Saturday, May 7, 2011

The Bruins Sweep the Flyers, Save My Girlfriend the Trouble of Shaving My Face While I Slept

Right Before Game 4

This Morning- First Day of Off-Season

IT'S GONE! I feel extremely clean, too clean. Obviously less manly and incapable of chopping wood. But the playoff beard is gone as the Flyers' fell 5-1 to the Bruins in Game 4 and ended their season much earlier than was planned.

Honesty time. Since the All-Star Break (where Mike Richards decided to go to Costa Rica) did you feel this was a Stanley Cup team? They just never got back into gear in the last few weeks of the regular season and in the playoffs. I believed they would make it further, and put up more of a fight, but I didn't see this off-season ending with a parade.

It sucks, now Flyers fans must wait until October to see games again, an invariably long time.

What the hell happened?

I'll give my opinion, but in all sincerity I am kinda disinterested in the Flyers right now. It's the same merry-go-round every year. Make the wrong personnel decisions, have questionable coaching decisions, players play disinterested and without heart, leadership problems.

After all these years, I am just getting used to the spin. It doesn't excite me anymore. Because at the end of the day, the names may be different (but probably won't) but the big picture will remain the same.

I will tell you this, Bill Metzler has had a few good insights since time expired on the Flyers season that I think hit the nail on the head as far as where this team and organization is.


 Bill Meltzer 

More than Pronger's hand and foot injuries this year, the knee, back and hamstring kind of problems are worrisome. He had a so-so year.

 Bill Meltzer 

There's a lot of blame to go around. I think some of the offseason moves will answer the questions as to which players didn't compete enough

 Bill Meltzer 

Too many guys more worried about their ice time than winning, too many guys who wanted the easy way out.

 Bill Meltzer 

Too many Flyers failed to compete. There were also egos that got a little out of control this season.

 Bill Meltzer 

@ 
I do think at least one core player will be moved. You can't keep switching coaches, but Lavy is a short shelf-life type.

 Bill Meltzer 

@ 
The buck stops with the players. But I will disagree with Bill Clement about Laviolette -- I think he alienated the room.

 Bill Meltzer 

Boston is just a better team than the Flyers. Will also say Laviolette did one of worst coaching jobs since ASB I have seen since Cashman.


 Bill Meltzer 

Why is Carcillo seeing the ice again down by a goal in the third period of an elimination game?


 Bill Meltzer 

To paraphrase the late Capt. Lou Albano, Dan Carcillo has the brain of a dehydrated BB. If you put it in a parakeet, it'd fly backward.



I respect Meltzer a hell of a lot, and I am usually in line with his opinion. At this point in time, it is nice to hear some real thoughts on the franchise and not the company line of "we did our best," "there were injuries," "we will get them next year" and so on. A few people are stepping away from the continued blind following of the Flyers and really constructing logical talking points. Rick Tocchet mentioned that it is guys like JVR and Giroux that work hard in the off-season that this team needs more of, not the old core of Richards and Carter and Hartnell. 

And it's true. There are players in this organization that need to go, and certain types of players that need to be brought back (especially goalie). There is a coach that has "alienated the room" and "has a short shelf life," according to a beat writer (Meltzer), who also needs to go.

Until accountability is spread throughout the organization, and the franchise does a good gutting, there is no reason to have faith that this team can win more than just the division. In years past, accountability is given to some "thing" like injuries or some one like a coach or single player. If the Flyers want to rid their demons they need to really evaluate what is going on and make the hard decisions, and clean house.

But this is the franchise that is famous for ignoring flaws and is more obsessed with winning despite these flaws, then just winning. This is the franchise that doesn't know the definition of rebuild, and doesn't like to venture too far from the Flyers "family" when it comes to employees and positions, which is why nothing changes.

So do I expect anything to change? No, not really. I think we will be lucky to see one of the old core forwards moved. We might even see a new coach. But at the start of next season, the team will be made up of the same types, and have the same system. It will just be a different colored square peg being jammed into the round hole. 

Hey, at least Draft day is close for us Panthers fans! They are in midsts of an exciting rebuild in Florida and, here at zelePUCKin, we will be very much involved.

Since Sunrise is rebuilding their team, zelePUCKin is considering a rebuild themselves. Zele is planning a move and whole new design with more sections, more posts, bigger forums and the like. It will also be more Florida Panther-centric. But the exacts we do not know yet, but we will divulge more when we do.  


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What do YOU think?