On a slow hockey news weekend, I think now would be a good time to respond publicly to questions that have been emailed to me recently by various Hockeybuzz readers. I will also try to do this this from time to time during the season when there's a mini-break in the schedule.
If it was your decision to make, which of Jeff Carter, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux would you play at center and which one(s) would you play at wing? The way I see it, Carter is more of a natural winger (regardless of the finals) and Giroux is a born center. As for Briere, I think he proved in the playoffs that he's best off at center.
-- Jason McCann
If it were my call, I would start the season with Claude Giroux on right wing and Carter and Briere at center. Although the Flyers converted him from a winger to a center, Giroux has played more wing than center over his career and is effective creating plays off the walls. I agree that Carter has the ability to play wing if he sets his mind to it, but he brings some size to the middle (even if he plays more of a finesse game) and has improved on faceoffs in each of his NHL seasons to the point that he won more than he lost last season.
Briere does seem more effective as a center, but keep in mind that his defensive shortcomings become more of a season-long concern when he plays center. Even so, I think he's earned the right to stay at center after his huge playoff run. I'm looking forward to seeing if he can continue his success flanked by Ville Leino and Scott Hartnell.
Do you think there's any chance [Sergei Bobrovsky] will see any games for the big club this year? Do you see Bobrovsky or [Joacim] Eriksson as the best Flyers goalie prospect? Also, you don't seem to be too excited about Johan Backlund, but word is that he was the best player on the Phantoms last season and I like what I saw in his one NHL game. Can he at least beat Boucher, and if not, will Backlund or Bobrovsky be the starter for the Phantoms. And where does that leave Nic Riopel? Thanks!
-- Brian Gordon
In all likelihood, Bobrovsky will need a full season in North America before he will be ready for the NHL. He will not only have to adjust to the smaller rink, there will also be off-ice adjustments to make as well (he speaks no English). If he has a spectacular first half of the season and one of the goalies currently ahead of him were to falter, I could see a scenario where he may get an NHL look in the second half of the season. But that's a lot of "ifs" and I still think 2011-12 is a more reasonable NHL ETA for him.
In terms of which goalie in the system is the best prospect, right now I think you have to give Bobrovsky the nod over Eriksson. The reason is that Bobrovsky has already had success at the KHL level and enters this season one step away from the NHL. Eriksson is younger and has yet to establish himself in Elitserien, although he had a tremendous season in Allsvenskan (the top Swedish minor league) last year. In the long run, of course, it remains to be seen which player has the higher upside. But for now, I have to go with the guy who has proven himself against tougher opposition.
Backlund had a good year for a bad Phantoms team last year, but he was no miracle worker (.906 save percentage). My opinion of him is based upon following his career in Sweden, where he was never better (in my opinion) than the fourth or fifth best starting goalie in the 12-team league. He had a real rough preseason for the Flyers last year before he settled in. At age 29, I think he pretty much tops out as a serviceable NHL backup. Of course, it's been pointed out that the same could be said about Michael Leighton a year ago, and I can't dispute that. Assuming he is fully recovered from hip surgery, I do think Backlund deserves a shot to challenge Brian Boucher this season.
Riopel's destination this season depends on what happens with Backlund and Boucher. If Backlund is in the NHL, Bobrovsky will start for the Phantoms and Riopel will get every chance to be the backup. Otherwise, Riopel will likely be loaned to another team. I can't say right now whether it would be an AHL or ECHL club.
Why did Chris Pronger wait so long to have knee surgery if he was injured during the playoffs. It doesn't make much sense. What's your gut feeling-- will he be ready by opening night? And do the Flyers have any reason to worry about his contract being voided by the NHL?
-- David Petrillo
Pronger tried to rehab his knee without surgery, and was able to play well for the remainder of the playoffs. It acted up over the summer, so he scheduled the arthroscopic surgery. If I had to predict one way or another, I would say that he will be in the lineup come opening night. But I would rather see him take his time to recover, even if it means he misses a few games to start the season. Better that than have recurring problems.
As far as his contract goes, who knows what the NHL office might do, if anything. I don't expect the league to take any punitive action. But even if the league were to go so far as to void the contract (necessitating a renegotiation) or insist the club pay him at his cap hit rate over the balance of the contract, I am 99.99% sure that Pronger will be a Flyer the rest of his career.
In his chat on CSN the other day, Tim Panaccio said your idea about the Flyers signing Wayne Primeau or Stephane Yelle was a terrible idea and that neither player can make the Flyers. How do you respond? Thanks!
--Chris Hillmann
Tim is entitled to his opinion. I will respectfully disagree but clarify first that my suggestion was not that the Flyers sign either player. Rather, it was to invite a free agent veteran to camp as a non-roster player and allow him to try out for the club. Blair Betts is still projected to miss the first month of the season as far as I know, and you also have to keep in mind that shoulder separations have been a frequent problem for him in his career, causing him to miss 65 games over various seasons to date. Even though he had shoulder surgery this summer, he is still going to be vulnerable to reinjury based on his history.
I still consider Primeau (who won 55.3% of his faceoffs last year, was a minus-one on a bad Toronto team, and adds some size in the middle) a pretty decent insurance policy if Betts starts the season on LTIR. As for Yelle, I was just throwing out some names of veteran checking liners who were unsigned -- I also mentioned Jeff Halpern, who has faded badly in recent seasons. But Yelle is a guy who has been part of a couple Stanley Cup winners and could be serviceable at least in the short term.
Put it this way: I'd be more comfortable starting the season with one of the aforementioned vets than a month of mixing and matching Darroll Powe and others until Betts comes back.
In your list of top Flyers prospects a few weeks ago, you left out Luke Pither. The question is why? He's coming off a great junior season and was one of the best players at the Flyers rookie camp. Is there something about him you don't like?
-- Seth Weinberg
I posted about Pither on the message board the other day. Call it the Len Barrie effect: I am leery about overvaluing a player based on his accomplishments as an overage junior player. If Pither can carry over his big overage season to the pro level, the Flyers may be onto something. But I will need to see him play before I can evaluate him.
Thanks to everyone who PMed or emailed me (
[email protected]) this summer. I always try to respond as quickly as possible, but sometimes there's a backlog of messages and it takes me a little longer to reply.
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Today on Versus.com, I profiled six potential
Calder Trophy candidates for the 2010-11 season.
Handicapping this season's rookie of the year race is even trickier than usual, and the Calder is one of toughest trophies to predict before the season anyway. If I had to single out a particular player at this point, my pick would be Edmonton's Jordan Eberle.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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