Marty Biron had an interesting slant on the ice 'n snow storm that paralyzed Philly this weekend.
He all but accused Philadelphians of being a bunch of wussies. Playfully, I might add.
“People in Buffalo are more used to it,” Biron said of nasty storm that shut down most of the East Coast. “[The city] don’t shut down. Back in Quebec, they don’t stay in their house just because snow falls.
“You get spoiled. From what I heard, the winter was really mild and everybody could walk outside and enjoy the outdoors. You get spoiled when you get that …”
Marty has a point ... but I think because he got out of the area on Friday via Atlantic City where there was no ice or snow - just rain _ he didn't see the effect of the ice storm on our area.
Ice is a lot worse than snow, in many ways. Every airport between New England and D.C. closed. That's not being a wussy, it's being sensible and cautious.
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Biron'a agent, Gilles Lupien, plans to talk to Flyers' GM Paul Holmgren mid-week about opening contract talks. Holmgren canceled plans to go to Ottawa because of the weather and was unable to meet with Lupien on Saturday.
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Simon Gagne lasted about 25 minutes into the practice then left the ice with more pain in his left hip flexor ...
Scottie Upshall went the entire practice (s/c joint in shoulder) and could play by the weekend ...
Biron's new pads arrived but he wants to tinker with them and he is worried that the color - black _ makes him look smaller in goal, instead of larger ...
He seemed to indicate he might go the entire summer working on these new pads ...
Ryan Potulny has missed 2 weeks with a staph infection in his right ankle. Serious enough he was hospitalized for 5 days. He practiced with the Flyers and will play vs. Florida. If I were a betting man, Potulny replaces Mike York.
Finally ... it was team photo day, latest the Flyers have held such in decades ... Bob Clarke is not in this year's team photo even through he carries a senior VP title.
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I was in Shoprite this weekend, as I am on many Sunday mornings when the Flyers are home.
I go from the deli, past the service counter, to the meat department, and usually pass 3-4 employees and a half-dozen Sunday regulars (shoppers) who I know.
The first question I usually get is, \'what do you think of this new goalie?\'
It\'s a fair question.
That so many shoppers - Philly sports fans, really _ want to know about Marty Biron tells me a lot about the mentality of the Philadelphia hockey fan.
We have been groomed to so many bad goalies (Roman Cechmanek), so many pretenders (Jeff \"I can\'t\" Hackett) and so many good, but not elite goalies (Brian Boucher), that people are dying for a legitimate No. 1 who can carry this team on their shoulders.
I always thought Ron Hextall should have won a Cup but the Flyers, as a team, were not in the same class as those great Edmonton teams that ruled during Hexy\'s era.
There was a time when the Flyers\' organization believed that between Robert Esche and Antero Niittymaki, one of them would emerge as a true No. 1 by now.
That the club more or less \"retired\" Esche this season and then went out and got Biron, tells you that Esche\'s career here is over and that management is concerned with the progress, or lack thereof, in Niittymaki.
I had a chat with Don Luce the other day. Luce\'s fingerprints are all over the Biron deal. I said to Luce that it bothered me that some established hockey scribes/broadcasters _ Bob McKenzie and Michael Farber, in particular _ are not sold on Biron as a No. 1.
\"He will be just another in a long, long list of Flyer goaltending mistakes,\" Farber predicted last week in Dallas in a conversation with myself and the Daily News\' Ed Moran.
That bothered me. Farber is one of the best hockey writers Sports Illustrated has ever had. Period. He knows his stuff.
McKenzie had told me weeks before he didn\'t think Biron has established himself in the NHL as a true No. 1. Mac seemed unsure himself on Biron.
Luce took this in and said, \"People forget that Dominik Hasek was ahead of Marty. If Hasek has not been there, Marty would have been the starter over him.\" Luce said people have forgotten how good Biron can be because of Ryan Miller.
Many of us always thought between Biron and Ryan Miller, Buffalo had a mini-gold mine there. And one guy\'s career was gonna suffer.
I think Biron is a true No. 1. How many people really believe that the Carolina Hurricanes would win the Stanley Cup when last season began with Cam Ward or Martin Gerber? Were either of those guys on par with some of the other elite NHL goalies?
I keep going back to this but ... If we have seen anything in recent years, it is you can win the Cup with a guy who might not have the numbers or dominance of other \"name\" guys if he gets \"hot\" in post-season and you build a team around him that has some of the essential ingredients to win _ team-wide speed, defense, veteran leadership and momentum saves from the goalie.
A lot of people think if the Flyers weren\'t so banged up on defense in 2004, they win Game 7 against Tampa and then Ken Hitchcock\'s Flyers beat Darryl Sutter\'s Calgary Flames for the Cup. With Robert Esche in goal.
Imagine what would have happened if the Flyers had won in \'04 with Esche. Would people then call him a legit No. 1 because he had won a Cup?
Back in 1998, in a rare moment of candor about his real philosophy of goaltenders, Bob Clarke told me that he had a conversation with V. Tretiak sometime after the \'72 Summit Series.
Tretiak told Clarke that any team could win a championship without a dominant goalie provided the team around the goalie played in a system that was dominant.
Tretiak said the \"team\" was more important than the goaltender.
Anyone who has suffered through the Flyers long, tortuous road without a Cup since 1975 has come to believe that \"team\" was always foremost in Clarke\'s mindset.
Clarke built his teams from the forward positions back - with an emphasis on big centers _ than from goal crease out.
I applaud Paul Holmgren for recognizing what Clarke should have seen in the past - that he needed to upgrade in goal.
We\'re all eager to see the Flyers next season, younger, healthier, and beginning with a clean slate, including Biron.
Holmgren still needs a true, No. 1 center and a No. 1 d-man to challenge in the East. The Flyers lack both right now.
Jeff Carter will grow into a No. 1, but that\'s a few years away. And on defense, the Flyers still lack that top, free-skating guy who makes a nightly impact. Joni Pitkanen should have been it and he\'s become a head case.
Put all that together this summer in free agency and a possible deal on draft day and the Flyers should be much stronger in front of Biron next season.
As for me, I think Marty\'s a No. 1 and he will only get better as the team around him improves. That is something Clarke and I would agree on - the team around the goalie.
Difference is, the Flyers finally have a goalie who should prove capable of carrying them over the hump.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger • 
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