"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place and I don't care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard ya hit. It's about how hard you can get it and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done! Now if you know what you're worth then go out and get what you're worth. But ya gotta be willing to take the hits, and not pointing fingers saying you ain't where you wanna be because of him, or her, or anybody!" - Rocky Balboa
The good teams in sports always get it. You can take this anyway you want, but in the end there are two options in life. You are either moving forward, or you are falling behind. Standing still is falling behind.
This expression applies aptly to many, many situations, but in sports it is often applied at the three key player movement points. The Draft, UFA Day, and Trade Deadline Day. Since other teams will always be getting better around you, Owners and GMs who like their teams and are ahead of the pack, need to carefully analyze how much standing still will cost them by looking at the other teams who move towards them.
Of course when talking trade deadline sometimes the parts a team needs just aren't out there. Sometimes you have no choice but to bite the bullet and watch others improve.
To me, two teams this deadline might get caught by standing still.
#1 Calgary Flames.
The Flames made some gutsy moves this deadline. Moves they had to make. Moving two problem children in Phaneuf and Jokinen with the hopes of re-kindling team chemistry and creating a more Sutter-like team of hard-working guys who show up with their lunchboxes ready to go. I liked both moves, but as I also said at the time, "The question will be how Sutter packages some of these extra pieces together to get some scoring."
The Flames didn't do anything else. So now, they are a huge chemistry experiment and more than ever they need some skill. Some scoring. Shaune Vetter talked at length about this last night on Hockeybuzz Live.
Grabbing Toskala as well is a testament to how ridiculously tight the West has become. The Flames need to give Kipper some rest and they can't afford to lose a single point.
#2 Philadelphia Flyers.
The Flyers of the Richards/Carter era have become solidly classified as a team that runs hot and cold to extremes. Some will pin that on Carter being a streaky player, some pin that on goaltending inconsistencies. Some pin this on coaching. No matter how you place it, the Flyers are a team out of balance...or should I say a team with a precarious balance. At forward the Flyers are three scoring lines, with three scoring centers in Carter, Richards, and Giroux. All three are different and require different sorts of wingers. Which makes that balance so uneasy.
Richards is perhaps the most balanced and can play with anyone. However he is still at his best counter attacking. Richards has good hands, good vision, but what he does best is work. When he doesn't just go full tilt he becomes a slightly better than average player. He is in dire need of a player or two like him. To push him... get in his face and tell him to keep grinding; keep working. Nothing against Simon Gagne, but that isn't his personality. Playing with Gagne is making Richards concentrate more on being a playmaking center and that is not playing to his real value.
Whatever the opposite of a "playmaking center is" would best define Jeff Carter. Jeff needs wingers who will create space. Wingers who will go to the net and pick up rebounds. Wingers who will dig the puck out with ferocious forechecking. Big Grinding Wingers. He has one perfect fit in Scott Hartnell. But that player is not Daniel Briere. Briere is great around the net and explosive on his own. He works really well with....
Claude Giroux. Giroux is the third-line center, yet, in my opinion, is the most naturally gifted forward on this team. Claude is Mark Savard. Giroux has outstanding vision. Almost Forsberg-like vision. But players like him need ice-time. The more ice-time they get the better they get. Last year's stretch run he was the best player on this team. Claude needs a sniper. He is playing with a young gun in vanRiemsdyk, but more experience is needed with those two on the ice. A player like Gagne, but then who do you play with Richards? In preseason Giroux was tearing it up with Briere. Those two made so much sense.
So the three centers are all solid, but what is happening here is they are each taking away from one another because teams with three top centers tend to water down the offense. You need to give Carter someone to play with, so you pull Briere. JvR with his size and speed would appear the perfect "space creator" for Carter, but he doesn't play as physical as his size. Which is fine cause the kid has a great hockey sense and makes great plays. You need to give Richards someone to play with so you put Gagne there. Then you end up with your most skilled center playing on the third line...
So there lies the quagmire. There lies the issue of the constantly changing Flyers lines.
The Flyers have had one line this year that really worked. Carcillo, Betts, Laperriere. They made up a great 4th line. An energy line. Yet they have been broken up lately as well as the coach looks for something else to create balance.
As for the goaltending...don't get me wrong. Michael Leighton has done a hell of a job and a huge part of me can't help but root for him. As a fan of the sport, and Leighton personally, I am psyched he is getting his shot. Make no mistake about it. This is a HUGE opportunity and he knows it. He is the kind of Philadelphia/underdog story that this city loves and gets behind in a big way. This is the city of Rocky. This is the city of Vince Papale.
Yet, not getting a proven goalie, when you will have to defeat Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Kovalchuk to even get to a Cup Finals....is very curious. Yes, you would have had to move someone big to get Vokoun, Halak, or Price, but maybe the Flyers have the depth up front to do that.
At the very least, the Flyers could have made a bigger run for proven playoff guy in Biron or Ellis....It is very odd, knowing this team as well as I do, that they didn't grab either of those two players.
Time will tell...
Goodbye and Hello.
Wanted to wish our long-time band member Brian Metzer well as he leaves us to embark on his solo album...Brian was an outstanding Penguins writer here for years, and always a good friend. I will always support him in his endeavors and I wouldn't at all rule out working with Brian again in some capacity soon.
We also wanted to welcome our new Penguins beat writer Tom Mast. Tom is a HUGE find for us and we think you will agree. Tom spent last season as a Penguins intern and he worked closely with the team on the website, program, and developed great relationships with the team and is very close with the players themselves.
His first blog can be found
HERE. Please take some time to welcome him into the Hockeybuzz Family.
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