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Written by Jon
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 11:14 |
- Replacing a fan favorite isn't easy. Ryan isn't joking when he says this trade is bad. It stinks to high-heaven. Homer has made some decent moves to get his team back into competition... to compete for Lord Stanley's Cup. But everyone knows that Walker and a 4th in no way equals Gagne's value. Have you ever been that guy in the room? The one who comes in after the cool guy just left? Everyone's expecting that it's him coming back, and it just turns out to be you. Hello Matt Walker.
- He'll never bee good enough. No matter how good Matt "Herschel" Walker plays... no matter how many guys he lays out or fights... he'll always be remembered as "who did we get for Gagne?!?!". He better turn on the charm when he gets to town... heck, he better be the most suave guy ever to grace the planet. And this impale some guy, like Crosby. [for the FBI folks out there, I'm just using hyperbole... call off the dogs]
- Philly's ravenous fans. We're rough and demanding; we sometimes walk the line and even cross over from time to time. We'll love you if you make us proud but we'll dog you if you let us down. If you win our hearts, you're a king... the best situation in the world. But, as it stands, Matt is going to have to Walk-er on water. Every mistake will be lamented, every bad shift will be evidence of Homer's lack of sight, even every good thing will be compared with "Gags coulda done more". I'm not saying I won't give him a fair shot... but he better not be thinking this is going to be a cake walk... cuz, booooy, it ain't.
So are we looking at Homer's swan song? This is not the type of move you live down. We fans won't forget it soon. I know that Snider gives the GM a lot of leeway... but having enough rope means you can also loop your own noose. Not to beat a dead horse but over-paying for Shelley and replacing Gags with an under-achieving Zherdev isn't a confidence inspiring move.
Then to say that having 8 defensemen is a luxury? Seriously?? On any given night, we could have two d-men sitting in the press box? Where's Cote and Shelley going to sit?
My hunch is that Homer's doing this strategically. He's thinking, I'll pull this off in the middle of summer when hardly anyone is looking and then everyone will forget by the time the season starts.
Well, check this, Holmes... when Gags scores 40 goals this season and Walker posts only a handful of games at the NHL level, then you trade that 4th rounder for some chump change, I'm gonna tap into my feminine side of some serious Alanis Morissette to remind you of the mess you created.
I hope for all of our sakes that some stellar play by Giroux, JVR and Leino counter-balance this numb skull move.
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Written by Ryan
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Thursday, 22 July 2010 07:48 |
 Now that I've had time to digest the Gagne situation, and cast my emotional knee-jerk reaction aside, I can say this:
Paul Holmgren, you really fucked up.
That's right, I haven't changed my opinion at all. We traded Simon Gagne for Matt Walker. If you're ever interviewing people for General Manager of your team you should ask them a question like 'so, do you think you'd ever trade one of our best players for the butler from the movie Clue?' If he says yes kick him right in the urethra.
The only counter argument I've heard/read (skimmed) was that this was a move that had to be made because of the cap situation.
Well no shit.
But would you justify someone having to jump to their death from Daniel Carcillo's hot air balloon because the guy who manages the balloon take-offs miscounted how many people were in that little basket? No, you'd say 'hey balloon guy, you're a fucking idiot! Juan was a really great dude and we lost him because you fucked up. He loved Bud Light Lime."
And so the same thing goes for a GM who plays poker with his cards facing the wrong way and puts himself in a situation where the league will eventually mandate that he get rid of a player. For all other GMs to see.
Simon Gagne is and was not my boyfriend, despite my many attempts to make him so. No player on our team isn't replaceable for the proper return. And that's my main problem with this trade - a member of the front office should not put his team in a situation where his assets publicly depreciate not based on their skill and worth, but based on his mismanagement of the situation. How much does a player of Gagne's caliber generally fetch in a trade at the geriatric age of 30? It's a pain-in-the-ass comparison to do that takes a lot of time so forgive me for limiting it to left wings. Huge returns for players at the deadline and draft day come to mind and if our intent was to trade someone all along Paul Holmgren should have followed one of the path that was best for the team and dealt Gagne when he could have gotten the most return. But all that aside, in the history of 30-ish year old left wingers, here are some roughly comparable trades for a player that is 34th ALL TIME in points per game among left wings, who have scored at least 500 points in their career. Yep, .75 PPG will get you there. Let's take a look at what some similar players fetched:
- When Brendan Shanahan (.89 PPG) was almost 28 he was traded to Detroit for Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey, and a 1st rounder.
- When Keith Tkachuk (.89 PPG) was 29 he was traded for Ladislav Nagy, Michael Handzus, Jeff Taffe, and a 1st rounder.
- When Brian Bellows (.86 PPG) was 28 he was traded for Russ Courtnall, the 51st leading scoring right winger of all time.
- When Kevin Stevens (.83 PPG) was 31 he was traded with Shawn McEachern for Glen Murray, Brian Smolinski, and a 3rd rounder. The next year he was traded for Rick Tocchet.
- When Alex Tanguay (.83 PPG) was 29, with a year left on his $5.4M contract, he dealt to Montreal for a 1st and a 2nd round pick.
- When Steve Sullivan (.78 PPG) was about to turn 30 he was traded at the deadline for two 2nd round picks.
- When Ryan Smyth (.72 PPG) was 32 he was dealt for Robert Nilsson, Ryan O'Marra and a 1st rounder.
- When Cory Stillman (.72 PPG) was almost 30 he was traded for David Backes (slight exaggeration).
Please feel free to dive into your injury arguments, which I will then counter with leadership and experience. And then your declining scoring arguments, which I will counter with 'the other winger on my line is Daniel Carcillo' rebuttals. And then the 'these were all different times and markets were probably softer', which I will counter with 'Matt Walker makes almost $2M you'vegottobefuckingkiddingme.'
Tampa Bay is laughing about this trade. That should tell you something - not everything, but something. Everyone should be laughing except us. Simon Gagne for Matt Walker and a future AHLer TBD. How can you be so careless as to put yourself in that situation? To attempt the procedure the entirely wrong way and bring in a number of players that there was little to no appetite for BEFORE making room for them. You fucked up, Paul. You tried to play it safe and you did it backwards. The least you could have done is traded Gagne for Meszaros and saved us a fucking 2nd rounder, and the pain of having to watch Matt Walker dick around in our organization. |
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Written by Ryan
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Tuesday, 20 July 2010 10:24 |
 By The Ghost of Flyers Goal Scored By To Come (with respect to the past and present, who have already expressed their views on the matter).
It's an embarrassment. On the same day we display our version of loyalty to the entire league a Russian superstar with half a dozen teams to chose from follows through on a promise of-sorts to a team we all thought he would leave high and dry.
Hockey players and management might be the worst professional sports figures when it comes to hiding behind clichés and generalities. Great guys, probably the best in sports, but when it comes to being truthful to their fan base they are completely full of shit. If I had the time and resources (and a paycheck issued by a news company or the NHL) I would cross reference all the thousands of hockey interviews from the past 10 years and tally the number of bullshit clichés found in them. They would dominate all the other language that these guys spew out.
But this latest bullshit is the biggest shit that has sprayed forth from a bull's asshole since we started this blog. Basically, Paul Holmgren is afraid to admit that he's an idiot when it comes to player/team management. This was the straw that broke the camel's spinal chord.
Just say it Paul! Don't tell me that you like Matt Walker and that's the real reason we gave up OUR FLYER. Tell us that you have mismanaged this team. Be honest. If this is step 3 in a 10 step plan that ends with us getting something decent in return at least hint at that.
Picturing the Flyers celebrate the Stanley Cup, right now as an emotional response, is bittersweet without Simon Gagne (1 in 30 chance). Picturing them not winning and Simon Gagne netting goals for the Tampa Bay Lightning is going to make me change the channel every time it comes up on NHL Tonight. I am so fucking pissed.
Some things are too important to be part of a minor tweak in your organization. Like say…trading away Philadelphia's longest tenured athlete, a leader in the locker room, and extremely skilled player, and Alternate Captain, and one of the most beloved Flyers of the decade because your asshole general manager is a fucktwad who has signed Jody Shelley, Matt Walker, and a Ukrainian who is going to put up Gagne numbers or less this season.
So on what level does this make sense? Was Gagne done with Philly and wanted out? Surely not. Does Gagne love the Tampa Buccaneers and really wanted season tickets? I doubt it. Was Gagne not worth his $5M+ salary? I'll let all you 'well he scored 40 goals' Jeff Carter lovers answer that one for me.
Was Gagne going to walk next year? Maybe. That had nothing to do with this year. And if you argue that it did have to do with the future of the team please tell me why Nik Zherdev is here if we're thinking so long term. Mike Richards is our Captain and Fran is right when he says that Gagne was our heart. The Flyers are now an entirely different team than the one that thrilled us in the first half of the decade. That time is done. And it shouldn't be just because as it turns out, Paul Holmgren is an ass.
Paul, you made us worse. In the worse way possible. You didn't trade JVR for a lifetime supply of free Fuddruckers burgers, which could be chalked up to a stupid decision. You traded Simon Gagne because you had once again painted yourself into a corner.
Your job is performed in the public eye. You deserve to have thousands if not millions of people blow the whistle when they see you fuck up so blatantly. Whistle blown. Game misconduct.
For every blocked or deflected-out-of-play shot that comes of Jeff Carter's stick (from the wing?) I'm sending you a letter with a picture of my ball in it. And an Upperdeck Hockey card of Matt Walker. We could have gotten so much for Carter. We could have held onto Gagne and gotten MINIMUM 60 points from him and then pursued the hometown discount. If you understood the cap we could have traded him at the trade deadline for some great young players and then pursued him in the off-season.
You've basically just given me your notice. You can trade superstars and fan favorites, that's part of your job. What's not part of your job is dumping one of your most valuable assets for nothing because you are consistently fucking up. That's grounds for dismissal |
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Written by Fran
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Monday, 19 July 2010 22:05 |
Today was a watershed moment for the future of the Flyers franchise. Today, the Philadelphia Flyers traded away their longest tenured star. A kid they drafted and kept for ten full hockey years, which in this day and age is something to be amazed at. A billable star who filled seats, sold merch and seemed like the nicest dude this side of the Schuylkill. Simon Gagne is now a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning and his time as a Flyer is over.
What we got for him will be debated for months, if not years. The Lightning sent a #6-7 defenceman in Matt Walker and a 4th round pick to Philly in exchange for our 4th leading scorer last year. What we got was depth and we they took was our hearts. Simon Gagne was the left ventricle of the Philadelphia hockey heart. He was a vital piece of the Flyers for so long, his time here was spent with the likes of Rick Tocchet, Keith Primeau, Jeremy Roenick, Marc Recchi, Johnny Vermont, The Big E, The Roman Checkmanek debacle, Foppa,...all the way up to JVR, there was Gagne. Reliable, sometimes breakable, but always clutch. You saw more #12's in the rink than most other sweaters, and rightfully so. Gagne was always approachable with the fans, and never took them for granted. He was a perculiar in Philly because the oft-injured winger was still loved, even after a string of bad injuries caused him to miss big chunks of seasons. The same fate would not be for the likes of Danny Briere, Scott Hartnell or Jeff Carter. We'd have hatred for them that would fester and grow in the basement of our sports soul. We'd begin to despise them, curse them, imagine up trades for them, because they weren't performing. But that was not the case with Simon. The kid who lasted through the last 3 Flyers transistional periods (Post Lindros, Early 2000 Primeau years, Post Lockout limbo) seemed to be untouchable. But today reminded us all that professional hockey, and the Flyers specifically, are a business, and hard decisions have to be made.
In Tampa Bay, Gagne has a chance to play with a solid mixture of young talent and elite players that should help him put up some very good numbers. They still have no defence, but the Lightning got a lot better today. They added a great two way forward who can pick up any system and score from anywhere. If the Lightning go on to hoist a Cup before the Flyers do, and Simon Gagne gets to hoist Lord Stanley, I'll stand up and cheer. Also, this goes out to you, Ryan Malone. (I know you read this site you scallywag, I see your sexy emails all day, frankly, they are creeping out our interns) Give up the cot dam number 12 to Gags or so help me, I'll take Steve Downie's medication and lock him in a room with you.
I think the biggest question that this move brings up is this: who becomes Gagne? Who on this current Flyers roster has it in them to be so selfless, and make his teammates better. Who will rise up to contribute offensivly, be very active in the community, work hard, score timely goals and grow epic playoff beards? Our Gags hasn't even left the city and we already crave for someone to fill the giant hole he's leaving. Today we saw Claude Giroux and JVR's stock soar way up. In the same way that last year Homer gambled that Hartnell and Briere could replace Knuble and Lupul's contribution, Holmgren is banking on Zerdev and Reemer to fil the void left by Gagne. That gamble could be the biggest lynchpin to the Flyers success this season, and its not even August.
Its a strange day indeed Flyers fans. We've been dying for hockey news in the doldrums of summer, and unfortunately, we got a doozy of a story today. A move had to be made, and as Ryan pointed out, the value of Gagne was dropping every day. When Kovalchuk finially made up his mind, the free agency period seemd to break out of its frozen state. When the camp starts this fall, for the first time since 1999, there won't be a #12 lacing them up, slotted on the first line's wing. The Simon Gagne era is over Flyers fans. It's time to celebrate the memories, not lash out in disbelief. This day was going to come either this summer or the next, I just think that none of us were ready for it. Simon Gagne will always be a Flyer, and although he didn't win a cup, his skill, competitivness, personality and determination made him a champion.
Let's Go Flyers.
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Written by Jon
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Monday, 19 July 2010 16:30 |
You may have been wondering where I've been... heck, I've been wondering where I've been.
There are but a few things that could pull me out of my recent sabbatical from the interweb rant posting, and Homer managed to pick out one of the hat.
How in God's good earth does the Flyers GM trade a perennial 30-goal scorer and a career Flyer for a #10 d-man and a throw-away pick?? Then this same joker has the nerve to hold a presser and say that this is a move to strengthen our defense?!?
Have another, brother.
The Flyers now have an under-achieving Russian winger and a right-handed shooting defenseman for the Phantoms... all this to save 1.5mil in cap space. Well, I'm no capologist, but this moves spells a-w-e-s-o-m-e in every way possible.
So while I'm upset, confused and generally about to soil myself... I'd like to take a moment to step back and try to see the bigger picture. And here is it...
This is all about an NHL campaign to increase the legend of Steve Yzerman.
Canada needs a hockey hero and Crosby didn't do the job this year. At the same time, the Canadians are running into trouble renaming every child born since the Hawks won the Cup to "Toews" (i.e. Toews Johnson, Toews Smith, Toews St. Lapierre) and create a fund to give them all cosmetically corrected pig noses... so they had to do something.
Stevie Y won the Olympic gold medal and has a shot to become a veritable hockey god. What I don't get is what dirt they have on Holmgren, a Minnesota native, that Bettman and his crew of monkeys could force him to make this deal that no human in their right mind would make.
I'm gonna say it... I have to say it... this team... the team that just went to the Stanley Cup Finals... has gotten worse - not better - in the preceeding weeks.
Spin it however you want Homer... you just made a trade that is just south of Minnesota for Hershall Walker on the terrible suck scale. (what do you know, a Walker was involved in each one... sweet)
Ok, I'm going back to watching Joe Vs. the Volcano and eating cheesey poofs. Later.
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Written by Ryan
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Sunday, 18 July 2010 21:38 |
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...and posting Youtube clips instead of ranting or wondering what our GM is up to, I like these KHL highlights of Zherdev more than any NHL ones I've seen. The goal at the 2:10 mark is miraculous:
He's got some dirty stick-handling skills. Should be interesting if nothing else.
And it appears that Zherdev's petition with the League went through. #99 is back in commission. And after those clips why shouldn't it be?
sp
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Written by Ryan
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Friday, 16 July 2010 08:53 |
 Some of you are going to do it, and I'm not sure why.
But for those of you crazies who bought a Downie or Prospal (second time around) jersey, you can bet your bottom ball that Nik Zherdev will wear number 10 this season. You see, I got the info from inside sources that I don't have to name. A 'team official' or 'someone close to the organization.' What's it matter. Take it to the bank. I have about a 1 in 80 chance, so just go ahead and buy it.
If Little Nikky does decide to go with 10 he'll follow in the tradition of Mel Bridgman, Bill Clement, John Leclair, and Claude Boivin. It's been a while since we've had a 10, and 10 is a good number. So Nik, just throw it on.
It's so weird to think that this rascally Ukranian is on the Flyer roster. Where did that come from? |
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Written by Ryan
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Thursday, 15 July 2010 06:21 |
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In 'The Art of Art Negotiation', co-written by famous art curator and Jew, Sal Iceberg, and myself, one of the main points we try to drive home is that the common theme among negotiations, regardless of whether we're taking about Monet or money, is that the longer something you're trying to sell sits around going unsold the more its value drops. And Flyers Paul Manager is doing a great job of giving you a real, live case study in this lesson:
 And it's even worse in this case. Because not only does everyone know that we want to sell our product, they know that we've bought so much other product that we can't fit one of our nicest pieces in the store. And there's a storm coming.
We've put ourselves, as Sal always says, in a "Please mister, help me out?' situation with a very valuable piece that should have landed us in a 'give us one night with your daughter and a week with your son' position.
Which is why I still believe that it's one-time 40 goal scorer (which I think officially becomes part of your name when you do it) and impending RFA Jeff Carter who needs to be the piece that goes. He's great, and he can score. But he's not a center and doesn't know how to play wing. Centers dish and make plays, and we have 3 good ones.
Keep your eyes on the headlines, however, for a 'Simon Gagne to Columbus in exchange for the 1st season of Blind Date on DVD.' |
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Written by Ryan
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Wednesday, 14 July 2010 06:26 |
 Good Morning,
Those of you who take public transportation, I applaud you. Not only are you reducing our generation's carbon foot print, you're also, on a daily basis, resisting the urge to fucking strangle dozens of people on your morning commute. Oh don't give me that. The person who comes and stands right next to you on the abandoned train platform, the person who for some reason decides to sit in your seat on the bus, the person who must have gotten some add-on because there's no chance your iPod could play Calypso music that loudly. You're heroes. Because there are no five minute majors out here in the real world, and you manage to avoid taking penalties that would cost your team severely every single day.
Now, the newest born again Flyer, he doesn't live his public life like we do. He acts on impulses and he makes a muss of peoples' faces when he wants to. He's a Harley. And that's why I'm glad to have him back for at least another year (or up until the trade deadline). We once again are the toughest team in the league, and isn't that wonderful.
Murder aside, I'm already getting tired of moving the pieces around, but with Jody Shelley and Daniel Carcillo on our roster Car Bomb needs to step up the production. A third line spot is there for him to reach out and steal, he just has to do it. He has to get on 20 goal pace early on in a year when he surprises us like bruisers of the past: the artist formerly known as Chris Simon with 29 goals in 2000, the resting in peace Bob Probert with 20 bongos in 1992, the third in the league in PIM Steve Downie with 22 goals last year.
I'm happy he's back to kick off the 2010-11 season in toxic pumpkin orange. Our borderline side show status is one of the main reasons I love the Flyers. If we didn't have Chris Pronger, Jody Shelley, and Daniel Carcillo what would local media write about when we came to town? (Goaltending)
And I'm happy that you got into work safely, champ. Yes that guy laying down across 4 seats probably deserved a penalty himself, but the refs always catch the retaliation. Good on ya. Have a Xanax and mellow down.
FGSB Ryan |
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