First off let me start off by saying, I am in no way trying to be a journalist or any type of reporter. I have been following hockey for the past 18 years and over the years I have seen many bag trades and signings, especially from the Philadelphia Flyers.
I have this blog to sell my winning NHL predictions when the NHL is in season and also this is a place for me to let loose for when I see stupid and sometimes great trades and signings.
This time though, Paul Holmgren and the Philadelphia Flyers have been doing all the right moves this 2012 off-season. Yes, it’s not often you hear me say this about the Philadelphia Flyers.
First, they dealt Sergei Bobrovsky to the Columbus Blue Jackets in return for a few draft picks. Although I thought the Flyers could have also received a forward in return for “Bob” I am still OK with this trade.
Bobrovsky was getting overpaid in a Flyers uniform for being a back up and let’s face it, this is Ilya Bryzgalov’s crease now, at least for the next 8 years it is.
Secondly, the Flyers FINALLY traded James Van Riemsdyk! This is the move I have been waiting for since the 2010-2011 season.
“JVR” is the most overrated player in the NHL and one of the softest players I have ever seen drafted at the #2 spot overall. At times he would show toughness and willing to dominate, but that was a rarity within it’s self.
In my opinion JVR will never be the dominate player people assumed he would be, and is already plagued with injuries in his young career. I could go on and on about JVR, but it’s not worth it anymore, I already ranted about him enough on this blog over the past two seasons.
Moving onto Jaromir Jagr, I truly believed he would be coming back to Philly, but like every other athlete out there, he chased the money.
First he says he wanted to come back to Philly, he loves it here and it’s all about being happy and having fun. Then he goes and signs with the, Dallas Stars? I guess in order to remain happy, money had to be a major factor in it?
It’s a shame he will not return but let’s face the facts here, Jagr at the age of 40, can’t last a full season. His last 4 seasons in the NHL, looking at his numbers, he has not lasted a full 82 game season. He shined in the first half of the 2011-2012 season then slowly disappeared. Playoffs? Yeah, he was no where to be found.
After these three players have left I was hoping just one more player would NOT resign with the Flyers, and that player is Matt Carle.
I woke up this morning with a very nice surprise in my Twitter feed, Matt Carle signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. But for $33.5 million?
MATT CARLE IS NOT WORTH THAT MUCH PUCKING MONEY!
Matt Carle only shined with the Flyers and in his career when Chris Pronger was healthy and in the lineup and that was, what, one full season? When Pronger was out and Carle was not paired up with him, Carle has sucked!
He turns over the puck so much I swear I have whip lash after every Flyers game.
WHY DO THE FLYERS NEED A WINGER AND NOT A DEFENSEMAN?
Many of you Flyers fans, not including myself, think the Flyers need a top defenseman. Why is that exactly?
They already have Kimmo Timonen, Andrej Meszaros, Braydon Coburn and Niklas Grossman as their top 4 defesemen. Last I checked, the reason the Flyers were knocked out of the 2012 NHL Playoffs was because of their lack of scoring, NOT the defense!
The Flyers need somebody, preferably a 30-40 goal scorer per year, that they can go to when down in the game and say “You get paid to score goals, go out there and do it”.
Yes, Claude Girox is that guy but let’s face it, Giroux is not that BIG winger the Flyers and every NHL team needs. Giroux was shut down for a good period of time last season, and I believe if he was a bigger player, he could roll right through the teams defense.
And NO! Scott Hartnell is NOT that guy! Most NHL teams wouldn’t even have Hartnell on their third line let alone the first line. If there’s anyway the Flyers could get him to waive his NTC, well it would be a blessing.
Hartnell only scored a career high of 37 goals last season because he played on a line with Claude Giroux and Jaromir Jagr. He will be lucky to score 15 this season.
If you can’t score 30-40 goals while being on a line with them two guys, then you shouldn’t be in the NHL.
So who is that BIG winger the Flyers need? Well, it’s quite simple, his name is Rick Nash.
I understand the Flyers have a lot of young talent and every GM would kill for that but every team has that one missing piece to the puzzle and for the Flyers it’s Rick Nash.
After losing the names mentioned above the Flyers can without a doubt afford him BUT they can obviously only get him through trade.
WHO DO THE FLYERS GIVE UP FOR RICK NASH?
It has been reported that the Columbus Blue Jackets either wan’t Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturer for Nash. Or, one of those players plus a bunch of other players.
If anything, Brayden Schenn should get the boot NOT Sean Couturier. The Flyers dealt Jeff Carter for a draft pick which ended up being Couturier and it’s bad enough Carter just won the Stanley Cup. So to lessen the blow, for god’s sakes, I hope the Flyers never trade Couturier.
And not only that, Couturier is a great young player with hockey sense beyond his years. But as for Schenn, yes his brother was just dealt to Philly but if the Flyers ever want to make a deep playoff run again, they need a pure goal scorer. And I’m willing to part ways with Schenn for that pure goal scorer.
I’m not sure who the Blue Jackets have asked for in return besides Schenn and Couturier but I’m sure I can name a few.
Ben Holmstrom , Matt Read, Eric Wellwood, Harry Zolnierczyk, Erik Gustafsson are the players that come to mind. Of these players Matt Read and Eric Wellwood would be the hardest to let go, but if it has to be done in order for Philadelphia to finally win the Stanley Cup after 37 years, then I am all for it.
Again, the main point of this rant is to point out that the Flyers need a pure goal scorer because the main reason the Flyers were knocked out of the 2012 Playoffs was not because of defense. But, because of lack of scoring. The young players didn’t have what it took to get it done and they still have at least another 2 years before they do have what it takes. With the exception of Sean Couturier.
Are the Flyers management willing to wait another 2 years before they start to see any impact in the playoffs from these young players? Especially with top players like Danny Briere and Kimmo Timonen not getting any younger?
And who knows if these young players will ever get to that level of play in 2 years, they may just be another James Van Riemsdyk.
Many will even argue by saying Rick Nash has never been tested, has never even won a playoff series. My answer to that is ” Ilya Kovalchuk was in the same boat and look at what happened”……
Rick Nash, he is needed, and it needs to happen, now.
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