured it all out. No sour grapes. I love his willingness to drive to the net AND stand in front of the net. I am sure that HItch, Bake a cake, and Lavi would have loved to have him do that as a Flyer. But past is past and someone got into his head in LA. Kudos. I will still take Couturier / Jake any day of the week for him. Aside from that, there was an article I was reading out of Columbus lamenting the trail of the trades between Columbus / Philly / LA / NYR. Mostly how nearly half their team at point in time was competing on wining teams (more NYR / LA than Philly). I chuckled a bit because it was very near sited. The author does not know what they have in the fold (one bird in the bush type of thing). Yet I digress. Good on carter. Go Hawks (Toews is probably my favorite player in the league right now- ahead of Giroux).

In this instance, I would say its good. What his coach says about him re: his volunteer work with the spits, is that he was extremely astute and fit right in (knowing the system did not hurt either). Good on him and hope he has a long career in hockey. A bad story hopefully turned good.

I guess the reining champion chicago blackhawks are a small market team? They have led the league the last three years in home and road draw. LA has been between 7th - 11th. In LA, its like the analogy that how many greatful dead fans are there? Enough to sell out each show. I am torn. I like both western conference teams. The fact that there were 3 original 6 teams in the final four was impressive. I truthfully would like to see an old school original scf (chi - nyr).

Gagne never hit either, but knew how to position well and "rub" the player out. I think with carter it was his gait (skating stride) is deceiving. It looks as if he is not trying. That is number one. Number 2, the high and wide with one of the best wrist shots in the league gets old after awhile. He was a good two way player, no doubt, but always a perimeter player (gagne was as well). What I see now in him that impresses me most is not only does he get on his high horse for the full rink all the time, but he is also playing in all the hard spots of the ice. Many lament his crybaby stuff in Columbus, but Lindros did much worse, not once, but twice. I can't speak for flyer fans as a whole, or one, but for me, it sometime looked like he didn't care- ie. the game was too easy for him. Now, it looks like as if he cares and the game is still easy for him, but he pays the price more these days and gets rewarded.

Maybe so, but Therien has a ring (regardless the cast he accomplished it with). I will reiterate again, he is great during the regular season, but wilts in the playoffs. 2 gwg in 53 playoff games. Less than .5 ppg in those games and a -9. If I am a team on the bubble to make the playoffs, I sign him up to get me over the edge. If I am a team that wants to advance in the playoffs, he is not my horse, or donkey for that matter. No offense.

He is a great player during the regular season. During the post, he is ho hum (I would say the same about John Leclaire who is one of my all time fav lw). He did not play a great game. Therien thought so as well. Thats why Vanek only played 12 minutes the entire game. In that 12 minutes, 1 shot. 2 gva / 2 tka. 2 hits and 1:40 of PP time (where his lone shot came from). That surely = great player to me. Looks like he certainly rose to the occasion. I am not sure I heard his name called once to be the hero in the third, let alone try and be the hero. Overratted. Nice guy to help you get into the playoffs, but a a shadow once you get there.

Thats not the solution to the problem though. Think about it. The season begins Oct 10 ish and ends April 10ish. 7 mos of regular season basically (give or take). Then the playoffs run april 15 ish to june 15ish. 3 months. There is no way that a playoffs should be that long. Its nearly 38% of the regular season in length. There is a maximum of 28 games per team. That is 1/4 of a regular season. Seldom does it reach that, but 25% is < 38%. I could go on, just get the boys to play every other day and balance the schedule appropriately between conferences including the odd 6 pm start on the west coast and 3pm start on the east coast on the weekends and be done with it.

Add into that in 17 gp: 10 pts (5g / 5a), 4 of the points were on the powerplay. He was a -4, so of his 6 even strength points, only 2 were of significance and not negated the other way. ZERO, repeat, ZERO game winning or game tying goals. Look at his history, nice player during the regular season, turtles up in the playoffs. I am not sure that its because he plays soft because he is not physical to begin with despite his size, but we all know that in the playoffs time and space shrink enormously. His UFA stock dropped significantly IMO during this playoffs. I think you will be seeing 5.5m for him and nothing more.

That kitchen sink was minny mouses kitchen sink. What a dominate effort by the Rangers in the third. I have not seen something like that since Detroit was running circles against the Flyers in the SCF. Vanek is a nice player. For the numbers being thrown around, I think overrated. He is like the Briere antithesis. Plays well during the regular season but chokes in the playoffs.

PK has one of the worst games he's played in the playoffs- every aspect of his tool kit was b / c level. The Habs looked like boys playing against men, with exception to Tokarski. Bummer Tokarski is 3rd behind Bjudai and Price in Montreal. He looks ready for at least a back-up role in the bigs.

Couldn't agree more. It sickens me that generally the SC is won mid to late june and essentially the baseball all star game is right around the corner. Allot of the reason it runs so late now is for TV / marketing purposes. For me, there should absolutely not be more than 1 game break in any round of the SC playoffs. Between rounds, give them two game. There should be a hockey game on every single night of the playoffs, with exception to the 2 break between rounds, even then, I would think one day (as not prior round ends succinctly) would be ok. Bash ESPN all you want, but one of the best things they did well in part with the NHL was to get the scheduling right.

Freak accident and bummer. Nice to see he is able to land on his feet (no pun intended) and remain in Hockey. The article also states the Flyers first offered him a job in Player Development and Asst Coaching position of Phantoms, but the job was not behind the bench and that is where Wellwood wants to be.

I am not sure I would look at that as a failure. I would look at it as a success. Opening the door and exposing youths and giving them an opportunity to player / learn at a higher level is exactly what you want. In reading your post, while I get the lament about deterioration, I would look at it as an opportunity to expose / give even more kids a chance to play. For each elite hockey player that goes off to Prep school to play, that opens a spot for a kid that may not be as skilled / academically as good to get involved. The hard part is it takes more canvassing / promoting. The work is never done. Yet, to think it was for naught is a bit shortsighted IMO. Keep up the good work. Get more kids involved.

Sign me up as season ticket holder (love jumbo and crawldaddies). Where is Mickey Rourke when you need him???