Am I missing something with the realignment? Do both western divisions have 1 less team competing for the playoffs than the east? How is that fair? Maybe I'm overlooking something..
- funmaster18

You are seeing it correctly.

You mean show up to camp slightly out of shape? Lose his top line spot and only then get his butt in gear?

He really did surprise me. I wasn't a huge supporter but man you couldn't help but root for the guy once he found his stride. My hope for him is that he shows up in better shape and doesn't take the ramp up he did last season... He could be even better.

- FlyersGrace

The reason he was (admittedly) out of shape was because during the lockout, playing back home, he was eating a lot of his moms cooking. Lots of comfort food.


I dont expect that to be a problem.
Just for poops and giggles I looked up his stats from his last 82 games (including playoffs).

82 games- 33 goals- 41 assists- 74 points

That's why I'm puzzled when people state that they don't want Weber because of his contract. Not that I think it's going to happen. But the only thing that would stop me is the asset cost in acquiring him. The contract wouldn't stop me.
- MJL

It wasn't going to stop them when they offer sheeted him, why would it stop them now? Not sure how anyone would come to the conclusion that the flyers wouldn't take on a contract they created.

Am I missing something with the realignment? Do both western divisions have 1 less team competing for the playoffs than the east? How is that fair? Maybe I'm overlooking something..
- funmaster18

No you are correct and it's not fair, but that's Bettman for you!

Am I missing something with the realignment? Do both western divisions have 1 less team competing for the playoffs than the east? How is that fair? Maybe I'm overlooking something..
- funmaster18

Nope you're right. You can count. Too bad the NHL can't. I'm pretty sure the idea was that expansion teams would go into the West (someday over the rainbow). And the East has easier travel....

Am I missing something with the realignment? Do both western divisions have 1 less team competing for the playoffs than the east? How is that fair? Maybe I'm overlooking something..
- funmaster18

Life is not fair. Neither is the NHL.

Unless they move a forward, I don't see the need for Gagne. The following lines would work for me:
Hartnell-G-Voracek
Schenn-Vinnie-Read
Talbot-Couturier-Simmonds
McGinn or Rosehill-Laughton or Hall-Rinaldo

Signing Gagne would move Talbot to the 4th line and I think he is too good a player to be getting only 7 or 8 minutes of even strength ice time on the 4th line.
- BiggE

I agree. I like Gagne, but time to give some of the young kids a shot.

So, not to take away from today's blog -- because no self-respecting Flyers fan should ever forget the Todd Bergen/Mike Keenan dynamic -- but I've been looking at the conference realignment for next season, obviously with the Flyers in mind.

And man...wow. It's not going to be fun. Actually, it's likely going to be fairly painful, with the potential for really, really ugly.

For those who aren't aware, here's the deal: Next year, we're in the same conference with these seven other teams: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh and Washington. Only four teams qualify for the playoffs, again, for those who aren't aware -- hopefully, no one's intelligence feels insulted by me saying this stuff.

But, wow. Yikes. That's...yikes. The other Eastern Conference alignment is like a clown show compared to what the Flyers are dealing with.

Arguments could be made, good arguments, for each of these teams to make the playoffs -- though each team has strengths and weaknesses that will become apparent over 82 games, this is going to be tough.

Just my opinion on this stuff, your mileage may vary:

The Flyers have better forwards than Columbus. Columbus has better defensemen. Sergei Bobrovsky...can he do it for a whole season? If he does...ugh.

The Flyers have always strafed the Hurricanes. I see no reason to believe that will change next year, though I do expect Jordan Staal to have a better year. But their defense is weaker than the Flyers' -- there's a reason why we own that squad.

There isn't a single person who has rooted for the Flyers over the Lou Lamoriello Reign of Terror who will be surprised if Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder each get 40 goals next season, Rostislav Olesz gets 30 and 85-year-old Martin Brodeur, irritated that his successor has been acquired, posts a 1.56 GAA for the season and shuts out the Flyers 26 times. Plus, Peter DeBoer has been kicking Peter Laviolette's arse for the better part of two-plus seasons now. Damn it! WHY WON'T THIS TEAM JUST DIE?!?!?! DIE, ALREADY!!!!!

The Flyers still have, as a whole, better forwards than the Islanders. But that gap continues to close every offseason. If Ryan Strome is able to fulfill his draft position/projections...UGH. The defense...they have a funky group whose sum is better than the individual parts. I was glad they brought Evgeni Nabokov back...if we can't beat a billion-year-old goalie not named Martin Brodeur, then that's on us.

The Rags...we know what the deal is here. Their goalie is better than ours. Their defense is better than ours. And now that Tortorella's gone, their offense is probably going to be a real pain to deal with, especially if Alain Vigneault can convince Chris Kreider that John Tortorella really is gone and that he can play hockey now without having some crazy person screaming at him every shift.

Pittsburgh...well, they still have Marc-Andre Fleury in the net. That means every team has a shot in a seven-game series.

Washington's a team that will miss Mike Ribeiro more than they probably think. Their defense has some questions on the third pair...that's a team that I feel that the Flyers should be better than.

The problem, as folks can tell by the math: The Flyers, optimistically, are likely better than two teams in their new conference: Carolina and Washington.

They're about even with New Jersey and the Islanders. Over 82 games, they might be slightly better than Columbus. Might.

Pittsburgh's great in the regular season. The Rags will be better off with the crazy man gone.

That doesn't inspire me with confidence. Four teams competing for two spots, with not a whole lot to separate them...man.

Man. I almost think that the Flyers might want to look at another deal to solidify the scoring on that second line -- man, I like Brayden Schenn as much as anybody. But next season...this isn't going to be easy. Growing pains might just leave the Flyers in fourth-place in a two-team race.
- AllInForFlyers

It's actually 3 teams per division, with the teams with the next best records filling 2 wildcard spots. That means that 3 teams from Boston's division might make the playoffs, while 5 teams from our division might make the playoffs. I don't know if we'll finish in the top 3, but I suspect that if we can return to our 100+ point form that we frequent, we'll at least fill a wildcard spot. Honestly, Columbus is on the rise, but they still missed the playoffs last year. If they play at their pace from last year we should still be able to beat them. With the Rangers losing even more grit, as a sort of continuation from last off season, I think if we play them with grit and strength we should be able to out work them. We all know the deal with Pittsburgh. I honestly see Carolina being the bottom team in our division. The Devils seem to have our number, and they've added a lot of good pieces this off season, but they still have to finish over us in the standings. Even in technically our 2nd worst season in the past 18 years, we still finished ahead of the Devils, so while I don't have confidence that we can beat them, I have confidence that other teams will beat them enough for us. Washington is a mess, having lost Ribeiro, and having just traded their top prospect for a 31 year old 2nd-line winger who's never reached 60 points in his entire career. I don't know what the hell they're thinking with these horrible team moves, but they seem to consistently be able to make the playoffs; with an actually difficult division this year, though, I do see them being one of the bottom teams on the pecking order for our division. For the past X years they've only had to compete with Tampa, Florida, Carolina, and Winnipeg, in probably the weakest division in the whole league. All in all, while we do have the most difficult division in the league now, and I do view 7 out of 8 of the teams in it as playoff teams, I still see us being one of the top teams in our division.

EDIT: Oh and the Islanders are alright too. While Moulson is an underrated player, I still view them as a pretty one-man team. If we just focus on shutting down Tavares whenever we play them then they'll have serious problems playing us.

That's why I'm puzzled when people state that they don't want Weber because of his contract. Not that I think it's going to happen. But the only thing that would stop me is the asset cost in acquiring him. The contract wouldn't stop me.
- MJL

Honestly, at this point the cost would have to be grotesquely over the top for me to not be ok with it. Our top 6 for next season (of course barring any moves) is down right frightening

It wasn't going to stop them when they offer sheeted him, why would it stop them now? Not sure how anyone would come to the conclusion that the flyers wouldn't take on a contract they created.
- funmaster18

Good point. But it was mainly poster's offering their opinion on the contract. Not what they think the Flyers would think about the contract.

No
Yes
It's not
You're not
- Flyskippy

I agree. I like Gagne, but time to give some of the young kids a shot.
- MJL

Sentimentality is preferable to heartless business choices, so he must be given a chance to be a shell of himself here.

So, not to take away from today's blog -- because no self-respecting Flyers fan should ever forget the Todd Bergen/Mike Keenan dynamic -- but I've been looking at the conference realignment for next season, obviously with the Flyers in mind.

And man...wow. It's not going to be fun. Actually, it's likely going to be fairly painful, with the potential for really, really ugly.

For those who aren't aware, here's the deal: Next year, we're in the same conference with these seven other teams: Carolina, Columbus, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Pittsburgh and Washington. Only four teams qualify for the playoffs, again, for those who aren't aware -- hopefully, no one's intelligence feels insulted by me saying this stuff.

But, wow. Yikes. That's...yikes. The other Eastern Conference alignment is like a clown show compared to what the Flyers are dealing with.

Arguments could be made, good arguments, for each of these teams to make the playoffs -- though each team has strengths and weaknesses that will become apparent over 82 games, this is going to be tough.

Just my opinion on this stuff, your mileage may vary:

The Flyers have better forwards than Columbus. Columbus has better defensemen. Sergei Bobrovsky...can he do it for a whole season? If he does...ugh.

The Flyers have always strafed the Hurricanes. I see no reason to believe that will change next year, though I do expect Jordan Staal to have a better year. But their defense is weaker than the Flyers' -- there's a reason why we own that squad.

There isn't a single person who has rooted for the Flyers over the Lou Lamoriello Reign of Terror who will be surprised if Ryane Clowe and Michael Ryder each get 40 goals next season, Rostislav Olesz gets 30 and 85-year-old Martin Brodeur, irritated that his successor has been acquired, posts a 1.56 GAA for the season and shuts out the Flyers 26 times. Plus, Peter DeBoer has been kicking Peter Laviolette's arse for the better part of two-plus seasons now. Damn it! WHY WON'T THIS TEAM JUST DIE?!?!?! DIE, ALREADY!!!!!

The Flyers still have, as a whole, better forwards than the Islanders. But that gap continues to close every offseason. If Ryan Strome is able to fulfill his draft position/projections...UGH. The defense...they have a funky group whose sum is better than the individual parts. I was glad they brought Evgeni Nabokov back...if we can't beat a billion-year-old goalie not named Martin Brodeur, then that's on us.

The Rags...we know what the deal is here. Their goalie is better than ours. Their defense is better than ours. And now that Tortorella's gone, their offense is probably going to be a real pain to deal with, especially if Alain Vigneault can convince Chris Kreider that John Tortorella really is gone and that he can play hockey now without having some crazy person screaming at him every shift.

Pittsburgh...well, they still have Marc-Andre Fleury in the net. That means every team has a shot in a seven-game series.

Washington's a team that will miss Mike Ribeiro more than they probably think. Their defense has some questions on the third pair...that's a team that I feel that the Flyers should be better than.

The problem, as folks can tell by the math: The Flyers, optimistically, are likely better than two teams in their new conference: Carolina and Washington.

They're about even with New Jersey and the Islanders. Over 82 games, they might be slightly better than Columbus. Might.

Pittsburgh's great in the regular season. The Rags will be better off with the crazy man gone.

That doesn't inspire me with confidence. Four teams competing for two spots, with not a whole lot to separate them...man.

Man. I almost think that the Flyers might want to look at another deal to solidify the scoring on that second line -- man, I like Brayden Schenn as much as anybody. But next season...this isn't going to be easy. Growing pains might just leave the Flyers in fourth-place in a two-team race.
- AllInForFlyers

Good points. However as Grace pointed out only the top 3 are guaranteed playoff spots, the last 2 spots in the East are wild card spots. I could see the Flyers finishing anywhere from 2nd to 6th in their conference. While I think they will likely finish 3rd if healthy, they are going to have to really play well all year to make the playoffs.

You are seeing it correctly.


- BulliesPhan87

Full of wisdom, that Jeremy irons..

Am I missing something with the realignment? Do both western divisions have 1 less team competing for the playoffs than the east? How is that fair? Maybe I'm overlooking something..
- funmaster18

They're leaving room in the west for the Seattle Seals and the Portland ______.

Sentimentality is preferable to heartless business choices, so he must be given a chance to be a shell of himself here.
- Flyskippy

I'm a little upset the Ellios avatar is gone.

Full of wisdom, that Jeremy irons..
- funmaster18

He certainly knows how to "Be Prepared."

Sentimentality is preferable to heartless business choices, so he must be given a chance to be a shell of himself here.
- Flyskippy

I think Gagne played pretty well last year. He's not the same as he was when he was 25 obviously, but he would be one of the more defensive minded forwards if the Flyers brought him back.

When you talk about sentimentality, the Flyers giving a contract to Wellwood who is a fringe NHL player at best made little sense. Hockey is a business, I understand it would have appeared cruel, but ties should have been cut with him.

Good point. But it was mainly poster's offering their opinion on the contract. Not what they think the Flyers would think about the contract.
- MJL

Gotcha, makes sense then. Though I don recall many people upset about the contract a year ago when they offered it. Then again, some people are unhappy with locking up Giroux, so something I will never understand

(This geared towards you Joe!! )

I'm a little upset the Ellios avatar is gone.
- BulliesPhan87

It was taking up space in the freezer and I was hungry...

It was taking up space in the freezer and I was hungry...
- Flyskippy

touché

I think Gagne played pretty well last year. He's not the same as he was when he was 25 obviously, but he would be one of the more defensive minded forwards if the Flyers brought him back.

When you talk about sentimentality, the Flyers giving a contract to Wellwood who is a fringe NHL player at best made little sense. Hockey is a business, I understand it would have appeared cruel, but ties should have been cut with him.
- PLindbergh31

This site needs a sarcasm smiley, especially since its difficult providing my own from my iPhone.

It was taking up space in the freezer and I was hungry...
- Flyskippy

Amish have freezers?

He certainly knows how to "Be Prepared."
- Flyskippy

as for his signing ability, that's another story..

This site needs a sarcasm smiley, especially since its difficult providing my own from my iPhone.
- Flyskippy

Ahhh... Missed that. Usually you put your little sarcasm .gif in your posts.