Flyers vs. Rangers: Henrik Lundqvist wins goalie duel, 2-0

Wellwood is out w/ an injury right now and is unavailable. Sestito is unavailable as well due to the suspension he still needs to serve. He won’t be recalled to serve it until after the trade deadline.
For the record, I agree, Wellwood would have been my first choice.

they don’t have a very steep learning curve at all if you try

I think this is true. It can sound intimidating because it’s new, and maybe because in some sports the non-traditional stats get pretty complicated. But in hockey, it really is pretty accessible to anyone who’s interested.

so not to piss you off with my own stupidity but your saying girouxs g/60 is prob high because jagr but cooters isnt low because hes on a line with shelly and rinaldo? if couterier was on a line with say briere and read would that influence his g/60 since they obviously have more playmaking ability than shelly and bsc?

No, you’re not. That’s why the Flyers went out and got guys like Simmonds this offseason. They needed to get bigger up front.

Again, the guys they got can do something other than fight.

Even if that’s true, is Jody Shelley going to help Danny Briere win a board battle? Is Shelley going to stop Milan Lucic from hitting Kimmo Timonen in the corners?

No.

Yeah, you scare me so bad that I took your non-confrontational opinion and “went off”.

You were as effective in scaring me away from starting trouble as Jody Shelley is.

So let me get this straight, you firmly established your position on a topic for potential debate, then said people are crazy if they don’t believe that the team feels he’s worth his money to go up against the Orrs and McGrattons of the world, and still you somehow classify your comment as ‘non-confrontational’?

Besides, that’s not nearly enough to qualify as Geoff ‘going off’. He broke out your points and debated them sentence by sentence, but from my vantage point it didn’t seem malicious at all; at worst that’s maybe a 2 or 3 out of 10 on the BSH scale of heated debate.

I think I will take the GM’s, the coaches, the players, and announcers that know hockey, word over your opinion Geoff.

And that’s fine. But the players weren’t saying how necessary they were before Shelley. They weren’t clamoring for Riley Cote to be in the lineup. They also don’t speak ill of teammates, so how do you know what they’re saying to be nice and what they’re saying honestly? Ilya Bryzgalov said he wouldn’t trade any of their 6 defensemen for anyone in the league. Do you take that opinion as fact?

You can’t call it unfounded when Holmgren has came out and said that we don’t want players taking liberties with our star players when asked about the tough guy role in hockey.

Why not? If players are taking liberties with Jody Shelley in the lineup, what does Paul Holmgren’s words do to change that? How can you take someone’s word over what actually happens, which contradicts that?

I in no way think that this is a smart investment with the way the game is played now and the protection the players get from the officials now.

So you agree with me, yet you’re arguing against me? You disagree with the Flyers, yet you just said above that you’ll take their opinion over mine. I guess you take their opinion over your own? At which point I have to ask: Why are you sharing your opinion when you are arguing against yourself?

There is no one on that list that can and will handle the heavyweights

You just said you don’t need a heavyweight, so why do you need someone to handle the heavyweights? Let them skate around being useless, refuse to fight, give your team a powerplay, and let the guys you do have answer in their own way.

Where were those guys when Shelly was beating the hell out of us when he was with playing for the Rangers.

When did Shelley beat the hell out of the Flyers? He didn’t fight a Flyer when he was with the Rangers.

Oh yeah most of them or the people they replaced were here. Hmmm I wonder why they went out and signed his ass after that series?

Because he scored two goals in two games?

Maybe they saw the effect he was having on our players? Whether you want to admit it or not those guys hurt and put fear into other players.

If Danny Briere is scared of a guy he can skate circles around, if Claude Giroux is afraid to go into a corner, if Kimmo Timonen is scared to make an outlet pass, if any of the Flyers skill players are afraid of playing hockey because of Colton Orr, they aren’t NHL players.

This has been well documented by players interviews.

Again, they you believe Bryzgalov truly wouldn’t trade Andreas Lilja for Nik Lidstrom. That Brygzalov wouldn’t trade Andrej Meszaros for Zdeno Chara. That he wouldn’t trade Matt Carle for Drew Doughty. You would also believe that Ilya Bryzgalov truly is a horrible teammate who lets in soft goals.

But maybe you understand players don’t exactly tell the 100% truth in interviews. That they support their teammates in public, even if it means saying things they don’t believe.

I agree except for the rare occasion and it just sucks. But that doesn’t stop the fear he puts in other players at times.

So players don’t have to fight him, and yet this knowledge that they won’t fight them still scares them? And you are comfortable with Claude Giroux being afraid of Colton Orr? You’re quite alright believing that James van Riemsdyk is playing scared when Shawn Thornton is on the ice?

I like to believe those skill guys are giddy when they see Orr and Thornton on the other side, since they have the confidence and talent to make the other coach look stupid trying to match up that way.

This is just funny and your obviously not a fighter, but that doesn’t matter.

No, I’m not. I’m a hockey player. But I guess that doesn’t matter when talking about hockey, either.

Rinaldo has the strength sometimes, but not even in the same league as Shelly.

So now there are “leagues” of who can break your face with one shot? Is Evander Kane in the same league as Jody Shelley? What about Ryan Vandenbussche? How about Aaron Downey? Unless you want to say there are also different “leagues” of faces, I’m pretty sure they’re all the same. Especially when you consider Jesse Boulerice and Nick Kypreos are some pretty solid fighters.

Why don’t you ask the players themselves to help you with this one.

Again, with the “ask the players”. Do you watch player interviews and go “man, I learned a lot from that interview?” If so, I can’t help you. I guess I’ll just take it one comment at a time, it’s just another comment, there’s some real talent on the other side there, and we’ll see how it goes.

The Flyers didn’t lose Scott Mellanby in the expansion draft. They traded him to Edmonton for Jari Kurri. Full deal:

May 30, 1991: Traded to Edmonton by Philadelphia with Craig Fisher and Craig Berube for Dave Brown, Corey Foster and Jari Kurri, May 30, 1991.

As for Kurri, who was literally on the Flyers for about five minutes:

May 30, 1991: Traded to Los Angeles by Philadelphia with Jeff Chychrun for Steve Duchesne, Steve Kasper and Los Angeles’ 4th round choice (Aris Brimanis) in 1991 Entry Draft, May 30, 1991.

Mind you, Kurri did not want to play here, hence he was dealt to LA.

Scott Mellanby —> Steve Duchesne —> Eric Lindros.

And Ben just tweeted Kypreos saying he’s officially gone