Monthly Post Recap

In the month of September, I wrote the following pieces over at Broad Street Buzz about the Flyers.

• Steve Mason Can't Get No Respect
• AHL the Best Place for Ghost...For Now
• Flyers Bounce-Back Players and What to Expect
• Figuring Out the Schenn Brothers Future in Philadelphia
• 3 Gagne Playoff Highlights to Remembers as he Retires
• The Top 20 Flyers Nicknames and Slogans

Also, I'm still doing a Flyers flipboard magazine of news links.  It's here.

What's Hot, What's Not

Today I'm going to pretend I'm a 90s supermarket tabloid, and quickly cover many subjects in a peurile hot list.

What's Hot:  Jake Voracek.  Everyone has taken note of his recent points explosion and NHL player of the week award, though he's been the Flyers best player for a few weeks now.  His season reminds me of Hartnell last year; started out pretty rough (0 goals and 2 assists in his first 7 games) and fans called him out before having a torrid stretch for a few games.  Hartnell played that out into a full season of excellence scoring at the rate of a goal every other game the rest of the season.  Similarly, Voracek showed up for the season overweight, and started out with only 3 points in 8 games, but has 18 points in 13 games since.  Voracek has always been a hardworker on the ice during games, but I think there was some perception in Columbus that his off-ice habits weren't the best.  Either way, hopefully this is a true career turning point and Voracek becomes a point a game player, which I wasn't sure would ever happen.

What's Not:  Ilya Bryzgalov.  He started out great, but has been slowly but steadily slipping.  He's played an absurd amount of games, and his game is showing cracks.  He's fighting in there, but he's increasingly sloppy in angles and is leaking stoppable goals.  Too bad the Flyers back-ups don't offer much relief.

What's Hot:  The Flyers first PP unit.  This unit is moving the puck with confidence and scoring goals.  When the Flyers win, it's usually because this unit has come up with key goals.

What's Not:  The Flyers second PP unit.  These guys are still pretty hopeless.

What's Hot:  Brayden Schenn.  I won't say he's been tearing it up with irresistible play, but his 15 points in 14 February games almost matches his 18 for the entirety of last season.  That's progress.

What's Not:  Trading for veterans or rentals.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, the Flyers this year are not a great team, and they are not a player away from being a cup contender.  This doesn't rule out all trades, but trading youth and picks for veteran rentals is not wise.  Holmgren, apparently, can't help himself from trading away draft picks, and he re-acquired Simon Gagne yesterday for a 4th round pick (a 3rd rounder if Flyers make the playoffs, which I'm sure Holmgren is planning to do).  Mind you, Gagne is a pretty old and fragile 33, only playing 34 games for the Kings last year and has been a healthy scratch their last 4 games.  He's still got speed and smarts, but he doesn't go to scoring areas anymore.  I suspect the Flyers will put him on the 2nd PP unit mentioned above and let him try to snipe a few though.


The trade winds are blowing around the Flyers for sure.  I just hope Homer doesn't lose his head and trade for a rental.  If it's a restructuring trade for a young defensemen, I would give up some quality as it suits both long and short term needs.  If it's trading for an aging UFA to-be to squeeze a little more out of this year's squad, that is misguided.  Briere rumors have started, and that could make sense as he's not been a big regular season performer for the Flyers, but he has been absolutely money in the playoffs, and he's only owed $5 million in real dollars over the next two seasons.  That should interest other teams.  Trading Couturier on the hand (who I'm sure other teams will ask for) will give me shit-fits, although I'll allow an exception if it's for a young defensemen who projects as a top pair guy.

Until then, look for the Flyers to scrape out wins on the backs of Voracek, their PP and Bryzgalov.  If any one of those factors takes the night off, it's probably not going to be a good night for the Flyers.

No Disrespect

Apparently some people think the above goal was "disrespectful."

• "A ... joke," left wing Ryan Malone said.

• Asked if it was disrespectful, defenseman Mattias Ohlund said, "Absolutely."

• "It's embarrassing for him," Ellis said. "You come into a league, a respectful league like this, and you try a little move like that. It's not a very classy thing. That's just the kind of person he is."

• Completely unprompted, left wing Simon Gagne said the move showed disrespect for an opponent. "I think it was a little bit overboard," Gagne said. "It's okay, you make a nice move if you want to, you're allowed to do it, but you don't need to do those little things before. It's a line that you're not allowed to cross, and he did it on this one." Coach Guy Boucher, who declined to comment on Omark's spin-o-rama move at the blue line as he skated toward goalie Dan Ellis, said Saturday, "I didn't lose any sleep over it. He's not my player. But the players were (mad) on the bench even before the goal. You could see them, 'What the (bleep).' " Asked if Omark, 23, in his first NHL game, showed disrespect toward the Lightning, Gagne said, "A little bit. You don't need to do that spin-o-rama. You come into the league, it's your first game. It's not something a guy who has been in the league 10 years would do. You don't see a guy like Sidney Crosby doing that."

I'm not sure I get it. If the game is settled and a guy is dicking around like that, yeah, it's poor sportsmanship. But the game was on the line here--this was a game winning goal. The only person risking looking like an idiot is the shooter himself if he were to lose that puck. It's impossible to say whether that little spin-o-rama at center ice did anything to throw off the goalie, but it was a game winning play, and the theatrics were before shooting.

The shootout is a contrived skill competition in the first place anyway. If you want to stop his disrepect, stop his freaking shot, then complain. If you do that, you'll have the last laugh anyway by winning and the guy making the move will look like doubly stupid with his ridiculous moves. Chances are, in that case, his own teammates will be the ones pissed at him.