one day the Flyers won't have Boucher or Leighton in their system. One day.
- wilsonecho91

I'm not looking forward to it. Those two are rock solid.

Brian Boucher is expected to get the start in goal Tuesday night.
The Flyers are giving Ilya Brygalov a night off after their top goalie surrendered four goals in 26 minutes before being pulled in favor of Boucher on Monday night.

Source: Pete Jensen on Twitter
- stveshdy

I like it. He's the only (frank)ing player that deserves a day off.

Alright, now that we have established that it's harder to score goals in todays NHL, I have to know why James van Riemsdyk can never be the second coming of John LeClair? I will admit that I could be over hyping this kid, but we are far from seeing what we gave up on. If anything, this is the season I would think we could have seen what he could do when leaned on as a front line player. Toronto is doing that now. We never did that for an extended period of time.

I like Luke Schenn, just not at the cost of only James van Riemsdyk.

So who on this team can play at a the same level as Giroux, while being the perfect compliment to our new Captain?
- SuperSchennBros

Right now, Giroux isn't playing at a very high level. But I know what you're getting at. First of all JVR is a different type of player then LeClair. But I don't know why that even matters. The Flyers didn't have JVR now, as a more mature player, and finally healthy players. We saw flashes of it. Good for him that he is playing well.
Flyers need to get some players going. Before we can find a player to play with Giroux, he needs to get his game in shape by himself. And Hartnell has shown to be a pretty good compliment to Giroux.
I'm happy with the trade at this point. We got a very good player. You have to give up quality to get quality.

Red hot mess...
Bill said it best.

You can hide one of Gervais and Foster at the six spot for under 15 minutes a game.
But to have both in the line up at the same time, it is going to hurt.

Gervais is dragging down Coburn's level of play, and the #8/#3 pairing is good for a Keystone Kops near disaster every game.

When Mez gets back and IF he can play at a high level, this team should be dramatically improved.

Coburn really benefitted from his paring with Kimmo the last few years, and he had something good going with Grossmann last season.

Bryz has been bailing them out, but he looks a bit tired and his play has come back to earth lately.

Tonight we get watch Wheeler and Kane streak down the wings around the defenseman. I hope they all get their angles and positions figured out, because if the D try to cheat towards the wrong side or pinch at the wrong times it will be ugly.
- Marc D

Well said! Gervais and Foster are, at best, #6 guys who should not be playing more than 8-10 even strength mins per game, and never on the PK. Not having a #1 defenseman is really hurting this team too. Coburn and Timonen are 2/3 guys, and Mez may be nearly that level too. Schenn is a good #4 and Grossmann a #5.

Right now Timonen has to be #1 and Coburn #1A and thats not going to cut. Whats worse though is having Schenn and Grossmann at 3 & 4 instead of 4 & 5 and having Gervais at #5 where he is badly exposed. Getting Mez back will help a lot, but for this team to really contend, they need either a true #1 or 2 more solid top 4 guys which would allow them to have 6 guys that can play in all situations.

Well said! Gervais and Foster are, at best, #6 guys who should not be playing more than 8-10 even strength mins per game, and never on the PK. Not having a #1 defenseman is really hurting this team too. Coburn and Timonen are 2/3 guys, and Mez may be nearly that level too. Schenn is a good #4 and Grossmann a #5.

Right now Timonen has to be #1 and Coburn #1A and thats not going to cut. Whats worse though is having Schenn and Grossmann at 3 & 4 instead of 4 & 5 and having Gervais at #5 where he is badly exposed. Getting Mez back will help a lot, but for this team to really contend, they need either a true #1 or 2 more solid top 4 guys which would allow them to have 6 guys that can play in all situations.
- BiggE

#6 guys in the AHL

That makes me a little sad.

/Tim Kerr
//Gagne
///Dorny
- johndewar

Well said! Gervais and Foster are, at best, #6 guys who should not be playing more than 8-10 even strength mins per game, and never on the PK. Not having a #1 defenseman is really hurting this team too. Coburn and Timonen are 2/3 guys, and Mez may be nearly that level too. Schenn is a good #4 and Grossmann a #5.

Right now Timonen has to be #1 and Coburn #1A and thats not going to cut. Whats worse though is having Schenn and Grossmann at 3 & 4 instead of 4 & 5 and having Gervais at #5 where he is badly exposed. Getting Mez back will help a lot, but for this team to really contend, they need either a true #1 or 2 more solid top 4 guys which would allow them to have 6 guys that can play in all situations.
- BiggE

I agree completely that they need a #1. And that the 3rd pair is an issue. But Grossmann is a top 4 defenseman in this League. There's not many teams that have 6 top 4 caliber defenseman.

Well said! Gervais and Foster are, at best, #6 guys who should not be playing more than 8-10 even strength mins per game, and never on the PK. Not having a #1 defenseman is really hurting this team too. Coburn and Timonen are 2/3 guys, and Mez may be nearly that level too. Schenn is a good #4 and Grossmann a #5.

Right now Timonen has to be #1 and Coburn #1A and thats not going to cut. Whats worse though is having Schenn and Grossmann at 3 & 4 instead of 4 & 5 and having Gervais at #5 where he is badly exposed. Getting Mez back will help a lot, but for this team to really contend, they need either a true #1 or 2 more solid top 4 guys which would allow them to have 6 guys that can play in all situations.
- BiggE

With Timonen as the number 1 and Coburn as the 1A, they were good enough to get to the Eastern Conference Final in 2008. With a third pair every bit as bad as Gervais and Foster(if not worse) the Flyers got to the Stanley Cup Final in 2010.

If they added a guy like Mark Giordano or even Matt Carle, this defense would look pretty solid on paper-and neither one of them is a true number one. The key is for the entire team to play good defense. Bad turnovers and lazy back checking by forwards puts more pressure on the defense.

That's a terrible metaphor. You're kidding right?

What you're trying to tell me is that Gretzky, Coffey, Messier, Fuhr, Anderson, Kurri couldn't score with todays players because they were fat and out of shape? That's crazy! Not to mention that the role players on that team were better than the top 6 on most current teams. Did you ever watch that team play?
- mayorofangrytown

I agree with Moat on this. Those teams in the 80s were something else, especially the oilers.

one day the Flyers won't have Boucher or Leighton in their system. One day.
- wilsonecho91

I would love to see Sunshine Eriksson making the start tonight but i guess there was just no space for him in the AHL with all the studs the Flyers had in waiting, i mean i hear Niko is doing well in the ECHL...............................

- Jsaquella

?

?
- Crimsoninja

I quoted something I misread, and couldn't delete my post...so I changed it to a Foster

Did Shelley hurt himself getting in and out of his press box chair ?

I would love to see Sunshine Eriksson making the start tonight but i guess there was just no space for him in the AHL with all the studs the Flyers had in waiting, i mean i hear Niko is doing well in the ECHL...............................


- Yosimar89

Hovinen is playing in the AHL now...with Edmonton....

Did Shelley hurt himself getting in and out of his press box chair ?
- ob18

Spilled Homer's hot chocolate all over his leg last night

Hovinen is playing in the AHL now...with Edmonton....
- Jsaquella

Soooo what you're telling me is he didn't last a full season with this franchise?

Niko Hovinen 2 120:00 6 0 3.00 2 0 0 50 44 0.880

Soooo what you're telling me is he didn't last a full season with this franchise?

Niko Hovinen 2 120:00 6 0 3.00 2 0 0 50 44 0.880


- Yosimar89

Barely a month, really

Spilled Homer's hot chocolate all over his leg last night
- Jsaquella

Ahhh okay

so Bryz gets the start

Soooo what you're telling me is he didn't last a full season with this franchise?

Niko Hovinen 2 120:00 6 0 3.00 2 0 0 50 44 0.880


- Yosimar89

protypical lazy finnish goalie. having said that, i'd rather have a 50 year old Kari Takko.

so Bryz gets the start
- wilsonecho91

so Bryz gets the start
- wilsonecho91

He can rest when he drops dead in late April

- aightwebang17

mooD

mooD
- ob18

tranquilly pensive