Playoff Regular Back on Their Game?
Posted 10:27 PM ET | Comments 2
Last year the Philadelphia Flyer's were the worst team in the NHL. They went through some major shake ups from the front office to who was on the ice. After a drubbing at the hands of the Buffalo Saber's, Bobby Clarke said he was to burnt out to run the team. When Clarke found the door it did not hit him on the way out, it hit Ken Hitchcock who got fired the same day Clarke resigned. Hitchcock picks up a new job in Columbus and former Phantoms coach and Flyer's assistant coach John Stevens picks up the head coaching job. Along with the new face taking control, their was the new face of Paul Holmgren, who was considered interim GM. I'll be the first to admit I was not sure of these shakeups and at first I truly felt I had the right feeling.
Then came the trade deadline. Peter Forsberg had been hurt just about all season and was not playing to his potential that he played when he was in his prime in Colorado. So, interim GM Holmgren dumps Forsberg to Nashville, where he gets some very promising talent. This is where my view on Homgren started to change. Then Martin Biron expressed some real disgust playing a number two goalie to Ryan Miller. The Flyer's pick up Biron for cheap as well and fill a whole that had been a problem all season. My problem with the whole Biron thing at first was that I really liked Nitty, but Nitty was obviously not playing up to his potential either.
The rest of the season played out with the Flyer's getting better but it is a little too late to do anything about it. There was the last game however the Flyer's played the Sabers in Philadelphia. My buddy was waiting for someone and saw Biron walking holding his kids hand and holding his kids other hand was no other than Daniel Briere. This is when it became known to us that Briere was on his way here.
Briere signs with the Flyer's over the summer and they also make some other significant moves. Thus, many sources said the Flyer's had the best free agency and may have put themselves in a position to make it back in the playoffs.
Do I think the Flyer's are back? I would like to answer that question with an emphatic yes. However, last year before the year even started I did not think they even lost that staus of being a playoff caliber team. So, my answer to that question is only time will tell
Then came the trade deadline. Peter Forsberg had been hurt just about all season and was not playing to his potential that he played when he was in his prime in Colorado. So, interim GM Holmgren dumps Forsberg to Nashville, where he gets some very promising talent. This is where my view on Homgren started to change. Then Martin Biron expressed some real disgust playing a number two goalie to Ryan Miller. The Flyer's pick up Biron for cheap as well and fill a whole that had been a problem all season. My problem with the whole Biron thing at first was that I really liked Nitty, but Nitty was obviously not playing up to his potential either.
The rest of the season played out with the Flyer's getting better but it is a little too late to do anything about it. There was the last game however the Flyer's played the Sabers in Philadelphia. My buddy was waiting for someone and saw Biron walking holding his kids hand and holding his kids other hand was no other than Daniel Briere. This is when it became known to us that Briere was on his way here.
Briere signs with the Flyer's over the summer and they also make some other significant moves. Thus, many sources said the Flyer's had the best free agency and may have put themselves in a position to make it back in the playoffs.
Do I think the Flyer's are back? I would like to answer that question with an emphatic yes. However, last year before the year even started I did not think they even lost that staus of being a playoff caliber team. So, my answer to that question is only time will tell
I had a bad feeling re: the Flyers going into last season. They looked inept against Buffalo in the playoffs and Clarke did absolutely nothing during the following offseason. I thought they would be fighting for one of the last two playoffs seeds though, not be the worst team in hockey. However, if you had told me in September that they would lose Forsberg, Esche, Nitty, Carter, Richards, Rathje, Umberger, and Knuble for significant lengths of time and that Pitkanen would regress to point where a traffic cone would have played better D in its own end, than I would have said they had no chance of making the playoffs. However times DO change and I think Holmgren has done a fantastic job over the last 8 months. I see the Flyers as a 100-102 point team and a 5 or 6 seed in the playoffs.
geat blog. im excited about this season. a big part of their success will stem from their chemistry. if they can mesh, look out, because this team has some serious talent. to quote the great Herb Brooks in the Disney movie Miracle, "You think you can win on talent alone? You cannot win on just talent alone!" and as for your buddy, well im sure hes a really good guy hahahah. look forward to reading more posts