My Flyers sources say, "no way Jose" on signing Avery ...

Why are all the whackos targeted toward Philly by other media?

**

So I'm listening to Joffrey Lupul trying to explain to me, looking somewhat flabbergasted, why my suggestion of "fining" the Flyers for taking stupid penalties is such a bad idea.

I'm listening to Lupul's response and swear to the Hockey Gods that I'm hearing Denis Lemieux, right out of "Slapshot."

Lupul: "Fines] for taking penalties? It’s part of the game. Guys are competing hard. A lot of times, it’s not intentional. Guys are not trying to get 200 penalty minutes. The feeling when you are in the box and your team gets scored upon is a lot worse than paying the fine."

Flashback to Lemieux talking to a TV reporter about penalties: "You do that you go to the box 2 minutes by yourself and you feel shame. And then you get free."

Yes, Joffrey Lupul is Denis Lemieux. I'm sure of it.

The Flyers continue take too many penalties, thereby gassing their best players, 5-on-5 because those players have such a huge role on the penalty kill. We saw it again during a 3-1 loss to Boston and coach John Stevens is really harping about how he wants "the penalty brigade" to end.

Here's the breakdown on Flyer obstruction calls this season:

• 27 holding calls
• 69 hooking calls
• 32 interference calls
• 38 tripping calls

“It’s way too much," Ossi Vaananen told me. "If you take a lot of penalties and are down, it wears guys down. We need to be playing more at 5-on-5. We keep putting ourselves behind the eight-ball.

“In the course of a season, teams go through periods where they take a lot of penalties, then address it and they cut back. Which is what we have to do to have success – you can’t take this many penalties. We’ve talked about it and I’m sure a change is coming.

“It’s a matter of not being lazy and keeping your feet moving.”

BTW: Vaananen said players were fined for penalties when he played in Phoenix. So there.

For more on this, check out CSNPhilly.com:

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