Meltzer’s Musings: Wednesday Quick Hits

WEDNESDAY QUICK HITS

* The Flyers did not skate yesterday. Today, they will have a heavy-duty practice in preparation for tomorrow night’s game against the San Jose Sharks at the Wells Fargo Center.

* In a classic case of the way statistics can be sliced and diced different ways to support diametrically opposite arguments, there are two different ways one could interpret the NHL’s official s

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Meltzer’s Musings: Homer Talks Deadline, Internet Waaayback Machine & More

HOLMGREN TALKS TRADE DEADLINE

Yesterday, the Flyers’ beat writers spoke with general manager Paul Holmgren after practice about the prospects of the team making a move before the March 5 trade deadline.

Such sessions rarely elicit much information apart from something along the lines of “we will make a move if I think it will help our team and won’t disrupt the group we have now (AKA, the

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Meltzer’s Musings: Three Keys to Stretch Drive Success

THREE KEYS TO FLYERS STRETCH DRIVE

Over the next 10 days, there will be considerable speculation about potential roster moves the Flyers will make before the March 5 trade deadline. Regardless of whom they add or delete — I’m not sure how active the Flyers can or should be in a market with relatively few outright sellers — the team is going to need to hit the ground running during the stretc

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Meltzer’s Musings: Sunday Quick Hits

SUNDAY QUICK HITS

* With the exception of Kimmo Timonen, who won a bronze medal at the Olympics with Team Finland yesterday, the Flyers will have their full contingent of players at practice today in Voorhees. The season resumes on Thursday, when the Flyers play host to the San Jose Sharks at the Wells Fargo Center.

* The NHL trade freeze ends at midnight tonight. The NHL trade deadline is

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Meltzer’s Musings: Saturday Quick Hits

SATURDAY QUICK HITS

* Team Finland defeated Team USA, 5-0, in the bronze medal game in Sochi. In his final Olympic game, soon-to-retire Teemu Selänne notched his 23rd career Olympic goal early in the second period. Jussi Jokinen added to the lead moments later. Jusso Hietenan opened a three-goal lead with a third-period power play goal and then Selänne converted a Mikael Granlund feed for ano

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Meltzer’s Musings: Schedule Breakdown, Timonen, Dineen, and More

A LOOK INSIDE THE FLYERS’ REMAINING SCHEDULE

With only defenseman Kimmo Timonen remaining in Sochi at the Olympics, the Flyers are getting closer and closer to having their full contingent of players back in Voorhees to begin preparations for a busy stretch drive. The Flyers have 23 games remaining on their 2013-14 regular season schedule.

From here on out, the Flyers’ goal will be to finis

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Meltzer’s Musings: JVR & Schenn Revisted, Raffl Returning, and More

WHAT JVR DOES IS NO REFLECTION ON SCHENN

There is a phenomenon in sports — which has always existed to some degree, but has become much more visible in the internet age — of what might be called “foul weather” followers.

The fair weather folks jump on and off the bandwagon repeatedly. The foul weather ones are not happy unless they are miserable.

Every roster move is wrong. Every sign

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Meltzer’s Musings: Flyers Olympic Quick Hits, Back to Practice and More

TIMONEN, FINNS HEAD TO SEMIS

The secret to Team Finland’s success over the last decade is that the national team is often greater than the sum of its individual parts. The frequent problem with Team Russia has been that it’s about its individual parts. Hockey is a team game.

That dichotomy was very much in evidence in today’s medal round quarterfinals. Minus players like Mikko Koivu, Saku K

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Meltzer’s Musings: Raffl Olympic Wrapup, Olympic Updates

RAFFL OLYMPIC WRAPUP

The 2014 Olympics in Sochi were a positive individual experience for Flyers’ forward Michael Raffl, even though his Austrian team went 1-2-0 in the preliminary round and then got knocked out in medal round qualification play by Slovenia earlier today. Raffl not only got to play in his first Olympic tournament, he got to do with older brother Thomas as one of his teammates a

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Meltzer’s Musings: Morin Update, Revisiting Weber

MORIN WILL DEVELOP AT OWN PACE

Samuel Morin, the Flyers’ first-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, is having an up-and-down third season for the Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. He is developing at an encouraging pace overall but there have been bumps along the path this season. There is still a long way for the 6-foot-7 defenseman to go before he’ll be ready to be a mi

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