I can live with moving Hartnell or Carle to make room for Bryz at no more than 5.5 million per year. I wouldn't have made this move but nobody can argue that he is certainly an upgrade. 

I really like Bob and think he can be the goalie of the future but I also really liked Boosh and really liked Esche and really liked Nitty after there 1st year in a Flyers uniform as well. Goalies are hard to predict and Brzy is probably one of those rare "sure things" in net just entering his prime goalie age. 

But back to freeing up space.

Options: Hartnell, Carle and Carter (I am crossing out Carter because I don't see that as a viable option and I won't bother with it)

Moving Hartnell is my preference he frees up more space compared to Carle and the STUPID penalties are killing me. I think it is easier to replace Hartnell who plays on the a sheltered offensive line with easy assignments with a AHL guy than it would be to replace Carle who gets tough minutes. The downside of moving Hartnell is the NTC which is probably relegate this move to a Gagne esque salary dump. Hartnell also is one of the few "big" 200lbs+ forwards we have on this team despite that fact he rarely uses that size for anything useful. And losing both Hartnell and Leino is big blow to forward depth we bragged about so much this season.

Moving Carle frees up less money (probably not enough) and leaves a sizable hole on Pronger's pairing. Carle is a young D-Man who can move the puck very well. The positives are we have invested a lot of picks (when we have made them) on the blueline and have most of our system depth on defense compared to upfront. I think guys like Marshall and Gus are closer to NHL ready than guys like Matt Read. It is Pronger's pairing, and Pronger can make up for mistakes very well and help build the confidence of these young guys as he did with Carle two years ago. We have a highly paid D-core and cutting down the salary on the blueline seems logical. Carle doesn't have a NTC compared to Hartnell and therefore can probably net fair market value in return. The other fact and most important fact is that Carle is a UFA after this season and he probably won't be back. Coburn is also up and so is JVR comes off his entry level it is going to hard to keep them all in the fold past this season and if forced to choose between Coburn and Carle I take Coburn without hesistation. So like the very unpopular Upshall trade, preemptively trading Carle before he walks gets you something for nothing.

Lastly something I just considered. 

Moving Both.... Carle and Hartnell combine for a cap hit of 7.8 million dollars. That is a lot of dough. Even signing Brzy at 5.5 leaves 2.3 million. Getting rid of Hartnell's bloated contract is a good move and something I was hoping for even if the Flyers stayed cheap between the pipes. And Carle departure after this season is a fore gone conclusion anyway and cutting down on D-Core spending is something people have been clamoring for this also makes sense.  

This is probably the best case scenario. We could then go after reasonably priced UFA's or actually get players in exchange for Hartnell and Carle to bolster there departure. Could also potential keep Leino or Zherdev on the roster as well there is a plenty of options as I have illustrated below.

Here is a CAP GEEK lineup in which the Flyers have moved both Hartnell and Carle. It is a 20 man roster in which there is over 3.8 million in cap space to fill in two spots to improve the everyday lineup over what I put up there. That is a lot of cap flexibility room to make things better. I also resigned Carcillo which and I am probably overpaying Nodl at a cool 1million and I only moderately raised the cap to 62.4 million in could go another 1.4 million higher. Either way that is a complete potential starting lineup with plenty of cap flexibly to make it much much better. So like always I want to encourage everyone to remain calm and see how it all breaks down before we start calling for people's heads and jumping off the Walt Whitman Bridge.

CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR

FORWARDS

Daniel Briere ($6.500m) / Mike Richards ($5.750m) / Jeff Carter ($5.272m) 

James Van Riemsdyk ($1.654m) / Claude Giroux ($3.750m) / Kris Versteeg ($3.083m) 

Blair Betts ($0.700m) / Andreas Nodl ($1.000m) / Jody Shelley ($1.100m) 

Eric Wellwood ($0.580m) / Daniel Carcillo ($1.075m) / Darroll Powe ($0.900m) 

DEFENSEMEN

Kimmo Timonen ($6.333m) / Chris Pronger ($4.921m) 

Andrej Meszaros ($4.000m) / Oskars Bartulis ($0.600m) 

Braydon Coburn ($3.200m) / Erik Gustafsson ($0.900m) 

GOALTENDERS

Sergei Bobrovsky ($1.750m) / Ilya Bryzgalov ($5.500m) 

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter)

(these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion)

SALARY CAP: $62,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $58,569,988; BONUSES: $1,700,000

CAP SPACE (20-man roster): $3,830,012

"I had to identify a problem," Shelley said. "I had a lot of things going through my head. It was a 3-0 game in their building. You don't want to take (an instigator) penalty. You know he's going to try to suck you in. I just tried to deal with it within the rules. I didn't like the way it went down."

Wasn't sure where the best place to bring this up so I started this new fanpost. I wanted to point this out in the Carcillo should be playing over Shelly argument. Despite both of Shelly's rather amazing goals this season we all agree Carcillo is more skilled hockey player and does a fine job at drawing penalties. So can be frustrating to some why the hell is Shelly starting and earning a higher salary than Carcillo. For me this above quote provides a solid answer to this question. Shelly is a smarter hockey player and can be trusted in his limited 5 minutes of ice time not to do something that could put the team in a bad spot and cost the team points.

Shelly is a professional fighting is his business it is not personal. To continue the Godfather reference Shelly is Michael he is old school he will wait patiently to get his revenge. Sunday April 3rd Well's Fargo Center Game 79 looks like a good time for a baptism. However Carcillo is the hot head Sonny who could have easily gotten goaded into a fight with Avery. Getting his team killed at the toll booth on an extended power-play for the Rangers. Let us not forget the Matt Bradley incident. Despite my belief that a 9 minute PP against was a horrible call at least 4 minutes were deserved. And as much as I would love to see Avery beaten with a trash can and left bleeding in a gutter like Carlo the more important thing is for the Flyers to continue winning.

To remind everyone that Capitals game with the Bradley incident was Peter Laviolette's 1st game as Flyers head coach and that 9 minute power play is probably something Carcillo will never be able to make Lavy forget. 

Here is the coaches comments after that incident 12/5/2009.

I've never seen a nine-minute power play," he said. "My thought is the whole thing never should've happened. We got hit; we should've skated away and kept playing. There ended up being a confrontation. I didn't see it after the two-minute original penalty which shouldn't have happened because if we're going to go to the (penalty) box in an undisciplined manner we're not going to win hockey games.

Hopefully Carcillo can learn from both Shelly and The Godfather that you can't let your emotions get the best  you. Be patient wait for the perfect time to execute your vendetta. And most importantly if given the choice you should always leave the gun and take the cannoli. 

By now you have all read reports that the Flyers tried to acquire Jaime Langenbrunner from the Devils. Holmgren was quoted I believe to be looking to upgrade the RW on what I am assuming is the Richards line. So I began to ask myself who might be out there come deadline time that Homer can target to fit this upgrade? Being that we have Zherdev as a RW practically on the bench the needs here are not goal scoring. Instead I am looking for a RW who can play with and against the top NHL competition as Mike Richards wing man. Since we are the Flyers size is always a concern. Also since we are the Flyers cap hit is also of the concern. I would prefer a contract that was expiring and not to take on any additional salary for next season. And once more since we are the Flyers former Flyers will be given extra considerations.

Lets look at the bottom 10 teams in the league.

NJD 

Danius Zubrus - With the departure of Langenbrunner the only option left is former Flyer Danius Zubrus. He has the size at 6ft 5in 230lbs but his 3.4 million dollar cap hit until the end of the 2013 season makes Zubrus an extremely tough fit. 

David Clarkson - Another potential option he is good friends with Mike Richards from the playing days with the Kitchener Rangers 6ft 1in 200lbs doesn't scream power forward and his career high 32 points in 2008 doesn't scream upgrade or 1st line talent especially not for a 2.667 million dollar cap hit for this and 2 more seasons.

NYI 

The Isles have a lot of expiring contracts which is good unfortunately they don't have a lot of good players especially veteran players that will likely be moved.

Trent Hunter - Big RW who hits a lot never scored more than 25 goals and he did that way back in 2005, 2million cap hit until 2013 and he has only played 17 games this season. Not much help there.

Blake Comeau - Is another option RFA to be at 24 so unlikely to be trade. He is also the second leading scorer on the Isle behind Travares with 10 G and 14 A. He comes cheap at 0.800 million cap hit. But he is young unproven never seeing playoff action. 

EDM

Dustin Penner - Now we a talking POWER FORWARD. 6ft 4in 245lb RW who has scored over 25 goals twice in his career and played in some long playoff runs from his days with the Ducks. I remember some issues with his work ethic from discussions on this board when his name came up in the past. Problem here is that he has another year left on his heafty 4.2 million dollar contract making him a tough to impossible fit cap wise. 

Not much else on in terms of wingers up in Oil Country besides.....

Alse Hemsky - He is not big 6ft 180lbs but wears an A for the Oilers and plays some PK time averaging over a minute per game on the penalty kill and 3 minutes of PP time. A proven 20 goal scorer who is a plus player on a really bad team. He is the only plus forward on the team to put that statement into perspective. However once again he comes with a hefty price tag 4.1 million dollar cap hit for this and next season without as much offensive upsides or size as Penner. 

OTT

Not a lot of trade history between Flyers and Ottawa in my memory but lets take a look at the Sens.

Daniel Alfredsson - He is veteran at 37 years of age and the Senators captain and leading point scorer. He does everything for the team PP, PK Even Strength and anchored the once dominate Alfredsson Heatly Spezza line before Heatly wanted to go ruin another team. He also comes at close to 5 million dollar cap hit for the next 2 seasons too rich for too long.

Chris Neil - A Carcillo clone not who makes twice as much money and his a lot older. No Thanks there.

Toronto 

The Brian Burke Maple leafs. They started the season on top of the EAST for a good week or so and now they are who we thought they were. The Leafs 3 best forwards are RWs but we know strength down the middle is much more important and without a good Center or a 1st round draft pick this team is not going anywhere soon.

Kris Versteeg - A 24 year old 20 goal scorer with an all too familiar cup ring. Small in stature put plays an intense game. He was big acquisition for the Leafs this offseason and makes a decent salary at just over 3 million on the cap. Highly unlikely to be traded again. 

Colby Armstrong - Another offseason acquisition for the leafs and I player I wanted the Flyers to target this year. He is pick and plays a chippy game but he is over paid costing 3 million in cap hit for this and the next two seasons. He has 10 pts this season in 25 games not bad but 3 million for a 35 point player is just too much. 

Florida

Not much here either that looks like an upgrade.

Corey Stillman - He is their vet 37 years olds who won back to back cups with Tampa Bay and Carolina many moons ago. He is list officially as a left wing and point production has dropped off considerably with age. He has 10 points in 28 games so far this season. His price tag is also considerably high at 3.5 million but his contract expires at the end of the season. He is probably going to get dealt and won't cost much but I don't think he has enough left to play on our top line. 

Steven Bernier - I only bringing up Bernier because he is often traded. So there has to be something GMs see in this kid. Florida is his 4th team in his 6 season career. His career high in points in modest at 32 for the Canucks back in 2008. He plays a Flyers game getting averaging close to 100 PIMs in his career and is supposed to have some offensive upside. Trading for guys who only get 13 minutes of ice time on the Panthers is not something I want to do. He is basically another Carcillo and not going to help out here either. 

Calgary

A team and organization in shambles. GM is fired and they have a lame duck big name coach at the helm. They are probably going to be moving whatever they can to start the rebuilding process. The problem is the team is littered with a lot of bad long term contracts that are going to be hard to move. 

Jerome Ingilna - Is the big name and the Captain of the Flames. He hasas been mentioned in some trade Rumors but will cost a lot to get him if he waives his NTC and his price tag would be the biggest on the Flyers coming in at 7 million for the next  2 seasons. He is though probably one the the best if not the best RWs in the game. 9 straight 30+ goal seasons and he is on pace for another 35 goal 70 point season. He embodies Flyers hockey he fights and hits and plays with an attitude. Homer would have to channel his inner Ruben Armaro to get Ingilna. Highly highly unlikely to happen would cost us a top 9 forward for sure Carter or Hartnell perhaps and that isn't getting us anywhere. 

Other wingers on the LEFT side.

Rene Bourque -  A good size LW 6ft 3in 213 lbs 29 years of age with 3 million dollar cap hit for the next four years. He was recently this offseason resigned by the Flames former GM so I am not sure if he is going to get traded. He is close to equivalent to Hartnell in terms of point production 20 - 25 goals and 50 points per season. He does however take about 1/2 the PIMs.

Alex Tanguay - Tanguay has regained his form after a horrendous run for the Canadians. He contract is very cheap and expiring at the end of this season at 1.7 million dollars. He plays the LW. But is on pace for 20 goals and 60 point season. He might not cost much and has playoff experience and for his career in a +154. He is play maker doesn't like to shoot a lot so I am not sure how that fits with our lineup and like I said before a LW not a RW so again that is an issue.

Columbus

This is a intriguing team. Will they be buyers or sellers come deadline. Currently they are only 6 points out of the playoff picture. And have a few intriguing options that could be of help the Flyers at wing.

RJ Umberger - former Flyer playoff hero offically listed as center but as we all know RJ can play anywhere. Good size good skill pretty good at just about everything. He cap number is high coming in at 3.5 million bucks. Another tough fit to impossible fit for next season. He is one pace for another 20 plus goals and 55 point season.

Chris Clark - The former Capitals captain who scored 30 goals back in 2006. His point production his way down he is one pace for 10 goals 27 point season. But he does play significant PK time at 2 minutes per game and is a natural RW. Playing with some top talent like Richards could he regain his scoring touch who knows. He is 34 years old and his reasonable 2.4 million dollar contract is up at the end of the season.

Lastly lets take a look at Buffalo. Another team that over paid wingers without ever getting centers for them to play with. I have a few good friends who are Sabers fans and I am hearing the team is going to get sold if it hasn't all ready and they are going to clean house and rebuild around Meyers and Miller. They only have one winger who is worth mentioning. All the others Pominville, Vanek are extremely over paid and I mean extremely overpaid. They are one pace for 45 points and 62 points respectively but have cap hits of 5.45 and 7.1 million extending for the next 3 seasons.  That leaves only....

Drew Stafford - Young 25 years of age good size at 6ft 2in 215lbs. He plays an in front of the net back to goalie style from what I remember. And has scored 14 goals and 22 points so far this season. He has a significant upside. I am not sure if where he stands with Buffalo but from the fans I have talked to say his work ethic is not stellar to say the least. His is price tag is very affordable 1.9 million dollars and expiring as a RFA at the end of this season.

Finally to other names worth mentioning as former Flyers RWs.

Mike Knuble - The causality of the Randy Jones Fiasco. He is in the last year of his 2.2 million dollar contract and played very well with Richards only 2 seasons ago. He is another year older at 38 and he only as 9 goals and 9 assists so far this season in 39 games played. He unfortunately plays for conference rival Washington Capitals and is unlikely to be traded to the Flyers if he is to be traded at all. 

Scottie Upshall - Another fan favorite and free agent to be. Upshall is on pace for 20 goals and 40 points getting only 13 minutes of ice time for the Coyotes. His 2.250 million cap hit is for this year only. He certainly provides some offensive upside. I question he ability to play with Richards against top line competition. At 6ft 200lbs he doesn't hurt size wise and really did provide some energy to the team with his up tempo play style. Based on PHX recent acquisition of Rosival I am not sure if PHX is going to sell at the deadline. But then again Upshall ins't exactly getting a ton of ice time at 13 minutes per game and Scottie doesn't play on the PP or PK. 

So all that being said and that was a lot. I am not exactly sure where the Flyers so look to for winger help or if winger help is actually needed in the 1st place. I am not in love with Nodl playing with Richie and would much rather see him moved down to a 3rd line role.

The 3 best acquisitions would be Chris Clark, Scottie Upshall, and Drew Stafford. All 3 are natural RWs with expiring contracts. Tough decision. I would be leaning towards choosing between Clark and Upshall because they probably would cost the least in trade. I don't know enough of Clark can he skate well enough or if he has enough left in the tank to play with the top line. He adds insurance to the PK which is nice to have to the playoffs.

Nor do I know if Upshall's game has changed enough to play against the top level competition. I think Upshall's speed and willingness to take the body will be a big asset in Lavy's aggressive forecheck system. He reminds a lot of Eric Cole, injuries and all, who had lots of success under Lavy in Carolina.

So I am going to put in to a vote.  

Please feel free to add you own names if I missed someone and thanks for reading. 

With the long 3 day break before hockey again this would be a great time to discuss something for the sake of discussion. 25 games have been played I think it would be fun to take a look at who is leading the race for the Flyer's Annual Team Awards. The stat geeks have enough games to use the fancy numbers so this should be a fun and interesting conversation. For The Record this is all opinion and there is no right or wrong answer.

Let's get started after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

A lot has been said about Shelly being a waste. Around only 4 minutes of ice time he can't enforce or deter players with that ice time, start Nodl. Many people have been saying this after pretty much every game now.

I think ice time is the whole issue here. It is not the Flyers refusing to put Jody Shelly on the ice, the guy simply can't play the game. Instead the issue is with all the talent on the team there isn't enough ice time to go around. The Flyers have 8 forwards that should get somewhere between 15-20 minutes of ice time. That is 3 lines for pretty much the entire game. The fourth line isn't going to get a lot of time. If Nodl is going to get signifcantly more ice time than Shelly, around 10 minutes per game who exactly are you going to take it from?

The idea is Nodl can take hard minutes away from Richards, Carter and Giroux on the PK leaving them with fresher legs at the end of the season. 

That was a problem in 08'-09', when Richards and Carter were close to 22 minutes per game with about 15 minutes ES and another 7 minutes split pretty evenly between the PK and PP. 

Currently this season Richards and Carter are around 20 minutes per game. RIchards getting less even strength time compared to 08', around 12-13 minute per game and still getting about 6-7 minutes of time split evenly between the PK and PP. Richards is one of hell of a specialty team player. 50% of his points scored for his career come while up or down a man. Carter is barely on the PK under 60 seconds per game and getting his 15+ minutes at even strength and another 3+ minutes on the PP. 

So who would Nodl be taking ice time away from if he was to play more than Shelly?

The answer is.....

Guys like Giroux and Richards who is average over 3 minutes per game on the PK. Without that PK time Giroux will only be getting 13 minutes of ice time per game, Richards only 17-18 minutes. That is not what you want for guy like Giroux or Richards. I want those talent players on the ice whenever you can, ES, PP or PK as long as they aren't playing 22-25 minutes per game it doesn't matter just get them the minutes.

JVR is another guy they are having trouble getting minutes. Currently 17 minutes per game no SH and some PP spotted thrown in there. JVR has been taking Shelly's shifts with Betts and Powe every once in awhile. Mostly after a PP, where he got the assist on the Betts goal in the season opener.

There just isn't enough ice time to go around. So the Flyers need a guy like Shelly who can do his job and be contnet with 4-5 minutes of ice time. That is something he has done for his whole career. There is something to say for that. I hear former players like Keith Jones and Therien say that is not easy to sit on the bench only getting the odd shift here or there. Shelly fits that role whereas Nodl doesn't.

So basically my question is if Nodl is going to come in and get 10 minutes per game like Betts and Powe. 6 minutes of even strength and around 4-5 minutes on the PK is it worth it to take minutes from Richards, Giroux and JVR? I personally I don't think so. But here is the poll anyway.

Also factor in you other guys Zherdev, Hartnell, and Leino all around under 15 minutes per game in ice time. They probably need be out there more too. Leino average over 16 minutes per game in the playoffs along with Hartnell. Both are currently averaging around 14 minutes per game so far this season.

So to put it bluntly, Shelly is not a waste at 4 minutes per game. He is perfect in his role, a true heavyweight fighter with a nasty stare from the bench.  A player who doesn't need or want ice time, a guy who is a generally good teammate and locker room presence. Nodl's role on the team as another PK specialist would require more minutes of ice time that just aren't there to go around.

Nodl on the other hand is the perfect 13th forward. A guy who skate with the skill players who is highly responsible defensively. A fine short term solution if someone in the top 9 goes down. He can also kill penalties extremely well if one of the main PK guys go down. Hockey is the ultimate team sport. To be successful everyone has to know their role and more importantly accept it. I think Nodl and Shelly both do. It is time for us fans to recognize that as well. 

We all know the Flyers are going to be hitting some hard cap times next year and are certainly not going be able to bring back everyone unless something unexpected happens. My plea is lets enjoy this year we have a really really good team. Are we over paying for some guys... YES did the offseason go as you or I desire NO. But shortly the roster will be set and the run for Lord Stanley's Cup will begin. So what I am asking is lets not spend this entire run worrying about the next years cap or looking for guys to dump to make it work or all the other bitching and moaning over this move or that move that lasted all summer. This season is here and the roster is what it is lets put that all behind us now and just sit back and enjoy the ride. We have probably the best team we will have in quite some time, do to said cap problems, let's not let it pass us bye with premature worries about next season let's simply enjoy this one. We have lots of dazzling finesse players in Leino, Giroux and Zherdev, all are upcoming Free Agents, something we are not treated to very often as Flyers fan with all the muckers and grinders we are all used to. So once again I say lets enjoy it. There will be plenty of time in May, after the parade, to cry about the cap problems and the loss of this guy or that guy. But for now let's enjoy 2010-2011 because this team is going to be something special.

I mentioned this early in the summer and now that camp is actually here I figured I would bring it up again. I think it would be fun to get a bunch us together to watch some training camp practice meet up and shake hands before we start name calling and battling on the forums all season. We can grab some lunch and drinks afterwards at one of the million restaurants that surround the Skate Zone. I think a Friday would be best. I don't know the training camp details, Travis or someone else might but if the Flyers are scheduled to be at the Skate Zone on Friday September 24th that would be a great date, vets will be in and we should see some good action. Who is in and what time should we get things started?

Every single thread at some point on the BSH regardless of topic pretty much contains a comment along the lines of ...

Flyers have to trade Carter we can't afford him next year and keep Giroux, Leino, and Zherdev. 

Giroux will be here no doubt and Leino and Zherdev still have to prove themselves in my book before I pencil them in as long term core guys. But Carter has done it he is the best goal scorer on the team clearly now that Gagne is gone. But we can Carter's merit all day some people clearly don't like the guy for some reason or another but none of that matters.

Why do you ask? 

Because if look at the way our franchise is setup and our depth in the organization, it is all on the blueline not much up front. Whoever you lose up front should be replaced by the next up and coming forward from our farm system on low priced entry level contract. But there isn't much there especially at the level/potential of a Carter, Zherdev and Leino all of whom are 26 or younger.

But the Flyers system blueline is stacked and that is where we can save the money next year to keep everyone up front. One of Coburn, Carle or Meszaros could be moved along with O'Donnell and Walker in favor of Marshall, Bourdon, Bartulis, and Lehutruvi from the Phantoms or impressive Bodrov, and Bertilsson who are playing overseas. That would free up 4-5 million bucks.

We already ready have by a long ways the highest paid D in the league. If two of those names can crack the roster full-time in 2011 we can easily keep all the forwards including Carter in our lineup for years to come. It will certainly weaken our blueline compared to this season but that is salary cap hockey you have to have a steady influx of entry level contracts to keep your team together and the only entry levels guys in the system you look even remotely close to being NHL ready are D-Men.

Plus with stars like Pronger and Kimmo as D partners they can carry the young guys and Backlund taking over goal full time we won't need the overloaded D in 2011 anyway. 

This is something to watch in training camp, not who will be making the team this year, but which D-men are poised to make the jump next year when someone will pretty much have to. 

The Great Anthony Sanfilipo suggested the strong possibility of Richards moving to wing. This rather unexpected revelation is really interesting and got completely overlooked by the Gagne trade anger. I would love to see what everything as they try to refute my best attempt at unbiased support of moving Richards to LW. To play alongside Carter and most likely Zherdev. That line is really scary on paper everyone can score hard to key in on one guy and it also gives our 3 most effective players the most ice time.

Playing Devils Advocate (I am a fan of Man) so please refute me.

1) Richie isn't very good at faceoffs, Carter is the best on the team.

2) Richie zone entry isn't one of his strengths he often tries to do too much leading to turnovers and he isn't as good as a skater as Jeff who can gain the blueline with speed.

3) Richie is more physical, better in the corners and on the forecheck as compared to Jeff. Wingers tend to forecheck more as the center stays high. Remember the Olympics Richie's tenacious forecheck lead Toews goal against USA in the gold medal game. 

4) Carter is also a pretty darn good two way center. He is not as much as a one trick pony as everyone seems to think he is and there is nothing wrong with having a defensively responsible winger.

5) Richards points tends to get a lot of his points on the PP and SH slightly over 50% for his career. Carter is arguably the best even strength player on the team no need to weaken our best even strength player. 

Here is breakdown of ES Point Percentage. 

07-08

Richards 50.7%, Carter 60.4%

08-09

Richards 47.5%, Carter 66.7%

09-10

Richards 46.8%, Carter 57.1%

Closing Arguments:

Richie is more versatile than Carter, and does everything well and hard but nothing great. Carter has to play center and needs the puck on his stick to maximize his skills. The better skating and faster Carter is more suited to enter the zone, whereas the hard working and hard hitting Richie is more suited to bang bodies and crash the nets getting rebounds. Richie is also more willing to do those things and has more experience on the wing than Carter referring to the 2010 Olympics where Richie had 5 pts in 7 games a +5 rating. 

I have always wanted to go get a Flyers training camp practice but the thought of going stag was kind of depressing. If such practices are open to the public which I am pretty sure they are, and free I think it would be fun if we could get a bunch of us BSH'ers together to go down there the Skate Zone in Vorhees watch the practice, talk some hockey, grab some lunch and some drinks at a local establishment and ditch the office/work for a day. 

Thoughts and suggestions...??

So far this offseason with ever single signing no matter what is completely blasted by the BSH community and every possible move proposed it also blast. Welcome to the Internet. Much like talk radio those who are upset tend to post most often, Geoff (no offense), venting their frustration, leaving a small minority vastly outnumbering trying to quell the angry mob.

There are a million ways to handle the offseason. Any GM is not going to do everything you or I want him to do. And what you and I want him to do are two completely different things. If I had my way over 50% of this boards members will be infruritated and posting left and right calling for me to be fired.

Nobody is going to be perfectly happy with everything that is done. But it is not that hard to use your head and understand what Homer is doing or surmise a legitimate / justification for each move he has made.  I be it the Shelly move is hard to justify. 

We have to look at things in with the goal of putting the best possible to team on the ice. Use our head not our hearts. 

Here is something that we all good agree on. The team needs.

1A) Goaltending

1B) 3rd Defense Pairing

2) Third line winger

We wanted to improve either goaltending or defense with a BIG upgrade. Let me stress BIG here. We want to spend considerable money on a guy that is a sure thing. Ellis, Nitty, Biron are they upgrades over Leighton. Possibly are they BIG upgrades over Leighton no really. They all fall into that career backup mold and vulnerable to soft goalies. With Leighton we got a guy who played with our team and system really well and played in the playoffs really well. There isn't that unknown let's wait and see how the playoffs go does the goalie play well when not facing lots of shots etc. 

The only BIG upgrade in my opinion and Homer's was Nabokov and he was probably going to be too expensive so lets start off by going after D. 

Try defense with Hamhuis he wouldn't sign for whatever reason. Move to do Pittsburg essentially turning Ryan Parent into a 3rd and 7th round draft picks. Very nice

Maybe we were wrong with Nabokov and SJS stated they were not going to offer him a deal let's find out.

Hand shake deal with SJS to talk with Nabokov before July 1st

No deal he wants too much either years and most likely money. Now what?

Try Dan Ellis shit his rights were traded to MTL.

Okay sign Leighton at good price and we will get our D-Man via UFA. Leighton gets a 1.55 million dollar contract. Not too bad considering he might be really good bargin goalie on the market come tomorrow if Ellis is signed. 

Ellis wasn't signed by MTL Damn it. Oh well. Too late for that. 

Move to Defense UFAs. Couldn't get a deal done for anyone. Money was not the issue. Either they didn't want to come here to play on the 3rd pairing much like Hamhuis did or want long term deals with NTC I learned my lesson with those. Now what no goalie no big name D-Man face palm.

Mezaros trade. 24 year old big body blocks shoots. Can't complain about where he plays he is coming from Tampa that is almost as good as getting a guy from the KHL. Deal done. 

Add a vet to sure it up with O'Donnell. 1.00 million nice with veteran incentives done on D. 

Here comes the hard part. Going to let Asham walk. Not sure if I want Lappy to lead the league in fights next year with the brain injury and all he is too important to this team to be fighting all the damn time. Shelly is available he is a good guy plays smart similar to Lappy in terms of bringing a warrior attitude to the team, and finally a true Heavyweight this team hasn't had since Brashear. Deal done, 1.1million for a guy who is 34 and been in the league awhile not too bad. Call Cote thank his wife tell them to start packing for Glen Falls. 

Meanwhile goalies are signing for pennies. And Kovy is jerking everyone off. I can probably still get a goalie like Turco or Theodore and a winger. And still sign Carcillo to replace Asham and Powe if I move some salary. 

Options Carter too young and too good don't want to move him. Gagne is to become a UFA next year probably going to lose him anyway lets see if he will waive is NTC. He will, such a class guy I will try to accommodate him as best as possible like we always do. 

Meanwhile I need to replace his offense at a lesser one year cap hit. Zherdev wants back to the NHL get him on the phone. 2million one year, deal okay I am over the cap until I move Gagne. Get a winger or a goalie for Gags and pursue which ever I don't get in free agency. I don't think I will have to waive him but rumors are that I will. Gagne might to willing to waive his NTC for more teams rather than be waived and get picked up by Edmonton or the Islanders. Trade eminent waiting on Kovy to make up his damn mind. 

Well the dust has clear and all is said on done. 

Better goalie tandem.

Much better 3rd pair.

More balance offense. 

I turned UFA walk away in Gagne into a bunch of 1 year deals that will leave me with RFAs. I can probably get compensation for them versus no compensation for Gagne and I will still have to room to resign my upcoming RFAs Giroux and Leino.

Call George W. Mission Accomplished. 

I would have done things differently. I would have taken a similar approach to Geoff and signed lesser players to play on the 3rd pair. Leopold or Foster maybe somebody would have came over, at 2million. I would have kept Gagne and inked Zherdev to play on the 3rd line with JVR and Giroux. Goalie I would have kept Leighton at the deal and got Turco to compete with him. And I would not have signed Shelly. But in the end as long as the positions were addressed and upgraded and nothing insanely bad is done trading Giroux or JVR for Kaberle I am okay.

The team will be better. That is what matters most. 

Dear BSH community,

Here is interest hypothetical that should spurn more interesting discussion than simply hating on all the Flyers moves for the next little while at until the dust settles on Turco and Nabokov. Not like it mattered what the Flyers did people still would have been upset and anger brings out the most posts so all this was pretty much inevitable, but I digress. 

If last year was Leighton's real rookie season and he was only say 24-26 years old like a Niemi or Halak based on the way he played I think everyone would be super excited about his signing calling it a steal at 1.55 million. If Leighton was our wonder-kid who came up of obscurity to carry his team to the Stanley Cup Finals peoples opinion of him would be radically different. He would be dubbed the second coming of Pelle Lindbergh and a mad rush would be on at Modelles for Leighton jerseys. But because of the his Rocky like roots we all just assume that is a definite impossibility.

Leighton gets killed based on his years before he was a Flyer and the fact he was a waiver pick up. He just can't shake his journeymen reputation and it is assumed that he would never be able to keep playing as good next season. Some guys are late bloomers and some guys are just the right fit for the team they are on. Leighton can be better or worse but there is also probably more evidence of young guys being one season wonders then older guys like Leighton, especially after signing the big contract and pressure is on. Chris Mason came on a older age same with Tim Thomas. But the list of the next great young goalie that didn't pan out is much longer. Nobody thinks Halak will regress nor Niemi they are locks to getting better and develop into stars. But Leighton who played at their same level coming back from injury and backstopped this team to the greatest comeback in hockey history has no chance at improving.

What happened to guys like Theodore, Raycroft, Lehtonen, to name of few. They were once the young stars of future and that flamed quickly. What makes Halak and Niemi any different for the long term? Nothing really but public perception. I am not sold on Leighton as getting better but there is a chance that he just might. He seems to have a good head on his shoulders and handles adversity well and bounces back from poor performances and based on that way he played I think he at least deserves his fair chance to prove everyone wrong.

So far this Flyers offseason has been much like the 2009 - 2010 regular season. Filled with ups and downs and rumors galore. If one think is clear it is the Flyers are as usual going to be aggressive with the UFA market trying to get their targets signed ASAP even before they hit the open market on July 1st. It seemed like they succeeded with Plan A sure up the defense with an elite 3rd pairing anchor. Homer sent Ryan Parent back to Nashville for the rights of highly prized free-agent to be Dan Hamhuis from Nashville. In one swift stroke the Flyers would have assembled one the best defensive corps this league has ever seen. However for one or reason or another after a week of negotiations Mr. Hamhuis refused to sign a deal and his rights were dealt to Pittsburgh at the Draft. The proud Flyers franchise rarely doesn't get their man. Philadelphia is a big market with a rabid fan-base and the Flyers organization has a reputation around the league as being on of the best franchises to play for with an ownership that treats their players like family. 

No Hamhuis now what ?

In comes Plan B, get an elite goaltender. This might have originally been Plan A all along with the Flyers rumored to be in Halak sweepstakes, but that also fell through. Now the only option available for a true, no doubts about it, number 1 guy is Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks. Doug Wilson the San Jose GM released a statement last week that San Jose was not going to pursue resigning their All-Star goalie and move in a different direction this summer. After moving Hamhuis at the Draft reports were released that Flyers had made a verbal agreement with San Jose that would allow them to negotiate exclusively with Nabokov to try to get a deal done before July 1st.

Will it happen I am not sure but the question I pose to our community is which plan of action do you prefer? 

Lets assume both guys are willing to sign for the same cap hit and have the ideal number of years attached to their contracts. 

Dan Hamhuis 4 years at 4 million.

Evgeni Nabokov 2 years with 4 million dollar cap hit.

I don't want to discuss the hypotheticals with the contract details.  Nor do I want to discuss any more this offseason trading Carter or anyone else for a young goalie or defensmen. That is not going to happen time to move on I just want to discuss which these two player Hamhuis and Nabokov and which one makes this team better. We are going to assume not more trades will happen just UFA and RFA signings. 

So with the makeup of this roster right now which signing do you prefer?

The way I see it... After the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Since the start of the offseason and reading my posts I starting to think we Flyers fans need help with our obsession with the salary cap. We have become way more enthralled with cap space and seem to ignore the more important things like winning. When did we all morph into Joe Banner? This is the exact same thing the Eagles were constantly criticized for during the entire Andy Reid / Donovan McNabb era. There is no trophy given out for having the most cap room or a salary cap MVP award to the player with the best point per dollar of salary ration. The only trophy that matters is Lord Stanley's Cup. And after being so close have we all gone mad and lost site of the Ultimate Goal?

With the recent acquisition of Dan Hamhuis all I am reading is the Flyers must have more moves to come. Carter is gone now or Hartnell or both and for sure. Or Carter is RFA next year anyway we will never be able to afford him so move him or Gagne or Briere now so we can keep Giroux and Leino in 2011. We are not rebuilding we should be trying to repeat as Eastern Conference Champs and get another shot at the Cup come next June.

Did Chicago think this way when they went out and signed Hossa to long term contract knowing Toews and Kane and Keith were all going to go up this summer and they would have to cut some salary. No they went out and made the move to put the best team on the ice and it worked. Has Pittsburg worried about the future when they traded for Leopold, Hossa, Ponikarovsky and Guerin at the last three trade deadlines. No and what did that get them one Stanley Cup and two Eastern Conference Championships. Detroit the "gold standard" of the NHL has been extremely aggressive, they added Hossa in 2009 for a big one year deal and were cap strapped this year having to move Ville Leino to get some guys of LTIR. 

Did any of those teams worry about the next years salary cap? No! Next year is next year and we will worry about it when it comes. Too much can happen between then and now you never know how it is going to turn with injuries and all. I don't want any trades made for sole purpose of freeing up cap space. I want trades that would make us a better team.

The one think all those teams mentioned had in common was a solid core, Toews, Sharp, Kane, Keith in CHI, Franzen, Datsuyk, Zetterberg, Lindstrom in DET, Malkin, Crosby, Staal, Fleury in PIT. The goal of every offseason should be to surround the core with best possible lineup to win it all. That should be the Flyers goal this offseason to build around what we have. 

The Flyers have 10.8 million dollars this offseason to get that done assuming that cap doesn't change. And the lineup currently looks like that this.

Forwards

Gagne-Richards-Carter

Hartnell-Briere-Leino

JVR-Giroux-?

?-Betts-Lappy

Defense

Pronger - Carle

Kimmo - ?

? - Bartulis 

Goaltender

?

Boucher

Is 10.8 million dollars enough to upgrade those holes from last year? I certainly think so and if Homer is able to pull it off I and all of us should be expecting a different result in the finals next year.

Could Nabokov be the Flyers answer in net? I am not sure but playing Devil's Advocate here are some reasons why he could be if the price is right. 

1) Insane Regular Season Numbers - 2.43 GAA 0.922 SV PCT last year, for his career 2.39 GAA and 0.912 SV PCT.

2) Playoff experience - He played in 80 playoff games and took his team to the WCF last season with 2.56 GAA and 0.907 SV PCT pretty good numbers despite a lack luster performance against the Hawks. His career playoff numbers are even better with a 2.29 GAA and 0.913 SV PCT. For comparison sake Vokoun only played in 11 playoff games and hasn't made it since 2006-2007.

3) 71 starts - Nabokov was totally over used, 71 starts that is crazy especially for a 34 year old guy. No wonder why he hits the wall come playoffs. The Flyers could and should mix in Boucher more and give him something like 55 starts which is still a lot and have a well rested goalie come post-season. Also the Sharks gave up a ton of shots during the regular season 31.4 per game. The Flyers were 5th best at allowing shots only 28.5 / G another factor that could keep Nabokov sharper come playoffs.

4) True No. 1 - Nabokov comes with zero question marks in terms of if he should or can be a starting goalie in the NHL and signing him would be and end to the annual goalie controversy in Philadelphia.

5) UFA - That means we could get Nabokov without having to give up anyone, Carter, JVR, Giroux  to get him. Assuming we can get him a the right price. Pronger will only cost slightly over 4 million on the cap next year there is no reason why we couldn't find a way to get Nabokov at a decent number.

6) Nabokov right now > Price > Bernier > Ellis

Thoughts...

We all know the NHL follows what I think is the correct format for a 7 games series with the 2-2-1-1-1 format, but what if the NHL followed the NBA format of 2-3-2. With Games 4 and 5 the two most important games of a playoff series on the away team ice would the Flyers have won the cup?

Assuming everything followed form and the Flyers dropped the 1st two games in Chicago, and then came home and won the next three. We would have had a 3-2 series lead with two chances to beat a stunned Blackhawks team in Chicago. We were all hoping for a game 7 and one shot to win the cup and thought we would have at least a 50/50 chance to win it all. Under the 2-3-2 system we would have had 2 chances to get that last win.

I am going to through this out there but I am going to need help from Geoff or whoever is good with the stats and resources. I am for moving Giroux to RW and have been all season. I think that was the plan when we drafted Claude was there he would be our top 2 line winger to go along Danny, Richie, and Carter. Injuries to Danny force him to play center and it worked okay but he could never get away from it. Here is my logic.

- Giroux's natural position is wing. 321 pts in 187 games in Juniors as a RW.

- Danny B. at center is better than Giroux at center. Just look at this playoffs was Danny was back in the middle he and his linemates were dynamic.

- Carter at center is better than Carter at wing.

I think everyone would agree that those about statements are true. Maybe Carter can learn the wing in the offseason with a full training camp to build some chemistry, but Carter was our best forward this season despite playing along side a slumping Hartnell and a out of position Briere.

Also, Leino and Giroux have very similar skill sets and Leino works well on the wing. 

Here is where I need some help. Giroux put up 21 pts in the playoffs 10 G and 11 A. Where was he playing when he produced? 1/3 of those pts were on the PP were he mostly does not play Center he plays along the wall as a winger. His OT goal in the finals was scored with Briere on the ice winning the faceoff, again Giroux not playing Center. Someone can fill in the rest with the fancy stats to see for sure. But I think most his points were scored while he was playing on the wing with the more talented players. 

I agree Giroux is more noticeable at center on the 3rd line, but i think looks can be deceiving. He dazzles and dances through guys which looks great but most of the time nothing came of it. Partially because he was playing with Asham, Carcillo or JVR and gets keyed on by the defense. However when on the wing with the better players he got more room to work and even though he didn't dazzle us with moves he hit guys with Forsberg esque passes and they scored. Once again I could be totally wrong here and feel free to prove me wrong.

In the OT Game 4 Boston win his 2 Assists were to Briere and Hartnell. 

In the 5 - 3 Game 4 Chicago game his late 1st period goal was assisted by Hartnell. 

He assisted Mike Richards on a SHG in the Game 6 against MTL. 

The JVR-Giroux-Asham line had a few good games but in my opinion Giroux was at his best when spotted on the top 2 lines. I could be wrong of course but that was just my observation.

I propose a line of Giroux - Carter - JVR for next season. If Carter can not return his full value in trade I think we can make this work. I rather give it a shot than give away Carter lose even more goal scoring. Remember the regular season we were plagued by inconsistent offense. You need 3 scoring lines to win is this league and to keep up with the Caps and Pens and now the Blackhawks. 

I am not advocating this in anyway I just want to toss the thought out there, playing Devil's Advocate, and seeing what everyone is thinking. If Mr. Leighton throws down another world class performance tonight and carries this team to the most improbable of comebacks does searching for the young goalie of the future become an after thought this summer?

Look at the all big name goalies who are playing golf. Lundquist, Brodeur, Luongo, Fluery, Miller the list goes on and on. Who needs a big ticket big name goalie? Nabokov is the only opening day starter that remains in the final four. The other 3 starting goalies combine for a cap hit of only 4.327 million. That is  less than what Boston is paying their backup Tim Thomas. Imagine all the holes this team could fill they put the full 11 million dollars of cap space this summer and upgraded 4 more skaters.

No longer would we have Parent Krajeick Doomsday pairing out there getting over matched on the road. No longer will have Aaron Asham getting passes from Giroux or Carcillo mucking it up on the 1st line. No longer will have absolutely zero scoring depth and have to rely on Captain Mike RIchards to do everything. We could have actually top 6 talent on the wings of our top lines. And more importantly we also wouldn't have to trade away a major piece of the our core like Jeff Carter to get someone who might not perform any better in these pressure back against the wall do or die situations then Leighton and Boucher have done all series. If Rassk folds tonight, which he very well may, that is even more evidence against a youth movement in net. Just ask Detroit how the feel about Jimmy Howard. He might be cup ready in a few more years but this Flyers team is build for the NOW.

Do we have time to let Kimmo and Pronger age and JVR and Giroux hit the open market before a young goalie is ready to carry this team to the promised land? Or can this mix of players get by again on the cheap with throw aways and cast offs between the pipes? Our goaltending has turned into a strength not a weakness an upgraded D corps and better chemistry up front might be what we need go all the way.  Its your call.

Tune in to watch a potential Flyers goaltender of the future face off against the Caps tonight. This should go a long way into helping Halak's confidence. Thanks for winning game one and taking game two into OT on the road, enjoy the bench. Price last start was a 2-1 loss to Carolina on March 31st. He also let in 2 goals in relief of Halak last night in 31:27 of ice time. If I was a goaltender I would not ever want to play for that organization. They miss handle goaltenders worst that Tonya Harding miss handled her relationship with Nancy Kerrigan. The Habs are done.

Here are some team stats compared to last season lets see what the problem is and where we improved.

2008 - 2009 scored 260 GF 3.17 G/G ranked 5th

2009 - 2010 if we score 3 in the next 9 games we would have 27+209 = 236 that is 24 goals less if we somehow net 3 per game.

2008-2009 we also scored 155 ranked 15th at 5 on 5

2009 - 2010 only 123 5 on 5 so far year only 123 ranked 23rd

2008-2009 we allowed 233 goals 2.83 GA/G ranked 16th

2009-2010 if we allow 3 per game from here out we still would be better than last season allowing only 225 currently ranked 15th with 2.71 G/G

2008-2009 our winning percentage was 0.450 in 1 Goal Games (games decided by 1 goal)

2009-2010 we are 0.517 so we are better in close games

2008-2009 we have been shutout 6 times

2009-2010 we were only shutout 3 times

2008-2009 we only earned 3 shutouts

2009-2010 we have earned 4 to date with hopefully 9 more coming

2008-2009 we scored 4 or more goals 34 times

2009-2010 we scored 4 or more goals only 23 times

2008-2009 we scored 2 or fewer 32 times

2009-2010 we already scored 2 or fewer 34 times

2008-2009 PP 22.5% ranked 6th PK 83% ranked 6th

2009-2019 PP 22.1% ranked 3rd PK 82.1% ranked 15th

2008-2009 1408 PIM, 17.5 PIM/G ranked 2nd most, 76 majors, 13 misconducts

2009-2010 1217 PIM, 16.8 PIM/G ranked 1st most, 73 majors 13 misconducts 

2008-2009 scored 1st 43 times 0.674 win pct 

2009-2010 scored 1st already 43 times 0.698 win pct

for MarioD

2008-2009 Faceoffs 48.3% ranked 23rd

2009-2010 Faceoffs 50.2 % ranked 13th 

Leighton's performance on Wednesday, a mere four and a half hours following the 1st Flyers inactive trade deadline in the last 15 years, did not instill us diehard Flyers fans with much confidence. Every goalie has bad games and despite not getting credited with the loss Leighton and his gapping five hole cost us the game. Prior to FLA Leighton has been stellar for the Flyers posting a 13-3-1 with a 2.18 GAA and a 0.928 SV PCT. But it has been for what seems like forever in Philadelphia we will once again enter the playoffs with a question mark in net. 

Goaltending has been a huge topic of discussion on the BSH over the last week or so leading up to the deadline and it is hard to out right refute any of the points brought whether arguing for postseason success or failure. Here of some of the arguments that stuck out most from what I have been reading in no particular order. 

- The Flyers are not the only team with question marks in net in fact the vast majority of playoff teams can't feel too comfortable with their man between the pipes.

- Can't find another team that has won the Cup with less than 2 million spent on goaltending starter and backup.

- Cam Ward shocked the World under Laviolette in Carolina no reason why Leighton can't do the same.

- Leighton is a journeymen who was waved by Carolina and his play in the Flyers uniform is aberration and sooner rather than later the real Michael Leighton will return.

- Leighton's aforementioned statistics are better than any goal the Flyers could have gotten at the deadline including Tomas Vokoun. 

- Unexperienced in the NHL and zero playoff experience doesn't bold well for success. 

- Post lockout the one thing that all the Cup winners have in common is a good offense goaltending is no longer the be all end of all of playoff success. 

- Other than the last year of Roman Cechmanek goaltending performance has truly cost the Flyers a playoff series. 

The list of valid arguments goes on and on only time will tell, can Michael Leighton come out of nowhere and stand on his head carrying our beloved Flyers to the promised land or will he cave like a shack in Haiti under the spotlight and the pressure of the NHL playoffs?  

One final point that hasn't been mentioned is who exactly is this Leighton fellow besides a guy cut by arguable the worst team in the league. His career has certainly been interesting.

Leighton was drafted after only a single season in the OHL by the Chicago Blackhawks in the all important 6th round of the 1999 entry draft. His numbers that season certainly did not impress in 28 games Leighton posted a horrendous 4-17-2 record with an enormous 4.84 GAA and 0.867 SV PCT for the Windsor Spitfires. 

After two more seasons in the OHL Leighton signed a entry level contract with the Blackhawks after a more improved junior year 32-15-5, 2.73 GAA, and 0.912 SV PCT. He play two seasons in the AHL with the Norfolk Admirals before making his NHL debut on January 8th 2003 where he recorded a shutout in a 0-0 tie against the Coyotes. 

He was traded to Buffalo in 2005 for Milan Bartovic never appearing in a game for the Sabers and after an unimpressive season for Buffalo's AHL affiliate the Roschester Americans 15-22-1, 3.21 GAA, 0.887 SV PCT, he was signed as Free Agent after training camp by a team that knows their goalies the Anaheim Ducks.

With both Bryzgalov and Giguere injured he was recalled to fill in however he was claimed by Nashville on re-entry waivers. He played only 20 minutes of hockey for the Predators giving up 2 goals before being waived again this time he was picked up by the Flyers on January 11th 2007 in the season that shall not be named making this his 5th NHL franchise. 

He was 2-2-0 for our horrendous Flyers posting a 3.69 GAA and 0.882 GAA for the Orange and Black but a much more impressive were his numbers for the Phantoms during his conditioning stint. 5 games played 2-0-2, 1.56 GAA, 0.948 SV PCT. He was waived again and this time he was picked up the Canadians where he did not play a game and was traded to Carolina for a 7th round draft pick at the 2007 Entry Draft, making Carolina his 7th Franchise in 8 years after being drafted.

He spent the 2007-2008 season playing for Carolina's AHL Affiliate the Albany River Rats where he was a machine not getting much goal support he carried Albany to the AHL playoffs with a 28-25-3 record, a 2.10 GAA, and 0.931 SV PCT. For those Phantoms fans out there he was amazing in the playoffs against the Phantoms that the River Rats would eventually lose in 7 games. In that 7 game series he posted 2 shutouts and an AHL record in the 98 saves in the longest AHL game ever a 5 OT thriller that the Phantoms eventually won on a Ryan Potunly goal. He made 62 of those 98 saves in over time and the Phantoms out shot Albany 98 to 67 in that game.

In following 2008-2009 season he played backup to Cam Ward in 19 games has backup he posted a decent 2.92 GAA and a 0.901 SV PCT. Carolina advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals Leighton did not make a playoff appearance but he was there with the pads on for a nice run. Carolina got off to a horrible start this year Leighton played in 7 games posting a 4.28 GAA and 0.825 SV PCT including 6 - 1 loss to the Flyers on Halloween. He was waived and claimed again by the Flyers on December 15th.

That is the Michael Leighton story and it is pretty amazing. I will leave you with one last note and hopefully this will inspire some confidence. Leighton has been a monster in the AHL playoffs especially that last season in Albany when he put up a 87' Hextall like performance playing out of his mind despite losing the series. In the 7 games against the Phantoms Leighton's numbers were 3-4 with a 1.18 GAA 0.980 SV PCT with 2 shutouts. How the hell you lose a series with numbers like that is beyond me. Hopefully Leighton's AHL playoff success will translate to some NHL playoff success. For his AHL career in 19 playoff games Leighton posted a 1.25 GAA with a 0.980 SV PCT with 5 shutouts. With the deadline passed all we can do is hope, because like or not Leighton will in net come playoff time.

The Flyers have turned it around for the most part and are most likely than not going to make the playoffs somewhere in the 6-8 seed range. The trade deadline is approaching and a key addition can help put your team over the top to make a run at Lord Stanley's Cup. As GM what position would you be targeting as your top priority? Feel free to throw out the some names and be realistic knowing our cap sitiuation and what it would cost from the Flyers in terms of roster players, prospects, and draft picks.