Another Tough Guy... In Goal?

Will Ray Emery soon wear a Flyers jersey? This is the question all Flyers fans are asking themselves recently. What we really need to be asking ourselves is…Are we ready to take the risk? The 6’2”, 202lbs. goaltender has many aspects about him that would raise eyebrows in other cities. However, in the city where Ron Hextall is still worshiped, one would think Philadelphians would welcome the gamble. Although our passionate city loves a good fight, the NHL is far from similar to when Hextall graced the ice. We led the league in penalty minutes this past season, which had less than desirable results attached to it. With such tough guys as: Asham, Cote and Carcillo out on the ice for us, can we afford for our goalie to receive penalties as well?

Razor (Emery’s nickname) has had many problems with his temper in the past as well as issues off the ice. No one can forget when Emery unleashed on Martin Biron and Andrew Peters during the ’06-’07 season. He was also suspended for three games in ’07 for smacking Maxim Lapierre in his face with a stick. Unfortunately, he does not only take his anger out on opposing teams. There are numerous reports of Emery starting verbal and physical altercations on his own teams. Philly has already been through those shenanigans with T.O. and the Eagles, can we handle a second round on the ice?

After Ottawa bought out the remainder of Emery’s contract (2008) and he was basically blacklisted from the NHL, he was signed to a $2 million deal as the Atlant Moscow’s goalie in the KHL. Razor was actually pretty solid this past season. He went 22-8 in the games that he played. His save percentage was .926 and had a respectable 2.12 GAA. “He was arguably the top goalie in that league.” stated J.P. Barry (Emery’s agent). Philly has no doubts about his talent, but we are skeptical about his behavior.

Of course, Holmgren is being as vague as possible when it comes to the Emery situation. We do know that several meetings have taken place between the two parties. This possibility excites many because of Emery’s passion, hunger and new outlook that he has something to prove. He has stated that he wants to be a Flyer, which is music to our ears. We love players who recognize how unique our organization is and want to unite with our society as an outcome. With that recognition comes respect for our history, mission and die hard fans.

In conclusion, Emery; although an obvious danger, would be a good fit in Philadelphia. Also, his talent and spirit might lead us to a genuine run at the Stanley Cup, which we all long for. So Emery, your tattoo “Anger is a Gift” doesn’t scare us. We accept your downfalls and think you could legitimately help our “Fly-guys” meet Lord Stanley once again.

Flyers Penguins 1st Round Preview

The Flyers take on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1st round of the NHL playoffs, with Game 1 getting under way tonight in Pittsburgh. The Flyers lost out on home ice advantage in this series by losing in the season finale to the Rangers.

Unfortunately, much like football and the NFC East, I am not too happy that the Flyers play an Atlantic Division foe in the Penguins. Going into the playoffs, I would have rather played any other team in the playoffs than the Pens, Devils, and even the Rangers. The Flyers are 2-4 against the Penguins this season, with one loss coming in OT, and another coming in a shootout. These two teams also met up last season in the Eastern Conference final, with the Penguins winning the series and advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Ohhh yeah, and these two teams don’t like each other too much. Anytime you play a team as much as the Flyers and Penguins do throughout the season, and meet up in two consecutive playoff series’, there is going to be a good rivalry. These two teams have forged one of the better hockey rivalries as of late, with the cross-state teams both being among the elite in the Eastern Conference.

If the Flyers want to have any chance in advancing in these playoffs, and this series, they need to start playing better hockey than they have been down the stretch. The Flyers have been playing average hockey to end the season, while the Penguins have been playing very good hockey. The Flyers are just 3-4-1 in their last eight games. The offense hasn’t been poor for the most part, but the defense hasn’t been great, and Biron has been very inconsistent. All of that said, the Flyers still could have had home ice in this series had they just beaten/lost in OT to the Rangers in the last game of the regular season. They had a 3-2 lead in the 3rd period on home ice, and ended up losing the game in regulation. Good teams don’t let that happen. Teams that will go far into the playoffs don’t let that happen. I’m not saying the Flyers can’t do it, because I believe they can, but they will need to rebound quickly in order to even hang with the Penguins in this series. They will need to rely on their offense to do so. The Flyers offense is dangerous, with six 25 goal scorers in Carter, Richard, Gagne, Hartnell, Knuble, and Lupul. Throw a healthy Briere, and rookie Giroux in the mix, and the Flyers offense is among the best in the league. The defense, beyond Timonen, and Coburn is just average, and Biron will need to have another playoffs like last season for the Flyers to be successful.

The Penguins on the other hand have a record of 18-3-4 since February 15th, when Dan Bylsma became the interim head coach. Bylsma is obviously getting the most out of his players, because when he took over, the Penguins weren’t even in the playoff picture. No matter how the Penguins are playing, they are still an extremely scary team, as they feature two of the top three players in the world on their roster. Evgeni Malkin, and Sidney Crosby are a lethal combination. Malkin finished the season as the NHL scoring champion, compiling 113 points, which Crosby was 3rd with 103 points. Marc-Andre Fleury, the Penguins goalie, always seems to own the Flyers also no matter when or where they play.

No matter what the outcome, it will be an exciting series for the fans to watch. These two teams always play each other well, and like I stated before, have a great rivalry going on right now. The Flyers can make it even more fun to watch by winning the series and advancing. Even if the Flyers play well and lose the series, a first round loss is not what we are looking for out of this team. The Flyers are too good, and have too many good players, that a first round loss is considered a disappointment, especially considering where this team went last season in the playoffs. The Flyers are still a young team, but do have enough talent to win this series against the Penguins.

Picks
Mr. Green: Flyers in 6
Roget: Flyers in 6
Queen Aoleon: Flyers in 5

Pictures from Last Night! Phillies Win!

Guest blogger Queen Aoleon was at the game last night. Here are some:

Philadelphia Flyers Season Preview

Let’s Go Fly-ers! Our men in orange and black are ready to embark on another jam-packed season. The Atlantic division should be incredibly competitive as usual with the Rangers, Flyers, Devils, and Penguins all packed into one division. No worries though, our team has the depth and is well coached. The Flyers are filled with a good mix of veterans and youngsters, who should have no problem keeping up with other young teams in the league.

Unfortunately, we lost a couple major cogs in our playoff run from last season. R.J. Umberger, Vaclav Prospal and Jason Smith are gone. The Flyers definitely had some major holes to fill in the offseason; and fill them we did! The Flyers picked up Glen Metropolit, Aaron Asham and a tough defensemen, Ossi Vaananen. In addition, we signed Jeff Carter to an extension, so no free agency for him…what a relief. Also, the Flyers gave young star Mike Richards the captaincy, and he should be leading the Flyers for a long time to come. Here at Kotite’s Corner, we are extremely confident that we can beat our 6th place finish from last season in the conference. It is not going to be easy as we will have many games against the aforementioned Rangers, Devils, and Penguins.

Another major addition is the return of one Simon Gagne from the disabled list. Gagne was playing well early last season, just as he always does, before he went down for the year. This guy has been a stud, and you know he is ready to finally prove he can stay healthy and be a veteran leader on this Flyers team. How ready are you to see Gags back on the ice during regular season hockey? We know we’re ready for it. He looked strong at camp and in the preseason games. Gagne is only 28, but has already played nine NHL seasons. We know he has a lot left in him and will fall back into the superstar status quickly. One of our other superstars, Briere, needs to step it up early in the season. He needs to be scoring goals and making the plays that he did in the playoffs last season right off the bat. We can’t wait for the playoffs for him to pick up his game this season, although much appreciated, we can’t afford it this year. Let’s not forget about the other stars on this team in Lupul, Upshall, Knuble and Hartnell. Those players are sometimes shadowed by Briere and Richards, yet still contribute and mean just as much as the “superstars” do.

On defense is where the Flyers will need to improve the most this season. The Flyers defense was better last season than it was two seasons ago, however, it will need to improve further if the Flyers want to go deep into the playoffs. The Flyers defense is led once again by all-star Kimmo Timonen, who is the best all-around player on defense for this team. Some of the younger defensemen in Braydon Coburn, and Randy Jones really played well last season, and will be asked to increase their role even more this season to make up for the loss of Jason Smith, and the injury issues of Derian Hatcher. The Flyers defense is going to make-or-break the season. We know the Flyers can score, and we know that we will get solid goaltending out of Martin Biron. The defense has to step up their game, and this team will go far.

Speaking of the goaltending, Martin Biron had an up-and-down season last year, but really came on in the latter stages of the year, especially in the playoffs. Biron was the playoff MVP for this team, and was the main reason we escaped our 1st round series with the Capitals, and won our 2nd round series with the Canadiens. Antero Niittymaki has been on this team for a few years now, and may soon be the starter. He came into big spots last season, and did very well as a backup goalie.

Although the season does begin this Saturday evening at 7:00pm, I’m looking forward to October 14th when we play the Penguins. They eliminated us out of the Stanley Cup hunt last year and we’re out for blood. The season does open Saturday against the hated Rangers. LET’S GET FLYERED UP!

Hasta la Vista, Spectrum

Kotite’s Corner ventured to the Sports Complex campus Saturday afternoon to take part in the last NHL game to be played at the Wachovia Spectrum. After walking through the doors, I was automatically hit with memories that filled the hallways of the building. The ceremony prior to the game introduced 11 of the former team captains. Clarke and Primeau definitely received the loudest hootin’ and hollerin’. The cheering was infectious and all the fans gave a wonderful performance just like our “Fly-guys” did in the game. Of course one of the no-shows was Lindros. If I were him, I would not want to revisit Philly voluntarily either…chump! It’s better that he didn’t come, I know he would not have gotten similar warmth from the fans that the others received. All in all, the pre-game show was heartfelt and got the whole building ready to wipe the ice with the Hurricanes.

O.K., enough about that…. now for the game. A surprise entrance in the starting lineup, Gagne. It was great to see him out on the ice again; we all know it’s been way too long. Before he stepped out on the ice Gagne said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve played hockey and I need the extra practice”… “I feel good, but it’s going to take a while to get back where I was.” His performance proved these statements to be true. He didn’t look as sharp as I remember, but I’m confident he’ll find his groove very early on in the season. Our new captain Richards, showed us why he was awarded the big “C”, scoring two short-handed goals. Lupul and Coburn were responsible for the other two. Bryan Berard (tryout) chimed in with two assists, which is a great way to stay on the team. Sbisa, our number one draft pick this year, gave the impression that he was comfortable on the ice with the rest of our team and happy to be a Flyer. Biron had 25 saves and his moves were interpreted as quick and intelligent, confirming depth in that department. Overall, we played a very physical game (several hard hitting fights were witnessed) and it’s nice to see a fire lit under our butts before the regular season starts. Hopefully we’ll be able to carry that attitude throughout the whole season and not have the mid-end of the season slump that we’re so familiar with. Unfortunately, we lost to Carolina on Sunday, which puts us in second place behind Pittsburgh and ahead of the dreaded Devils. Our official season starts on October 11th at 7:00pm against the Rangers. GO FLYERS!

The Philadelphia Sepctrum: home to a combination of 10 NHL and NBA playoff championship series including two Stanley Cups (1974 & 1975) and 76ers Championship victory (1983), March Madness memories like the 1992 NCAA East Regional Final (site of the famous last-second shot by Christian Laettner of Duke to beat Kentucky) along with hosting the NCAA Final Four (1976 & 1981), the Broad Street Bullies, stars such as Dr. J, Bobby Clarke, Charles Barkley and Ron Hextall, two Calder Cups, Flyers vs. Soviet Red Army, and 53 sold out shows from the Grateful Dead. Thanks for all the good times and many memories, you’ll be missed.