Flyers Draft news

Believe it or not these dudes are not members of the hot new emo band that will be headlining this years Warped Tour. No, they are Flyers second round draft pick Kevin Marshall and 5th rounder Mario Kempe.

The big news of course was that Flyers used the #2 overall pick to select "the young John Leclair", NJ's James Van Riemsdyk. Van Riemsdyk was highly rated and excelled at the world juniors, but as a product of the US Developemental program has not faced the grind of a actual season like a Canadian Junior player. He will play next year for the University of New Hampshire.

The Flyers actually traded up (draft pick) to select Marshall, a stay at home defensemen from the QMJHL who is known for getting under his opponents' skin. Marshall was completely stoked to selected by the Flyers. And while Holgrem likened him to Danny Markov, I am going one better in the reminds-me-of-this-former-Flyer match-up game and dub him the next Moose Dupont. Or maybe Davy Havok

In a bit of a shocker, Paul Holgrem selected Garrett Klotz in the third round.

"He's tough and aggressive," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said.

Translation: 2 goals and 107 penalty minutes. While I endorse the drafting of a goon/potential power forward, did it have to come in the third round?

The Flyers had no fourth round pick, their next selection was Kempe. Kempe is a Swede who plays in the QMJHL. Supposedly this guy is a great skater and stick handler who doesn't pass and hates to get physical. Sort of an anti-Flyer.

In the 6th round the Flyers chose Patrick Maroon (US Juniors- yeah this league really exists) and Jonathon Kalinski (Minnesota State- this really exists too). Maroon may turn out to be a great pick. This guy scored 95 points and recorded 155 pm in 57 games. He is going to Ferris State (again, not fictional) next year.

Finally the Flyers selected goalie Brad "Slim" Phillips (US National Program) in the 7th round. Phillips has had some success in international competition. He is a Sean Bradley like 6 ft 2, 163 lbs. More detailed ananlysis here. Flyers brag about the Phantoms of the future here.

Flyers make move

The Flyers traded their late first round draft pick back to Nashville for Kimmo Timonen and Scott Hartnell. Timonen was excellent last season for the Predators, and is an immediate upgrade on the blue line, especially on the power play. Hartnell, who the Flyers probably overpaid, is a power forward with okay numbers, both in points and PM.

The moves are basically free agent pick-ups, with the Flyers trading the pick to get first crack a these guys (much like they did last year did with Marty Biron.) The signings leave Flyers with little cap room to pick up the top “play making center” who disappeared from the team when Peter Foresberg’s feet went south last year. Obviously the Flyers will trade Robert Esche, and maybe Ron’s boy Joni Pitkineen may be moved to free up some cash. The next big event for the Flyers is the draft (Friday), which you can watch with them over some crab fries .

Here is some further information on the trade.

Various

The Stanley Cup finals once again features a team from a place where water doesn't naturally freeze or stay frozen long enough to skate on it, a place where they couldn't care less about hockey. And Anaheim is currently up 2-1 with Ottawa finally showing up to play in game 3. If Anaheim does win, it would be the continuation of a terrible trend and one of the many reasons hockey is losing fans and viewership.

On a related note, during last nights game Pronger gave a nice elbow to the head of Ottawa's Dean McCammon and was suspended. Of course if he had done the same exact thing with his shoulder and the full weight of his body behind the blow it would have been just fine and totally legal and praised. I really fail to see the difference since both is a hit to the head, a concussion risk, and the reason many players have had their careers shortened. All the while all minor bumps and stick chops are automatic 2 minute minors.

After Pronger's hit, for which he wasn't penalized during the game, things got "chippy". Mike Emerick announced that finally some emotion and dislike had been created between the 2 teams. But what do you expect when every minor bump and stick chop is an automatic 2 minute minor? This is the main reason NHL hockey is losing fans and viewership - the loss of hatred and rancor, the loss of rivalry. While the UFC is a growing "sport" and wrestling is still really popular - I bet it easily beat the Stanley Cup finals which preceded it on NBC last night - the NHL has eliminated from its game the things that make the the UFC and pro wrestling popular. People love violence, even if it's staged, and people love rivalries and good guys and bad guys and revenge. People still talk about the Flyers vs. Montreal pregame brawl from the 1987 playoffs. The 2007 Stanley Cup finals? Nobody is watching.

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Speaking of the UFC, I was flipping around and saw the end of a match. For 5 minutes the guy celebrated his victory with blood streaming down his face and it wasn't wiped off for his post match interview either. If you watch boxing they clean all that up right away and patch all the cuts. In the UFC they deliberately leave it on.

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As of this posting, the Phillies have 16 more losses to go before they reach 10,000 for their history. I predict it will come on July 4th because it just seems appropriate.

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So there appears to be a little bit of justice in the NBA. The Celtics tanked their season and only got the 5th pick. Of course the Sixers didn't tank but weren't rewarded for it by the basketball gods - they're located in Philadelphia that's why. But even better is Cleveland eliminated Detroit and Chris "I stole millions from the Sixers" Webber will still not have a championship to his name.

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So McNabb and Reid will both be on WIP's morning show tomorrow. Questions I would ask McNabb:

• Do you know when they booed at the draft they were booing the Eagles, not you? And even if they were booing you, why do 30 drunks booing once trump 55,000+ (not counting the thousands more watching at home) cheering repeatedly? And who do you think buys all those McNabb jerseys?
• When are the Eagles going to win a Super Bowl?

Questions I would ask Reid:

• How did you lose to Tampa Bay in the NFC championship game? How?
• Were the Eagles' receivers good enough?
• If your QB is hurt with a sports hernia and whatever else why would you pass the ball 70% of the time?
• When are the Eagles going to win a Super Bowl?