good that makes you just as old as me. thought only young guys visited this site.
- devfan30

old guy here lol

Why are Hawks fans allowed to use terrible ownership as an excuse for poor attendance, but Atlanta, Florida and Phoenix are not?
- Predaceous

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you aren't lumping a city the size of Chicago, with it's sports tradition in all 4 major sports and specifically, with it's hockey tradition, with Atlanta, Miami, and Phoenix, are you?

Habs have a bunch whiner fans also.
- Symba007

well you got briere now, so you guys can stop crying over him now.

Why are Hawks fans allowed to use terrible ownership as an excuse for poor attendance, but Atlanta, Florida and Phoenix are not?
- Predaceous

Money... Chicago is a large market. The others are not, at all.

well you got briere now, so you guys can stop crying over him now.
- Flyers_4_Life

Hate that signing...like most Habs fans.

well you got briere now, so you guys can stop crying over him now.
- Flyers_4_Life

ding ding ding ding ding

Though the "Vincent Lecavalier Tears" will take its place

who is the starting goalie in philly now? I know they brought in ray emery and his play well for a short period of time before falling apart style, but I can't believe even the flyers would trust him over the course of an 82 game season?

OK, point by point comments on this poorly researched(outside of figuring out the ticket costs) blog designed to get hits:

- Yes, the Flyers utilized the compliance buyout feature of the new CBA to shed two contracts that would have severely hampered them under the artificially reduced salary cap. So did Montreal, the NY Rangers, Toronto, Buffalo and a host of other teams. Tampa Bay spent more buying out Vincent Lecavalier than the Flyers will be on Bryzgalov. Strangely, no criticism of Steve Yzerman in your blog.

What does this say about Lecavalier? He is average now.
*Thus he was paid to be a solid second line Center not an elite player. Tampa would have LOVED to keep Vinny but not at that money
-Pronger was signed to his current deal at age 34, and has been basically forced to retire because of a freak injury. Pronger's prior injury history gave no indication that his career would be over 2 years later. Age had nothing to do with his inability to continue his career.

Still an insane contract for any player that would last into his 40's.
*Very possible he could've continued to play into his 40's and remained worth the cost. As you say below, potential is worthless. The pronger deal was made with a window of winning in mind and everyone was well aware of the risk

-In the Carter and Richards trades, two of the players added (Jake Voracek and Wayne Simmonds) have outscored Richards and Carter since the deals were made. The Flyers also landed 2 young forwards with tons of potential in Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier, as well as prospect Nick Cousins, who was among the leading scorers in the OHL last year.

While Carter and Richards played big roles in the Kings winning a Stanley Cup, they were not as vital as Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar or Dustin Brown, among others.

Kings win Cup one year then advance to Conference Finals and lose to Cup Champs.
Flyers miss playoffs. 'nuff said. Potential means very little in the NHL.

* I CANNOT stress this enough... The Flyers aren't the Kings. Trading Carter to Columbus and Richards to LA did NOT cost the Flyers a cup. The return they got back has little to do with potential considering Voracek and Simmonds alone, have out produced Carter and Richards. The Flyers were not going to win a cup with Richards and Carter. Pointing out that LA won the cup is a lazy arguement considering the Flyers only traded Richards to the Kings. (Everyone seems to ignore that Carter to LA had nothing to do with the Flyers)



-You also totally ignore the impact/influence of Ed Snider's role. The Flyers went after Bryzgalov because Snider publicly demanded that Holmgren get a big name goalie. There's plenty of circumstantial evidence that the Carter and Richards trades had Snider's finger prints all over them, for off ice issues. There's a litany of news reports about those two, so I won't bother to rehash it.

Those two led the team to the finals one year and got booted soon after by an ungrateful front office and fan base (nitpicking over 20 somethings partying).

*Fan base didn't care about the partying, all media. Carter blew a wide open net to win game 6 in Chicago. The return on them brought in Simmonds and Voracek (out producing Carter and Richards) Schenn, Couturier, Cousins, Gostisbehere and Stolarz. Without the trade the team had nothing to build around Richards and Carter and they'd continue along as overmatched 1st liners instead of the useful support players they became in LA

Congrats on the added hits you'll get for criticizing the Flyers. Should easily dwarf the usual 15-30 comments you regularly get. I don't mind criticism, I mind poorly researched trashing of a team, just to get hits and drive comments
- Jsaquella

That ridiculous buyout clause has saved the Flyers from Homers madness. They would be screwed 10 ways to Sunday stuck in the contracts of Bryz, Pronger, and Briere.

Anyways, don't waste your time Karash. Flyer fans and reality don't mix. You'll find out soon enough, welcome to the division.
- Sell My Monkey

The buyout clause only saved them because they needed saving due to CBA changes. Had rules and cap stayed the same the only bad contract was Bryz. Pronger on IR due to freak eye injury so is irrelevant and Briere was gone in 2 years.

Guys just stop, please. We all sound a little like crybabies right now, and the trolls will continue to troll despite the arguments you make. Karash got the cheap clicks, let him have it. If this is the only way he can get people to read his blogs, than that's pretty sad for him.

The Kings won the 2012 Stanley Cup...

ding ding ding ding ding

Though the "Vincent Lecavalier Tears" will take its place
- AllInForFlyers

Vinny for 2-3 years would have been great.

Guys just stop, please. We all sound a little like crybabies right now, and the trolls will continue to troll despite the arguments you make. Karash got the cheap clicks, let him have it. If this is the only way he can get people to read his blogs, than that's pretty sad for him.
- JAKEw1234

Yeah, I got better things to do.

good that makes you just as old as me. thought only young guys visited this site.
- devfan30

more older 30-50 range than kids in EE's thread.

Can a blogger get a ban? If so this is screaming for it. Let's see how much misinformation we can put out just to get more hits. Good job with the research. Enjoy the rest of your summer and your normal 15-20 replies.

Vinny for 2-3 years would have been great.
- Symba007

i didn't mind his contract, not horrible, not great.
Streit on the other hand i just don't understand.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but you aren't lumping a city the size of Chicago, with it's sports tradition in all 4 major sports and specifically, with it's hockey tradition, with Atlanta, Miami, and Phoenix, are you?
- johndewar

Yes I am. Chicago fans disappeared on their team. There were nights when they were putting 8k in the stands, but they get a pass for no other reason than the fact that they've been around a long time, and get to claim it was simply due to bad ownership.

Bailing on your team when times are tough and returning once they get good again, isn't that the very definition of bandwagon? It's not like it only happened for one season either. It's a historical trend with that team's fans. From the 95-96 season to the 07-08 season they declined in attendance every year but one. They also had crap attendance during the lean years in the late 70s and early 80s only to return in 82-83 season when the team was good again.

If any of the newer teams did this everyone would be screaming for relocation.

Yes I am. Chicago fans disappeared on their team. There were nights when they were putting 8k in the stands, but they get a pass for no other reason than the fact that they've been around a long time, and get to claim it was simply due to bad ownership.

Bailing on your team when times are tough and returning once they get good again, isn't that the very definition of bandwagon? It's not like it only happened for one season either. It's a historical trend with that team's fans. From the 95-96 season to the 07-08 season they declined in attendance every year but one. They also had crap attendance during the lean years in the late 70s and early 80s only to return in 82-83 season when the team was good again.

If any of the newer teams did this everyone would be screaming for relocation.
- Predaceous

Wirtz was on par with Ballard. The fans stayed away because they were tired of Wirtz. There was no local tv coverage, all games were pay per view. It was bad.

Yes I am. Chicago fans disappeared on their team. There were nights when they were putting 8k in the stands, but they get a pass for no other reason than the fact that they've been around a long time, and get to claim it was simply due to bad ownership.

Bailing on your team when times are tough and returning once they get good again, isn't that the very definition of bandwagon? It's not like it only happened for one season either. It's a historical trend with that team's fans. From the 95-96 season to the 07-08 season they declined in attendance every year but one. They also had crap attendance during the lean years in the late 70s and early 80s only to return in 82-83 season when the team was good again.

If any of the newer teams did this everyone would be screaming for relocation.
- Predaceous

technically they returned once bill wirtz died and his son actual took interest enough in the team to put it back on television. hard to follow a team when its not televised unless you are a season ticket holder. as far as i know they were the ONLY team in all 4 major sports without a local tv contract.

i didn't mind his contract, not horrible, not great.
Streit on the other hand i just don't understand.
- Marshalle

5.25M/yr for 4yrs and he is 35yrs old. Hopefully he stays healthy and produces, that's a lot of money tied up in an offensive D.

5.25M/yr for 4yrs and he is 35yrs old. Hopefully he stays healthy and produces, that's a lot of money tied up in an offensive D.
- Symba007

yes, yes it is. But I mean its not like 35+ contracts ever bite you in the

TROLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

HERE COME THE TROLLS BABY!!!

yes, yes it is. But I mean its not like 35+ contracts ever bite you in the
- Marshalle

Got to give cudos to this blogger, even though he has very little understanding of what is going on in Phily (only what he could read from other bloggers). Let just look at the comments on his last 5 blogs: 10, 12, 20, 10 and 4, and this one….235 so far! And, understanding that some people might see right thru his little scheme he adds this:
--That for highlighting the details of this situation and tossing in a bit of sarcasm for fun more people will call me an idiot in the comments to this blog than Paul Holmgren?
Just in case…So here is a lesson for all you bloggers of Carolina, Nashville, Columbus, Florida, LA, NJ, NYI etc., if you want to get hits even if you don’t know what you are talking about, just write about teams that people actually care about or jealous about and you’ll be fine!

Got to give cudos to this blogger, even though he has very little understanding of what is going on in Phily (only what he could read from other bloggers). Let just look at the comments on his last 5 blogs: 10, 12, 20, 10 and 4, and this one….235 so far! And, understanding that some people might see right thru his little scheme he adds this:
--That for highlighting the details of this situation and tossing in a bit of sarcasm for fun more people will call me an idiot in the comments to this blog than Paul Holmgren?
Just in case…So here is a lesson for all you bloggers of Carolina, Nashville, Columbus, Florida, LA, NJ, NYI etc., if you want to get hits even if you don’t know what you are talking about, just write about teams that people actually care about or jealous about and you’ll be fine!
- SGTrader

Indeed it is the very foundation of this site.

You, my friend, are a jackass..

The Bryzaster was all the owners doing. Holmgren did what he had to do and bought him out.

Chris Pronger was playing at an all star level before a freak injury ended his career.

Richards and Cater were not the reason the Kings won the cup, they were role players. Carter wasn't even traded to the Kings by the Flyers. You fail to mention that the Flyers got 4 extremely good players for those 2 guys.

What horrible contacts are you talking about? I'm pretty sure half the teams in the league will use their buyouts before next year. Not just the Flyers.

The Flyers play by the rules of the CBA. Just because some teams can't afford to spend up to the cap, how is that the Flyers problem?
- Jimmygrazz

Matt, I'm a fan of yours as a blogger but you walked into a hornets nest on this one. I grew up in PA as a Flyers fan. I've been living in North Carolina since the early 90's. It was not until the trade for Rod BrindAmour for Primeau that I adopted the Canes. I was one of those who went to the games and rooted for the Flyers. Going to the games with my kids has cemented me as a Canes fan. I believe as far as trades with the Flyers, Rutherford has had the upper hand. Most of them have been beneficial trades. BrindAmour, Justin Williams and Joni Pitkanen have all played important roles in the Canes franchise.