Where'd I leave my gun? (Flyers rant)

vsp · 05-06-2003, 12:56 PM

The gun is not for ritual suicide after the Flyers' annual collapse.

The gun is to be used on the group of Flyers fans (and possibly Ken Hitchcock) who are ALREADY bailing out on Roman Cechmanek.

First off, let's not even get into the "who would replace him" question. Their top goalie prospect (Maxime Ouellet) vanished in _last_ year's eleventh-hour Adam Oates trade, one of Bobby Clarke's all-time greatest blunders. There are no unrestricted free agents out there who'd be an upgrade. There are no megatrades in the offing. There's no one of substance waiting at the AHL level (Neil Little is forever wedged into the Phantoms' net, and if fans think Cechmanek is erratic, they'll love Antero Niittymaki, who can turn every shot into an adventure.) It's Cech for the long haul, folks, barring a panic move.

But here's my problem. Did Cech let in some soft goals in this series? Yes. (Show me a goalie who's never done that.) But the "he can't play under pressure" rap is bullshit. The Flyers lost Game 1; Cech pitched a shutout in Game 2. They lost Game 3; he pitched a shutout in Game 4. He kept them IN this series until the wheels fell off the defense.

The Flyers' goal production in this series: 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 (one of which was an oh-by-the-wayer) and 1. Last year, against the same team: 1, 0, 0, 0 and 1. Eleven games, not a single three-goal game among them, and that's somehow the goalie's fault?

The Flyers' power play in this series went 0-for-17. OH-FOR-SEVENTEEN! The Senators scored two shorthanded goals over the six games. When your power play is MINUS TWO in a second-round playoff series, that's not bad goaltending letting you down -- that's flat-out bad hockey. Period.

With the Flyers' payroll, they're turning into the Baltimore Orioles of hockey. For the uninitiated, that is _not_ a good thing.

elSicomoro · 05-06-2003, 01:03 PM

My issue isn't with Cechmanek...it's with the fact that this team is so hit and miss on the scoring. Bobby Clarke should be fired b/c he is generally a ballbag. Ken Hitchcock is a good start, but they need a better GM in there. As far as the players...I have hope for Gagne (if he would quit getting hurt), Cechmanek, and Justin Williams, but let's face it: their main players are not getting any younger.

vsp · 05-12-2003, 10:34 PM

<a href="http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0512/1552535.html">Cechmanek back for Flyers? GM Clarke says not likely</a> (espn.com)

If Cechmanek leaves, the Flyers are dead to me. DEAD, I say. I may not even go to Phantoms games next year.

Twelve goals in eleven playoff games against Ottawa. More shorthanded goals against the Flyers THIS year than the Flyers have scored on the power play in BOTH years. But Cechmanek's the inconsistent one, right, Bobby?

Clarke can do one thing AND ONE THING ONLY to make me feel better -- trade Cechmanek for Maxime Ouellet and three draft picks to reboot the machine, so to speak. Otherwise, when Clarke leaves, I come back to this team. It's ECHL time, folks.

Undertoad · 05-12-2003, 11:34 PM

Do as I've done and adopt the Wild with our fellow 'sotans.

Although it looks like they used up all their goals in the last series and have none left for this one. But how this team has done it so far, you know they have the guts to come back now.

The Cech: saw Clarke on TV tonight, and he was indicating that Cech is demanding to be traded because, as was reported, he feels that the fans are down on him. I know goalies are headcases but Cech has had this kind of weird emotional reaction before and it just can't help. Maybe they will finally get that big name goalie in the free agent market.

vsp · 05-13-2003, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Undertoad
Do as I've done and adopt the Wild with our fellow 'sotans.

Although it looks like they used up all their goals in the last series and have none left for this one. But how this team has done it so far, you know they have the guts to come back now.

The Cech: saw Clarke on TV tonight, and he was indicating that Cech is demanding to be traded because, as was reported, he feels that the fans are down on him. I know goalies are headcases but Cech has had this kind of weird emotional reaction before and it just can't help. Maybe they will finally get that big name goalie in the free agent market.

Clarke's job is to keep Roman Cechmanek happy. That's what he's there for; to get the best players in orange and black and keep them there. How that's done is open to debate; pay him what he deserves, massage his ego, take him out to Delilah's Den after games, whatever it takes. Cech's what they have; he's ALL they have.

I can't imagine WHY Cechmanek feels that people have turned on him. Maybe something having to do with getting one-goal-per-game support over two playoff series, having his teammates fire pucks at his head when the first one went badly and having his coach come out and say "Not to point fingers, but we can't have those soft goals." If his offense was putting ANY goals in the net -- soft, hard or squishy -- they'd be playing the Devils right now in the conference finals. Expecting Cech to have four shutouts against Ottawa is a bit much.

Are Philly fans notoriously fickle? Yup. Were they cheering him for six months and booing over the six-game wipeout, even though his own teammates were stepping up and saying "Roman's not the problem, this was a TEAM loss" repeatedly? Yup. But someone has to be blamed, and the goalie makes a convenient scapegoat. (Maybe the fans are just USED to watching Flyers forwards make opposing goalies look like Ken Dryden.) Clarke, of ANYONE, should know what Philly fans are like and be ready to help Cech deal with that, and stand behind him publically.

They have no replacement waiting in the wings. They had three solid young goaltenders and traded two, which is all the more reason to protect the third one as much as possible and give him a little freaking support (goal AND moral).

Even before this, I was already ready to bail on my Phantoms ticket plan and go watch the Royals play ECHL hockey down the road. They've decimated that team over the years, and apart from a few vets (Law, Little, Greig) and a young newcomer (Patrick Sharp), they're running on empty. Note to Clarke: that's your team's future. Notice that a team that was largely built from scratch (the Senators) has demolished your big-name free-agent NHL squad two years running... with ease. If Cechmanek walks, an out-of-the-playoffs season next year isn't out of the question, and I hope Clarke knows that it's HIS ass out the door if that happens.

As for the Wild, they're interesting to watch, and they do have Richard Park. I'm not actively rooting for either team in that series, though I hope the winner wins the Cup. I'll review my options in the off-season and see who's out there to be adopted.

warch · 05-13-2003, 02:25 PM

Philly got beat! They were in a long,tough, physical series with the Leafs, Dejardin got hurt, the defence was suffering. And the playoffs are all about defence, all mistakes will be capitalized on. JR, Amonte, LeClair, Gagne were effectively contained. Bobby Clarke is a ruthless competitor and king of the mind screw. He hurts his team, fractures it in the name of "challenging for performance". And Hitchcock can only do so much with that. To lose Cechmanek would be a shame, but looks inevitable with Clarke's vicious style of management. Some other team is going to get a good goalie.

Buck up Tony! The castoffs and kids of the Wild will gladly accept all the support they can get. Giguere is looking large.

vsp · 05-15-2003, 10:55 AM

See what you did, Tony? You infected the Wild with the Flyers' playoff taint by jumping on their bandwagon... and now they'll <b>never score again.</b>

Undertoad · 05-15-2003, 11:08 AM

Bah! This is the annoying factor of the NHL: hot goalie wins the god damn cup half the time.

It ain't over.

warch · 05-15-2003, 11:30 AM

*Cough! Gasp!* must....keep....trying, must....dig...deep.

elSicomoro · 05-15-2003, 05:38 PM

If sycamore were Bobby Clarke:

--Boot Bobby Clarke right out the door.
--Get rid of the oldies (LeClair, Primeau)
--Get a solid goalie with playoff experience
--Get Iginla: Calgary is going to have to let him go sooner or later

vsp · 05-29-2003, 07:32 AM

<a href="http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0528/1560161.html">Cechmanek to Kings for second-round draft pick</a>

Quote from Peter Svoboda, Cechmanek's agent:

"The organization (Philadelphia) wanted Roman to leave. Bobby Clarke called me a couple of weeks ago while I was in the Czech Republic. He said a decision had been made and that staying in Philadelphia was not the best situation for Roman and the organization. I asked him for permission to talk to other teams - which he gave to me in writing. It wasn’t that Roman wanted to leave - it was a decision by the organization to go in another direction."

As Al Morganti put it on WIP this morning...

"The Flyers have gotten a second-round pick... (weighty pause)... <b>for their MVP.</b>"

And that about wraps it up for THAT.

Goodbye (for now) to the orange-and-black -- hello to the purple-and-black. Goodbye, Phantoms ticket plan -- hello, Reading Royals ticket plan. (I've already got a Royals jersey, and the Sovereign Center in Reading's more convenient to me than the Spectrum.) When Clarke leaves the organization, the Flyers can give me a call.

I'm not sure that there's a smiley that can express the level of disgust I have for Clarke and his organization right now. The Cech thing was the tip of the iceberg, not an isolated incident.

Undertoad · 05-29-2003, 09:15 AM

Cechmanek's agent is Svoboda? Is it the same Svoboda?

I didn't even know the ECHL had moved into Reading - shame on me. Looks like a nice building.

vsp · 05-29-2003, 09:47 AM

It's actually not bad at all, and the mileage from where I live (West Chester) is about the same, though I don't have to dick around on I-95 to get to Reading.

The parking costs half as much ($5 compared to $10, $8 with a Phantoms ticket-plan voucher) and is in a covered garage. The food is better and a little bit cheaper. The instant-replay/info board is much clearer (though, granted, it's a couple of decades newer than the one at the Spectrum, so it should be). Ticket prices are similar ($11-$17 walkup prices for the Royals, $14-19 walkup prices for the Phantoms, with both teams offering specials from time to time). There's no upper deck, so just about all the seats have good views of the ice.

The level of play is one step lower in the ECHL, of course -- not that the AHL is always a display of textbook fundamentals and superlative skills. About the only rule difference I can think of is that touch-ups aren't required for icing calls; the play is whistled dead as soon as the puck crosses the end line. (Oh yeah -- shootouts in overtimes, though I haven't personally seen one.)

The Royals have been around for two years, and finished last both times, which will be a shock for expatriate Phantoms fans like myself (the Phantoms have always been competitive, have won one Calder Cup, and missed the playoffs last year (by one point) for the first time in their history). Royals players get called up to the Manchester Monarchs and then to the Los Angeles Kings, which eliminates the nice feeling of watching Phantoms players develop and then go right next door to the Flyers. Then again, with the way that Clarke has mismanaged the farm system as well as the big club, maybe that's a blessing...

And if you're more Philly-centric and would prefer to go east than west, there are the <a href="http://www.boardwalkbullies.com">Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies</a> and the <a href="http://www.trentontitans.com">Trenton Titans</a>...

05-06-2003, 12:56 PM	#1
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Where'd I leave my gun? (Flyers rant) The gun is not for ritual suicide after the Flyers' annual collapse. The gun is to be used on the group of Flyers fans (and possibly Ken Hitchcock) who are ALREADY bailing out on Roman Cechmanek. First off, let's not even get into the "who would replace him" question. Their top goalie prospect (Maxime Ouellet) vanished in _last_ year's eleventh-hour Adam Oates trade, one of Bobby Clarke's all-time greatest blunders. There are no unrestricted free agents out there who'd be an upgrade. There are no megatrades in the offing. There's no one of substance waiting at the AHL level (Neil Little is forever wedged into the Phantoms' net, and if fans think Cechmanek is erratic, they'll love Antero Niittymaki, who can turn every shot into an adventure.) It's Cech for the long haul, folks, barring a panic move. But here's my problem. Did Cech let in some soft goals in this series? Yes. (Show me a goalie who's never done that.) But the "he can't play under pressure" rap is bullshit. The Flyers lost Game 1; Cech pitched a shutout in Game 2. They lost Game 3; he pitched a shutout in Game 4. He kept them IN this series until the wheels fell off the defense. The Flyers' goal production in this series: 2, 2, 2, 1, 2 (one of which was an oh-by-the-wayer) and 1. Last year, against the same team: 1, 0, 0, 0 and 1. Eleven games, not a single three-goal game among them, and that's somehow the goalie's fault? The Flyers' power play in this series went 0-for-17. OH-FOR-SEVENTEEN! The Senators scored two shorthanded goals over the six games. When your power play is MINUS TWO in a second-round playoff series, that's not bad goaltending letting you down -- that's flat-out bad hockey. Period. With the Flyers' payroll, they're turning into the Baltimore Orioles of hockey. For the uninitiated, that is _not_ a good thing.

05-12-2003, 10:34 PM	#3
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Loading the gun <a href="http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0512/1552535.html">Cechmanek back for Flyers? GM Clarke says not likely</a> (espn.com) If Cechmanek leaves, the Flyers are dead to me. DEAD, I say. I may not even go to Phantoms games next year. Twelve goals in eleven playoff games against Ottawa. More shorthanded goals against the Flyers THIS year than the Flyers have scored on the power play in BOTH years. But Cechmanek's the inconsistent one, right, Bobby? Clarke can do one thing AND ONE THING ONLY to make me feel better -- trade Cechmanek for Maxime Ouellet and three draft picks to reboot the machine, so to speak. Otherwise, when Clarke leaves, I come back to this team. It's ECHL time, folks.

05-29-2003, 07:32 AM	#11
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	Goodbye, Bobby <a href="http://espn.go.com/nhl/news/2003/0528/1560161.html">Cechmanek to Kings for second-round draft pick</a> Quote from Peter Svoboda, Cechmanek's agent: "The organization (Philadelphia) wanted Roman to leave. Bobby Clarke called me a couple of weeks ago while I was in the Czech Republic. He said a decision had been made and that staying in Philadelphia was not the best situation for Roman and the organization. I asked him for permission to talk to other teams - which he gave to me in writing. It wasn’t that Roman wanted to leave - it was a decision by the organization to go in another direction." As Al Morganti put it on WIP this morning... "The Flyers have gotten a second-round pick... (weighty pause)... <b>for their MVP.</b>" And that about wraps it up for THAT. Goodbye (for now) to the orange-and-black -- hello to the purple-and-black. Goodbye, Phantoms ticket plan -- hello, Reading Royals ticket plan. (I've already got a Royals jersey, and the Sovereign Center in Reading's more convenient to me than the Spectrum.) When Clarke leaves the organization, the Flyers can give me a call. I'm not sure that there's a smiley that can express the level of disgust I have for Clarke and his organization right now. The Cech thing was the tip of the iceberg, not an isolated incident.

05-06-2003, 01:03 PM	#2
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	My issue isn't with Cechmanek...it's with the fact that this team is so hit and miss on the scoring. Bobby Clarke should be fired b/c he is generally a ballbag. Ken Hitchcock is a good start, but they need a better GM in there. As far as the players...I have hope for Gagne (if he would quit getting hurt), Cechmanek, and Justin Williams, but let's face it: their main players are not getting any younger.

05-12-2003, 11:34 PM	#4
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Do as I've done and adopt the Wild with our fellow 'sotans. Although it looks like they used up all their goals in the last series and have none left for this one. But how this team has done it so far, you know they have the guts to come back now. The Cech: saw Clarke on TV tonight, and he was indicating that Cech is demanding to be traded because, as was reported, he feels that the fans are down on him. I know goalies are headcases but Cech has had this kind of weird emotional reaction before and it just can't help. Maybe they will finally get that big name goalie in the free agent market.

05-13-2003, 02:25 PM	#6
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	Philly got beat! They were in a long,tough, physical series with the Leafs, Dejardin got hurt, the defence was suffering. And the playoffs are all about defence, all mistakes will be capitalized on. JR, Amonte, LeClair, Gagne were effectively contained. Bobby Clarke is a ruthless competitor and king of the mind screw. He hurts his team, fractures it in the name of "challenging for performance". And Hitchcock can only do so much with that. To lose Cechmanek would be a shame, but looks inevitable with Clarke's vicious style of management. Some other team is going to get a good goalie. Buck up Tony! The castoffs and kids of the Wild will gladly accept all the support they can get. Giguere is looking large.

05-15-2003, 10:55 AM	#7
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	See what you did, Tony? You infected the Wild with the Flyers' playoff taint by jumping on their bandwagon... and now they'll <b>never score again.</b>

05-15-2003, 11:08 AM	#8
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Bah! This is the annoying factor of the NHL: hot goalie wins the god damn cup half the time. It ain't over.

05-15-2003, 11:30 AM	#9
warch lurkin old school Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Minnesota Posts: 2,796	Cough! Gasp! must....keep....trying, must....dig...deep.

05-15-2003, 05:38 PM	#10
elSicomoro Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 12,486	If sycamore were Bobby Clarke: --Boot Bobby Clarke right out the door. --Get rid of the oldies (LeClair, Primeau) --Get a solid goalie with playoff experience --Get Iginla: Calgary is going to have to let him go sooner or later

05-29-2003, 09:15 AM	#12
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Cechmanek's agent is Svoboda? Is it the same Svoboda? I didn't even know the ECHL had moved into Reading - shame on me. Looks like a nice building.

05-29-2003, 09:47 AM	#13
vsp Syndrome of a Down Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: West Chester Posts: 1,367	It's actually not bad at all, and the mileage from where I live (West Chester) is about the same, though I don't have to dick around on I-95 to get to Reading. The parking costs half as much ($5 compared to $10, $8 with a Phantoms ticket-plan voucher) and is in a covered garage. The food is better and a little bit cheaper. The instant-replay/info board is much clearer (though, granted, it's a couple of decades newer than the one at the Spectrum, so it should be). Ticket prices are similar ($11-$17 walkup prices for the Royals, $14-19 walkup prices for the Phantoms, with both teams offering specials from time to time). There's no upper deck, so just about all the seats have good views of the ice. The level of play is one step lower in the ECHL, of course -- not that the AHL is always a display of textbook fundamentals and superlative skills. About the only rule difference I can think of is that touch-ups aren't required for icing calls; the play is whistled dead as soon as the puck crosses the end line. (Oh yeah -- shootouts in overtimes, though I haven't personally seen one.) The Royals have been around for two years, and finished last both times, which will be a shock for expatriate Phantoms fans like myself (the Phantoms have always been competitive, have won one Calder Cup, and missed the playoffs last year (by one point) for the first time in their history). Royals players get called up to the Manchester Monarchs and then to the Los Angeles Kings, which eliminates the nice feeling of watching Phantoms players develop and then go right next door to the Flyers. Then again, with the way that Clarke has mismanaged the farm system as well as the big club, maybe that's a blessing... And if you're more Philly-centric and would prefer to go east than west, there are the <a href="http://www.boardwalkbullies.com">Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies</a> and the <a href="http://www.trentontitans.com">Trenton Titans</a>...

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