Philadelphia Flyers

Photo: It’s not summer in Philadelphia until the Flyers rumors begin. Every single year, I feel like Ed Snider and Co. Read the original here: Broad Street Buzz

The 2013 NHL Draft is set for June 30 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey and The Hockey Guys want to send you and a friend to see it. We are giving away two 2013 NHL Draft tickets for you and a friend to be a part of history as Seth Jones, Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin finally find out who will go first overall. All you have to do to enter is follow @TheHockeyGuys and @K_Tullo on Twitter, then leave a comment on this post with why you should win along with your Twitter handle. No cost or service for these tickets, we already have them in hand and will mail them out. Be creative and tell us why you deserve to be at the 2013 NHL Draft. One lucky contestant will win a pair of tickets. Fans must submit entry by June 28, 2013 at 12 p.m. Eastern. 2013 NHL Draft Draft begins at 3 p.m. “Fan Fest” begins at 10:30 a.m. presented by: New Jersey Stronger than the Storm at Championship Plaza. Carnival rides, games, entertainment, food, drinks will be available as well as a street hockey tournament on Mulberry Street. Don’t forget The Hockey Guys will be holding an NHL Draft party in Montreal, QC, starting at 2 p.m. The post Win Two Tickets to the 2013 NHL Draft from The Hockey Guys appeared first on The Hockey Guys.

Photo: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first NHL Draft, NHL.com assembled a 13-member panel to select the best first-round picks of all time, based on selection number. NHL.com will feature one of the top first-round picks each day, beginning wi... Read this article: Flyers Recent Headlines

Getty Images By Mitch Cole (@DirtyWaterBuzz) With a 2-1 series lead, the Boston Bruins are looking to put the Chicago Blackhawks in a strangle-hold tonight before they return to Chicago for Game Five. The Bruins took Game Three 2-0, and the Blackhawks began to show frustration at the end of the game. Bryan Bickell got into it with Zdeno Chara, and Andrew Shaw dropped the gloves with Brad Marchand at the same time. “I think emotions are part of the Stanley Cup Final”, said Bruins head coach Claude Julien. “I think when you’re at this stage, there’s a lot of emotions. I think, if anything, the emotions have been checked pretty good so far in this series. There’s times in the game when those kind of things happen.  You saw it in the scrum.  You saw it at different times.  You have to try to keep your team in check as best you can.  As far as I’m concerned, that’s what I’m trying to do with my team. Maybe you get a better look at their bench, what’s happening there, but I don’t.” The Bruins will need to stick to their game plan and limit the Hawks’s chances offensively, and continue to frustrate a team that has faced little adversity throughout the shortened season and playoffs. The Bruins would also benefit from the using the home crowd to their advantage. “Having your fans behind you is always key.” Julien said. “This is a building here that we deem as our home, a home that we don’t want any other team to be comfortable in.  It’s important for us to continue to play the way we did last night.” Boston’s new third line will, once again, be a key to this game. The new look line of Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, and Tyler Seguin has stepped up in a big way since being put together in the midst of Game Two. Chris Kelly had the tying goal in Game Two, and Tyler Seguin has stepped up his play and not only has contributed with assists, but his two way play has been very good. But the real story of the third line has been the play of Daniel Paille. ”I guess we found out the problem, me and Thorty (Shawn Thornton) have been holding him (Paille) back”, said injured Bruins forward Gregory Campbell with a smile. “He’s been big for our team. I’ve gotten the opportunity to watch him now that I’m not playing with him.  He does a lot of things that really help out a team in the playoffs. “Playoff hockey is really where he shines. I can relate to that. It’s the simple things that might not draw a lot of attention during the regular season, but when it really matters in the playoffs, he’s been there for us. For Danny (Paille) to really step up and really be a leader in that sense, I’m extremely happy for him because he’s one of the better guys I’ve played with, nicer people.  But he works hard and he deserves to do well.  I’m glad that he’s helping the team.” Paille scored the overtime goal in Game Two, and had the game winning goal in Game Three as well. His two way play, both on even strength and the penalty kill, has been great for the Bruins, and he and his linemates will take some pressure off of the top two lines. The Bruins have a chance to put the Blackhawks in a do or die position going back to the Windy City, and if these playoffs have told us anything, it’s that the Bruins will do their best to do just that. The post Stanley Cup Final: Boston Bruins vs Chicago Blackhawks Game Four Preview appeared first on The Hockey Guys.

Silly Season Gets Sillier The last 24 hours have seen an explosion of Flyers-related rumors, including some seemingly contradictory ones. Such is the nature of the weeks leading up to the NHL Draft and the start of the free agency period. There's a reason why this time of year is called Silly Season. All reason and logic flies out the window. Here's some advice to Flyers fans: Wait until som The rest is here: Bill Meltzer

Editors’ Note: Noted Philadelphia Flyers fan John Saquella is going beyond 140 characters. The man most of you probably know from social media as @jsaquella will bring you his wide-ranging opinion and commentary on the Orange and Black in his column Putting On The Foil. Getty Images By John Saquella (@jsaquella) Loose lips sink ships. Unless you’re in the rumor business, in which case, you should set up an altar with a photograph of Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren on it. Who else but the flat-topped Holmgren can make what some of these guys write seem like it could happen? As fans of 28 NHL cities wait for the offseason to see what their teams will be doing to chase down Lord Stanley’s Cup, the Flyers once again provide tons of play on twitter to while away the gameless Tuesday night. I arrived home, after a long day of working in the rain at the Southern New Jersey shore, with rumors of a Jonathan Bernier to the Flyers trade being discussed. Flyers beat guys got into the act, with Swingin’ Sam Carchidi going as far as to poll his twitter followers whether they’d be willing to trade Sean Couturier and the 11th overall pick for Bernier. Fun stuff, but it was only the Grand Funk Railroad of nonsense opening up for the Led Zeppelin of batshit insane. Suddenly, the Flyers were moving on Bernier and then trading Braydon Coburn and the 11th pick for Holmgren’s version of the great white whale, Bobby Ryan. If the rumor mongers are to be believed, Homer’s been in perpetual Ahab mode since Ryan turned ten. Then that rumor shifted to Sean Couturier and the 11th, plus something else for Ryan and a later pick. Then Pierre Lebrun of ESPN reported that Danny Briere has been told the Flyers will indeed be using a compliance buyout on the remaining two years of his contract. But wait, there’s more…. As Brian Fantana raced to Voorhees, NJ to start Bernier/Ryan Watch 2013, Josh Rimer tweeted news that Holmgren told Ilya Bryzgalov’s agent, Rich Winter, that good ol’ Bryz would not be bought out by the Flyers. In fact Rimer further tweeted that Holmgren said the Flyers simply gave Bryzgalov too many starts and that he was one of their best players. Of course, one can simply call Jeff Carter and ask about the shelf life of a Holmgren promise made within a few weeks of the NHL entry draft. That’s not to say that the Bryzgalov news is totally out of left field. Flyers owner Ed Snider has said twice that Bryzgalov would return, as did team president Peter Luukko. In fact, in an interview with CSN Philly, Holmgren denied telling Winter that Bryzgalov wouldn’t be bought out…I bet the Flyers could sell a whole lot of soap. The problem is, a quick trip to capgeek.com shows that the Flyers are in a bit of a cap pinch. Currently, they’re $2,522,262 over next year’s salary cap, and that’s before Mark Streit’s reported $5.25mm is added. However, we all know that Chris Pronger will continue his pursuit of Mike Rathje in the Flyers LTIR Chase Of Ignorance, which will provide the Flyers with $4.91mm in cap relief (not space). Briere’s buyout will clear $6.5mm off the books as well. There’s certainly other moves that could be made, as the Flyers will have a lot of highly paid 5th defensemen hanging around the Skate Zone unless they’re traded away. So as dire as the cap picture looks, it is likely not as bad as it seems when one stops by cap geek and teaches the kids new words to describe an executive who plans poorly. The thing is, as fun as twitter was Tuesday evening, we don’t know what the Flyers will do from here on out. So far the only sure moves are Streit and Briere. Streit, who’s rights cost a pittance to acquire signed a contract that appalled many, but should have been expected. It’s as rare to see a guy take a discount after a team trades for his rights as it is for Jeff “The Dude” Lebowski to ask a cab driver to turn up “Hotel California”. Streit reportedly shot down a 3 year, $17.5mm offer from the Islanders, asking for 4 years and $20mm. It w

*Ten things to take away from Monday's game three heading into tonight's game four. (Backhand Shelf) *Another excellent takeaway from game three was the latest pregame montage from HNIC, this one featuring the great Neil Young. *Servalli asks whether or not the Flyers overpaid Mark Streit. (Philly.com) *Meltzer speculates on where Streit will fit into the Flyers' game going forward. (Hockeybuzz) *Bobby Ryan rumors are still happening and will continue to happen until Bobby Ryan is a Flyer and/or the endtimes, whichever comes first. (CSN Philly) *As Bryzgalov buyout rumors persist, BSH reader PursuitOfLappyness tries to determine just how many games their goaltender cost the Flyers. (BSH) *If the Flyers are really going after Bernier, they'll have some competition in the Islanders. (CBS New York) *Former Flyer and current Director of Player Development/awesome human being Ian Laperriere is preparing to take on the Iron Man Triathalon. (Flyers) *An interesting infographic that shows how the Blackhawks and Bruins spent their cap space to build teams that win. (Backhand Shelf) *Despite their success, the Blackhawks franchise is losing money. (Chicago Business) *The Ottawa Senators' arena will now be called "Canadian Tire Centre". (TSN) *We know that the Rangers have selected Alain Vigneault to be their next head coach. DGB has some insight into how they picked him. (Down Goes Brown) *A Bruins fan made an entire suit out of rally towels. It is incredible. (Puck Daddy)

Photo: In Flyers news that will come as a shock to no one, Danny Briere has been told by Flyers management that he will be bought out per ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun. The buyout can be completed as soon as 48 hours after the Stanley Cup has been handed out to either the Chicago Blackhawks or the Danny Briere: Told He Will Be Bought Out - Broad Street Buzz - Broad Street Buzz - A Philadelphia Flyers Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More See the original post: Broad Street Buzz

http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_23489308/avalanche-pass-seth-jones-take-forward-joe-sakic If the Avalanche keeps the top pick in the June 30 NHL draft, it won't take the formerly presumptive candidate, defenseman Seth Jones. After a week of internal meetings, Avalanche brass came to a conclusion: Jones won't be their pick. Instead, it could be any one of three forwards: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov. "If we do pick first, we're leaning more toward one of those three forwards," Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic told The Denver Post. The passing over of Jones no doubt will come as a shock to many Avs fans and NHL watchers. Jones, 18, is still ranked as the top-rated prospect available in next Sunday's draft on the lists of some scouting services. The Avs have seemingly glaring needs at defense and a surplus of centers — the position at which MacKinnon and Barkov play, while Drouin is a winger. But Sakic reiterated the organization's belief that the three forwards represent the best players available in the draft. "We feel those three forwards are just too good to pass up," Sakic said. MacKinnon, a center with Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, would figure to be the most likely choice on paper. He led the Mooseheads to the Memorial Cup earlier this month over Jones' Portland Winterhawks, recording a hat trick in each game against Jones' team in the tournament. But Barkov is a possible sleeper at No. 1. The 17-year-old, 6-foot-3, 205-pound center holds dual citizenship in Finland and Russia, and is the youngest player ever to play for Finland in a World Championship competition, at 16 last year. The Avs could look toward the free-agent or trade market to address issues on defense, instead of taking Jones. The team has some decent room under the salary cap, and many NHL teams are looking to shed salary to comply with the league's new $64.3 million benchmark, down from $70.2 million. http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_23489308/avalanche-pass-seth-jones-take-forward-joe-sakic If the Avalanche keeps the top pick in the June 30 NHL draft, it won't take the formerly presumptive candidate, defenseman Seth Jones. After a week of internal meetings, Avalanche brass came to a conclusion: Jones won't be their pick. Instead, it could be any one of three forwards: Nathan MacKinnon, Jonathan Drouin or Alexander Barkov. "If we do pick first, we're leaning more toward one of those three forwards," Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic told The Denver Post. The passing over of Jones no doubt will come as a shock to many Avs fans and NHL watchers. Jones, 18, is still ranked as the top-rated prospect available in next Sunday's draft on the lists of some scouting services. The Avs have seemingly glaring needs at defense and a surplus of centers — the position at which MacKinnon and Barkov play, while Drouin is a winger. But Sakic reiterated the organization's belief that the three forwards represent the best players available in the draft. "We feel those three forwards are just too good to pass up," Sakic said. MacKinnon, a center with Halifax of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, would figure to be the most likely choice on paper. He led the Mooseheads to the Memorial Cup earlier this month over Jones' Portland Winterhawks, recording a hat trick in each game against Jones' team in the tournament. But Barkov is a possible sleeper at No. 1. The 17-year-old, 6-foot-3, 205-pound center holds dual citizenship in Finland and Russia, and is the youngest player ever to play for Finland in a World Championship competition, at 16 last year. The Avs could look toward the free-agent or trade market to address issues on defense, instead of taking Jones. The team has some decent room under the salary cap, and many NHL teams are looking to shed salary to comply with the league's new $64.3 million benchmark, do

Photo by Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images By Charlie O’Connor (@THG_Charlie) No NHL team quite does craziness like the Philadelphia Flyers. After falling short of the postseason for the first time since 2006-07, most league observers expected Philadelphia to aggressively look to improve their roster in the offseason, both via free agency and the trade market. But rarely do you see a two-day period such as this, where the status quo is maintained – but only on the final roster sheet. In fact, despite the rumor-filled mess of the past 48 hours, no trades have been made, no signings have been finalized, and no buyouts have occurred. Yet the Philadelphia Flyers, without consummating a single official roster move, have become the central figure in almost every single offseason-related drama prior to the actual start of the offseason itself. The first major report came late on Monday afternoon from Darren Dreger, trusted analyst at TSN, who reported that Mark Streit had agreed in principle to a four year, $21 million contract with the Flyers. Considering his age (35) and occasional lapses in his own zone, the report set off a firestorm of critics who questioned both the length of the contract, and the amount of money given to the aging defenseman. Hours later, GM Paul Holmgren denied the TSN report, stating that talks were ongoing but a deal had not yet been reached. Regardless, the Flyers currently lack the cap space necessary to add a salary of Streit’s magnitude without jettisoning other contracts. It seemed possible that the Flyers would lay low until after the Stanley Cup Finals ended, proceed with a buyout of forward Daniel Briere and/or Ilya Bryzgalov, and then officially announce the Streit signing. Instead, the floodgates opened up. Just after noon on Tuesday, CSNPhilly.com insider Tim Panaccio reported that the Flyers had been contacted by the Los Angeles Kings regarding the possibility of acquiring goaltender Jonathan Bernier. This was immediately followed by a tweet from Panaccio claiming that the Kings would demand winger Jakub Voracek in a Bernier deal, and a tweet from Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Sam Carchidi implying that young center Sean Couturier and the Flyers’ first round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft could be moved in a package for the Kings goalie. Unsurprisingly, this caused an uproar within the Flyers’ fanbase. Couturier, one of the Flyers’ top young players, was thought by many to be off the table for all but a top-tier defenseman, and Voracek, Philadelphia’s breakout star in 2013, was not thought to be on the table at all. The concept of trading the 11th overall pick in the upcoming draft came as a shock as well. As the dust settled, the general consensus became that the Flyers were willing to trade Matt Read and potentially an additional pick for Bernier, but that Los Angeles was demanding far more for the prized young goaltender. Still, involving Voracek, Couturier, or the 11th overall pick would certainly verge on a drastic overpay from the Flyers. But this would not be the only appearance of Philadelphia’s first round draft pick in trade rumors on Tuesday. Shortly after 6:00 PM, Panaccio dropped another major rumor on the Philadelphia fanbase. This time, the Flyers were said to have re-engaged the Anaheim Ducks in talks for winger Bobby Ryan, and were dangling both the 11th overall pick and defenseman Braydon Coburn. Ryan, a Cherry Hill native, had long been linked to the Flyers due to his goal scoring prowess, as he was thought to be a perfect fit on a line with star center Claude Giroux. But considering the Flyers’ recent struggles on defense, moving Coburn would seem to exacerbate a problem that the (still-unconfirmed) Streit signing had served to at least temporarily rectify. But one point seemed certain – both a Briere buyout and a Bryzgalov buyout would necessary to fit even two of the rumored additions, let alone Streit, Bernier, a