Getting Attention

The Flyers are getting a lot of attention from the critics and the rest of the media. Pulling of two trades in a day, one of them expected, one not expected. They have not let all this get to them, and the Flyers proved it when they beat the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night, at the Wachovia Center in Philly, 4 to 1. The man behind the pipes was Nittymaki, which kind of surprised me because I wouldn't think Hitchcock would put Nittymaki, a rookie goalie, in the net against a powerful Devils team. But, everything worked out and Nittymaki stopped 35 of 36 shots. Ken Hitchcock stated, “When we needed him, he was really good. From the top of the circles in, he’s just too quick and too mobile.” Sounds like Hitchcock likes Nitty, who played his third consecutive NHL game for the Flyers, and also it was his third NHL game ever. He has been outstanding, I personally think. During those three games he has only allowed a goal per game, which is great for a rookie goalie from Europe who was recalled to fill Esche's shoes while Esche has been out with sprained left MCL, and with Hackett out with positional vertigo. Newly acquired Suan Burke was Nitty's back-up.

The Flyers capitalized on 2 power play goals to beat the Devils 4-1. The first power play goal came when Gange got the puck past Brodeur, which was also the first goal of the game. The second came when Markov got his first goal as a Flyer when his slap shot beat Brodeur. This was the second goal of the game. The third came when Johnsson got the puck to Handzus and the puck went through the 5-hole of Devils' goalie, Martin Brodeur just 14 seconds into the 3rd. Scott Niedermayer made it a 3-1 game after beating Nitty at 3:03 in the period on the Fedoruk penalty. Recchi responded back at 10:19 ok the clock to give the Flyers the 4-1 win.

Sean Burke in, Hackett out

On Monday, February 9th, the Flyers acquired Sean Burke of the Phoenix Coyotes. Surprised? Bet not. The rumor has been circulating around the NHL and the media ever since Esche hurt his knee. The obvious question was "Is Clarke going to make a trade to get a goalie?" The answer was yes. The Flyers needed a good NHL goalie because Esche will be out at least 2 more weeks. Hackett still wasn't in 100% condition, even playing with the Flyers AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms. He had been suffering from positional vertigo, which is basically, he can not keep his center of balance, and you do not want be looking at the goalie, and he is looking like a sailboat in a sea storm. First, everyone thought Kolzig would be the man the Flyers would of took. He had playoff experience, good numbers, but his salary was a bit too much for the Flyers, but I believe he was still worth it. So, on Monday, at the General Managers meeting to discuss possible rule changes to next Sean Burke has played for New Jersey, Hartford/Carolina, Florida, Flyers, and Coyotes season, such as the goalie's pads which will be reduced from 12" to 10", bringing back an OT shootout, which would prevent ties, touch up on the blue line, which will create less offside and create more offense, widening the blue line. Those are just 4 of many changes that the NHL might to next season. Clarke first told everyone that he has traded Eric Weinrich to the St. Louis Blues for a 2004 5th round draft pick. I believe he was trying to fool the media on that one, because Weinrich is worth more than a Draft Pick, at least I believe. Later on that day he announced the anticipated trade, that was rumored on Sunday before the All-Star game. He traded Mike Comrie, who was acquired just 20 some games ago from the Oilers, for goalie Sean Burke, Branko Radivojevic, and contract rights to Ben Eager. It seems like pretty soon the Flyers roster is going to be an old modified version of the Coyotes roster. We have got seven former Coyotes on our team. We got, Roenick, Amonte, Handzus, Suan Burke, Branko Radivojevic, Markov, and Esche. Phoenix has 4 former Flyers, they include Boucher, Langkow, Savage, and Comrie. Clarke says Burke is what we are looking for, but last time Burke played for the Flyers, we went out first round in the playoffs and dropped 4 of 5 games to Buffalo. Kolzig has 20 postseason victories, Curtis Joseph with 58 playoff wins, Olaf Kolzig with 20 post season victories and 15-win Nikolai Khabibulin. Nope none of those good looking records, we have Esche with only 30 minutes of playoff action, but looks like he'll do well this year, and we now have Burke who has 12 playoff wins, 5 playoff appearances, with 5 different teams in 17 NHL seasons. But who knows what can happen in this strange hockey city. Hackett retired as due to his illness, and with the acquisition of Burke. He felt that he was not going to be 100% game when the Flyers would need him, and rather than being dealt off to a crappy team or lake of ice-time, I believe he made the right choice. But how about the Flyers young goalie of their AHL affiliate, the Philadelphia Phantoms? He has faced 3 teams, in 3 games, and has only let by 3 of 87 shots go by, pretty awesome for a rookie goalie, called up from the AHL with no NHL experience. But a good thing is two good friends play with each other on the same team...again. Burke and Esche will make an interesting "sight to see" as they are friends instead of just teammates. They will help each other out, and will not try to compete against each other. So, who knows what will kind of moves Clark will pull of next, anything can happen in this city of brotherly love.

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