Don't Mess With The Metro

Hello hockey fans, hot take specialist Andy here. While readers are familiar with the rest of this site dedicated to discussing the various strengths of each Metropolitan division team, it’s time to knock them all down a peg. This is all for jokes, so put the pitchforks away as I present to you: The Mess that is the Metro

Philadelphia Flyers

Ahh Philly…Classic Philly. You never change, do you? I made a few jokes about the Devils being stuck in 2012, but the Flyers are a different type of “living in the past”. See for Philly fans, they know their team has a rough past and is still teeter tottering between rebuilding and a first round exit from the playoffs. But they adamantly believe if they stick with the 70’s mentality of beating the snot out of everyone, their team will win the cup.

Of course this grinder first mentality has produced many legends in Philly that the rest of the hockey world would be perfectly fine without. Mike Richards, Scott Hartnell, Chris Pronger to name a few. Heck, even the best goalie in franchise history was a well known goon. While their tactics would have led to a cup back when half the league didn’t even exist yet, the game has evolved in 40 years. The Flyers have not.

Remember going into last year how fans were saying “We made the playoffs as a wild card in 2016, we’ll finish top 3 in 2017”? I’m sure that worked out completely in your favor. After all, you had a 10 game winning streak, and no team that has ever missed the playoffs if they went on a 10 game winning streak. I mean, how pathetic would it be to be handed 20 points in 10 games and still fail to get 75 in the remaining 72 games? But I digress…

Claude Giroux is dead & was replaced by a look alike. a conspiracy theory thread:

Just kidding. But his regressive play sure would back this claim. 80 point season, 70 point season, 60 point season, 50 point season. The guy hasn’t even turned 30 and he’s already pumping the brakes. Good thing he’s already on pace with most other Flyers Captains for dwindling careers. Speaking of overpaid forwards (Not Filppula, but he’s also here), Jakub Voraceck still only has one season where the league took notice. But it’s a good thing Philly’s paying both these skaters over $8 mil a year, I’m sure that won’t interfere at all with their youth.

Was it a bit premature to ink Ghost to a 6 year deal? Probably. Did the Flyers still do it? Absolutely! Don’t worry, at least you don’t have someone struggling on the blue line with a $5 mil cap hit or somethi- oh hey Andrew MacDonald! Didn’t see you there, kinda zoomed right by you. Much like every young skater in the league.

Goaltending in Philly remains a circus act of short lived and off to become successful elsewhere, overpaid and unable to live up to expectations, and regularly injured. Out goes Mason, in comes Elliott. He’ll wind up playing a good chunk of the season despite having the ceiling of a backup netminder when Neuvy goes down with yet another injury in his short career. Good thing this path was paved with Bryz, Bobrovsky, Leighton, Emery, Biron, Niittymaki, etc, or fans would expect something as crazy as longevity from a netminder. What a crazy concept!

Congrats on the second overall pick, but the last time someone with so much hype went to Philly at such a young age, he cost the Flyers the player they took 5 spots later who wound up being just as good, if not better, as well as Philly’s best goalie of all time, a few draft picks, and something in the neighborhood of $15 million.

Flyers fans swear they’re on the rise. But let’s be real, the story remains the same in Philadelphia

PS: I’m sure a kid with injury problems already will fit in just fine on a team that plays such a physical game.