Shot Down in Flames: Flyers 6, Canes 1

With the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear about that happening at a practice in the near future.

Dang, I need to be careful what I wish for.

If that goes down Cory will be intolerable…

You’d have to admit a good call/foresight on his part…

A

If Ray goes I knew Cory had an inside source. I still think trading Ray would be a mistake. Then again JR has done nothing but make mistakes this past off season. Why stop now…….I’m not impressed with his pickups except for Alberts.

Even in Eklund’s world, an E3 allegedly means he’s heard it from one source connected with the team/player.

Many a fan’s sarcastic refinement of this system says that an E3 means he read it in someone’s blog post.

Could well be he read Cory’s blog post…or the headline, at any rate.

Although must admit the Calgary twist is interesting. Whitney is a western Canada boy.

Still, he doesn’t just have a no-trade clause, he has a no-movement clause. Can’t even be sent down or waived. So definitely has to be somewhere that he and the wife approve. I just don’t see it happening.

I can get a rental as my pick up is a stinking pile of feces…????

BTW “stinking pile of feces”? That the best you got?

Gonna need to help you on the whole cursing thing, which, BTW doesn’t even have to be spelled correctly to be effective and/or affective.

A

I did see him. He was laughing and clearly telling someone “no”. They also showed him whispering to one of the trainers earlier in the game.

I’m thinking he was just basking in the glow of not having to deal with the craptastic play for a change.

No. We’d need another 35+ years of this and a relocation out of the South before they would respect us.

You wanna know why we suck?

1.) Brindy is done. God love him, but he is old, damaged and his time has passed. As a player, he is a shell of his former self. When your Captain is done, so is your team. He needs to do the honorable thing and hang up his skates.

2.) Staal is a lollygagger. He takes games off. He has incredible talent, but instead of nutting up and putting the team on his back, he pouts when things don’t go his way. On the PP last game, he took a shot and his stick broke. He pouted for a second, then SLOWLY skated to the bench for a new stick and SLOWLY skated back to the play. That is unacceptable from a player of his supposed caliber. People talk about giving him the “C” at some point, but personally, I see NO leadership out of him whatsoever.

3.) Mo is not the answer. Last year, when Mo took back over, he brought what we needed (defensive discipline) to an otherwise offensive (Lavi style) team. It worked temporarily, but it was lightning in a bottle, so to speak. So in the off season, we dumped offense from the blueline (Seids and Babchuk) and added nothing. Plus, we’ve changed our basic style of play. So basically, we are now a weaker team, with no identity and no leadership.

4.) Cam Ward can’t stop a beachball glove side high. He is a great goalie, but that is his biggest weakness. He also panics and drops into the butterfly at the first sign of a shot, which is why he is abysmal at shootouts. He is far from the “problem” with this team, but he is not good enough to “steal” games for us. He is a goalie that needs help from his “D”, and he isn’t getting it. Shootout = loss. Get used to it.

5.) We apparently don’t practice the basics like passing and shooting. I think we are spending so much time on schemes, but none on basic hockey 101. 75% of our passes are in the skates, behind the recipient, or right to the other team. Most of our shots are from well out, with no one in front. Yes, we put up 35 shots per game. But they are such low percentage shots that I could stop 33 of those, and I can’t even skate.

6.) Nobody is willing to pay the price to make a play. Nobody goes to the net. Nobody battles in the corners. We lose nearly every puck battle. These guys are soft, and until they drop a pair and accept that they need to get dirty, this will not change. A couple of games ago, on a PK, I saw an opposing forward planted in Cam’s crease. Our beloved Defender Wallin (IIRC) was standing IN FRONT OF THE OPPOSING FORWARD, and the opposing forward actually cross checked him out of the way. Needless to say, that speaks VOLUMES about our defense.

7.) Injuries and suspensions. Cole is taking his usual month off for healing. Ruutu is cooling his heels for boarding Tucker. Gleason (our best defender) is out nursing a broken rib or two. I think A. Ward is hurt too, but I can’t prove that. Cam Ward has a bad back. We are not healthy.

8.) About 10 or 15 other things that I am too frustrated to get into right now…

Martin Gerber is in the KHL. We could probably get him back relatively cheap. And for a backup, he’d be better than Leighton. I’m sure he’d rather be here (where he is still liked) than in Russia.

Amazingly for the Canes, we only have about a million open under the cap ceiling this year. ($55.75M current cap hit < $56.8M cap max)

So, even if PK felt like throwing more money at this bunch, someone realistically has to go to make room for them.

Yup-with the team and likely on the bench for a while.

The “Whose worst” question will be answered by Friday night when we play the Leafs.

Which is what I think as well.