So, I can't help but notice that the Flyers kind of just stopped making off season moves. I expected to see a few more moves or trades.

Is Hatcher going to retire or what? Does anyone still think we have a chance of picking up another decent forward in a trade?

Are there any other rumors we should know about? (Besides Eklund's trash)

I gotta tell ya, if the Flyers are done making off-season moves.. this really disappoints me. I was expecting Holmgren to really shock me this off-season but so far I haven't really been to excited with any of our moves.

we wont be getting any more forwards this year but i think there may be a move for a d-man if hatcher retires or cant play do to his knee,

I doubt there are going to be any big moves, Homer spent all of his cap space last year. This offseason isn't bad considering there was no room under the cap.

From what I've heard Holmgren is happy with the where the team is. I don't know if that necessarily means he's done, but I guess it means if nothing else comes our way he's okay with that.

As for Hatcher, from what I heard they are going to try and start him on the LTIR. As for a trade, if we make one, I doubt it will be for a forward. We have plenty of depth up front.

In my opinion, there's nothing to be really disappointed about for this offseason. I mean, we didn't pick up any huge names, but did we really need any? We made it to the final four last year, and we have virtually the same team as of now. All we had to do was make little changes, and we did that.

Thats exactly what I am worried about. There are a couple of teams who have made huge changes this year, changes that I believe will make our team look terrible compared to last year. I really think we should have gotten a better D-man this off-season instead of wasting what we had left of our cap space on players that probably wont have much of an impact at all on the Flyers.

I don't know, so far it seems that the pens and the rags didn't improve their teams either. I think its going to be ok. A big name d-man would have been nice and I would have rather they traded Umby for that but oh well

Agreed. I'm getting a bit frustrated with this whole Hatcher situation too. The guy is a mess. He needs to retire. I love Hatcher, don't get me wrong, but he has to realize that even if he does return with us this year hes going to be playing at half his potential, that is, if he even plays half the season. He really needs to retire so we can pick up one more decent D-man and really make an impact to our roster.

Yeah I feel the same way about Hatcher. I love the guy, but you know he won't be able to play a full season for us.

Ooo my 100th post. yay.

I just don't realize why we aren't doing something about this. Its starting to drive me crazy. I'm sorry to say it but I do not want to see Hatcher play next year. He needs to put his health before his passion for hockey. All he is doing is hurting himself more and the Flyers.

hatcher still could still come back and play almost the whole season the only major time he missed last season was with the broken foot out side of that he played good. this year he will play less min then last year so that will help with him lasting all season

If I'm Hatcher, I'm thinking, "I could retire now and earn nothing, or I can go on LTIR and make 3.5 million dollars. Hmmmm. Tough choice."

Haha, good point. But still, why would you ever want to risk hurting yourself even more and then realizing you're completely useless to anyone?

Hatcher is not going to retire. He already said that. I am 99% certain that they will stick on him LTIR when the season begins, though.

The Flyers are stacked with forwards so I am not sure why you think they should trade for one.

I don't expect the Flyers to make any more moves at this point, but it is a possibility considering out cap issues.

Why is it that some of you wanted tons of moves this year??

The Team is already set, except with maybe some blueliners.

Our big splash in FA was last year get over it.

I never wanted tons of moves, I just expected to at least get a fair deal out of Umberger (which in my opinion sucked ***) and maybe a little something with Kappy's retire. IMO, it feels like we wasted all of our cap space and downgraded.

We got a First for Umberger, what else, or who else did you want?

We added Depth. IMO, even though it wasn't a great upgrade, our D is better than last year.

If you ask me all of us should be worried about Goaltending, this year. Biron is decent, but that's it. He isn't getting any younger. Our Depth on Goalies has got to be one of the worst in the NHL.

A.) The team had one hole to fill during the off-season. Everyone complained about our old and immobile defense. Replace Smith and Modry with Eminger and Van. Both younger and quicker with much more potential. Mission complete.

B.) It is the middle of the summer. Why start a thread about the end of our off-season moves when there is a populated off-season thread and there is still 2 months of off-season still remaining.

C.) Many of you pessimists refuse to give Hatcher his due-credit. He had an extremely strong post-season. If he begins the season on LTI; good for him. Let him get his rest or retire while still making his money. But if he is healthy for the season's start, I say good. He has a strong presence on the blue-line and always has a spot on this team.

QFT.....

You continue to say you want to see them "do something about this". First, what is "this" that you're talking about? They added depth and youth on the blueline, and kept the core of forwards who are all perfectly capable of competing like they did this last season. Second, instead of saying you want them to do "something", state who you feel they should go after. Realistically, I doubt you're capable of giving any names that would be an improvement to this roster who will fit under their cap hit.


Exactly! It's just not logical at all to expect him to retire. And he's not going to. It's been discussed in other threads to death already. I don't think this needed a new thread to continue with the same beating of the dead horse.


If Hatcher goes onto the LTIR, they don't have cap issues. With Hatcher and Rathje on LTIR, and Parent added to the final roster, they'd have 2.861 mil of cap space. A good amount to have in case of injury problems during the season. *knock on wood*

The reason so many people are getting whiny about these moves is that we didn't overspend by $2-3 million on an overrated, aging player on the decline of his career and instead only added a bunch of undervalued prospects. These are the same people who would throw parties every offseason when Bobby Clarke would go out and sign some unnecessary big name player on the decline of his career and would spend the entire season complaining about the lack of speed, chemistry, and heart.

I have yet to see one good argument to why this offseason has been as much of a disaster as some claim it to be. All it boils down to is the complete lack of understanding of this sport and the type of team it requires to be successful this season.


Look at the East. Do you see any teams out there that made enough significant changes to really be considered heads and shoulders above the Flyers right now? I don't. All the big name deals went to the West, except for some of the moves that happened in the SE like Pitkanen to Carolina and all the signings Tampa did, but that division was so bad to begin with that I'm not sure those are enough to catch either up to the Flyers. Overall, the rest of the conference went on the decline or stayed relatively the same. New York and Pittsburgh are going to see bigtime dropoffs next year with the players that left (NY could be counterbalanced a little with their pickups, but Pittsburgh is going to suffer). The Flyers are in good shape. The team got younger and quicker without sacrificing talent, they locked their big name players in for the long term, and they still have players like JVR waiting to play when the time comes. At this point, there really isn't anything to complain about, that is, if you don't mind not mortgaging the future for the big name player....

1.We could have gotten more for Umberger. A couple of seasons ago we traded Fedotenko for a #4 pick. Umberger is a lot better player than Fedotenko was then.

2. We lost depth at D , I don't know how you think our D is better after losing experienced players and replacing them with unknowns.

3. I totally agree with you on goaltending, it needs improvement.

True this. Also, not every star player started out as a star player. Maybe this isn't the ideal example, but Danny Briere was once put on waivers. The "star" defenseman we want might be on the roster already. I don't recall Brian Campbell making a huge impact earlier in his career.

Pat why do you think our D lost Depth?

We didn't lose anyone but Smith.

fwiw about the Pens... they are much better than they were at the beginning of last season. Shero has done a very good job and its unfortunate Hossa left, but not something the Pens cant overcome

The Pens basically earned the 2 seed last year without Hossa, and without Sid a lot too. The Pens will get more pts than last season. They may not be as talented upfront, but they will still be a very talented team competing with the Flyers, Sens, and Habs for the conference.

Try the "Around the League" section. BTW, Pens moves were lame, but expected. Stay optimistic.

I was just replying to what was mentioned in this thread

Of course, you wont agree with the moves, but like the Flyers, we had little cap space to work with and did well to fill out the roster (still technically only have 11 forwards, but waiting to hear officially about Janne Pesonen).

And much worse than they were at the end of last season.

And as we all know, the regular season standings are where the real championship is won. Hossa was huge for you in the playoffs. You won't go as far this year unless Shero can pull off another miracle rental.

I admire your optimism, but I think it's foolish to take this as a given. I know Pittsburgh fans are in the "Sid will continue to get better every year until he retires" mindset, but his impact on the team will reach its limit, eventually.

The Pens were mentioned in passing. Your posts have a distinct odor of fear and rationalizations.

hahaha :-)

no fear

thats about the only thing i disagree with .. there is no fear. I understand Hossa was huge, and I mentioned over on the Around the League board that the Pens will be better in the regular season, but that I cannot say they are serious cup contenders, and I dont think there is any rental out there like Hossa, esp if the Pens are tight to the cap.

And I wasnt under the Sid will get better. Staal will have a better year, but its mostly that the forwards we will have to start this season are better than those to start last year .. completely agree that we are not as strong as at the end of last year hahahha :-D .. k, im done posting on this board .. i just have to come here since its bookmarked to get to Around the League

Very well put....I agree with most of what you state. I think Homer did the best that could be expected given the hand he was dealt. I think the Flyers can compete in the EC. Here are my concerns:

- while we had a great post-season (I felt before last season that if the Flyers MADE IT to the second round I would be estatic) we almost did not get a chance to go deep since we had to struggle to even make the playoffs.

- Golatending - I think Biron's contract is up either the end of this upcoming season or the season after. Not sure which Marty we will see and not sure if I want to resign him. If not, the cupboard is rather bare when it comes to goalies.

Obviously not, given that Homer just signed Arron Asham for the 4th line.

Maybe he means "finished" as in "doomed"

I'm sorry, but I really don't see how we addressed the big D-hole that we have on this team. This looks like the exact same team as last year. Going from last to the ECF was great, but I really expected this team to be built for a SCF and it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

Unless something is done about our D, I wouldn't be surprised if we take a step back and get bitten by an up and coming hungry team (like we were this year) in the 2009 playoffs.

Can those of us reserving judgement until we actually see the team play together serve these words to you on a platter if you're proven wrong?

We've already seen this team play together. This is basically the exact same team as last year - Umberger. They are a good team, but not a SCF contender yet.



There is nothing than I would like more than to be wrong, but I just don't see how we addressed our weakest spot (Dfense) this off season.

Yes, because adding depth, youth, a vastly upgraded mobility for the transition game, and equal defensive talent for a cheaper value does nothing to help those defensive weaknesses we had last year...

I agree. I feel like all we really did is replace a couple guys with other guys that are either worse or at the same skill level as the guys we lost, and I'm sorry but this team without Umberger is going to hurt. Gagne is not going to play 100% this season.. and we can't really afford to lose much on offense considering we cant always rely on Briere to save us.

Defense was something that we needed to improve, yes, but I don't feel that we have improved it much at all if anything. I could care less about whether we signed a big name or not, it's the fact that without doing we do not know for certain how we are going to be next season. I loved our team last year and I would have loved it if we made bigger moves then we did this off season. If we would have signed someone like Boyle I would be much more confident in the Flyers this year.

Are you kidding? They lost in the ECF while down their two best defensemen! They were one of the top 4 teams in the league! Of course they're a contender.

Wait, we can't afford to lose Umberger because we can't rely on Briere?

Umberger did relatively nothing over the course of the regular season last year. He had 13 goals and 37 assists last year over the course of the regular season. Briere had 31 goals and 41 assists. So I'm assuming that you mean this because Umberger had the playoff series of a lifetime against Montreal. And if thats the case, its comical at best because Briere was leading the NHL in playoff points through the Eastern Conference Finals.

We got rid of Umberger when he was at his peak value-wise. He will never live up to his playoff performance this past season. The fact that we got a 1st rounder for him is ridiculous, and the sole product of one playoff series. To say that we will suffer because he is gone is unbelievable. And to say that we would need a Boyle to be competitive. Unrealistic. It would have cost us too much, we would have had to shuffle too much around to fit him under the cap (which would have vastly depleted our back-end) and it would have resulted in this Flyers team being WORSE this upcoming season than last. This isn't the age of Bobby Clarke anymore when we can go out and acquire the big name players because we have the money to do so. We have the money, but the Cap won't allow us to do so, and until people start realizing this, and the way in which the post-lockout NHL works, you're always going to have the same kind of uninformed opinions like the one above driving the complaints of the fanbase.

Can't wait till the season starts and these posters are either eating their words, or won't even be around for us to call them on it.

We should take up bets on how many of these " Did our D improve" Are we done making moves" Threads, that will be started all over again.

from everything that i have heard Gagne has said that he is going to come back at 100%. even still we have more young talent coming up(Giroux), so we'll be fine.

in refrence to Boyle. im pretty sure a -29 dman is exactly what the flyers need. Dont just look at the offensive numbers he's a dman!!!

You might as well save your typing fingers. You're only preaching to the choir. People either only read their own posts or know about millions of cap space dollars we don't know about.

This has been brought up multiple times by me and you and others, but what's the Umberger obsession all about? The guy is a decent depth player who had one good playoff round. That's it.

Departed players are always more beloved after they are gone. I'm reading a lot about how horrible the loss of Jason Smith will be. Isn't this the guy who was accused of being a pylon all season? "What will we do without his wisdom and experience for the younger guys?" What did his wisdom and experience provide last year when our defense sucked?

Defensemen are developed by the coaching staff. If they coaching staff can't get good D from the team then either you need better coaches or better defensemen.

other possible offseason moves that the flyers could make would be a possible signing of former Florida dman Steve Montador. i also heard on 610 WIP from Chris Therien that he believes that the flyers will make a package and try to go after Jay Bouwmeester. those would really help, but even if they dont go after those players i would be fine with what they have now.

other possible offseason moves that the flyers could make would be a possible signing of former Florida dman Steve Montador. i also heard on 610 WIP from Chris Therien that he believes that the flyers will make a package and try to go after Jay Bouwmeester. those would really help, but even if they dont go after those players i would be fine with what they have now.

other possible offseason moves that the flyers could make would be a possible signing of former Florida dman Steve Montador. i also heard on 610 WIP from Chris Therien that he believes that the flyers will make a package and try to go after Jay Bouwmeester. those would really help, but even if they dont go after those players i would be fine with what they have now.

Well, you do have to take that number with a grain of sale. He plays for TB, that is known for its run and gun offense, which can lead to many turnovers and mistakes. It's very risky. Not to mention the fact that their goaltending has been questionable at best. Almost their entire team is a minus.

QFT

Smith is a huge loss + I think we are losing Hatcher as well. That a lot of experience to lose with now only having Timonen as an experienced d-man could hurt. Coburn and Jones don't have a lot of experience between them. Eminger has little exp. + needs to learn a new system. I'm more worried about the D this year than I was last season.

I never post manly because I love to just read the input from all the GM's..... Model Citizen I tend to agree with you. The team is fine and no matter who they could have gotten you could always do better or worse! I just cannot wait to see them actually play, because thats still what matters right!!!!!!

Wait... so the biggest gripe about Eminger is that when he did play with a terrible Caps team, his +/- is not what it should have been, therefore he sucks, but we should just overlook Boyle's +/- BECAUSE he played on a terrible team?

Am I getting this right?

Now you see how this goes.......haha