Riley Cote has retired from the Flyers

Although he is only 28, Flyers tough guy Riley Cote announced his retirement today and will join the Adirondack Phantoms as an assistant coach. Cote, who spent parts of 4 seasons with the Flyers, likely knew that he was going to be with the Phantoms this season and chose to be a coach with the team rather than play in the minors again. I have no clue exactly what Cote will be teaching to the minor league players considering all he ever did in the NHL was get punched.

Cote's retirement saves the Flyers 550,000, money they were going to free up anyway when they would have sent Cote to the minors. The Flyers now have around 850,000 in cap space.

Adios, Riley: Flyers waive Cote, position themselves for trade

It's going to be a crazy week in the NHL. With the trade deadline approaching on Wednesday and players rushing back to their teams after the Olympics, the NHL is hitting the ground running as it gears up for the playoffs.

The Flyers are certainly a team interested in making a few tweaks to their roster at the deadline. They probably won't do anything major but they would like to add a solid player or two at forward or on the blueline. In anticipation of a move, the Flyers started clearing some cap space yesterday by waiving Danny Syvret. They took one further step today by waiving forward Riley Cote.

Even though Cote is only making 550,000 this season and next, waiving him makes a ton of sense, both for salary purposes and his on-ice play. When added with Syvret's waived salary, the Flyers now have over 1 million dollars of extra money to use against the cap. Plus, it's not like they will lose anything on the ice since Cote hasn't really done anything but fight in the rare times he has actually suited up this season (last game played: December 21). I doubt that any other team will bother to pick him up unless they are really desperate for a fighter that doesn't win very many fights. Cote will likely be in Adirondack for the remainder of the season.

Rumors of who the Flyers might be pursuing at the deadline are already swirling. I've heard the names Raffi Torres and Dan Hamhuis thrown around but we will just have to wait and see what Paul Holmgren has up his sleeve. Neither would be earth-shattering moves but both would add solid depth. If either were acquired, the Flyers would have to ship out even more salary to make it work. Expect another current Flyer player or two to be traded out should the Flyers bring anyone in.

Flyers remain winless after overtime loss to Pittsburgh

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Flyers played their best game of the season on Tuesday night against the Penguins, unfortunately the results were pretty much the same as they have been all season. Philly lost 3-2 in overtime when Pascal Dupuis netted the game winner with 10.8 seconds left in the overtime period. The Flyers did earn their first point of the season with the tie but, 3 games into the season, they still have yet to earn a win.

There were several positives for the Flyers tonight:

*Simon Gagne scored on a deflection goal. He has 3 goals in 3 games so far this season and appears fully back. His line with Mike Richards and Danny Briere continues to look good shift after shift.

*Luca Sbisa logged a ton of quality minutes on the power play and in crucial overtime situations. Sbisa is the real deal and hopefully the Flyers have seen enough to keep him around all season.

*Despite not looking great on the final goal, Antero Niittymaki played well in net, making 25 saves. The other two goals weren't his fault.

*Riley Cote also had a great fight in the game against Eric Godard. It was a nice long bout with no clear winner. Video below:


The Flyers also had their share of negatives:

*The power play failed to capitalize on 6 chances. They had some good puck movement at times but they couldn't bury the puck.

*Too many penalties. The Flyers had 17 penalty minutes and found themselves on the penalty kill 6 times. You are playing with fire when you give the Pens that many chances, fortunately Pittsburgh only scored once with the man advantage.

*Does Joffrey Lupul know the season has started? The guy signed a huge deal this offseason and he has barely come to play so far this year, notching zero points and a -2 rating.

The Flyers continue on the road this week with games against the Avalanche and Sharks. They need to find a way to get out of this skid they are in because they are already in a huge 9 point hole behind the undefeated Rangers in the Atlantic Division. The season is still very young but the Flyers could sure use a win, and fast.

Arron Asham signed by the Flyers

Arron Asham, a 205 pound tough guy who played for the New Jersey Devils last season, signed a one year contract with the Philadelphia Flyers. As of now, the Flyers have not announced the value of the contract, but it will push the Flyers even further over the salary cap. Asham did earn 700,000 last season, so he likely signed for somewhere close to a million dollars.

Asham is your typical agitator, doing whatever it takes to get under the opponents skin. He is the type of guy everyone hates unless he is playing for your team. He is not a strong offensive player, scoring a total of 135 points in 498 career games in the NHL. Asham started his career with the Canadiens and has since played with the Islanders and the Devils.

I question this move by the Flyers because it seems a bit redundant. The Flyers just re-signed Riley Cote to a three year deal and then they decide to bring in yet another tough guy? Is there really room in the new NHL for a team to carry two agitators? I also wonder how well Cote and Asham will get along, considering they have been in a few scraps in the past:



*Update: Asham actually signed a two year deal with the Flyers, worth 640,000 per year. Seems about right.

Flyers fill out their roster by signing Jones, Cote

Amidst all the free agent signings and trades, the Flyers also found time to sign a pair of restricted free agents yesterday, defenseman Randy Jones and forward Riley Cote. Jones signed a two year deal worth 5.5 million overall while Cote signed a three year deal worth 550,000 per year.

These signings likely round out the Flyers roster, which, if the season started today, would look something like this:

Gagne/Briere/Hartnell
Lupul/Richards/Giroux
Upshall/Carter/Knuble
Cote/Metropolit/Downie

Timonen/Coburn
Hatcher/Jones
Eminger/Parent

Extras: Vaananen, Kukkonen, Thoreson (?), Kane

The Flyers have plenty of defensemen but they seem to be one quality forward short. Patrick Thoreson is listed as an extra skater because he has yet to sign with the Flyers, although he is a restricted free agent. Signing him, if they have the money, would push Cote to a lesser role, meaning he could suit up only when an enforcer is necessary.

Barring a trade, the Flyers appear to be done making moves this off-season. There is still a possibility that Derian Hatcher could retire, which would free up 3.5 million dollars to sign another player, but that doesn't seem likely at this point. What you see above is probably what your 08/09 Philadelphia Flyers will look like.

Cote, Flyers Knock Out Lightning

The Flyers defeated the Lightning 3-2 in what proved to be an exciting contest. The Flyers were led offensively by Jeff Carter, who scored a pair of goals, the second one the game winner in the final two minutes. Martin Biron had a nice game in goal, stopping 23 shots. The win kept the Flyers in the 8th seed, and moved them within one point of the Bruins for the 7th spot.

The highlight of the game was Riley Cote and his two-punch knockout of Andre Roy. Cote and Roy scrapped twice in the game, with the first match-up ending in a draw. The second fight lasted about 5 seconds when Cote landed two massive lefts that folded Roy up like an accordion. Roy was shown on the bench later in the game jawing and making throat slashing gestures at Cote. Roy was visibly shaking and so agitated that Lightning coach John Tortorella screamed at him and shoved him onto the bench. Luckily for him, Roy was benched for the remainder of the game, or Cote would have kicked his butt again.

Round 1 Fight Footage


Round 2 Fight Footage

Flyers Bounce Back

The Flyers bounced back from a poor effort against the Rangers by shutting out the Stanley Cup Champs 3-0. Like always, the Flyers were outshot (27-25), but Martin Biron was strong in goal, stopping everything the Ducks could muster. The Flyers offense was all provided by Mike Knuble, who had the first hat trick of his career. This is surprising, considering he has topped 30 goals in a season twice in his 11 year career. Knuble has been playing on a checking line with R.J. Umberger and Jeff Carter for the last few weeks, so it has been great to see that he is combining strong defensive play with his scoring touch. On the fighting front, Riley Cote continued to prove his worth by squaring off with Ducks tough guy George Parros. Even though Cote was soundly beaten in the scrap, he has continually shown that he is willing to fight anyone, anywhere. Cote will continually find himself in the line-up for the Flyers, even when everyone is healthy, if he maintains this level of toughness.

*Yes, more Forsberg! Another day, another piece of news on Peter Forsberg. Flyers GM Paul Holmgren hopped on a plane to Sweden to go and talk to Forsberg. Everything is being set into motion, and I bet by the end of next week, Foppa will be wearing the orange and black again. The only question will be what number he will wear, seeing as how Jason Smith has #21 already.