Happy turkey day everyone, I apologize for the lack of updates. I knew my class load this year was going to cut into my free time and the past few weeks have been hectic. Let’s review what has happened over the past week or so.

Coach John Stevens has been signed to a 2 year contract by the Flyers. While some say it stabilizes the coaching situation you have to remember a couple things. First off interim was never put in front of his title. There was never any speculation, that the move was temporary. And second like a 2 year contract means anything anyway. Just ask Ken Hitchcock who was signed to a 3 year contract in September only to be fired in October.

Speaking of Hitchcock he will be back in Philadelphia behind the bench coaching on Black Friday, not for the Flyers but for the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching his first game for that team. Good luck to Hitch, starting Saturday.

The game against Columbus is a 1pm start on Black Friday which is decent since I had no plans on going out and dealing with the nuts that shop on that day. No matter how good the deals are.

Injury report for the Flyers.
Jeff Carter is out six weeks from November 7 with a fractured left tibia which means a return mid December
Todd Fedoruk is out until the end of November with a fractured orbital bone in his face. He won’t be able to fight for at least a month after that.
Peter Forsberg has a stiff lower back and is listed day to day, although his skates are still bothering him and I don’t know how they are going to fix it.
Denis Gauthier is out 10 weeks from November 12 with a left should injury which would be mean a mid January return.
Alex Picard suffered a concussion on November 18, no time table on his return.
Mike Rathje is listed tay to day with Piriformis syndrome. He has taken all the cortisone shots he can this year. Dude should hang it up seriously for this year. He isn’t helping the Flyers either on the ice or against the salary cap. It is obvious by how much faster the Flyers defense looks when he is scratched. The game against the Senators is the perfect example.

Let’s talk about the game against the Senators. Can we get some more Finland defensemen? While Pitkanen has really looked bad this year pairing him with Timonen I think really does something. Those two and Jonsson looked pretty decent back on D. Actually having defensemen that can skate faster then a dump truck is a nice thing to have.

Even Pylon looked decent. Pylon was +2, got his first point of the season and managed to get first star of the game of which he didn’t deserve. He has been getting praise in recent games and is even not dead last in +/- anymore in the league. He is ranked 692th in the league. There are 5 other Flyers in the last ten positions in that stat Pitkanen, Calder, Nedved, Gagne and Richards, that has to change. That stat with Gagne is a big change from last year. Last year he was very solid defensively not so much this year.

A couple stat changes from last year. So far this year the Flyers have 1 shorthanded goal, last season they scored 19 of which Richards had 3 of his 11 goals. This year 0. Joni Pitkanen had 13 goals last year, this year 0. Last year the Flyers didn’t give up a shorthanded goal to near halfway through the season gave up 6 total, this season 5 already.

At least the Flyers get a point against the Senators, Flyers 11 points out of the playoff hunt. Still not playing with any desperation, the Senators are not playing like a playoff team and well, neither are the Flyers who have now lost 6 straight at home.

But back to Pylon, yes he has seem to be doing better but he has not proven himself against teams that the Flyers HAVE to beat and I don’t think he can. The Senators really did have the speed or pressure that the Sabres create and that’s the point. For years Clarke tried to build the Flyers to beat the Devils. Well now the Flyers need to be built to beat the Sabres and I don’t see Hatcher in that picture.

In other hockey news former Flyer Donald Brashear was suspended for 3 games while Brian Sutherby and Scott Mellanby each got a one game suspension for instigating a fight in the last 5 minutes of a game. Coaches were also fined $30,000 and $10,000 respectively. Bullshit rule, never liked it and every time it comes up I will bitch about it. The rule created in reaction to the Flyers/Senators brawl, because fans just hate those things.