2009 Flyers Offseason Thread

[rjs246]

farg that little midget.

[Rome]

Gladly.

[SD_Eagle5]

And to add further insult to injury Bouwmeester was just shipped to Calgary for UFA defenseman Jordan Leopold and a 3rd round pick. Unreal how idiotic Holmgren is.

[SunMo]

Pronger at 35 is still better than Bouwmeester is and will cost less even with his extension.  farg bouwmeester

i'm not as unhappy with the trade as i was last night.   first of all, pronger is gonna sign long term, it's not a question.  second of all, lupul wasn't as much an asset in the trade as he was salary dump, so the flyers had to add to the package to make it worth taking his awful contract, which was definitely holmgren's fault. sbisa may be a nice player, but he'll never be as good as pronger and you can't exclude the toughness and leadership that pronger will add to the team.

[ice grillin you]

flyers first pick a goalie....pretty big boy...24th ranked NORTH AMERICAN goalie and the 6th goalie taken in the draft....sounds like an unknown with a monster ceiling...ex flyers lindsay carson brad mcrimmon and one of my all time favorites daryl stanley all played for sakatoon

adam morrison - saskatoon - 6'3 166

Blades goalie Morrison hopes to draw NHL interest


By Cory Wolfe, The StarPhoenixJune 25, 2009
 
Adam Morrison's stomach was churning Wednesday, but not because he was nervous about the upcoming NHL draft.

Rather, the Saskatoon Blades goaltender was dealing with a bout of food poisoning.

"It could be a mixture of things," Morrison said in trying to pinpoint the source of his illness. "I had sushi. I also went to a barbecue where I had chicken and we were cooking burgers."

Like the food that poisoned him, Morrison's talent is raw. He played in just 13 games as a 17-year-old rookie with the Blades. Even though most scouting agencies don't list Morrison in their rankings for this weekend's draft in Montreal, Saskatoon coach-GM Lorne Molleken has fielded plenty of calls about his young netminder's abilities.

"What sparked the interest of so many teams is (Steve) Mason who played in Columbus," said Molleken. "He didn't play a whole bunch of games in his draft year, either. But now he's the (NHL's) rookie of the year."

Mason, a former member of the OHL's London Knights, had just 12 games of major-junior experience under his belt when the Blue Jackets drafted him 69th overall in 2006.

Morrison had a similar workload with the Blades this past season. He played in the shadow of Washington Capitals prospect Braden Holtby, but compiled an impressive stat line with a 9-1-1 record and a 2.49 goals-against average.

"After not playing a whole whack of games this year, I know that I'm not the big name out there," said Morrison. "But I've talked to a few teams that have been pretty keen on me.

"I'll just have to check up on things and see how everything goes."

Morrison's success didn't go unnoticed by Hockey Canada. When a spot opened up at the recent goaltender development camp in Calgary, Hockey Canada invited Morrison. He earned rave reviews for his performance at the four-day camp.

"They said I surprised all of them in a good way and now my name is on their radar."

NHL teams undoubtedly took notice, too, but Morrison isn't holding his breath to hear his name called. In fact, he plans to spend

Saturday golfing near his home in Surrey, B.C.

"I'm not looking at this weekend as being the big moment that defines my career," he said. "This coming season is going to be a big year because the coaching staff has put full confidence in me to take the reins."

BLADE BITS: The NHL's Central Scouting Service rated Morrison 24th among North American goalies in its final rankings. The same scouting service ranked Blades D Stefan Elliott 17th among North American skaters, while Blades RW Burke Gallimore was 71st. Forwards Travis Toomey and Gaelan Patterson, and D Sam Klassen have also drawn interest from NHL teams, said Molleken.

[Geowhizzer]

All last night I was thinking how damn young all the draft picks looked (born in 1990? damn...).  Then the Flyers' first pick looks like Phil Collins.

[ice grillin you]

Pronger at 35 is still better than Bouwmeester is and will cost less even with his extension.  farg bouwmeester

i'm not as unhappy with the trade as i was last night.   first of all, pronger is gonna sign long term, it's not a question.  second of all, lupul wasn't as much an asset in the trade as he was salary dump, so the flyers had to add to the package to make it worth taking his awful contract, which was definitely holmgren's fault. sbisa may be a nice player, but he'll never be as good as pronger and you can't exclude the toughness and leadership that pronger will add to the team.

bomeester is at least as good as pronger right now and is only gonna get better while pronger goes downhill...pronger is more physical for sure and has the big name but hes not the dominant defenseman he was 4-5 years ago...hes still good but bomeester for the same price would have been a better get forget the fact that he would have come much cheaper

basically the flyers overpaid like a mother to get a better version of derian hatcher from a few years ago...this obsession with clearing the crease and having some huge bruiser on the backline is out of control to the point that the flyers gave up an unfathomable amount to just gain some physicality...look at any of the final four teams from last year and who do they have on the backline that scares you...brooks orpik?...i mean hes more physical than any flyer dman but does he frighten you....farg no...if the flyers were so concerened with upgrading the beef on the backline they could have done it without giving up lupul three number ones and a number 3...

and maybe like you said sbisa will suck and the number ones will suck and they will be abel to replace lupuls 25 goals in an offense that already doesnt have enough talent up front to challenge for a cup...all that could easily happen...but as for right now it was as sd said the worst move in franchise history

[SD_Eagle5]

Pronger at 35 is still better than Bouwmeester is and will cost less even with his extension.  farg bouwmeester

i'm not as unhappy with the trade as i was last night.   first of all, pronger is gonna sign long term, it's not a question.  second of all, lupul wasn't as much an asset in the trade as he was salary dump, so the flyers had to add to the package to make it worth taking his awful contract, which was definitely holmgren's fault. sbisa may be a nice player, but he'll never be as good as pronger and you can't exclude the toughness and leadership that pronger will add to the team.

I have no problem with Pronger, love the guy - he was my all time favorite player to never wear the orange & black. But to give up what they did for him is absurd. Lupul I would have given away for a bag of pucks, but people are overlooking how good of a prospect Sbisa is, and the types of players the Flyers have gotten through the draft. They don't have a 1st, 2nd or 3rd round pick till 2011, that's going to hurt in 5 years when the farm is thin on talent.

And what's Bouwmeester going to cost like $500,000 more per season? big farging deal

[Rome]

By all accounts Boumeester wanted to return to Western Canada permanently.  He had no interest in being traded to a northeastern team in the U.S., so if he didn't want to sign long term in Philly, then Holmgren had no choice but to pursue another player.

And you, yourself, have been clamoring for them to cut their losses with Lupul for a while now, right?  Well, considering the insane contract he signed, it was almost a requirement that they give up more to trade him than they would have ever gotten in return.

Sorry, dude, but they got one of the best players at his position in the NHL, and they got a player that is absolutely ideal for Philly's style of play.  I know you're incredulous over what they had to give up but Pronger was worth it, plain and simple.

[ice grillin you]

second pick

Simon Bertilsson - 6'0 183 - defenseman

2007-08: Suited up with Brynas IF Gavle U20, posting decent numbers. Appeared in games with Sweden's U17 and U18 national teams.

2008-09: Played for Brynas IF Gavle as well as its champion U20 squad. Also played for Team Sweden in the U18 World Championships on the top unit.

Talent Analysis

Bertilsson is a skilled and mobile defenseman with above average hockey sense. He has good attitude and impressive timing in his play. An all-around defenseman that contributes at both ends, but sometimes tends to be a tad risky with the puck and he could also use some additional strength. Plays with authority and leads his team. Should become a solid player defensively with some offensive skills to go.  Likes to hit and play physically.

Future
Ranked 71st overall by ISS (May) for the 2009 Entry Draft.

In another draft year, when Sweden wasn't so loaded, more draft pundits might be talking about Simon Bertilsson. But this year, the 6'0, 183 lb defender is sliding just under the radar.

The biggest exposure he got was at the U18 championships in April of this year, playing on the top pairing with Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who is expected to go top-10. It would be convenient to assume that the reason Bertilsson and Ekman-Larsson were paired together is because Bertilsson is a stay-at-homer anchoring Ekman-Larsson's offensive forays. But the truth is that these two have been together so many years on the national team and are such good friends that their pairing is just natural like an old glove. And Bertilsson isn't a stranger to the offensive zone himself. He scored a point a game in junior this year and could be seen pinching many times at the U18 championships, sometimes all the way to the net.

Bertilsson is a team player though. He said he likes to score on his home team, "but [with the national team] I must take the defense because he's the offense," referring to Ekman-Larsson.

"He plays very mature," Team Sweden U18 coach Stephan Lundh said of Bertilsson. "He's played well all season for us and his home team too. He can play every part of the game. But on our team he's an important stay-at-home defenseman."

Bertilsson was on Brynas' Eliteserien roster for 21 games, but only played in five of them. The rest he sat on the bench. So he didn't get much ice time, but said he learned by being there and watching his elders.

"I must think a lot and play easier," he said. "Do it all faster."

In his five games actually played in the SEL, he had one assist. With the junior team, he had 31 points in 30 games, along with 54 penalty minutes. Brynas J20 went on to be SuperElit champions this year. In the U18 championships with Team Sweden, he had one assist and was +5.

Quite a good passer, Bertilsson is also reliable at keeping the puck in the zone. He correctly plays the man and not the puck defensively, and this combined with good decision-making is what makes him so solid at his position. Bertilsson has good size and said he likes to be physical and hit people as well. With no history of any major injuries in his career, he uses his body confidently.

Bertilsson was among the 106 prospects invited to the NHL combine, which confirms that he's being considered for the top three rounds of the draft. Early in the season he talked to the NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs one-on-one. These teams told him things to work on, specifically that he needed to follow the forwards into the offensive zone more, and to work on getting bigger.

Bertilsson is ranked as the 17th European skater by Central Scouting, right behind Finnish defender Sami Vatanen. ISS has Bertilsson 71st overall, just behind American defender William Wrenn. Comparing against those two defenders underscores what a good blend of skill Bertilsson is, without giving up size.

Having turned 18 in April, and with another year of high school to go, Bertilsson will remain in Sweden for another year at least. He intends in that time to work on his English.

"It's not good," he laughed.

[BigEd76]

Bouwmeester isn't physical and said he didn't want to deal with the pressure of a huge market

[SD_Eagle5]

Wasn't it reported like 5 days ago that the Flyers were on Bouwmeester's short list of teams he'd play for?

[ice grillin you]

By all accounts Boumeester wanted to return to Western Canada permanently.  He had no interest in being traded to a northeastern team in the U.S., so if he didn't want to sign long term in Philly, then Holmgren had no choice but to pursue another player.

And you, yourself, have been clamoring for them to cut their losses with Lupul for a while now, right?  Well, considering the insane contract he signed, it was almost a requirement that they give up more to trade him than they would have ever gotten in return.

Sorry, dude, but they got one of the best players at his position in the NHL, and they got a player that is absolutely ideal for Philly's style of play.  I know you're incredulous over what they had to give up but Pronger was worth it, plain and simple.

has nothing to do with bomeester...thats just salt in the wound...and as vague as it is ill concede hes "one of" the best at his position in the league...however if youre going to give up the farm for a 35 year old player he better be the best god damn defenseman on the planet...not a guy who on a 92 pt team couldnt even cop a plus rating

[Rome]

The Flyers, Canadiens, Sabres & Canucks were the four teams interested but Holmgren said that the price just to talk to him was too rich for his blood.  That tells me that the Flyers really had no shot at him so they moved on to Pronger.

I'm fine with how this all went down because I think Pronger is head and shoulders a better fit for Philly, both the team and the team's hard core fans.

[Rome]

Plus/minus is the VORP of hockey stats.  It's almost completely meaningless.