If we could play the Penguins every round, maybe, because you guys seem to be the only team these idiots come to play against consistently. (Plus, they'd be awesome games.) Otherwise, honestly, we need to be selling off veterans, giving some younger guys a chance to win spots, and freeing up money to retool in the offseason.

We need to keep competing, and trying to win games, but Homer also has to acknowledge that there are too damn many teams we'd have to leapfrog, and giving up assets for a quixotic run at the postseason will weaken us down the line more than it will help us now.
- dilbert719

The frustration is 100%understood, but reality is you guys are not that far out of the playoffs. It is very possible, playing only east teams that you guys can work your way into the playoffs. Thinking rebuild for a team(that I loathe) with this talent would be the wrong way to go.

The frustration is 100%understood, but reality is you guys are not that far out of the playoffs. It is very possible, playing only east teams that you guys can work your way into the playoffs. Thinking rebuild for a team(that I loathe) with this talent would be the wrong way to go.
- nbartley9

The reality is that they haven't strung together 3 straight wins all season, and there's no evidence that they're capable of doing so.

and we pillaged this teams youth?
- jak521

equiv of 4 1st rounders... lupul, sbisa and 2 1st rounders...although we did get dingle

It depends.. St Louis may have a tough time signing all of their guys this summer. You have to do a ton of scouting for sure...

I would also look to Chicago and Fla..
- jak521

and you dont think there are 28 more teams with more prospects/players waiting to get at them....

Do you know what place the flyers are ranked in terms of propect depth? 30th...

What about Rinaldo?
- jak521

He was good too but I hate him. Much the way nobody here could admit Cooke might do something without drawing it up in his dungeon while drinking blood the night before, I have trouble giving Rinaldo accolades.

equiv of 4 1st rounders... lupul, sbisa and 2 1st rounders...although we did get dingle
- isaiah520

I make that trade 100 times over again

The frustration is 100%understood, but reality is you guys are not that far out of the playoffs. It is very possible, playing only east teams that you guys can work your way into the playoffs. Thinking rebuild for a team(that I loathe) with this talent would be the wrong way to go.
- nbartley9

5 points out of a playoff spot is absolutely still in the chase, from a points perspective.. but from a true contender perspective they have no shot.

I dont think anyone wants a rebuild so much as adding some pieces for now and the future.

equiv of 4 1st rounders... lupul, sbisa and 2 1st rounders...although we did get dingle
- isaiah520

exactly young puck moving defenseman are never available and if they are they are at a premium..

and you dont think there are 28 more teams with more prospects/players waiting to get at them....

Do you know what place the flyers are ranked in terms of propect depth? 30th...
- Philly1980

You know why the Flyers are ranked 30th?

You know why the Flyers are ranked 30th?
- jak521

yes because they have no depth and schenn and couts are playing in the NHL....trading first rounders aka ala veesteeg has gotten them in this situation...

They are absolutely unsure of playing that way. Because they haven't been Coached how to play that way, and they haven't done it enough.
- MJL

Quite the broken record...

I want to know how you know what the players have or have not been coached. Are you at the practices? Are you a member of the media? Are you on the team? Are you a member of the coaching staff?

How do you know definitively what the coaches are telling the players to do? And if you say "because the players are doing it", I'm going to have to laugh.

And defensive hockey isn't the end-all, be-all some people seem to imagine. Look at the Rangers and their struggles. Look at Tampa and their now fired coach.

Here's what I know: you can't win if you don't score goals. It's a wonderfully simple fact.

equiv of 4 1st rounders... lupul, sbisa and 2 1st rounders...although we did get dingle
- isaiah520

So Lupul, Sbisa and 2 firsts depleted our youth.

He was good too but I hate him. Much the way nobody here could admit Cooke might do something without drawing it up in his dungeon while drinking blood the night before, I have trouble giving Rinaldo accolades.
- canadianpenfan

Now that's not fair. I believe Matt Cooke is totally capable of spontaneous havoc, he's just that evil.

He was good too but I hate him. Much the way nobody here could admit Cooke might do something without drawing it up in his dungeon while drinking blood the night before, I have trouble giving Rinaldo accolades.
- canadianpenfan

Rinaldo might be the latest agitator to get under your skin but he hardly has the history of cooke.

http://video.nhl.com/vide...atid=35&id=227681&lang=en

1st video is Schenn hopping into the booth with Pierre, and the second is Rinaldo's big hit on Kunitz. For those who didn't see it, it's worth watching.

Rinaldo might be the latest agitator to get under your skin but he hardly has the history of cooke.
- twotoekenn

Yeah, Rinaldo needs to go headhunting a lot more often if he wants to be compared with that PoS Cooke.

yes because they have no depth and schenn and couts are playing in the NHL....trading first rounders aka ala veesteeg has gotten them in this situation...
- Philly1980

The reason is because they have all of their younger players playing in the NHL. Teams dont just stock pile players like Couts and Schenn in the AHL. Over the past 3 NHL drafts we have added 5 players who either have played in the NHL or look to be on the fast track to play in the NHL.
McGinn, Couts, Cousins, Laughton, Ghost.

You know why the Flyers are ranked 30th?
- jak521

People always blame the fact that the Flyers trade too many picks, but I haven't seen any data showing they move picks around any more than other top contending teams (contending teams always are "buying" and moving pieces like that more than non contenders). As quickly as I could once, I looked up and saw that in the past 10 years, the Flyers and Detroit have made the same number of draft picks, and if you averaged the draft position of all the picks, they were virtually identical (meaning the Flyers don't necessarily just have the same number of picks as Detroit due to a bunch of 6th and 7th rounders).

My theory on why the Flyers have a depleted system is of course some of the guys are on the big team already, but mostly that they just don't do a good job with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounders. Maybe it's nurturing the players, but I think they just don't make good selections there. This is masked somewhat by their good success in the 1st round, but they need to do better in the middle rounds.

http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=227681&lang=en

1st video is Schenn hopping into the booth with Pierre, and the second is Rinaldo's big hit on Kunitz. For those who didn't see it, it's worth watching.
- wolfhounds

Great hit by Rhino... a few Pens fans were claiming it was a suspendable hit.

So Lupul, Sbisa and 2 firsts depleted our youth.
- jak521

our opps for futures...unless you want rigidly define youth as plyrs already in your system. the overriding point is that we will always have to overpay for top 4 dmen, so it would behoove us to develop a certain % of our own.

Rinaldo might be the latest agitator to get under your skin but he hardly has the history of cooke.
- twotoekenn

Rinaldo hasn't caused any season or career ending injuries with dirty hits yet. Hopefully he never will.

our opps for futures...unless you want rigidly define youth as plyrs already in your system. the overriding point is that we will always have to overpay for top 4 dmen, so it would behoove us to develop a certain % of our own.
- isaiah520

Pronger wasn't just a top 4 dman, he was a franchise player. Very different. They gave up assets to get one of the top 5 defensemen in the league. Age was irrelevant because we saw that he was still dominate.

Rinaldo hasn't caused any season or career ending injuries with dirty hits yet. Hopefully he never will.
- Feanor

Wasn't it he that hit Malone who is out for a long time?

People always blame the fact that the Flyers trade too many picks, but I haven't seen any data showing they move picks around any more than other top contending teams (contending teams always are "buying" and moving pieces like that more than non contenders). As quickly as I could once, I looked up and saw that in the past 10 years, the Flyers and Detroit have made the same number of draft picks, and if you averaged the draft position of all the picks, they were virtually identical (meaning the Flyers don't necessarily just have the same number of picks as Detroit due to a bunch of 6th and 7th rounders).

My theory on why the Flyers have a depleted system is of course some of the guys are on the big team already, but mostly that they just don't do a good job with 2nd, 3rd, and 4th rounders. Maybe it's nurturing the players, but I think they just don't make good selections there. This is masked somewhat by their good success in the 1st round, but they need to do better in the middle rounds.
- eayost

Great post!

That is exactly where I was going... The Flyers in the past have struggled to find guy with any NHL talent outside of the first round. Over the past few years they have managed to find a few guys who have made it. Over the past 3 drafts the Flyers have had 3 players play in the NHL. The Oilers who have picked #1 three years running.. also have 3 players with NHL experience from those drafts.

Great hit by Rhino... a few Pens fans were claiming it was a suspendable hit.
- jak521

I think that Coburn hit on Dupuis at the end of regulation could be suspendable. The refs definitely miss a call on that one.