*We’ll get to the game and the associated insanity later but John Tortorella has been suspended for TWO GAMES and fined FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for yelling at noted shitheel Wes McCauley Saturday night. Ridiculous punishment. Unserious league. [BSH]
*After today we don’t have to talk about trades anymore! Until the summer. And for a little bit right now, because we’ve got to run through everything Danny B. did on Friday. Like, for example, trading Wade Allison. [BSH] [NBC Sports Philly]
*The Flyers also decided they needed some depth at D. And they were probably right. [BSH]
*And bonus, the new guy already knows some guys in the org! [Inquirer]
*Erik Johnson has been around for a while and is primarily here because of the Flyers’ need (want? preference?) for veteran leadership on the back end, so let’s not expect TOO much in the way of flashy performance. [BSH]
*Of course GMDB held a post-deadline presser, which we’ve bullet-pointed for you. [BSH]
*All in all, it’s hard to argue that Briere’s first deadline performance was anything less than good. [Inquirer]
*If you are subscriber over at Charlie’s website, he’s got a full grading of Briere’s moves for your consideration. [PHLY]
*The Flyers first game after the deadline? Not good. Very bad. One to forget. Recap.
*Well there’s one thing worth remembering, and that was John Tortorella’s well-earned ejection from the game. [BSH]
*In fact, that’s really all anyone is talking about. So another Tortorella masterclass in taking the heat off of the players and putting it on himself? Maybe, or maybe Wes McCauley just sucks. [PHLY]
*Yesterday, Dan Hilferty channeled Mr. Snider and announced that he’d pay any fine that Torts incurs as a result of the ejection. You love to see it. [BSH]
*Important thing is for the Flyers to move on from that game, and a meetup with the very-not-good San Jose Sharks may be just what they need to do it. [Inquirer]
*Back to that whole “veteran D” thing, the two oldest guys on the blueline have suddenly become very important and that’s… well, it’s going to be interesting. [The Athletic]
*The Flyers’ focus continues to be on building “culture” (see: re-signing Nick Seeler), and that just might be why this season has gone better than anyone thought it would. [Inquirer]
*And finally, wrap up the deadline with grades for each of the league’s 32 teams, some of whom did lots and some of whom did nothing at all. [The Athletic]
