More notes from the farm

Here is the 2008-2009 schedule for the Phantoms. They will open the season on October 10 against Bridgeport and close down the Spectrum on April 12 when the Norfolk Admirals come to town.

NHL Network just showed the '89 Wales Conference final between the Flyers and Montreal. I caught the tail end of Game 6 when Ron Hextall went axe murderer on Chris Chelios. See, kids, it's not whether you win or lose. It's how many of them you take out that counts.

Notes from the farm

Just after the Flyers announced that Craig Berube will be joining John Stevens' staff behind the Flyers bench, the Phantoms have named former Ottawa Senators boss John Paddock as the new coach. Paddock has been with the organization before, back when the Hershey Bears were the AHL affiliate. Not a bad move, especially considering this could be the last season for the Phantoms in Philly once the Spectrum is gone.

And speaking of the Spectrum, the 76ers released their new schedule for the upcoming season. In March, the Sixers will play the Chicago Bulls in the last-ever basketball game at the old barn. If it's anything like the final Flyers game, there should be tons of old Sixer players and officials present. My question is: if the Sixers can get a regular-season game, why not the Flyers? With all due respect, I'd rather see the Flyers take on someone like Boston, New York, or Pittsburgh in a game that counts rather than a preseason match against Carolina. At least let the Hurricanes wear the old Whaler jerseys to get some nostalgia back.

Get ready to feel old...

This was 20 YEARS AGO.

I remember finding out about this in the Orlando airport coming back from my family's Disney World vacation. At the time, I couldn't really understand it because at that age, things weren't supposed to change. All your friends would be back in September, all your favorite cartoon shows would come on at the same time, and your favorite athletes would be back every year with the same jerseys on. Even if Gretzky and the Oilers beat the Flyers twice in three years for the Cup, I still liked the guy, and as a result, had a decent amount of respect for Edmonton. Seeing no. 99 in that blue and white with the orange trim pretty much defined my best sports memories growing up, along with Dr. J, Mike Schmidt, and Ron Hextall. Gretzky in L.A.? Never looked right, never felt right. Of course, it wasn't the earth-shattering event for me like it was for Canadians, so I can't complain too much.

20 years ago...

Friday Flyers news

Inquirer Staff Photo Richard M. Titley


Oh, now this should be fun. It's too bad they couldn't schedule a regular season game at the old place, but this game will be fun. I think it's cool they're inviting all of the old captains back for one last hurrah. We'll get to see guys like Dave Poulin and Bobby Clarke, though I wonder what kind of reception Eric Lindros will get. Provided he doesn't hit his head or something. I know, bad joke.

Not that this was a surprise, but Flyers D Jaroslav Modry is heading back to Europe to play in the Czech league. Speaking for all O&B fans, I'd like to wish Modry safe passage back to his homeland and thank him for his, um...uh...you know what, just stay over there.

That's about it for now.

Take the shot, Ice!!!!

...that's a Top Gun reference for all you young kids out there.

I've been following this whole Mats Sundin saga, or at least trying to, and I figured it was my time to chime in. There's no denying the fact that Sundin is a guy you wouldn't mind on your team. Even at 37, he's still got enough presence down low to make a difference when it counts. I'm not saying he's going to be a 100-point player, but he's probably still good for 15 or so over 70 games. Ask any Leaf fan what he's meant to their team, and you'll get bombarded with nothing but good memories with a few negatives scattered in for balance. It's kind of like asking Flyers fans to remember Keith Primeau or even Eric Lindros. It's a shame that a player like Sundin has never been to a Stanley Cup final, so you can understand why he wants one last shot to win it. It's not like other athletes haven't done the same (see Ray Bourque in Colorado), so this shouldn't surprise anyone. Of course, if you're a Leafs fan, you wanted to see him win it in Toronto, but that ain't happening.

That being said, $20 million? Who turns down $20 million over two years? Look, I know that Vancouver isn't exactly a Cup contender and will most likely struggle to even make the playoffs. And if Sundin is really putting a Cup over money, then I commend him. But for crying out loud, make a decision! Vancouver fans must be drinking coffee like crazy trying to keep up with any news coming out of Sweden, and this emotional roller coaster is no fun for anyone, even less so when it's your team.

I really think, and this is my opinion, that Sundin was bummed Detroit didn't give him a call. If he wanted to get his shot at the Stanley Cup, the Wings were his best option. Unfortunately, Detroit either felt they didn't need him or decided to spend the money on guys like Marian Hossa. Montreal basically gave up getting him, plus the sight of Sundin in a Canadiens sweater would just be wrong. The Rangers blew their money, no one else can afford him, and now he's down to either returning to a Leafs team in rebuild mode or a mediocre Canucks team. Or he could just retire. But he needs to make a decision, or else this could drag on into the season and turn into another Forsberg-Niedermayer-Selanne affair.

For the record, my money's on Sundin returning to Toronto.

That's our boy

This didn't come as a surprise to us Flyers fans, but The Hockey News just named Flyers' coach John Stevens as the 2006-2007 NHL Coach of the Year. Citing the Flyers' remarkable turnaround and subsequent run to the Eastern Conference finals, THN's Jason Kay gave Stevens kudos for his "slick touch working with his youthful lineup". Of course, the Jack Adams award winner was Washington's Bruce Boudreau, but who cares??? HOCKEY NEWS, BABY!!!!

Speaking of that "youthful lineup", TSN has reported that right winger Joffrey Lupul has signed a four-year extension with the O&B, keeping him in Philly until 2012. This, combined with the Jeff Carter extension, means that the current Flyers set-up should be intact for quite some time.

October 11 can't get here fast enough.

Mark your calendars - 2008-09 schedule released

The good people in the NHL front office have finally graced us with the 2008-2009 NHL schedule. The major changes for this year will be that all teams play each other at least once, meaning that fans on the West coast will get a chance to see my Flyers in their barn. Plus, instead of playing each team in the division eight times, it's been pared down to six meetings. Some may think that this will hurt divisional rivalries, but I don't.

I'm not going to post the entire schedule (I do have things to do today), but I will point out some of the highlights as I see them:

Oct. 11 vs. New York Rangers - Frankly I would have liked to see us open against Pittsburgh.
Oct. 14 @ Pittsburgh - I put the over/under on Flyer penalty minutes at 60 for this game.
Dec. 26 - Jan. 6 - The Flyers' annual New Year's road trip. My buddy out in LA will be pleased to get two back-to-back games against Anaheim and the Kings.
Jan. 8 vs. Minnesota - This game will be fight-filled, believe me.
Mar. 17 @ Detroit - Talk about insult to injury. The Toronto Maple Leafs get to watch the Wings raise the Cup banner on opening night.
Any game after March 1 - This is the playoff push. As long as they can avoid another ten-game slump like last season, we should be fine.

I like this schedule format. It lessens the monotony of playing the Devils and Islanders sixteen times a year and we get teams like San Jose and Colorado coming to town (the latter made more interesting if Peter Forsberg is healthy). I don't see this team taking any step backwards from last year, so I'm thinking the top four teams in the East stay the same (Pittsburgh, Montreal, Philly, Washington) with the Devils, Rangers, Bruins, and Lightning rounding out the rest. At least I hope they don't regress. Otherwise, those last Phantom games at the Spectrum will start to look pretty good.

Just checking in...

I think this is the first time in a while that I've really missed hockey. Usually, once the Flyers season ends in playoff misery, I and everyone else in Philly turn our attention to the Phils and the upcoming Eagles preseason. This year, however, has been different. I guess maybe it's because I devoted this blog to the Flyers and I really have nothing to write about once the Cup finals are done. Or it could be that we were so close last season that I want next season to hurry up and get here. Or it could be that I'm just really bored. Eh, who knows.

Since the Flyers didn't have the cap space necessary to go after the big-name free agents, no major players are coming to South Philly this summer. Unless Paul Holmgren pulls off a big trade, that is. And I'm fine with that. To be honest, this off-season has been just a notch short of insane. Seriously, $22 million for Cristobal Huet? $14 million for Jeff Finger??? WHO THE HELL IS JEFF FINGER??? I'm really glad the NHL and the NHLPA took the time during the lockout to impose a salary cap and all, otherwise we may see players like Mark Streit get $20 million or some outrageous number like that! Can you imagine? Oh, hang on...

Anyway, I'm glad Holmgren was able to get Jeff Carter, Riley Cote, and Randy Jones settled into their new contracts. Ossi Vaananen should be a decent top-6 defenseman, and I really like picking up Aaron Asham, 'cause that guy can throw down. Plus, apparently he's always wanted to play here, and we aim to please. I think training camp doesn't begin until late August (the Eagles start up in ten days, just in case you haven't been listening to Philly sports talk radio for the past seven months), so hopefully I'll have something more of substance to post later.

Go Soul.

Meet the new Flyers

Right, now that I've got a little free time, it's time to recap the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The most glaring need for the Flyers going into next season was on defense, so naturally Paul Holmgren and co. decided to look in that general direction. Along the way, we picked up a couple of goalie prospects and a center, not to mention trading for Caps blue-liner Steve Eminger. Apparently, we did Steve a favor by getting him out of DC. Anyway, here are the newest Flyers:

1. Luca Sbisa, D - 6'2", 190, Lethbridge (WHL)
2. Marc-Andre Bourdon, D - 6'0", 206, Rouyn-Noranda (QJMHL)
3. Jacob DeSerres, G - 6'2", 195, Seattle (WHL)
4. Zac Rinaldo, C - 5'11", 169, Mississauga St. Michael's (OHL)
5. Joacim Eriksson, G - 6'1", 189, Brynas Jr. (Sweden Juniors)

I wouldn't expect to see any of these guys wearing orange and black for at least three years, if that. Holmgren and John Stevens are true believers in allowing young players to fully develop in the minors before getting thrown into the mix. Sbisa would be the logical choice to be the first one called up to the NHL, especially if Derian Hatcher decides to call it quits. The one major worry I have is that these guys aren't exactly big. Granted, six feet and two hundred pounds is nothing to sneeze at, but there's no one here that can be called intimidating. I hope that the organization isn't leaning to far towards the mobile puck-moving defenseman and too far away from the big, knock-you-on-your-butt bruiser we've been known to have around.

Rumor out of South Philly is that the Flyers are close to re-signing both Riley Cote and Jeff Carter. It sounds like Carter's deal is just waiting for a final dollar amount. I'm hoping this goes OK because I don't want this dragging on past July 1, when another GM can raise Carter's asking price knowing that we're pressed as far as the cap is concerned. There has been talk on message boards that Philly is looking at veteran D-men such as Brian Campbell, Mark Streit, and John-Michael Liles, but that all depends on how much cash Holmgren has to work with. Campbell's going to want a lot of money, plus I think we're done raiding the Buffalo Sabres for their best players.

Now that the draft is over and Pierre Mcguire can stop gushing over EVERY SINGLE PICK THAT EVERY TEAM MADE (Seriously, how can you like all 211 players?), we now get a bit of a break until the silly season kicks off on the 1st. The cap is projected to be around $56 million, so we've got some wiggle room, but not much.

Draft Day!!!!

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

Hey folks, how we doin'?

Finally, the 2008 NHL Draft gets underway today in Ottawa. The Flyers have the 27th pick in the first round, so unless they make a trade or two, I don't expect them to pick until 9:30 or so. Not that the Flyers haven't been busy this offseason. First came the announcement of Sami Kapanen's retirement (so long, Sammy). Rumor has it that he didn't like the fact that the team wanted to go younger. Oh well. Then we traded Ryan Potulny, who couldn't get a spot on the team since we're loaded with centers, to Edmonton. And on Wednesday, we shipped Vinnie Prospal back to Tampa for the Lightning's 7th round pick this weekend and a conditional pick next year.

As far as the potential free agents are concerned, it looks like Jeff Carter will be here for some time, at least according to both John Stevens and Paul Holmgren. R.J. Umberger's name just came up on TSN regarding a possible trade with Columbus, so the jury's out on him. UPDATE - Umberger's just been traded to the Blue Jackets along with our 4th round pick for Columbus's 1st round pick (19th overall) and their 3rd round pick.

So now we have two 1st round picks...

8:28 - Wayne Gretzky steps to the podium and gets a standing O. Poor Gary Bettman probably thought it was for him.

Do the NY Islanders WANT a draft pick this year???

8:36 - And the Isles finally make a pick. No doubt he'll be signed to a 40-year contract.

9:41 - Flyers draft D Luca Sbisa (Lethbridge, WHL).

Holmgren decides to go with defense with our first pick. According to his bio, Sbisa's a puck-moving defenseman who needs to toughen up a bit for the North American game. He better toughen up if he wants to make it on the Flyers' roster. I guess this means that we've reached the end for Derian Hatcher in Philly.

10:16 - The Devils, who traded down to get this pick, draft Mattias Tedenby from HV 71 in Sweden. I figured I'd keep track of what the rest of the Atlantic Division is doing tonight (I missed the Rangers' pick 'cause I was getting some coffee). We've got the 27th pick, which is the final pick for our division. The Pens don't pick until the 4th round, or early Monday morning the way this draft is going.

10:35 - Flyers trade pick #27 to Washington for D Steve Eminger and 84th overall pick

Pierre McGuire on TSN is saying that Eminger wanted out of DC, so this sounds like a good move. No doubt Flyers fans wanted either John Carlson or Jakob Markstrom...

11:00 - That's it for the first round. Still a lot of good talent on the board, but unless the Flyers can move back into the 2nd round, most of it may be gone by the time we select at 67th. From what was done tonight, the Flyers wanted to solidify the blue line, and they may have done it with Sbisa and Eminger. Now just get a good goalie prospect and I'll be happy.

D'oh!!!

OK, I've been saying that the NHL Draft is on June 12th now for about three weeks. My apologies for the brain fart. The draft is on June 20th. The NHL Awards Ceremony is on June 12th. Please make a note in your calendars. Thank you.

Congratulations to...

(Photo: The Canadian Press)

...these guys.

Yup, for the 11th time and fourth since 1997, the Detroit Red Wings are the Stanley Cup champions after defeating Pittsburgh 3-2 in Game 6. They should have won it on Monday, but the Pens won a triple-overtime marathon after Petr Sykora called his shot and won the game (which was pretty cool, by the way). Congrats to the Wings on a great season. And Pittsburgh, of course.

In Flyers news, Sami Kapanen has finally decided to call it quits after 12 seasons. He retired on Monday and reportedly signed with a Finnish team, though I'm not sure which one. Anyway, we'll miss you Sami, especially your heroics in the 2004 playoffs after nearly getting killed by Darcy Tucker in Toronto which led to Jeremy Roenick's OT game-winner. This should free up about $2M in salary, money the Flyers can use to re-sign Jeff Carter.

Although tonight officially marks the end of the 2007-08 season, the 2008-09 season gets underway in about a week with the NHL Draft in Ottawa, followed by the start of free agency in July. That should satisfy my hockey needs for a while, plus I got the Phillies (who are playing ridiculous right now) and the European Championship kicking off this weekend (my money's on the Germans), so I got my sports fix covered.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are now officially on the clock...