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

• Lots of news yesterday in case you missed it: The Flyers signed Medicine Hat defenseman Matthew Konan: [BSH]
• Danny Briere and Nicklas Grossmann are both out with injuries: [BSH]
• Wayne Simmonds was named the NHL's First Star of the Week: [The Checking Line] [CSNPhilly]
• Simmonds got some well deserved love for his play, as well: [SB Nation Philly] [NHL.com] [The Hockey Guys] [delcotimes]
  
• And Ilya Bryzgalov was named the NHL's First Star of the Month: [the700level] [The Checking Line]
• NHL.com put out their yearly award posts and Matt Read gets a nomination for the Calder: [NHL.com] while Paul Holmgren gets a nomination for GM of the Year: [NHL.com]
• Niko Hovinen stopped 24 of 26 shots as his team won Game 7 over Johan Backlund's team, 3-2. Backlund made 29 saves on 32 shots: [euroflyers]
• Backlund finished the playoffs with a 0.932 save percentage and 2.54 goals against average in nine games: [euroflyers]
• Prepare to be surprised: "The Worldwide Leader did a profile of Capitals winger Alexander Ovechkin that lasted 7.75 minutes. It was the first time this year SportsCenter had used one of its reporters on a hockey story, rather than just showing highlights and Barry Melrose." [Deadspin]
• Excellent Google Map of where this year's NHL players were born: [Everyone Else Is Doing It]