FLYERS QUICK HITS: AUG. 12, 2015
1) The Comcast Network Philadelphia will broadcast three Flyers preseason games this year. The schedule is as follows (all times Eastern):
Tue, Sept 22 Flyers vs. Rangers 7 p.m. Fri, Sept. 25 Flyers vs. Islanders 7 p.m. Wed, Sept. 30 Flyers vs. Devils 7 p.m.
2) The annual "Meet the Flyers" television special on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia will be taped at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, NJ on Saturday, Sept. 19. The program typically airs multiple times on CSN before the start of the season.
3) Flyers captain Claude Giroux was one of the first veteran players to come to Voorhees this summer to work out in preparation for training camp. While in town last week, he did an interview for the Flyers official website. As with linemate Jakub Voracek, Giroux reports that new Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol flew to meet him in person this summer. Hakstol met with Giroux in Ottawa. The two men spent several hours together, getting to know one another and then discussing key issues such as establishing a team identity.
4) As part of his very busy summer schedule, Hakstol will conduct on-ice instruction for Snider Hockey kids on Thursday. The 10 a.m. session will take place at Scanlon Ice Rink on Venango Street in Philadelphia. The new coach also plans a lunchtime get-together with members of the local media to get to know each other a little better as people.
5) Today marks the 16th anniversary of the Flyers registering Ruslan Fedotenko's first pro contract with the National Hockey League. Now 36, Fedotenko last played in the NHL during the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when he spent his second stint in the Flyers organization as a fourth-line player on a one-year contract.
The Ukrainian-born Fedotenko spent the 2013-14 season in the KHL captaining Donbass Donetsk but then found himself without a team when Donbass suspended operations amid the political turmoil between the Ukraine and Russia. Fedotenko was a tryout player in camp with the New Jersey Devils last September but did not make the team. Later, he signed an AHL contract with the Iowa Wild and spent 13 games with the team. The veteran played well enough to earn a one-year, two-way NHL contract with the Minnesota Wild for the 2015-16 season, although he may end up being waived and assigned back to the AHL club.
Fedotenko has played 863 regular season NHL games and 108 playoff game. He has two Stanley Cup rings to his credit. Flyers fans remember only too well what a major role Fedotenko played in the Stanley Cup runs by Tampa Bay in 2004 and Pittsburgh in 2009.
Dating back to the trade that sent Fedotenko to Tampa Bay in the trade that brought the fourth overall pick (Joni Pitkà¤nen) of the 2002 NHL Draft to the Flyers, the Ukrainian forward has enjoyed greater offensive success playing against the Flyers than any other NHL team. He scored 18 regular season goals versus Philadelphia as well as 7 goals (six in the 2004 Eastern Conference Finals) and 10 points in 13 playoff games. For Fedotenko's NHL career, he has scored 173 goals and 366 points.
For those who have followed Fedotenko since the start of his pro career, it is hard not to pull for Fedotenko to make it back to the NHL before retiring as an active player. He was a delight to interview during his early days with the Phantoms and the Flyers -- an earnest, exuberant and hard-working young man who was thrilled simply to be living out his dream of playing professional hockey. Current Flyers prospect Radel Fazleev reminds me of the young Fedotenko a little bit.
Some people may recall the unusual circumstances under which Rusty made his NHL debut on Oct. 24, 2000. The Flyers were playing the Rangers in Madison Square Garden that night, and Fedotenko was not notified of the callup until fairly late in the afternoon. As such, he had to scurry to get to Manhattan and arrived at MSG shortly after the game started. Although he did not get a point in the game, Fedotenko played well in a 5-4 Philadelphia victory.
Two nights later, the same clubs met again in Philadelphia in the second end of the home-and-home set. Philly prevailed for the second time, 3-0. The rookie recorded his first NHL point, getting the primary assist on a Rick Tocchet goal that gave goaltender Brian Boucher some breathing room early in the third period.
Fedotenko's ice time grew steadily in the games to come. Even so, the rookie -- who had gotten off to a slow start with the Phantoms that season -- constantly worried that he was about to get back to the minors. He worked his tail off to stay in the NHL and the feared demotion never happened. He scored 16 goals and 36 points that season, and spent the next 13 years exclusively in the NHL.
In his final two NHL seasons with the New York Rangers and Flyers, Fedotenko exclusively played a fourth-line role and killed penalties. After the 2012-13 season, he expressed unhappiness with that role even though it had become his meal ticket to remaining in the NHL. That was a departure from the young man who would gladly have done anything asked of him simply to wear an NHL uniform.
The last two years seem to have given Rusty some renewed perspective. If he is to earn a spot with the Wild, it will be as a part-time player deployed almost exclusively in defensive zone starts. Even in the AHL, he'd be a checker.
Fedotenko seems to realize the end of the line is drawing close and that he will have to be honest with himself about where he is in his career. He recently told the Des Moines Register that he is prepared for whatever comes but still burns to win one more Stanley Cup.
He told the paper, "I still feel pretty good and physically fit. At some point, when I realize I am getting too old or too slow and I cannot help the team, then I think I need to kind of look in the mirror and say, 'Maybe, that's enough.'"
TODAY IN FLYERS HISTORY FROM FlyersAlumni.org
1967: In preparation for the franchise's first season of operation, the Flyers sign former Boston Bruins goaltender Bernie Parent (the first player Philadelphia selected in the NHL Expansion Draft) and minor league veteran goaltender Claude Cyr (a former Philadelphia Rambler among many stops) to contracts.
2004: The Flyers sign Mattias Timander to a two-year contract extension. The player, originally acquired for depth during the 2003-04, ultimately stays in Sweden with Modo during and after the locked-out 2004-05 NHL season.
Alum Birthday: Rosaire Paiement
A 1960s-era Flyers player who spent parts of the franchise's first three seasons with the club, Rosaire Paiement turns 70 years old today. One of 16 children, Rosaire is the older brother of long time NHL player Wilf Paiement. Their father, Wilf Sr., was a former national senior arm wrestling champion.
A junior hockey teammate of Bernie Parent and Doug Favell with the Boston Bruins-affiliated Niagara Falls Flyers, Paiement was a feisty two-way forward. He played a combined 43 regular season games for the Flyers plus three playoff games.
Paiement's rights came to the Flyers from Boston at a high cost. General manager Bud Poile acquired Paiement from the Bruins on Oct. 17, 1967, in exchange for a first-round pick in the 1970 Draft. Boston used the pick to select future Flyers standout Rick MacLeish. In fairness to Hall of Fame inductee Poile, the NHL Draft system was in its infancy at the time of the 1967 expansion and the talent-starved expansion franchises needed all the immediate help they could get.
Playing for the Quebec Aces (the Flyers' first American Hockey League affiliate), Paiement posted 48 points and 189 penalty minutes in 64 games in 1967-68. He dressed in seven NHL games for the Flyers that year. His greatest impact came during the Flyers' seven-game playoff loss to the rough-and-tumble St. Louis Blues. In game five of the series, Paiement scored the first playoff hat trick in franchise history. Two of his goals were set up by fellow French Canadian forward Andre Lacroix.
The Flyers lost Paiement to the Vancouver Canucks in the 1970 expansion draft. Seeing more ice time than he ever received in Philadelphia, Paiement had an outstanding 1970-71 season for the Canucks. He tallied 34 goals, 62 points and compiled a 152 penalty minutes. Paiement was also a plus-12 for a club that posted a 24-46-8 record.
After two seasons with the Canucks, Paiement was lured to the rival World Hockey Association. Playing for the Chicago Cougars, Paiement had 33 goals, 69 points and 135 penalty minutes in his first WHA campaign. Another 30-goal season followed the next year, as Chicago made it the playoff finals before losing to a Houston Aeros team that featured Gordie, Marty and Mark Howe.
Paiement subsequently played for the New England Whalers and Indianapolis Racers. Late in the 1977-78 season, Paiement's career came to an abrupt end. During a scrum with Dave Semenko, Paiement got elbowed and then sucker-punched in the left eye. He lost vision in the eye and subsequently retired at age 32.
In his post-hockey life, Paiement re-settled in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. He became part-owner of a popular local bar and grill called Jester's.
The Flyers Alumni will host a fantasy hockey camp from August 21-24 in Atlantic City, open to anyone age 21 and older. Instructors and Alumni participants will include Bernie Parent, Brian Propp, Ian Laperriere, Todd Fedoruk, Andre "Moose" Dupont, Dave "the Hammer" Schultz, Joe Watson and Bob "the Hound" Kelly.
Participation costs $3,000 apiece and you can register a spot online. Over on the Flyers' Alumni website, there is more information on camp-related activities and on-ice schedules.