Once a Flyer, always a Flyer. The statement seems to hold true, in many cases. Today, it proved true again as Marty Murray was resigned as a Flyer. Murray was a Flyer in 01 until 03, then a season with the Hurricanes. This past season, he played in Germany following the lockout.

Bobby Clarke had the following comments on Murray: “We felt that the way he plays the game, with his brains and quickness, that he fits into the newer mold of a player that’s successful in the league now … Also, it gives us some comfort with Keith Primeau and Peter Forsberg and us not knowing about them … He can play the power play, he can kill penalties, he can play wing. He’s better at center, but he can play anywhere. He’s just a complete player that was dragged down because of the rules.”

The Flyers have also announced their preseason schedule. opening with a game against division rival Pittsburgh in Moncton, New Brunswick of Canada on September 20th.

John Stevens led the Phantoms to the Calder Cup in 2005. Now, he’ll set his sights on the Stanley Cup.

Stevens will become an assistant coach for the Flyers, a promotion from the AHL Phantoms, whom he coached for five seasons. Stevens will replace Wayne Fleming, who resigned as assistant coach on Monday.

Read more at ComcastSportsNet.Com

It’s a weird feeling for most of us to see an Edmonton – Carolina Stanley Cup Finals matchup, isn’t it? But this is what the NHL wanted, and they got it. Two teams, blessed with skilled finesse defensemen, a healthy and fast forward core, and solid goaltending.

These two teams are the best examples of what it takes to win games in today’s NHL, and here they are, the finals. Edmonton went out and could no longer be outbid when it came to signing key additions to their team such as Chris Pronger, Ryan Smyth (resigned), and many others. They were also able to offer the right elements in trade in order to pick up a solid veteran goaltender for the playoff push, without giving up any key elements to their own playoff hopes.

Carolina, on the other hand, was already well equipped to make a Finals push, but they still went out and picked up a veteran in Mark Recchi, in order to add experience to their locker room.

My point in bringing this up, is that the Flyers need to take a key look into their depth charts and once again realize that speed on defense is key. I agree with my partner that the speed of our forwards is not what cost us our playoff series by any means. This was caused mostly by injuries (lets say 60% of the blame), and speed of defense (let’s say 30%). Stay-at-home defensemen are out of style, and it’s time the Flyers realized it. It’s time to cut Hatcher and Rathje (thus clearing $7m of cap room), and pick up young, yet experienced, defensemen in return.

What exactly is a 100% healthy Flyers roster capable of? It’s a question I’ve been talking to a lot of hardcore Flyers fans about lately, and I think I can shed some light on this. I think it’s fair to say we had two players playing at 100% of their capabilities for most of the past season, those being Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble. If you add a 100% healthy Kapanen, Primeau, Handzus, Johnsson, and yes, Peter the Great, you have to wonder what is truly possible for this team.

Those first four names should speak for themselves, since we know what they’re capable of when they’re at full strength, and quite simply, its taking this team all the way to Game 7 of the Conference Finals.

Now, let’s talk about ‘him’. We now know that we haven’t seen a 100% healthy Forsberg in perhaps as many as 5 or 6 years. Given the maturation of his hockey mind during that time, I don’t think anyone has truly seen the 100% Peter Forsberg yet, and the thought is mind boggling to say the least. Playing 60 of a possible 82 games this past season, he put up 19 goals and 56 assists. Assuming optimistically, let’s say he was playing at about 75% capacity; the numbers that he is truly capable of should just blow your mind away. In my opinion, when Peter comes back on January 1^st, 2007, he will finally be able to prove both his true 100% game, and that he is the missing link that can finally bring a championship to our Flyers.

So, for now, it’s just a dream. However, this dream is far closer than it seems. If the Flyers can make that right off-season moves(link), and avoid the decimating injury bug that has caused them so many problems over the past many years, it’s not a stretch to consider this Flyers team a serious Cup contender in 2007.

Bobby Clarke is in denial, Ed Snider is too pissed-off to go onto Daily News Live to talk about the season, and Ken Hitchcock is in the last year of his contract. In case you didn’t figure it out already, only one of those three statements is a good thing.

Management – Bobby Clarke is honestly a great general manager, but it’s time to realize his master plan for the 05-06 season blew up in his face, horribly. Yes, injuries were part of the problem, but not the top reason, as he would tell you. The major flaw in his plan was the speed factor. He over-estimated the value of speed in the new NHL, especially with defense. Bob, stay-at-home defensemen ARE obsolete, not close-to obsolete.

Coaching – Many fans are dazed and confused, and feel this is more of a coaching problem then management. WRONG. Coaching has an effect on management, yes, but Hitch did the best job he could do with what he was handed. I do feel that he influenced the signing of Derian Hatcher, and for that, he gets an F. Mr. Snider and Clarky need to ensure Hitch gets an extension and soon, or the upcoming season could be a disaster.

Let’s talk about moves for a second. The first moves have to be to get rid of Hatcher and Rathje. They take up 1/7 of what I believe to be a 42 million dollar salary cap this coming year. Before you criticize this, please note that Hatcher was one of my top 3 non-Flyer favorite players before he was signed here. The fact is, that his time is up in this NHL. I’m not sure what you do with Therien, since his contract is only $500k, either buy-out or move him to the minors. Desjardins is in the last year of his contract, and at his age, I’m not sure that it’s the right time to re-sign him. Brashear and Savage are already gone, so I can’t really comment on that move. I also believe Clarky is going to buy-out Stevenson’s contract (thank God!).

The rookies on this team seem to be of endless talent. I’m sure you’ve already heard of Umberger, Carter, and Richards. However, don’t forget about Freddy Meyer who could easily be the back-stop of this defense core within a year or two, and Ben Eager, a gritty forward who could take the place of Brian Savage.

With (what I hope to be) 8.2 million dollars of free cap room, the Flyers need to make 2 or 3 key pick-ups. Kim Johnsson is a question mark for this up-coming year, so you need veteran quick defensemen, at a one or two year deal. They should also pick up another defenseman, on a more long-term deal that has quickness, and scoring ability, and youth on his side. Finally, there is a need for a class-act forward still on this roster to fill in on the 3^rd line. I’m not sure where I would turn for this. At the trade deadline, I would have said Recchi, but he is now almost 40, and I don’t think that’s a risk worth taking.

So there is your food for thought, I would appreciate your comments, and before I leave you, here is my predicted Flyers depth chart for the 2006-2007 NHL season. It is my opinion that with the right management decisions this off-season, the Flyers will return and be a Stanly Cup contender this coming season.

Gagne – Knuble – Forsberg
Dimitrakos – Primeau – Kapanen
Carter – Umberger – Nedved
Richards – Handzus – Radiovojevic

Johnsson – Pitkanen
Meyer – Gauthier
? – ?

The flyers have once again disappointed in this series, with an embarrassing, and this time, home loss to the Buffalo sabers. The final score of 7-1 was bad enough, but there are other aspects that should be absolutely disheartening to Flyers fans. First, let’ recap the game.

The Flyers actually got off to a good start, they applied 10 minutes of constant pressure, and virtually no (at least not noticeable to me) turnovers. Then, it unraveled, yet again. A Forsberg pass gone wrong resulted in a 2-on-1 battle in the corner which our Desjardins lost. The puck was then brought out front, and passed to a wide open Mike Greir who deposited the puck into the gaping net. 1-0 Buffalo.

It continued from there, including the departure of Robert Esche (perhaps, for the last time) and another of his tantrums. First off, this guy is a great goaltender, but was simply hung out to dry in this series to constant odd-man rushes. Let me point out, that these odd-man rushes could have been avoided if the Flyers weren’t always behind and having to chase the game. I don’t have the exact count but at least 4 of the Buffalo goals were on odd-man rushes.

The final result, was a 7-1 loss, and the end of the Flyers season. It was a season that could have been remembered for promising rookies who stepped in to fill the roll of proven veterans, and for injuries that were overcome, and for a NHL record 12 game road trip which the Flyers dominated. Instead, it will be remembered for the way this team was heavily dominated both offensively and defensively in their first round series against the Buffalo Sabers.

This is a pathetic, yet necessary reminder that the Flyers team is NOT built for the new NHL. My top 3 favorite non-Flyers included Derian Hatcher. Unfortunately, Derian is not a new NHL player. The slow defense core of this team and it’s inability to get back cost the Flyers dearly in this series. The absence of the second, third, and fourth lines also did them in. The problem is not that these lines are not good, but that they just didn’t show up.

This Flyers fan is disgusted at the end result of this season, and that it could have been prevented with better management decisions. But, for tonight, we’ll focus on just this game, and unfortunately, it’s going to leave a bad taste in our mouths for quite some time. In the coming days, and weeks, we’ll begin to look to the off-season, and discuss what moves should be done by management.