Scottie Upshall is a fan favorite no more

Despite being traded out of town nearly two years ago, Scottie Upshall has remained a crowd favorite in Philadelphia. Perhaps it was his role in helping the Flyers make a deep playoff run in 2008 or perhaps it was the way he was shown the door in a questionable trade for Dan Carcillo, but Upshall has been someone Flyers fans have always wished they had back.

Upshall undid all of that in his first game back in Philly when he laid the following questionable hit on Oskars Bartulis:

With one hit, Upshall became public enemy number one by Flyers fans as he was booed every time he touched the puck. He can forget about the welcome mat being laid out for him next time he comes to Philly.

As for Bartulis, the early word is that he has a shoulder injury and that we'll know more later. With Sean O'Donnell already out, look for the Flyers to hit the trade market looking for defensive depth should Bartulis miss any time.

UPDATE: Upshall was suspended two games by the league for this hit. Justice served.

Carcillo out for the Flyers, Sbisa in?

The late Game One outburst, where the Flyers racked up 21 penalty minutes in the final 20 seconds against the Penguins, will cost the Flyers a player. Dan Carcillo, who nailed Max Talbot in the back of the head in the final seconds of the game, will be suspended for Game Two against the Penguins. In a play that didn't draw a penalty, Carcillo hit Talbot in the head with his stick. Carcillo is denying that his stick hit Talbot in the head, instead claiming that is was his hand, but either way it was an unnecessary play in the waning seconds of a 4-1 loss.

I'll let you be the judge as to whether the play deserves a suspension:


The Flyers have a few options for replacing Carcillo in the lineup. The most likely choice would be having defenseman Luca Sbisa suit up and play on the wing with the 4th line, although the Flyers could also re-call someone like Andreas Nodl for a game. Playing Sbisa on the wing, or even as a 7th defenseman, seems like a good idea just to get the rookie some playoff experience.

As for Carcillo, I still can't believe the Flyers gave up Scottie Upshall AND a second round pick to get this guy. I know the move was made to clear up salary space but Carcillo has been a completely useless player. He is an agitator, but the team already has plenty of that kind of player. He takes dumb penalties and puts the team on the penalty kill, really doing more harm than good. Scottie Upshall was also an agitator but he would get under the other teams skin with his grit and hustle. That trade may go down as one of the worst in Flyers history.

Flyers trade Upshall, get worse at the Deadline

Most contending teams in the NHL use the Trade Deadline as a time to improve their team by adding players that can help them make a run at the Stanley Cup. The Flyers are usually one of the more aggressive teams at the Deadline but this season they were hindered because they were right up against the salary cap. Philly still made a couple of moves, unfortunately, it leaves the team worse than they were a day before.

The Flyers made a pair of trades today: they acquired winger Dan Carcillo from the Phoenix Coyotes for Scottie Upshall and a 2nd round pick and they also acquired defenseman Kyle McLaren from the Sharks for a 6th round pick. Both moves are head scratchers and make it seem like the Flyers had another deal in the works that didn't pan out.

The Upshall trade is especially frustrating. While not a top line player, Scottie Upshall is a ball of energy on the ice and he's a perfect third line player. Carcillo is also a hard-nosed player, but he is much slower than Upshall and is pretty much just a hockey goon who leads the NHL in penalty minutes with 174. At first glance, this trade is ridiculous because the Flyers essentially traded a 3rd line player for a 4th line player, and threw in a 2nd round pick on top of that.

However, there was more behind this move than that. By moving Upshall, who makes 1.2 million, and getting Carcillo, who makes 900,000, the Flyers freed up some cap space so they can have some wiggle room to move players up and down when injuries occur. This move keeps the Flyers from having to send Claude Giroux down again if they need another defenseman.

On top of creating more cap space, the Flyers were also happy to get anything for Upshall, who is a restricted free agent at the end of the year and was likely to sign elsewhere. The Flyers wouldn't have had enough cap space to give Upshall a decent contract offer.

The second move of the day for the Flyers also raises more questions. McLaren is a big, strong defenseman who was a good player in his prime. Unfortunately, he has spent the entire season in the AHL and has a 2.5 million dollar contract. The Flyers will have McLaren report to the Phantoms and it's very likely that he will never play a game with the big club. If the Flyers do choose to call up McLaren at some point, he would have to pass through waivers and then the team would have to figure out a way to shed some salary. McLaren could be on the Flyers playoff roster, but he is essentially emergency depth should one of the top 6 defenseman go down.

There were rumors after the deadline that the Flyers had another trade in the works, but it looks like those talks fell through. It seems like GM Paul Holmgren took a step to clear away some salary for another trade but couldn't quite pull it off. There was plenty of speculation about Jay Bouwmeester coming to Philly, but it never materialized.

The sad fact now is that the Flyers team that takes the ice for the next game isn't as good as the Flyers team that played against Boston on Tuesday. Philly was forced to make a move to give the team more flexibility, it's just too bad that it had to take losing a solid player. While you can't fault Holmgren for making these moves today, you can blame Homer for getting the Flyers in this salary mess in the first place. He tried to play a game with the salary cap and he failed. That's especially clear when you look at the list of Flyers that have been jettisoned since the return of Daniel Briere: Glen Metropolit, Ossi Vaananen and Scottie Upshall. Essentially, those three players were traded for Dan Carcillo, and that's depressing. While none of those guys are top line players, you need some of those bit players to help the team when you make a Stanley Cup run.

The Flyers were fortunate to be able to keep their core of young players on the team but only time will tell if they will get enough support from the few remaining role players to make another run deep into the playoffs.

Flyers remain hot despite mounting injuries

Remember when the Flyers started off the season winless in their first 6 games? Seems like a distant memory now as the team has won 13 of its last 18 and ascended into second place in the Atlantic Division, a mere 3 points behind the Rangers, a team that has played 3 more games than the Flyers. The streak is amazing considering they have done it with Danny Briere on the shelf for most of the season and Martin Biron out for the last few games.

While Briere still figures to be out a few more weeks, the Flyers are hoping that Biron, who has been battling the flu, will take the ice again Tuesday night against the Senators. Biron will be a welcome sight on the ice because, while Antero Niittymaki has played well, the sooner Marty can establish himself as the number one goaltender the better. If there is one knock against the Flyers, it's the fact that they don't have a true, number one, superstar goaltender that they can ride. Biron has shown flashes of greatness, like in the playoffs last year, but he has had trouble being consistent in goal.

While one Flyer returns to the ice tonight, another will be leaving: Scottie Upshall will be sidelined for 10 to 14 days with a knee sprain. Upshall could be joined on the sidelines by Glen Metropolit who has been dealing with back problems. All of these injuries leave the Flyers thin at forward and force them to rely on AHL guys like Josh Gratton, Jon Kalinski, Darroll Powe and Andreas Nodl. And, when they are really desperate, they move Lasse Kukkonen from defenseman to 4th line center.

The Flyers have made a remarkable run to get themselves back into the mix at the top of the Eastern Conference, a run that looks even better considering all the injuries. When the Flyers finally do get to full strength, they figure to have tremendous depth and three solid scoring lines that will be difficult for other teams to deal with. Right now the Flyers are relying on Jeff Carter, Simon Gagne and Mike Richards to carry the load offensively so when Danny Briere gets back it should open things up even more for one of the best offenses in the league.

Health permitting, this Flyers team looks poised to make another deep run into the playoffs. That's quite a statement considering how terrible they looked at the beginning of the season.

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Flyers News and Notes

The Flyers have an off-day today before their big game against the Rangers, but there have been a lot of news and rumors circulating.

*Injury News: Scottie Upshall is sidelined 7 to 10 days after spraining his ankle against the Capitals on Wednesday. His energy will be missed, although Joffrey Lupul might be returning to the ice on Saturday against the Rangers.

*New Lines?: Due to the injuries, the Flyers will need to shuffle their lines a bit, and John Stevens has said that he might want to split up Simon Gagne and Danny Briere. The two have not had the same chemistry they started the season with, although most of that is due to Gagne's injuries. Stevens said he might put Gagne with Mike Richards. I think Briere and Gagne should stay on the same line, because they are going to be counted on to be the top scorers in the playoffs.

*Forsberg!: The Canucks and Wild are two teams that Forsberg has not crossed off his list, and they both are interested in his services. The Wild owner was in Nashville last season, so he has an interest in bringing Foppa to his new team. The Flyers are still considered the front-runner, and word has spread that they have already bought a bunch of medical supplies in preparation of his return. Forsberg must make his decision soon since he has to be on a roster by the trade deadline, February 26th, or he won't be able to suit up in the playoffs.

*Trade Rumors: With the trade deadline coming, there is some speculation as to what the Flyers are going to do. Their one main need is for a defenseman, and one player mentioned is Rob Blake of the Kings. The Flyers would need to clear some cap space, and this piece speculates that Sami Kapanen, Upshall and Mike Knuble might be moved. Of course, I have also heard completely out there rumors that the Flyers want to trade Jeff Carter for Mats Sundin, but don't hold your breath. With the deadline fast approaching, we are going to hear a ton of unfounded rumors.

To get us all psyched up for a possible Forsberg return, here is his famous shoot-out goal from the 1994 Olympics. It's a little bit grainy, but you can tell that's a young, agile Foppa that we won't be getting.