(Spoilers) The thread where CALIFORNIA LOOOOVE~!

[SeanDMan]

Ed Snider is like Ed Snider?

[caucasianheat]

Flyers are dreadful 5 on 5 right now and almost all of their point-producing forwards (specifically, all ones that have been under Laviolette for a while) have gotten nothing done. Holmgren I'd leave for now because I don't think it's a failure of the team he's put together. Never liked Laviolette much.

[SeanDMan]

I don't know how you not blame Holmgren for the mess he's in.

[caucasianheat]

You can definitely blame him for a lot of the team's decline over the longterm but that's not quite what I meant. Preordained shitty goaltending aside, I think their roster today is better than decent and they can play above the level they have been (quite bad). It's always pretty obvious when a coach has lost the handle and training camp was only a week ago.

[PatDaMan]

Ed Snider is like Ed Snider?

Woops, meant to say Jerry Jones

Flyers are dreadful 5 on 5 right now and almost all of their point-producing forwards (specifically, all ones that have been under Laviolette for a while) have gotten nothing done. Holmgren I'd leave for now because I don't think it's a failure of the team he's put together. Never liked Laviolette much.

The Flyers definitely aren't playing well, granted. Over the long term, though, Holmgren's recent reign as GM has been a mess. Traded our two top forwards to, necessarily, clear space to sign a franchise goaltender (a "win-now" type move, which obviously didn't work).

In trading those top two forwards away, though, he basically was blowing up the core and getting younger. This is a "win-later" move. The moves that they made - just after making it to game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals - didn't mesh. On top of that, he traded away Bobrovsky - who started games for the Flyers due to Bryzgalov's ineffective, inconsistent play - who went on to win a Vezina in Columbus, and unseat our current starter, Steve Mason, who we traded for afterwards. He would not have won the Vezina behind our defense, but he would be better than the Mason/Emery timeshare we have now.

That, combined with a few huge free agent whiffs over the last two offseasons (Weber, Suter, Parise), is a rough go for Holmgren. They have a lot of good prospects in the Phantoms right now. They'd be wise to hand the keys to Hextall and see if he can't turn this ship around.

The Flyers are a mess.

[Gabriel]

Woo! The young guns are blazing in Calgary (thanks for the Backlund vid), and we have points in all three games so far. I'm not expecting this to last, but Calgary currently has picked up 67% of the possible points they could have.

If the goaltending was stronger, I feel like the Flames would have a pretty good chance to fight for a playoff spot this year. Ramo wasn't bad, but his lateral movement has been exposed already. MacDonald is solid as a number two option, but he won't steal any games. I feel like Wednesday night has to be a Ramo start against the Canadiens, and if he doesn't amaze, I'd give Berra a call up for a game or two to see if he can steal the ball and run with it.

[TGWL]

I think blaming him for trading Bobrovsky is a bit of a stretch. Nobody knew he was going to end up winning the Vezina (and to be fair, Columbus really turned it on. It wasn't just Bob winning them games.) Before last year, he never really showed that he was a starting, Vezina winner.

I don't see the point in keeping a coach, going into the season, then firing him in 3 games. Flyers seem to have a lot of problems in their own zone, seems like they're scrambling around a lot.

[PatDaMan]

Well like I said, no one expected Bob to win the Vezina, but he played well - very similar numbers to Bryz - that first year. Then they traded him, rather than admitting to the Bryz mistake that was clear pretty early on (or keeping him around as insurance). I get that you want to get what you can for a guy, rather than sending him off to FA, but when you have a young, skilled, developing goalie, you don't just trade him away. If they kept his cheap contract through last year, he's our unquestioned starter right now.

Here are the full transcripts from today's media, via Crossing Broad. Shows how out of touch Ed Snider and Paul Holmgren really are. http://www.crossingbroad.com/2013/10/here-are-full-transcripts-from-today.html#more-10509

And to illustrate my point, there's a specific point in that media availability where Ed Snider literally says he wishes he could just fire all of the players instead. Absurdity.

Edited October 7, 2013 by PatDaMan

[Toe]

I don't know how or why Calgary decided to enter the season with Ramo and Joey Mac as their starters, unless they are planning to tank this year (which they should probably do anyway).

[Plubby]

The EWB-cup final is in progress. Come on you Avs!

[Plubby]

AVS! VARLY!

Suck it, Leafs!

[Ruki]

[Gabriel]

I don't know how or why Calgary decided to enter the season with Ramo and Joey Mac as their starters, unless they are planning to tank this year (which they should probably do anyway).

Ramo is an experiment, for sure. But his numbers in the KHL would lead many to believe that he is entirely capable of being a starter in the NHL.

They kept MacDonald because he is an experienced NHL goalie, in case Ramo faltered or needed guidance.

Reto Berra, by all rights, should have been the number two guy behind Ramo, but the team wanted experience and didn't want to risk losing MacDonald to waivers.

That said, they should have offered a one year deal to any number of the guys that were available for cheap through free agency. Thomas and Bryzgalov were both readily available, and would have provided better stability while giving Ramo the chance to steal the number one job.

What's criminal though, is that Joey Mac gets another start tonight, while Ramo sits on the bench. Mac got us to overtime against the Canucks, but he also contributed to putting us in that negative position to begin with. It wasn't a great game for him, and I think Ramo should have been given the start tonight.

[Hewey]

Jussi Jokinen Great start for the Pens so far, looking forward to Thursday.

[Cactus Drags]

What Plubby said.

[TGWL]

How about that Hertl kid? Can't help but cheer for a kid with a smile on his face all game.

[SeanDMan]

Someone asked Henrik Sedin how many points he can count on to get for his fantasy team and Henrik said "I hope ten at least".

Big pic but a shot of Henrik and Payton Manning. Maybe when Manning is done carving up the NFL he might come play in the new BC Place for a few seasons?

[Plubby]

He'll turn up wearing a roughriders shirt though, in the same way that Henrik is wearing a Seattle jacket

[SeanDMan]

Until you pointed it out I hadn't even noticed that.

[Plubby]

That must be so awkward for Peyton. I bet Henrik doesn't even realise