Off-season acquisition review #1:

Raymond Emery.





I am writing this article because the appearance of him on Twitter has caught my attention, and I’ve been meaning to write this series of article anyway, so why not start off with our first major acquisition?

The story on Emery: Great up and coming goaltender for the Ottawa Senators, fought Neil Little and the Phantoms as a Bingham Senator a few years back, made it to the big show and kicked some major ass and went to the Stanley Cup Finals (against Pronger, mind you) but failed,sadly… Here’s some fun info from, I know, Wikipedia….don’t take it verbatim.


“He once made a $500 bet with Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, which required Emery to eat a cockroach that had been found on the floor of a Carolina dressing room. He won the bet, and used the money to get another tattoo on his right arm which read, "Anger is a Gift".”

What a cool looking guy. He is also huge on style. I need some help from him I think…I’m a young white man with no style whatsoever.




The following season, the Senators had many issues, one being an apparent disharmonious locker room for the Sens, with Emery being at the center. Long story made short, the Sens fell apart and used Emery as the scapegoat. He was bought out, and went to Russia. He then put up pretty good numbers, but still had some issues with his team. He went after the Atlant Moscow Oblast’s trainer after constant pressure to put on a baseball cap; I’d love to blame him and say he’s out of control for this, but that'd have me upset too.

Who cares, that’s in that past.


NOW, he is a Philadelphia Flyers. He signed a one year, 1.5 million dollar contract to fly the orange and the black. I’m sure we weren’t his ONLY option, so it is nice to have someone of his caliber be understanding of our cap situation and be willing to be another piece to the Stanley Cup winning puzzle. He has the attitude that reminds us Flyers fans of Ron Hextall, but probably has more potential. Either way, with the additions of Pronger, Laperriere and himself…the crease WILL be cleared from the “Happy Feet” Penguins.




He took the uniform number 29…..hmmm….interesting. There is no reason for the choice, but I personally think it is because many Flyer tough-customers donned that number (Todd Fedoruk is the first that comes to mind).
I think he was the perfect fit considering our cap situation…the upside is very high, but if he goes, I don’t think Boucher is enough to get the job done. All I know is, I want to see a combination of Rocky/Apollo Creed/Bernard Hopkins on his helmet next season!
Good luck, Ray.

Flyers Offseason Reviewed...so far at least..

Well, it is Day 3 of Free Agency and I just wanted everyone to be caught up on how awesome I am at predicting these things.



I wrote an article after the 1st round of the playoffs, I think, about which free agents the Flyers should gun for even with their limited cap space. I think I did a pretty good job, considering almost all of these guys re-sign or signed for under 2 million dollars a year (Besides you, Sir Scuderi….figures that LA overpaid you).

Defense

1. ROBERT SCUDERI! – [4 years, 3.40 Mill a year]. I was a big fan of his this season, and became a bigger one after the playoffs (just like everyone else)…but by the time he hit Free Agency, the Flyers had already fixed their defensive woes, so it doesn’t bother me at all that LA went out and spent major dough on him.

2. Greg Zanon – [3 years, 1.93 Mill a year]. I’m just stunned by this. He was the #1 priority for me, as far as the Flyers go because I knew we could get him, and get him cheap, but I didn’t know it would’ve been THIS cheap. He’ll thrive in Minnesota among their new look team. Good luck to him.

3. Ossi Vaananen - [Nowhere yet]. I’m a fan, obviously. My list has changed a tad bit in regards to him even being on it… I had originally put him on this list as a cheap option to pair with Kimmo Timonen, and that would bump down more talented defensemen down to round-out the corps, but now that we’ve acquired Chris Pronger, there isn’t a gaping hole as there was before. Good luck pal.



Offense

1. Mark Recchi- [Re-sign Boston, 1 yr 1 Mill] – COME ON! I wanted you back at a cheap rate, but noooooooooooooo you were hell bent on going back to Boston, where you’ve only played for 30-40 games. TRAITOR! Fine! We’ve got Ian Laperriere instead.

2. Patrick Thoresen – [ 2 years, ??? for some KHL team]- Same thing as Recchi…I would’ve loved to have had you back man. I think you could’ve helped piece together the magic that team had in 07-08 during that run to the ECF’s (which easily could’ve been a SCF….yes, if Timm/Coburn didn’t get hurt.) Good luck in Russia.

3. Scottie Upshall – [Nowhere]. Uh I’m not sure that he’ll be out there for the Flyers to grab, but due to their recent shedding of poundage at the RW position, it would be a great idea to pick up someone to keep that goal total close to what it was last year (which it won’t, but I’m alright as long as the Goals Against is lowered). Let’s hope he can play for 2 Mill a year and bring some chemistry, and sparkplug back to the roster.

4. Colby Armstrong – [Nowhere]. Same thing as Upshall, for the most part. I’m just waiting to see what happens as an RFA, and hopefully the Flyers could sign a guy like him. Just so I don’t sound like a broken record, I’m ending it with this: He’d be nice.


The end. How awesome am I? Most signed under 2 million a year…which is what we have to work with.


The new candidate I do have is Ales Kotalik for the wing, but I’m very sure that his price is way too high for us.






I've also thrown my support to Mike Zigomanis (as I'm sure the girls at Puck Huffers are well aware of!) to do what he does best, which is win faceoff after faceoff.






We’ll see.