Draft round-up

Alright, the draft is finally over. I really like how the NHL can blow through six whole draft rounds in about four hours, unlike the NFL who don't finish their draft until the first week of May. Besides the Flyers trading for Pronger, probably the biggest move was Florida trading the rights for Jay Bouwmeester to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and the 67th overall pick. Mind you, they traded the rights to Bouwmeester, which means Calgary has won the chance to talk to him, it's not like he's on the team yet.

Recapping the Flyers draft, let's see what we got here:

1. Adam Morrison, G, Saskatoon (WHL) - He's big, he's young, and he's got talent, so this could be the start of the rebuilding process in goal. However, he's only 18, so I would expect him to stay in Saskatoon for a while.
2. Simon Bertilsson, D, Brynas (Swedish Elite) - Don't know too much about him. I haven't been following up on my Swedish Elite League recently, so I apologize. Add him to the list of Scandinavian defensemen on the club.
3. Nicola Riopel, G, Moncton (QMJHL) - He was the MVP of a league that produced Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur. I'm happy.
4. Dave Labrecque, C, Shawinigan (QMJHL) - Another young kid, but looking at his stats from last season (13G, 48A, 61P, +23), he's more of a setup center than a scoring center. It would be interesting to see his stats on the power play. I'll have to look that up.
5. Eric Wellwood, LW, Windsor (OHL) - He won the Memorial Cup this year with the Spitfires (quite possibly one of the coolest team names in hockey).
6. Oliver Lauridsen, D, St. Cloud State (WCHA) - And yet another Scandinavian defenseman! He's Danish, he's 6'6", and he just got drafted to a city with cheap beer. No problems with this pick.

So there you have it. I would expect Morrison and Riopel to be the focus of this draft group, especially if the Flyers keep the tradition of paying as little money as possible on the goalie. There's no question they have to do better managing the salary cap in the upcoming seasons, which is why I still think they're going to deal Briere before training camp starts. It's just a matter of who can take him.

2009 NHL Draft live blog...

Well, this is it. The Draft will be starting in Montreal in about five minutes. I'll be keeping up to date with it, but mostly focusing on what the Flyers and the other Atlantic teams do. According to Bob McKenzie on TSN, the Islanders may or may not take John Tavares with their first pick. It sounds like they may be leaning towards Victor Hedman. Of course, this could just be Brian Burke starting trouble, so who knows?

The Flyers have the 21st pick...

7:04 - Darren Dreger on TSN just reported that the Flyers have traded for Anaheim D Chris Pronger. THAT'S out of left field. I'll have to see if this one's legit.

7:13 - At this point, I think Gary Bettman would get booed by his own mother.

7:17 - With the 1st pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, the New York Islanders select...John Tavares. Welcome to the 21st century, Long Island.

7:22 - ESPN (I know, it's ESPN, so it's suspect) is reporting that the Flyers gave up Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa and some picks for Chris Pronger. If that's the case, then this may be the biggest move the Flyers make all weekend. Not too crazy about giving up Sbisa, I thought he could be someone we could build the blueline around. I'm also thinking there's going to be some more moves to shift some salary.

7:36 - OK, so it's Pronger and some dude named Ryan Dingle for Lupul, Sbisa, the 21st pick this year, our 1st next year, and a third round pick in either 2010 or 2011.

Seeing as how the Flyers aren't picking for a while now, I can hold off until the second round. Or until the Flyers trade Daniel Briere. Seriously, Pronger's owed $6.25 million next year. There's no way we can afford him unless Holmgren moves one of those big contracts.

Some Flyers musings...

Hi. Couple of points to highlight, then I'll let you get back to whatever you're doing.

- It looks like New Year's Day will be more than just drunk Mummers and watching Penn State lose. According to a multitude of sources, the NHL Winter Classic will be the Flyers against the Boston Bruins in Fenway Park. I'm psyched for this one. I know a lot of people (me included) wanted to see the Flyers play the Penguins at Beaver Stadium, but Penn State wasn't budging. Plus, the Pens already had their shot. And yes, Boston vs. Montreal makes more sense from a rivalry standpoint. But hey, no complaints here.

- The NHL Draft is Friday, and I have no idea who the Flyers will take. There aren't any goaltender prospects in the first round, so no dice there. I'm hoping they go with a stay-at-home defenseman, especially if Jay Bouwmeester's asking price is too high. I still think we need to get out of one of those big contracts (Briere's would be ideal, though apparently he turned down the idea of going to Montreal) to get more wiggle room under the cap.

- And finally, I know I don't mention soccer a lot on this blog, but big ups to the U.S. for beating Spain 2-0 in South Africa today. This will go down as perhaps our biggest upset since beating Brazil in the Gold Cup a few years ago. Heck, if we can do this consistently, we might even win something in my lifetime.

It actually pains me to type this...

The Pittsburgh Penguins are the 2009 Stanley Cup champions.

God I feel ill.

One bright note - this does mean that since October of last year, the state of Pennsylvania can now lay claim to the World Series, Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, a Rose Bowl finalist and a Final Four participant. Oh, and the Calder Cup (nice job, Hershey).

Still...I'm not even going to link to it for fear of seeing Sidney Crosby with the Cup. Be back for the draft or sooner if the judge in Phoenix rules on the Hamilton Phoenix Coyotes.