From what I have heard, the press conference officially announcing that the Winter Classic will be played on Mon. Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park may not take place this week. There are still details that have yet to be squared away and, until that happens, there will not be an official confirmation of the outdoor game with the Rangers. The game is already listed on the Flyers'
schedule as a 1 PM start airing on NBC and CBC.
Sooner or later, the announcement is inevitable. But there has been a lot of frustration in the process. The Flyers are basically at the mercy of the NHL, the City of Philadelphia and the Phillies in completing the process.
Whenever you get multiple big bureaucracies and big money involved, things tend to move at a snail's pace. Even things as simple as scheduling future meetings with actual decision-makers involved takes time and effort to arrange.
The Wells Fargo Center has an open date on Jan. 2. According to the current plan, the Flyers plan to open the building and parking lot for a daylong hockey-related festival. As far as I know, there is no significant possibility at this point that the Flyers-Rangers game may have to be moved indoors to the Flyers' home arena.
When all is said and done, I'm sure there will a press conference -- possibly even this week -- and the game will happen as planned at CBP. But there are sure to be other bumps in the road between now and the opening faceoff.
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As much as anything else, I think the Flyers decision to offer a tryout invitation to Michael Nylander was a gesture made with input from Jaromir Jagr. The Flyers want to get things off on the right foot with Jagr. I doubt the decision to invite his former linemate to camp was made completely independent of a discussion with the future Hall of Famer.
The odds of Nylander making the opening night roster appear to be slim, considering his age and recent health record. But the act of inviting him to camp and giving him a legitimate evaluation -- whatever the end result -- is a way to show Jagr that the team values his input.
Remember, a happy Jagr is a productive Jagr. An unhappy Jagr can be a headache.
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