Philly columnist on Prospal's contribution

Interesting column here out of Philly that talks about what Vinny Prospal has brought to the Flyers.

Comments

[Patricia]

Good for Vinny kicking a-- over there! He is an awesome player when but in the right situation. I miss him on Tampa but know he's in a much better place for his career! He is an awesome player and good luck against pittsburgh!!

[Nate Dogg]

Nothing against Prospal's talents (besides the fact that he couldn't knock a 5 year old off his/her skates with a check...nor does he understand the words "check" or "hit"), but good for him.

A very self-centered player with good things going for him.

[Leanmean43]

Patricia,
Prospal in a better place for his career? If the Bolts ever get their ownership situation resolved they can be better than Philly by adding a few more players. I don't think Biron is all that great for the Flyers, Huet just sucked in the Washington series, and Price sucked in the Montreal series.

The Bolts have better goaltending than Philly with Smith, and they have Vinny, Marty, Stamkos (hopefully). All the bolts need is a few wingers to be really good next year. Philly in the Conference Finals shows how weak the East is, and how easily the Bolts can rebound next year.

Prospal will probably follow his pattern of sucking ever other year next year, so good riddance.

[ted]

Fire coach and trade V4 for youth

Some times it is better to be thought a fool by being quite,Than to open mouth and remove all Doubt

[GP]

Leanmean43,

I normally don't comment on stupidity but your post stinks of it.

Go ahead an discount what the Flyers have done in this postseason. A comparison of Biron/Nittymaki vs Smith/Ramo does not even compare. You have a pair of Lightning blinders on. The Flyers had 7 20 goals scorers on the team and that was without a 40 goal scorer (Gagne) who was out pretty much all year.

Remember, the Lightning were last overall and as a season ticket holder, I saw way too many of those games. We should be looking at the Flyers as a model for success since they were in the Lightnings position last year instead of talking about how bad they are. The Lightning are no match for the Flyers talent man for man. Obviously, V4 is more talented than anyone on the Flyers but he is one man and hockey is a team game.

Please inform me who those "few" players you are talking about adding to make them immediatley better than the Flyers are? Please enlighten me.

[Not The Marlboro Man]

If Torts gets the boot I'd like to see Prospal back in a Lightning uniform and making the 2.5 mil a year like he deserves. Jay the "Blotum" "Buffet" Feaster and John Torturella really know how to squander and discourage good talent if they aren't skating them to injury or collapse. Once Koules takes over I'm really hoping for a giant broom to bring the Bolts back to respectability.

I'm truly sorry if I offend any Tortarella fans, but his time has come as a Bolt to relinquish his throne. We need someone who can attract talent as well as lead. Torts has to either change or go and I don't see him changing. Oh yes...Prospal... is still sticking it up someone's butt. This season's play has proved he is an outstanding forward and I still believe we should have gotten more for him than what we did.

And as far as Philidelphia making it to the finals, they have as good a shot as anyone else as long as Biron stays hot and they keep playing with the intensity they have. I really don't think the Penguins are as physical but they have more talented forwards. The Penguins are seriously creative at the forward position and can score from anywhere anytime.
My prediction is Detroit and Pittsburgh in the Finals, although I'd like to see the other two teams for more selfish reasons. However you look at it, the Conference finals wouldn't have the Flyers playing in it if Prospal wasn't aquired at the trade deadline. At least this wasn't another Cory Sarich mistake...retained for nothing!

[Leanmean43]

GP,
I think Lecavalier is better than any player on the Flyers, I think St. Louis is better than Briere. Stamkos should be able to score 20 goals for the Bolts next year as well. If the Bolts can sign someone like Stillman, and possibly Brian Rolston, then they should have 7 guys that could score 20 goals or more with: Lecavalier, St Louis, Stamkos, Jokinen, Ouellet, Halpern, FA winger(Stillman), FA winger(Rolston). I also think Boyle is better than the Flyers best Defensemen which is probably Timonen, and Ranger is getting better and better.

Seriously I think the Flyers have good forwards and a decent Defense, but they survived the first two rounds by outscoring their opponents, and they got lucky their opponents goaltenders choked.

Biron was good a couple of games, particularly against Montreal, but a few games he let in some major softies. Biron is an average goaltender in my opinion and Philly is lucky they didn't have to face someone like the Rangers in the first or second round who have really good goaltending.

[GP]

Leanmean,

Agree on the V4 statement. He is better than most players on other teams in the league. I do disagree with your assessment on some of the potential 20 goal scorers for the Bolts.

Stillman & Rolston are solid players but are completely on the downside of their careers. Can they still score 20? Not sure. I would like to find out but that would mean the Bolts opened the checkbook which I doubt happens.

Jokinen is not a 20 goal scorer because shootout goals do not count. He is a 3rd line forward who will log 2nd line minutes.

I think Halpern overacheived when coming over from the Stars. I really like him as the Captain of the team but it is hard to lead (and score 20 goals) from the trainers room.

Ouellet may be a 20 goal scorer and I really like him as a role player. He never should be on your top line but he can definitely chip in some goals. The problem with him is that he is too soft on the boards. He could probably increase his goal output if he just took the body more.

St Louis better than Briere? I can't agree with that. I really like ST. Louis so it is hard to speak negatively about him so I won't but I think Briere brings more to a game than Marty.

Stamkos? I truly hope they don't trade the pick and select him. If he scores 20 goals as a rookie then good for him and Tampa. May be a little unrealistic .... maybe 15.

I still don't think the Bolts forwards compare to the Flyers top forwards. Briere, Gagne, Knuble, M Richards, Carter, Hartnell, Prospal, Umberger, Upshall. They also have two very high scoring draft picks coming in Claude Giroux and James Van Riems Dyk. I don't think the Lightning touch that group right now.

Timmonen is better than Boyle. Simply because he plays defense. Boyle is not a defensive defensmen. Timmonen plays both sides of the rink. Look at the job he has done on Ovechkin and Kovalev/Koivu in the playoffs. Could Boyle do that? Not a chance. Oh, Ranger would be a 5th or 6th def. on the Flyers.

Biron has let in some softies. It's hard to find a goalie who has not. He has his work cut out for him against the Pens but the Flyers have also won 5 of the 8 games against them this year. Should be entertaining. You do not have to have a superstar name as a goalie to win the cup. Just look back a few years ago when Cam Ward played his tail off and won the cup. What has he done since? Also, this is Biron's first playoffs as a starter. He had been stuck behind Hasek and Ryan Miller. That's two pretty good goalies. The Flyers were not the only team who knew he was a #1 goalie.

The Flyers game plan is fairly simple. Who cares if they take a billion shots as long as they keep them to the outside. It won't change this series. The Flyers have been taking advantage of mistakes and not all of the goals have come off of poor goaltending.

Oh and one point I want to make is on something you said. You stated, " they survived the first two rounds by outscoring their opponents, and they got lucky their opponents goaltenders choked."

Point #1 - Every team who is still playing has won because they have outscored their opponents.

Point #2 - There is a reason why the goalies choked. The Flyers were all over them and got in their heads. Don't think Marc Andre Fleury is any different.

[boltflasher]

LeanMean, you are making the same mistake that JF and other not so great GMs make, whether in hockey or baseball or football or whatever, and that is called "over-rating your own players". When you do that, you end up in last place very quickly...Bolts are prime example...

[boltflasher]

Gut tells me Bolts will not make a big splash in UFAs other than maybe 1 or 2 at the most (which won't be near enough). Their only saving grace for next year will be that they play in the worst division and may simply luck into the playoffs...if not then they will again be sellers late in the season in order to gain picks and young talent...unfortunately, may see MSL go to contender late in season next year if Bolts are floundering.

[Leanmean43]

GP,
Come on you say Briere is better than St Louis? St. Louis has had more points than Briere the past 2 seasons, and Marty has been worn out playing way too many minutes. Marty kills penalties and plays on the powerplay. Briere is strictly a scorer nothing else, Marty is better offensively and defensively than Briere. You must be a Flyer fan.

I don't think I'm overrating the team, Jokinen scored 16 goals and he missed 10 games and he played most of the year in Dallas which plays a defensive system. He could easily score 20 in Tampa.

Ouellet scored 17 goals and he missed 20 games this year. He could easily score goals.

Stamkos played in the same league as Patrick Kane in juniors, and Kane scored 20 goals this year in Chicago in his rookie year, so I could see Stamkos scoring 20.

Halpern may not score 20 now since he might miss a few months I'll give you that one.

Heck Boyle could score 20 goals again for the bolts. If the goaltending is the real deal and they get a winger and veteran d-man this team could go to the second round of the playoffs at least next year.

[GP]

Leanmean,

I'll give you 2nd round if the Bolts spend to the cap but we know how that goes.

My point on Briere is that I bet more teams would rather add a dynamic centerman than a winger. Like I said, I will not speak negatively about MSL. I think they are very close in talents and I said I think Briere brings more to a game than MSL, not that Briere was better. Briere averaged 18:52 per game this season. MSL averaged 24:17. Between the extra minutes and playing with arguably the best player in the league, V4, you can see the inflated stats. (He scored 6 more goals than MSL and MSL only had 9 more points) Could Marty have the stats if he played without a superstar? I don't think so. Briere can because he did not play with a superstar this year. The only thing MSL does that Briere does not is the PK. Does that really matter if the Flyers do not need him on the PK? The Flyers have a ton of forwards that can play on the PK. They do not have to play the superstars on the PK like the Bolts do. I think that you can go both ways with this conversation. If I was a GM and I had a choice between Briere and MSL I would choose Briere. I know you would choose MSL. I'm good with that.

How many rookies have scored 20 goals in the past, let's say 10 years? I don't have an answer ... does anyone know? My assumption is that there are not many who score 20 goals.

The real problem for the Bolts is not scoring goals ... it's stopping them. The only team to have let up more goals than the Bolts last season is ATL.

[GP]

Leanmean,

Oh, and I am a Flyers fan.

and a Bolts fan.

and a Pens Fan

not a Habs fan!

My affinity to the Flyers does not get in my way in formulating my opinions though. Just ask Leo.

[Casper]

We can fill the roster with All Stars and still get bumped out of the Cup run.

We lack a mentality of success, rather, an intolerance for failure; long term coaching contracts or not.

We don't need dreamy creamy unaffordables. We need Lightning Pride.

I think it starts with former Bolt players and execs that want this thing to excell. Start with Espo and Brian Bradley (if he wants). Scan and scout to find guys who can come here and try, actually try, to fit in. Not just turn on the gas in a UFA year---guess who....

Chemistry is often not regarded. Try making cement with too much or too little water and you get the goop or soup we had the last two seasons.

[boltflasher]

Wild Rumour from Erik Erlendssen: "Are you ready for this? With Paul Maurice being fired today by the Toronto Maple Leafs a wildly, yet often unreliable, rumor web site is stating that Lightning coach John Tortorella is believed to be in the running to take over the job. And to top that off, general manager Jay Feaster is set to join him..."...You gotta love that Toronto rumour mill...

[boltflasher]

If Torts and JF move to Tor, do we get Mats Sundin in return?...(I'm joking...)

[Michael]

What I have noticed a few people are saying is that Prospal left because of Torts. That isnt true. On the Lightning website, Jay Feaster answered questions from the fans, and he said they would take Prospal back, but not for th $6 million dollers he was asking for. Feaster never named the amount, but that is what I have heard from a few sources close to the Lightning, such as Dave Andrychuch on Lightning Hockey Night on The Sports Animal.

[Leanmean43]

GP,
Since the lockout 20 players have scored 20 or more goals in their rookie season in the NHL. Here is the list: Patrick Eaves, R.J. Umberger, Dion Phaneuf, Christopher Higgins, Jeff Carter, Thomas Vanek, Brad Boyes, Petr Prucha, Marek Svatos, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Jordan Staal, Dustin Penner, Woitek Wolski, Anze Kopitar, Paul Stastny, Evgeni Malkin, Peter Mueller, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane.

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect Stamkos to score 20 goals in his rookie season as highly touted as he is, he's supposed to be better than a lot of players on that list. It is alot easier to score 20 goals as a rookie in the "New" NHL than it was coming into league before the lockout. Stamkos has amazing speed so I don't see him having a problem scoring goals, especially if he plays on the powerplay with Vinny and Marty.

[PD]

Torts to Leafs I could see but and big but there has to be a GM in place and it sure wont be Mr last place Feaster.

Since were into rumors, it looks like Leafs work a deal for Burke.. $$$$ to Anaheim some how. Mean time they bring in Dave Nonis from Vancouver who was mentored by Burke to be Burkes Trojan horse.

[GP]

Leanmean,

Ok, you've convinced me. Thanks for the research. Stamkos should be expected to score 20 goals. He may need to score 40. Stamkos definitely has a better pedigree than some on that list .... excluding Crosby, Ovechkin.

I still worry about putting too much value on the current Lightning players. Even if they have 7 20 goal scorers, they still have to stop the puck. A better system (new coach), better forwards, and better defensmen are needed to make the turn around.

[Steve]

It's worth noting that most of players on that 20 goal list didn't go straight from the draft into the NHL, though I do agree Stamkos can/will score 20 goals IF he is playing with real NHL wingers (which we need to sign).

[ben bolt fan]

I am glad he is away from Torts. The year Vinny was having is no suprise that Birre is doing well with him. Prospal has always been a great passer and a good finisher. That gives Philly a very strong line and with Biron standing on his head, they can take the Pens. How funny would it be for the owner ship of bolts to see Prospal and Richards play for the cup. Just fire Torts, Just fire Torts, Just fire Torts!!!!!