The Hockey Thread

[warwick.hoy]

Coulterier extends his goal scoring streak to 5 games.

Atta Boy Coots.

Flyers dismantled the Wild,...but that's not hard to do against a team as banged up as the Wild and who are the 29th ranked team in terms of offense.

(PS,...there are 30 teams in the NHL)

[proroby]

They also haven't won on the road in over a month. Hartnell playing like he's pissed he got snubbed.

[Haki]

Streak is still going. Jason Blake is actually putting up points again, hopefully they can turn him into something at deadline day (and not resign him). Wouldn't mind them trading Lydman either. As for Koivu and Selanne, both have NTC's so they'd have to be willing, but if they can get a decent return it certainly would make sense to move them. Still keeping my fingers crossed that they're not moving Bobby Ryan, though that seems more like a draft day deal than trade deadline deal ...

They extended Francois Beauchemin; 3 years at 3.5m per, not a bad contract considering he's been their best D-man this season.

[warwick.hoy]

Man; Flyers D is their Achilles heal. No spoiler for the NJD game as I haven't seen it yet,...but I watched the Isles game. How many fucking times can they hang their goaltenders out to dry in one game. At this point I'm afraid that these guys are a one and done team for the Playoffs. Deadline is looming,...we have a log jam at the forward position, HOMER you need to pick up a shut down defencemen,...Timo, Coburn and Carle can't do everything out there.

[Haki]

Who besides JVR would you want moved to get you that D?

[warwick.hoy]

Currently JVR is damaged goods with his concussion so I think that's out of the question.

As much as it pains me to say,....Danny Briere but I'm not sure what he is worth to another GM,....and I really like the guy and what he has done for the Flyers the past couple of seasons. Not sure how his NTC looks and I think he got a 6 year deal in Philly and we are probably only in our 4th season with him.

There could be some worthwhile prospects as the cupboard seems well stocked, but in all honesty I don't pay much attention to the up and comers.

What I do know is that while Bourdon and Gustafson will blossom into solid Blueliners (I'm giving Gus the edge over Bourdon but they are seemingly two different styles of D men), but for right now,....just ugh. Give aways and blown coverage are killing them.

I feel like the Flyers team toughness is lacking too. They are getting pushed around and no one seems willing to push back.

In fairness to the forwards,....in the Isles game,...Nabakov was frustrating, and the Isles' D isn't full of holes. Direct 40 shots and hit the net and some of them are bound to go in,....just didn't happen. Too many blown opportunities on the PP and the shot accuracy is lacking too. I thought we dumped Mr High and Wide Carter in the off season.

[Haki]

Didn't find anything to suggest that Briere has something other than a full on NMC. He does have 3 years left under contract, where he'll make 7m next season, but only 3m and 2m after that. So a budget team like the Predators could fit, or one of those cap floor teams. Bit of a long shot Briere would waive to go there, but Campbell did to go to Florida so who knows at this point.

Should not read until you watched the Devils game.

NSFW: show

Looks like Briere got a concussion, I'll stop asking you which players should be moved since they're being taken out.

[warwick.hoy]

Jagr has got some groin issues too looks like. Rinaldo also out. At this point there really is no trade bait,...maybe a pick and a prospect. But this Flyers team is really dinged up and still in the mix. I should give credit where credit is due,...the Flyers have played really well in the face of adversity. Ideally I'd like to see them string some wins together,...but the fact that they haven't lost more than 3 in a row in this season I think is pretty impressive.

My gripe about Vorececk High and Wide is tempered by how well he protects the puck. He's a smart player for sure and strikes me as being a solid setup guy. He would be the only quality player (by which I mean,...2nd or 3rd line forward) I could see dealing,...but I'd rather see the Flyers hang on to him. I was hoping that Blair Betts would make a return but he must have suffered a setback. He is an underrated defensive forward IMO and would be a welcome return but it looks like that knee is still nagging.

Bryz looked better. Not elite as he is touted but hopefully he is gaining some confidence which would be excellent for him to do heading down the stretch.

The PHI@NJD was a good hard working game by both teams. Special teams and Hartnell I think were the deciding factor. Honorable mention to Bryz for sure.

All Star Break coming up at the end of this week. Not that I givashit about the ASG. Although Hartnell got snubbed,....I think he does deserve to be there and he may get an opportunity if some of the other forwards drop out for whatever reason.

[Haki]

Agreed on Betts, solid enough defensively to be useful. Voracek is young enough to hope for improvement and his numbers aren't too great so it should be a cap friendly contract. Not the kind of guy you'd give up for a rental player, unless it's either Suter or Weber and you're confident you can extend.

I don't get the ASG. Who actually likes it? It's even worse than a pre-season game. Players don't seem particularly interested in it either, unless they get snubbed and are upset. That said, I watched that fantasy draft thing they did last year and it was entertaining enough to sit through.

[RR Bigman]

Glad to see the pens getting a second wind...11th overall, but I'll take it considering all the injuries and the Crosby fiasco.

[wsas3]

Watching the Rangers game against Winnipeg, Callahan's goal spurred me to bid on this bad boy:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&&item=250976557643

[warwick.hoy]

Can't really tell cause I'm on my phone but watch out for fakes on ebay

[Haki]

Bump for Trade Disappointment Day approaching. Hoy's Flyers picked up Kubina and Grossman for picks which they had spares of anyways.

The Ducks have gone on a bit of a streak and have an outside shot at the play-offs again. If anything it seems to have quieted the Bobby Ryan trade rumours a bit. Which is good, he's on pace for his 4th consecutive 30 goal season, a power forward type and he's only 24. It's not like the Ducks are deep at forward, even less so next year, when, I assume, Koivu and Selanne won't be around.

[warwick.hoy]

I was falling behind in the games a bit. The regular Flyers capper found a social life and stopped uploading games,...so often times I have to wait until the next day to see the action. It's kinda hard around trade deadline time since I want to know these things but don't want to see any spoilers.

Flyers are still having goalie woes. I fear we will have to wait until next season to see Bryz reach the status that he is touted as. I don't want to talk about the Pens @ Flyers game from this past Saturday,...another "4 point" game lost and done so in a pathetic fashion. 2SH goals one of which with the 2 man advantage really? I'm not placing blame on those entirely on the goalies,...but from my house they were soft goals that an "elite" goaltender would have made.

Homer did seem to try and do something about the D.

I know nothing of Grossman.

I've always thought highly of Pavel Kubina but he is getting a little long in the tooth. Either way the Flyers got both these guys for a bag of pucks which is good considering they are likely rental players (Grossman is a Free Agent at the end of the year and Kubina is getting up there in age). Having options on the D is nice though,...so hopefully they settle the blueline down and maybe start clearing the porch and taking the heat of Bryz and Bob.

The Flyers @ Jets game is worth checking out if you have the opportunity Haki.

[colin]

I've been away from this thread for far too long, my apologies.

As the resident Canucks fan, it's been shocking to me that they had their first regulation loss in 13 (?) games last night, as they've honestly played like shit recently. The Sedins have been mostly invisible, Kesler tries to do everything himself, and our d-men have been very undependable in their own zone. And how the hell is our power play still first in the league? it's been useless for at least a month now. Really if it wasn't for the play of Luongo and Schneider in net they easily could have lost at least half of those games during the streak.

Local sports radio and newspapers have of course been awash with trade rumours, but I doubt Gillis is going to do much. When he made the trade for Booth and Reinprech early in the season Gillis said that would be about it, and that will probably hold up. Sure we could use a top six forward since Mason Raymond always peels off at the hash marks and does fuck all, and we could really use another d-man (Aucoin or Bryan Allen maybe) but there is no way that Gilllis is trading Schneider or Hodgson.