He wasn't going to sign here with Hart and Sandstrom arriving next season, and Lyon still being waiver eligible in 18-19. There's no way he was breaking thru that logjam in the AHL.
- Feanor

I guess we'll never know

Next year you should get your own team Bill!

Good for you Bill re staying in shape and keeping your weight under control. Take it from a guy who went from 270 to 200 at the age of 46-47, it is much harder to get and stay in shape as you get older. Right now I'm at 215, and really want to get under 210 and hopefully down to 205, but at 51, it ain't easy.
- BiggE

That's awesome dude. Best of luck, you'll get there.

That's why.
- jmatchett383

Manning has 1 yr left here. I have zero issues with him on 3rd pair - he was fine last season and was eating ~20 minutes a night.

Any decent vet FA (like Karl Alzner) will want long term contract.

Hey Bill, congrats on the weight loss and improved well being. I've had really good results with an 8 week running program I found on the Runners World website. You start out alternating short periods of running with longer periods of walking. The amount of time you run increases incrementally each day with the goal of being able to run for 30 minutes by the end of the 8 weeks. I'm 54 years old and was able to complete it. My next goal is to run at an 8 minute/mile pace.

Bill I have to respectfully disagree on your assessment of M. Madsen. There is no way that you can tell who will be the best of the five goalie prospects. Madsen has size and talent and all he needs is a great goaltending coach and experience. I personally think he was the one to keep. Time will tell. Also exposing Cousins would have been worth more than trading Madsen and a fourth round pick. If Hextall signs Elliott, Johnson, Bernier or any other cull I will be officially done with this team. None of those options are as good as Mason and unless we get a Raanta, Grubauer or Korpisalo Mason is still the best option. Neuvirth is a back up.
- joegreif17

I live in New Haven and attended a bunch of Yale games the past couple years so I've gotten to see Madsen and Lyon. Goalie depth in the Flyers system is nice but from what I've seen, Lyon is leaps and bounds ahead of Madsen, has now a year of AHL play under his belt, and isn't the product of an insanely good team or system like Madsen is under Donato's Harvard club.

He's completely expendable and when you have the likes of Stolarz, Sandstrom, Lyon, and Hart in the pipeline, I wouldn't sweat moving someone of Madsen's build. Yeah, he's big. So's Stolarz.

Hextall told MDZ to get lost because they wanted to get younger, so any veteran dman they sign would have to be better than him. Maybe they can get one who eats so many minutes all the D prospects can stay in the AHL.

Provoov-Minute Man
Manning-Gudas
MacDonald-Ghost
- Feanor

Hextall also said he wants competition for spots. The more depth you have, the better. Unless you want MacD to default to playing 20+ mins a night again and to hope two kids have minimal bumps in the road next season.

Bill I have to respectfully disagree on your assessment of M. Madsen. There is no way that you can tell who will be the best of the five goalie prospects. Madsen has size and talent and all he needs is a great goaltending coach and experience. I personally think he was the one to keep. Time will tell. Also exposing Cousins would have been worth more than trading Madsen and a fourth round pick. If Hextall signs Elliott, Johnson, Bernier or any other cull I will be officially done with this team. None of those options are as good as Mason and unless we get a Raanta, Grubauer or Korpisalo Mason is still the best option. Neuvirth is a back up.
- joegreif17

You're right. You don't know who will be the best. I didn't love the trade, but saying you're done with the team as it heads into its most exciting period in years seems a little extreme. But hey, that's your choice.

Good for you Bill re staying in shape and keeping your weight under control. Take it from a guy who went from 270 to 200 at the age of 46-47, it is much harder to get and stay in shape as you get older. Right now I'm at 215, and really want to get under 210 and hopefully down to 205, but at 51, it ain't easy.
- BiggE

Dude

Im at 220 and I like to eat good food too much. Living in this area is just torture for foodies.....


I wish I could get to 200.....I should be 170

Bill I have to respectfully disagree on your assessment of M. Madsen. There is no way that you can tell who will be the best of the five goalie prospects. Madsen has size and talent and all he needs is a great goaltending coach and experience. I personally think he was the one to keep. Time will tell. Also exposing Cousins would have been worth more than trading Madsen and a fourth round pick. If Hextall signs Elliott, Johnson, Bernier or any other cull I will be officially done with this team. None of those options are as good as Mason and unless we get a Raanta, Grubauer or Korpisalo Mason is still the best option. Neuvirth is a back up.
- joegreif17

You can tell to a certain degree by time they are in their 20s. Sandström at 18 was way more polished looking than the other goalies, including Stolars and Madsen, in camp two summers ago.

Hamonic for Duchene? Surely we can trade one of our many Dmen for him

Hextall also said he wants competition for spots. The more depth you have, the better. Unless you want MacD to default to playing 20+ mins a night again and to hope two kids have minimal bumps in the road next season.
- bmeltzer

Would you look for a vet in FA? There seem to be some guys coming off injuries. Simon Despres and Kulikov. Could be cheaper options. Maybe you can get someone like Nesterov who wasn't qualified.

He wasn't going to sign here with Hart and Sandstrom arriving next season, and Lyon still being waiver eligible in 18-19. There's no way he was breaking thru that logjam in the AHL.
- Feanor

says who? have yet to see one credible source confirm this speculation. Friedman I think just threw it out there.

lets say he wasn't going to sign why would he tell them 14 months in advance? Wouldn't it be much better on his end to say I want to finish my college career then we will talk?

stolarz and lyon getting a tad to much hype. Thinks can change quickly in a year.

Yes, compared to me and my friends, VandeVelde is a hockey God. Compared to the bulk of players in the NHL, he was not in the top 95% or so, skill-wise.

I still maintain that people were notupset with his play so much as his seemin inability to be a healthy scratch when almost everyone else (whether they be star players, role players, young players, or veterans) were subject to it. I'm not saying it was due to ties with his former college coach, but from my standpoint, there were times whether other players were scratched where I thought that VandeVelde was a batter candidate.
- jmatchett383

Would you say he's (frank)ing garbage?

says who? have yet to see one credible source confirm this speculation. Friedman I think just threw it out there.

lets say he wasn't going to sign why would he tell them 14 months in advance? Wouldn't it be much better on his end to say I want to finish my college career then we will talk?

stolarz and lyon getting a tad to much hype. Thinks can change quickly in a year.
- rinaldo

literally noone was talking about Madsen on this board until he got traded. why are people in an uproar now? have you ever seen him play? I haven't so I trust the people who have and most agree he was 5th in the pipeline so it's not a bad loss.

Would you say he's (frank)ing garbage?
- Giroux_Is_God

says who? have yet to see one credible source confirm this speculation. Friedman I think just threw it out there.

lets say he wasn't going to sign why would he tell them 14 months in advance? Wouldn't it be much better on his end to say I want to finish my college career then we will talk?

stolarz and lyon getting a tad to much hype. Thinks can change quickly in a year.
- rinaldo

It's not that he's going to sign as much as we will not have the space to sign him. He's currently 5th on the prospect chart. If Stolarz/Lyon are your backup, that makes your AHL goalies one of Stolarz/Lyon and one of Hart/Sandstrom. That essentially makes Madsen your ECHL starter/backup.

Now, things could definitely change between now and next off-season, and as a college player, he could very well end up a UFA after his NCAA days are over. But as it stands now, there isn't a place for him in their plans.

Would you say he's (frank)ing garbage?
- Giroux_Is_God

No, I'm not going to insult garbage.

But honestly, as compared to the vast majority of NHL players, his skill level is at the bottom of the barrel. He's a "hard-working, consistent, 200-foot guy" and all, and I get that. But he brings very little to the table offensively and, while that's not the only way to define a player, it also shouldn't make you immune from being a healthy scratch more than the last game of the season.

literally noone was talking about Madsen on this board until he got traded. why are people in an uproar now? have you ever seen him play? I haven't so I trust the people who have and most agree he was 5th in the pipeline so it's not a bad loss.
- bulet13

because every trade me make backfires and the other team wins a cup /s

because every trade me make backfires and the other team wins a cup /s
- 2Real

Still waiting to see Coburn lift that Cup in Tampa Bay.

It's not that he's going to sign as much as we will not have the space to sign him. He's currently 5th on the prospect chart. If Stolarz/Lyon are your backup, that makes your AHL goalies one of Stolarz/Lyon and one of Hart/Sandstrom. That essentially makes Madsen your ECHL starter/backup.

Now, things could definitely change between now and next off-season, and as a college player, he could very well end up a UFA after his NCAA days are over. But as it stands now, there isn't a place for him in their plans.
- jmatchett383

And that doesn't even take into account the Flyers taking a goalie this year in the draft or maybe next year.

He just was caught in a numbers game i believe.

because every trade me make backfires and the other team wins a cup /s
- 2Real

That Rinaldo trade backfired in the worst way...

literally noone was talking about Madsen on this board until he got traded. why are people in an uproar now? have you ever seen him play? I haven't so I trust the people who have and most agree he was 5th in the pipeline so it's not a bad loss.
- bulet13

Only one person seems to be in a uproar.

And that doesn't even take into account the Flyers taking a goalie this year in the draft or maybe next year.

He just was caught in a numbers game i believe.
- J35Bacher

Yep. Same thing with Dove-McFalls. In another time when the prospect pipeline was more depleted, he'd probably have gotten a contract.

Manning has 1 yr left here. I have zero issues with him on 3rd pair - he was fine last season and was eating ~20 minutes a night.

Any decent vet FA (like Karl Alzner) will want long term contract.
- kammy

I didn't think he was fine last season. I thought he was borderline AHL last season. I would not want him as a permanent fixture in the top-6 next year.

Agreed that any top-end FA will want more term and $$ than I'd be comfortable with, but I wouldn't be above bringing in a vet (Simon Despres, maybe) if they can get him on a short-term deal around $1.5-$2M.