Meltzer’s Musings: Morin’s Offensive Potential

Will Morin Evolve into an Offensive Defenseman?

As soon as the Philadelphia Flyers selected Samuel Morin with the 11th overall pick of the 2012 NHL Draft, people began to trot out comparisons to Chris Pronger. I think that sets the bar unrealistically high for now, especially from an offensive standpoint.

Pronger was a dominant offensive player in junior hockey, apart from being a physical

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Meltzer’s Musings: Lauridsen, Quick Hits

Flyers Re-Sign Lauridsen to Two-Year Contract

Yesterday, the Flyers re-signed defenseman Oliver Lauridsen to a two-year contract. As was the case with the contract signed last summer by Marc-Andre Bourdon, the first year of Lauridsen’s deal is a two-way contract, the second year is one-way.

At the NHL level, Lauridsen’s deal will pay at a $600,000 full-season salary scale in each of the next

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Meltzer’s Musings: Hockey Hall of Fame, New Flyers, Top Forward Prospects

When someone who was always called a kook starts to be called an innovator, it means he’s not very innovative anymore.

— Fred Shero

Yesterday’s posthumous selection of Fred Shero for the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto took decades to happen. Shero was an iconoclast — a soft-spoken and often shy one — whose approach to hockey coaching and hockey strategy often ran counter to the convention

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Meltzer’s Musings: Tuesday Quick Hits

Tuesday Quick Hits

* Later today, the Flyers will formally introduce Vincent Lecavalier, Mark Streit and Ray Emery at a 1 p.m. photo op/ press conference at the Wells Fargo Center. Meanwhile, the Flyers development camp in Voorhees continues today with sessions from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 to 2:30 p.m.

* The Hockey Hall of Fame will announce its Class of 2013 inductees later today. Eric

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Meltzer’s Musings: Are Flyers Finally Turning a Corner in D Development?

Are Flyers Finally Turning the Corner in Defense Development?

Much has been made of the Philadelphia Flyers’ inability to draft and develop their own defenseman. Many folks, including yours truly, have criticized the organization’s lack of patience in overseeing young defensemen through their learning curves and living through the inevitable growing pains that can last as long as three to five

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Meltzer’s Musings: Streit Usage

At the start of the 2013 off-season, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren had four primary items on his agenda: upgrade the blueline, add size to the forward corps, offset the impending buyout of Danny Briere with a skilled forward for the second line and decide what to do with Ilya Bryzgalov and then find a more cost-efficient replacement in goal.

The acquisition of Vincent Lecavalier added a

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Meltzer’s Musings: Emery Signing a Good Deal for Flyers

There is a lot to like about the Flyers’ signing of unrestricted free agent goaltender Ray Emery yesterday. In tandem with Steve Mason, the team may not have elite goaltending on paper but a split-time arrangement and healthy competition could work between two players who want to be here and feel like they still have something to prove.

You can’t argue with the price tag or the one-year length

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Flyers Free Agency Friday: Fireworks or Dud?

Flyers Free Agency Friday: Fireworks or Dud?

The first day of free agency can produce significant chances in the NHL landscape or it can prove to be much ado over changes that do little or nothing to improve teams. Most years, the Philadelphia Flyers are in thick of trade and free agency-related rumors on this day.

Having already made major roster moves with the acquisitions of Vincent Lecav

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Meltzer’s Musings: 2013 Development Camp Preview, Quick Hits

Flyers Development Camp Preview

A scaled-down version of the Flyers annual Development Camp will be held at the Skate Zone in Voorhees and Stone Harbor, NJ, next week. Unlike last year, when the camp ran for seven days and included a pair of scrimmages on the final two days, this year’s camp will be four days long with no scrimmages.

The schedule is as follows, with all sessions free and ope

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Meltzer’s Musings: Fitting in Lecavalier, Next Steps

Capology of Lecavalier Signing

Apart from the five-year length of the contract that free agent Vincent Lecavalier has agreed to with the Flyers, there is really not much to criticize about the deal. The deal makes sense from a hockey standpoint and is not nearly as crippling to the Flyers’ salary cap as the knee-jerk naysayers — and there’s a legion of those — would like you to believe.

I

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