FLYERS SIGN SCHULTZ TO EXTENSION
The Flyers have signed defenseman Nick Schultz to a multi-year contract extension. It appears that Schultz gave the Flyers a hometown discount, as the deal is reportedly for a two-year term at a $2.25 million dollar cap hit.
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MASON RETURNS TO ICE, TIMONEN PRACTICES
Flyers goaltender Steve Mason participated in on-ice workouts with goaltending coach Jeff Reese at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ, on Wednesday. Barring a setback, the netminder should be on target to return to game action next week after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery on his right knee on Feb. 10.
In the meantime, Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen participated in his first practice with the team after taking part in Tuesday's morning skate. An optimistic return date for his first game of 2014-15 season could be Feb. 26 in Toronto or perhaps Feb. 28 at home against the Rangers. With Timonen just starting to practice with the team, no timetable is certain yet.
Defenseman Michael Del Zotto did not participate in Tuesday's practice. Andrew MacDonald, a healthy scratch the last two games and absent the last three games (including an excused leave to be with family following the death of his grandmother), was paired with Luke Schenn.
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DESJARDINS HALL OF FAME NIGHT: HONORING A DECADE OF QUIET EXCELLENCE
During the course of his 10-plus season career with the Philadelphia Flyers, Eric Desjardins was one of the most under-appreciated sports stars in the city. He just went about his business in a quiet, graceful and dignified way and it was easy for even many Flyers fans to take his play for granted. "Rico" was a model of consistency, game after game and year after year.
While fans may have underestimated Desjardins, his teammates and coaches fully recognized his critical importance to the team. Perhaps Terry Murray, who coached Desjardins with the Flyers from 1995 through the 1996-97 season, said it best.
"What stood out the most for me was the professionalism that he brought every day," said Murray. " He did things right, with concentration, with focus, whether it was a game against a premier team or a bottom place team or the first day of training camp.I'm sure he played mistake-free games many times in is career."
Tomorrow night at the Wells Fargo Center, Desjardins will finally get his chance to bask in an individual spotlight; unfamiliar territory for someone who was consummately team-oriented and modest about his personal accomplishments. On hand to help "Rico" celebrate will be the likes of John LeClair, Eric Lindros, longtime Flyers defense partner Chris Therien, Shjon Podein and Keith Primeau.
The Hall of Fame ceremony starts at 7 p.m. EST. The Flyers-Sabres game will start at 8.
During his career, Desjardins may not quite have been a Norris Trophy candidate at the very top of the NHL heap, but he was in the category a half-step down: perennial All-Star caliber two-way defensemen. While there is temptation to compare Desjardins to other top Flyers defensemen such as Mark Howe or Kimmo Timonen, the best comparison player in my view is someone who never played for the Flyers: Teppo Numminen.
An often over-looked part of Desjardins' career is the way he adjusted his game over the years as major injuries set in. A turning point season for him was the 1998-99 campaign, when he valiantly played through an 80 percent tear of his left anterior cruciate ligament (wearing a brace while essentially playing on one leg). Subsequently, he had a pair of serious shoulder separations and a shattered forearm that required a titanium plate to be inserted for stability.
"Rico always handled whatever came his way very professionally," recalls Therien, now a Flyers television commentator. "He was just a consummate pro."
Desjardins adjusted his game accordingly over the years. For example, he employed a six-day-per-week workout regimen to add strength after the ACL tear -- which affected his skating for a couple of seasons -- caused him to lose a step. Previously, Desjardins had been one of the smoothest skating defensemen in the NHL. He coped without missing a beat.
"Rico" always played a highly intelligent and structured game. Perhaps it was no coincidence, then, that he played the best hockey of his Flyers career under the structured approaches implemented by Murray, Roger Neilson and Ken Hitchcock. It was under Hitchcock that Desjardins experienced a latter-career revival after a couple of uneven seasons both for the team and for himself.
Later today on the
Flyers Alumni official website, we will have an in-depth Flyers career retrospective on Desjardins and a look at what he's doing now. The article is completed and waiting to go online.
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NIINIMAA PARTICIPATES IN HOCKEY MARATHON FOR A WORTHY CAUSE
Former Flyers defenseman Janne Niinimaa, who spent his NHL rookie season of 1996-97 and most of the 1997-98 campaign in Philly prior to being traded to the Edmonton Oilers, recently returned to Edmonton from his native Finland for a good cause.
The retired player took part in the World's Longest Hockey Game, a 250-hour marathon of hockey on Saikers Acres for the benefit of the Alberta Cancer Foundation. The participants raised over $1.1 million (and still counting) for the foundation. Niinimaa is slated to return to Finland tomorrow.
For those who still wish to contribute,
this is Niinimaa's personal page to raise funds. In his writeup, Niinimaa talks about the cause as well as how much his years in Edmonton meant to him.
Side note: Although his stay in Philly was brief, Niinimaa was a player whom I followed with great interest before, during and after his NHL career. He's an interesting guy, especially in his encyclopedic knowledge of hard rock and heavy metal music.
Many years ago, on a game night in Philadelphia, I interviewed Niinimaa for the now defunct Pro Hockey Euro Report during his tenure with Edmonton. It was one of the most enjoyable interviews I have ever done, even though half of it ended up having nothing to do with my initial reason for interviewing him.
Apart from the hockey talk, we somehow dovetailed into tangential discussions of the merits of Metallica vs. Megadeth, the Swedish rock band Candlemass, his ongoing friendship with former Flyers teammate Mikael Renberg and a common connection of ours (he was friendly with Finnish former NBA basketball player Hanno Möttölä, who is cousin of a longtime Finnish hockey friend of mine named Jussi Lehmola).
That was one of those nights where you get a lot more than you bargained for, in a very positive way. Niinimaa was extremely generous with his time to me, even though he had no idea who I was and had other things he needed to do. If anything, I felt bad for holding him up so long.
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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