Earlier this month, THW's Mike Coll…
Pittsburgh PenguinsEven NHL General Managers are susceptible to the occasional man-crush. Dean Lombardi, who served as a Philadelphia Flyers scout for four years, continues to build what some have coined “Philadelphia West” in Los Angeles, focusing on grit, two-way ability, strong net presence and leadership qualities. There is little doubt that Pavlovian salivation was triggered when ...
In the spring of 1973, the Maple Leafs missed the playoffs again after exiting in the first round the previous 2 seasons. In the off-season, Jim Gregory and his staff would make personnel choices that would have impact in building the Leaf team that peaked with a Semifinals appearance in 1978, and would unfortunately be ...
It’s been 72 hours since the start of free agency and the steady stream of signings has slowed to a drip, but General Managers aren’t quite on vacation just yet. For the second time in two weeks, the ‘San Jose Wild’ and ‘Minnesota Sharks’ made a blockbuster deal when overpaid scorers Dany Heatley and Martin ...
There were no major signings on the first day of free agency, by that I mean Brad Richards is still available. Paul Holmgren continued to do quite a number on the Flyers and Dale Tallon threw his money around trying to build a playoff team. While there were no particularly great or terrible signings, some ...
The Philadelphia Flyers surprised many fans in the 2011 off-season with a few unexpected trades, including that of their captain, Mike Richards, to the Los Angeles Kings for young up-and-comers Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds. Fans of the team were shocked. Players involved were incensed. But even missing Chris Pronger for most of the playoffs, even having ...
June 23, 2011 now stands as the most chaotic, astonishing, and earth-shattering day in Philadelphia Flyers history. On this day, both the leading goal scorer and captain were traded, and a long sought after world-class goaltender was signed to a long-term deal. It has been speculated for weeks, if not months now that Jeff Carter ...
The Philadelphia Flyers fixed their goaltending issues, trading for, then signing, Ilya Bryzgalov, but that may have opened up some new holes. Trading Jeff Carter to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Jakub Voracek and first and third-round draft picks this year made a lot of sense. GM Paul Holmgren knew going into the offseason he ...
Mark Recchi isn’t the oldest guy to win the Stanley Cup, but he’s up there. He said going into the final that he would call it a career should the Boston Bruins bring the big prize back to Beantown. Most people smiled and nodded. “Yeah, right, Mark.” Not that they doubted his retirement - a lot of hockey fans ...
Briefly, name the top ten goaltenders currently playing in the NHL. It should be easy enough with the list headlined by recent Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe (and soon to be) Vezina Trophy winner, Tim Thomas. The others, in no particular order, could considerably be Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller, Martin Brodeur (though he’s beginning to decline), Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and even Roberto Luongo. After their successful past season, Pekka Rinne and Carey Price could be added to this list too. In fact, I’m even willing to make a case for Jonas Hiller whom, if consistently healthy, would be able to join the ranks of the aforementioned in no time.
A name that’s missing from that list of elite goaltenders yet still receiving a healthy amount of attention this offseason is Ilya Bryzgalov. Truth is, Bryzgalov is not a top-ten netminder in the NHL, at least not right now. So with reports out that Bryzgalov is looking for a contract worth $50 million over seven years with a cap hit of $7 million annually, it seems that something is off.
So this much we know, The Philadelphia Flyers and the Columbus Blue Jackets have held discussions involving Flyers center Jeff Carter. You might as well throw in several other names as well. The likes of Blue Jackets forward Jacub Voracek ,as well as, the Blue Jackets starting goaltender Steve Mason. The Blue Jackets 1st round ...
