What's the Buzz?
1. What All-time favorite player of yours left your team and left you the most disappointed ever?
With Free Agency, we NHL fans are used to losing players. When forking over the big bucks for an NHL jersey, I bet many of us would probably pay some extra cash for some kind of service that guarantees you a current players name or number on the back...A service where you could somehow get a new jersey sent to you if your player changed teams.
I have to admit I have been lucky. As a Flyers fan growing up not many of my favorite players ever left the franchise at the time they were in the prime of their career. Aside from my favorite all-time player Pelle Lindberg who died tragically, most of my favorites stayed Flyers year after year.
Of course many other NHL fans haven't been so lucky. The Oilers of the mid-80s have to be the best example of players leaving, but these days it is quite common for the lower income teams to lose a player eventually that they just couldn't afford. It isnt quite as bad as it was pre-lockout, but it still flat out stinks.
How do I define a player as a true all-time favorite player?
There are many players who I have loved over the years, but only a very few I would actually put in this class. Some define it as "A player I would pay to see. To me, it's simple. An all-time favorite player is a player who I am aware of when his next shift is coming. If I find myself truly waiting for every one of his next shifts...he is an all-timer fo me.
My Flyers All-time favorites... Bobby Clarke, Rick MacLeish, Ken Linseman, Ron Flockhart, Pelle Eklund, Mark Howe, Ilkka Sinisalo, Eric Lindros, Danny Briere, Peter Forsberg, Claude Giroux, and Ville Leino.
(I know some will make the argument Forsberg was traded originally, but he was traded before he ever played a game for the Flyers...however in his very brief time in Philly he was an absolute all-timer for me.)
As for Flyers goalies...Bernie Parent, Pete Peeters, Pelle Lindberg, and at times Ron Hextall.
So that brings me to my #8 Great Move of the Summer...Which also corresponds with the first time one of my all-time favorites left my favorite team.
Ville Leino Signs with the Buffalo Sabres.
The Flyers made a mistake not signing Ville Leino when they had the chance to. It was a gamble, and they lost.
The mistake was not made on July 1. The mistake was made the day the Flyers traded for Kris Versteeg last spring. I really believe the Flyers, at that time, could have gotten Ville signed for a number that would have worked for everyone. Ville wanted to be a Flyer. However, the Flyers also believed at that time that Bobrovsky would be able to anchor the team for relatively cheap money in the years to come and worst case they could go out and get a guy like Vokoun for 3 million if need be.
After the events of the playoffs the Flyers felt the need to double down on Bryzgalov. Many question if the Flyers had to go nuts on Bryzgalov. Looking at the marketplace and with the hindsight of the Vokoun signing...
So then, up went the cap, and teams like Buffalo were willing to pay 4.5 for Leino. That number was money the Flyers felt would have messed up their own structure. When you are paying Giroux $3.75M per it gets hard to give Ville 4.5. Right or wrong, I know this was a factor.
The Sabres Step Up
It is ironic that the last NHL goal Sabres fans have seen live was scored by Ville Leino in OT of game 6 in the opening round. If Ville doesn't score that goal the injury riddled Sabres may have gone to the second round...
Anyway...
Many people have asked me if Ville is worth 4.5 per?
He hasn't played that many NHL games...
He is untested...
He was traded by the Red Wings for virtually nothing two years back...
He has a bad hip, etc...
Let me say this to the Sabres fans out there...Ville Leino is every bit worth this deal.
He will put up huge numbers in Buffalo.
He is a power play specialist who has had limited PP time on Detroit and Philly.
He is impossible to take the puck from.
He is sly defensively.
He carries the puck and slows the game down around him like few can.
He isn't big, but he shields the puck as well as any player in the NHL over the last several years.
He is a great guy/hockey player to the core.
He loves playing the game and he thrives off of passionate fans.
He has the ability to lift his game to another level in the playoffs.
And mark my words...remember I told you this Sabres fans:
There will be at least one or two moments in every game when Leino does something that simply makes you say, "Wow, did you see that?"
Lindy Ruff will also be a much better coach for Leino than Laviolette or Babcock have been as well. Lindy will get Leino's game without nearly the kind of convincing that existed in Detroit and Philly.
I was tempted to put this deal as higher than #8 on my list, but the Sabres made another move this summer that may even eclipse this one. If you are a Sabres fan you are champing at the bit to get on with this season already. This Sabres team could be an absolute force.
What's the Buzz?
1. What All-time favorite player of yours left your team and left you the most disappointed ever?
Coming up....
A rumor Update and my thoughts on the Flyers "Dry Island" controversy...
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