Flyers sign Ole-Kristian Tollefsen to a one-year contract
Although Paul Holmgren shrugged off comments about the Flyers signing bruising defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen this past weekend, calling him merely a “player of interest”, the Flyers have officially signed Tollefsen to a one year contract. Financial terms have not been disclosed, but Tollefsen’s cap hit with the Blue Jackets last year was just $675,000.
Many are speculating that this is the end of Randy Jones’ tenure in a Philadelphia Flyers uniform. Most rumors circulating around the mill call this a deal for the Flyers to move another defenseman and use that money to pick up another forward from free agency.
TweetA look at the 2008-09 Phantoms, Part 2
July 29, 2009 by Anthony
Filed under Rossi, Up in Adirondack
In the last post, I looked over the forwards on the roster. Here, I’ll examine the defense and netminders for the Purple and Black last season. First, Nate Guenin has signed with the cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins as a free agent this offseason (http://penguins.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=433401&page=NewsPage&service=page). Guenin was a leader for the Phantoms this year, playing big minutes. He was usually matched up against the other team’s top forwards, and was solid for most of the season. He had no goals and 14 assists this season, while finishing +14, with 95 PIMs to boot, reflective of his playing style. Realistically, he’s a bottom pairing guy at the NHL level, who can finish checks and play the shutdown game. His offensive game really is irrelevant, as he doesn’t factor into the rush much. It’s really no surprise to see him sign in Pittsburgh, as he is a Sewickley native, the town where Mario, Sid the Kid, and other Pittsburgh stars reside.
Lasse Kukkonen is also gone (http://hawk.ru/news/5130.html), after spending 2+ years with the Flyers. This season, Kukkonen registered 11 assists in 26 games with the Phantoms, and even scored twice in the playoffs. I feel he never got a shot with the big club, partly due to the fact that he really didn’t get off of the bottom pairing. His shot blocking is often heralded, but he showed he could carry the puck with the Phantoms, and that given some ice time, he can produce both offensively and defensively. He was great for the Phantoms, also willing to mix it up at times, and certainly made an impression on the younger guys. Good luck to him overseas.
TweetGilbert Named Phantoms Head Coach
July 28, 2009 by Anthony
Filed under Rossi, Up in Adirondack
Gilbert behind the Marlies' bench.
Greg Gilbert has been named the new coach of the Adirondack Phantoms, the 6th coach in team history, replacing John Paddock, who moved on to the Assistant GM position. Gilbert takes charge of a mostly intact roster, with an incoming class of veteran minor league free-agents, and a few prospects the Flyers have inked this offseason.
Gilbert comes to the Flyers organization with a rather impressive resume. Gilbert had previously served as the head coach for the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, and coached the team to a 123-89-10-18 record over the past three seasons. Gilbert took the Marlies to the Western Conference Finals in 2007-08, but lost to Chicago in 5 games. Gilbert has also served as the coach of the Calgary Flames, from 2000-2003, where he coached the team to a 42-56-23 record.
Hiring Gilbert fills a need predominantly, but also gives the Phantoms a coach who can win with less talented teams, as the Marlies were made up mostly of minor league veterans and grinders the past few seasons. With a talented team, and a cupboard of prospects available to him, it will be very exciting to see just what Greg Gilbert can do with this Phantoms team this season.
TweetFlyer great, John LeClair, among class of 09 US HoF inductees
Made official today, alongside the 1998 United States women’s Olympic hockey team, Tony Amonte and Tom Barrasso and inventor Frank Zamboni, John LeClair will be inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame. While it’s a step short of the real Hall of Fame in Canada, it is certainly a huge accomplishment for LeClair.
The former Flyer, who was acquired on February 9th, 1995 along with Éric Desjardins and Gilbert Dionne in exchange for Mark Recchi, spent 10 seasons with the orange and black. During those ten seasons, LeClair was the left winger on the infamous “Legion of Doom” line which was centered by Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg on the right-wing. Not only was the Legion of Doom a dominant scoring power, but they were also known for their over the top physical presence. In 1998, at a game I personally attended, LeClair became the first American-born NHL player to record three consecutive 50-goal seasons and was the second Flyer ever to do so, behind Tim Kerr.
Scoring 333 career goals and an additional 35 in the playoffs, John LeClair is good enough to be considered one of the top ten best Flyers goal scorers of all time.
As a result of the new CBA in 2005, the Flyers were forced to buy out LeClair’s contract, and he would eventually sign with the Pittsburgh Penguins where he ended his career. Although LeClair is not officially a retired player, a return to the NHL as a player is highly unlikely.
I, personally, would love to see John sign a 1-day contract with the Flyers and retire in Philadelphia where he made all of his great memories, broke and set records, and became a fan favorite in a town that’s crazy about their sports teams. And then, hopefully one day, we’ll see his name etched into the Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with all of the other hockey greats.
TweetTeam announces preseason schedule and training camp dates
Early last week, the Flyers announced their preseason schedule as well as the dates for the start of their training camp.
Training camp will start Saturday, September 12 at the Skate Zone in Voorhees, New Jersey. WeBelieveInOrange writers will be there.
| Date | Opponent | Time | Place |
| Sept. 16 | Flyers at Detroit | 7:30 PM ET | Joe Louis Arena |
| Sept. 17 | Flyers vs Toronto | 7:00 PM ET | John Labatt Centre, London, ON |
| Sept. 19 | Flyers at Toronto | 7:00 PM ET | Air Canada Centre |
| Sept. 22 | Flyers vs Detroit | 7:00 PM ET | Wachovia Center |
| Sept. 24 | Flyers vs New Jersey | 7:00 PM ET | Wachovia Center |
| Sept. 26 | Flyers at New Jersey | 7:00 PM ET | Prudential Center |
| Sept. 29 | Flyers vs Minnesota | 7:00 PM ET | Wachovia Center |
Another new tough guy in town?
Former Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen is reportedly in Philadelphia today undergoing a physical with the Flyers, and should he pass it, the Flyers are expected to sign him to a contract. Deleware County Times reporter Anthony SanFillippo reported the story this morning and also mentioned that the team has no plans of using Tollefsen as an AHL defender, but instead, keeping him on board with the big club.
Tollefsen has been a Blue Jacket since being drafted in 2002. Last season, he’d only played in 19 games before a knee injury sidelined him for the remainder of the year. Tollefsen hits a LOT and should be a fan favorite in Philly, if he can stay out of the penalty box. He accumlated 37 penalty minutes in his 19 games last year and 111 in the previous season. While Tollefsen is very defensive minded and has great instinct, the major down side of his game can be his toughness. Should he be able to tone down a little bit, there’s no reason he won’t be an effective 3rd pairing defender here in Philly.
Should the Flyers end up signing Tollefsen, it would almost be a certainty that they would also trade away one of their other defenders. Presumably, that defender would be Randy Jones, and his excruciating 2.75 million dollar cap hit. Tollefsen seems to be a much cheaper replacement for Jones, and I think anyone can agree that as long as Jones’ cap hit is gone, any move mirroring it would indeed be a success.
TweetFlyers week in review
As far as activity in the middle of the off-season goes, this week was pretty full of it for the Flyers. On Thursday afternoon, the Flyers signed five players to one year contracts, most of which will see most of their time spent playing in the AHL with the Phantoms. Lukas Kaspar, Krys Kolanos, Mika Pyorala, and Jason Ward were among the forwards signed while Joey Mormina was the lone defenseman signed by the team. Financial terms weren’t announced by the team, though I wouldn’t expect these to be anything more than just minor league contracts. The team also announced that they’ve signed Marc-Andre Bourdon to an entry level NHL contract. The 6 foot, 215 defenseman was drafted 67th overall in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
TweetBiron’s tenure in Philly over, signs with the NY Islanders
In surprising fashion, Marty Biron is officially no longer a Philadelphia Flyer. Today, the 31 year old goalie who’s played his last three seasons with the Flyers, signed a one year, 1.4 million dollar contract with the New York Islanders.
This move would make one believe that Rick DiPietro drew the short end of the straw and is likely the man out in NY, but with his outrageous fifteen year contract, is this really the case? The Islanders goalie chart now likely reads Biron – Roloson – DiPietro. Not a terrible tandem, but certainly not something I’d be overly proud of. Rick DiPietro played in four games for the Islanders last season, and missed the rest due to untimely knee injuries, but the club is stating that he’s likely to be back for the start of training camp.
“Adding Marty gives us three bona-fide number one goalies,” said Islanders’ general manager Garth Snow. “We learned about the importance of stability in our line-up from last year and he now allows us to have another quality starter.”
Marty played 55 games for the Flyers last season and posted a 29-19-5 record with 2 shut outs and a 2.76 GAA.
What do you guys think? Leave us your input!
This week in review
July 21, 2009 by Andy G.
Filed under Uncategorized
It’s been a hectic few days here at our newly opened internet home, and it’s shown with the lack of content that we’ve been providing. Before I get into anything further, I’d like to apologize for that. We’re still working on adding lots of new things to the site and I’m trying to get that all finalized and looking nice before it’s too late. Stick with us, this surely won’t become habitual.
We’re still working on a lot of the site’s basic functionality and we plan on having it all finalized and ready for public use as soon as possible.
Typically, our “This Week in Review” segment will consist of Flyers news from the past week, but we felt it was more important to give you an update on the site’s status and where we stood in terms of what’s coming and why nothing has been posted. Stay tuned, folks!
We appreciate all the comments that are starting to flow in, and we love the fact that we’ve got about 20 registered users in less than a week. Keep up the good work!
TweetA look at the 2008-09 Phantoms
July 18, 2009 by Anthony
Filed under Rossi, Up in Adirondack
In this post, I’ll review the roster from the end of the season, and the outlook for them next season. I’ll discuss the 2009-2010 season in another post when I sit down and figure out who has a good shot of sticking with the club this season. The biggest change to the Phantoms for the 2009-2010 season is their move to the Glen Falls Civic Center in upstate New York. While the Phantoms will still compete in the AHL’s East division this season, it won’t be in front of the purple and orange clad fans at the Wachovia Spectrum. While the departure of the team is somewhat of a disappointment, as is the destruction of the Spectrum in the coming months, the team itself looks to be strong heading into 09-10, with a core group returning, and some new pieces in place. The Phantoms dramatically made the playoffs in their last season in Philadelphia, overcoming Binghamton for the final spot in the East. Unfortunately, they were swept by the Hershey Bears, the eventual Calder Cup Champions. Overall, last season was highly successful for the Flyers’ AHL squad.
Coach John Paddock won’t be returning after being named as Assistant GM of the Flyers. He led the team to a 43-30-7 record this season, getting them into the last playoff spot in the East, where they lost to Hershey in a sweep. Paddock took a relatively young team that struggled early, and matured them into winners near the end of the season, as players like Pat Maroon, Jared Ross, Jon Matsumoto, and Danny Syvret took charge and led the team into the postseason. The Flyers have not yet announced a new head coach for the team.
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