Help Wanted: Must possess speed, agility, and heart. Knowledge of reaching the back of the net is helpful. A willingness to sacrifice body for others is required. Slow moving defensemen need not apply. Send resume to: Ed Snider, c/o Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For once in my writing career, I am totally at a loss for words. I, and many others, have dissected this team from top to bottom, reaching many conclusions and finding no answers. They said a week ago that it just couldn’t get any worse. They were wrong. It is much worse just from the stand point that no one on this team seems to care that they are the absolute worst team in the National Hockey League. There is no embarrassment, no sense of urgency, no fear that they are quickly becoming the joke of the NHL. Start at the top with Captain Peter Forsberg, the world’s best player. Apparently the world’s best player is the world’s worst leader. Well, maybe not that bad, but close. He is not cut from the cloth it takes to take a team to where they need to be. He proved that during a game against the Tampa Bay, when he bailed on them. Instead of facing the music and dealing with the consequences of his actions on the ice, he left them all to pick up the pieces of another devastating loss. Being on a team of any sort means that the potential to become a product of your environment is a great one. Work you way down this line-up and you’ll find a lot of sheep. With a few exceptions, of course. When your leader can’t muster the energy to give 100%, how can you expect those who look to him to follow? Veteran players like Mike Rathje, Derian Hatcher, Mike Knuble, Sami Kapanen, and Robert Esche don’t really seem to be having the same problems others are. Some of them, i.e.: Rathje, Hatcher, and Esche are having other issues, but playing full tilt isn’t necessarily one of them. Then you take a player like Simon Gagne. Full of talent, right? Dumb as rocks when it comes to making the smart play. If I had a nickel for every time I heard, shot by Gagne goes wide, I’d be the richest woman in America. If the net was his bathroom mirror, I bet he’d find it. Jeff Carter is too worried about looking good on the highlight reel that he forgets that sometimes one extra second of holding on to the puck can cost you. Joni Pitkanen is killing this team with his horrid play and abundance of turnovers. The blue line is really brightly painting, just so you don’t forget what you are trying to guard and protect. RJ Umberger has seemed to finally have found his groove. He is playing well and has found himself with a handful of goals here lately. Poor Mike Richards can’t buy a goal to save his life. He needs to relax and it’ll happen. If he keeps the pressure on himself to perform his actual performance will begin to suffer. But, you can’t rely solely on a group of second year players, no matter how good they appear to have been in the past. So, this brings me to the latest trade rumors. At a time like this they are plentiful to be sure. The most interesting seems to be a trade with the Calgary Flames. Jerome Iginla and a couple of non-descript players would come here to Philly, and in return Gagne, Carter, Umberger, and Giroux would learn to love the cold out in Alberta. As far as Gagne and Carter? I’ll pack their bags, book their flight, sell their houses, and take care of their dogs just to get them out of here. RJ leaving would be a hard one to take, it’s like Michal Handzus all over again. And, Giroux, well quite frankly, who cares? Inginla would be great here with the likes of Forsberg and Knuble. That would be a first line to be reckoned with for sure. I just have one complaint though. One name that was mentioned in that deal originally seems to have faded away, not to be mentioned again. I have to ask: Just what will it take to get Dion Phaneuf in a Flyers uniform? The goaltender trade rumors are alive and well also. Names like Toskala and Bryzgalov have been tossed around as potential new Flyer net minders. I like both goalies and look at it as a step up from what are currently showing on the roster, but a wise hockey mind mentioned to me that a problem would arise. We’d be in the same situation we are in right now. Two number one caliber goaltenders and only one number one spot to fill. We all know that Robert Esche would be the one to go, as much as it pains me. I am a huge Esche supporter. A player of his personality and fire are hard to come by these days. My answer to that is a theory I have been tossing around in my head for a few days now. Bring one of the above mentioned goalies in using Esche as your tradable, and hold on to Niittymaki for a future trade to help upgrade your defense. We all now that Niittymaki is a better bargaining chip then Esche. Then you bring Martin Houle from the Phantoms and let him learn the ropes they was a back-up goalie should. We all know he can play, let’s do right by the kid.

 

All in all, I still don’t pretend to have the answers, even though my friends seem to think that somehow I do. This team needs more help then anyone could ever give them right now. Like the old saying goes, “when it rains, it pours“. All I can see is a big, wet hurricane, and the Flyers are staring up at the sky holding a bunch of umbrellas with holes in them. They next week or so will show the commitment the new “regime” has for getting this mess under control. Maybe they’ll hire a GM with some cajones and then we’ll see some real changes. Let’s shake up this soda and see if it explodes.