What the Flyers lost this offseason..

First of all...I again apologize if this topic has been covered in another area of this forum.....I am new here and haven't gotten to read everything ..... so please forgive me, I'm just trying to create discussion and not step on any toes...

Over the summer, the Flyers have made some adjustments to their hockey squad...they gave a huge boost to their Defensemen...by adding longtime NHL veteran and former Stanley Cup Champion, Chris Pronger...they also added gritty veteran forward, Ian Laperriere. (oh and somewhere in the last week or so they added Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, another defensemen....)

They made a goaltending change....by subtracting both Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki and adding controversy Goaltender Ray Emery (of everything Emery is charged with, it does not include animal cruelty) and former Flyers goaltender Brian Boucher...

With the additions, the Salary Cap started adding up and then came the subtractions

Right Winger Joffrey Lupul was lost in the deal for Pronger

and Right Winger, NHL veteran, and former Stanley Cup Champion Mike Knuble cause the team just couldn't afford to keep him...

So what has happened is the team got a boost to their Defensemen...and their Forwards took a hit and look lop sided right now...

at Left Wing the team looks good.....Simon Gagne and Scott Hartnell are studs..both are terrific goal scorers and one is a tremendous playmaker and the other is a hardnosed, stir the pot, gritty type player .... Left Wing also features the team's enforcer in Riley Cote and then Daniel Carcillo, who adds more fisty cuffs, but I guess has some offensive potential....

at Center.....Mike Richards and Jeff Carter are very solid at ever aspect of the game....but after that? Danny Briere, Darroll Powe, Jared Ross, Claude Giroux? one is a true center, who only has played in 16 NHL games (10 regular season and 6 post season) and the others are either centerman who were changed to wingers or wingers changed to centerman. Briere played center his entire NHL career until 2008-09 when he was made a perminant Right Winger, Darroll Powe came up from the minors and moved from Center to winger, and Claude Giroux played most of the regular season as a winger, but then in the post season played Center.

at Right Wing...like center....who plays Right Wing and who plays Center? Claude Giroux is a right winger....but they moved him to center....Briere is a center who played last year at Right Wing...Powe is a center who saw time at Right Wing...then there is Asham who is a pure Right Winger and they've added Ian Lapperiere who plays Right Wing. Asham showed some flashes of playmaking ability, but no one knows if he can do that for an entire season..since he's like Daniel Carcillo from the Right side. Laperriere is an Asham style of Right Winger, who is defensive minded.

So right now there's an uncertainty at the 3rd and 4th Center positions and Right Wing is puzzling from top to bottom...

Whoever takes on the role of Right Wing 1 and Right Wing 2 has a some big skates to fill (I mean big both literally and figuratively) ..... this is a look into what the Flyers lost at Right Wing and need to replace...

#22 Mike Knuble

Height: 6'3"

Weight: 230 lbs (the Flyers lost their heaviest forward)

NHL Debut: 1996-97 season (11 season Veteran, entering his 12th season with the Caps; some interesting trivia...for the 1996-97 & 1997-98 seasons Knoobs played for the Detroit Red Wings...who did Detroit beat in the 1997 Stanley Cup finals & who did they beat in the 1998 Stanley Cup finals?)

(The following stats include the past 4 regular seasons...all spent with the Flyers)

Games Played: 310 (including all 82 in the 2008-09, 2007-08, and 2005-06 seasons)

Ice Time: 5,965 minutes (about 19:24 per game)

Power Play Time: 1,251 minutes (they will miss this Power Play weapon)

Penalty Kill Time: 556 minutes (he killed penalties too)

Face-off attempts: This stat is so low I'm not even going to bother with it, it's well below 1 face-off per game. and he's something like 38% victorious)

Minor Penalties: 134 (about 1 out of every 3 games Knoobs was called for a penalty; so he had issues here)

Major Penalties: 0

Give Aways: 132

Take Aways: 121

Hits: 272 (averages about 68 hits per season; he did have 89 hits last season, which for the season was better than 1 hit per game)

Blocked Shots: 157 (averages about 39 per season, not a Knoobs strong suit)

Plus/Minus: +29 (he even recorded a +2 during the 2006-07 campaign; he had a -3 during the 2007-08 campaign; for his career he is a +62...that averages to about +5.6 per season for his career)

Assists: 107 (about 1 out of every 3 games Knoobs recorded an assist; he has 214 assists for his career, averagine 19 assists per season for his career)

Shots on Goal: 727

Power Play Goals: 49 (67 for his career)

Short-Handed Goals: 3 (4 for his career)

Goals (overall): 114 (that's about 1 every 3 games; he has 215 goals for his career)

If ya think about it, Mike Knuble for his career, which he's played in 804 games...1 out of every 2 games he recorded either a goal or an assist

They really don't have anyone on the current roster who can do what Mike Knuble did, but let's face it, they just couldn't afford to keep him. Mike Knuble earned the money he is getting from D.C. ).

#15 Joffrey Lupul

 Height: 6'1"

Weight: 205 lbs

NHL Debut: 2003-04 season (5 season Veteran)

(The following stats include the past 4 regular seasons...last 2 spent with the Flyers; 2006-07 with Edmonton, and 2005-06 spent with Anaheim Mighty Ducks)

Games Played: 297

Ice Time: 4,869 minutes (about 16:48 per game)

Power Play Time: 1,000 minutes (he contributed to the Power Play)

Penalty Kill Time: 145 minutes (he killed penalties too)

Face-off attempts: Like Knuble this stat is so low in both quality and percentage it's not worth exploring.

Minor Penalties: 83 (about 1 every 7 games he is called for 2 penalties)

Major Penalties: 4

Give Aways: 148

Take Aways: 107

Hits: 284 (averages about 71 hits per season; a little less than 1 hit per game)

Blocked Shots: 97 (even worse than Knuble)

Plus/Minus: -39 (in his 2 seasons with the Flyers, Lupul was a +3....but that's still about -9.7 per season over the past 4 seasons, so he's a liability here; for his career he's a -45..goes to show how good Carter & Hartnell are defensively)

Assists: 88 (about 1 out of every 7 games he records 2 assists)

Shots on Goal: 838

Power Play Goals: 30 (34 for his career)

Short-Handed Goals: 2

Goals (overall): 89 (about 1 every 7 games he records 2 goals; he has 102 goals for his career)

So other than some defensive issues, that didn't handicap him with the Flyers (most likely cause of his teammates)...Lupul brings a lot of scoring punch to the table. ...

I think Lupul will be less missed than Knuble....especially if Claude Giroux plays up to expectations...Lupul for Chris Pronger is a good trade.....Pronger adds a whole other dimension to this hockey club....

But I think Knuble's absents, which Knubles departure had a lot to do with the addition of Pronger....will be missed. Knuble played a style of game, and brought experience on top of it, that the Flyers do not have at Right Wing.

With the Flyers' salary cap situation it will be difficult for them to pick up a Knuble replacement...so they may have to just deal with what they have or call up a prospect from the Phantoms to replace Knoobs.

I mentioned before that I think Darroll Powe, due to his weight and style of play, could try and fill in those big skates left by Knuble. But, if he doesn't..what other Right Wing do we have that could play that "infront of the net" game?