Link

Wonder who gets recalled?

http://flyers.nhl.com/team/app/?service=pa...ge&id=18891

I don't know. I think it is kind of unfair for Downie. Of course he was scoreless, he didn't play at all.

Matsumoto? He's been playing pretty well, hasn't he? Maybe they'll carry and extra d-man and bring up Syvret too?

Psh we posted at the like same time. I guess you can delete mine.

is giroux making the roster now with metropolit playing 4th line

I'll just merge you, now you can share the glory.

I was thinking the same thing about Downie. He didn't really get a chance. He was playing a little over 5 minutes per game, I think but the fact that he was getting 1+ penalty per game probably didn't help his cause. One of the first things the Flyers need to do is to cut down on penalty minutes.

I think Nodl is playing the best.

I think they should bring up Syvret and dress 7 dmen since the 4th line never sees the ice anyway.

i wanna see matt clackson called up

I just looked up the stats. Matsumoto is a -6. I didn't realize that.

I agree 100% about dressing 7 dmen.

At least Downie can get line 1 minutes now.

Nodl should be called up he deserves it more then any other player but if they do hopefully he gets decent ice time.

I guess Stevens has not been too happy with either of their play. With both of them going down to the Phantoms, I would assume Metropolit would play, but who else? Are they bringing up Nodl or Giroux?

damnn i like ross

i love him. but i like ross too.

i'm gonna cry

booooooooooo.

Yeah Matt!!!!!!

Please tell me this isn't Homer's idea of shaking up the team.

Downie being sent down kinda Peeves me off. Geez, give him a few games on a scoring line. How about calling up Giroux or Nodl or someone and let Lupul have some press box time.
For the first time, the coach/gm are starting to upset me.

It seems the normal course of action for every team is 1)send down players & try the ones from the minors. 2)make a small trade. 3)fire the coach. 4)larger trade. 5)fire the GM and replace him in house if possible. Please turn it around before #2 through 5 become necessary!

Bring up Matsumoto

The problem with bringing up Nodl/Giroux is that there isn't enough minutes available for them.

Downie getting sent down doesn't really matter, hes been taking stupid penltys, even though I love his style of play, those selfish penltys are killing the Flyers and lead to one of the goals agianst San Jose. He needs to get his head in the game, and some role players need to stepping it up... Knuble, Lupul, Hartnell(although the effort is there) and Upshall, if not put them in the Press Box and see how Nodl, Giroux and Mastumoto Fair.

I saw the preseason Capitals rookies v Flyers rookies and honestly was only really impressed by Nodl and Sbisa. Giroux didn't play that game and IMO, the only other notable player was Lukacevic (who is no longer an option). I wasn't too impressed with either Clackson or Mastumoto...just my thoughts I think a message is being sent and hopefully it will take effect before we put players up on the block...I am hopeful about Wednesday...by the way, the flyers rookies los that game 0-7, so if they call someone up to the show, whoever it is needs to show up ready to play...

Matsumoto is like -6. Not sure he'd be much help given the defensive problems with the forwards.

(Sorry had to get that in there.)

Giroux hasn't been impressing me at all lately.

Ok now I'm ******. This has Stevens' stink all over it. There are two guys who never get a break with Johnny boy, and that's Kuks and Stevie Wonder. This is absolute BS. He gets one night on the HARD line, gets benched, now he's gone, but Lupul stays. I'm very angry. He'll be trade bait for sure. Steve Downie has a chance to be a more gifted Sean Avery, but won't get the chance in Philly. Now you can put me down for a yea to fire Stevens. This is terrible. Had it out for him from the beginning. 4th line center to one night reunited with his boys to out the door.

Nodl should be brought up. I really do think that Giroux should stay with the phantoms, he hasn't been playing all that good so far.

Per Timmy P- http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Tim-Panacci...r-Right/2/17400

You are 100% correct. Stevens simply doesn't like Downie and Kukkonen. They can't do anything his right in his eyes. Stevens misused Downie in the playoffs then tossed him under the bus. Now he misuses him by placing him on the 4th line and then tosses him back under the bus as soon as he makes one mistake. No one else gets treated that way besides Kukkonen. Lupul has been playing like a dog, but he'll be the lineup as always. If they want to send a real message make Lupul sit in the press box for a game.

I hope they don't trade Downie because it will be the Sharp trade all over again. Let's hope they get fair value for him.

I think Nodl will do a good job up here.

What sucks is he is probably going to be stuck on the 4th line. That would be no help at all. Unless Metro goes back to the 4th with Cote/Asham.

Hopefully Stevens does that but he'll probably stick him on the 4th until he proves himself.

First, Stevens has nothing to do with the roster, he has said it before that his job is to coach the team he has. Second, did you see Kukkonen play, no offense, but he was a serious liability, and just so you know I'm not picking on him, the alberts-eminger line was pretty crappy the other night...which, until they cost us another game, I am going to attribute to the fact that Alberts needed time to settle in with the team.

Nothing is written in stone, Downie may get his chance again. Last season, when the flyers called up Giroux and Downie came back for the phantoms, the rest of the team was playing well and it was easy for them to pick up that level of play...this year - not so much and it is hard to justify keeping him up. It should be obvious that chances and playtime don't always result in a superstar player (ahem...Biron).

Here are the things I am struggling with at the moment:
1. I have a feeling that Richie was reluctant to accept the C as long as Gator was still there, so homer let him go - maybe not the best move considering the D right now. At the same time I am wondering why we kept kukkonen last year, but instead traded Jusi Timonen...Jusi is playing in Finland with Kapanen on the team that he and Kimmo own together...
2. Homer panicked at the thought of not getting to draft Sbisa, so he coughed up Umberger - good move to pick up Sbisa - bad move to trade Umberger especially since he could put the puck in the net - I for one would like to see the Umberglar back
3. I am really missing some former flyers for some reason this year...specifically a veteran like Jimmy Dowd or Sami Kapanen - or perhaps Ben Eager, who was, if nothing else, very nice to see at games

Looking on the bright side:
1. there was solid play from each of the 1st 3 lines on satuday, instead of everyone depending on briere, gags and richie to with the games.
2. KGB line - I think this was an ok move even though most people don't like Knuble...he is a sizable body in front of the net and even if Gags and Briere use him as a backboard to redirect pucks into the net, he is still serving a purpose.
3. Sounds like Upshall summed up the state of the union, so to speak, in his interview, so hopefully the rest of the team agrees and can put it together on te ice...I thought he worked a lot harder the other night and liked the effort that he gave, he was competetive, while some others are still dragging a bit...also sounds like he and Carter may be playing with Asham...not sure about this one?

they're calling up Nodl tommorow

The fourth line will be Metropolit with Asham and Cote. I think he will have some playing time on the second or third line.

I really think Stevens hates Downie. I thought he's been playing well, at least no worse than some of the others.

Exactly, I will never understand his fixation on "sending a message" to a couple players (Downie/Kuks) when other players, for instance Lupes, Eminger, Knuble or Scottie "can't stay on my skates" Upshall are playing just as bad or worse.

Downie's reassignment has absolutely nothing to do with Stevens, people may want to look at Homer if they have questions. Stevens said in a prior interview that it is not his decision to move players and that he will coach the players that he has...honestly Downie and ross getting reassigned is a fairly benign move in my eyes and I think it may serve to spark some kind of fight in the others, so that they don't also get reassigned or put on the trading block...I hated upshall last year and he was the poster boy for dumb penalties, BUT he worked his butt off the other night against the sharks and from his interview today it seems that he 'gets' it....I am just wishing he will let Lupes in on it, too.

Nodl will be with Carter and Upshall I think.. heres a few reasons why:
-Nodl played with Upshall and Carter in preseason
-Stevens doesn't want players like giroux nodl etc up unless in top 9 cause they won't get play time on line 4 since 4 is the 'energy/checking' line.. and nodl doesn't fit that line its a waste for him.
-Metro was on line 4 before he was a healthy scratch.

Nodl is a good fit I'd like to see Giroux but right now Nodl is the better one and more deserving. Hopefully things go good for him.
I wish Stevens wasn't anti-Downie like he is with Kukkonen.. Downie is good just needs more time than line 4 ice time and 2-3 games.

I don't understand why he was playing asham with richards and hartnell when it seemed like downie was playing fine. What did he do wrong in the game vs. the sharks?

Nothing he prolly just doesn't have the patience, and is thinking too much of Asham.

This is a joke. Steve Downie is a young talented player who is obviously supposed to develop and score points by playing 5 minutes a night. Give me a break, actually, give Steve Downie a break. Put him back on a decent line with decent minutes and see what happens. It's not his fault team can't play defense.
Also, I wonder if Stevens is challenging himself to see how many line combinations he can make in the first 6 games so he can beat his record last year. Stevens is the one that should be sent down or out of town.

I disagree. Stevens bent over backwards by letting Downie play another game in the playoffs after he gave the puck up for a big goal. He's not tossing anybody under the bus, Downie just hasn't been playing good so far. I think it was the montreal game, or the game after when he had the big turn over early in the game, and Stevens benched him for almost the rest of the game. IMO, kukkonen isn't going to solve anything for this team. Him, Alberts, and Eminger are all 6th or 7th D-men, but they bring more physicality to their game than kukkonen does. I couldn't agree more with you that Lupul has been playing bad, and I do agree that he needs to be sent a message, but their on a 5 game losing streak, and benching Lupul who has the potential(not as of late) to play a really good game just doesn't help with their plans of getting out of their losing streak any time soon.

Yea that. I think this move is absolute bs. It's a joke, actually, and the Flyer's have a good track record of screwing up the development of talented young players.

If you want to talk about misuse of good hardworking players, the only one you should be mentioning is Kapanen...if either of those two, or anyone on the team could play with that much passion and heart 100% of the time - everytime they step on the ice, then we could object on Downie's behalf, but we would be 5-0-0, if that was the case and therefore, we wouldn't need to...I am sure if Lupul doesn't step it up, he may find himself a healthy scratch at some point...I do hope Downie returns to the big show before too much of the season is gone, he has been one of my favorite players, but I think he feeds off of the team's momentum and his play is almost always consistent with the rest of the team.

I thought he tossed Downie under the bus when he called him out in the media. He never does that with any other player. Downie has hardly been given a chance. He was stuck on the 4th line which is lucky to get 5 minutes of ice time. He was temporarily promoted, but then was benched and then sent down after a penalty and a turnover. Again Stevens doesn't react as harshly to most players. Downie is 21 with only a half of season of NHL games under his belt. He's going to make mistakes. Yes, he needs to learn to cut down on them, but how is going to learn if he doesn't get a chance to play through them? More importantly how is he going to be confident enough to play his game if he is going to be benched the second he makes a mistake? I don't get it because I look at how he is handling Sbisa and it's the exact opposite. Sbisa is a rookie and has his fair share of turnovers and penalties, yet he is free play his game which helps with his confidence.

I never said Kukkonen solves anything for this team, but lord knows we would use his shot blocking. My issue with Kukkonen is that he is treated like the redheaded stepchild as soon as he makes a mistake, but he is no worse than Eminger, Alberts, Modry, and Vandermeer. Kukkonen can be a solid third pairing guy if he is allowed to play more than once in a blue moon, but he never gets that chance because Stevens benches him and then sticks him in the press box as soon as he makes a mistake while the other bums we've had on defense are free to make mistake after mistake and never have their minutes reduced. I posted about this last season, but there was a stretch of 10 games where Kukkonen allowed only 1 goal against when he was on the ice which is obviously good, but he was scratched the minute he had a bad game. Meanwhile during that same 10 game span Vandermeer was much worse and never even had his minutes reduced.

It just seems like players like Downie and Kukkonen have to walk on egg shells around Stevens. Nothing they do is right in his eyes because they are gone the minute they make a mistake.

Upshall should get it. Stevens scratched him last year and he responded with a great final 2 games of the regular season. I'm hoping Stevens scratches someone big, maybe Lupul, to send him a message too. Hopefully he would respond as well as Upshall did.
As for sending Downie down, I'm pretty surprised. He hasn't been the only one who hasn't had a necessarily good start.

Stevens has alot to say on who gets sent down and who doesn't. And if they want to light a fire under this teams butt they should send down Lupul, in 5 games he has produced absolutely nada and he's a -3, whereas Downie who has played in 1 less game and on the 4th line most of the time is a -2.

I don't see how anyone can argue with this statement!

Yes, because +/- is such a important stat.