Confessions of a Raging Cynic

It's trite and cliche, but, in my case, it happens to be true. The old saying,
"A pessimist is just an optimist who got his feelings hurt," definitely
applies to me when looking at the 2006-2007 Philadelphia Flyers.

I've acquired a reputation as "Negative Bob" amongst my fellow Phanatic
colleagues because of my pull-no-punches and avoid-all-compliment nature when
discussing most aspects of sports and life.

But if technology exists to make Joe Lunardi look taller, sound less grating
and appear less stocky on television than he is in real life, there must be
hope for me.

The phenomenon has happened once before, during the 1995 lockout season.
When the team opened up the year at 3-6-1, after five straight years out of
the playoffs, I was poised to watch games with nothing more than a winter-long
version of bitter-beer face.

Even after the big Recchi-LeClair-Desjardins trade, the rise from last to
first, and the clinching of a playoff spot and division title in back-to-back
games in late April, I was still unconvinced.

All it took then at the ripe young age of 17 to relax and let the Kool-Aid
slide down the gullet was a few thrilling overtime playoff wins and I was
hooked for the next 10 years. However, 12 years later, after weathering a
cancelled campaign, another first-round playoff failure and the worst regular
season in franchise history, it's not so easy to repair that Flying P logo-
shaped wound on my heart.

The thing is, I don't want to act and think so cynically -- it just comes so
easy. It's fun to paint a very vivid, sarcastic picture of events as they
happen, especially this season when the misfortune has been so dire, bizarre
and unrelenting.

But that's all changed now, because I'm going to slap on the Happy Helmet and
drink a pitcher full of orange-flavored positivity and a magical
transformation should take place.

Forget about losing four of four to the Panthers, Todd Fedoruk doing his best
Gerry Cooney imitation, or the league's lowest point total. In honor of the
Flyers' four-game sweep over playoff-bound Atlanta, I'm going to profess my
undying love for the team and express unbridled hope for the future.

So, here goes...

Ahhhh...it feels so good when it hits your lips....

...I see so very clearly now...

Simon Gagne? Every single shift he takes erases the memory of Tim Kerr and
John LeClair.

Martin Biron? The second coming of the first arrival of Ron Hextall!

Peter Forsberg? Nobody could ever accuse him of Hamlet-like tendencies. A
solid, resolute star player through and through. He's not hurting, he's just
resting so he'll be 100 percent ready when he comes back next season.

Derian Hatcher? A speedy transitional skater and stone wall on defense...he's
the guy to teach the young kids how to make it in the new NHL. Why didn't he
use that sniper's touch around the net more often??

Geoff Sanderson? Pelle Eklund ring a bell?

Scottie Upshall? Who cares if he's hurt, the ladies love him! And ladies bring
boyfriends, who bring buddies, who buy season tickets and fill the upper
levels!

Mike Richards and Jeff Carter? Peter Zezel, Murray Craven, and both Sutter
brothers all rolled into two. The focus they display on the ice at all times
is something the kids should emulate.

Janne Niinimaa - how can I forget the Finnish Flash? He's handling both ends
of the ice so adeptly these days, it's hard to believe he ever did well under
the abrasive Ken Hitchcock.

John Stevens? A mastermind. A champion. I can't imagine he's ever going to be
outcoached. He speaks not but golden nuggets of wisdom at all times.

Paul Holmgren - I just wanna shake your hand, sir. As I stare into those cold
Nordic brown eyes and see that squared and tensed jaw, it is soothing to know
the Flyers will get back on the Cup-winning track by splurging in free agency
come July.

The future's so bright, I gotta wear shades. Shades I'll be wearing next June
on that sunny day when the Stanley Cup parade happens. In fact, let me go stake out a spot at Broad and Oregon in preparation. You're all welcome to come along -- I have enough juice to last us the season.

Put Another Record On...

...aaaand the hits just keep on comin'.

Last night's 4-1 loss to Florida meant that the Panthers made it a clean sweep of the season series (4-0-0) over the Flyers for the first time in their brief history. That reverses the Flyers' first-ever season sweep of Florida last season.

The Panthers have given the Flyers fits since their 1993 inception - as head coaches Roger Neilson and Doug McLean brought that demon neutral zone trap down and walked out of the Spectrum and the CoreStates Center with more than a few shocking 0ne-or-more goal wins.

The entire series has been bizarre to say the least. With the two losses this season on South Broad Street, the Flyers are now 12-10-7 here, and even with two defeats in South Florida, are 20-7-1 there. The Flyers on more than one occasion, had suffered losses under a hail of plastic rats at the old Miami Arena in the mid-1990's. They lost a playoff game in overtime when the net was clearly dislodged from the rear when the winning goal was scored.

Florida became the last team to win three games at the Spectrum in one year (one regular season and two playoff wins) in 1995-96, and also were the first visiting team to win twice at the new building (October 5 and 27, 1996). Pavel Bure scored a hat trick in a 3-3 tie in his first game in a Panthers uniform after a trade from Vancouver in Philly.

But nothing could compare to the total whitewash the Panthers put on the Flyers in 2006-2007. The Flyers held the lead for exactly 1:54 of game time in the four contests. Florida held the Flyers to just five goals in those four games, an all time low for goals allowed in a season series, as well as an all time low for goals per game. Ed Belfour had hands down the easiest four wins of his storied career, never even breaking a sweat or whining once to the officials about players buzzing him in the crease. Hell, even Martin Biron heaped on the scorn by accidentally scoring the game-deciding goal on himself earlier in the month.

Alls I can say now is, I'll get you next time, Gadget...next time...

Tightening the Screws

Last night, there were two 2-1 games in the NHL.

Out of two total games. Pittsburgh and the Rangers. Canucks and the Oilers. All four teams who know how to turn on the offense. Three of those teams will make the playoffs, and one (the Oilers) will not.

So why the energy and goal crisis all of a sudden?

Surely in the era of the "new NHL" coaches and players know that a playoff berth is no longer contingent on how many one-goal games they can squeeze out of the remainder of the schedule. Don't they know they have extra points for overtime and shootout losses? Maybe not. Maybe the psychology of the pre-2004 NHL is still hard-wired into the men behind the bench and the boys out on the ice.

Let's not forget what all those excruciatingly close games from 1996 to 2004 have taught us, and what the 2006 season brought us: the knowledge that a loss is a loss is a loss, no matter if it's 2-1, 6-2, or 7-6. If a team in a playoff race loses by one goal, it still counts as a defeat, and the opportunity to make up the loss is removed. Dozens of coaches trotted out that method in the past, perhaps as a hairshirt over losing a three-goal game in late March. The only remedy then seemed to be winning as many one-goal games or tying as many games on purpose as punishment for losing by so much.

The illusion existed, and persisted, that your margin of wins or losses down the stretch was an indicator of how battle-ready certain teams were in the playoffs. Sadly, that perception still exists in 2007. Take a gander at the margin of victory for all playoff teams in the early stages of last season and this season, then compare them with the margin of victory in March and April for the same: you see that the average goals per game dips, and the goal differential in those games also takes a big tumble.

Pardon me, but I thought the ideas behind awarding points for overtime and shootout losses was to reward teams for throwing caution to the wind and going for the win, breaking them of the habit of playing a 65-minute chess match with little excitement. Instead, more and more teams in year two of the combined overtime/shootout loss column, are taking advantage of the system. More games this season than last have gone to either extra session. Sure, there's been the extra bonus of having a 5-4 game go the distance instead of a 2-2 game end in a tie, but the old-school philosophy of tightening up still prevails.

Lucky for us, there have been some days late in the season already where the trend was bucked, like last Saturday when Carolina won by five, Florida scored eight and won by three, and the Rangers defeated Boston by a touchdown and extra point.

Don't expect fireworks most nights, though. There are still six teams in contention for a final postseason
berth - five in the East and Colorado in the West. Even though the East has flipped the script and plays a more
open game like the West used to, there are enough teams who like to play spoiler who will be fighting tooth-and-nail with one-goal wins just for professional pride.

Sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. Unless you're out of contention, then nobody cares how badly you win or lose. These are the games to keep your eye on if you're a fan and want to be entertained - because the pressure's off and guys are playing for pride and numbers.

One Bad Omen

The Flyers pulled off a momentous feat in last night's 3-2 win over the playoff-bound Atlanta Thrashers.

A four-game, season-series sweep. Over a team battling for a division title, and which is 33 points ahead of them in the overall standings.

This does not bode well for Atlanta.

That's four games they've squandered, and all the difference between a comfortable division lead in the Southeast and the battle-royale they find themselves in with a struggling Tampa Bay club which has made up 15 points in the last 6 weeks.

It's not the end of the world, but how can you justify a team that is the oldest in the NHL - which is stocked with names like Holik, Mellanby, Tkachuk, Zhitnik, Hossa and Kovalchuk - loses all four games in some fashion to a Flyers club which will end the season dead last? One example that screams out is the 1984-85 Montreal Canadiens, who won the old Adams Division. They lost all three games to a Toronto Maple Leafs team which won 20 out of 80 regular season contests, then bowed out at home in overtime in Game 7 against provincial rival Quebec in the second round.

One should note that the Canadiens learned their lesson and won the Cup the following season, but Atlanta's deadline deals indicate a "win now" philosophy that belies any lesson-learning this season.

Or maybe the lesson is, don't underestimate your opponent, no matter what the standings say. The Flyers did not play particularly well or hard in each of the first three games against Atlanta, and walked away with three wins. Last night, once the Flyers got that 3-1 lead, Atlanta clearly carried the play and momentum but even down two goals to the 30th ranked club in the NHL, it's hard to claw back to tie or win.

The best salve Bob Hartley can apply in this situation is to get his team to erase the memory of the sweep by focusing on what needs to be done to win games in the remaining portion of the schedule. This is where the Holiks and Mellanbys and even the injured Steve Rucchins on the team have to shine, to keep the younger minds in focus and continually energetic. In the blink of an eye, the Thrashers can fall from third to sixth or lower in the Eastern Conference - and pundits won't hesitate to point out Philly's 4-0 record as the main culprit.

Penguins won't march: Deal reached for new arena

The Pittsburgh Penguins announced on Tuesday that they have reached an agreement with city, county and state officials for the financing of a new arena that will keep the club in the Steel City for the next 30 years.

At a cost of $290 million, the new building will be constructed across the street from Mellon Arena, home to the Pens since the team's 1967 inception. Team officials expect the new arena to be ready for the start of the 2009-2010 season. The club will play at Mellon until then on a short-term lease extension.

"This is another great step forward for the City of Pittsburgh and our region," said mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "We all worked very hard to ensure that the Penguins would stay here in Pittsburgh, and to provide a new 21st century entertainment center for our city without using local taxpayer dollars."

The Penguins' lease at the 46-year-old facility, nicknamed "The Igloo," which is the oldest rink remaining in the league, was to expire on June 30, at which point the team would have been free to leave.

The city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority will own the new arena, which will be operated by the Penguins, under the terms of the 30-year lease. The state will pay $7.5 million annually from a state economic development fund and slot machine revenues.

Don Barden, who owns Majestic Star Casino LLC, has been awarded the slots license for Pittsburgh, and will pay $7.5 million a year. The team itself will pay $3.8 million a year as well as $400,000 a year in capital improvements. The Penguins, who will be responsible for paying all operating costs, will also receive all revenue generated by the new arena.

Mediated by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the agreement was reportedly reached last Thursday in Philadelphia between club co-owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle, PA governor Ed Rendell, Ravenstahl, and Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato.

Before the deal was struck, Lemieux threatened to relocate the team and trips to Las Vegas and Kansas City ensued. Kansas City offered the use of its yet-to-be completed Sprint Center rent-free if the Penguins decided to relocate there prior to the start of next season.

Simon’s stickwork provides rare opportunity for all involved

For once, the NHL got something right.

The punishment handed down by the league office to the New York Islanders’ Chris Simon on Sunday is the largest sentence in league history: 25 games. That means, beginning from this past Saturday’s game with Washington, the Isles enforcer is not eligible to play again until 25 total games have elapsed – regular season and playoffs combined. If New York should reach the postseason, the number of games would be reduced at the start of the 2007-2008 regular season.

Simon should hope his teammates rally and capture a playoff berth so that only this current year is disrupted.

Unlike Marty McSorley, whose 23-game suspension in February, 2000 for assaulting Vancouver’s Donald Brashear with a two-handed swing amounted to a premature end to the last-ditch effort of a veteran to earn a paycheck, removing Simon for 25 games brings a colorful and useful player’s career to a screeching halt.

The fact that the penalty was so stiff is surprising, given that the NHL has set a low bar in terms of precedent for stick-swinging infractions.

In 1973, when all but a handful of NHL players skated without head gear, California Seals defenseman Barry Cummins was suspended three games and fined $300 for cracking Bobby Clarke over the head which produced freely-flowing blood. All Dino Ciccarelli of the Minnesota North Stars had to do was spend one night in jail, booked on an assault charge, when he clubbed Toronto’s Luke Richardson on the side of the head with a two-handed chop in 1988. Ten years earlier, in 1978, Colorado’s Wilf Paiement drew a 15-game ban for giving a roundhouse swing to the mug of Detroit’s Dennis Polonich. The biggest of the bunch was a 16-game suspension handed down to Boston’s Eddie Shore in 1933, for slamming his stick full into the head of Toronto’s Ace Bailey and nearly killing him.

However, while I commend the swift action of league discipline czar Colin Campbell for acting quickly and first suspending Simon indefinitely, then handing down the weighty sentence, I still think there is room enough for more punishment in this case.

The 25^th pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1990 draft made his NHL debut for Quebec in 1992, and has crafted a reputation during an eventful 14-year career for causing chaos and mayhem for the Nordiques and five other franchises including the Islanders. His first suspension came in 1997, when he allegedly called Sabres forward Mike Grier a very forbidden six-letter word to his face. The incident was all the more perplexing given that Simon is a Native Canadian, and had to endure similar racial intolerance and epithets growing up.

Two more suspensions followed before this one, which did little to quell the raging spirit within the Wawa, Ontario native. He has amassed over 1700 penalty minutes in 692 career games. No stranger to the net as well as the penalty box, Simon also scored 29 goals in 1999-2000 for the Washington Capitals in a typically calm year.

So, I feel comfortable in saying that Simon should be subjected to more than 25 games for this jarring, heinous, and disturbing offense. Being a fighter by trade, one respected by teammates and opponents, Simon knows the ins and outs of those mysterious, unwritten hockey rules referred to as “The Code.”

Let’s be honest here. Hollweg’s hit was far from legal, as he caught Simon on a cross-check with his back fully turned to the boards, in that perilous position which can cause significant head and neck injuries if a skater is knocked off-balance. Hollweg knows that a player of his caliber is not to make snap decisions like that and get by without a response from a respected veteran. Likewise, Simon knows full well that he cannot make such a rash, impulsive and dangerous decision like the one that led to Hollweg’s injury and maintain the level of respect he worked so long to cultivate.

Through a decade and a half of prowling the ice, he is well aware that the proper response should be to wait until Hollweg is looking him squarely in the eyes before settling his differences by dropping the gloves. That’s why Simon’s retroactive excuse that he possibly suffered a concussion on the hit and thus may not have had his faculties about him at the time of the misdeed rings very hollow. Several former NHL tough guys have admitted to going toe-to-toe with an opponent after that player caused them to see stars and lived to fight again, so why should Chris Simon be any different?

That’s why the penalty can be and should be stiffer. Simon, a player who supposedly knows better, who knows exactly how to cause damage and how to relent when necessary, did cause harm to a fellow player in such a vicious and disrespectful manner.

There is widespread agreement that the NHL dropped the ball on the Todd Bertuzzi incident three years ago, exchanging 20 games plus a cancelled season for one player’s career and health. This time around, while it is comforting that Campbell has decided to set a new precedent, there is room for a greater stand.

Just look at the tape. There is nothing in Simon’s actions that should cause anyone to plead for clemency, and there is plenty to view which may cause the most even-tempered minds to be moved to pure shock, disgust and rage. Thank God whatever impulses prevented him from taking a full-on baseball-style swing with a full wind-up from stopped him from doing so, because if there was any pre-meditated thought like Bertuzzi’s head-slam on Simon’s part, Hollweg would have wound up as gravely injured as Steve Moore.

Barry Melrose has spoken at length on the incident beginning last Thursday night, when he emphatically called for a 40-game suspension. A virtual half-season ban even suggested in the heat of the moment is too excessive in my opinion. I think starting at 25 games, then re-evaluating the situation after that limit has elapsed, is a suitable comfort zone. That way, Simon has had plenty of time to apologize to Hollweg, to his team, to make his mea culpa to the league, and to assess where that violent impulse may have originated.

Simon’s shame and Hollweg’s suffering can also work for the greater good. The NHL should now take a huge step forward by framing stick infractions in the same manner they did for abuse of officials two decades ago. At one time, Paul Holmgren punched referee Andy Van Hellemond square in the face in a dispute over a penalty and received five games; outrage from NHL officials was so great that all further infractions towards the zebras carried an immediate 20-game sentence.

Let’s abolish the current system of minor for high-sticking, four minutes for drawing blood and a major plus a match penalty for egregious harm. Make the act of merely drawing blood due to careless stick work a major plus a match penalty and a one-game suspension, intent-to-injure a match penalty plus a five-game suspension, and turn a Simonesque wielding of the stick into a 25-gamer or more.

I need to make one more thing clear before I wrap this up, and I address this to the common fan as well as students of the game: the Simon-Hollweg incident is absolutely NOT an indicator that the NHL is evolving (or devolving) into a much more wanton, brutal, lawless entity. The league has persevered and prospered despite being peppered every so often by random, inexplicable acts which far outstrip the kinetic nature of the game – and will continue to evolve though incidents and accidents will continue to occur.

Nonetheless, when a stern hand is called for, the NHL should have no qualms about stepping in and bringing the hammer down. Chris Simon may feel that he’s been unfairly made an example of at some point during his suspension. But he should also counter that by knowing he brought shame and outrage upon a game which he is fortunate to have played in the first place, and was punished for the betterment of all.

Deja Vu

Can't we all just get along?

The Song Remains The Same

Three years later, there are two simple facts: Todd Bertuzzi still gets to play in the NHL, and Steve Moore cannot.

March 8, 2004 was the end of a blood feud between the Vancouver Canucks and Colorado Avalanche which had been simmering for months. Started when Canucks fourth-liner Brad May took some cheap shots at both Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg of the Avalanche in a February game in Denver, the whole ugly mess ended when Bertuzzi punched Moore from behind, then grabbed him and slammed him head-first into the ice. Moore was carted off the ice on a stretcher, a trail of blood quickly coagulating and freezing into the neutral zone at GM Place as his teammates rushed forth to defend their incapacitated teammate.

In between were festering allegations of headhunting, and the justification for Bertuzzi's actions being revenge for Moore's hit on Markus Naslund, which caused the Canucks' captain to suffer a mild concussion. At the time of the incident, the Avalanche had poured on the hurtin' on the scoreboard, on their way to a 9-2 blitz.

The timing of the hit was curious, in hindsight: It was the final meeting of six that season. In Vancouver. The clubs would not have a chance to meet in the playoffs until a much later round if at all. With the impending threat of a lockout, it could also have been the last meeting of the teams for an indefinite period of time.

The action itself, viewed through any prism you like, was one of the most egregious and atrocious violations of" The Code" that has occurred in NHL history.

First, the tale of the tape: Bertuzzi is shaped more like a block of granite than a man, 6'3", 225 lbs, who looms much larger and hits much harder than those dimensions would indicate. Moore stood 6'2 and weighed 205 lbs. So, the physical advantage goes to #44 in your program.

Next, the process: According to the unwritten Code, if any player wishes to engage a fellow skater in a fight, he must either exchange words face-to-face, or tap his mark on the shoulder. Bertuzzi did neither, first sucker punching Moore from behind, then grabbing him across the shoulders - all without facing his prey. Anyone with a long enough memory who saw the Moore incident also flashed back to February, 2000, when Marty McSorley (then with the Bruins) smacked the blade of his stick full force into Donald Brashear's face from behind on the very same ice - using the excuse that all he wanted to do was tap Brashear on the shoulder as indication he wanted to engage in fisticuffs.

Finally, the injury itself: As Bertuzzi rode the full force and momentum of his body into Moore, the Avs' forward's face struck the ice violently to one side, opening up facial cuts and abrasions from which a steady flow of blood poured forth. The force of the blow knocked Moore unconscious, and the violence with which he was tackled and shoved caused three of his neck vertebrae to fracture, coming dangerously close to paralysis. Moore was only brought into the world of sentience when it was required to stabilize his neck in order to leave the ice and get to the nearest hospital.

The penalty for such a willful, destructive act? 20 games. Bertuzzi was suspended for the remainder of the 2003-2004 regular season, plus the entirety of the Canucks' seven-game opening-round playoff loss to Calgary. The cancelled 2004-2005 season due to the lockout added more pathos to Bertuzzi's situation, as he held a press conference where he finally, tearfully expressed regret for the incident - causing some brave, oxygen-deprived columnists to declare the fact that "Bert" would be cleansed from extra guilt if he had that entire year to sit in the corner alone and think about what he did.

Still, when the NHL resumed play in October, 2005, two facts still remained: Todd Bertuzzi was allowed to continue his career, while Steve Moore was not.

I assure you, Bertuzzi's Kleenex-inducing mea culpa are the only tears that should be shed for either man. For those who view Bertuzzi's act in its proper context, there should be bitterness and righteous anger. Dale Hunter drew a still-record 21-game ban in 1993 for hitting Pierre Turgeon from behind in the closing minutes of the Islanders' playoff series victory over the Washington Capitals. Turgeon suffered a separated shoulder and returned to play at full health the following season for New York. Whether Bertuzzi is truly sorry in the depths of his soul and professes such in private, or whether the tears were semi-genuine and a calculated move is immaterial.

Moore, who only had cups of tea with the Avalanche spread over three seasons, played collegiately at Harvard. With his generous contract, he is able to pour money into his extensive rehabilitation at home in Ontario. With his support system that includes former players, coaches, and his agent, he is able to face every day of his recovery with optimism and determination.

Moreover, he is a graduate of that prestigious Ivy League school with a degree in environmental sciences and public policy. While some may snicker at the major as if it were a dressed-up version of "Rocks for Jocks, " if and when Moore decides to forego his goal of catching on with an NHL club, he will most certainly not be at a disadvantage to continue with a career and a life with those credentials.

The fan in me, which resides firmly in the dark recesses of my mind when putting words on a page, cries for retribution. I am not alone in the opinion, or the certainty that Bertuzzi has not been punished enough. At the time when discussion of the penalty for his actions ran to extremes, I called for his immediate suspension lasting through the end of that season, plus half of whatever season came next. I still stand by that opinion, as it would have given Gary Bettman a proper and fantastic chance to set a new precedent for punishing acts which cause harm to individuals and which denigrate the game itself.

As an avid observer, I would have delighted in an entire six-game slate of blood, guts and gore between Colorado and Vancouver aimed straight for the former 1993 draft pick of the New York Islanders. Scores be damned, the beast within me that watches hockey for its cathartic qualities would have been sated by at least one more brawl in response.

However, the writer and budding professional who attempts to shed light on his subject thanks Chance that the 2004-2005 season was wiped out, preventing either team, and its more excitable players, from wantonly causing chaos and mayhem. The extra year-plus off the ice allowed all the psychic wounds to heal, quelled the need for retribution, and caused those whose careers resumed to focus on bringing the NHL back from the rubble.

Nonetheless, three years later it is still perplexing that the league chooses to equate violence of this kind with the act of fighting. Fighting deals with respect of an opponent, and the honor of defending your teammate by dropping the gloves in a one-on-one situation. The inability of the battle-tested to grapple amongst themselves due to instigator penalties helped cause a random act of violence like Bertuzzi's to happen. There was clearly no respect for an opponent on Bertuzzi's part, and his actions caused life-threatening physical harm to another.

Three years later the song remains the same: Todd Bertuzzi can continue his career, while Steve Moore most likely will not.

Sugar and Spice, and Everything Nice...

Apparently, one overtime win over the Devils is sudden cause for both major newspapers in this city to pack stories chock full of quotes from the Flyers about how much hope there is for the future, and how much they all wish there were half the season to play instead of a handful of games remaining.

Look, it's great that this rag-tag bunch of Phantoms call-ups, deadline acquisitions, and veterans can squeeze out a couple nail-biters against potential playoff teams as this season circles the drain into the start of baseball...but let's remember that this team is still a deeply troubled, losing one. OK, so the string of points (in four straight games and five of their last six) is promising, but the actual record in that stretch (2-1-3) is nothing to write home about, plus, they're just 3-4-3 (or 3-7 if you're a hard case) in the last 10 contests.

Last time I checked, the NHL doesn't yet award points for spirited efforts where a losing team is "in the game" over the course of 60 minutes. It is a positive harbinger for the future that this wretched refuse wearing ashen black unis can earn a pair of points against a division leader, but the future is still 16 games (plus six more months after that) distant.

If you indulge in a bit of prediction for the remainder of the schedule, it looks like the Flyers may have five games they could win outright: Boston at home this weekend, at Phoenix, home against the Islanders, home against the Rangers, then home again to the Islanders provided they're officially out of the race. That's only 23 wins folks - nothing to hang your hat on even if those games turn out correctly. The rest of their opponents are teams either eager to shore up their playoff seeding, or will be skating through brick walls to make the postseason.

Still, as the cornerstone of the franchise and its marketing slogan has always been about effort and hard work - they can sell you a picture that hard work plus a little maturity is the ultimate cure-all for the club. Of course, it's not so. You need the right head coach and the better pick of players to make it all come together, and in this, the Flyers are sorely lacking from now until April 8th, and maybe even until July 1st.

For now, though, enjoy the suck. It's almost over. Take solace in a few more watchable games. Burn into your memories some good plays by some guys who won't be back in '08. Just don't believe the hype.

11:58

The Pittsburgh Penguins have not been able to reach a deal for a new arena anywhere in the city, so relocation looms as a more likely proposition.

Again, don't expect the NHL to mediate in this matter. Remember, the league's position is one for the overall health of all 30 teams, so whether the Pens stay in Pittsburgh, go to the ready-made situation in Kansas City, or end up in a totally different locale is of no consequence as long as the franchise itself is on stable footing.

The only true variable in the situation is how Mario Lemieux will be perceived. Will he be viewed in the same light as William Irsay, Art Modell, Donald Stirling, Jeffrey Loria - all renegade owners who tried to either strongarm a city to force a move, or unexpectedly yank one to a new city - or will he get a pass from a business perspective as a former franchise savior who was forced into drastic measures?

Update: According to the king of all incognito hockey bloggers, "Eklund" reports that the measure might have been prompted by Governor Ed Rendell himself as a way to spur a deal to get done and keep the Pens in Pittsburgh. Now Fast Eddie is going to petition the NHL to step in and block the move.

1) Since when does reverse psychology work with men who have more money than the person trying to use said psychology?

2) Good luck on that one, Monsieur Governor. Maybe you think you can sit eyeball-to-eyeball with The Commish and persuade him because of your mutual legal and cultural backgrounds, but if Bettman has presided over this issue like a passive king on his throne, there's not much you can do.

3) I know we fans and readers can spot when a beat writer is a shill for the team he covers, but since when can a mere blogger write something like "Penguins likely to stay in Pittsburgh" with any degree of certainty, even with his supposed network of sources?

A Lonely Island

The trade deadline acquisition of Martin Biron from the Buffalo Sabres last Tuesday might have signaled the end of the tenure for one of the most competitive but congenial players ever to set foot in the Flyers’ locker room.

Robert Esche isn’t playing.

He hasn’t started a game since February 22nd in Buffalo, when he was pulled after giving up four goals in 22 minutes during a 6-3 loss. He hasn’t completed a game since a 4-3 overtime loss at the Wachovia Center January 30th against Tampa Bay. He hasn’t won a game since January 2nd, picking up the victory by stopping 40 shots in a 3-2 Philly win over the Islanders in New York. His record at the moment: 5-9-2. Even more glaring, his alternate stats: .872 save percentage, and a garish 4.32 goals-against average.

But Robert Esche hasn’t left either.

Although sources have told several Philadelphia-area publications that he was the subject of trade talks at the start of the calendar year, and that by the end of January his locker at the Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees was conspicuously less cluttered, Esche remains a part of the team.

As the deadline neared, there was talk in some quarters that Esche could be headed to Los Angeles, a team stocked with a glut of young and speedy talent. It didn’t hurt that the Kings’ president and general manager is Dean Lombardi, a former Flyers employee, and the assistant general manager is Ron Hextall. Adding more speculation to those rumors was LA’s waiver acquisition of Sean Burke, arriving in Southern California from Springfield of the AHL in late January. Burke mentored Esche when the young goaltender came up to the Phoenix Coyotes in 1999-2000, and that relationship continued off the ice and had grown since then. Esche has many times cited Burke’s addition to the Flyers roster in 2004 as a huge motivating factor in his success that Spring.

However, keeping Esche in hockey’s equivalent of the Phantom Zone after not dealing him for any value before the deadline passed complicates the Flyers goaltending situation.

Biron, an unrestricted free-agent after this season, wanted out of Buffalo in the worst way after Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff decided to give the starting job to Ryan Miller. Judging from interviews he conducted with American and Canadian press in the days leading up to last Tuesday, it seemed the 29-year-old didn’t care where he was dealt, as long as he got a chance to prove himself worthy. Now that he’s with the Flyers but still able to walk away to another team come summertime (as when Ed Belfour auditioned for other clubs at the tail end of the 1996-97 season in San Jose after Chicago dealt him away) for a bigger, better deal, the fact that Esche will also be unrestricted may create a deep crater around the crease in need of immediate filling.

Given that neither of the current Phantoms goaltenders are ready for prime time, and that the organization’s recent free-agent selections have read like a list of shell-shocked veterans on a final tour of duty, it would have clearly been more beneficial to the team to trade Esche for a jersey filler or more draft picks/prospects. Therefore, the man dubbed “Chico” would have been given a chance to start fresh somewhere else without having to spend so much time in limbo, and that acquired value could be used to attract another goaltender. Also, any deal along those lines would have been beneficial to Antero Niittymaki, giving him positive reinforcement that he has a long future with the club.

However, the fact that no deal occured opens things up to a great deal of uncertainty. If Biron chooses to stay, and is able to work out a deal, he’s a clear number one with Niittymaki as the capable back-up. Esche would then have a definite answer that his future is not in Philadelphia, and everyone gets on with their lives. On the other hand, if Biron chooses to walk, it is unclear if the Flyers could work fast enough to sign Esche before he draws better, more lucrative interest from other clubs.

For now, though, it’s hard to imagine the country music loving firebrand being anything close to pleased with his professional life. Despite a marriage and stable home with two kids, in the space of three calendar years he has slipped precipitously from postseason hero to pariah. Hopefully he’s putting extra effort into that great golf tournament he hosts each July just outside of his hometown of Utica, New York in his spare time when he’s not, of course, keeping himself sharp for a potential showcase start towards the end of the regular season.

Hall-of-Famer and Philadelphia legend Bernie Parent famously stated that a goalie stands on a very lonely island. As tough as it may be to stand and face 40 shots a game and the camera lights afterward, it’s worse for someone as battle-ready as Esche to be denied the chance to do so, and suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune while waiting.

Kansas City, here they come.

The biggest fears of Pittsburgh Penguins fans hover above the Steel City like a cloak of ash and soot from its former industrial days. Loyal followers of the two-time Stanley Cup winning franchise live in dire expectation that their beloved angry skating marine mammal will turn his gaze and his stride to the Midwest, not stopping until he reaches KC.

All that separates this town from their team from disappearing is the hopes of a business deal that will keep the Pens in Pittsburgh beyond the termination of their lease with Mellon Arena, which expires at the end of June.

However, I'll tell you several reasons why a Penguins move before the start of next season would benefit the NHL more than it would upset the people of Western Pennsylvania.

First, is the glut of young superstar talent stacked in the Eastern Conference. You have Crosby and Malkin just on the Penguins, followed by Alex Ovechkin. In the West, it's a series of stars on a couple teams, but no major franchise faces the NHL is presenting as a major draw. So, if you shift the Penguins to Kansas City, there's a bit more balance in terms of marketable uber-talent.

Second, under the current schedule which is up at the end of next season, there is too little inter-conference play. Having Crosby and Malkin in the Western Conference and the K.C. Penguins in the Central Division gives Detroit and Nashville eight cracks apiece at both players to showcase their talents, plus four games a year with aggressive offensive gameplans like those in Calgary, Colorado, San Jose and Los Angeles.

Third, if and when the Penguins move to the Midwest, the realignment of the divisions would put certain teams in better geographic positions. Pittsburgh would go from the Atlantic to the Central (with Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, and Columbus, all midwestern towns). Nashville would move from the Central to the Southeast (providing a better geographic fit with the remaining Southern teams even though they'd be in a different time zone), and Washington heads northward to the Atlantic (where they'd also be in closer proximity to their old Patrick Division foes instead of travelling anywhere from 300 to 1200 miles within their former division).

Next, unlike 30 years ago when the NHL's reactionary stance against the WHA forced some bad expansion cities into the league, the Kansas City area is exponentially more vibrant and ready to host a big-league club.
Kansas City's metro area and sphere of influence stretches as far West as Manhattan, Kansas, as far north as Omaha, and as far south and southwest as Wichita and the Kansas suburbs close to the state line. After the Scouts departed for Denver, the IHL's Blades proved a capable and popular franchise for several NHL teams, most notably the San Jose Sharks. A good amount of players who figured in the Sharks' playoff upsets in 1994 and 1995 came through the old Kemper Arena before heading to Silicon Valley.

Further still, that relocation gives a nice string of franchises along the I-70 corridor from Columbus to Denver, including a Kansas City-St. Louis rivalry already explored in baseball's interleague play.

In addition (for however long it lasts), free rent in the spanking-new Sprint Center allows any advertising and merchandising revenue to be pumped cleanly and wholly back into the team to spend on veteran talent if the time comes where the Pens are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders on solid financial footing. This sure thing is bound to be more beneficial than having fans, team ownership, the mayor's office, local businessmen as well as Pennsylvania's governor strut and fret in hours when the moon is dark over whether or not the team can squeeze out one or two more years in its current state.

If the move should happen, I hope all Penguins fans don't misplace their fear, mistrust and anger. It's not as if the club will pack up and move in the middle of the night with no warning. There has been ample time for all team supporters to enjoy one or more games at the Igloo, and should the team resurface in Missouri for October 2007, the faithful should still want to root for their team, knowing that the move kept their beloveds from a much murkier fate.

(Hockey) Life is a Carnival

Yesterday, the Flyers celebrated 30 years of their Fight for Lives Carnival, with the usual multi-media barrage on television and radio that brought the sights and sounds of the annual event to fans at home or otherwise busied.

The anniversary apparently brought together the largest gathering of current and former players than any previous year's event - and since the club recently celebrated a flashback night to the 1980's, I think I'll do the same.

My first Carnival experience came in February, 1985. It was shortly after my first game experience, an 8-2 Flyers thrashing of the Penguins in a President's Day matinee at the Spectrum. Being so young (7 years old, first-grader) I barely had any concept of Flyers history beyond what occurred since the previous October, but when my dad came home from the office one day and told me he had tickets, I was pretty psyched to go somewhere special on a weeknight.

I remember how cavernous the Spectrum looked without 17,222 fans jamming every seat, and the floor where the ice surface was being so huge withouth the boards. The rafters looked a million miles away from ice-level, compared to the fact that you could pick out the spots on a pigeon hanging from the rafters in our seats (Section 54) during a game. The concourses were packed with people - fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, young girls and their friends - all trying to get a glimpse of their favorite players in the smaller booths. On the arena floor, things moved much more smoothly because of the space, and no matter where you stood - the dunk tank, the wheels of chance, the goal area, or in the middle where a stack of boxes 10-feet high were positioned - there was enough room and time to breathe in the atmosphere.

That is, until a large, booming voice from above cut through all the joyful buzz.

That stack of boxes, ten-feet high? Someone had to go up the ladder and pick one at random for the endless wave of youngsters eager to gain some new Flyers merchandise. That someone, I later found out, was Joe Watson, former defenseman and original Flyer. At the time, he was a stocky but spry middle-aged man, but that voice was like a rolling peal of thunder to a small fry like myself. When each kid came up to get one of those mystery boxes, someone on the floor yelled up to Joe on the ladder, and he'd grab one, come down, and fire off a bellowing but jovial "Here you go, son/little cutie. Enjoy it." It was almost like an order than a gesture of thanks, because he'd be going up and down those steps hundreds of times over the course of the night.

The two main attractions, and the things I wanted to do the most, were the dunk tank and shooting on a Flyers goaltender. Apparently, so did everyone else. But, since the line to the dunk tank was moving a lot quicker than the shooting gallery, it was an easy choice. I think the wait was about 20 minutes, during which time the players changed up twice. By the time it was my turn, Lindsay Carson (in the middle of a career-best 20 goal season) was the man on the hot (cold?) seat. For three throws, you had to shell out three bucks, and hit the round target 20 feet away for the player to sink into the drink. I knew how to throw a ball as I was a fielding pitcher in a T-ball league the year before, but how fast can a grade-schooler throw really? So, the first chance sailed wide of the target. The second try hit just above, and the third one just below as my arm turned to a wet noodle.

I never even tried to get in line for the shot on a goaltender after my turn at the tank - and besides, by the time I was done there, Bob Froese the back-up goaltender was on the spot. Even though the team was in second place and Bob had played well, nobody was chanting his name night-in and night-out from the upper levels. For me, it was Pelle or nothing - and that would be a sad epitaph for thousands of fans soon enough though nobody would know it then.

So, it was back to the concourse to try and get a handshake, a picture, or a signature from the better known and more popular players on the team. This was the truly magic portion of the night, the thing I'd been waiting for - the chance for a one-on-one with the guys I watched and cheered for on Channel 6 and 29 and the radio network through Gene Hart's wonderful wordplay. I recall Brad Marsh's face light up each and every time a new person came up and exchanged a few words, and how he'd pause to coo over babies wrapped head-to-toe in Flyers garb. Dave Poulin, the captain, greeting all comers and measuring each sentence with a smile and chuckle. Brad McCrimmon, flashing that gap-toothed devilish grin. Peter Zezel, Rick Tocchet and Murray Craven all looking overjoyed and overwhelmed simultaneously at their sudden popularity (particularly amongst the teenage girls).

The coup-de-grace came on our last run of the night down on the floor through the spinning wheels and other games of chance. I don't remember how it happened - whether he just spotted some cute kid or if my parents had just requested that someone free take some time out to meet me - but the chance was there for a picture. Derrick Smith, another one of the fresh young faces on the team in 1984-85, agreed to a snapshot before heading off to his duties for the rest of the night. Thinking it was going to be another pose picture like the ones in the photo booths, I was totally surprised when Number 24 picked me up so we were eye-to-eye for the shot.

The result is priceless: me, with my arm draped around his shoulders all wide-eyed innocence, him with a goofy, bewildered 19-year-old half-smile. Who knows if anybody else did the same thing then, or in other years? The bond I had with the team and the sport was cemented. Years later, after another family move, I dug out the picture and have kept it for myself as a reminder. Maybe one day, after a few beers on the golf course, I'll have enough courage to ask him for another photo opportunity to bring things full-circle.

Which brings me to the media coverage of the event in 2007: On both Comcast Sportsnet and 610 WIP, the Carnival appeared nothing more than a chance for all the corporate sponsors to get face/airtime, for the broadcasters to try and pump the players for information about their trade-deadline worries, and for the radio and TV talent to look like they were involved when all they had to do was stand in front of a camera and tell everyone at home what they were missing.

Once upon a time, not too long ago, television coverage of the Carnival showcased the players more, showcased how excited the parents and the kids were to meet their heroes, and went around to every station for personal interviews with Flyers front office, staff, and former players. You got a real sense of the civic responsibility for helping out Hahnemann University Hospital, and an even truer sense of how much fun everyone had to pause from the season and give back to the fans and community. Instead, things began to turn about three years ago, and this year, as the Flyers are nearing the end of their worst season in franchise history, media coverage was so shot through with corporate shills, merchandising, and pleas about the team's bright future that even a dead man could see through the ruse.

Standing Still is Another Option

The first volley of the NHL's impending trade deadline was fired this morning, as Keith Tkachuk was dealt from the Blues to the Thrashers for Glen Metropolit and a whole mess of potentiality.

Atlanta, recently faltering in the Southeast Division, acquired yet another veteran war-horse with scoring pop to season its already spirited lineup while giving away nothing in return to a Blues team now officially conceding the season.

Does it really have to be this way? Does every team which deems itself a non-buyer at the trade deadline for any number of reasons, have to sell off its top talent in vague hopes to get draft picks to build a "future?" Of course not.

But, since NHL general managers are positively obsessed with getting "value" in every deal they make, the cycle is perpetuated. Even the Flyers, who are at the bottom of the league standings, felt pressured to be a "seller" even though they have been out of the playoff race since Christmas because the chance of "losing" Peter Forsberg (an unrestricted free agent in summer) without compensation is judged to be far too damaging to the success of future seasons without something in return.

Never mind the actual humans (Scottie Upshall and Ryan Parent), but isn't it bizarre that so many GM's are so willing to throw out warm bodies for the greatest of the Great Unknowns, the draft pick?

Sure, you can never have too many draft picks, and surely never too many picks high in either the first or second rounds, but at least half of these potentialities are dealt in turn - either for more picks, higher picks, or a throw-in forward or minor leaguer - without a real person at least donning a team jersey and posing for a picture on draft day.

Even under the new cap rules following the cancelled season, and despite the fact that a ton of these first-generation contracts with big names attached are about to end, the NHL is very much a "Future is Now" league. Although 16 teams ultimately make the postseason, no fewer than 22 teams have a shot to make the dance at this time of year. After 22 years of watching the NHL, I can't for the life of me understand why heads of these organizations are still willing to deal so willingly in the unknown - but a key to the answer does lay in a pastime of younger years.

Think of GM phone conversations at or near the deadline as trading baseball cards (we all did that in our youth, right?). If you solely judged a player based on stats on the back and the picture on the front, it's easier to fleece your trading partner based on a flimsy piece of cardboard plus your own skewed opinion. You haven't seen the player(s) or talked to him/them in person, so there's no concrete evidence to back up the claim. Still, if you're dangling three cards and professing your desire of just one (or the other way around) that the other person is holding, it's hard for the other person to pass it up, and it's hard for you to resist a snicker of satisfaction as you make the deal.

However, things really get murky when you deal with bodies, because the video evidence is splashed all over the satellite, every night from October to April. That's why, even now, there are precious few two-for-two or higher multiple deals any more. If you have a zombie in skates on your hands costing your team goals every night, you have to find another willing sucker to unload him. On the other hand, if you have a draft pick or even a prospect attached to a pick who has yet to set foot on an NHL rink, you can more easily manipulate someone's opinion by using their hope for the future as a bargaining chip.

So, to the point.

Why are teams so consistently divided into buyers or sellers, with nothing in between? Why can't doing nothing be a wise or viable option? Since there will be so much player movement due to the brevity of contracts under a moving cap in the new era, wouldn't a team that stands pat (out of playoffs or not at this point) stand as good a chance, or even better, to improve next season? Sure, sometimes low risk yields low reward, but what if the two players you traded at the deadline the previous season because the team was out of contention could have helped you this season?

Case in point: the New York Islanders. About to miss the playoffs for the ninth time in 11 seasons, the club dealt second-line scorer Mark Parrish and able defenseman Brent Sopel to the Kings for prospects Jeff Tambellini and Denis Grebeshkov at the deadline last year. Under that regime, the Isles were on a course to move towards a near-total youth movement, so the trade made sense. However, with the offseason shenanigans that stained New York this past summer, more veteran free agents were acquired, and the Islanders are playing well enough to sit on the cusp of the postseason in 2007.

You can't tell me that Parrish and Sopel couldn't have remained vital on a rebuilding team. You also can't say that Parrish and Sopel wouldn't be key positive veteran factors to push the club off the bubble this year. Instead, the remainder of this season will play out like Survivor: Eastern Conference, and the Islanders will have to scratch, claw, and fight to win an immunity challenge.

Case in point #2: The 1997 Stanley Cup Finals (Philadelphia and Detroit). In 1996, the Flyers made a flurry of at-or-near deadline deals to bolster their roster, bringing in Dan Quinn, Kerry Huffman, John Druce and Dale Hawerchuk, then bowed out in six games to Florida in the second round. The next season, they made no deals and with a solid, cohesive roster, reached the Finals. Detroit ripped the guts out of their roster early on, and the club meshed with that stability. The acquisition of Larry Murphy from Toronto for virtually nothing was the sole move for the eventual Cup winner.

Case in point #3: Every Western Conference club that didn't win the Cup from 1996 through 2002. Look back at Colorado, Detroit and Dallas, and you'll see the years they were the least active at gutting their minor-league system and wasting draft picks for veteran talent were the years they won their Cups.

With 48 hours to go before the 3 PM Tuesday deadline, you can be certain of more than a dozen smaller deals borne out of the frustration each general manager has with their counterparts who try to pry a blue chip prospect or a bona-fide scorer from each other's hands. One guarantee, though, is that any team which chooses to stay where they are and not deal in futures, will have the honor of being skewered thoroughly in the papers and on television for their indecision or lack of initiative.

Too bad nobody will see the wisdom when one or more of these clubs makes a deep playoff run.

I Don't Mean to Start a Fight...

But... how is the suggested easing of the instigator suspension rule going to truly prevent the game's stars from harm if their guards are still suspended in some way by protecting them?

The 30 Dark Lords of the NHL debated this issue down in Florida this week among several others, and a consensus was reached that a two-game suspension should only come after a player has accumulated five, not the original three, instigator penalties.

Just from the logic of the above rule amendment, the league is STILL not fully protecting their superstars. A suspension is a suspension however you slice it, and if a given team has only one designated "enforcer" on their roster, he basically has only five chances outside the rules to protect his teammate before losing two games to do so effectively. The ramifications are worse if a second-line goal scorer with a mean-streak takes matters into his own hands and sacrifices a pair of games since he's the only man for the job. Chances are there will be a point (maybe several if this player is brutally effective) during the season where your 50-goal player is left unprotected while flitting across the ice - during which opposing bruisers will lick their chops and size up their prey for The Big Hit.

The bridge to cross on the issue is far off, to be sure, but the resulting questions are relevant: Can the coach trust the role to a less-engaging skater? Can he trust the role to an excessively-exuberant AHL player looking to take a permanent roster spot? Does he do nothing and hope the honor system works?

I believe all forms of instigator penalty, save for a situation when one player clearly attacks another and engages in a fight without provocation or consent (such as when a 6'4, 230-pound Saskatchewan-bred fourth-liner decides to pummel a 5'10, 180-pound Swede or Finn just because he's there) should be abolished. Even if a player who is grabbed and pulled into a fight eventually sticks up for himself, no extra penalty should be called on the aggressor because his own defense constitutes consent to engage. Same should go for a fighter who engages another player due to a hit the latter put on the former's more skilled teammate - the fact that both men clinch and throw punches means consent to the action under The Code - and besides, the latter player knows a challenge is coming due to his recognition of The Code as well.

However, it's pretty clear that an old-school fan and student of the game like myself won't see those plans come to fruition, but short of that, let's get rid of the suspension for multiple instigators altogether. You want to send a message that a player can't get out of control? Give out a ten-minute misconduct for every two instigators a player receives in one game. A player accumulates five? An automatic game-misconduct. There's a lot of breathing room between no infraction at all and a multi-game suspension.

At worst, if a player receives a two-game suspension for headhunting say, Sid Crosby, how will it affect that player's role if all he's thinking about for three or more days is getting revenge? Even in this day and age of the supposedly more genteel NHL, a suspended player isn't going to sit in a darkened corner and think about what he did - he's going to spend his time plotting revenge beyond the referee's gaze - and that can only lead to more trouble down the road.

Lingering Effects

Although not unexpected, it is still jarring, the Thursday night trade which shipped team-captain-cum-franchise-savior Peter Forsberg to the Nashville Predators for two fresh bodies and a pair of hypotheticals.

However you slice it, the Flyers gave up the biggest reason to keep watching the team this season for four smaller reasons to keep interest in future years. They also gave up the player who made it easier for the rest of the team, injured or not, to go out and win games. Clearly, the Flyers skated like drunken zombies through two periods Thursday against Toronto because of the trade announcement and it showed. Clearly, they had to do everything they could to reverse that performance on Saturday, and they did by winning in New York.

However, the true effects of losing Forsberg for the remainder of the schedule are to be seen, and can only be one of two things: total disillusion that despite all best efforts and hard work, it won't be enough to win more than a handful of games; a closing of the ranks and all-f0r-one attitude in the face of continuing adversity which may thrust the Flyers into the role of spoiler for some playoff wannabes.

In Thursday's second-period intermission press conference given by GM Paul Holmgren, owner Ed Snider and Forsberg himself, a few things jumped right off the TV screen:

• Holmgren's stiff, jaw-clenching denial that Forsberg agreed to re-sign with the Flyers in the off-season as a condition for letting the Flyers deal him. Quoth the GM: "That would be tampering."
• His curious refusal to name any other team that might have been able to work a deal with the Flyers, choosing to do so "in fairness to the other clubs."
  
• Ed Snider's flat denial that the Forsberg deal signified any kind of downturn for the franchise by tersely venting "We don't understand what 'rebuilding' is."
• His dragging out of the old injury excuse as a reason for the club's misfortune, and his admittance that the Flyers are "not far away" from being a contender again with a few key signings.
• Forsberg shying away from any indication he'll play anywhere beyond the end of this season saying he "wouldn't commit to another year anywhere unless [his] foot feels right," and hinting he'd have no problem hanging it up and returning to Sweden if his skate issue is not properly resolved.

Given that Rule Number One of a European player's psychology is that it's all about comfort, I'd say Forsberg's priority, short of the skate issue, is to sign with the Flyers. He repeated that like a mantra over and over since the trade rumors began to swirl in late January, and he's got no reason to even tell a little white lie about that to an organization which atoned for its original mistake by bringing him into the fold two summers ago.

Plus, as he was clearly indecisive about wanting to leave in the first place, then forced to go by management which deemed every day he was indecisive as detrimental to trade talks, Forsberg won't be all that comfortable playing out the string as part of a powerful Nashville lineup. He looked very tentative in his first game Saturday night against Minnesota (a 4-1 Wild victory). Sure, he'll contribute to what figures to be a deep Preds playoff run, but after the trauma of being traded for the first time in his career is compounded by his departure under duress, it might take until the summer before he adjusts mentally - just in time to rediscover how much the Flyers may want (or need) him back.

Holmgren's refusal to mention the "other clubs" who wished to trade for Forsberg seemed to accomplish two goals - taking the heat off the front office if the beat writers deemed another potential deal as benefitting the Flyers more, and to keep the heat off Peter himself if cornered and pressed on where he would have liked to play if not Nashville. It was traumatizing enough for him to leave when he did; he didn't need the added pressure of a dozen microphones or tape recorders shoved in his face asking if he'd like to be in Carolina, Dallas, or wherever.

Also, regardless of whether the Flyers want to bring Forsberg back, whether he really will consider it, or whether he can find a skate boot in all the universe that will keep his foot and ankle stable, Snider is clearly setting the media and the fans up for another signing bonanza in the summer. In addition to Forsberg, Chris Drury, Sheldon Souray and Paul Kariya are three big names on the unrestricted market and would be killer additions to a lineup the organization feels needs only a few veteran voices to back-up a "stellar" young core.
Taken in the context of something like the Curt Schilling deal in 2000, the Forsberg-for-four deal on Thursday appears to be a move to reshape a roster with small future payouts.

But why would you need two players and two draft picks unless you're willing to deal one or more in the future for better gains? It's what the Flyers have done for years under the old system, and it's not likely that they won't try to work a steal under the new system. And why wouldn't they settle? Because to the Flyers, "the future" only means two years down the road, and "the future" also means constant reloading with roster tweaks to continue the illusion of a perennially-contending team.

Unfortunately, if the club chooses to view things through more practical eyes, re-signing an injury-prone Forsberg wouldn't really be a smart move. There are other players less talented, but built for the long-haul with more luck and longevity than Forsberg has displayed throughout his career. If nothing else, though, the Flyers have been an excessively loyal franchise, willing to give those who gave hearts and body parts to win, unlimited opportunity.

Sotto Voce

Philadelphia native Tony Voce has been released from the Phantoms due to a disagreement with head coach Kjell Samuelsson.

Judging from the little bit of information in Panaccio's article there is a lot more than meets the eye, since, well, when has a simple disagreement over a practice where the player's anger gets the better of him, result in a dismissal?

Voce has been known to be a fiery, temperamental sort on the ice. He has been benched for periods here and there over his three-year stint with the Phantoms in order to bring his competitive streak in check and to continue his adjustment to the pro game from the college ranks. From all accounts and from these two eyes, when he's on, he displays a sniper's flair with an eye for punishing contact. When he's off? That's another matter that apparently has only been dealt with away from the ice and within Phantoms management.

The 26-year-old developed from a clear work-in-progress with unlimited talent during the team's 2005 Calder Cup season, to a bona-fide two-way player and team-leading scorer last season, to a part-time skater who has been clearly frustrated and shackled under Samuelsson.

Why a player of his caliber, even with his sometimes unrestrained brand of passion, was sent home with no chance of returning to South Broad Street indicates only one of two things: that he has exhibited a pattern of discord with Samuelsson and the coaching staff before this point, or that Samuelsson's plan for the hometown lad was vastly different with where his talent and skill lay, and the argument was simply the catalyst to get Voce out of town.

In either instance, it is a sad ending for someone whom I legitimately pegged as having a chance to crack the Flyers lineup in future seasons as part of its youth revival. Aside from just being a native Philadelphian, Voce is equal parts venom and velvet, someone who has worked to become very Flyer-like, a second-line checker with some pop in the Peter Zezel or early-Rick Tocchet mold. He rose from a role playing freshman on Boston College's 2001 National Championship squad to captain and leading scorer in his senior season, so he knows how to handle himself and others both on and off the ice.

The fact that Paul Holmgren went to the philosophical well and pulled out another old chestnut from venerated former head coach Fred Shero to explain Voce's release indicated an old-school mindset about the incident that is woefully out of line with today's athlete. So he had a blowup at practice, and he's frustrated about his role? So what? Even if it's not the first time it happened, did anyone on the coaching staff or front office talk to Voce before about his temper? Did Samuelsson or Holmgren or anyone else meet with Voce before the decision was made to dump him? Again, there's more to the story we're missing.

In any event, despite the brave front Holmgren may construct, the Phantoms are now missing their spark plug, and a huge impact player from their ranks. Where they will get offense from an already goal-challenged lineup is a total mystery. Where they will find any better marketable attraction than a hometown-boy-does-good story, is equally mysterious.

After this move, the real questions should be: Do the Flyers really care that much about the Phantoms as a hockey team, or are they nothing more than a conveyor belt for the big club, spare parts for inevitable injury bugs which strike the team each season? Do the Flyers care that their once-proud minor-league franchise is a shell (no pun intended) of its former self, catering to families and kids and half-empty houses? Can anybody even hear themselves think over the incessant din of the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song?

Just What the Doctor Ordered

Five games, a torrent of goals

Trading Places

There were two trades in the NHL yesterday, which heralds the initiation of the three-week speculative frenzy the accompanies the onset of the trading deadline - happening this year an absurdly early February 27th:

Carolina (re) acquires Josef Vasicek from Nashville in exchange for Eric Belanger.

The funny thing about these third-generation Eurpoean players is, it's still all about where they feel comfortable on and off the ice. Vasicek threw his weight around for five years, including one Stanley Cup, with the Hurricanes, then was the trade bait to pry Scott Walker from the Predators. All he did was blend into the scenery in Nashville during whatever playing time came his way, and he's much better off back "home" as it were, where Peter Laviolette locked him into a role (2nd-3rd line hard-hitting winger) where he could use his size and skill. Since the changes from last year's Carolina squad to this year's are minimal, it shouldn't take too long for Joe to fit right in.

On the other hand, this must be a nightmare for Belanger - plucked from a young, energetic core in Los Angeles to the defending Cup champions, only to be shuttled to yet another team in less than one season. My guess is, Carolina went with too many players with only a skill upside this year (Trevor Letowski, Scott Walker, Belanger) and since Belanger was the weakest statistically, a more even deal could be made. Since Nashville is already so deep at forward, Belanger might just fill the space Vasicek did, ready to play in case of injury or if Barry Trotz wants to set a different tone depending on the game down the stretch. Even at this point, it's rare for two top clubs to make a one-for-one, or two-for-two deal without cash or draft picks - but this one will ultimately benefit Carolina more.

NY Rangers ship Adam Hall to Minnesota for Pascal Dupuis.

Just from reading the names involved, Dupuis was either in head coach Jacques Lemaire's doghouse, or his physical play was not up to par with the Wild's game plan. Recently, I've expounded the fact that offensive power will be the difference in the Northwest Division, not defense/goaltending/gritty play, and it will hurt Minnesota to lose a skilled player like the Quebec native (10 goals, 13 points in 48 games shifting between 2nd and 3rd lines). If there's one thing the Rangers don't need, it's another strictly offensive-zone player, and if there's something New York does need, it is someone who can play with toughness and heart without being reckless. This may end up being a set-up deal for either club, because as it stands now, it's a complete wash for both sides.

Update: The Predators have traded Eric Belanger to Atlanta for defenseman Vitali Vishnevski.

Make that four teams in less than two seasons for "Suitcase" Belanger. I didn't have any indication that Hartley and the Thrashers were displeased with the Russian backliner, and Atlanta, perennially hamstrung by their defensive woes, aren't deep on defense again this season. This is a depth move for both sides, but the Thrashers will come out on the wrong end of this one, losing a solid defenseman with offensive capabilities while Nashville just gets one more good player to throw out when they need it.

Double Update: Boston sends Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart to Calgary for Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli, in a statement regarding the deal, is sending a message that his team "is not throwing in the towel." Apparently, he, the rest of the front office, the coaching staff and the players are the only ones who think the B's can make the playoffs with some different cast members. This was a deal between two very desperate general managers. The Flames net Primeau, who fills the defensive stopper role that the injured Darren McCarty vacated, and Stuart, in need of a change of scenery after the Bruins decided "his time" was up. The Bruins get a forward who is no more than a middling second-line winger (who happens to have a broken elbow) and a defenseman who is a younger, less awkward looking, more assertive version of Stuart. For Calgary, the move might not make any difference in the standings, but that's OK as long as they don't slip. For Boston, however, they're just swapping the same players in the same roles - something which is guaranteed only to give a boost in the short-term, and is a harbinger of tough times and failed expectations in the long run when faced with an uphill climb towards the postseason.

Just Please Shut Up and Play...

Once again, a heinous crime has been perpetrated against an innocent abroad, inside one of hockey's hallowed halls:

Cry Me a River

I don't blame the referees for making a non-call if there were a torrent of penalties already whistled. I don't blame Downey for his actions and reaction - it's what has kept him in the NHL for as long as he's been in The Show. Crosby clearly is in the right for questioning why no call was made on something pretty obvious by this observer, who had the good fortune of watching and covering the game for work.

I take issue with the manner in which the youngster brushed himself off and returned to the bench at the end of his shift - which falls squarely on the shoulders of his mentor, Mario Lemieux. It shouldn't matter if you're the NHL scoring leader, or Matthew Barnaby, or Roman Vopat; when you've been wronged and nobody caught the offense, get up, get going, and move on. No need for showing up the zebras by prolonging your agony just to stick it to the referee for not blowing the whistle.

High-sticking is an equal-opportunity offender in this age of helmets and visors - everybody gets one from time to time, whether it's deserved or not. But where do you think Sid the Kid learned the art of pissing and moaning from? Number 66, of course, who used to do the same things throughout his entire career because the officials dared not to give him a break because of his 6'4" 200+ pound frame. It's just the latest in about a half a dozen complaints from the 2005 draft pick in a season-and-a-half of NHL play about fellow players or officiating crews not catering to His Royal Highness' every whim.

In such a short period of time, he's drawn criticism from a dozen NHL head coaches, Peter Forsberg, Brendan Shanahan and Martin Brodeur for his on-ice attitude and behavior. Hell, even his own teammate, Mark Recchi, voiced his displeasure to anyone with a microphone last year about Crosby's obvious lack of respect for the game, and considered himself fortunate to have left the team for a Carolina Cup winner.

We all know he's one of the two current Golden Boys, tapped to lead the NHL into a new era of glory, but he couldn't have picked a worse mentor than Super Mario in terms of decorum. Lemieux was famous in his pre-English seasons for whimpering and gesturing and shrugging shoulders and sinking into depression at perceived non-calls and other assorted slights. In his later seasons, after his back problems and his cancer treatments, he moaned incessantly about the league's move towards "white-on-rice" defensive play, trapping and careless stickwork. Let's be honest - he had many valid points. But it was pretty clear that his complaints were less about trying to move the league forward than it was a protest from deep within his soul that he wanted the space to work because he desperately wanted an end to the battering his body took.

Still, that doesn't mean you pass on your own peeves and slights to someone who seeks your guidance. It's the downside of a father-son/mentor-student relationship that when things progress to a deeper stage, the elder tends to pass on their own doubts, fears, and grudges along with the good and valued wisdom.

Master Crosby would be wise to take a page from the quiet professionalism of his current teammate Recchi, who returned to Pittsburgh this time around in part precisely because the absence of veteran leadership on the team, plus Lemieux's on-ice absence, really could have put a kink in his progress. Recchi's career reads like a palindrome in some respects - he's been shuffled back to Philly twice and Pittsburgh three times with Montreal in the middle, traded twice in the prime of his career simply because his stats were excellent bait - and thrived long enough to score 500 goals and 1300 points and win a pair of Stanley Cups.

The root of his actions go deeper than just needing an "enforcer" to watch his back. He needs to be sufficiently respectful of the game first before anyone will be able to stick up for him. Lemieux got lucky in that he was guarded from the start by a bunch of AHL call-ups eager to win a job as well as a series of never-weres (Warren Young, Dan Frawley, Mitch Wilson, et al) before Terry Ruskowski stepped in to be the Zen Master for Mario from 1985-87. Even Wayne Gretzky had to wait three years before he gained the services of Dave Lumley and Dave Semenko, who passed on the job to Marty McSorley and Jeff Beukeboom and so on.

From now on, when someone says they can't imagine Crosby playing for any other team than the Penguins, my nod in agreement will be a vicious backhand slap. After all, what other team leader or veteran would tolerate, or even promote such behavior? Mark Messier would have had Crosby wrapped around his finger, taking out his trash, and driving his kids to school. Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic would have just needed one long, cold, intense stare to get their point across. Mike Modano could have skated the kid into exhaustion to teach him a lesson, and Brett Hull would have shamed him with a barrage of verbiage akin to a high school bully torturing his mark in the cafeteria.

In the old days, in some quarters, one good prank in the locker room or one good hit in practice could also force Sid to see the light of day. But what else can you say to a 19-year-old whose been given the keys to the kingdom, more money than we'll see in a lifetime, and the adoration of millions?

Just please shut up and play.

This Date in Flyers History

This game, from the 1990-91 season was quite the experience:

Remember the Whalers?

First off, it was enough of a shocker that the Flyers lost to Hartford. At the Spectrum. Even worse, it was by shutout, pitched by a goaltender whose name I'm still hard-pressed to announce even now. I mean, eight shots through two periods against a team that would be buried in last place if it weren't for Quebec? Scandal. And this came in the midst of the second year of five the Flyers would not make the playoffs. It was a painful sight for an impressionable 13-year-old sitting in Section 67, Row 1, Seat 4. I think this was also their once-a-year 11:05 AM starts because they needed extra time to convert the ice surface for the Flyers Wives Carnival. Imagine that, a non-school day and I still had to be awake at 9 AM just to do something fun...

The loss wasn't the most memorable thing about that game, though. It was a week into Gulf War One, and America was whipped into a patriotic frenzy because Our Troops were going to bomb those Saddamite Camel Jockeys back to the Stone Age. Safety and security concerns were at an all-time high (even more so than the height of the Cold War I'm told) because the prevailing theory was that Iraqi spies and sympathizers could be lurking everywhere, to strike at any time. For the first and only time in my life at a major sporting event, I was the subject of the old pat-down security check, as were every single person, man, woman, or walking child who attended the game. I remember everyone talking and joking when gathered around the Rocky Statue outside the gates, but when the doors were opened and everyone lined up to get in, it got eerily quiet. You come to the Flyers, or any sporting event to forget your troubles, and here was a reminder of the times even before you got into the place.

At this time, tickets to a hockey game were still relatively cheap, and a good cross-section of humanity who didn't work behind a desk or in a board room could afford to go - so the sell-out crowd was in full (profane and vulgar) voice when the National Anthem was played before the opening face-off. I remember chants of U-S-A!, U-S-A! and a big American flag waved during the game. The Arena Vision board called attention to the mini American flag stickers on the backs of each player's helmet, and the crowd went nuts.

However, the patriotic frenzy of the day was not enough to keep the masses entertained - as the Flyers played one of the most passionless games I can remember. By the middle of the second period, cheerful and staccato war whoops were replaced by the somber bellowings of paid customers who realized they had been cheated. It was the first Flyers game where I practically begged my father to leave before the game's last two minutes, win lose or tie. People in our sections made none-too-subtle comments about how Iraq should aim several scud missiles at the Flyers bench and clean out the whole team. Something was in the wind, and it wasn't furtively lit Winston or a stale beer belch...

Pacific Division

Anaheim - Chris Pronger's injury is, thankfully, now just a memory, but the difference in how the Ducks play and the emotional jolt they get from their hulking defenseman is obvious. Anaheim can beat you in so many ways, it's almost criminal. One night it'll be Bryzgalov or Giguere. On another night it will be because the opposition is ground down by the defensive physical game. Offensive blitz? Dial up any one of the top three lines for contributions. They can even win the tugs-of-war and the hot opposing goaltender nights, evidenced by Wednesday's 2-1 win over Phoenix with a two-goal burst in just over one minute in the third period. Nashville may have kicked it into high gear recently to overtake the Ducks for first place in the Western Conference, but I give the edge to Anaheim since they have done it with the same group of players the whole year, unlike Nashville which, even when not hit by key injuries, keeps the line open between the Music City and their AHL team in Milwaukee. Teemu Selanne's continued success under the Southern California sun proves two things: that European players, for better or worse, are all about comfort with their surroundings; and that Selanne doesn't need Paul Kariya to be a menace coming into the offensive zone. They should be one year wiser, and if they somehow don't finish with that top seed, they'll be a very dangerous two.

San Jose - It's been used to death, but the Sharks literally are lurking just beneath the surface waiting to bite some playoff hopefuls down the stretch and then cause trouble in the postseason. Because the Ducks have been so good, the Sharks are looking at a four-seed and only one round of home-ice advantage, but that really should not be a daunting task for this club. Losing Nils Ekman, Tom Preissing and Niko Dimitrakos, all important role players, has done nothing to take the edge away. Cynics might look at the stat sheet and see that Thornton, Marleau, Cheechoo will all post less points this year than last; don't be fooled, it's because goals are down across the board this season and the West is particularly more hard-nosed than the East. If Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, Matt Carle and Steve Bernier continue their excellent years, that youth will serve the Sharks well when they need some young lungs and enthusiasm to push through. Right now, they are the five-seed and Detroit is the four: that's one hell of a series in anybody's book - and even if the final 30 games of the year do nothing more than to either swap those teams or keep them where they are, the Wings may have their third-straight first-round upset on their conscience.

Dallas - Ever hanging on as Dave Tippett has become one of those coaching renegades who insists on squeezing points beyond the game's first 60 minutes. Someone's gotta remind Jussi Jokinen that the playoffs don't have shootouts, and the likelihood of him having an uncontested breakaway in a postseason contest are infinitesimally small. The Stars are not in danger of missing out on the postseason, six-seed that they are, but they will not surprise anyone with their game plan, and it is not likely they'll advance past the first round - as Calgary, a carbon-copy squad in third position, has more weapons offensively and are not afraid to use them. Marty Turco is a pleasure to watch on any given night, but he may just not have it in him to be the goaltender who can take the rest of the team on his back and carry the Stars deep into the playoffs - which is not a knock, but in the goaltending-rich Western Conference, that will be a major factor in separating pretenders from contenders.

Phoenix - Somebody's gotta float to the bottom in the Pacific, and the Coyotes will be frantically pushing down on the collective necks of the Kings to avoid the abyss. This team is another in the Penguins-Blues mold, where the gameplan for winning is based around a yearly merry-go-round of formerly-proven, slightly-over-the-hill players. It's a thrill to read all the names on paper, but the puzzle pieces don't often fit. That burst around the turn of the New Year, not surprisingly while on the road, saved this club from a much worse fate. Trading away the rumored whiner Mike Comrie to Ottawa seems like a wise move right now, since The Great One's team does not need malcontents as they try to stay above the waterline. They're 10 points out of eighth in the West, and although they might feel like there's a legitimate shot to make a run, there are too many teams waiting to step on them on their way to the top. Even though the veterans are what helped pull the club out of their horrid start, Gretz should use the remaining time to rest some of his older goats in favor of the young talent (Roche, Sjostrom, Saprykin, et al.) and see who's for real and who could be dangled for bait in the offseason.

Los Angeles - Perhaps the only struggling team in the entire NHL that looks like they're sticking to their guns about the rebuilding process. Nobody I've read or heard seems to understand that the Rob Blake signing was little more than a token gesture, which will give the kids the benefit of a Cup-winning veteran's perspective, plus provide Blake an easy transition when he decided to hang up the skates. It's a paradox, I know, but Alex Frolov, Anze Kopitar, Mike Cammalleri and the rest of the young cast will develop so much quicker, and so much for the better out in LA, where they're not bound to be recognized or bothered either by fans or by the press. That is, unless Sean Avery goes and does something very stupid in his relationship with Elisha Cuthbert...but I digress. The goaltending situation is about as horrendously unfortunate as any we've seen in years - and exposed just how far the netminders in the Kings' system have to go before they're NHL-ready. Sean Burke may not even be a guy to steal you a couple points anymore, but the Kings aren't going to be a team who will play spoiler as the Stars, Sharks and Ducks all jockey for playoff position down the stretch. If, at least, the defensive corps stays intact for the remainder of the schedule, LA won't be blown out of many games for the rest of the season, and the skilled players will throw in a thrill or three for the Staples Center faithful. Marc Crawford should have virtually free reign to mold his team to his winning philosophy, and almost all the time and space in the world to do it.