Scouting Report: Philadelphia Flyers

Orange You Sick of Philly Yet?

There once was a Caps fan, a Pens fan, a Flyers fan and a Devils fan, all standing on the edge of a cliff.  The Devils fan lept off, yelling as he fell “This is for Jerseyyyy!”  The Pen jumped next, shouting “This is for Pittsburgh!!!” Then the Cap pushed the Flyer over the edge, saying “This is for Washington!!!”

Hahaha…what?  We’re in a new era of tolerance and civility?  OK, but there’s just not a lot of love we can muster for any of the Keystone state icers – our Hershey Bears the one exception.  And unfortunately for us, we’ve got a date tonight with a bunch of Philly puglies at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Flyers have been on the road for the last nine of 10 games.  Which, for anyone who has to live in Philadelphia, might be considered a welcome vacation.  But it’s back to home ice for the Flyers as they welcome the Caps, hoping to man-handle our boys like they did last time around.  And remember: they’re still at the top of the Eastern Conference, leading Washington by 6 points.   Stupid Flanders Flyers.

Finding the twine tonight is our boys’ task; finding Philly’s hottest is ours right now.  Neither task is proving easy…but as Coach B. says, you gotta want it!

We’re trying to be charitable, we really are.  We really don’t mean to say the Flyers are, by and large, ugly as a hat full of arseholes. But we just…well, really don’t have anything to say after that.

Russian-born Nicholai Zherdev (6’2″, 26, shoots right) has served his time in the Russian leagues before bouncing around some here in the AHL/NHL.  And of late he seems to be a bit of a sniper, logging 14 goals and 3 assists.  He also seems to like teh kittehs, so it’s really hard to say anything to mean against him.

There’s Jeff Carter, who recently signed a fat extension with the head office – 11 years for $5.27 million.  And I suppose goalie Brian Boucher is worth a look or two.Speaking of goalies, since we’ve run out of beefcake, a PuckPal sent us this observation:

“Every Stanley Cup champ between ’54-’89 had a Hall of Fame goalie.  All of last years final four Cup teams’ goalies are no longer with their team. Pundits say the newer/wider equipment plus the butterfly stye has morped goalies into expendable shot blockers and not skilled superstars. Certainly true for Flyers/Caps.”

In last year’s playoffs Boucher managed a .909 saves percentage (their other goalie, Sergei Bobrovsky who is starting tonight, is a new transplant to Philly by way of Russia.)  For our part, Varly managed .908 (and Neuvy’s still to newy.)

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6 Responses to Scouting Report: Philadelphia Flyers

  1. Ed says:

    How can you “scout” my Flyers and leave off any mention of John Van Riemsdyk.

    Of course, then there is what one reporter commented on Mike Richards last year: “With Richards it’s not pretty, just hard and effective.” There’s something to be said for that.

  2. Doug says:

    Ed: Van Riemsdyk? You’re just trying to get me in trouble, aren’t you…

  3. Ed says:

    Maybe it’s the fact that he’s a Jersey boy that makes me like him. And he seems to clean up nice: http://www.thehockeynews.com/imgs/dynamique/photos/original/article_29992_2.jpg

  4. Craig says:

    Ed – Doug is a little extra harsh on Monday mornings. (It’s that weekend release thing that’s was part of his plea deal that he’s still dealing with). Point taken on Riemsdyck – as long as he doesn’t get any points on the Caps.

  5. Ed says:

    I will say that the Caps do have some great eye candy though. Mike Green had me re-pricing my auto insurance the minute I saw him in those ads. :)

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