Flyers Enter 2008 Exhibition Schedule

The Flyers started training camp last weekend and even had their 1st preseason game last night. I didn't watch it, because it wasn't on TV, but the Flyers did attempt to webcast it.

For whatever reason, I couldn't get it to work, but I applaud the idea and hope they can get the kinks worked out of televising NHL games over the internet.

Just off of the top of my head, here are 10 storylines to monitor as the Flyers progress through their camp and preseason schedule:

1.) How will Simon Gagne play as he gets back into the grind of the NHL schedule? Will he play tentatively, or will he come back as the 40+ goal scorer we've seen in the past?

2.) How will Mike Richards adjust to the burden of the captaincy?

3.) Will Jeff Carter earn his new contract? You can argue he is slightly overpaid right now, but might be a bargain by year 3 of his deal if his upside is what everyone believes it to be.

4.) Which young Flyer prospect will make the team out of camp? Steve Downie or Claude Giroux?

5.) Can Scott Upshall stay out of John Stevens' doghouse?

6.) Of the gaggle of defensemen that GM Paul Holmgren acquired during the off-season, which ones will make the team?

7.) Can Braydon Coburn build off of his success from last year?

8.) Which goaltender is Martin Biron? The one benched in favor of Antero Niittymaki during stretches of the regular season or the one that practically stole a playoff series from Montreal all by himself?

9.) How much will the Flyers miss assistant coach Terry Murray, who did a great job with the defensemen last year? Murray has moved on to become head coach of the LA Kings.

10.) This team could very easily have missed the playoffs last year and it would have probably resulted in John Stevens' firing. If the Flyers struggle in the first half of the year, will the Flyers fire Stevens?

One more important item: Tim Panaccio, formerly the Flyers beat writer for the Inquirer, is now blogging over at HockeyBuzz.com. According to what I read over there, Panaccio took a buyout from the Inky. Panaccio was always one of my favorite writers (even when he covered the Eagles beat for the Inky), so I'll look forward to checking out his work over at HockeyBuzz.

Back from Vacation

- Back from a brief respite downashore. Did manage to mess my back up pretty good on Saturday afternoon playing on the beach with my son, and that pretty much prevented me from posting on Sunday or yesterday despite having every intention of doing so.

- Is it OK yet to panic on the Phils? Dropping 3 of 4 to the Mets, at home, over the weekend should not put any Phils fan in a good mood, no matter how hard they came back in a couple of those games. The All-Star break cannot get here fast enough for this team.

- Great move signing Brad Lidge to the 3-year extension. This means Brett Myers' days as a closer are D-O-N-E. You're a starter, Brett. Start acting like one.

- I'm happy that Paul Holmgren received a 3 year contact extension yesterday, but does anyone else believe he hasn't adequately addressed the Flyers' problems on the blueline? We're OK with Steve Eminger and Ossi Vaananen as top 6 defensemen? Really?

- If you grew up in the Delaware Valley during the 80's like I did, you remember the Brigantine Castle, right? And those commercials? Found one on YouTube over the weekend:

Carter Gets Paid

Flyers center Jeff Carter has been signed to a contract that the Flyers website is unwilling to discuss. Matt from the 700Level, quoting TSN, says he's getting 3 years at $5 Million per, which seems OK for a guy who has been, frankly, a bit inconsistent, but when he's on, he's an elite player.

Fact is, I'm not really sure what kind of player Carter will turn into. Usually, a center is a player who sets up other players and is typically the strongest defensive player on a particular line. Can you say these things about Jeff Carter? He's certainly a different type of center, with a transcedent shot when he uses it and improved puck skills. But you couldn't call him an elite passer. Remember: the Flyer got Kyle Calder because they thought he'd blend in well with Carter. How'd that work out? I'm glad they signed him, especially after watching the absolute tear he went on after Richards got hurt last year, but you wonder what type of player he'll become.

Still and all, the right thing to do by Paul Holmgren. If Carter doesn't pan out as a consistent top 6 forward, it's only a 3-year deal. If he does, well, then hopefully the cap is high enough to deal with it.

Big Flyers Game Tonite (and other hockey stuff)

- Habs coach Guy Carbonneau hasn't announced a starter, but I'd be stunned if it weren't Carey Price. The Habs made their bed with Carey Price when they traded Cristobal Huet for a virtual bag of peanuts.

- "Obi-wan" Knuble should be back in the lineup for the Fly-boys tonite. I wouldn't put him back on Carter's line right away, but I think he's definitely been missed on the power play.

- We haven't seen the best game from either of these two teams yet. Need the Flyers to assert themselves offensively and stay out of the penalty box. Saw on Bill Meltzer's pre-game report on Hockeybuzz.com that respected veteran official Bill McCreary will be on hand tonite officiating the game. I wonder if that assignment has anything to do with the Flyers carping in the press about the officiating. From Mike Richards on anti-Flyer bias from officials:

“We know the circumstances we're in,” he said. “We know if we go into a scrum, the odds are we're not going to come out on top of it. We just have to know that and get out of there. That's the mindset we have; we can't take that extra jab ... we'll get called for it.”

- File this under "I totally saw this coming".....Former Flyer Joni Pitkanen, pending restricted free agent, is apparently looking for WAAAY more money than he's currently worth. Sorry, Flyer-bashers.....Paul Holmgren will be vindicated for this deal (if the play of Joffrey Lupul hasn't done so already). I wonder if the light will ever go on for Joni. For a stark comparison on Joni's play, one only needs to look at the way fellow countrymen Kimmo Timonen and Lasse Kukkonen play....both play with passion and grit....two things sorely lacking in Pitkanen's game when he was in Philly. The sad thing is that Pitkanen has more raw talent than both of them.

Flyers' Jason Smith: Cockeyed Optimist

"We're going to get into the playoffs and we're going to be a hard team to play against." - Jason Smith - 3/18 Courier-Post

So sayeth the current captain of the Philadelphia Flyers. I'm not terribly sure where he gets his optimism. After all, this team is 8 - 17 sinces the All-Star break and has only won 5 of their last 21 games. That is hardly enough to engender enthusiasm headed down the stretch.

Their latest shitting of the bed, a 7-1 loss to the Crosby-less Penguins, had GM Paul Holmgren openly questioning the preparation of coach John Stevens.

"This time of year, it [falls] on the coaches, and it's got to come down to the players themselves," he said. "They're the ones who are going out there and playing. We're all in this together. We haven't done very well here lately. . .
We're not getting the push we need to put us over the hump right now, for
whatever reason." -- Paul Holmgren (Yesterday's Inky)

Now, while Tim Panaccio checks in today to let us know not to expect John Stevens to be fired right this second, I do believe that if the Flyers don't make the playoffs this year, I think Stevens will be gone.

I'm not so sure he shouldn't be gone anyway. This team looks suspiciously like the 2001-2002 Flyers, who, under Bill Barber (who coached Stevens when Stevens was a player on the Phantoms) won the Atlantic Division, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to a much faster (and better prepared) Ottawa team. The similiarities with this edition of the Flyers lie not so much with the lockerroom discord that was going on at the time, but with the style of play the two teams employ. Barber's team did not seem to have any sort of a system (and those players openly rebelled after the season) and this team seems to be the same way. What does this team do well? Are they tenacious forecheckers who score off of the cycle and thrive on puck possession or are they dashers and flashers who score off of the line rush?

Perhaps this team would do better to go with a more system oriented coach who can take the talent they do have and mold a system around it. Their power play has been highly ranked all season; they clearly have offensive skill players. Why that success doesn't translate into consistent 5-on-5 play is beyond me.

The Flyers' playoff death march continues this evening at home against Atlanta.