Today's open discussion thread, complete with your daily dose of Philadelphia Flyers-related news and notes...

• The Flyers as one of ten teams "ready to contend for Lord Stanley's Cup": [sportsnet.ca]
• Recapping the Phantoms' loss: [BSH] [PostStar]
• The Phantoms experimented yesterday and it didn't really work: [CSNPhilly]
• Specifically, the Phantoms played Sean Couturier on the point during the power play: [Daily News]
• Maxime Talbot shot a puck wit a bow and arrow, only not really: [the700level] [The Checking Line]
• Introducing new Phantoms' beat writer Diana Nearhos: [Phantoms Forum]
• Catching up with the European Flyers: [Flyers Faithful]
• Nick Cousins had 2 goals and 3 assists in two games last week: [The Hockey Guys]
• Patrick Thoresen deserves to be in the NHL, and this is a fantastic run down of why: [OilersNation]
• For whatever reason, Deadspin's explanations of the lockout do a really good job of explaining complicated issues, like why the negotiations are a joke: [Deadspin]
• There has been - shockingly - no progress in the negotiations: [SBNation.com] [Puck Daddy] [SI Red Light]
• Looking at 30 players especially hurt by the lockout: [Hockey Prospectus]
• ESPN will air KHL games on ESPN3, wherever that channel is: [SBNation.com] [Puck Daddy]
• Striving for profits and parity at the same time leads to failed policies, as it did in the last CBA: [NHLNumbers]
• Penn State named their captains for this year: [Thank You Terry]
• Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe is a pretty huge troll, but it's still worth pointing out how big of a donkey he is: [Pension Plan Puppets] And pointing it out again because he's just that ignorant: [Backhand Shelf]