Who's Here?
We have 22 guests online
|
|
Written by Ryan
|
|
Sunday, 11 July 2010 11:00 |
|
This may be the most difficult area in which to cast judgement on the Flyers GM. Players that Paul Holmgren's signed to entry level and tryout contracts over the past 3 years haven't really had enough time to develop into NHL caliber players. Remember, these are the guys who were either never drafted or drafted and never signed by an NHL club in most cases. Perhaps the most tell-tale reflection of Homer's performance in developing young talent can be seen in the Phantoms performance over the past two seasons - and they kind of sucked.
Last season the low talent Phantoms went 32-41-7, and the year before, while still in Philadelphia, they finished 13 games above .500 and snuck into the playoffs only to get swept by the Bears in the first round. The truth, however, is that using minor league hockey as a barometer for a GM's performance is directional at best. So many things go on during the season, such as call-ups and injuries, that any conclusions pulled from the AHL need to have an asterisk next to them. The more subjective feeling that the there is no real talent coming out of the lower tiers of our organization is probably more telling.
Over the past two Springs and Summers Paul Homgren has signed a number of players who are, in terms of diamond-in-the-rough hockey talent, simply over the hill. Populating your organization with 21 year-olds who dominate a league of 17 & 18 year-olds in Canada usually doesn't end up working out to well at the pro level. Same goes for 24 year-old collegiate defensemen playing against 19 to 20 year-old freshmen.
The number of prospects you can name that are at the Flyers Prospect Camp this week is only a direct result of the amount of online 'news' you read, not of how good any of these Youts are. It's a reflection of how crazy you are. Crazy being good or bad or maybe both.
I can tell you this: not living in Philadelphia, I'm a casual Phillies fan at best. They're never on up here but I try to keep up with them on the internet when I'm not check out BabesonCars.com. I didn't even know what my mom was talking about when she emailed me about Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth possibly ending up in pinstripes (though I looked it up and do not want to see that in the GD papers up here). But I knew who Kyle Drabek and Michael Taylor were for some reason. Hell, I've even heard of Brandon Graham somehow. Who's the young stud coming up through the Flyers organization? Check that. Who's the guy coming up who will even crack the roster for more than 8 games at a time? At one end of the spectrum (RIP) you have Jon Kalinski, who may have served his purpose in its entirety already. At the other you have a recently graduated college senior who scored 71 points in 134 games (Testwuide), a 21 year-old who had 94 points for the Barrie Colts this past season while playing with two 16 year-old teammates (Pither), and now a 26 year-old pro who's played 97% of his over 300 pro games in the AHL vs. 3% in the show (Moore).
Our only real prospect, not counting goalies because who knows what the shit is going on with them, might be local star but international decent player Tyler Hostetter - who really didn't develop the way he needed to last season after signing his contract.
The performance of the Phantoms*, the general feeling in the organization, the production of the players, and the lack of internet sentiment regarding our farm system is forcing my hand on this one. C for Senior Pedro Holmgren.
_____
And this brings us to the end of our off-season Homer analysis. With final grades in all subjects going:
Wheeling and Dealing: B-
Free Market: A-
Development: C
In the end, I'm not sure Homer isn't riding on the coat tails of a small percentage of GIANT key moves among dozens of unsuccessful ones that fade into the black. As with any job I'm not sure that someone else couldn't have done it better. If whatever it is he thinks he's doing with Simon Gagne, Nik Zherdev, Daniel Carcillo, Darroll Powe, Jody Shelley, Andrej Meszaros, and our goaltending situation doesn't result in a top 4 finish in the Conference with no 10-15 game losing streaks this upcoming season I think a move could be in order. It'd be exciting to get a professional GM in from outside the organization at some point, kind of like Homer himself did with the coaching spot last December. Just because you used to be a Flyer doesn't mean you're going to be a good manager. And that seems to be a lesson we're willing to learn over and over and over again.
Trackback(0)
|
|
|
TrackBack URI for this entry
Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account! 
Recently,I found an excellent online store, the XX are completely various, good quality and cheap price,its worth buying!
http://www.prada-outlet-store.com