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Meltzer's Musings: 7/17/11

July 17, 2011, 10:23 AM ET [ Comments]
Bill Meltzer
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Eric Wellwood seems to have become a forgotten man in the discussion about potential contenders for earning an NHL roster spot out of training camp. Right now, the odds appear to work against the 21-year-old winger breaking camp with the big club. Even with the departure of Darroll Powe, Wellwood is in a tough spot on the depth chart. He would have to leapfrog several other players -- Matt Read, Ben Holmstrom, Tom Sestito and possibly Mike Testwuide -- to earn an opening night roster spot.

However, Wellwood is a player who could work his way into the mix with an impressive training camp. He adds an element of speed to the club and can potentially become a valuable penalty killer at the NHL level. Unlike Read, Wellwood does not need to play in the top 9 to be effective.

As a first-year pro last season, Wellwood played well in the early part of the season and did not look out of place during his early November call-up to the NHL. He did not sustain it for the entire season in the AHL, hitting the dreaded "rookie wall" after awhile. Even so, his body of work in his first season with the Phantoms (16 goals, 28 points in 73 games) was sufficient to earn Wellwood a recall to the Flyers during the Stanley Cup playoffs. He did not dress in any playoff tilts.

A small forward (5-11, 180 pounds), Wellwood needs to use his speed effectively and win battles against bigger players. He is not as naturally aggressive as Powe but is more naturally skilled. Wellwood is capable of doing what Powe did a few years ago: unseating more highly touted players to earn a regular starting spot as a versatile utility player who can be moved around the lineup as needed.

******

The other day, Teemu "Euroflyers" Hytonen posted a translation of an article from Hokej Pravda on Flyers defenseman Andrej Meszaros. The defending Barry Ashbee Trophy winner is on track to recover from off-season wrist surgery in time for the start of NHL training camp.

It is funny how much can change in a year. Last year at this time, Meszaros was considered a question mark. He was coming off a pair of subpar seasons in Tampa Bay, and his $4 million salary cap hit seemed awfully high. Meszaros entered the season being counted on to be the Flyers' number five defenseman.

This summer, Meszaros is just about the only Flyers' defenseman who does not have significant question marks attached to his name. Unlike impending unrestricted free agents Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle, Meszaros is signed for three seasons to come. Unlike Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen, age and long-term health are not concerns. Meszaros, who will turn 26 in October, is just entering what should be the prime years of his career.

Given the very real possibility that Pronger will not be ready to start the season after undergoing back surgery, Meszaros will be counted on to play an even bigger role than he performed last season.

The team will need him to increase his offensive output, reaching the double-digit goal mark and about 40 points (his career highs were 10 goals and 39 points as a rookie with Ottawa). They will also need him to continue showing the hard-nosed competitive edge he displayed for most of last season. In Pronger's absence, Meszaros is also going to draw tougher defensive assignments.

Plain and simple, if the Flyers to have a successful season in 2011-12, they will need Meszaros to elevate his game beyond the level that won him the team's best defenseman award last year. Is that a fair expectation? We'll start finding out in a few months.

*****

One of more heated debates about Hockey of Fame candidates in recent years centers around the candidacy of players who were dominant for a number of years but whose careers were cut short by injury problems. For some reason, Tim Kerr's name never seems to enter the discussion.

I would argue that Kerr -- who scored 370 goals in just 655 NHL games, including 224 goals in the four-season span between 1983-84 and 1986-87 -- is an even more deserving candidate than the already-enshrined Cam Neely.

Like Neely, Kerr had to overcome extreme adversity in both his personal and professional lives. But I would argue that anything Neely could do on the ice, Kerr could just as well or better.

Kerr did not drop the gloves quite as often as Neely, but Kerr could really handle himself in a fight. Kerr could play either center (his original position, where he was one hell of a good faceoff man) or wing. And when it came to presence in the offensive zone, Kerr was arguably even more dominant than Neely.

Defensemen used to cross-check, slash, grab and all but jump on Kerr's back and they still couldn't move the 6-foot-3, 230 pounder from setting up shop. There may not have been a better player in the league at scoring from his knees or even flat on the ice. Kerr was a master of talling off rebounds, deflections and scrambles around the net, but he could also score on wristers from the slot or wind up and rip a slapshot past the goalie.

Having seen virtually every game of the Flyers' careers of both Kerr and John LeClair, I am hard-pressed to say which player I would choose if I had to pick between the two. But if I were forced to pick one, I think it would be Kerr.

Kerr did not have LeClair's durability (Kerr's chronic knee and shoulder problems were eventually his undoing), but he was a little more automatic as a finisher. LeClair would hit occasional stretches where he would need several chances to bag one goal ,whereas Kerr rarely needed more than crack at a scoring opportunity to bag a goal. Kerr played with more of a mean streak than LeClair. Neither player was a speedy skater or stellar defensive player, but they got the job done well enough.

The other week, the realization hit me that there is now an entire generation of Flyers' fans who are too young to have seen Kerr play, and a large percentage of whom barely know his name. This year marks 20 years since the Flyers lost Kerr via waivers to the San Jose Sharks and he ended up on the New York Rangers.

Even though Kerr's career was in decline because of all of his injury problems, that was a real bitter pill to swallow. His departure in the midst of the five-year span in which the Flyers missed the playoffs was a real dark time for those who lived through all the stratospheric highs and extreme anguish that took place during Kerr's years with the team.

If only Kerr could have stayed a little healthier in about 3-4 more seasons, he'd have been pretty close to a shoo-in Hockey of Fame candidate. At least he is enshrined in the Flyers' Hall of Fame.

For those who are interested, here is an old Heroes of the Past article that I wrote about Kerr.
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