While there is clear reason for concern, all of your reasoning is fundamentally flawed. First, Bryz is not even remotely the problem. He has been the best player on the ice for the Flyers since mid-way through the Pens series last year. With the possible exception of the slapshot off the draw goal scored by the Pens in the first game (a shot that was damned accurate), none of the goals have been his fault and he has saved us from losing games much bigger than we have. Second, all of the players you claim to have problems with are forwards. They aren't the problem. The defense is a joke right now. Meszaros and Coburn are solid, but after that it's pathetic. Luke Schenn blows and has cost us at least three goals already. I love Timmo, but he's lost a major step and has been burned repeatedly this year. And forget about the rest of this crew, they are all terrible. Third, your concern over the Richards and Carter trade is foolish. Carter is the Bobby Abreu of hockey who only scores when it doesn't matter and misses high right 90% of the time. He scores a lot of goals because he takes a lot of shots, and since leaving the Flyers he hasn't done jack. Richards is and always has been overrated. Braydon Schenn (once he gets back from this inevitable suspension) has already shown signs this year that he's as good as Richards if not better. Those two were THIRD LINE PLAYERS on the Kings...who weren't a good team but rode some chemistry and a nasty goalie to the Cup. It had NOTHING to do with them. Meanwhile, we got Couter, Voracek, Schenn and Simmonds for those two. Although I agree the jury is still out on Voracek, the rest have been great and still look great this year. They aren't clicking yet, but it's Game 3 and the lines are almost all nnew. The only place I agree with you is Fedetenko and Read. I like Read, but we won't be able to re-sign him for the money he'll be making so we should trade him while he's worth something. Fedetenko just sucks. We need to make a move to get a true first line defenseman to play with either Meszaros or Coburn to make at least two competent pairings. Trade Timmo if we have to. Bottom line is that this team is not as bad as you think they are. They should have won all three games, and didn't because of a few sloppy plays. Even the PK looked better as the game went on last night, but I'm sure it's something Lavs is working on. In Lavs and In Homer We Trust

Here was his follow up post, by the way. Steve Smith Instead of cursing at me and wishing my family and my knee harm, i wish you could understand that i truly wanted to stay here but that the giants DIDN'T want me here unfortunately.. thank you to my true fans for standing by me and offering your support during this time... i truly appreciate it and will miss you all, even the haters bc i know ure great people deep down and are saying what u are just because youre such passionate fans

Make that Powe, not Powell.

The only reason to keep Carter is to keep the "Mornin' Carts" feature. Yes, he scores 30 goals in the regular season, but offensive production is not exactly a problem for this team, and Giroux will be near there this season. Carter also scores a lot of goals when it doesn't matter, like when he scores multiple goals in a rout. Not to mention, he has done NOTHING in the playoffs and has been injured in two straight playoff years. If someone is willing to take a chance on an injury prone and inaccurate player with a 10 year deal, I'm all for it. Get rid of him, Versteeg, Shelley, and Carcillo. Keep Leino, Powell and Nodl. Bring up Wellwood, Read, Rinaldo and Sestito. Sign a third line D-man. Those moves plus a legit goalie keeps us at 3 solid scoring lines plus a checking line, 3 solid D pairs and a LEGIT goalie with a stud backup.

Michael Leighton does not deserve to ever wear the Orange and Black again. Yes, his fluke playoff run last year was spectacular, but then he lied to the organization about his injury and made us overpay a mediocre goalie with back problems because of it. If Bob hadn't suddenly emerged, we would have been royally screwed right now. Put him on Waivers, ship him for 5th round picks, I don't care. One thing is for sure, do you really think Lavs would put up with a lying sack of shit for very long? I can't stand Bouche, who is a whiny little girl, but I'd rather have him backing up Bob than a man who is that disrespectful to the organization.

Definitely "The Time Out". The greatest comeback in Philly history for a series AND in a single game. Unlike the Phils, the Flyers didn't disappoint in their playoff run despite not winning the whole thing. If Lavs had a full year the Cup would be in Philly like it will be this year, and that guy fired that team up to complete the best game I've ever seen as a Philly fan.

And then 20 minutes of strong, solid hockey that was only foiled because the refs were "letting them play", and by them I mean Columbus. In a 2-1 game, how do you deliberately ignore five or six obstruction, tripping, or slashing calls in Columbus' zone but call a nitpicky obstruction call on Powe after the Flyers finally got on the board? Momentum murdered. The third was nothing to be disappointed about, although I'm glad I didn't actually see the first two.

It's working well if you consider scrapping a four year plan based on one half of one game's performance because Vick has looked good against two awful teams and one team not trying "working well." Everyone is jumping the gun way too fast. Yes, Vick has looked better than ever, but he's still the inaccurate, poor decision making QB he's always been. He's simply gotten lucky that Maclin & Jackson have helped make him look good by getting so open Eli Manning could throw to them and catching balls that should never have even gotten to them. Simply put, can we wait until we play a real team before we start singing this guy's praises and counting Kolb out? And the Redskins won't be that team. The only saving grace so far is that it will be beautiful to watch McNabb have to deal with getting booed and the dog murdering piece of ghetto trash that he stuck his neck out for cheered. And not only cheered, but louder, more emphatically, and with more genuine support than McNabb ever got. Think about that one.

In case you're wondering how bad the trade was, I nearly forgot to add the other trade with Tampa Bay. Add them together: Simon Gagne and a 2nd Round Pick for an overpaid Meszaros, a crappy Matt Walker and a 4th Round Draft Pick. Not to mention to the "it's just a salary dump" people, we ACQUIRED $5.75M and DUMPED $5.25M. WE TOOK ON $500k FOR TWO MEDIOCRE AT BEST DEFENSEMAN AND GAVE UP OUR FRANCHISE PLAYER!

and franchise player traded for a bag of pucks and a player who will be healthy scratched most of the season to a team that has no shot of winning. makes sense.

Pittsburgh is a joke. I didn't even know how awful the fans were until I went to law school in State College. The first game of the NFL season that year was Ben Rapistraper and his Steelers playing who cares. Ten minutes into the game, the bar breaks out into a "F*** the Eagles" chant. It was then that I found out that apparently Pittsburgh hates the Eagles and thinks there's a rivalry. There isn't. We play them in the regular season once every three or four years, it's not exactly Mets-Phils. Went to a Sabres-Pens preseason game two years ago because my friends were fans of the respective teams at the bar finally asked some skank that got mad at me for wearing a Westbrook jersey why they thought there was a rivalry. She slurred something about how her brother is on the special teams of the steelers and how my wearing that jersey was borderline offensive. I never did get my answer. Pathetic.

Rob McElhenney called in to Preston & Steve this morning from Chester saying they were shooting there.

Damn it. I've been an avid supporter of Kendrick and hoped to see him get his winning ways back, driving Moyer into retirement. I feel betrayed, like being traded to Japan.