The legend of Keith Primeau lives on in every Flyer. You remember the RJ Umberger’s and Patrick Thoresen’s? Who will become a Flyers legend this postseason? I guess you’ll just have to watch and find out because as of tonight the Flyers are officially going to the show! Break out that bottle you’ve been saving…okay not that one…but the other one that is just a little less important. Crack open that beer my fellow Philadelphians! It’s time to bring back the Vengeace!
The current Flyers tag-line is “Hungry for more.” and while that is all good and true it doesn’t tell the full story. Yes, we are hungry for more, but what we are hungry for more of is vengeance. Remember Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn falling before the Penguins’ series? Remember how all those Pennsylvanians from the dark side of the state said that it was no big deal; said that the Penguins were just the better team. We have shown we can beat any given team on any given night, and now it is time to prove it on the biggest stage. We have a game against the Islanders and two games against the Rangers left. Be there wearing orange and let them not only know what color we will be rocking at home for the playoffs (orange in case you missed the memo) but also that we are bigger, tougher, louder, and more hungry than any of them ever will be for home ice advantage.
After this brief pump up video I will get to some BIG NEWS from another season ticket holder “Town Hall” meeting!
STH TOWN HALL MEETING PART TWO
- Remember when there was all kinds of buzz about us trading for Jay Bouwmeester at the trade deadline? Well, the Florida Panthers wanted Claude Giroux, Ryan Parent, a 1st, and a conditional pick should he sign with us. Paul Holmgren hung up on them. I don’t know about you guys, but that’s not worth it. Holmgren did mention however that we would be looking into acquiring JayBo’s rights from Florida before July 1st (possibly the draft) and trying to sign him. That would likely mean goodbye to Matt Carle, but honestly I’ll take a top 10 NHL defenseman under 25 any day of the week.
- Everyone in the organization absolutely loves Luca Sbisa. Expect him to be replacing Randy Jones or Matt Carle as that puck mover on the blueline next season. Holmgren says he expects Sbisa to keep growing to about 6’4″. One thing Paul did mention is that he wants the team to get bigger in general (NOT SLOWER) especially on the blueline. Sbisa adds to that.
- JVR has mentioned that his game needs some work. The Flyers are more than willing to give it to him. The former 2nd overall selection has his work ethic priorities well in line.
- The organization tried to get defensive prospect Denis Bodrov out of Russia last offseason. They’re going to push the issue harder to get his physical presence on the back end. The KHL is hitting a rather large financial snag so hope for Bodrov to come to his senses.
- Flyers will not be drafting a goalie in the first round this season despite having issues with organizational depth at this position. They claimed that they will be taking the best player available which may mean that they’re planning on going after a goalie like Josh Harding of Minnesota since Backstrom was just re-signed, Cory Schneider of Vancouver should Luongo re-sign, Tuuka Rask of Boston since Thomas re-signed, Khabibulin the “Bulin-Wall” in free-agency, or of course the option is there to re-sign Biron.
- The organization thinks Kevin Marshall might be ready for blueline duty as well as Sbisa and Bodrov. We could see some shifts on the back end to free up space in order to not only bring in cheeper entry level contracts but hopefully (since it’s my biggest hope) to sign Jay Bouwmeester. They said Ratchuk is playing well in the AHL, but poor coaching in college has stunted his growth as a defenseman.
P.S. Happy 18th birthday to my brother Matt currently back in Lumberton, NJ. The Flyers are playoffs official for your birthday.
