Post by WHA on Dec 12, 2009 10:46:21 GMT -5
Speculation surrounds Flyers
By CHRIS STEVENSON, q
The vultures are circling.
If the firing of coach John Stevens and the hiring of Peter Laviolette don’t turn things around, one rival general manager believes the Flyers will be shopping some big names. And he’s watching with interest.
In this salary cap world, shopping is one thing. Making a deal involving guys with $6 million cap hits is another story.
The names of Flyers forwards Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell are expected to be in play if Laviolette can’t turn the underachievers around in the next few weeks.
While much of the speculation regarding the Flyers lately has involved goaltending – Ray Emery has been lost for at least a month due to abdominal surgery – scoring has been the real issue. The Flyers have been shut out in three of their last six games.
The oft-injured Simon Gagne is expected back from hernia surgery in a week or so, which should help.
THE BUZZ: That sound you heard the other night was the Tampa Bay Lightning taking a deep breath.
Forwards Steve Stamkos and Ryan Malone left the game against Edmonton and needed an X-ray and MRI respectively. It turns out neither are expected to miss significant time, though. The pair have combined for 33 of the Lightning’s 75 goals, 44 percent of the Bolts’ offence...Santa will bring some presents for the Detroit Red Wings, who are just trying to hang on until Christmas. Forward Valtteri Filppula is expected back from his wrist injury Dec. 26 and defenceman Niklas Kronwall shortly after that.
REVELATIONS: Interesting story on attendance out of Tampa by Damian Cristodero of the St. Petes Times: the announced figures this season for the Lightning are an average of 14,403 tickets “sold and distributed” through 15 games (25th in the league). But Hillsborough County, which holds the lease on the St. Pete Times Forum, gets the actual turnstile counts and they reveal an average of 10,576 (the low was 7,882 on Halloween). It’s a tough time there when you consider in 2005-06, after the Lightning won the Cup, the Bolts averaged announced crowds of 20,509...Rumours are circulating there could be contract talks between the Canadiens and potential free agent Tomas Plekanec in the near future. The policy in Montreal has been not to negotiate during the season, but new ownership could change that.
SPECULATIONS: It should come as no surprise that it took mere moments after Mark Messier was named the general manager of Team Canada for the world championships that buddy Wayne Gretzky’s name was floated as potential coach. Nothing against The Great One, but there are some other pretty good candidates out there: Bob Hartley, Craig MacTavish and Guy Carbonneau; all are more accomplished coaches than Gretzky...How much does Anze Kopitar miss Los Angeles Kings teammate Ryan Smyth? Kopitar has just one goal and three assists in the 11 games Smyth has been out with an upper body injury. Smyth could be back before Christmas. Kopitar had 14 goals and 32 points in the first 22 games of the season.
HEAR AND THERE: When the Nashville Predators ended the 13-shootout winning streak of Columbus goaltender Mathieu Garon (an NHL record) the other night, none of the Preds who beat him – Marcel Goc, Jason Arnott and Steve Sullivan – had scored in the shootout this season...Speaking of the Blue Jackets, Fredrik Modin (remember him?) is expected to make his season debut Saturday. He has missed 122 of 195 games since the start of the 2007-08 season. Does he intend to play next year? “As much time as I’ve missed, I could probably play until I’m 50,” he said.
JUST WONDERING: The Chicago Blackhawks visited Buffalo Friday night. You think Patrick Kane took a cab to the rink?
By CHRIS STEVENSON, q
The vultures are circling.
If the firing of coach John Stevens and the hiring of Peter Laviolette don’t turn things around, one rival general manager believes the Flyers will be shopping some big names. And he’s watching with interest.
In this salary cap world, shopping is one thing. Making a deal involving guys with $6 million cap hits is another story.
The names of Flyers forwards Jeff Carter and Scott Hartnell are expected to be in play if Laviolette can’t turn the underachievers around in the next few weeks.
While much of the speculation regarding the Flyers lately has involved goaltending – Ray Emery has been lost for at least a month due to abdominal surgery – scoring has been the real issue. The Flyers have been shut out in three of their last six games.
The oft-injured Simon Gagne is expected back from hernia surgery in a week or so, which should help.
THE BUZZ: That sound you heard the other night was the Tampa Bay Lightning taking a deep breath.
Forwards Steve Stamkos and Ryan Malone left the game against Edmonton and needed an X-ray and MRI respectively. It turns out neither are expected to miss significant time, though. The pair have combined for 33 of the Lightning’s 75 goals, 44 percent of the Bolts’ offence...Santa will bring some presents for the Detroit Red Wings, who are just trying to hang on until Christmas. Forward Valtteri Filppula is expected back from his wrist injury Dec. 26 and defenceman Niklas Kronwall shortly after that.
REVELATIONS: Interesting story on attendance out of Tampa by Damian Cristodero of the St. Petes Times: the announced figures this season for the Lightning are an average of 14,403 tickets “sold and distributed” through 15 games (25th in the league). But Hillsborough County, which holds the lease on the St. Pete Times Forum, gets the actual turnstile counts and they reveal an average of 10,576 (the low was 7,882 on Halloween). It’s a tough time there when you consider in 2005-06, after the Lightning won the Cup, the Bolts averaged announced crowds of 20,509...Rumours are circulating there could be contract talks between the Canadiens and potential free agent Tomas Plekanec in the near future. The policy in Montreal has been not to negotiate during the season, but new ownership could change that.
SPECULATIONS: It should come as no surprise that it took mere moments after Mark Messier was named the general manager of Team Canada for the world championships that buddy Wayne Gretzky’s name was floated as potential coach. Nothing against The Great One, but there are some other pretty good candidates out there: Bob Hartley, Craig MacTavish and Guy Carbonneau; all are more accomplished coaches than Gretzky...How much does Anze Kopitar miss Los Angeles Kings teammate Ryan Smyth? Kopitar has just one goal and three assists in the 11 games Smyth has been out with an upper body injury. Smyth could be back before Christmas. Kopitar had 14 goals and 32 points in the first 22 games of the season.
HEAR AND THERE: When the Nashville Predators ended the 13-shootout winning streak of Columbus goaltender Mathieu Garon (an NHL record) the other night, none of the Preds who beat him – Marcel Goc, Jason Arnott and Steve Sullivan – had scored in the shootout this season...Speaking of the Blue Jackets, Fredrik Modin (remember him?) is expected to make his season debut Saturday. He has missed 122 of 195 games since the start of the 2007-08 season. Does he intend to play next year? “As much time as I’ve missed, I could probably play until I’m 50,” he said.
JUST WONDERING: The Chicago Blackhawks visited Buffalo Friday night. You think Patrick Kane took a cab to the rink?