Not So Different, Flyers and Leafs

As many of you who follow me on twitter know, I have a huge soft spot for the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's confusing to some since the teams have such a huge rivalry on the ice, but honestly, it's not really hard to explain. The Flyers and Leafs are in fact, very similar. Let's have a look, shall we.

Both teams have a history of great goal tenders: Parent/Hextall in Philly, Belfour/CuJo/Potvin in Toronto. This was contrasted by terrible goaltending post lockout with some hot streak exceptions (Leighton/Boucher/Esche in Philly, Toskala/Raycroft in Toronto.)

Both teams have an insane drought since their last Cup win, 1975, 1967.

Both teams have demanding fans that throw things when displeased (waffles? batteries?)

Both teams hate the Habs and Bruins.

Both teams finally (hopefully) found their goaltender (Bryzgalov and Reimer)

Both teams are currently captained by big body D-men who are known for hard hits and big slapshots (Pronger and Phaneuf)

Both teams have to deal with a division rival who's won cups more recently than them (Boston/MTL for Toronto, Pittsburgh and NJ for Philly)

Both teams get to destroy a weak but once "great" team (NYI for PHL and OTT for TOR)

Both teams have an overpaid goon who occasionally scores. (Colton Orr and Jody  Shelley)

Fans of both teams both hated a sniper for missing the net (Jeff Carter and Phil Kessel)

Both teams have very old school GMs who want physical teams (Homer and Burkie)

Both teams have NMC's driving them crazy (Muskoka 5 anyone?, what Pronger, Timonen and Briere will be in 2-3 years)

Both teams have exciting young defenseman (Gunnarson, Franson, Aulie in TOR, Carle, Gustafsson, Coburn in PHL)

Schenn and Kessel. Kessel and Schenn. Enough said.

Players with heart problems (Gustavsson in Toronto, Hartnell in Philadelphia)

GM's with close friends as coaches (John Stevens in PHL who got fired, Ron Wilson in TOR who almost got fired)

Each team picked up a hot goalie at the right time who gave their team a ton of hope moving forward (Michael Leighton in Dec 2009, James Reimer in Jan 2011)

Both teams traded multiple first round picks for an instant impact player (Pronger to PHL, Kessel to TOR)

Both teams employed a holey goalie (Leighton's 5-hole, Toskala's glove hand)



So, this is why, I always will be friends with fans of the Leafs. I know how they feel, because, Flyerdom, they are us.

10 Observations from today's Rookie Game vs the Caps

Quick observations on the Rookie Game:

1. Advance stats weren't tracked so nothing there in terms of detailed facts

2. Couturier has great hands, but needs to get stronger, he got pushed around like the Sedins pre-lockout. Send him back to the QMJHL, let him grow up. Bring him up next season. Treat him like Claude Giroux, keep him in the Q, half an AHL season, then bring him up...watch magic happen.

3. Blake Kessel has a 2yr 925K contract. WOULD be a huge addition to the PP, also he plays both FWD and Defense so he could rotate all over the lineup. Guy was a point per game player on a PP unit with JvR at UNH a couple years back. Oskars Bartulis or Jody Shelley could have a job on the line. Or, both. Kessel+Sestito make a combined 1.5M against the cap, Bartulis and Shelley make 1.7. Going with a scratch list of Kessel, Sestito, Read (especially if Schenn needs AHL time to master his PK/2-way game) would allow for more versatility with fewer players

4. There are in fact goalies with less talent than Leighton: Brad Phillips is one. Not that this matters as the only goaltending positions currently open in Philly are AHL and ECHL.

5. Brayden Schenn was used as a PK guy. I took this to be a sign his offensive game is NHL ready but his PK game needs camp work to be ready. This could cost him a roster spot if Kessel or Matt Read (did not play tonight) have a strong camp.

6. Tyler Brown and Harry Zolniercyzk seemed to be all over the place. I doubt either can climb over all the obstacles needed to make the NHL Roster directly, but if there's an injury these 2 should be highly considered for a callup.

7. Tomas Hyka got his own rebound and buried it. This shows that "heart" that you non-stat people love. Taking that play, also is reflected by a high Corsi (the whole game didn't track so I can't prove it. But Hyka generated at least 3 scoring chances in the game). Hyka is locked into the QMJHL next season, but he was REALLY impressive.

8. Did I mention Blake Kessel? Did I mention Oskars Bartulis is expendable? Now I'm praying Doughty elects a holdout and LA tosses a mid to late round pick for Bartulis (because Bryan McCabe isn't the answer if LA can't lockup Doughty) thereby freeing up Kessel to make the NHL roster. the Flyers have a deep defense in terms of bottom pair/spare guys, but I don't see much in terms of top 4 potential from anyone. Kessel's best asset would be #6 Defenseman, PP specialist. if the Flyers PP keeps struggling from last season (which is hard with so many new faces) I fully expect Kessel to take a spot on the PP. Did I mention he's the best right shooting defenseman the Flyers have?

9. The emergence of all this defense makes the Andreas Lilja deal look like a waste. It's a 35+ contract, he can't be waived out of camp either.

10. Danick Paquette of the Capitals didn't kill anyone. He said this recently "I'm a pretty dirty player ... like Matt Cooke." (Thanks to Steve Whyno of the Washington Post for that quote)