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Written by Ryan
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Tuesday, 13 July 2010 10:45 |
 My celebrity is getting out of hand.
A lot of people have been stopping me on the street and asked me 'Why no post about Nik Zherdev?' And I'm all like 'fart.'
The truth is that I have no idea what's going on. I don't know what the Flyers are planning on doing with Gagne, and I surely don't know why. If it's a money move I guess I understand that but the addition of Zherdev's $ figure and whatever comes back if that trade actually goes down, unless its really just picks in which case I'd be even more confused, would probably end up equaling around $5M.
And speaking of that Ukranian acquisition in and of itself. I'm glad to have a possible 30 goal scorer on the club. Off ice shit about players has never bothered me. But if we were going to try and steal him shouldn't we have low-balled him for a longer period of time on a real gamble? If he comes in an sucks we lost $2M. If he comes in and plays like a $2M player, we could have gotten that from somewhere else besides the KHL, and as a sure thing. If he comes in and blows us away his next contract will be for $4-$5M, and we can't afford to sign him so he's gone. So we must be going for the Cup for real this year, right? Our team's master plan can be deciphered through the signing of an NHL exile.
Which is why you would KEEP Gagne and get rid of Carter in exchange for a goalie. A real goalie. And we go into the season as if no one will get hurt and Gagne, Leino, and Zherdev all have great years. They should just steal the Cup from whatever Blackhawk hometown parade it's in right now and give it to Sylvestor Stallone before noon.
The problem with the events of the past month is that I get on one train of thought only to run out of track before I'm back at the station headed out on another. There are no answers. There's no final destination as far as I can tell.
Just a lot of big IFs.
One can only assume that Homer thinks Zherdev is a cheaper Gagne (who in his eyes he'd lose next summer anyway) who will provide the same output at $3M less, but then what does he want to do with that money? And his 5 centers? And his ok goalie. And his Jody Shelley?
What I would have done:
Signed Carcillo for Shelley money, or maybe a little more and not signed Shelley.
Brought in Meszaros, cause why the hell not.
TRADED CARTER FOR JONATHAN QUICK AND A PICK.
Resigned Coburn, obviously
Used the left over Carter money to get Zherdev.
Signed O'Donnell.
Tried to squeeze Power in.
And gone out with this at least to start the season:
Gagne - Richards - Zherdev
Leino - Briere - Hartnell
JVR - Giroux - Powe
Carcillo - Betts - Laperriere
Pronger - Carle
Timonen - Meszaros
Coburn - O'Donnell
Quick
Leighton (for less)
Sorry I'm all over the place today, I'm on Sudafed. And Special K.
Does anyone have a guess at what the front office might be up to? |
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Written by Ryan
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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.
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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. |
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Written by Ryan
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Friday, 09 July 2010 09:43 |
 I was at first ready to come into this topic and rip Homer apart, but then I remembered a few key trades and I was ready to laud him, and then I remembered a few questionable ones and pretty much decided that he'd end up around a B- in this category as well. But that's not where I ended up, so let's have a look. I'll go through trade by significant trade.
The Big One (or so I thought)
Peter Forsberg for Ryan Parent, Scottie Upshall, a 1st, and a 3rd
This is going to be a constant theme during this analysis - it's difficult not to take it too far. Like at this moment you could say all we have to show for this trade today is Dan Carcillo and the Pens 3rd round pick next year - trades from the past should have run-off, right?. But two weeks ago you could have said that the present day effect of this trade was Kimmo Timonen, Scott Hartnell, Dan Hamhuis, and Daniel Carcillo. It depends how far you want to take it. Like accounting. But what I'm going to do is a mix a bit of foresight with the knowledge that a 'hockey guy' should have had at the time, if that makes sense. Not knowing what calls were coming in for Foppa in '07, and what Homer passed on, and recalling some rental trades I've seen since then, I'd have to say Homer did a pretty good job on this one. Parent was considered a AA rated prospect, Upshall has proven he is what we hoped he was (although not with us, which we'll get to later), and we got a first round pick. Pretty good work Homer.
The Next One
Alexei Zhitnik for Braydon Coburn
This might be the trade that solidified this image I had for a long time of Paul Holmgren as the most MENSAist mastermind GM in the NHL. On the heels of a good rental dump Holmgren took a Russian turd and magically turned it into a great prospect who is turning himself into a good to great NHL player. Homer was a genius.
I then thought getting Kukky and a third for Calder was also a good move. I'm still a Kukky fan and a box of dildos would have been an upgrade from Kyle Calder. Even if they weren't from the future.
Quelle Surprise! Une Goalie!
A 2nd Rounder for Marty Biron
Don't get me wrong, I think Leights and Boosh are decent goalies. But when it became obvious Marty Biron was going to be available on the cheap over the past two seasons we should have brought him in. He's been our most reliable goalie since the lockout. Big win Homer. (followed by two big free agent loses)
Another Big One
Joni Pitkanen, Geoff Sanderson, and a 3rd for Jason Smith and Joffery Lupul
And Paul Holmgren has missionary sex with the entire Oilers front office. Great trade for the Flyers. Who wants Geoff Sanderson? Like, ever? (post Whale, of course)
The next season Ben Eager needed a new home so we picked up Jim Vandermeat. Later in the season we needed a D-man and picked up Jaroslav Modry for a pick. These are both part of a running theme over the past three seasons as discussed yesterday - always too close to the cap and always missing a few players (see Stanley Cup finals played with 4 defensemen). And then at the trade deadline we acquired Vinny Prospal for Alex Picard and a 2nd Round Pick, both of which were never going to play here. We NEEDED to make the playoffs and Vinny was pretty good until the playoffs actually hit, and he looked slower than Derian Hatcher out there. But it was the right move at the time.
Ryan Potulny for Danny Syvret
Kind of unfair to lay a ruling down on this one because who knows what would have been if it weren't for fucking Steve Ott. I still can't believe no one fought him for that hit on Syvret. But the facts are that Syvret may end his career with 23 games as a Flyer and Potulny scored 32 points for a shitty Oilers club in 64 games last season.
The decision to keep Lupul over Umberger may have been the wrong one, but it doesn't seem to matter anyway as all the offspring from that trade and signing currently sit in other teams' locker rooms. At the time Homer got decent return for Umberger's rights. What might be the worst trade of his career is giving up a 1st Round Pick for GD Steve Eminger. I mean, the guy literally can't skate. He lasted like two months here and the Caps ended up with World Juniors hero John Carlson. Not that the Flyers necessarily would have picked Carlson, but he has a good shot at playing #5 this season in D.C. That's exactly the kind of guy we could have used. Thus, the trouble with gauging the trades of draft picks.
Over the next 5 months there were a number of 'insignificant picks for substitute players and Phantoms' trades that took place. But during the course of the 2008-09 season Homer pulled the trigger twice, and people died, biznotch.
Giving Up on the Steves
Steve Downie, Steve Eminger, and a 4th for Matt Carle and a 3rd
Matt Carle is on our first defensive pairing but I wouldn't call him a #2 defenseman. I'd like him better in the 5 spot, and maybe Meszaros can make that happen. Either way he serves a very useful purpose on the Flyers. He was an initial step in the right direction. Steve Eminger had to go, but I remember being pretty disappointed when they gave up on Steve Downie. He had/has that Bobby Clarke element that there might not be room for in the NHL anymore, which is a shame. But last year he hit his stride in Tampa with 22 goals, 46 points and 208 PM in 79 games. Good for him. Even after almost 2 years this trade still makes sense from a number of angles, but it was a shame to lose such an old-time hockey player like Downie. Both teams win, therefore Homer wins.
Scottie Upshall and a 2nd for Dan Carcillo
Upshall's cuteness aside, this was a direct result of Homer's tightrope routine with the salary cap. We love Car Bomb on this blog because he fucks shit up, and Upshall simply wasn't performing at the desired level. As the dust still settles Scottie Upshall left town because of $400k when his goal every 1/3rd game could have answered a lot of questions on our first line last season. With the benefit of my 20/20 hindsight I can say this trade was a bad one, but Homer repeatedly backs himself into a cap corner and these are the kind of things that happen.
The Real Big One
Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, and two 1st Round Picks for Chris Pronger and Ryan Dingle
All I can say is 'so far so good.' It was a steep price to pay but Pronger was the real deal this season. He was an integral part of the Flyers run the the Stanley Cup Finals. 1st Rounders are a high price, but difficult to measure against immediate success. Sbisa looks like he'll be good, but Pronger is great - right now. The Flyers need to go for it now and Lupul was over-priced (our fault) and replaceable and Sbisa was not ready. As far as the picks? Eh, what are you gonna do?
The Surprise?
Ole-Kristian Tollefesen and a 5th for Ville Leino
Did Homer know something no one else did? Likely not. Big Ville didn't even have a regular spot on the roster during the regular season or the beginning of the playoffs, but then popped off to tie the 'rookie' record for the most points in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 21 points in 19 games. If Leino can maintain, or even stay close to that kind of production, this might go down as one of the most lopsided trades in NHL History. That's a font size 72 'IF.'
In short, when left to his own devices Paul Holmgren pulls of incredible trades. When forced to make a move because of the cap, which probably encompasses about 60% of all Homer's decisions, he makes shitty trades and acquires shitty players. That seems to be Homer's main problem, painting. He ends up pinned in the corner of every room in the house every time he decides to paint. We all understand that you have to spend to win. You have to bring in those big names. But Holmgren has to get smarter about those dollars. The results of the Meszaros trade and the possible signing of Zherdev might tip the scales on the legacy of a GM that has never been afraid to bring new players into the organization, all to often to see them in a different sweater within the year.
But as far as transfers of players? A- baby.
Up tomorrow...talent development aka 'Do the Flyers really have a limit of 50 professional contracts and if so how is it that every Spring we sign all the graduating seniors from the NCAA and over-agers from the CHL?' |
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Written by Ryan
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Thursday, 08 July 2010 04:26 |
 I have a simple question for you. Answer it right now as you read this and then answer it again at the end of this series of posts:
What grade would you give Paul Holmgren since he's been the Flyers GM? On a scale of 32 to 55?
Now to the facts. (I'm going to skip most of the 2006-07 season waivers related activity as Homer's job that season was basically just to have enough players to fill out the roster each night ((a theme that has kind of carried on through his tenure actually)). The acquisition of Michael Leighton off of waivers only to lose him via waivers 2 months later will not count on his score.)
Free agent signings (and to a lesser extent the waiver wire) have almost become a more important part of the general manager's job than trades and talent development in the post-lockout NHL. So what has Homer been able to snag from the open market in the past 3+ years as Flyers GM? Let's have a look:
2007-08
Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell signed as 'free agents.' 1st round pick given up for exclusive rights. Kind of a trade and free agent signing in one.
Daniel Briere signed as free agent.
Jim Dowd signed as free agent.
Jesse Boulerice signed as free agent.
Rory Fitzpatrick signed as free agent.
Patrick Thoresen claimed off of waivers.
Steve Eminger was another trade for rights, and then signed as a free agent.
2008-09
Ossi Vaananen signed as free agent -> Lost on waivers
Glen Metropolit signed as free agent -> Lost on waivers
Arron Asham signed as free agent.
2009-10
Ray Emery signed as free agent.
Brian Boucher signed as free agent.
Ian Laperriere signed as free agent.
Mika Pyorala signed as free agent.
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen signed as free agent.
Blair Betts signed as free agent.
Randy Jones 'lost' to Kings via waivers, although only 1/2 his salary was lost.
Michael Leighton claimed off waivers.
Lucas Krajicek signed as free agent.
2010-11
Sean O'Donnell as free agent.
Jody Shelley as free agent.
Ok. So not looking specifically at the army of former 1st round picks Homer has signed hoping for a diamond in the rough but has actually populated the Phantoms roster with, or the fact that we had a defenseman who the Ducks deemed not ready to play even last year skate 1/2 a season and some playoffs for us 2 years ago, or the emergency call ups of Claude Giroux, David Sloane, and Jamie Fritsch, I'm going to have a look at Paul Holmgren's relationship with formerly unowned players that ended up really playing for the club.
The Short:
It's not been as great as you might think.
The Long:
Homer will never be accused of being inactive. Thank God for Metro PCS and their $40 deal because his phone bill would be astronomical if not for that little gift to the ghetto. Homer started off his career with a bang. He used some savvy to sneak into the mix on Kimmo and Hartnell before the rest of the league knew that their pants were down and made two great signings. On paper the 1st rounder might seem a bit steep of a price to pay for the right to talk to someone, but we'll call this a wash as it was Nashville's pick anyway. But to use an analogy that meechone would appreciate, after this move there's been more K's than hits in this box score (eh…eh?!?).
I know we were all amazed by Briere's play this post-season, but that doesn't cancel out 3 years of not earning his money. The bottom line, however, is that Homer needed to sign either Gomez, Drury, or Briere after the 2006-07 in order to make sure fans had something to look forward to over the long summer, and there's no doubt he won the sweepstakes by picking the Canadian over the American or the Mexican. It had to happen, and Briere still has time to blossom like the flower he is.
Of the other signings that cost us nothing to almost nothing, I look at it like this:
Success:
Dowd
Asham
Boosh
Lappy
Betts
Krajicek
Bust:
Boulerice
Metro
Fitzpatrick
Thoresen
Eminger
Vaananen
Pyorala
Tollefsen
Homer has a bad habit of signing guys in the hopes that when they put on the Orange and Black they'll achieve their full potential. He also has a habit of needing to acquire NHL caliber players throughout the year because we seem to come up one short for some games. Krajicek, for instance, worked out for us, but it never should have come down to that.
As far as Emery it'd be unfair to say what might have happened. And I'll give Homer this, Leighton was his miracle until the Stanley Cup Finals.
All in all I'm not that impressed. And the recent signing of Jody Shelley, although I'll root for him, is the one that spurred this entire post. Mixing contract extensions - Kappy for 2 years of which he only played 1, Lupul OVERPAID for 4 years, Jones OVERPAID for 2 years, Cote's extension at all - I'm not sure Homer's done such a great job in the market.
I'd love to have the time to compare Homer's waiver move frequency vs. other GM's, as well as free agent signings that only last 1 year, 2 years, etc. with other club, and who was available each year when each signing/claim occurred, but sadly I have a plant I'm growing.
Homer's free agency, contract work, and waiver wire action is only going to earn him a B- from me. And that's without even factoring in Knuble walking. True the club went from last place to the Conference Finals to the Cup Finals in 3 seasons, but I'm not sure his work in the open market had as much to do with it as a few specific key signings, the maturation of key players, and a couple trades….which we'll examine tomorrow. |
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Written by Ryan
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Wednesday, 07 July 2010 06:21 |
 In the days of over-medication and endless data General Managers have to be as cognizant of how a player will fit in with the team he's building as how good the player's skill set is. And not just how he'll fit in with the style of play the coach is pushing, but how he'll fit in with the guys in the locker room. I assume Paul Holmgren spends a decent amount of time reading psychology books and the more esoteric classics like The Art of War. As far as Andrej Meszaros will fit in with the plan and the guys I can tell you this - Czechs generally like to smoke butts and booze (but then there's also Zdeno Chara who likes to eat mountains, too). As far as his skill set, there's the chance that he'll explode like a BP oil rig. But what I'd like to hear from Paul Holmgren is whether or not he was in on the Paul Martin bidding.
Where as Meszaros would be a more reasonable gamble at somewhere around Matt Carle money, or less, Martin is a sure thing. He's a young vet who's put in 5 consistent seasons in the league and although he broke his forearm last season still had 11 points in 22 games when he returned. He was a good Devils team's #1 defenseman and his price tag was only $1M more than Meszaros - or roughly one Jody Shelley. So far in his career in only about 20 more games Martin has about 20 more points than Meszaros and is much more responsible in his own zone. That, and he did not cost a second round pick.
As with all these moves time will tell. But when you look at the defensemen that Holmgren's brought in during his tenure you have to wonder how long the team's sporadic playoff successes can continue to overshadow the graveyard of scrubs, rookies, and losing lottery tickets that have manned our blue line for the past 3 years:
Ole-Kristian Tollefsen
Lukas Krajicek
Ryan Parent
Danny Syvret
Andrew Alberts
Ossi Vaananen
Randy Jones
Luca Sbisa
Oskars Bartulis
Steve Eminger
Lasse Kukkonen
Nate Guenin
David Sloane
Jamie Fritsch
Jim Vandermeer
Jaroslav Modry
Rory Fitzpatrick |
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Written by Ryan
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Monday, 05 July 2010 18:10 |
 I don't understand all the dynamics involved in Simon Gagne's recent decision to waive his No Trade Clause. The whole thing seems terribly awkward. Here's how it probably happened more or less:
Holmgren calls Gagne's agent. Gagne's agent calls Gagne. Either immediately or after some deliberation Gagne accepts. The news hits the presses.
But why would he do it and what does it say about the Flyers?
If I'm Simon Gagne and I get that call from my agent my first reaction would be a bit of hurt feelings and confusion. Like, why the hell are they trying to trade me? I've been here for 10 years, I've only ever been a Flyer, I wear the A, I still have a very decent offensive upside. WTF? But when they ask you to waive it can you even say no? The club obviously thinks you're more valuable to them as a public commodity. So, even though IT'S IN YOUR CONTRACT what are you going to do? Hang around an organization that doesn't believe in you as much as you do in the team. And then the whole team thing - the guys aren't looking to trade you, some asshole GM is. But would the guys see it as you being selfish if you told Homer to go F himself? Are you worth more to those guys in the room as a member of another team, in the form of young talent, or a goalie, or draft picks that come back to Philly?
One thing you can take away for sure is that the team has no intention of trying to sign you after the 2010-11 season. Unless maaaaybe you were willing to take a considerable home town discount. So should you just get on with it and go to a team where they DO want you? And start building the second half of your career in that new city?
It's all very confusing. 'Hey Simon, I know we can't trade you but can we?'
Or maybe I'm way off and Gagne wants out of Philly all together, and this is just being spun to avoid some sort of Heatley/Spezza drama. But why would he want out? We just came 2 wins from a Cup and he's lived here for 10 years - all of his adult life.
I just don't know why Homer would ask or why Gagne would accept. And nothing I've read on the matter has done anything to help clear that up for me. If Gagne's in the Flyers training camp in September, knowing that the Flyers had unsuccesfully shopped him around for the previous 2 months, I would imagine that would create a pretty strange dynamic on the team. All signs point to Gagne having a monster contract year and we're so afraid of getting nothing for him in the future that we're taking severe measures in July to try and avoid that.
space
On the heels of almost $7M in questionable free agent signings it just doesn't seem to make sense. |
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Written by Ryan
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Friday, 02 July 2010 07:04 |
 I think Jeff Carter is a great hockey player. He scored 40 goals, he must be right? Ok, that last sentence was a little tongue in cheek, but I do think he's a very good NHL center. That being said, we are trying to win the Stanley Cup this, and at least next, season. I'm not sure how much more gas our #1 and #2 (and now our #6) have in them at 35 (and 38). Our defense is our cornerstone and over the next 6 seasons we will go as do Pronger and Timonen.
Jeff Carter is our most valuable asset and is going to be one of the most costly players in the NHL if he's allowed to hit the open market next summer. If there's one thing you should have learned by reading Philly.com over the past 5 years it's that hockey 'is a business.' So stop thinking sentimentally like you did when Scottie Upshall was traded, because these players will up and leave on you faster than a guy you meet at the Irish Pub when he hears your baby crying the next morning.
All of this, and the fact THAT THERE'S NO ROOM FOR HIM ON OUR TEAM mean that we need to trade Jeff Carter before this season begins. It's just the facts people - Richards, Briere (playoff version), and Giroux. No room up the middle. Jeff Carter is not a wing and neither is Briere. But Briere has a no-trade and isn't nearly as valuable as Carter. So we need to take Carts, promoting his 46 goal season, and get some serious wings, better defensemen, a #1 goalie, or some draft picks for him. As I'm writing this I'm sitting on the 42nd floor of a business building scraping the sky in Manhattan, and I have some friends at business school, so it's safe to say I know business.
Here are a number of packages, one from each team, I've been tweeting over the past couple days that I would jump all over for the guy who loves to high five:
Anaheim - Bobby Ryan and a 1st Rounder
Atlanta - Evander Kane and Bryan Little
Boston - Blake Wheeler and a 1st Rounder
Buffalo - Tim Kennedy, Tyler Ennis and a 2nd
Calgary - Robyn Regehr and David Moss
Carolina - Tim Gleason and Jussi Jokinen
Chicago - Dave Bolland and a 1st (not really much left on that squad…)
Colorado - Ryan O'Rielly and David Jones
Columbus - Steve Mason and Kris Russell
Dallas - Jamie Benn or James Neal and a 1st
Detroit - Niklas Kronwall a 1st, and a 2nd
Edmonton - Ryan Jones, Jordan Eberle, a 1st, and a 2nd
Florida - Tomas Vokun and they have to take Jody Shelley and Riley Cote
Los Angeles - Dustin Brown and a 1st
Minnesota - Cam Barker, Cal Clutterbuck, and a 1st
Montreal - PK Subban, Benoit Pouliot, and a 2nd
Nashville - Ryan Suter and a 1st
New Jersey - Andy Greene and two 1sts
NY Islanders - Mark Streit and a 1st
NY Rangers - Derelict Boogaard
Ottawa - Brian Lee and two 1sts
Phoenix - Shane Doan, Kyle Turris, and a 2nd
Pittsburgh - Ray Shero's nutty balls
San Jose - Jamie MCGinn, Devin Setoguchi, a 1st, and a 2nd
St. Louis - David Backes a 1st, and a 2nd
Tampa Bay - Mike Smith, Carter Ashton, a 1st, and a 2nd
Toronto - Luke Schenn and a 1st
Vancouver - Mikael Samuelsson, Rick Rypien, and a 1st
Washington - John Carlson and Jason Chimera and a 1st
Some of these moves would necessitate other moves, but I think Homer would have to seriously consider any of them. Just to give you an idea, former 40 goal man Tomas Vanek makes $7M a year. That's what we're looking at in 10/11.
We traded Brind'Amour after back-to-back 74 point seasons that followed 87 and 97 pointers. Great players get traded. We can trade Carter. |
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Written by Ryan
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Thursday, 01 July 2010 18:58 |
 My initial reaction was the same as yours - what the fuck? But luckily I regained my professionalism (yes, I'm a professional fan, which would make you an amateur, sorry to say) and am ready to tell you why I think the moves that Paul Holmgren has pulled of thus far will work out to our benefit.
Jody Shelley- This makes no sense, right? Wrong. Remember how long the playoffs were? Well the regular season is 4 times as long as that and there's way more fighting. Like, totally way more. The Flyers haven't had a real fighter since Donald Brashear. And even though it seems strange to picture a guy you may not even have really heard of before in a Flyers jersey, you're going to love him by the second week of the season. Where he fits in and with whom is up to Peter Laviolette to decide. To stand, beer in hand screaming when he knocks out Dericht Boogaard is up to us.
Sean O'Donnell - could be a reliable number six. Remember, there isn't a team that has the same roster on the last day of the regular season as the one they throw down on paper on opening night. We'll see how the old-timer works out. I'm guessing he couldn't be worse than the no one we had playing at #6 in the Cup Finals.
Andrej Meszaros- before he was shipped off to the Land of Misfit Hockey Players, Mesza had 39, 35, and 36 points in 3 consecutive 82 game seasons. On a team that didn't completely suck he was +24 during those 3 seasons. But then he moved to sunny F-L-A and everything turned pair-shaped. If the move out of Florida helps Mesza return to his old form he could end up being worth every dollar Holmgren is wagering on him. This was a high risk, medium probability gamble on Homer's part. Time will tell whether we win or lose on this roll of the dice. I'm just happy we're out there taking chances and getting decent players for 2nd Round draft picks. As a professional fan I can more or less assure you that this one will be a win. So there you go.
And before we leave you to digest what you should now be thinking about today's moves, here's one more reminder as to why the guy in the #45 jersey will be the ugliest white guy you've ever seen instead of a Chinese:
"Oh my goodness me! That was a vicious shot." |
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Written by Ryan
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Wednesday, 30 June 2010 19:12 |
 Earlier today Le Pere de Puck had a post up in which he chronicled the 10 UFA defensemen that he thinks your team should actually be going after tomorrow when the 2010 Free Agent Bonanza opens. My opinion on the matter can be seen above, scaled against the type of dump I will take upon hearing the news that we signed any of these chochskis. I'll be pleasantly surprised with a Type 4, but otherwise I want nothing to do with these clowns. I'm sticking to my guns from earlier this post-season and urging Homer to go after Kurtis Foster - $4.5M over 3 years.
The Hamhuis Type 7 might be as much result of excitement as frustration, but it's such an impossibility that I don't think I'll have to face that giant squirt. I can't believe that dick wouldn't sign with us, but at least it appears that Homer may have fleeced the Penguins in the process.
As far as the probability of any signing of significance happening tomorrow let me just say this. In '07 Homer brought in Daniel Briere on 7/1. In '08 it was Glen Metropolit and then in '09 there was Brian Boucher. So get ready for something big, baby.
Hopefully the biggest Type 4 you've never seen.
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