Flyers sign defensman Nolan Baumgartner

The Flyers sign defenseman Nolan Baumgartner to a 2 year contract reportedly worth $2.4 million.
Baumgartner a Canadian was a first round draft pick for the Washington Capitals in 1994. He was picked using one of the 2 first-round draft picks the Flyers gave up in order to obtain Eric Lindros from the Quebec Nordiques.
Besides the Capitals he also played for the Blackhawks, Canucks and Penguins.

According to TSN
Assets Has great physical tools. Possesses a booming point shot and the ability to put up points from the back end.
Flaws Struggles with defensive-zone coverage, and is mistake-prone. Doesn’t use his size nearly enough.
Career potential No. 6 or 7 defenseman.

Sounds like the Flyers signed a younger Chris Therien, nice.
Guess I should give the guy a chance before assigning him official pylon status. Even though he has only played one full NHL season since being drafted 12 years ago.
His numbers were pretty decent last year, almost comparable to Johnsson who the Flyers did not resign. 70 games, 5 goals, 29 assists, 34 points and +11.

Johnsson signs with Wild

Kim Johnsson’s price was too high for the Flyers as he signed with the Minnesota Wild a 4 year $19.4 million contract. Johnsson was acquired from the Rangers in 2001 being part of the deal that sent Eric Lindros to the Rangers. A quality offensive defenseman for the Flyers was +44 for the 4 years in Philadelphia and averaged around 40 points per season until this past year. Johnsson suffered a concussion this past January causing him to miss the last 31 games of the season plus the playoffs.
I would have loved to have Johnsson back, but under the salary cap at almost 5 mill a year? Eh, think that is a little on the high side especially with the amount of decent defenseman that were UFA this year. I was surprised to see him get that much.

Flyers 05-06 Season Video

Some last season clips, good stuff. Philadelphia Flyers 05-06 Season Video.
Music by Coheed And Cambria “Welcome Home”

Flyers ticket prices go up

Chuck Gormley — After selling out 39 of their 41 home games and drawing a record 805,783 fans last season, the Flyers have hiked their ticket prices for next season by about 5 percent.
Ticket increases will range from $1.25 (from $23 to $24.25) for the worst seats in the Wachovia Center to $5 (from $100 to $105) for Victors Restaurant Row.

All lower level seats will jump from $85 to $89 for non-season ticket holders and from $69 to $73 for season ticket holders.

That means season ticket holders will be paying an additional $164 for their 41-game packages.

Ticket hikes on the second level average $2 per seat, which amounts to $82 for the entire 2006-07 season.

The popular Family Sections, which consist of about 390 seats per game, will remain priced at $20 for adults and $10 for kids 12 and under.

Shawn Tilger, the Flyers’ vice president of marketing and communications, said the new ticket prices closely resemble the ones the Flyers had in 2002. The team lowered its ticket prices by about 5 percent following the 2004-05 lockout. [continue.]

Following the lockout the Flyers decreased ticket prices 5% while player’s salaries were rolled back 24%. A season after the Flyers exited the first round of the playoffs in a dismal showing and not going to have Forsberg for the first half of this season they are raising the ticket prices 5%?
….

Murray Returns to Flyers; Preseason Schedule Released

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.

Flyers Replace Fleming with Phantoms’ Stevens

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

NHL Wins with Edmonton-Carolina Matchup

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.

Lack of speed did not kill the Flyers

I have been waiting to see how the Buffalo Sabres finished their playoff run to give my final take on this years Flyers playoff performance and I think some people need to rethink their analysis.

Everyone was complaining about the Flyers speed or lack there of. People were calling the Sabres-Flyers series old NHL vs. new NHL. In the end SabreSpeed won out over the old slow Flyers, or so it seemed.

After eliminating the Flyers, the Sabres next victim was the Ottawa Senators. The Sabres eliminated them in 5 games, 1 game quicker than the Flyers. Was Ottawa too slow? No, they had plenty of speed, they were just outplayed which seems to be typical for Ottawa in the playoffs. Speed was not an issue.

Then the Sabres lost to the Hurricanes in 7 games. Were the Hurricanes a faster team? Maybe, but again speed was not an issue. Injuries in that series are what caused the Sabres their downfall.

hhhmm, injuries.
The two games the Flyers won in the first round, the Sabres had a couple injured players, Teppo Numminen and Jochen Hecht. So it seems to me if the Sabres are a 100% healthy team they are pretty good, but a couple guys go down and they are vulnerable, just like any other team, like the Flyers were.
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Hitchcock talks

Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock answers some questions from the fan mail bag.
If you have a question for Hitchcock click here.

You can find the entire article here.
Some of the quesions

After seeing Jeff Carter have some success at the World Championships on the penalty kill, is there any chance of working him into our PK this upcoming season?

Ken
Pennsauken, NJ

Ken Hitchcock “I think that’s just the natural evolution of a player like Jeff. This year, we tried to increase his ice time on the special teams side and mostly on the power play. It’s a lot harder to kill penalties in the NHL than it is to play on the power play. It’s much more physically demanding, and it’s hard for a first year player to be on both and then try to keep his competitive focus. We anticipate him getting more and more time, especially because he can take faceoffs on the right side, so that will help.”


I was just wondering what role you expect Ryan Potulny to play next season being that we’re already overloaded with centers?

Jim Garbe
Delran, NJ

Ken Hitchcock “I think our first obligation on Ryan is he’s got to get his feet wet as a professional. I think we’ll evaluate his progress through training camp and exhibition games. We’re obviously going to give him a full shot to make our hockey club. He’s a very unique talent. He’s a person that, for whatever reason, the puck follows him around the rink and that’s a special type of player. The next step is, wherever he plays, he has to play a lot. Whether it’s with us or the Phantoms, we’ll evaluate that as we move along.”
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Anothers Flyers injury update

Many Flyers are continuing to rehab after surgery, here is another update.
The complete article can be found here.

Peter Forsberg update

Q – How are you feeling?
Peter Forsberg: “Everything is fine. I went to see [Dr. Robert Anderson] in Charlotte a couple of days ago and everything is feeling good. I’m feeling much better. The first week and a half was kind of painful, but now the pain is getting better and it’s going in the right direction.”
Q – What is the next step?
PF: “In two weeks I am allowed to start putting weight on it a little bit and start walking a little bit with the cast on. Maybe at the beginning of July I can get myself into a walking boot. It’s non-weight bearing for another two weeks, so in two weeks I can start putting a little weight on it. We’ll go from there. Everything looks good, it’s feeling like it should and the doctors are very positive.”

Flyers Athletic Trainer and Strength and Conditioning Coach Jim McCrossin updats the conditions of several Flyers.

Q – What is the latest injury update?
Jim McCrossin: “Michal Handzus and Branko Radivojevic were evaluated by Dr. Peter DeLuca. Both are doing very well. Michal is now four weeks post-surgery and Branko is three weeks and three days out [of surgery]. Both have been given permission to go back home for a while and continue rehab back home. I am going to reassess them in two weeks and see how they are doing, and if in two weeks we feel like they have to be brought back here to Philadelphia we will bring them back to Philly and finish their rehab. Our goal is to have them 100 percent by the end of June.

I spoke with Antero Niittymaki and Simon Gagne, and both of their hips are feeling great. Robert Esche said his hip is feeling great. Mike Rathje I haven’t been able to track down but he’ll be back in town this week. Denis Gauthier, Donald Brashear and Sami Kapanen are all doing well with their shoulder rehab. So, knock on wood, we are progressing.”