APP ONLY: Seravalli's Mailbag 12/19/10
Each week, we will answer questions from Flyers fans about the latest happenings from the team. To submit your question, e-mail seravaf@phillynews.com.
Frank,
Your article back on August 22, 2010 regarding the meaningless nature of the new tiebreak procedures was true for last year. This year however it could make a huge difference. If Philly and Pittsburgh stay tight all season it could be the difference between a 1 and 4 or 2 and 4 seed. For instance right now under the old rules Pittsburgh would be first however with the new tiebreak rules Philly is first.
-Darrell Anderson
Darrell,
Thanks for the note. See, the new tiebreaker rule is interesting because as I mentioned, it's biggest impact is in the middle of the regular season. Last year, exactly two sets of teams finished with the same number of points last season – and they both had no bearing on the playoffs. The system still rewards shootouts based on points, so the whole thing doesn't make any sense to me. They want to reduce the impact of shootouts but that is still a huge contributor to points. If the top of the Atlantic division continues to dominate the Eastern Conference standings, there will be one really good team as a No. 4 seed come April. Maybe that is an indictment on rewarding division winners, since one or two of the divisions is inevitably going to be weak every season.
-Frank
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Frank,
Michael Leighton should be traded and San Jose is the perfect fit. They are slumping and their goalies stink. The Flyers should try to get [Dan] Boyle, the Flyers' defensemen only have one goal. That's ugly.
-Leonard Fronczak
Leonard,
Thanks for reading. I think the Flyers would be wise to move Leighton, considering his injury history and the fact that I don't think he is comfortable being in the backup role let alone the guy that is not even dressing. But who would want him at $1.55 million? I think he is worth about half that, or $800,000. Teams would be very interested at that price, which they could get on re-entry waivers if the Flyers were to waive him and re-call him. As far as the defensemen, I don't think Boyle is going anywhere and the Flyers' defense is not too concerned about scoring – though they have shown in the past that they can do it.
-Frank
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Frank,
The minute he is declared healthy, I will send Matt Walker a postcard in Adirondack. I hear it is nice there this time of year. The Flyers should carry 3 goalies and play Leighton often before they waive Boucher or Leighton. Bob is still no. 1 though.
-Michael Gardner
Michael,
I appreciate you reading. That's nice of you, too. But it looks like the Flyers won't have to worry about Walker for a while, as he is on the long-term injured list for what appears to be another 6 to 8 weeks. I don't think he is a guy that will ever see the light of day in this lineup, barring any injuries to defensemen. He has not been healthy since he got here and he really makes what the Flyers got back for Simon Gagne look lame, even though the move was a salary dump. But the Flyers backed themselves into a corner by going way over the salary cap in July to sign Nik Zherdev and acquire Andrej Meszaros.
-Frank
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