Since we're nearing 9 games, I was wondering on what the board things of Sbisa. Should they keep him up or should be be sent back to his junior team. I am leaning towards sending him back down. I am not sure if he can handle a full season in the NHL and I don't him to lose his confidence because of all of the losing.

I'll decide after the 9th game, but right now I'd rather send him down.

he seems to be handling it quite well.....his play has been consistent and it seems he focuses and executes on a consistent basis. Even though I understand your point, his mentality is something special...I think he'll actually flourish instead of fold under the current circumstances. I'm quite glad we have him. He's a breath of fresh air to a rather stale situation.

In a perfect world we could send him down, for more seasoning, but at this point the team needs him.

+1!
The rest of the team seems to acknowledge his talent which is saying a lot for him. He's playing solid and is a threat to score goals, more so than half of the rest of our d. I think he could benefit from as many games as he can get in the bigs. Paired with Kimmo they could be a force to recon with imo.

No, we need him.

if we get parent, jones, or hatcher back: yes

if not, we need him.

Sbisa or Brion?

We will be getting both Parent and Jones back at some point so unless the team plans on making a trade they will have to send him to juniors simply because we won't have the space for him.

Keep him...Hatch is itching to come back, but they said these guys are all 'long-term' injuries, so they can't come beck before the 10th game....Parent is running ahead of schedule, but Jones is a little behind...If they trade anyone, they should package up eminger, alberts, asham and metro...nothing against metro, but he's not making a huge impact

I can't commit to an answer yet. He's playing pretty well and I don't know what sort of impact either decision will have. I've heard valid arguments for both points like "Sending him back will hinder his development now" or "He may not be able to keep up at this pace."

I don't want him to lose anything and have his spirits crushed by being on this team all year if the Flyers continue to suck. I guess I'm sort of leaning towards sending him back because it might create more space for the team to make a move and I'd rather him be happy on the 'Canes than unhappy losing every game up here.

Plus, it would be awesome to see him and JvR come up at the same time. Next season, theoretically, we could have Giroux, Parent, JvR, and Sbisa all up here. We need to make room for them. So, let's send him back and make a move for a franchise goalie. I'm still on the Pavelec kick. Can you imagine adding those four guys plus Pavelec to our roster through the beginning of next season? Wow.

I'm sort of all over the place right now. My thoughts are really scattered because I don't want to do anything that indicates throwing in the towel for this season but I also want to make sure things improve for the future.

So, I guess we should send him back though I personally don't want to, and do whatever we need to in order to bring in Pavelec (and, of course, my dream of bringing in JBo still exists too.)

its really hard to say
i am still leaning towards no because that was my original thought when I first heard all the rules behind the 9 games and all that jazzy jazz

I say if we don't win a game soon, we send him back down because he needs to keep up his confidence. He's looking great, & hurting his confidence is only gonna hurt his potential in the long run.

Not to mention, I'm not sure how well he'll be able to handle a full 82 games in the NHL.

I voted "I'll decide after the 9th game".

If I remember correctly, Parent was paired with Sbisa during camp, and Sbisa had good things to say about him and how much Parent helped him out. I think if they kept Sbisa up, then the pairing was working out well together. My thoughts are this: if he is not seeing enough time with the flyers, then send him down, but as long as he is contributing and playing well, there is no reason to send him down and he will gain much more experience playing at the higher level. As of now he is seeing time on the PK and PP and not limited on time like Kukk's has been. He is smart and sees the plays develop extremely well, you can tell that he has watched tape and studied the game. I think if they send him down they might as well do it now...'Later kid, we used you while we could, but we're done with you now...'

**** no hes ATLEAST top 3 dman on the team right now. atleast..

He's actually looked quite good out there. Aside from getting caught out of position here and there, I think he's played really well. He plays physical and finishes his checks so he's not intimidated or overpowered by the "men" in this league. His skating looks great and he looks confident out there. He doesn't look timid or scared to make a mistake and is very willing to skate with the puck. Because of his skating abilities, he has adjusted very well to the speed of the NHL also.
It also sounds like his attitude and work ethic is beyond his years so with all those positives I just can't see how sending him back to jr would help him. I'd definitely keep him.

Its no contest he stays or else there is something wrong with the team's staff because this kids incredible and who cares about the mistakes because
A. he's a rookie there are going to be a few
B. he rarely makes them
C. you play in beginning of year and make the mistakes so you learn from them (instead of making them in the playoffs)
Sbisa deserves to stay for every reason he is very good fast confident and plays good d do unlike half the team

No, he is playing outstanding. I think he will only get better as the season wears on. If anything we gotta move kuks down to the phantoms

here ill make this decision easy for you ....

HECK NO!!!!

It depends on how he will be used when Parent and Jones are healthy. If they are just going to scratch him when they are healthy then he should be sent down.

So other than Jones Kimo and Cobourn, who's better than Sbisa? ? (you can say parent but thats only 4)

el oh el

I am not ranking Sbisa I am saying it depends on how they will use him. If they are just going to do to him what they did to Downie last year then he should be sent down. Why hurt his potential but keeping him up if they will just scratch him when Parent and Jones are back.

Vaananen is better then Sbisa also.

Timonen
Coburn
Vaananen
Parent
Jones
Alberts
Kukkonen
Sbisa
Eminger

That is a lot of players. If they keep him up he better play the whole season.

alberts? really..even after last night?

Thank you mike

lets see the D-men
1. Kimmo
2. Jones
3. Coburn
4. Sbisa
5. Alberts
6. Kukkonen
7. Guenin
8. Eminger
9. Vaananen

would you really put in guenin or Kukkonen or even Alberts for a bit?

How can you put Kuks and Vananen over sbisa. There not even close

No. We need him now. We got no one besides Kimmo and Couburn. Sbisa deserves a spot. The juniors will make him "grow", but if he can grow in the NHL go for it. Flyers can't send him down. And after reading the article http://flyers.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=3...mp;service=page seems like he wants to stay, as well as others.

When Jones and Parent come back, it may be different. If Sbisa stays it could happen like this

Kimmo-Coburn
Sbisa-Jones
Parent-Alberts/Ossi.

if Sbisa is sent back when Jones/Parent returns than:

Kimmo-Coburn
Parent-Jones
Ossi-Alberts.

Eminger and Rooster gotta go.

*Also, i get all the away announcers when the Flyers play, and all they say is how mature and great Sbisa is for his age. That is a good sign.

Eminger and/or Alberts are more likely to be scratched along with Kukkonen, especially with the work ethic and physical game that Sbisa brings....they should work with him to teach him to help clear the front of the net and alleviate some of the pressure on the Goalies.

His contract will count towards the salary cap after 10 games, but that doesn't mean he can't still go back down if they no longer need him...I don't think they would scratch him given the opportunity to send him back to the phantoms if the flyers can't use him...drafting him cost us Umberger, so I would think they will try to develop him and refine his game...it's obvious that he has an innate sense and talent to "see" the ice well...It's pretty hard to come by in a defenseman, especially one that is only 18....

That isn't how I rank the defensemen it is just a list of all the guys who will be on the team.

I couldn't agree more.

well i would say send him back but he really is in our top 3 for dmen so considering that you really have to keep him. and we should bring back hatcher teach these guys how to clear the front of the net.

Parent said good things about him, too. I honestly think that pairing would be a GREAT pairing, & in a couple of years they could be our second pairing!

Here's Ryan's thoughts on Luca:

Parent, 21, said doctors told him his recovery would take 10 or 11 weeks - that's a few weeks less than Holmgren's estimate. He said he hoped to be back in the lineup before Christmas. As for Sbisa, Parent gave a glowing report."He's proven himself well in camp," he said. "He's played with a lot of confidence, and this gives him a great opportunity."

Tough call and I'm not going to vote yet.
I think he is currently our #3 d-man and when Jones and Parent come back, he still may be that same #3. Jones isn't that good and Parent hasn't impressed me that much yet. Parent will get better....Jones...I doubt it.

i thought that was your rank on players according to who was best?

+1

Nope just a list to show how many defensemen on the roster we will have. Plus Hatcher might be back. With all those guys will Sbisa always get playing time?

Will Alberts get shipped out?
Will the Flyers give up on Eminger?
Will Hatcher come back?
Will Parent be forced to play in the AHL?

Sbisa is good enough to stay imo but will they give him the playing time or will they change there minds later and scratch when we have 10 potential defensemen on the team?

i say we keep him and when Jones and Parent come back we package up Alberts and whoever else isnt working out and get someone good or at least a draft pick.

Is Hatcher in shape to come back is my question, we can deffintely use him in front of the net.

If he's not going to play, send him back, but I'd play him.

I think there's very little chance that they'd put Vaananen and/or Jones on the third pairing (they seem like a natural pair to me, which would work well to have Parent and Sbisa together too.) So, I think Sbisa and Parent would be the third pairing. I don't know how many minutes they'd see but I don't think he'll get the same ice time that he is right now once everyone is healthy.

...BTW, I'm not saying I think Vaananen and Jones are better than Sbisa and Parent. I'm just saying the organization may view it differently.

EDIT: Vaananen currently sees the 3rd most minutes on d (20:41 TOI/G) and leads the Din hits (15) and is second in blocked shots (17) Here's the stats on the D. Personally, I like Vaananen and I think he's the closest thing we've got to a Hatcher or Smith. I think diminishing his role would be a mistake.

I have been very impressed with Vaananen as well...he is aggressive and not afraid to be physical and hit...I also like his defensive stats...I think the ice time for the other D lines will be more than what it was last year. I think Kimmo was playing well over 30 minutes a game last season...I just hop his body can continue to take the beating and blocked shots. It looks like his feet may still bother him at times, so I think it is important that he doesn't have to carry most of the defensive responsibility by himself....another reason it may be a good idea to keep Sbisa up...I am still hoping we may package up the "fillers" in the lineup, like Alberts, Eminger, Kukkonen et al. and come up with a decent trade....I really don't thik the core D-men are that bad, I think our forwards need to stay focused and not get beat to loose pucks and rebounds from the goalie and if the opposing offense is taking liberties with the goalie, someonr needs to let them know that it's not going to fly - BSB style (no pun intended)

No way, kepp him up. He'll play at least 30 games with us. His jr season is something like 62 games. The experience will help him so much here.
Besides that, he is friggin good. Our 3rd best Dman at the moment

Yeah, I honestly don't have a big problem with our D and I think our third pairing is better than what it was last year. My problem is really with all the defensive forwards we've lost but I've probably beaten that horse to death on here.

They seriously need to make a trade here for a decent dman. Not a 6th or 7th dman because when jones and parent and hatcher come back we are going to be loaded with 6th/7th defensemen

I think he's been playing great and he's a great asset to our team right now.

No. I say keep him. The kid's doing alright.

Sbisa has shown alot of poise on the ice. When he makes a mistake, (few but he does make them) He seems to learn from them. He's a good rookie and he should stay with the big team. I don't think Hatcher is coming back. From what I've read in the papers, His knees are too far gone for him to play at the NHL level. The way they say it, it's questionable if he could play at a lower level. Sbisa should stay.

I'm not sure. I like Sbisa and I think he is doing VERY well, but is it best for him? Is it going to hurt his development. I didn't vote yet.

I think they should send him back. He's playing very well, but the demands the Flyers are putting on him, on a team where Team D is bad maybe a bit much over the course of time. I do not want to hurt his Development.

He's going to need a break. 82 game's would be too much for him IMO

They can't send Sbisa back to juniors. He's, arguably, one of our most effective defensemen so far this year. Getting rid of him would leave our defense thus: Coburn, Timonen, Vaananen, Alberts, Kukkonen, Eminger for nearly 8 weeks. If that lineup doesn't scare you, I don't know what does.

The only concern that I have about Sbisa is his health. He's still a kid, by hockey standards, and he tends to put himself in position to be hit a lot.

They can't make their decision based on that, though. They need to do what is best for his development so that he can be an effective dman now and in the future. The NHL season in a grind that wears you down both physically and mentally. Can he handle that is the question? Our defense is already terrible with him so I'm not really scared of what it will be without him. We can't get worse because we're already the worst team in the league.