Subban??

Okay, so another trade rumor post, mainly because they're fun to speculate about.  The Flyers had a lousy opening weekend, and generally look discombobulated, but I'll refrain from comment until they get another game or two in.

As for P.K. Subban, there may be an opportunity here.  Bob McKenzie reports that the sides are still nowhere close on the holdout RFA.  The Habs apparently are offering a shorter term at $2.75m.  No wonder talks are going nowhere.  Undoubtedly, Subban is looking for something in the ballpark of what other highly-rated young RFA defensemen got; Myers - 7x$5.5, Carlson - 6x$3.96, Hedman - 5x$4, Staal - 5x$3.975.  He'll demand at least 4 years and $4 million.

As for Subban's game, I think he's a very talented player.  I remember the first time I saw him play his rookie year against the Flyers, I didn't know who he was, and I thought to myself, "woah, who is that guy for Montreal!?"  Fast, aggressive, skilled, physical; a very exciting player.  He's been pretty productive in his short NHL career, but he has rubbed some the wrong way with disrespectful behavior, including a notable spat with Mike Richards.  With guys like this, you take the good with the bad.  If you believe that his attitude is an issue, that just lessens what you pay him (or for him), but shouldn't exclude him from consideration.

Even with Montreal getting nowhere on contract talks, he will be very difficult to pry away.  Quite frankly, the Flyers have very few assets to trade, and Montreal probably would insist on getting Schenn or Couturier.   The Flyers current roster needs Schenn, and I personally think Couturier is the Flyers best prospect since Lindros.  Similar to their pursuit of Weber, I'd continue to draw the line at including Schenn or Cooter in a trade.  After you remove those two guys, you're looking at an ad hoc package of high draft picks and prospects.  Would Montreal have any interest in Laughton of Gostisbehere?  They are the only 2 Flyers prospects of note, and even then they're not exactly hot properties.

The Flyers usually sniff around any time a talented player becomes available, and I would certainly see if an opportunistic deal could be made.  I think it's all a long shot, as Montreal doesn't really want to trade him and his contract demands are uncertain, but I think his abilities are exciting enough to earn a look.  He'd be a real shot in the arm to the Flyers defense corps, no doubt.

Stop and Smell the Roses - 11/23

-For the second game in a row, the Flyers had a truly awful first period. Not a recipe for success, but pretty impressive that they got 4 points out of such games, which came against 2 of the best teams in the conference.

-It took the Flyers 68 shots, and a 21 shot period, to finally score on Carey Price this season. I'll say it now--I'm a big believer in this guy, and predict he will be one of the best goalies of his generation. I'm not an avid WJC watcher, but from what I have seen, he is hands-down the best goalie I've seen at that level. No matter how good the chance, he's always one step ahead and everything seems to hit him in the chest. Perhaps things have clicked for him at the NHL level (after some admittedly worrying concerns about work ethic the last 2 years).

-Speaking of clicking, things seems to have clicked for Nodl; he is skating hard, playing with confidence, and *gulp*, scoring goals. Good to see from a player who's excellent defensively and was a high end scorer in college and a 2nd round pick.

-As for JVR, after being benched for a few games, he finally got a goal last night. He's been buzzing around the offensive zone the last few games, hitting a few posts before scoring. I don't think he's found his identity in the NHL yet, but I would suspect he'll carry on that strong play for several more games, at least.

Sometimes young players have to hit a low early in their NHL career and they come back with a vengeance. This happened with Mike Richards, who hit a big dry spell in his second season, missed nearly 2 months with a hernia, and has pretty much been a point/game guy since returning from that injury. Here, I made a graph, because graphs are awesome, showing the rather dramatic turnaround for Richards after hitting his lowpoint, then things 'click' for him.

Is it worth mentioning that Richards and JVR had nearly identical points/game their rookie seasons? 11g 23a is 79gp for Richards, 15g, 20a in 78gp for JVR.

-Boucher is nothing more than a streaky backup goalie at this point, but man his low glove side stinks.

-As expected, nothing came off the Richards-Subban "controversy" last night.