The rumor is building that this could really happen. The 37 year old Finnish Flash has nothing to prove, having just won the cup with the Ducks, but might be enticed to join the Flyers? Why? Because he is close to Kimmo Timmonen who has never been on a team that has won a playoff round. In fact, Timmonen has only been in 10 total playoff games in his entire career. Over the past few years, Selanne has been willing to sign contracts below market value to return to Anaheim or when he and Paul Kariya signed with Colorado. So joining a friend below market is not unprecedented for this classy player.

On the Flyers part, they have been enamored with Teemu since he was drafted. If they could get him at $4 million or less they would sign him and figure out the cap later.

For those of you unaware at just how good Selanne has been lately, look at his last two years:

2005-06: 40 goals, 90 points

2006-07: 48 goals, 94 points (Briere had 32 goals & 95 points)

In other words, this would be a MONSTER signing and likely make the Flyers one of favorites to win the Cup. With Briere, Selanne, Gagne, other new faces and the kids, the Flyers would be fast, score a tone of goals and still be tough.

Remember, even if this doesn't work out, the Flyers are still favored to sign Forsberg sometime in December or January. I like Selanne from day one rather than Forsberg joining the mix and unsettling things and the likely missed games due to injury. But, I also like the idea of Forsberg signing with s rather than the Rangers or Ottawa. Plus Forsberg is so exciting to watch in the Playoffs and plays a mean, awesome style of hockey in the playoffs.

By signing Buffalo's Thomas Vanek to a $50 million offer sheet, Edmonton left Buffalo with a bad choice. Lose a young 43 goal sniper or pay the money to keep Vanek. Buffalo matched the offer. Since the contract is front loaded with around $8 million in signing bonuses over the first two years it means Buffalo is going to have some budget problems even after watching Biron, Zubrus, Drury and Briere leave since they do not spend up to the salary cap.

Now the rumor is that Edmonton's real target is Zach Praise, the NJ Devil's young star. Kevin Lowe, Edmonton's GM, use Vanek as an example to show Edmonton was serious about breaking the NHL code and signing a restricted free agent to an offer sheet. Buffalo had told him, they would match the offer no matter what so it wasn't a big risk. By making this move, Lowe has shown other teams he is serious and they have a choice make a trade with me, or I'll make an offer.
Edmonton made a trade yesterday to re-aquire their 3rd round draft pick because if they sign a RFA to a contract between $800,000 and $5 million they need to give up a 3rd round pickas part of the compensation. The rules dictate that the draft picks need to be their own.


If Praise is the true target then that means the Devils will likely need to trade their young star or pay some big bucks to keep him, either or it will weaken our arch rival


Note that Pittsburgh locked up their star defenseman Ryan Whitney hours before free agency started to a 6 year $24 million contract. My guess is that they knew another club was readying a big offer sheet.

Over the last two weeks the Flyers have addressed two of their biggest flaws during last season - the Power Play and Leadership.

Briere, Hartnell, Timmonen and Lupul all had more power play success than every Flyer except Gagne and Knuble. Timmonen can piggyback the powerplay, Hartnell is another big guy that can get in front of the net while Briere and Lupul are goal scorers.

The other area that has been addressed is leadership. Smith, Briere and Timmonen were all captains last year for their teams. Plus they have played on winning teams. Edmonton made it to the Stanley Cup finals 2 years ago, Nashville had two consecutive 100 point seasons and Buffalo has been one of the best teams in the Eastern conference the last two years. Oh yeah, none have won the cup yet. I would think they are hungry to do so and can instill that winning attitude on the younger Flyers.

In exchange for Geoff Sanders & Joni Pitkanen the Flyers have landed Joffrey Lupul and Jason Smith. Pitkanen he of unlimited potential and no hockey sense wanted to leave Philadelphia because he didn't like getting booed. Fine, we didn't like the constant boneheaded plays that lead to minus 25. Lupul who was drafted 7th in 2002 (Pitkanen went nunmber 4 the same year) was the big piece that Edmonton received when they traded Chris Pronger to Anaheim. As a 22 year old, Lupul scored 28 goals with Anaheim but struggled last year in Anaheim. He'll turn 24 in September and joins Umberger, Hartnell, Upshall, Carter, Richards and Umberger as the young Nucleus of the team. Add in our two elite scorers, Gagne and Briere who are only 27 and 28, respectively and you can see that the Flyers are young and should be good for a long time.

Personally, I would have wanted Drury before Briere cause he is a "gamer" and warrior where Briere is more finesse but I love this move. Remember Briere is one of Buffalo's team leaders and along with the Flyers other pick-ups since the all star game adds to the Flyers character. What about Scott Gomez? Gomez is a "gamer" and a better two way guy than Briere but he doesn't score enough. So I would have taken Briere over Gomez. My guess is Gomez gets more money than Briere

Say what you want about the amount of money, $52 million over 8 years, but at $6.5 million a year we are getting a number one center when other teams are paying 3-4.5 million for guys that don't do much. Further my guess is guys past their prime are geeting way more. Briere is a young guy (29 years), has averaged 28 goals the last three years, had 21 power play assists but his real talent is setting up goal scorers. He and Gagne will just be great together.

I still think we need one more impact player perhaps Todd Bertuzzi if he is cheap enough ($3-$4 million). If not I would package Umberger or Carter to San Jose for Patrick Marleau. Or perhaps a defenseman like Tom Preissing

Today is draft day and I'm very nervous. Rumor is the Flyers may trade Pitkanen to Edmonton for a draft pick and either Shawn Horcoff or Raffi Torres. Who you ask? Exactly! These guys are the 15 goals a year guys that are easy to find. I believe this would be horrible move. San Jose is aggressively shopping Patrick Marleau, the current captain of the San Jose Sharks. Marleau had a tough playoff with 3 goals and 3 assists in 11 games but historically he has performed well in the playoffs with 9 goals and 5 assists during 11 games last year. This is a character guy and another former captain who is young 27, consistently scores 30 goals per season and only makes $4 million. If the Flyers are desperate to trade Pitkanen then why not package him with another player or draft picks for Marleau. This is a top line center for the Flyers. Getting Shawn Horcoff or Raffi Torres is like getting Kyle Calder last year for Handzus, a useless trade.

If you haven't heard, ex-Flyer Branko Radivojevic came to the aid of someone getting beat up by 10 Neo-Nazis and probably saved his life. The story is about half way down here: http://www.startribune.com/wild/story/1254103.html

Over the next 2-3 weeks, Holmgren will finish his remake of the Flyers which he started back before the trade deadline. Here is what needs to be done:

1. Get Rathje's money off the books - hopefully the Flyers will get a favorable ruling from the NHL which could free up $3.5 million.

2. Trade Gauthier and his 2.2 million contract. Perhaps they can bundle him with a draft pick and/or one of their young fringe guys to get something in return.

3. Sign a goal scorer - they should definitely put an offer sheet out for Buffalo's Thomas Vanek on June 25th because if they can get him he is awesome but most likely Buffalo will match the offer and cause themselves problems with the salary cap. I still think Drury should be their target although he doesn't seem interested in coming to Philly but money talks. I would say Gomez should come below Briere because Gomez is not a goal scorer, we need goal scorers.

4. Sign Another Defenseman - If possible the Flyers should try to sign Sheldon Souray and trade Hatcher. It is likely that they'll need to bundle in a young player to move Hatcher but it will be worth it with the big upgrade.

5. Keep the communication lines open with Forsberg - it is likely that Forsberg won't sign before the season starts but that the Flyers can get him to come back in January or February.

Most likely, the Flyers won't be able to do all of the above. My guess is that the Flyers will make an unsuccessful offer for Vanek, overpay for Gomez and trade Gauthier.

Everybody is congratulating Homer on jumping early and decisively to lock up Hartnell & Timonen. I'm happy to see the Flyers doing something but this uses up quite a bit of the excess cap space and 6 years is a long time for a 32 year old defenseman, Hartnell is injury prone and there are rumblings that he was a clubhouse cancer that has issues with his coaches. Plus, they still need a big time scorer - someone who can score 35+ goals not another 15-25 goal scorer with "potential".

But let's focus on the positives for now:

1. Immediate Improvement to Power Play - Last year Gagne had 13 PP goals and Knuble had 10. The next Flyer scored 3... Hartnell had 10 PP goals and Timonen had 8 PP Goals and 18 assists (more than any Flyer had).

2. Mentor for Young Defenseman - With three young Finnish defenseman in Pitkanen, Kukkonen and Timonen's younger brother, the Flyers hope that Kimmo can straighten out Joni and bring the others along. If Pitkanen can get back to the force he was before being injured 18 months ago, then this move will be one of the best ever for the Flyers.

3. Leadership - Timonen was Nashville's captain and Hartnell still only 25 was thought to be a future captain when he was drafted.

4. Hartnell is a Flyer - a prototypical power forward who loves to crash and bang, can play any forward position and plays defense. Fans are gonna love this guy. Big, fast and tough is the way the Ducks won the cup and Ottawa got to the finals.

5. Young Nucleus - Hartnell, Carter, Richards, Umberger, Upshall, Potulny, Coburn and Pitkanen are all 25 are under with NHL experience. Trying to bust in will be Ryan Parent, Steve Downie and Claude Giroux. Even the less flashy players like Eager, Ruzicka, Kukkonen, Picard, Jones, etc. are all young. This will create competition for playing time and will hopefully bring out the best.


Overall, I'm pretty excited for the mood. The Flyers have improved significantly since before the trading deadline with Kukkonen, Timonen and Coburn on defense, Upshall, Hartnell as well as healthy Knuble, Richards, Carter and Potulny. But I still think the big move is Marty Biron in the net as the clear number one starter. There is still more to be done but this team will likely be way more exciting to watch and should be in the thick of things in a tough conference.

So why should the Flyers put out offer sheets on Restricted Free Agents? It is a waste of time, teams will never let their players go and we need to give up too much by overpaying and by forfeiting future draft picks. Getting a proven young star is worth it. Someone like Thomas Vanek who is 23, big, scored 43 goals including 15 on the power play. Further he was a plus 47! Vanek is the type of restricted free agent player that the Flyers should go after. They aren't betting he'll be good or grow into being a good NHLer, he already is. Quite frankly, he is more valuable than Drury or Briere and if the Flyers can get him from Buffalo that would be huge. But if the Flyers can't get him, they will force Buffalo to match the offer witch will make it harder for Buffalo to keep Driry or Briere which makes it more likely that the Flyers might get one of them.

We have heard for years that Pitkanen, Carter and Richard would be huge stars but we've watched Jordan Stahl, Crosby, Vanek, Ovechkin, Speeza, and many others have a bigger impact on their hockey teams. I believe both players have huge potential but I would prefer the Flyers acquire players

The Flyers have a ton of space under the salary cap, two 1st round draft picks and they also have a ton of young NHLers who may or may not become great players. There are teams out there looking to make trades to free up space. The Flyers should target proven guys still young (under 30) who are making a big salaries. Names that have been mentioned as available Patrick Marleau, Vinny LeCaveliar and other big names who have done more than Simon Gagne. Let me ask you would you trade Jeff Carter and a draft pick for another Simon Gagne? I would if we can include Gauthier or Hatcher in the deal.

So my thought is we give up one of our young guys, a draft pick and one of our hulking defenseman in hopes of getting a proven young star.

Mike Richards, the young Philadelphia Flyer's center is another reason, the Broadstreet Blogger is predicting the Flyers will go deep in the playoffs, possibly to the Finals. Richards is used to winning and being a big part of it. His teams have won at every level (and usually he is the leading scorer and the team leader. Let's take a look:
1. OHL Junior Hockey Champions in 2003
2. CHL Memorial Cup Runner-up
3. World Junior Championship Silver Medal in 2004, Gold Medal 2005
4. AHL Calder Cup in 2005 with Philadelphia Phantoms

In all his playoff and championship hockey (77 games in all), Richards averages over a point a game, including last years Calder Cup when he arrived 8 games deep in the playoffs and played 14 games and had 15 points.

Mike Richards is used to winning, he has rarely experienced anything else, like losing. When his teams have lost it has usually been in the finals.

Richards will likely start off centering our 4th line but expect him to see more and more ice time as the playoffs progress.

Keith Primeau skated with the team again today. Yes it is a long shot that he will return for the playoffs this year but I can still hope. Heck, as a Philly fan that is all I ever do... hope, hope, hope but never, ever celebrate. The Flyers came up one game short of going to the Stanley Cup finals during the last NHL playoffs in 2004. Keith Primeau was the X-Factor, he seemed to be everywhere - playing strong defense, hitting anything wearing a Jersey that didn't say "Flyers" and scoring timely goals. Yes it would be wonderful to have Primeau back 2004 was his best Playoff season ever and it was great to watch.

Primeau's statistics 18 games - 9 goals, 7 assists or nearly 0.90 points/game. However, Primeau is no Forsberg. The Peter Forsberg that Philly fans have "ooh-d and ahh-d" about all season is NOT the Forsberg who shows up for Playoffs. Peter The Great is a Perennial X-Factor averaging nearly 1.20 points/game over 133 playoff games including two victorious Stanley Cup Finals.

He is so exciting to watch. Since the Mid-90's, the playoff games in the Western Division have often made the Stanley Cup Finals, anti-climatic. Some of the best hockey, I have ever seen were the Colorado vs. Detroit playoff series... remember of the last 9 Stanley Cup Finals - either Colrado or Detroit have one 5 times...

In addition to being a scoring machine, plays great defense, and hits anything that moves, usually while in possesion of the puck. Further, he sacrifices his body to make the play. Time and time again, he comes through in the clutch whenit matters most. We saw it when he lead Sweden to a shootout victory and Gold Medal in 1994 Olympics. And gain win Colrado won the Stanley Cup in 1995, and again in 2001, when he lead Colorado to the Stanley Cup again, scoring 27 points in 20 games and again this past Olympics when Sweden again won the Gold Medal.

Yes, I would love to have Primeau back but even without him, Forsberg makes the Flyers likely to go deep into the playoffs this year.

Forsberg is a competitor and

How often have we seen a Flyer with a great scoring chance and not be able to finish. Think Jody Hull, Tony Amonte or John Leclair every year in the playoffs.

Well, Jeff Carter is not like the above. During the drive to win the division, he was on fire with 13 points over the final 16 games including 9 goals. In the key, Rangers game he made two Forsberg-like passes to set up goals by his line-mates Dimitrakos and Umberger. In the final game with the Islanders, he hit the post three times before finally scoring the go ahead goal. For 2006, he was third in Game-winning goals for all rookies and 12 of his 23 goals either tied the game or were the go ahead goals.

But this is nothing new for Carter. He has long had the magical ability to find a way to score when it really mattered. Last year he lead the AHL Playoffs in scoring after arriving from Juniors and he was a key member of perhaps the most talented Canadian Junior Hockey team which also featured teammate Mike Richards and the dreaded Sidney Crosby.

Expect big things from Carter and his linemates Umberger and Dimitrakos.

Hey Philly! Enough about TO and those cockroaches from Dallas, we'll have time for that after the Stanley Cup playoffs. It seems that people have written off the Flyers before things have even started. People look at the standings and seem to think the Flyers have no chance. I beg to differ...

First, the Flyers are only two points out of first place despite a zillion injuries. Sure that is impressive but we have all seen past Flyers teams and players do well in the regular season and then fail in the playoffs. We are all familiar with John LeClair and most of our high scorer's annual disappearance while teams from other teams would raise their game to a new level.

This year is different because the team is full of guys who have consistently delivered in the clutch. Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a closer look at the team and why our players are different.

Tomorrow, we'll take a look at the goalies...