There were two pieces of big news this week in the Philadelphia Flyers' organization. The major one was that Coach John Stevens was named the coach of the year by The Hockey News. THN is the major hockey magazine in the world, and one in which I both subscribe to and read as if it were the bible.
This is a huge honor for Stevens and the entire coaching staff, and shows just how much work they put into turning this team around from the disaster of a season in 2007.
I honestly feel that Paul Holmgren was a better GM than Stevens was a coach, but I'm not going to argue with THN's pick of Ken Holland as GM of the year. He deserves it more than anyone. He should honestly win GM of the last two decades.
"There was a lot of pressure on John and his staff coming into this season," said Ed Snider. "It's truly remarkable what he was able to accomplish, taking us from last place a season ago into the Eastern Conference Finals. Our entire organization is extremely proud of all that John and his team accomplished this year. It is great that The Hockey News has recognized John with this honor."
"To me, this is more of an organizational award than a coaching award," said Stevens. "I think that it's a reflection of all the good things done from (General Manager) Paul Holmgren down to the players. The honor was given to me, but in my mind, it should be given to the entire organization for all the work that everyone has done."
Lupul Lands Contract Extension
It was also announced that Joffrey Lupul was offered and signed a four year contract extension with the Philadelphia Flyers. The deal averages $4.25 million per season, and reflects the impact that Joffrey had on the team this year.
I was at the Pittsburgh game when Lupul scored his first hat trick as a Flyer. He played an unbelievable game on both sides of the puck, and I saw this in other games, too, both live and on TV.
"I am really happy and excited," said Lupul. "It is not something that I was really expecting this summer. The Flyers kind of reached out to us after July 1. It was a great surprise and I am really thrilled. I have one year left on my contract and then these additional four more, so five more years with Philadelphia is great."
Lupul came to Philadelphia in the trade that sent Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson to Edmonton for Jason Smith and Joffrey Lupul. Pitkanen has since moved on to Carolina, and Sanderson has not done anything. Smith signed with Ottawa earlier this summer.
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2 months ago
Philly is definitely heading in the right direction. Seems like only yesterday they were getting drubbed 10-0 by the Sabres. However, that is too much money for too long of a term for Lupul.
from 2 months ago
agreed to the money thing..they are already running low on cap space for 2010...and if the cap goes down.....
2 months ago
Such a joke. Coach of the year? Did they not limp into the playoffs? How about Bruce Beaudro (Spelling?) or Mike Babcock. Rediculous.
from 2 months ago
i'm sorry, ryan, he took a team from last place to the conference finals. he deserves a bit of recognition
from 2 months ago
and yeah dont endorse a coach if u cant spell his name right
from 2 months ago
Limp into the playoffs? Your the joke. If thats limping I can't wait till they hit full stride.
2 months ago
re: agreed to the money thing..they are already running low on cap space for 2010...and if the cap goes down.....
running low on cap space? how do you figure? by the 2009 free agency, knuble, hatcher, kukkonen, vaananen, and eminger are all off the books. figure that the one that gets re-signed is eminger. also, biron and niittymaki will be free agents. that leaves our salary around 44 million. assuming the cap goes above 60 million (let's say 62 million) we're looking at 18 million in cap space. that should be more than enough to re-sign eminger and biron while leaving 10-12 million in cap space to play with in free agency.
low on cap space? hardly.
from 2 months ago
well knuble is gonna be gone most likely soon, cuz they are over the cap now. also, you can't assme the cap is going to go up anymore...the lower market teams cant make money with a 57 million cap. the cap is going to go down eventually cuz teams cant afford this money
2 months ago
No, the cap will keep going up as long as the league keeps making money, as it does. Eventually it stops floating but I don't think that's for another two years. It's gonna stop around 65 million I think. The cap isn't going down though, don't even entertain that thought though. It's been going up consistently by 5 million or so a year since it was implemented and there's indicating that that will change.
Knuble's not going to go, IMO, because when Hatcher gets put on the LTIR before the season starts we'll be back under the cap, so it's not a problem.
from 2 months ago
lol so true about hatcher. but the cap cant go up much more. the cap went up 6 million this year, so multiplied by thirty teams, thats 180 million less of revenue. the southern teams arent gonna make much more moneey, so i think altogether theyre gonna be 250 million less than last year
2 months ago
Alan your obsession with the Flyers is blinding you. Keep in mind, it was the Eastern Conference, watch out...
from 2 months ago
blinding me to what?
2 months ago
Alan, at this point the Salary Floor is higher than the Salary Cap was when it was implemented. I mean, what's the point of the lockout then? We lose hockey for a year so things can go back to the way they were before?
If you told me right after the lockout that three years later, the Salary Floor would be higher than the Cap, I'd tell you you're crazy. But look what's happened. I have no reason to believe the cap won't continue to rise steadily until it's unable to float anymore (which I think is within the next two seasons, per the CBA).
from 2 months ago
there will be another lockout in 2012, count on it
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