Asham scores in clutch; Pronger a 'problem'?
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Asham scores in clutch; Pronger a 'problem'?
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
For the most part, the Flyers have scuffled trying to replace the offense lost when Jeff Carter was sidelined with a broken foot.
But don’t blame Arron Asham.
Asham has done his part. The veteran right winger scored his third goal in the last five games Sunday as the Flyers outlasted Detroit, 4-3, and handed the visiting Red Wings their first regulation loss in the last 13 games.
The win was just the Flyers’ second in the six games that Carter has missed.
Asham, one of the Flyers’ most physical players, has 10 goals, including Sunday's game-winner. A potential free agent, he is making a case for the Flyers to resign him after the season.
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In a Sunday story, the New York Post's Larry Brooks quotes two unnamed general managers as saying Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger was "a problem" in the Flyers' dressing room.
If being accountable is a "problem," well, then it's true.
Pronger is blunt, honest and accessible. He is also the team's MVP.
The Flyers would be fortunate to have 23 such "problems" in their locker room.
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After allowing 17 shots in a 2-2 first period, the Flyers tightened their defense and surrendered 17 shots and one goal the rest of the way.
“One thing we talked about after the first period was just maybe (we were giving Detroit) a little bit too much respect,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Our forecheck wasn’t as strong as it needed to be. It seemed we only had one man in there and they were able to make plays because they’ve got a skilled group.”
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The win over sizzling Detroit won’t mean much if the Flyers can’t beat the lowly Maple Leafs Tuesday in Toronto. The Flyers have had a habit of playing up or down to their competition.
The Flyers haven’t won two straight since March 7-9 _ 15 games ago.
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KimmoTimonen (goal, assist) had one of his best games in several weeks. Ditto Claude Giroux, who scored his first goal in 14 games.
Stats of interest: Darroll Powe and Ian Laperriere each had five hits, and Pronger played a team high 25:43 and blocked six shots. Timonen and Braydon Coburn were each plus-2.
Larry Brooks speaks for himself, hence, writes and says what he thinks without regard for the truth, hence A HACK!!!!— Fabulous- I believe he's a problem! You can't keep saying we need to play harder after every big loss. It gets old. What your really doing is setting up Homer to pull the trigger and make more assanine trades. This I guaranty you will make the Flyers worse. Wow! I hope this team can get better. Oh, we have no top prospects. Oh! gosh, I forgot we have no #1 and #2 pick this year. Can't stock the minors with good players that way. So if Pronger keeps saying the same SH_T over and over he is telling Homer to make a trade. Homer makes trades beneficial for the other team. Everyone wants to trade with Homer. Just ask the Ducks and Preds.— Joe Vegas
- Joe Vegas, Pronger is honest, that's all, and you need to get real for a minute -- Pronger's never said one single word about the team being short on talent. If he had said such a thing, your argument that he's "setting up" Hoger ilmgren to make a trade might make sense. But Pronger has never said that. Sam C just said it all in his column -- Pronger's for accountability. Pronger should wear the "C" on this team -- nothing against Richards, but having Richards as captain over Pronger would be like having Donovan McNabb as captain over Brian Dawkins. Pronger is the guy who behaves most like a leader on the Flyers. Got it?— Richard S
Brooks is a liar and a hack. See the Carcillo Gaborik event. He misqouted Carcillo on purpose to PO everyone and sell his article. I dont beleive anything he writes. ZERO credability.— Inchon- Pronger is a problem in the locker room because he cares more about winning rather than about whether or not everybody on the team likes him. I'm sure there are teammates who can't stand him, but hopefully Homer can weed those guys out and make sure they're not here next season.— scribbles
Brooks labeled the Flyers as "the NHL's most disappointing team." He got that right, anyway. He also wondered if Paul Holmgren will keep his job. Contrary to Luukko's public comment, I just don't see how he will. I think Holmgren is headed for the Dale Tallon expressway for mismanagement of the salary cap and his overall poor hockey decisions.- Joe Vegas, who did the Preds steal from Homer in a trade? Forsberg, who did not re-sign with them? Homer has made good moves. The bad moves he made were forced by the salary cap... which he is UN-able to manage.— Big Game
- I am so sick of hearing how sensitive the young guys are in the flyers locker room. I applaud Pronger for telling us the reporters how it is and the fact he doesn't worry about what the other players think. Should he make an idiotic comment like Richards last season when he said having the home advantage wasn't a big deal? Richards plays us all like a fool with his comments because he is too worried about keeping his drinking buddies happy for the summer. These guys are getting paid millions of dollars to produce. At least Pronger holds them accountable.— mjakes19
- Joe Vegas: You think the Ducks made out in the Pronger deal? Um, they are going to be playing golf in a week, Sbisa is doing average on their MINOR league team, and Lupul (while a good player) had a rough injury this year and he makes north of 4 million, so we could not keep him anyway. Oh yippee, the Ducks get some picks that MAY eventually turn into talent. We got one of the best 3 defensemen in the entire NHL and a leading candidate for the Norris Trophy. I would do that deal any day.
- I'm pretty sure that he is a problem but not in the way any of you have suggested. Think about the age difference and demeanor of guys like Carter and Richards and then the older stalwarts like Timonen Pronger and Gagne. The front office essentially made Carter and Richards the faces of the franchise when they were 19 and 20 thinking that it would be their version of Crosby and Malkin, if you will. They go out and trade for older more savvy veterans like Timonen and Pronger without giving either of them any responsibility other than what they brought to the table independently. Sure they have the A but what does that mean anymore. I believe there has to be a lack of respect between these groups of players. They were given way too much too quickly without having proven themselves as players or men and it has now become an obvious problem. It is not surprising. The older guys on the team should have been given the main responsibilty of commanding the younger corps. This is a fundamental error in the building of any organization that apparently Paul Holmgren thought could be overlooked with the hope that they would really turn out to be better than Malkin and Crosby and now Ovechkin and Backstrom. We all know what happened.— taintaugustine
- Richards is a capable Captain. I don't think he is the problem. Hartnell and Briere are terrible! Theres over 10 million spent on those 2 clowns. I'd trade them both to Montreal for Carey Price. I'd love to see him and Leighton battle for the starters job next season. This season is over people. Flyers will go out in the first round regardless of who they play. Boucher can not win us a playoff series....he is terrible!— PhillySteve5
- Pronger has been a real "problem" everywhere he played: Norris Trophy winner, MVP of the league, Stanley Cup winner, and leader of a rag-tag group of Edmonton nobodies that went to the SC Finals and should have won if Carolina hadn't crashed their goalie on purpose. Pronger has turned Matt Carle into the player other GMs dreampt he could be. Now only if we good get a "Pronger" style forward to tutor Richards and Carter, buy hey, Holmgrem was OK letting the Pens get Guerin, Kunitz, Sykora, Fedatenko, and C Adams so they could win the Cup and make another trip to the Finals. Can't wait for the Phils to start.— MichaelZoe
- Larry Brooks needs to write about what a waste of cap space Wade Redden and leave Pronger alone. Larry Brooks is a sorry excuse for a journalist, he must be getting bored trading barbs with Torts!!!!— jacdjc1
- Flyers need to buy out contracts at end of year. Briere, Hartnell, Gagne, and Boucher for starters. Homer has screwed Flyers fans for years to come with no draft picks, and the worst rated farm system in the NHL (according to The Hockey News).— BobbyD
- BobbyD while i agree with you on some points The Hockey News is also the one who picked the fly guys to win the cup.— talktoya
