iPods of the NHL

Sometimes we here at DGS just run into things by accident. And these accidents cause us to send out the DGS SuperSpies on special investigations to find out the truth. In todays case, a DGS writer was chatting with a friend about music and we got curious, what do different NHL players listen to while on the road and all. Well guess what, we sent the DGS superspies all around the NHL and they grabbed a few iPods of NHL players and got a look at some of their "Top Played" songs. Needless to say, the results were shocking.

• Weird Al was a hit among quite a few current and former NHL players. Martin Brodeur, Tim Thomas and Kyle Wellwood all had "I'm Fat" as their top played tune.
• A Mr. Sutter, GM of the Flames, had Thin Lizzy's "The Boys Are Back In Town" as his most listened to song. I wonder if this explains his recent moves.
• Rick DiPietro's top played tune was "Broken" by Seether w. Amy Lee (A close second was Dry Cell's "Body Crumbles"
• Foreigner's "Double Vision" was the top played song on Simon Gagne's iPod, it beat out U2's "Vertigo" by one play.
• Speaking of Lightning players, we found Paul Ranger's iPod, the top 5 songs on it where:
  1. The Moody Blues's I Know You're Out There Somewhere"
  2. U2 "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
  3. Evanescence's "Missing"
  4. Our Lady Peace's "Somewhere Out There"
  5. Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here"
• Jeff Carter's iPod only had one song on it. "Scotty Doesn't Know" By Lustra
• Sami Salo's top played song came from Italian metal band Lacuna Coil "Fragile" he also had the entire soundtrack to the Nutcracker ballet as well.
• Brian Burke has a list of songs that are required listening for every new Maple Leafs player
  1. Enjoy the Silence by Depeche Mode
  2. Empty Spaces by Pink Floyd
  3. This Is Not The End by The Bravery
• Mike van Ryn's favorite song is apparently "Through Glass"
• Patrick Kane's top tune is by the Killers and it's called "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf"
• Alex Burrows is a bit "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath
• And last but not least, "Money" by Pink Floyd is Dan Ellis's top played song.
  

If this gets really popular, expect a part 2 where I do this again with different players.

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.

DGS 101: Not only is it post 101, but I'm actually gonna show you who I am

Hi everybody!

DGS on guitar, his other hobby

My name is Down Goes Spezza Matt. That's right, I have the same first name as my blogging brother. If you don't know who that is, then you must be new here, welcome. My blogging brother is Don't Trade Vinny.


Also, you may be curious as to what I look like, well, I posted a pic of me on twitter about a week ago (ironically seeing a picture of me was more popular than my previous 3 posts, the conclusion I've drawn is that I'm incredibly good looking.)

So here we go, the official DGS bio


Name: Matt Bernot
Height: 5'9" (Claims 5'11")
Weight: 145lbs (Claims 170lbs)
Age: 21
DOB: October 11, 1988
Position: Defense/LW
Shoots: Right


You can follow the real me on twitter @MattBernot if you're interested, I rarely tweet on it though.

Random facts about me in no particular order

• I'm taller than the forwards on the Habs top line
  
• I'm going for a dual degree on Political Science and Psychology
  
• My career coal is work for the FBI as a Criminal Profiler in the BAU
  
• I'm the unofficial psychologist of the blogosphere
  
• My favorite players who are currently in the NHL are Simon Gagne, Kimmo Timonen, Mike Modano and Mikko Koivu
  
• My favorite players when I was younger were John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Adam Deadmarsh and Ron Hextall

So there you go, please don't sue me.

DGS Vacation Report: Sept 2010 Trip to Florida

Well I spent a week in Florida that was rather relaxing and fun. I got to spend to time with my family, made a few new friends, met a guy who's fan of both DGS and Don't Trade Vinny, which in my book makes him awesome. I also had a pizza delivery guy named Dan E. (off his name-tag) who I tipped 18% on purpose, he got the joke too which was awesome.

Then there were the frustrations, like trying to find a Simon Gagne Lightning T-shirt, apparently they don't exist, come to think of it, hockey didn't seem to exist in Florida at all. I flipped through the Sept 10 edition of the Orlando Sentinel newspaper. There were MORE ads for guns in the paper than for any kind of hockey equipment (roller or ice) or NHL related stuff. I'll pause so you can read that again.

Moving on, I found some intelligent hockey fans in Florida that are not my family members. This was refreshing knowing that people follow the sport even though Florida media seems to refuse to acknowledge its existence. One of them, introduced to me by DTV via the interwebz showed me that there's hope for hockey in the southern USA.

Sometime after the season starts, when I hit a creative lull, I'll revisit that issue again, until then. I hope to write some posts about Flyers camp and all. So stay tuned. Soon, I will return to my humor oriented content, don't worry.

I'm Not Melting Down On Twitter, I'm Writing An Angry Letter on the Blog Instead

Dear Florida,


I hate you. I really f-----g hate you. Here's why.


DGS is down in Florida visiting some family. He's having a nice vacation and enjoying some sun and eating great food and such.

Anyway, there was ONLY one thing that I wanted. A blue Tampa Bay Lightning #12 Simon Gagne t-shirt.

Guess what, they don't fucking have them. You'd think that on the weekend training camps open, it would be possible to get some Bolts stuff.

I stopped at 12 sports stores. All had Rays, Bucs, and Magic stuff. NONE had ANY Bolts stuff. It was depressing. Damn depressing.


Rant over

Welcoming the Flyers new AHL team: Tampa Bay Lightning

No seriously, look at the Bolts these days, all their Flyers related history. It's almost odd how the Flyers turned the Bolts into an extra AHL team, and how the Bolts kinda play like an AHL team these days too. I mean look at the Lawton/Tocchet era. Even the coaching staff currently has come Flyers connections. The head coach is some guy named Boucher, and as a long time Flyers fan, the name Boucher means a lot to me, mainly because he didn't totally suck this year when we needed him most, games 1 and 5 of the Finals not withstanding (don't worry Brian, I'll judge you based on the result of this series). Boucher's assistant, Dan Lacroix from the 1997 Dan Line of Dan Lacroix, Scott Daniels, and Dan Kordic.

The current Bolts line up features two Flyers rejects.

Let's see, when looking at future talent, the Bolts top agitator is Steve Downie, a guy who's so undisciplined and off the wall that even the Flyers wouldn't even keep him.

The blue line has former Flyer Randy Jones anchoring it's third pair, a guy so bad he lost his job to Ryan Parent/Oskars Bartulis.

Then I realized something, this Bolts/Flyers connection has gone back to the mid 90s.

The historical examples

• When the Legion of Doom failed, Mikael Renberg was sent down to the Bolts in favor of Chris Gratton
• When Gratton didn't help, he was sent down to give Renberg a 2nd chance
• Sean Burke made his way to the Flyers a couple times in his career, he too spent time with the Bolts when he lost his A-game
• Vinny Prospal got shipped between the Flyers/Bolts quite a few times.
• After Antero Niitymaki sucked for the Flyers, he was sent down to the Bolts.
• When Steve Eminger couldn't hack it in Philly, he was traded with Downie for Matt Carle
• Simon Gagne and Randy Jones now join those ranks.

As for the future, I've obtained some exclusive pictures of the future of these franchises.

Being sent down to the Bolts:









Being Called up to the Orange and Black







Ok, I shall wake up now and stop dreaming. (DTV, you can stop crying now this was work of fiction, please don't sue me)

This Left Feels Right: Wings that is

Today, we start looking at the Flyers wings. Like my pieces on goaltending, defense, and centers, we're gonna talk about the wings.


Dan Carcillo: Should be an effective player during the 4 minutes of time he gets to show his talents when not in the penalty box or serving a suspension. Should be traded at the deadline with the worst defensemen we have to the Maple Leafs for Luke Schenn, ala Downie/Eminger for Matt Carle.

Riley Cote: Unlike Brett Favre, I expect Riley to stay retired.

Claude Giroux: The little guy is gonna step up his game, finally bringing his playmaking skills to the regular season as well as the playoffs. If not, well, then he won't get a pick RFA payday at the end of the year.

Scott Hartnell: Hopefully will speed up due to the lack of resistance of the hair that he finally cut.

Ian Laperriere: Should find a clever way to break his face during the season even though he will be wearing a shield.

Ville Leino: If he's the 2nd coming of Gagne, then I will stop hating the Gagne trade, and replace it with great disdain.

Darroll Powe: Will hopefully be the new Arron Asham type player, in that he can score 10-12 goals, and hopefully be effective as a role player. Will kill penalties with a Betts-like effectiveness, no jokes here.

Jody Shelley: AHL Bus please, but will probably be a more expensive Cote. Hopefully he scores at the same pace with the Flyers, that he scored against the Flyers last year...then I won't totally hate him.*

Nik Zherdev: Back to Russia! Give me Simon!

James van Riemsdyk: Trade bait please? I'd deal him and Meszaros for Kaberle, too bad JFJ is no longer the Leafs GM.




*- Offer null and void if the guy gives me awesome fights.

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:

Seeing the Brightside, A DGS look at the Gagne trade

I've waited to post this, mainly because I wanted to avoid an unoriginal and pathetic rant about how much I miss Simon. Quite honestly, for that, my Twitter feed to the right should have supplied plenty of that. (Ain't I right DTV?)

With that, I recently posted an analysis on Blades of Funny of some of Holmgren's trades, here's what I came up...reposted here for my loyal DGS-ers



Let’s take a quick look on some of Paul Holmgren’s odd moves

Case 1: Trading Alex Zhitnik to ATL for Braydon Coburn

Well, this was basically a steal for the Flyers

Case 2: Trading Peter Forsberg to Nashville for Upshall, Parent and 2 draft picks
Then trading the picks back to NSH for Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen

ok, so Parent’s back in NSH, Upshall got kicked to Phoenix for Carcillo, Kimmo and Harts are gonna end up killing our cap barring some more moves, but these guys did produce in Philly (except Parent in the Finals)

Case 3: Upshall to PHX for Dan Carcillo

I dislike Carcillo, no denials, but the fact is, Upshall wasn’t gonna see top line time as an RW with Joffrey Lupul and Mike Knuble ahead of him. Well, what if he stayed for 09-10 you say, and I say fine, where would Briere, Carter, Giroux, Lappy be moved to in order to find a slot for Upshall. I love Upshall, yes, but he wasn’t gonna fit in and so getting something for him was a good deal.




Case 4: Parent to NSH for a 7th rounder and Rights to Dam Hamhuis,
NSH 7th Rounder to SJS for Rights to Nabby
Rights to Dan Hamhuis to Pittsburgh for a 3rd Rounder

Wait, Ryan Parent, Ryan F-ing Parent for a third rounder from the Penguins, uhh, steal…duh

Case 5: Ole Tollefsen and 2nd rounder for Ville Leino

Tollefsen’s in the SEL, and Leino lit up everyone he saw in the playoffs, epic win enough said.





So, Holmgren has a knack for getting stuff done…trading Gagne and 2nd round pick for a 4th, Meszaros and Walker might just work out…if not, then my final example…

Case 6: Steve Eminger and Steve Downie to Tampa for Matt Carle…yes Homer has a way of moving Bad D-men out for good ones…



my pick for the 2010 edition

Andrej Meszaros and Dan Carcillo somewhere for a D-man who doesn't suck...guess that excludes Wade Redden, Tomas Kaberle, and Mike Green*

*-(Editor's Note: Why Mike Green made a list of DEFENSEMEN is beyond me)




I wish Gagne the best of luck but if he comes up gimpy in a game with the groin, or takes a Matt Cooke elbow…I won’t be surprised

Don't Trade Simon, an official DGS Petition

Dear Paul Holmgren and the rest of the Flyers organization,


I am writing this letter to you on behalf of the Philadelphia Flyers fanbase with only one purpose. That you do not trade Simon Gagne. Simon is the heart and soul of this team right now and trading him would be a slap in the face to the loyal fans who love and support him. Trade Jeff Carter instead, the salaries are almost the same and we are stacked at center. Think of it this way, if you trade Carter and Boucher, you could bring in a solid goaltender AND a decent 2nd line forward. Carter is going to command far more next year, whereas Gagne will resign cheap. It's a simple cost/benefit analysis, yes Carter will put up more numbers than Gagne, but Gagne will put up more bang for the dollar. Fact is, this franchise needs a true number one goalie, had we had a goalie with the talent of Nabokov, then Ryan Parent as a #6 Defenseman would have not cost us a Stanley Cup win.


Sincerely,

Down Goes Spezza





PS: If you want to support this petition, please leave a comment in the comment box below, come on DGS-ers you know you want to help me lead the don't trade Simon charge.

Don't Trade Simon, Trade Carter instead

I think the title's pretty simple. Today I'm gonna make the case that the Flyers should trade C Jeff Carter over LW Simon Gagne.

Cap Hit
Gagne: 5.25
Carter: 5.0

Essentially even

Carter's younger, yes, and an RFA next year who's gonna cost 5.5-6.5 to keep. Gagne's a UFA but his cap hit should drop to the 3.3-3.7 range, this leaves the Flyers with $2-3 million to make a move.


Carter will bring back more than Gagne in a trade, Carter can bring in a true #1 goalie. You know, the thing that the Flyers haven't had since Ron Hextall.

The Flyers are stacked at center, losing Carter isn't all bad. We would still have Richards, Briere, Giroux, Powe, Betts...and there's talk of moving JvR to center as well.



Trades the Flyers should make, you know, if I were the GM:


Calgary's Sutter seems like a moron, so let's try this out

Meszaros and Zherdev $6 million against the cap to Calgary for Curtis Glencross and Cory Sarich (4.8 combined cap hits)

then again, if Iginla wants out of town... Big Mesz and Zherdev for Iggy (Sutter WOULD do that deal)




Ok, now, into the almost real world.


Jeff Carter and Brian Boucher to Los Angeles for Jon Bernier, Jarret Stoll

It could be a stretch, but Carter long term would produce far more than Stoll and Bernier is stuck behind Jon Quick, Boucher could fill the AHL starter post, and fill in for short bursts in the NHL should Quick or Erik Ersberg get hurt. Now the Flyers would only save 1.4 in regards to the cap here, but that should be fine. I wouldn't mind losing Carcillo and his stupid penalties, but keep Powe.

Remember Carter's good at scoring, with his teammates wives...(don't tell other GMs that last part.)

If Hartnell didn't have that damn NTC, we could trade him to Edmonton, yes, I hate him THAT MUCH.


But alas, in words of Mick Jagger, "You can't always get what you want" and that means I'll be soon mourning the loss of Simon Gagne

Flyers Summer 2010 Offseason Needs, Part 1

So, with the season over, and sometime to digest the second place finish in the NHL. I will once again say this, congratulations to the Philadelphia Flyers, winners of the Prince of Wales trophy.

Well, with the season officially over, one must now look at the upcoming offseason, so I’m going to post what the Flyers need. For the record, I get all of my salary cap numbers from here so if you need to dispute me on something, that’s my source.

Now in order to start this, I'm gonna look at the 09-10 forwards based on the last lineup the Flyers dressed:


Gagne-Richards-Carter
Hartnell-Briere-Leino
JvR-Giroux-Asham
Powe-Betts-Lappy

Scratches: Carcillo, Cote, Laliberte, Nodl, Ross

How I think 10-11 will shape up:

Hartnell-Briere-Leino (Seriously, after their Finals showing, how can this NOT be the top line)
Richards-Carter-Giroux (Giroux's pretty goals IMO bump him up)
Gagne-JvR-Asham (JvR's been taking shifts in practice at center, like Giroux in 09-10, third line reps will get him experience)
Powe/Nodl/Laliberte-Betts-Lappy

Asham's UFA but if he resigns for say...2 years 750K, I'd be really happy

Carcillo's an interesting case, I have an up and down relationship with him. Asham does everything Carbomb does, with more discipline and better hands, but Carcillo's got a unique energy about him that lends itself to playing in Philly, I'm willing to keep him around for no more than 1.3 Million, at the same time, if we can trade him and land someone like a true #1 goalie


That's right, I peg 11 or all 12 of the forwards to return next year. Scott Hartnell saved his butt by having the Finals that he did, that being said, in my humble opinion, I think he's also the most likely to be moved. More on that later.

Who's expendable

The Player: Scott Hartnell
Why Expendable: Didn't perform well during the season and doesn't fit Lavi's up tempo system
Why He'd Be Wanted: His postseason numbers
Possible Destination: Toronto for Tomas Kaberle, Boston for Tim Thomas, Montreal for a first round draft pick or PK Subban, San Jose (Assuming Nabby stays and Marleau walks) for Thomas Greiss

The Player: Brian Boucher
Why Expendable: His regular season numbers
Why He'd Be Wanted: His 5 playoff games against the Devils
Possible Destination: Montreal, Dallas, San Jose, Chicago
To Montreal: For Carey Price in order to allow the Habs the cap space to keep Halak
To Dallas: for a 2nd round draft pick and a decent prospect D-man
To Chicago: For Dustin Byfuglien, I might be dreaming here but as WWEh noticed, the 'Hawks have massive cap problems next year and they could save ~$2 million
To San Jose: Assuming Nabby leaves and Marleau stays, the Sharks need a goaltender who comes cheap, that's Boucher, the Flyers could hopefully get a 4th round pick and a decent D-man for him

The Player: Andreas Nodl
Why Expendable: Too much depth at forward
Why He'd be Wanted: Solid depth forward, never will be above third line status, comes cheap
Possible Destination: Toronto, Montreal, Tampa Bay, Florida
To Toronto: oh wait, sorry, Burke won't trade for a European
To Montreal: The Habs DID trade for Scott Gomez...so, yeah...maybe Nodl goes here
Tampa Bay: Matt Smaby could play D for us, but honestly, TBL has nothing I'd really be interested in...other than Vinny, but a package of Hartnell, Nodl and Boucher for Vinny...seems fair to me...DTV is gonna shoot himself now...



The Needs:

this is easier to look at:

A real third D-pair
a real goalie


Later this week, I plan on doing a free agency based post with where the Flyers should go

Flyers 2010 Eulogy: A season to remember

As DGB and Bloge Salming did for the Habs, I will eulogize the Flyers. Here we go.


Philadelphia Flyers Eulogy 2010

Flyers Season 09-10 Campaign:
Born October 1, 2009
Died June 9, 2010

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to remember, or possibly forget, a season that was magical, and sucktastic, all at the same time.
We had our ups, trading for Chris Pronger, signing Ray Emery, beating the Rangers in a shootout to earn a playoff birth, spotting the Bruins 3 game and 3 goal leads before crushing their dreams and aiding and abetting riots on the streets of Montreal, having Lavi call the perfect timouts, losing Stevens, Danny Briere and Ville Leino’s post season play, and Dan Carcillo meeting Marian Gaborik for the first time

Word Just In: Montreal riots would have happened anyway…

Then there were the downs: Having to look at Sidney Crosby, listening to Pierre McGuire during the Finals on tv, wondering what happened to the offense, losing Stevens, the regular season play of Leino and Briere, seeing Rick Tocchet on my TV.

And of course, the downright wacky: the goaltender situations…Emery, Boucher, Leighton, Backlund, Duchesne, will be remembered for getting onto the ice, while, Hutton, Caron and Teslak will be remembered for dressing, Pittsburgh’s video guy not sending in the goal, Stephane Auger getting Carcillo, Pronger waving at Eager, Leighton tossing 3 SOs against the Habs, Lavi magically turning games around with a timeout, Chris Pronger stealing pucks and Dan Carcillo flopping around like a fish out water, Cindy Crosby.
But with all that said, it doesn’t surprise me that the Flyers bowed out the way they did. Coming so close, teasing us the whole way with great comebacks and pulling miracles out of helmet-masks. I guess it’s time to talk about some of the memorable moments from birth to death of this season. So without further ado, let’s run down [DAMMIT CARCILLO, NOT THAT WAY!] the biggest moments of the season.

Opening Night:
To be honest I didn’t know what to expect, I knew we had Pronger on D and that made me happy. We had Ray Emery in net, a huge risk and a backup in Boucher which I thought was a huge mistake. Razor had a shutout to open the season and I was happy.
And then it unraveled rather quickly, December rolled around and Stevens was out. Hartnell was sucking, Emery got hurt and Boucher sucked a lot. But then Leighton was claimed on waivers and I felt like the towel was tossed in on this year.
Boucher went down and there was Leighton and, he’s not bad…he’s winning…WE HAVE A GOALIE! Leighton is here to save us all…and OH MY GOD HE’S DEAD! Err…crippled. NO! NO! NO! NOT BOUCHER! Please NOT BOUCHER! Give us Backlund please! Hell, give us Toskala…wait, I’m not gonna say things that I cannot take back. Granted, I think Toskala had a higher save percentage than Jeremy Duchesne...so...but Duchesne stopped every shot from over 150ft.

The ultimate highlight...what if Broad St didn't fight back?




Humor aside, it was a great year, and to everyone else, I leave this season with a few questions.

1. What if Carter didn’t have 2 broken feet during the post season?
2. What if Gagne didn’t have 2 broken toes during the post season?
3. What if the goalies were healthy?

Fact is, we’ll be back next year. BACK WITH A VENGEANCE! LOOK OUT NHL, Flyers will win it all in 2010, and starting next week, I will explain why.

It's not so bad, is it...

I think the title says it all. The question of course is, "Is being down 2-0 the nail in the coffin?" The answer is "it might be, it could very well be, but as the Flyers proved against the Bruins, it ain't over until the last game is played"

The Flyers have the talent to come back, they have the tools and Lavi has shown he's can rally the troops with the right timeouts and at the right times.

Is a change in goal the answer?

Maybe, just maybe the team can be sparked by Boucher in net, stranger things have happened, see Flyers 2009-2010 season.


Now, before I bow out into a pit of despair and depression from being down 2-0 and the fact that I'm still single...I do have some humor for today. A bunch of possible situations that are worse than what the Flyers are in right now...



1. They could have finished in last place and not had a draft pick to show for it...luckily that award went to the Toronto Maple Leafs

2. They could have had a season characterized by horrible goaltending and drama caused by changing Captains midseason....that honor went to the Carolina Hurricanes

3. They could have no idea where there home games are being played next year due to the impending sale of their team to an unknown buyer....that winner of that prize, the Phoenix Coyotes

4. They could tease us every year with a team that looks stacked and owns everything in sight during the regular season only to choke horribly in the playoffs...I'm looking at you San Jose

5. They could play in a city that riots after every single win...Est cette vraie, Montréal?


Also, when it comes to the players:

Mike Leighton and Brian Boucher COULD be Robert Esche and Roman Cechmanek or Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, of course, the way injuries went this season, there were 50/50 odds of us entering this series with Backlund/Duchesne in net...

Chris Pronger COULD be Randy Jones

Playoff Briere COULD be Not-Playoff Briere

Mike Richards COULD be NOT BOBBY CLARKE 2010

Simon Gagne COULD be Eric Lindros 2.0



Anyway, hopefully something turns around for the Flyers back in this city...

Game 7 Preview: Flyers at Bruins

Two weeks ago, when this series started, I was fairly confident I would be writing this post.

One week ago, when the Flyers were down 3-0, I was ready to toss this post in the garbage.

Now, I have to write it.


Flyers at Bruins game 7, and Down Goes Spezza has all you need to know to pick a winner.

The DGS minds were 50/50 in round one game sevens...we already picked a winner in round 2, the odds are against us, but we will not back down, we will not quit.

DGS is so nervous, that humor may be hard to embrace for this post, but I will try anyway.



-Flyers-

Pro: Have Mike Leighton, statistically the Flyers best goalie during the season, in net for game 7
Con: Should Leighton go down, the next 2 goalies on the Flyers depth chart have about 55 minutes of NHL experience

Pro: Ville Leino is finally playing as advertised when the Flyers got him, BTW, thanks Red Wings Fans!
Con: Ville Leino sure seemed a little uneasy about scoring on countryman and friend, Tuukka Rask.

Pro: Dan Carcillo hasn't taken any dumb penalties this series, or post season for that matter.
Con: NHL record in PIMs...

-Bruins-

Pro: Only 3 teams in sports history have come back from being down 3-0
Con: The pattern of hockey for teams that came back from 0-3 to force a game 7 is lose-win-lose-win-lose...

Pro: Last time an 0-3 became a 3-3 involving a Boston sports team the Boston team came out on top
Con: Last time an 0-3 became a 3-3 involving a Boston sports team the 0-3 team won the series

Pro: Can take solace in the fact that Tim Thomas is available if Rask should need to be lifted.
Con: Rask is rustier than an old lead pipe.



-Final Analysis-

It's in Boston, but I like my team and their chances: Flyers 3, Boston 2

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