Trade winds blow as Flyers prepare for Habs
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Trade winds blow as Flyers prepare for Habs
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
The Flyers explored deals for Jay Bouwmeester, Jaromir Jagr and Ryane Clowe and went 0 for 3.
No, it wasn’t in honor of their 0-3 start, which kicked off this mess of a season.
They might make pitches before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline for defensemen Keith Yandle, Mark Streit and Jamie McBain, among others.
If GM Paul Holmgren comes up empty, the Flyers better hope the hungry team that stunned Boston on Saturday and rallied dramatically past Washington on Sunday shows up Wednesday night against visiting Montreal.
Oh, and for their 12 other remaining games this season.
The Flyers (15-17-3) have almost no margin for error. Despite a two-game winning streak, they are 13th in the Eastern Conference and six points behind the eighth-place New York Islanders. They do have two games in hand on the Isles and they do face them twice more, so there’s that.
But that’s jumping ahead. On Wednesday, they will face the surprising Canadiens (23-7-5), who scored a 4-1 win (including an empty-netter) over the Flyers and backup goalie Brian Boucher in their only meeting this season.
Flyers workhorse Ilya Bryzgalov will make his 34th start in 36 games and is expected to face Carey Price, who has been hot lately but is 1-5 with a 3.38 goals-against average in his last six games against the Flyers.
"It seems like every night we'll have a chance to tie a team or pass a team because it's such a close race," said winger Scott Hartnell. "This is where you cipher between the boys and men."
The Flyers are aiming for their first three-game winning streak of the season, while the Habs are gunning for their fourth straight victory. Montreal has an eye-opening 12-3-2 road record
The Flyers are No. 1 in the NHL on the power play (24.8 percent) and No. 8 on the penalty kill (83.9 percent). Montreal is No. 9 on the PP (21.3 percent) and No. 16 (81.1 percent) on the PK.
Montreal has a big advantage in five-on-five play, during which it is third in the 30-team NHL while the Flyers are 28th.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
Get ready for a reality check.— jibberjabber- "Cipher?" Scotty's got an upper body injury.— adamklee
- Ask Kimmo to waive his NMC and trade the only player with value for some young prospect. I do not believe in this team and think they have zero chance of going anywhere if they make the playoffs. Kimmo has value and would move 6 mil off the roster. This team doesn't need 38 year old d-man when they have no shot at the cup.— glennwilson
- Sign Eric Hartzell after the NCAA
Tournament is over!— olneyboy - Homer needs a long rest and a brain scan,ASAP!!!! Probably still suffering from that horrific bicycle accident!!— quigly46
- Every time I see that Jagr IS LEADING THE LEAGUE IN GOAL SCORING!!!!...it gives me a headache. The front office is staffed with a bunch of idiots tied to a philosophy that doesn't value players with that kind of skill. Letting him just walk away was the latest in a long line of mind numbing moves.— CrisK
- CrisK: I have the remedy for your headache-- Jagr is actually 20th in goals and 55th in points this season.— snipesmorris
- Jagr I think wanted to stay here last year, but remember kids, he lost a ton of cash gambling, so he needs to always go to the highest bidder. That is understandable and I wish him luck. He helped the team a lot last year.
I am ok with standing pat if we have some able bodies on D at ADK that can come up. Aside from Oli, I am not sure who is down there. And I think Grossmann is back so we got that.
Comes down to Bryz and can we replace Max (which I think was a horrible loss) on the PK.— Poppys - Bring up Gostisbehere!! More D, more D please. I think they'll sit tight until this summer and Homer will try another round and buy out Weber. He's way too expensive for Nashville. Trade Gervais for a bag of pucks, cut all dead weight, keep Bryz since there are no good goalies up this offseason and sit tight!! The kids are in a sophomore slump. They need to hit the weight room this summer and bulk up another 15 lbs. Lottery or playoffs....let the chips fall as they may. Go FLYERS!!— boom dynamite
- Draft Anthony D'Angelo before Pens do. HE is the next Orr.— UnaBlogger
- My mistake...the Boston Herald is claiming he is tied for first in the league in goal scoring in this piece. http://bostonherald.com/sports/bruins_nhl/2013/04/bruins_add_offense_snag_jaromir_jagr— CrisK
- Tied for 11th actually...still his goal scoring clip projects out to 35 if this were an 82 game schedule. Not a migraine but certainly still a headache.— CrisK
