Previous rumors and reports about Kovalchuk and Philly are false

Yesterday we posted a piece with a rumor that the Flyers were one of three teams who had offers out on the table for the Russian free agent, Ilya Kovalchuk. Speculation of possible cap-clearing trade scenarios ran wild throughout Flyerdom, and while anyone with a brain knew that these rumors couldn’t possibly be true, they certainly had some fans foaming from the mouth.

Early yesterday, a Russian website, Sports.life.ru, broke a story claiming that Ilya Kovalchuk’s agent, Yury Nikolaev, told a source that he and Kovalchuk had received offers from three NHL teams willing to acquire the 27 year old sniper. Along with the Colorado Avalance and Los Angeles Kings, the Flyers were one of the three clubs rumored to have an offer on the table.

In regards to the report, today Yury Nikolaev claimed he “never said this.”

It’s probably safe to put this rumor to bed for good, seeing as the LA Kings were actually the only team still in the running for Kovalchuk’s services at the time. Earlier yesterday, Colorado pulled from the race.

A weird story to begin with, seeing as the Flyers have absolutely zero cap maneuverability at this moment in time.

Anyway, carry on with your 4th of July. There won’t be a puck hogging, defenseless Russian in Philadelphia anytime soon. We still have Shelley, though!

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Russian website confirms Flyers interest in Ilya Kovalchuk

A frustrating and confusing off-season just got a little bit more odd. The trade rumors are getting difficult to keep track of.

While many sources are claiming that Ilya Kovalchuk is on Long Island today in New York, fine tuning his alleged deal with the Islanders, a Russian website has posted an article claiming that the Flyers are among three teams interested in acquiring the prized sniper. Kovalchuk’s agent, Yuri Nikolayev, is said to be the source behind this information, making it all the more credible. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Colorado are all said to be in negotiations with Nikolayey and Kovalchuk.

But this makes absolutely zero sense. Just yesterday, the Flyers had asked Simon Gagne to waive his NTC so they could potentially move his salary to re-sign players and make a run at a free agent goaltender. Today, they’re targeting a $7.5-10 million forward.

The Flyers would have to move a lot more to even consider acquiring Kovalchuk.

As of now, it looks like the deal with the Islanders is a sure thing. Doesn’t make this any less odd.

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Gameday Preview: 2/10/10 – Flyers vs Devils Pt. 2, snow edition?

To say that the Flyers have all the momentum heading into tonight’s home-and-home rematch against the Devils is an understatement. The Flyers stormed back from a 2-0 deficit on Monday night to beat the struggling Devils in a crucial Atlantic Division match-up. The Devils have now won just three of their last ten games. They’re struggling, and the Flyers need the points. Badly. The Flyers currently hold the eighth and final playoff spot, tied with the 9th place Bruins, and just one point behind the Montreal Canadiens, with 61 points.

The Flyers did a good job Monday night of keeping the threat of  Ilya Kovalchuk to a minimum. He’s been fairly average against the Flyers throughout his career. He didn’t show many signs of life until the later parts of the third period on the power play. Even then, he was rocketing shots high and wide constantly. He was, for the most part, a non-factor. I don’t expect that to be the case tonight. Kovalchuk got his first practice with the Devils yesterday since being traded to the club. He’s now had time to start understanding his line mates and Lemaire’s system.

The lines will remain the same as they were on Monday night. Michael Leighton will remain the starter while Emery sits out with his hip injury. Newcomer Ville Leino is still not being added into the line-up, and it appears that Peter Laviolette wants to tell the media that he has no use for him in the system, but he doesn’t know how.

On a site related note, content’s been low this week. I’ve been smashed with school work. Our podcast wasn’t recorded because my headset decided to break at the last minute, so recording it would have been impossible. Stay tuned for updates, though.

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Gameday Preview: 2/8/10 – Flyers vs Devils

In two games, the Flyers have scored one goal. They’re in an offensive slumber. Again. If they want to stand a chance against the New Jersey Devils tonight, who are 4-5-1 in their last ten games, they’re going to need to put more than one puck into the net. It’s coming down to the wire, and these divisional games are crucial. The Flyers need points, and they need ‘em now.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last week, you probably know that the Devils acquired Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta’s prized sniper, who is undoubtedly one of the best goal scorers in the league. With the return of Patrick Elias to the line-up, Kovalchuk is an even bigger threat. Not to mention his abilities on the power play. I have little doubt that the Flyers won’t shut down the Devils offense, because the defense has been awesome the last three games. I’m just worried about being able to come back from a 1-goal defecit. How miserable is that?

It’s unknown who is going to start in goal tonight. The Flyers didn’t have practice yesterday due to inclimate weather conditions. It’s also unknown whether or not newly acquired Ville Leino will play tonight, and if he does, where he’ll play. Bill Meltzer is reporting that there have been “indications that Leino will replace Darroll Powe on the left-wing on the Jeff Carter line,” but nobody is certain.

The Devils are too good when they’re playing with the lead, so it’s absolutely crucial for the Flyers to hop on them early and keep the goals coming. Falling behind in the first period will be unacceptable, and we’ll be talking about another loss in tonight’s recap.

Recap will be a little later than usual tonight; I’ll be at the Wachovia Center taking this one in.

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Our first and last article on the Kovalchuk Sweepstakes

There’s a guy who plays for the Atlanta Thrashers and you may’ve heard of him lately. His name is Ilya Kovalchuk and Atlanta GM Don Waddell is looking for a trading partner to dish the highly skilled superstar. The problem here is, if you remember the whole Jay Bouwmeester situation of yesteryear, Waddell is asking for entirely too much in return.

Eklund has been going rumor crazy as of late saying that there are several big name hockey markets in on the Kovalchuk deal, and a select few “mystery teams”. That’s probably just Eklund being a downright retard, as usual, but we can confirm that the Flyers are one of the big market teams in the deal. The Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers are teams suspected to be involved in the trade talks for the Russian sniper.

If the Flyers were to be involved in a deal for Kovalchuk, they’d have to trade a lot of talent and salary; about $6.5 million worth. Names that are being thrown around the hockey world are Danny Briere, Simon Gagne, Claude Giroux, James Van Riemsdyk, Jeff Carter (even though Homer’s already said he wouldn’t be moved), Scott Hartnell, Braydon Coburn, and Matt Carle on top of some other prospects and players from the Phantoms. Briere, Gagne, and Hartnell all have no movement clauses, so they would have to waive those clauses in order for any of this to come to fruition, and there haven’t even been rumors of Paul Holmgren asking any of them to do so.

I, personally, wouldn’t want to see Simon Gagne waive his no trade clause and be sent away to a terrible hockey market such as Atlanta. It’d be terrible to see a guy who’s been a Flyer his whole career just shoved away like that. Gagne’s always been my favorite hockey player, but if I had to send him away along with one of Carle/Coburn, I’d do it in a second. Gagne wouldn’t do that, though. His family is growing and developing here in Philadelphia, and he’s on record a number of times saying he doesn’t want to leave.

Kovalchuk would likely be acquired as a rental player since it’s rumored that he’s going to be asking for anywhere between $9-9.5 million next season, but that could just be Waddell trying to up his value. NHL.com broke a story today that states Kovalchuk turned down, what would have been, the biggest contract given to any impending NHL free agent player ever.

Waddell said the club offered Kovalchuk a 12-year, $101 million deal, but it was rejected. Waddell said it would have been the highest contract ever signed by an impending free agent in NHL history.

In a nutshell: While it’d be great to have a guy of Kovy’s offensive capabilities on your team, he is too much of a defensive liability on the ice. And for as much money as he wants, it just wouldn’t be worth giving away your future stars for someone who may not even get you to a Cup final. Hockey is a team game made not of one player.

At this moment, it’s hard to say what’s going to happen. Yesterday, Kovalchuk was told that he would indeed be moved within the coming hours or days, but nothing has developed since then. Is Don Waddell asking too much for Kovalchuk? Is Kovalchuk being a greedy NHL player, or do you think he’ll take a paycut just to play in a big hockey market? What do you think the Flyers should/will do? Leave us your opinions in a comment down below. It’ll be good to get some discussion going on here!

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We’re playing the Thrashers again. Can we beat ‘em this time, please?

In recent years, the Flyers have absolutely demolished the Thrashers on the scoreboard and in the standings. Earlier this season, November 28th, to be exact, the Flyers fell to the Thrashers, 1-0. It was their fifth loss in six games, and just so happened to be one game prior to the removal of then coach, John Stevens. Shortly after the meeting against Atlanta, the Flyers fell into their losing skid. As of late, the Flyers are playing better hockey, as are the Thrashers. The Flyers offense was inexistent the last time these two teams met. They were also shut out by the Vancouver Canucks the following game.

Atlanta comes into tonight’s match-up 5-3-2 in their last ten games. Along with that, they’re dealing with trade rumors swirling around their star player, Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk comes into tonight’s game being one of the NHL’s leading scorers. He’s sporting 30 goals – 10 of them being power play marks. Expect to see Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen matched up against Kovalchuk for the majority of tonight’s game.

Ray Emery will once again be the starting goalie tonight for the Flyers. It’s safe to say that he’s returned to the spot of “number one”.

Three Keys to Victory:

• Special Teams: Peter Laviolette worked the Flyers special teams this week more than I have ever seen any coach do so. He worked them to a point where guys were skating around with half stick blades. Will we see the return of our once lethal power play and penalty kill tonight, or will our special teams struggles continue?
• Ray Emery is still a key: Is he really back, or have the last few games just been fluky? Emery will need to prove himself tonight against a weaker team to be considered “back” and “consistent” in my book.
• Wake up, offense: The offense took some time off against the Penguins, but taking the night off tonight isn’t acceptable. Neither is losing to the Thrashers twice in one season.

Let’s Go Flyers!

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According to Paul Holmgren, Jeff Carter isn’t going anywhere

Get off of HockeyBuzz, because Eklund is wrong again.

According to ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun, Paul Holmgren has put all of the Jeff Carter rumor buzz to rest.

“We’re not trading Jeff Carter,” Philadelphia Flyers GM Paul Holmgren told ESPN.com on Saturday.

The 25-year-old forward is earning $5 million this season and $5.5 million in 2010-11, the last year of his deal. He’s basically been a point-a-game player for two years now, and that’s good production for his salary.

But when the Flyers struggled in the opening three months of the season, no player had his name dragged through the trade rumor mill more than Carter.

“I don’t know where all these rumors are coming from,” said Holmgren. “We are not trading him, I can tell you that.”

Jeff Carter’s production this year, compared to last, is painful to look at. It’s clear that he is not the same confident player he was last year, and since opposing teams have figured out his style of play, they have been shutting him down easily.

It’s been rumored that Carter’s name was the lead name in a trade proposed to Philadelphia by Montreal which would send the Flyers goaltender Jaroslav Halak. However, with the strong play of Michael Leighton and Ray Emery’s progressing health, as well as veteran back-up Brian Boucher, all of those rumors just seem ridiculous at best. Jeff Carter’s name has also been included in Ilya Kovalchuk talks, but those have since simmered down.

Anyway, Jeff Carter isn’t going anywhere, so don’t believe anything you read.

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