part II

Posted that last one without intending to. I wasn't finished.

To continue....

Mike Richards didn't exactly light the world on fire either.

My bums of the series:
Mike Knuble; Two meaningless goals in the last two games, but when it counted earlier, he disappeared. But then again, what do you want? He's old, and should have been traded by a REAL GM before the beginning of the season.

Martimebomb Biron. I've said so much about Biron already, but to recap; The son-of-a-bitch can't hold a lead, gives up rebounds like they're free, is inconsistent, AND his inconsistency shows up AT THE WORST TIMES. It's never when the Flyers are 5 goals ahead in a meaningless game, it's usually a bad goal given up a minute or two after a big Flyers goal. God I hate inconcistency, and average goal tending...and this guy's got both in spades.

Mike Richards. Mike where'd you go for stretches of several games? How does a guy with so much heart seem to just disappear in the middle of a game?

Al Alberts, Frankie Carle, and Spike Jones; They may have been three decent musicians/singers, but as Flyer defenseman, they caused havoc in the Flyers defensive zone more than a few times. This havoc more oft than not lead to either goals or penalties.

Heroes of the series: Giroux, and Briere. Giroux is somebody to watch. With his talent, I might even take a chance and trade Carter if I got the right deal, but more on that below.

What I'd do now;
1. Get a REAL NHL coach. John Stevens is a great NHL assistant coach. or an AHL head coach. He's NOT a professional level coach. Of course, since Holmgran seems like Clarke's clone (hence the name Bobby Holmgren) he will probably keep Stevens. Just as Clarke did NOT want a Keenan, or Bill Barber around to threaten his little fifedom as a GM, since he knew he had NO REAL TALENT FOR IT (and was, in fact voted by the Hockey News as THE WORST GM IN ALL PRO SPORTS) Holmgren will probably follow suit, and keep Stevens. Stevens is likable, competent, and NOT a winner. Since the Flyers are decidedly NOT a winning organization, look for Stevens to be around until they hit a TRULY BAD stretch two years from now. The only caveat to this is they are SO bad for SO long this coming year, that SOMETHING has to be done. Then they'll throw Stevens under the bus instead of Holmgren, and Stevens will be history. WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN IS THAT THEY SHOULOD GET RID OF HOLMGREN, AND STEVENS, but they won't...

2. Trade Biron. His contract's up this year, and before ALL the other team's in the league see JUST HOW AVERAGE (in the NHL, read "bad") HE IS, get rid of him, NOW, while he's got some value. He couldn't win a job in Buffalo, and he's not good enough to keep his spot here. Toss him, NOW.

3. Get rid of Carle, Jones, and Alberts, for ONE (or if you're lucky) TWO REAL defenseman. Not one of these guys is any good, and Timmonen is only getting older. Coburn's a keeper, but you need to surround him with some talent.

4. Trade Knuble NOW

5. Trade Lupul NOW

6. I've really had it with Niittymaki; He wasn't given a real shot at beating out Martimebomb (or he would have, he's got more talent). Give him a shot at the starting spot form the git-go this season, and, if he can't cut it, trade him mid-year. He's the right age, and he's got all the tools; if he can't put it together, and win the top spot, trade him.