The Curious Case of the Flyers Leadership Problem (Another Editorial)

(Editor's Note: Matt originally wrote this piece for another site that he writes for, it was so popular there and sparked a lot of positive discussion that we thought it best to double post it here for the DGS regulars. If you want to read the article at its original location click here)


A lot of people have recently began to loudly and vocally question whether or not Mike Richards should be wearing the "C" in Philadelphia. These people are mostly angry Flyers fans who seem to think that Richards is the sole holder of the blame of the Flyers struggles over the last 20 games. But is Mike Richards really the problem? I say not exactly.

First off, let's look at what wearing the "C" on your sweater actually means from a league perspective. The "C" is used to define who the captain of the team is. This means that the player with the "C" has the responsibility of delegating with the referees over disputed calls, communicating messages from the coach to the referees or scorers bench or timekeeper or penalty box staff. This is it, there's no provision that the "C" has to be 'pleasant' to the media. There's no provision that the "C" has to be excessively vocal or score 80 points a season. There's NO provision that a "C" has to like the city's baseball team. Richards handles his assigned duties well, and he's respected in the lockerroom by his teammates, coaches and GM.

So, what is the problem then? Well, I personally began to think, what if there are too many cooks in the Flyers kitchen. Now, I already mentioned Richards, but let's look at some of the other people in and around the Flyers.

Peter Laviolette is a very hands on, outspoken, active coach who doesn't mix words and tends to keep secrets from the media, and probably his players too, even though I cannot prove that.

Chris Pronger is a vocal, loud leader who isn't afraid to call teammates out while wearing the "A" for alternate captain.

Kimmo Timonen has recently taking to calling for hustle and urgency from his teammates in his straight to the point style.

Sean O'Donnell is a 39 year old veteran who's won a cup, when Pronger is being sarcastic to the media, SOD is usually the guy giving detailed answers to the media because of Richards media shortcomings and Pronger's massive use of sarcasm and snark.

Danny Briere is a former Captain of the Buffalo Sabres. His scoring touch and willingness to handle the French speaking media has been helpful to the team as he's the most experienced Francophone on the team. Also, his skill in the playoffs, even being called Mr Playoffs makes people look to him as a person who should be emulated during crunch time.

Jody Shelley's another player who, like OD, has a respected veteran voice in the lockerroom. This voice is why Lavi refused to scratch him during the middle of the season.

During the preseason, the following players wore "A"s: Braydon Coburn, Claude Giroux, Blair Betts, Darroll Powe and Scott Hartnell.

That's 10 players with leadership experience when there's 20 players on the ice. That's 50% of the team. Each person has their own unique style and while they seem to work together, and for sure intend to work together, are they somehow actually causing detriment to the team. Are they actually corrupting young and new players like Bartulis, Meszaros, Versteeg, Zherdev, Carcillo and the rest of that other half of the team.

To me the phrase "Too many cooks in the kitchen ruins the soup" comes to mind here. All of these guys together, no matter how hard they try, are not going to be 100% unified on every issue. Not only that, but the more "leaders" and "alpha personalities" in one room, the more likely that small issues will actually be big issues if the natural egos of leaders start rubbing together. There's something to be said about having a small corps of leaders, and maybe the Flyers recent struggles have lasted so long because the team's leadership had too many different ideas on how to stop it. It's a slippery slope, and quite honestly, none of us are in that lockerroom all the time to really know what's going on, but this playoff run will truly test this group. If they can get it together, this team has the talent to go far, if not, maybe, the solution is trading these "leaders" for solid players with more passive personalities so the committed long term leaders like Richards and Carter who will wear the orange and black for another decade, can really lead this team.

Maybe that's the answer, or maybe I'm just crazy.

Pierre McGuire's "Monster" Secret

So we all know that Pierre McGuire is a "monster" creeper. But sometimes you "gotta at least ask the question" about why he is the way he is. Anyway, recently the DGS Super Spies uncovered some of Pierre's secrets. Needless to say, we feel bad for the guy because apparently he's just a really misunderstood person.

I am NOT attempting to creep on players

Pierre McGuire's use of the word "Monster" isn't meant to be creepy. See Pierre McGuire has a massive caffeine addiction. When he say's monster, he's actually calling for a Monster Energy Drink.

The Pierre McGuire Hockey Jersey...

So yeah; Pierre is just misunderstood. His loud outbursts are just caused by the "monster" caffeine intake that he has before the game. Don't believe me. Just stop and think for a second. Pierre hit's the bottle before the game, it makes sense..(DEAR GOD LEAF'S FANS, NOT A BOTTLE or keg OF MOLSON!)

(Editor's Note: Dear Down Goes Brown, and all of Leaf's Nation, if you'd like to talk about all this to me, DGS-Cares and we're willing to help. Please feel free to ask)

The Pierre McGuire poison; this is his pre-bed dose

So Pierre McGuire has a drinking problem, with caffeine. It's also obvious that Mike Richards and Dion Phaneuf are his dealers. That's why he's always calling them monsters with big body presence. This is because when Pierre is between the glass.

Pierre's Drinks: Per Period

Luckily for all of us. Caffeine addiction is treatable. With the right care and his willingness to get off the juice and live a normal life. Maybe; just maybe Pierre's voice will drop that of a normal human being. Maybe then Pierre McGuire will be normal.

Win A Date With Down Goes Spezza (sort of)

So as we probably all know, it's been almost 7 months since DGS had a real date. This needs to change, so I'm writing the official DGS-Girlfriend Application. Basically it's what DGS looks for in a woman, if you feel you fit the bill, feel free to either email me or comment and we'll see what happens.




Name:
Age: (If not between 18-30, stop here, you've been DQ'd)
Favorite NHL team: (Note: Fans of the Penguins, Devils, Rangers, Bruins or Red Wings need not apply)
Favorite MLB team: (Note: Fans of the Red Sox, Mets, Braves, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs or Cardinals need not apply)
Favorite NFL team: (Note: Fans of the Patriots, Giants, Redskins, or Tom Brady need not apply)


Complete the following sentences:

Chris Pronger is...

Sidney Crosby is...

Alex Ovechkin is...

Tomas Vokouns is...

Chris Chelios is...

The Better Sedin is...



Yes/No questions.

Answer the following questions with a Yes or No

1. Can you tell the Sedins apart?

2. Do the Habs need to grow?

3. Is Glen Sather an awesome GM?

4. Does Gary Bettman suck?

5. Is Finland awesome?


Multiple Choice
1. In 2010-11 and moving forward from there, Zach Parise looks best on

A. Mike Richards wing
B. Jeff Carter's wing
C. Claude Giroux's wing
D. Danny Briere's wing


2. Sergei Bobrovsky will win

A. The Calder Trophy
B. The Vezina Trophy
C. The Conn Smythe Trophy
D. A Stanley Cup as a Flyer



3. James van Riemsdyk is

A. Expendable
B. Tradeable
C. an MVP waiting to happen
D. Useless


4. If we're on a date and Chris Pronger walks up to us, you will...

A. Tell him to take a picture with me
B. Not stare dreamily at him
C. Make him take a picture with me
D. Smack be back to reality, then take my picture with him, then smack me again.


5. Can I trust Jeff Carter around you?

A. Yes
B. No
C. Of course, we're not married yet
D. WTF?




Essay section, please write one paragraph on ONE of the following topics explaining your opinion.
Martin Brodeur is the best ever, why or why not?

Who's the greatest defenseman of the last 20 years, Chris Pronger or Nick Lidstrom?

Which N. Backstrom is better and why?

Was the Gagne trade worth it?


Mandatory Non-Hockey related question.

What do you think about Cliff Lee? (Please write 3 sentences on this)






To all those who enter, best of luck. DGS will contact you soon.

What The Flyers Want For Christmas

Hey, it's getting close to Christmas and you know what that means. It's that time where people start making their lists of what they want. Needless to say the DGS SuperSpies were able to get a list of what some of the Flyers want for Christmas. In hopes that the gifts are received by the team, we've posted the list here for you to see.


Chris Pronger: I'm kinda hoping he's asking for me, but more realistically it's probably targets for his elbows to hit.

Peter Laviollette: A working power play unit.

Ville Leino: A new contract.

Claude Giroux: More grilled cheese sandwiches

Daniel Carcillo: That Nikolay Zherdev keeps being Nikolay Zherdev.

Sergei Bobrovsky: Getting a shutout, hopefully in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals

Brian Boucher: Employment, anywhere, just not in Russia

Eric Wellwood: To NOT become Kyle Wellwood

Nikolay Zherdev: Judging by his recent performances, I'd say he would like to learn how to pass

Mike Richards: PK Subban's head on a platter

Jeff Carter: Lisa Hartnell...wait no..sorry...Jeff wouldn't be asking for something he has...Jeff Carter wants the ability to not go high and wide

Scott Hartnell: Lisa Hartnell

Paul Holmgren: The ability to do math.

Darroll Powe: More time hanging out with guys like Max Lapierre.

The Home Opener

Tonight's not about humor. For that, have a laugh at the Wiz telling  Sean Avery what he thinks about him.


So last night I attended the Flyers/Avalanche game at the Wells Fargo Center. The Flyers raised their 2009-2010 banner in honor of the Stanley Cup runner up team and winner of the Prince of Wales Trophy. Anyway the Flyers aired their video tribute to the team reminding us fans of some of the great moments of the season like

• Brian Boucher stopping Olli Jokinen in the great shootout of game 82.
• Dan Carcillo scoring in OT of game 3 against the Devils in the first round.
• Peter Laviollette's great time out speech down 3-0 in game 7 against the Boston.
• Mike Leighton's great saves against the Habs in the Conference Finals
• Mike Richards shorty against Halak
• Jeff Carter sealing the win in game 5 against the Habs with an empty netter.

What's missing? Every reference to Simon Gagne who was a key contributor to the playoff success of the team.

Why is that you ask? Well no one has said anything for sure, but from following Sarah Baicker and Frank Seravalli on Twitter has shown both sides of the story.

My opinion is not an easy one to follow, as a fan of both the Flyers and the game of hockey, I totally wanted to see Simon's important moments up there with the rest of the team. History cannot be rewritten, Gagne was one of the most important parts of the Flyers for the last decade.

As a fan of pro-wrestling, mainly the WWE, I am in no way shocked by this. Vince McMahon has removed countless WWE Superstars from videos that the WWE uses on television all the time. He's pretty much ordered Chris Benoit be removed from WWE history in every way after the 2007 Benoit double murder suicide incident. He's removed multi-time World Champion Jeff Hardy from the videos that air as every show starts because Jeff Hardy now works for rival promotion TNA. 

Now there are some big differences between Gagne and the WWE. For one, both the Lightning and Flyers are part of the NHL, so using Simon Gagne should NOT be a legal problem, whereas in wrestling, if one company uses footage from another company's show, they would need to pay for it. Also, the Flyers know that Gagne had a huge following here in Philadelphia, most fans loved Simon Gagne. Had Simon gone up on the video, there's a good chance he would have gotten cheered before the Philadelphia boo-birds rained down boos on the Flyers front office personnel, (noticeably absent during all this was Flyers GM Paul Holmgren).

The Flyers were left in a lose-lose situation regarding Gagne in last nights video. Either put him up and let an energetic, demanding fan base possibly ruin what could have been an important moment regarding the success of a team because of one player, or, do what they did, and leave Gagne out, knowing full well that he was an integral part of the team's success.

If all goes well, put up a tribute to Simon on Thursday, the Bolts are in town and he's gonna get one hell of an ovation.

Moving Forward Part 1: The Center of attention

Well, in order to complete my series on the Flyers for next year, I'm gonna look at the forwards. In order to not drive myself crazy, we're gonna do this by position. Up first the centers.

Mike Richards

1 high/1 low

High: Scored a career high in goals in 09-10

Low: Scored exactly 0 3 on 5 short handed goals thereby not extending the one NHL record he has.

Prediction for 10-11: Richards will be....RELENTLESS

Jeff Carter

1 high/1low

High: Kept up a great scoring pace that put the entire NHL to shame.

Low: Forgot how to score while ON the ice.

Prediction for 10-11: Carter will have a scoring touch, whether it's in the bedroom or on the ice is still to be determined.

Danny Briere:

High: Proved he's got a bit of toughness by actually dropping the gloves with Marc Vlasic of the Sharks during a game. Oh yeah, he was kinda successful during the playoffs too.

Low: His cap his is WHAT?!?!?!?!

Prediction for 10-11: Will become the new Simon Gagne, and not in the way we want him too. Luckily, this will all be forgiven when we find a way to trade him with Big Mesz to the Flames for Iggy and Kipper.

Blair Betts:

High: Who didn't love his penalty killing?

Low: His shoulders.

Prediction for 10-11: Will be the best PK guy in the NHL, with shoulders that make Randy Orton's look healthy.

High:

Caption Contest 7

There's one already written on the photo, but come on DGS-ers, give me some love here

Behind the Scenes: The Truth In the Flyers plans for Game 5

My wonderful DGS Spies uncovered some interesting facts about Game 5 between the Flyers and Bruins, tonight at 7pm EDT in Boston. In order to take away some of the surprises, we have decided to post them up for you to see.

• The Flyers have elected to hold out Dan Carcillo due to injury. Apparently his whole idea of mind over matter became so powerful, that he actually got hurt from a non-existent hit.
• The Flyers will have Mike Leighton as the backup goaltender tonight, while it's much of a secret, it does help the Flyers chances of winning because the team can look to the bench and see a new face sitting in the backup goaltender's spot.
• Marc Savard finally cleared up the supposed threat spoken by Mike Richards during that scrum, Richards did not threaten to injure Savard keeping him out for 6 more weeks. He merely stated that Savard would be taking a 6 week vacation after the Flyers come back to win the series in 7.
• Continued practicing the super secret technique of playing Simon Says against the Bruins, basically "Simon Says GO FLYERS!"
• The Flyers have hopefully switched Tuukka Rask for another famous...rather, infamous Finnish goaltender, the one, the only, Vesa Toskala
• And to be safe, have made sure that the Bruins have another Flyers bench warmer on their bench as well, that's right, Jeremy Duchesne is gonna replace Tim Thomas
  

Why Losing Game 1 is NOT the end of the world

Real simple idea behind this post. It's some reasons why losing game 1 was not the end of the world for the Flyers. I don't intend to have any wit or sarcasm in this post, but hey, things happen and maybe something funny will pop up.

1. After being out of it for 8 days the Flyers showed a lot of rust early on, that should come off as the series goes on.

2. The Flyers proved that Rask is beatable. Rask isn't as inhuman as some make him out to be, in related news, the guy who drafted this guy is a genius. (whoops, I meant JFJ is a moron for trading him.)

3. Dan Carcillo can stay in control of himself and play solidly.

4. The Powe/Betts/Nodl line has a lot of potential as checkers.





Things that the Flyers need to win:

1. Brian Boucher needs to not dip into one of his cold streaks.

2. The Flyers need to win faceoffs

3. The Flyers need to keep traffic in front of Rask

4. While I don't wish injuries on anyone, the Flyers need to take advantage of the lack of Sobotka, and Sturm and get to Boston in Game 2.

5. Richards/Pronger need to rally the troops and keep the team unified.

6. Danny Briere needs to be more responsible in the defensive zone, I'm not asking for Selke award winning stuff, but he needs to be in the right place at the right time.

Seven Signs the Flyers will win the Stanley Cup in 2010

Yes, I know, the Flyers supposedly don't have a shot this year, that's what all the experts are saying, well guess what. That's what the Flyers want you to think, because secretly, they have a plan to win it all. It's a 7 step plan, and here it is:

Seven Signs That the Philadelphia Flyers Might Win the Stanley Cup this year:

1. Came up with a new defensive strategy centered along the idea of Dan Carcillo getting acquainted with the other team’s leading scorer

2. If the above fails, Chris Pronger comes to the rescue

3. In order to prevent the other team’s shooters from finding patterns in the Flyers goaltending, the Flyers dressed a different pair of goalies every game.

4. The Flyers did NOT sign Marion Hossa this past offseason

5. Implemented new pregame strategy of broadcasting recordings of Mike Richards speaking into the other team’s locker room to put them to sleep before every game

6. Had their diverse goaltenders bond over the element of shared trips to the hospital for MRIs

7. Told Brian Boucher it’s 2000 again