There are few positives to take away from the Montreal Canadiens’ 5-1 trouncing of the Flyers. The organization literally fired its assistant coach this afternoon for having its worst start in about 70 years, and yet the bleu blanc et rouge somehow managed to expose the Flyers on the back end.
With Chris Pronger out for the next ten to fourteen days, the Flyers had to rely on both Andreas Lilja and Matt Walker as the sixth defensive pairing. Walker, who was waived at the beginning of the season but remained with the big club, was trusted with just 7:20 of ice time and still looked lost.
Walker will have to have a phenomenal game tomorrow night against the Winnipeg Jets to save his spot on the roster. His $1.7 million contract is a glaring target for a team in desperate need of salary cap space. As he has already cleared waivers, he can be sent down to the Adirondack Phantoms without having to go through the process again.
I have to thank Geoff Detweiler (Broad Street Hockey), Tyler Altemoose (The Hockey Guys) and Dave Isaac (Philly Sports Daily) for clarifying for me on twitter that players who have cleared waivers don’t have to clear again until 10 games or 30 days. For Walker, this translates to November 4th.
There is not enough time for the team to send Walker down before tomorrow, which is why he would remain in the line-up against the Jets. If sent down, the Flyers could recall one of Erik Gustafsson, Kevin Marshall, or Blake Kessel as well as Oliver Lauridsen as a seventh defenseman. They could also recall Oskars Bartulis, but he would have to pass through re-entry waivers to make it up.
If there was contract space available, I would suggest signing offensive defenseman Anton Stralman, who is currently floating around Sweden after not making the New Jersey Devils out of training camp. That would require sending Sean Couturier down to juniors, though, and we all know how that’s playing out.
As far as tonight’s other goat is concerned, I feel I need to say something.
Ilya Bryzgalov is not a $51 million goalie. No goalies are. It’s an absurd amount of money to give any player, let alone one who is in the most volatile and inconsistent position in the NHL.
That said, fans need to relax. There is no goalie controversy in Philadelphia, and even the suggestion that there is a “controversy” is premature. It’s been nine games. Remember how everyone pointed out the shutout in New Jersey meant he was better than Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky? Where are those fans now?
Although Bryzgalov’s arrival in Philadelphia can be attributed in part to an overreaction to the Flyers’ goaltending depth, he has also proven himself to be a very steady netminder over the course of his career. If there’s any lesson to be learned here, it’s being able to distinguish between hype and reality. He will bounce back from this.
I have no idea who will be starting in net tomorrow. A coach looking to right the ship might turn in desperation to Bobrovsky, but that seems like it would send the wrong message to the rest of the team.
For the latest Flyers news and updates, you can follow me on twitter (@JoshJanet).
Do not know how they come out, slap around the Habs for 19 minutes, give up a goal where Bryz was obviously screened. Then the tide changed and they couldn’t get back in the saddle. Couldn’t get a bounce to go our way. Simmonds with the wide open net for instance. Just seemed like the first line was irrelevant after the first period. Who knows. I don’t blame Bryz, but he is not helping either. Lets see if we can take the JETS tonight.
Wow Josh. There sure ain’t a controversy! It’s 2nd period during the Jets game and Bobrovsky just got pulled. 5 goals on 15 shots!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?
Same old, same old.. Flyers losing back to back games against teams that were really struggling in the Canadiens and JEts who both teams were averaging 2 to 2.5 goals scoring per gam an dFLyboys giving up 5 and 6 Goals to them.. Def Pronger out for about 2 weeks.. another Philly “Dream Team of ovrehyping going down the tubes..
I have downgraded my Analysis & Prediction of the Flyers Season from a Record of 42-29-11 and a 4th Overall Seed now down to a 37-36-9 Record for a 7th Seed in the Eastern Conferance and a 1st Round Exit to the Penguins..
When do Pitchers and Catchers report…
classic paulman reveling in the misfortunes of our favorites, but Paul, that story you wrote about Reid getting stuck in the left ear hole of the blow up eagles helmet was one of the most hilarious posts on this blog ever, I am still lmfao about that one, nice job there paulman
thnx jake, I have to admit, it was some of my better work and not really sure where it came from, but once I got Coach AR getting stuck in the Left-Ear Hole part down, the rest just flowed out like Shakespere.. ok, that may be pushing it ,, well maybe like Mark Twain… . ha ha
Back on topic though, I am not reveling in the Flyers misfortune, I am just fed up how this Flyer Franchise year after year ,never gets called out, no one ever seems to get upset that they under perform andacross the Street, the Phils win 70% of the game and lose 3 in a row the media and fans are all over them, the Eagles play a couple of bad games and half the City is ready to Fire the entire Coaching Staff, etc,etc .. But here go the lily,white, Canadien boys playing for the Flyers, and they continually get a free pass from their Owner,GM,to their Players.. (they will start blaming Coach Pete Lav here soon, you watch..)
Let see them turn it around but the Defense and Goalie Play has been horrible here lately..
the hockey season is long, I will not get too high or low until it really matters, remember two seasons ago the flyers got in on a shoot out and were one game away from playing for the cup
If there’s any controversy, it’s that both goaltenders played awful tonight. Wow.
What is this jinx that the Flyers have with goalies!? They get an All Star goalie, then he forgets how to stop the freaking puck! We haven’t had a good goalie since Hexy’s first go around! Sickening!
It’s the Curse that WC FIeld’s put on Philadelphia almost 100 Years ago DCar..
Until they change the William Penn Statue to WC FIelds atop City Hall,
The City and it’ s Fans and Citizen will still be known as the “City of Losers”
excuse me paulman but flyers have won two cups and Phillies 2 world series championships as well, were you comatose in 2008, calling the fans and citizens losers, that’s unacceptable, please apologize