Guess Who's Back?

Boucher's back...tell a friend.

Seriously, now. Isn't bringing back the hero of the 2000 playoff run slightly more about fielding a competitive team with the Phantoms so more adult butts go in the seats, rather than as insurance should Antero Niittymaki go down with another hip injury? Boosh is really no longer a viable NHL back-up. Spending a year split between Chicago and Columbus can do that to a man, especially after he's been shunted from Calgary and Phoenix before then.

The scouting report on him consistently chides his lack of consistency and mental preparation -- something we in Philadelphia could have told you between his magnificent rookie season and his disastrous two follow-up years as a spot starter behind Roman Cechmanek. Does this version of the Flyers organization realistically believe a return to the place which developed him can mitigate some of his erratic play?

In reality, hockey fans in this city can put two and two together and figure out two things: a) that the 2005 Calder Cup winning Phantoms received a huge boost from the addition of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in the late going and that the club's victory was a product of so much talent already targeted for or played in the NHL, and b) that the Phantoms of the last two seasons have been atrocious by comparison, since half the roster is now with the Big Club.

So, Boucher's addition is an immediate boost to the defensive fortunes of the farm team. Plus, it will serve as an accurate gauge as to whether he can be brought up and showcased for a trade, or whether he'll become the veteran sequel to Neal Little, or...if he's just one step closer to becoming the head coach at his alma mater of Mount St. Charles in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

Boucher has never come close to duplicating his 20-win, under-2 goals-against regular-season performance in 1999-2000, even in the year he posted five shutouts in five starts. Let's just hope he gets his mind together back with the team who took a chance with him when all things were possible.

The Path is Clear

And all eyes can see the course laid down long before...

The NHL released its master schedule along with the individual 30 team schedules on Tuesday, and the Flyers were no exception. For the second time in five years, they open in Western Canada (like in 2002 when Edmonton and Calgary were the first two stops), but for the first time ever, they start the season with three road games in Canada. October 4th is the season-opener at Calgary, then Edmonton on the 6th and inexplicably, after a four day break, Vancouver on the 10th before a three-day rest for the Islanders in the home opener on the 13th.

A few other items of note:

Unlike the previous three seasons, there are no early-season weekend afternoon games. The first home matinee is the Friday after Thanksgiving, November 23rd against Washington. The next afternoon game is December 29th at Tampa, but the next home matinee is not until January 12th (Saturday) against Boston. In fact, there are only four home afternoon games the whole season, the least number in I don't know how many years, possibly since I started going to games in the mid-1980's. Does this mean NBC might have given the Flyers the shaft in regional or national coverage late in the season because of last year's horrendous record? Maybe. But then, March 1st and 2nd, then the 15th and 16th, are back-to-back Sat-Sun road games which will be picked up by NBC depending on which day they choose to air games. Also, the regular-season finale is April 6th at home against Pittsburgh, which is guaranteed to be on if something (division, playoff berth, Crosby 200th point) is on the line.

Due to the goofiness of the current schedule system (whose three-year window is up after this season), the Flyers still play each division team eight times and the other 10 conference teams four times. The Flyers will not play any team in the Central Division, while playing all teams in the Northwest on the road and all teams in the Pacific at home.

There is no New Year's Eve game this year, with a huge break coming between December 30 and January 4 because, let's face it, even with modern technology it takes five days to go 1,200 miles by the most powerful steam locomotive from South Florida to North Jersey.

The All-Star Game is scheduled for Saturday, January 26th. Hopefully the ratings will crack a million with a weekend game slated for NBC. I've never been a fan of the game played in January like it was for most of the 1990's, but with the NFL now taking control of the first weekend of February for the Super Bowl, the NHL isn't stupid enough to try and compete.

The team is scheduled for 10 games in 27 days in October, but 14 games in 28 days in February. The first eight home games come in two four-game blocks, one in mid-October and one in mid-November. There is an eight-game road trip which bridges the first two months, and the team doesn't travel West of the Mississippi.

Looks like the first 20 games won't be so much an indicator of how the team has improved on the ice so much as it will be a test of responding to adversity. Even so, with 62 more games after, don't bank on the first 20 being either a grim indicator of a failed experiment or the positive result of a vastly-improved year. It is what it is, despite Lance Crawford on SportsNite this week attempting to draw a comparison between the Flyers' opening road trip and an Eagles three-game road trip to begin a football season.

Frantic Atlantic

Thus far, in the time between the draft and the end of the first week of free-agent signings, no division has done more to alter its chemistry than the Atlantic Division.

The Flyers have performed yet another radical roster re-section, taking a quarter of the Predators' heart and soul, and a big sword-chunk out of the Sabres' offensive capability with the additions of Hartnell, Timmonen and Daniel Briere. Hartnell was introduced to the media yesterday, and all the pictures show yet another young matinee-idol face ready to ruin it for the good of the team and the city. Unfortunately, there are three too many forwards on the club, and it looks like Ben Eager, R.J. Umberger and Ryan Potulny are the most-likely candidates to be odd-man-out once training camp begins and the roster is solidified.

Westward looking, the Penguins made smart moves by retaining Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts on a pair of one-year deals. Even though Darryl Sydor is aging, his acquisition if nothing more than to sit in the press box on some nights and then teach the kids later, is incredibly valuable. So is taking the time now to lock up Sid the Kid for five more years. This year's first-round draft pick Angelo Esposito might be best served by at least starting the year in Wilkes-Barre, sort of a secret weapon when the first flu or injury bug hits the team. If the kids on the roster continue to mature at the same level as last season, it'll be another winning one.

The Devils have a new arena, but an incomplete roster and no head coach. They've not yet managed to adequately make up for losing Scott Gomez, though signing Kevin Weekes for those random eight games Martin Brodeur decides not to dress is a smart move. Defensively, bringing in Vitali Vishnevski is bound to give at least one coach massive bouts of indigestion. If Sheldon Souray comes back to the fold and is given even half the offensive license he had in Montreal, look out. If...

Things are looking up for both New York squads. The Rangers added Gomez and Chris Drury while bringing Brendan Shanahan back for one more year and keeping Henrik Lundqvist in net for the next three. The Blueshirts really didn't need much coming in, and, other than the gauntlet of a 32-game division schedule, their most likely obstacles this season will be health and the ability for three lines to mesh well. The Isles lost out big time with the departures of Ryan Smyth, Viktor Kozlov and Jason Blake with the buy-out of Alexei Yashin, but managed to recoup quickly by bringing in Bill Guerin, Ruslan Fedotenko, Jon Sim and Mike Comrie.

I think now, the Atlantic has the head-start on being the best division in the Eastern Conference. It still has a long way to go to match the Northwest Division for the best in hockey, even if the Oilers are the clear bottom-dwellers.

NHL Free Agency: The 48-Hour Roundup

The Top Tier

Philadelphia Flyers – The Orange and Black made their biggest splash ever by snatching Daniel Briere for an eight-year, $52 million deal which is front-loaded to $10 million in 2007-2008. Apparently, Briere was so intent on getting away from Buffalo and trying free-agency, he was the quickest to accept the Flyers’ initial blockbuster offer. The club also took advantage of desperate Edmonton, cleared cap space, and got younger and tougher in the Pitkanen/Sanderson-Smith/Lupul deal later Sunday.

Colorado Avalanche – If Chris Drury wasn’t going to come back, then signing Ryan Smyth was the next best thing. The Avs grabbed Smyth late Sunday in a shocking move (Isles GM Garth Snow was notified 10 pm Sunday that Smyth would test the waters), locking him up for five years. He’ll be the best two-way forward Colorado has seen since Claude Lemieux, but without the theatrics and lack of discipline. If Smyth sticks around long enough, he also might be the logical successor to lead the team once Joe Sakic packs it in. Adding big and rough defenseman Scott Hannan from San Jose instantly legitimizes a scattershot defensive corps. The Avalanche are built for a win-now philosophy which buttresses its rapidly-maturing youth movement.

Detroit Red Wings – Wings GM Ken Holland has built a reputation for making a big splash without much fanfare, and inking defenseman Brian Rafalski proves that once again. The Michigan native came at a cost of $30 million over five years, and is worth every penny if he only lowers the mean age of the defense a couple decades.

Depth Perception

New York Rangers – Anything happening in the Big Apple is bound to be overtly hyperbolic, but the signings of Scott Gomez (seven years, $51.5 million) and Chris Drury (five years, $35.25 million) are really about filling out a roster that has been in flux for the last two seasons as the Blueshirts got back on their feet. The Rangers were in need of centers and players who can get things done in all three zones, and it just so happened that these two guys were big names. This is a club that looks as good as the pre-Messier exodus – on paper at least.

Calgary Flames – The coming of “Iron Mike” Keenan signified some key changes. The Flames got rough-and-tumble defenseman Cory Sarich from Tampa (5-yr, $18 mil) Sunday, and took a gamble that Owen Nolan isn’t on his last leg Monday, bringing him in for one year. Calgary needs to be deep in order to wade through the minefield that is the uber-competitive Northwest Division, and these two moves are right on course.

Los Angeles Kings – Monday was a crowning achievement for GM Dean Lombardi, as he was able to nab not one, but four mid-range players. Michal Handzus (4-yr, $16 mil) from Chicago, Kyle Calder (2 yr, $5.5) left Detroit, Ladislav Nagy (one year, $3.75) jumped from Dallas and defenseman Tom Preissing came at a steal from Ottawa (3-yr, $2.75 million). Head coach Marc Crawford now has a well-rounded team to coach, rather than a loose collection of last-stop veterans and green kids.

Pittsburgh Penguins – OK, so the Pens managed to retain Mark Recchi and Gary Roberts before Sunday’s bonanza, but since they are bona-fide veteran talents, I’m going to include them. Sure, Petr Sykora (two-year deal) is an interchangeable part, but grabbing bedrock defenseman Darryl Sydor (2-yr, $5 million) is a vast upgrade, even at his age, from a stone-cold meathead like Brooks Orpik.

The Risk Takers

Anaheim Ducks – The defending Cup champions took some big bites, landing defenseman Mathieu Schneider on a two-year deal from Detroit late Sunday. The team complemented that by inking the injured and embattled Todd Bertuzzi a two-year, $8 million contract Monday. The Ducks are now bigger and badder, but they’re not really better. Schneider is 38 years old, and joins a defense featuring Chris Pronger (32), Sean O’Donnell (35), and for now, Scott Niedermayer (33), along with three backliners with less than two full years experience. Plus, I’m not sure how Bertuzzi fits in with an offense on the smallish, speedy side. He has a lot to prove after playing only 15 games with Florida and Detroit due to a herniated disc last season, plus the lingering baggage from the Steve Moore incident.

Boston Bruins – One of three teams to skirt existing rules about signing rights to free agents of any stripe, the B’s officially acquired goaltender Manny Fernandez on Sunday from Minnesota, who cut him loose due to salary cap issues. Fernandez is an immediate upgrade in net from Tim Thomas and Hannu Toivonen, but his impact away from a Jacques Lemaire-led defensive system may only be the difference between a sub-.500 team and one fighting for a playoff berth. My gut feeling is, in two years, he’ll join names like Gilbert, Peeters, Ranford, Lemelin, Moog, Lacher, Dafoe, Raycroft and Thomas on the lengthy list of Bruins goaltenders who fell prey to heightened expectations.

The Mysteries

St. Louis Blues – Now in Year Two of their own rebuilding era, the Blues bolstered their lineup by bringing back Keith Tkachuk on Sunday, then signing Paul Kariya to a three-year, $18 million contract. Tkachuk is a threat to wipe out a buffet table if he’s not careful, but why Kariya would come to the Gateway City over better fits in Vancouver, Philadelphia, and virtually anywhere else is a pressing question. Either he’ll work his magic like in Nashville, or he’ll be just another good veteran on a bad team like the Penguins of two years ago or the Blues last season.

Atlanta Thrashers – Swept away in their first-ever playoff series, and Atlanta responds by shucking one old goat (center Keith Tkachuk) and picking up another (defenseman Ken Klee). The lone bright spots came Sunday, when the club re-signed the fleet-footed Pascal Dupuis and talented two-way forward Todd White from Minnesota. However, it’s not likely to positively affect team chemistry or improve postseason fortunes if your top three players are less-than-battle-ready European scorers.

Montreal Canadiens – Under pressure to bring in more Quebec-born, French-Canadian talent, GM Bob Gainey had to settle for Bryan Smolinski and Roman Hamrlik after missing out on the Daniel Briere sweepstakes. If you were under a constant bilingual barrage in the Cradle of Cups, you’d end up making some odd moves just to keep the fans and writers at bay, too. Smolinski (one year, $2 million) is a spent man. He’s not capable of carrying off both sides of being a two-way forward, and asking him to do one or the other exclusively isn’t a good option either. Hamrlik (four years, $22 million) is a pale substitute for the departing Sheldon Souray. The Canadiens will tread water at best.

The Desperate

Edmonton Oilers – The smell wafting across the clear Alberta sky is not that of oil, but of desperation. Edmonton was only able to swing a four-player trade Sunday to net disappointing defenseman Joni Pitkanen and well-travelled vet Geoff Sanderson, while shipping off captain Jason Smith and young forward Joffrey Lupul. Oh, and did we mention luring Dick Tarnstrom back from Europe? My guess is, it’s pretty mind-numbing to be out of a job when it’s minus-20 Fahrenheit in January, but something tells me Kevin Lowe’s going to write a poignant column about it soon.

Philadelphia Flyers – Let’s be brutally honest here. The flipside to Briere and the Oilers trade is that the team needs to do everything in its power to forget about last year’s dead-last finish. Let the discussions about how the new faces will fit, and how Briere doesn’t really play “Flyers” hockey be damned. The franchise made huge psychologically soothing moves for the fan base.

Toronto Maple Leafs – Every year there is pressure from all directions in the English-language capital of hockey to win a Cup, and every year a big move is made that’s erased by injuries, bad coaching, a negative locker room, or a key loss to Ottawa. This year, the Leafs pried Jason Blake away from New York for five years at $20 million. Blake scored a career-best 40 goals last year, but there’s not enough good luck and offense to go around in Toronto to maintain that number.

The Bottom Feeders

Washington Capitals – Bringing offensive-minded forwards Michael Nylander (4-yr, $19 mil) and Viktor Kozlov and defenseman Tom Poti are knee-jerk moves aimed at trying to get some veteran playmakers for Alex Ovechkin. The franchise has totally overlooked the depth factor and have not addressed the fact that goaltender Olaf Kolzig can’t hold down the fort forever. The Caps will look very retro when they lose 45 games this year in the old red, white, and blue unis.

Chicago Blackhawks – The Hawks are one of a handful of teams forced to make deseperate moves to jolt an indifferent fan base. Losing is a disease, but signing Robert Lang to a two-year deal is no cure.

New York Islanders – Lose Ryan Smyth, Jason Blake and Viktor Kozlov, and the consolation prize is Jon Sim for three years.

Not on the Radar

Carolina Hurricanes – Rescued Jeff Hamilton from the hell that is Chicago for a bargain (two years, $1.6 mil); Vancouver Canucks signing Brad Isbister; Nashville Predators inking Radek Bonk and Greg DeVries; Tampa Bay Lightning – Michel Ouellet.