SPICY ROSTER MOVES?
Hear me out. This is going to be a hot take, but do you want a trade that shakes the foundation of the franchise? What if we sent Oskar Lindblom to San Jose for Evander Kane with 50% of his salary retained? I would love to send James van Riemsdyk straight up for Kane, but the insiders say there is decent interest in Kane and he scored at almost a point per game clip last year, so I doubt they take a cap dump for Kane.
This sends a clear and loud message to the team that anyone can and will be traded. Lindblom is having an awful season. The money works out as Lindblom makes 3 million and Kane at 50% retained would be 3.5 million against the cap. Don’t get me wrong, Kane has a lot of worts and Lindblom is beloved in the locker room, but something needs to give. Kane was born to wear the Orange and Black. He fights, he scores, he mixes it up and plays a game similar to former Flyers great Wayne Simmonds. The Flyers have greatly missed Simmonds’ presence since he was traded.
Speaking of JVR, waive him. He is on one of his hot streaks so maybe some team would be dumb enough to claim him and save us some cap space and headaches.
WE’RE NOT STRIPPING THE “C”
For you “Strip the C” people out there, why? Claude Giroux has the been the best Flyer this year and an amazing Flyer throughout his career. He is one of the best Flyers of all time. He has 882 points in 970 regular season games and 73 points in 85 playoff games. Giroux didn’t fail the Flyers, the Flyers failed Giroux. Not being able to put another elite center around him or an NHL level goalie for most of his career is not his fault. His best chance for a Stanley Cup was in 2010 when they were beat by Chicago (Chicago went on to win 3 Cups in the next 5 years, they are referred to as a dynasty).
Giroux had 21 points in 23 games as a 22-year-old. He was 3rd in scoring. In 2012, he was the best player in the playoffs. He had 8 goals and 17 points in 10 games. Giroux’s 8 goals were tied for the most in the entire NHL playoffs that year. Giroux played 10 less games than the other people who had the same number of goals. Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky were putrid in those playoffs. But yeah, keep blaming the best player. Next you are going to tell me that McNabb was not the best long-term Eagles QB (Foles doesn’t count as long term).
Speaking of Giroux, my favorite Flyers sicko take is resigning Giroux to a max 8-year, $8 million per year deal (a deal he wouldn’t say no to) and trade everyone else. Make him stay during another full rebuild. Let him really think of his “sins” as the Flyers start again. Shout down to @jondom99 on Twitter for this liquid hot magma take.
MORE HARM THAN GOOD
Unless you have Martin Brodeur-like puck skills, goaltenders should not handle the puck. Goalies trying to play the puck creates more harm than good.
Speaking of things that do more harm than good, if I were an NFL head coach, I would tell my kick returner (unless my kick returner was Devin Hester) to either fair catch or never take the ball out of the end zone. The result has a heavier probability of having something negative happen.
THE NFL AND NFTs
In case the Flyers weren’t upping your Xanax prescription, watching Justin Jefferson for the Minnesota Vikings look like Jerry Rice and then watching Jalen Reagor look like Hot Hands sans the stick’em from “Little Giants” is soul crushing. Howie Roseman missing out on getting D.K. Metcalf or Diontae Johnson and Justin Jefferson in consecutive drafts set the team back several years. He should be fired before messing up the Eagles’ three first-round draft picks in 2022.
RIP Demaryius Thomas. Gone too soon. He was one of my favorite wide receivers. Thomas was a big part of my first fantasy football championship. He was always so solid and consistent.
I don’t know or understand what NFTs are. I’m sorry.
LOCAL BREWS
We are keeping one thought per week to the food and beer scene of the Greater Philadelphia area. I recently had a beer from Neck of the Woods Brewing in Pitman, NJ that tasted and smelled exactly like a s’mores. Chocolate, graham crackers, sweetness from the marshmallow, a hint of smokiness, and was somehow 11% but tastes like 5%. The best kind of witchcraft. Support small business.
