2013 Philadelphia Flyers season thread

[Geowhizzer]

Giroux just went off the ice on one leg after blocking a puck.

[Geowhizzer]

False alarm.  Back on the ice.

Hartnell just assaulted a cane, though.

[ice grillin you]

you gotta wonder why giroux was even playing

[BigEd76]

1 @ NYR = THU 7:00 CNBC
2 @ NYR = SUN 12:00 NBC
3 @ PHI = TUE 4/22 8:00 CNBC
4 @ PHI = FRI 4/25 7:00 CNBC
5 @ NYR = SUN 4/27 12:00 NBC
6 @ PHI = TUE 4/29 TBD
7 @ NYR = WED 4/30 TBD

[Rome]

Are they kidding with that schedule? 

[ice grillin you]

yeah that is an atrocious set up...especially if it happens to go seven games

[Seabiscuit36]

way to pump up the ratings while not allowing any kind of momentum to build. 

[Seabiscuit36]

Holmgren being Holmgren: Macdonald resigned for six years 30 mill

[ice grillin you]

all they do is tread water

[SD]

Holmgren being Holmgren: Macdonald resigned for six years 30 mill

Don't mind this one bit. They need a #1 defenseman but they're not readily available...Macdonald is an upgrade over what is currently on the roster. Timmonen is a dinosaur. You know a guy is decent when you pair him with a mo talent slug like Luke Schenn and Schenn starts to resemble a decent player.

[ice grillin you]

i think hes better than most people think but i also think its a bad contract...reagrdless of how you feel i laughed at this...

The Philadelphia Flyers apparently liked what they saw out of defenseman Andrew MacDonald after they acquired him from the New York Islanders. With unrestricted free agency looming, they cut him a 6-year, $30-million deal to remain on the Philly blue line.

MacDonald was acquired by the Flyers around this year's trade deadline on March 4 from the NY Islanders, and since joining the team, has four assists in 19 games and recorded over 20 minutes of ice-time in 14 of those games, including a Flyers-high of 28:49 at Pittsburgh on Apr. 12. The 6-1, 190-pound defenseman led all NHL players in blocked shots this season with 242 and was one of three players in the NHL with over 200 blocks.

So, he plays over 20 minutes and excels at doing something that will eventually lead to an injury that will have him playing zero minutes.

OK then.

It's the hockey world's default setting to be critical of any contract handed out by the Flyers, but that's because they make it so easy. MacDonald just went from making $550,000 to making $5 million next season. Think about your salary; think about that exponential increase. Now pick your jaw off the floor.

Granted, this is NHL economics, so the prevailing wisdom is that SOMEONE would have given him the money, but that's next exactly a sterling defense of a deal that has an average defenseman locked up for six years with a $5 million annual cap hit.

In 19 games with the Flyers, the numbers show they've been a better team with MacDonald off the ice. It was the same case last season when MacDonald was with the Islanders, too. Broad Street Hockey attempted to pinpoint the problem in the neutral zone, but being a turnstile at the blue line doesn't seem like a correctable aspect of his game.

The money is what it is. It's the Flyers and the cap's rising. But six years is a lot of years for Andrew MacDonald. And that's now two Islanders defensemen that the Flyers are building their defense around.

[Seabiscuit36]

He's a much better player than I thought he would be.  It's just the money factor.  He wanted a 5 year deal from NYI, and Homer said Six it is. 

[ice grillin you]

at least hes not 31

i can only go by the few games hes played with the flyers and ive been impressed (altho he has tailed off from his start) but the broad street article on his neutral zone play that the piece i just posted references is a pretty brutal and depressing takedown of him....i also dont like that every single islander fan ive heard from has pretty much echoed the same thing......that he stinks

[BigEd76]

There was a better d-man signing today:  the entry-level contract for Ghost

[Seabiscuit36]

http://vimeo.com/91717422