2011/2012 NHL discussion

See the thing with Richards and Carter had ZERO to do with the "dry Island" incident (an attempt by coach and team to stop boozing every other night when the team went from #1 to can't-win-a game after the all-star break). It wasn't a Christian pledge. The actual issue was that Richards wasn't a very good leader or captain. The team was clique-y, the players weren't in shape, and they weren't dedicated to the game. Any hockey fan knows that a core value of the flyers organization is be gritty and hard-working. There were serious locker room issues with this team, and it wasn't because of Pronger. Pronger may be a loud mouth, but nobody can ever say he isn't 100% dedicated to his craft. There's a reason that holgrem shipped out all of the OCC (old city crew - a name given to all the young party-going players of the team over the last 5 years) - they were more interested in partying and getting laid than earning their millions and playing lights-out hockey. The team doesn't want to throw a former player under the bus, so that's why they say they were "hockey moves" when they were traded.

Maybe this will light a fire under Richard's butt - because he certainly isn't the same player he was 3 years ago. The move was a good thing and hopefully will be a wake-up call for him if he wants to have a succesful career.

The Flyers organization did absolutely the right thing in this situation. They thought these guys were the long-term core, but the players didn't hold up their ends of the deal.

BTW - Giroux has been the best player on this team for over a year now - they didn't trade away thier best players.

I feel for you Leafs fans - I remember some awesome playoff and season rivalries between the leafs and the Flyers during the Lindros and Roenick eras - as much as I hated you guys, I always respected the Leafs for playing the same gritty do-anything-to win hockey that the Flyers fans love. Hopefully you guys will be a bitter rival again someday soon.

one of the best playoff series I've ever seen was the one where Tucker leveled Kapanen and Roenick scored the winner right afeter. Just awesome, back-andforth action a with great hits.