2012-13 Philadelphia Flyers Preview: No Longer With Pronger
Eric T.
August 30 2012 08:24AM
Bryzgalov spent the off-season working on his camouflage so he can hide from the Philadelphia media
photo by Andrey Godyaykin (www.for-wikimedia.bolshoisport.ru), via Wikimedia Commons
The Flyers have an amazing ability to lead the league in both long contracts and roster turnover.
Even after trading away Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, and James van Riemsdyk; even after failing to add Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, or Shea Weber on offered 10+ year contracts, the Flyers still have more players signed through 2015-16 than any other team (they have nine; Montreal and Carolina are next with seven).
And yet the Flyers are still not long on roster stability, as they have continually turned over the roster in recent years -- the longest-tenured Flyer is Braydon Coburn, and the longest-tenured player who they drafted is Claude Giroux.
Depite the turnover, the Flyers have been extremely successful. Over the last five years, their worst season was either 88 points and a Wales Trophy in '09-10 or 99 points and a first-round playoff loss in '08-09. Can that continue this year?
NHL Math: When 51.6% Is Actually Less Than 50%
Jonathan Willis
August 29 2012 11:35AM
Details about the NHL’s new CBA proposal have come out – TSN has the details here - and at first glance it looks like a significant step in the right direction. There’s no roll-back, and the players will earn more than 50 percent of hockey-related revenue in the first two years of the deal, a little less in year three, and then 50 percent for the next three seasons. Given that most feel the deal will eventually be a 50/50 split between owners and players, that sounds fair, right?
It’s a step in the right direction, but the proposal is nowhere near as good as it looks at first blush.
Vancouver Canucks 2012-13 Annual: All the President's Men
Thomas Drance
August 29 2012 07:47AM
Can the Canucks go back-to-back-to-back? (And then get eliminated in the first round again?)
Partly because they play in such a thoroughly woeful division, the Canucks managed to repeat as President's Trophy winners last season. But their first round playoff exit, in five games at the hands of the eventual Stanley Cup Champions, marred the 2011-12 campaign as a "failure."
Being at the absolute top of the table is a testament to the quality and consistency of the roster, but regular season dominance simply isn't the goal for this club, or their management team.
NATION RADIO - AUGUST 25, 2012
NationRadio
August 28 2012 01:18PM
While NHL fans do a slow burn and the league's player prepare for a season that may never come, the owners and Bettman appear to be enjoying another season of good times on Boardwalk, Park Place and Pennsylvania avenues. Allan Mitchell tackles the issues with some heavy hitters.
This is Nation Radio.
Calgary Flames 2012-13 Season Preview: Battling the Inevitable
Kent Wilson
August 28 2012 10:09AM
Despite missing the playoffs in each of the prior two seasons, last year began with a glimmer of hope for Flames fans - the club went on to be one of the hottest teams in the league in the wake of Darryl Sutter's ouster in 2011-12. So although new GM Jay Feaster only made a few nominal changes to the line-up in the summer of 2012, the feeling was the organization would bloom now that it wasn't operating under the dour cloud of Sutter's baleful glare.
Unfortunately, the second half run in 2012 was mostly a mirage. The Flames were (and remain) a fundamentally flawed club who are good enough to compete for a playoff spot, but several steps behind the true contenders in the league. The current construction of the team also makes a real step forward in the near future unlikely; in fact, with an aging core and lackluster collection of players in or near their prime, the Flames will probably continue to trend downwards.
