Flyers swap JVR for Luke Schenn

The man that has been rumored to be traded seemingly ever since he was drafted has finally been dealt: the Flyers have traded James van Riemsdyk to the Maple Leafs for defenseman Luke Schenn.  This deal has been rumored to be happening for the last year or so and the Flyers finally pulled the trigger to trade the two straight up for one another.

Schenn, who is indeed the brother of current Flyer Brayden Schenn, is a young defenseman who has shown plenty of promise but has yet to live up to his potential.  His cap hit is lower than JVR's by nearly a million and he is under contract for fewer seasons so the Flyers are also freeing up money that will likely be used to re-sign Matt Carle as well as bring in a free agent or two.  If Schenn ever lives up to his potential as a top defenseman, this deal could turn out to be a steal for the Flyers.

Much like Schenn, JVR has never quite lived up to his potential.  He has long been coveted by the Leafs for his size and his occasional flashes of brilliance.  He could be the type of player that will thrive with a change of scenery and could eventually become a star and make the Flyers regret ever trading him.

It's pretty apparent that Paul Holmgren loves trading and isn't afraid to take chances.  On paper, JVR is currently the better player in the deal but neither player has fully developed yet so it is impossible to love or hate the deal.  Given the complete over-pay of his contract, I can't say I'm all that upset that JVR has been shipped out of town.

Flyers claim Boynton, demote JVR for a day

Not wasting any time finding a replacement for the injured Oskars Bartulis, the Flyers acquired their new 7th defenseman, claiming Nick Boynton off waivers from the Blackhawks. Boynton, an 11 year NHL veteran, is a physical d-man who doesn't contribute anything offensively but can be pretty reliable in his own end. The former Bruin, Coyote, Panther and Duck as well as Blackhawk has a cap hit of $500,000 and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

The need for an extra body like Boynton came up because of Chris Pronger's hand injury. With Pronger possibly going to miss a game or two, the Flyers need someone they can rely on to play a few shifts. While rookie d-man Erik Gustafsson was called up for that role, Gustafsson needs to get ice time in the minors and would not be an option to sit in the press box as a 7th d-man when everyone is healthy. Enter Boynton, who has gotten pretty familiar sitting in the press box with the Blackhawks in the recent weeks.

To make room for Boynton on the roster, the Flyers had to make an interesting, though necessary, move. Not wanting to risk losing anyone to waivers, the Flyers have temporarily sent James van Riemsdyk to the minors. Since JVR has a contract that allows him to go down and come back up without any waiver issues, the Flyers are sending him down just for tonight's game so Gustafsson can play against Ottawa. After tonight's game, the Flyers will then re-call JVR and send Gustafsson back to the AHL. The most surprising revelation from all of these moves is that recently waived Nikolay Zherdev will likely get to suit up tonight against Ottawa. Talk about a strange turn of events for Zherdev.

While that's a somewhat complicated movement of pieces, the Flyers are making the necessary moves to keep their roster intact. Sure, they could have sent Zherdev to the minors but then they would have risked losing him in the re-entry waivers should they want to call him back up. Getting Boynton isn't a big move for the Flyers but it was a smart move to get some dependable defensive depth. If everything goes to plan, we won't even see Boynton in the lineup come playoff time but he will be a nice insurance policy.

Guest Post: a frustrated Flyers fan gets a few things off his chest

Guest Poster Mark Trible has had enough. Here are his thoughts on the frustrating Flyers:

"It's frustrating and it has to change."

Above are the words of Flyers captain Mike Richards, and I can’t say that I don’t agree. I also can’t say that Flyers fans across the globe haven’t repeated the same sentiments frequently in the last 365 days. What we as a fan base are facing is Groundhog Day, only around 300 miles southeast of Punxsutawney. This is a reoccurring theme, going hand in hand with the repetition of quotes from El Capitan. At what point do we say we’ve had enough? Well, I’ve had enough. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t had enough to cut ties with the team (I’m a glutton for punishment), but I’ve had enough to write a blog post! I still hold some belief in this team, and hell, I may even believe they can win a playoff series. However, playoff series’ aren’t going to cut it in Philadelphia unless three or four are won. Without further adieu, here are the things that I am absolutely tired of watching night in, and night out…

Lack of a collective heartbeat: The Flyers only have the identification of a ‘team’ because they all wear the same color sweaters. While it is true that there are leaders on the team (most notably Kimmo and Prongs), it seems as if the boys in orange are never on the same page. Point the finger at Lavy, Richie, or whoever else you feel is the problem. All I know is that finding the heart and soul of this team is as easy as finding which way John Stevens is looking.

Continuous effort on the offensive end: I don’t buy into the idea that the Flyers don’t have talent on the offensive side of the ice. In fact, I think the team is extremely talented. However, when talent and effort don’t meet somewhere in the middle, there is little success to be had. Richie isn’t the most outstanding offensive forward in the game, but he gives you all he’s got. Gagne, JVR and even CARCILLO exert a ton of energy on their shifts and skate hard, dump hard, chase hard, crash the net hard. As joyful as I would be to express nothing but satisfaction with these three there are problems with each one. Gagne is old, JVR is young, and Carcillo isn’t very talented. With that being the case, players like Hartnell and Briere have no more excuses to use. I’m sick of them. I’m sick of Hartnell falling down every time he attempts to mount a scoring chance, I’m sick of Briere going to the box every game for high-sticking and hooking. Most of all, I’m sick of having those two erratic forwards on the same line. Can anyone explain why Hartnell should be on a better line than JVR? I sure as hell can’t. Although I didn’t mention Powe, Asham, Lappy and Betts (due in large part to their lack of offensive ability), at least they do their jobs and show the same type of continuous effort night in and night out.

Braydon Coburn: Mr. Turnstile himself. With the current goaltending situation (or lack thereof), our defense has to be excellent. Coburn is about as excellent as Ovechkin is clean. Clean looks at the goal because Braydon is searching for his jock at the blue line are unacceptable and continue to occur night in and night out. I’ve got news for fellow Flyers fans, Boucher isn’t stealing the team any games anytime soon. He can be consistent and good enough for the team to win, but the defense has to protect him as much as possible.

Lack of passion: Effort and passion is not the same thing. But one certainly is the antecedent to the other. When I watched the Atlanta game on Sunday and the Ottawa game the other night, I saw a bunch of individuals who looked ready for summer vacation. I didn’t see hunger. I didn’t see the will to be the best. I didn’t see a team that is attempting to rectify the choke of last year’s stretch run. I saw no spark. Going through the motions is understandable in November. But in March? Not so much.

Lack of ACCOUNTABILITY: I know much has been made of this matter in reference to ‘oh captain our captain’, but there is more than enough to go around. After every game, we hear the same questions asked to the players, and the same responses are given. “Well, we need to show more urgency.” Or “We can’t be complacent with where we are, a lot of teams are hungry and clawing for the playoffs.” Insert whatever other clichés you’ve heard over course of the season. Why doesn’t anyone say, “It is MY responsibility to get this thing going.”? After the Ottawa game, Prongs said his piece about how the team needs to win games down the stretch, Richie said “It’s frustrating when guys aren’t playing their hardest”, Carcillo blamed the refs, Boosh blamed the refs, Lavy blamed the refs. GROW UP. Someone raise their hand and take some freaking accountability! The referees aren’t going to right this ship. It’s up to the bodies in the locker room. Take some initiative damn it!

Where do we go from here Flyers fans? I’m not sure, but I know I’m not going anywhere. The team can play like bums again tonight against the Wild (pick a name with an s on the end would ya?), and they’ll still be my bums. Things have been bad lately but it’s not too late to turn it around for a playoff run, and that’s what I’m hoping. Although, unless the previously mentioned problems aren’t fixed, look forward to an early offseason….full of watching Sidney Crosby highlights.

Follow Mark on Twitter (@Mtrible) for more great Flyers and Eagles thoughts.

Good news: Flyers win thriller in OT Bad news: Betts, JVR injured

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The Flyers continued their hot start to the season, downing the Capitals in overtime in a high-scoring 6-5 contest. Danny Briere was the hero in OT, netting the winner to keep the Flyers undefeated season going. Other studs on the night were Mike Richards, who had a hat trick in the second period, and Matt Carle, who had an NHL record-tying 4 assists for a defensemen in the 2nd period. The Flyers had some issues shutting down Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who had 2 goals and an assist, but managed to slow him down just enough to keep the game close. New Flyers goalie Ray Emery played his worst game in net so far, stopping 31 of 36 shots, but he made the big saves late in the game when they mattered.

Following the exciting win, the Flyers did get some bad news on the injury front. According to Tim Panaccio on Twitter, newly signed forward Blair Betts, a face-off and penalty killing expert, separated his shoulder in the game and will be out for about a month. Losing Betts doesn't slow the team down too much although it will stretch the solid PK unit a little thinner.

Panaccio also reported one other injury that is a little scarier: Flyers phenom James van Riemsdyk may have suffered a concussion in tonight's game. Flyers fans have had enough experience with concussions to know the severity of them and for a kid like JVR to start down the concussion path at his age brings back bad memories of Eric Lindros and Simon Gagne. Let's hope JVR is all right and can continue his development this season.

Great overtime win by the Flyers tonight. They certainly gave fans everything they could ask for in their home opener. 82-0 is still a possibility!

A perfect start to the Flyers season

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

A win. 2 power play goals. A shutout. Perfect on the penalty kill. A fight. Could you have asked for anything more in the Flyers season debut?

The Flyers started off their 2009 season with a 2-0 road win against the Hurricanes in a game that was filled with positives for the team. The Flyers got their goals from two familiar faces, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, but there were several standout players new to the team this year. New goaltender Ray Emery started his Flyers career off in the best way possible, stopping 28 shots and posting a shutout. Other newcomers Chris Pronger (2 hits, 3 blocked shots) and James van Riemsdyk (1 assist, 3 shots) also had good nights as the Flyers played a complete game of hockey.

Another Flyer who played well in his debut was 4th liner Blair Betts. If you want to know why Flyers fans were so happy when the team signed the guy, just look at his 6 minutes of perfect penalty killing and the fact that he was the only Flyer with a faceoff win % above 50 (56%). Betts is the perfect role player for this team; he won't put up big numbers but he will do all the little things that win hockey games.

The only negative that I take from tonight's game was that van Riemsdyk needs more ice time if he is going to develop. JVR had 8 minutes 59 seconds of ice time tonight, third lowest on the team behind Danny Syvret and Dan Carcillo. While I did like his nearly 2 minutes of power play time, if the Flyers want to keep JVR in the NHL for this entire season, they will need to play him more.

All in all,it was the perfect start to a promising Flyers season. I think we are in store for a fun year.

Flyers finalize roster: JVR makes it but no Betts yet

With NHL rosters due at 3 pm today, the Flyers made their final moves to get their roster ready for Friday's opening game. An NHL team is able to keep 23 players on their roster so the Flyers had to shift a couple of players around to fit everyone in.

As expected, rookie phenom James van Riemsdyk made the team after a strong preseason showing where he basically forced himself onto the roster. Also making the team after looking solid this preseason was forward Mika Pyorala.

Not making the team, yet, was Blair Betts. Betts was brought in on a tryout basis and needs a contract to play for the Flyers. The Flyers are believed to be in negotiations with Betts at the moment but no agreement has been reached as of yet. Betts would make a great 4th line center who can win faceoffs and kill penalties so hopefully the Flyers reach a deal with him soon.

With the Flyers keeping JVR, Pyorala and hopefully Betts, they could have 14 forwards. Since teams only suit up 12 forwards a game, that means 2 players from an incredibly deep group will have to sit out every night. The likely scratches would be 2 from the following group: Pyorala, Darroll Powe, Riley Cote and Arron Asham. Having this many quality forwards means the Flyers can mix and match depending on their opponents strengths and weaknesses.

If the Flyers do sign Blair Betts in the next few days they would have to place hobbled goaltender Brian Boucher on the injured list. As of right now, Boucher stays on the roster although he won't be able to play for another week or so. Johan Backlund will temporarily be on the roster as the backup until Boucher is healthy enough to go.

The team also sent recently waived Randy Jones to the Phantoms, ensuring defensemen Danny Syvret and Ole-Kristian Tollefsen of roster spots. Syvret will likely be the 6th defenseman and Tollefsen will be a healthy scratch on most nights.

Here is the Flyers roster for the beginning of the season:

Forwards (13): Danny Briere, Mike Richards, Simon Gagne, Jeff Carter, Scott Hartnell, Daniel Carcillo, Claude Giroux, Arron Asham, Riley Cote, Darroll Powe, Ian Laperriere, Mika Pyorala, Blair Betts, James van Riemsdyk

Defensemen (7): Chris Pronger, Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timonen, Ryan Parent, Matt Carle, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Danny Syvret

Goalies (3): Ray Emery, Johan Backlund, Brian Boucher

JVR makes his case to be a Flyer

Normally, I don't take much stock in preseason hockey. It's like all other exhibition games in other sports; stars don't play their hardest and the outcomes don't matter. The Flyers preseason game tonight might be an exception, however, as a rookie phenom made a strong bid to make the Flyers opening game roster.

James van Riemsdyk (JVR), the number 2 overall pick in the 2007 draft, scored a pair of goals for the Flyers as they defeated the Red Wings, 5-2, in their preseason home opener. JVR's performance should put to rest the debate that has occurred for the last few weeks about whether he should make the team right from the start or not. After all, when he is your most dynamic player on the ice, how could the Flyers not keep him around? There were some concerns that JVR wouldn't get enough ice time in the NHL to continue his development but if he plays all season the way he did tonight that won't be a problem. Barring some strange salary cap issues, it should be safe to pencil JVR into the Flyers opening night lineup.

As for the rest of the team, the Flyers played their best preseason game as a whole against the Wings on Tuesday night. Ray Emery looked good in net, Mike Pyorala scored a goal to help make his case for a roster spot and even Dan Carcillo made a contribution on the score sheet with a breakaway goal. For a team that looked rusty and not ready to play in previous preseason games, the Flyers looked leaps and bounds better on Tuesday.

It was great to see the Flyers back on home ice on Tuesday night and even better to see them play a good all-around game. Even though it was just a preseason game, beating the Red Wings is always a good sign for how your season is going to go. I can't wait for October 2nd!

The James van Riemsdyk era has begun in Philly

The wait is over. The second coming is here!

James van Riemsdyk, the second overall pick in the 2007 draft, has signed a contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. van Riemsdyk spent the last two years at the University of New Hampshire but has finally decided to begin his professional career. He will likely play the rest of the season with the Phantoms, and is in fact already playing for them as I type this on Wednesday night.

While JVR probably won't play for the Flyers until next year at the earliest, there is good reason to get excited about this 19 year olds future. Hockeysfuture.com ranks him as the number 5 prospect in hockey and expects him to be on a top line with the Flyers by 2010. JVR already had a succesful season with UNH, putting up 40 points in 36 games, but it will take him some time to adjust to the professional level. Once he is ready, he has the hands, speed and size to be a solid power forward for years to come.

For now, revel in some of his highlights from New Hampshire: