Tag: Philadelphia Flyers

Flyers fans couldn’t believe a James van Riemsdyk deal fell apart at the deadline

Chuck Fletcher failed to trade James van Riemsdyk and Flyers fans are not happy.

The Philadelphia Flyers were supposed to be sellers at the 2023 NHL trade deadline.

And it seemed, for about 10 minutes, that their biggest asset — James van Riemsdyk — was going to be traded to the Detroit Red Wings before Friday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline. About 20 minutes before the deadline, a handful of NHL insiders reported that the Red Wings were closing in on a deal to acquire the 33-year-old Flyers forward.

Unfortunately for Flyers fans, the deal ultimately fell through moments later, as general manager Chuck Fletcher could not close out the trade as the window passed. To go from trading your most valuable asset to nothing within minutes is a rough go for the Flyers, that’s for sure.

It’s hard to say why the Flyers failed to trade van Riemsdyk to the Red Wings, but it seems as if Detroit was ultimately looking to flip him for draft picks then things suddenly collapsed. In the end, it seems as if the Flyers just couldn’t make the fit work by deadline’s end.

Flyers fans, however, were stunned that Fletcher and Philadelphia’s management failed to close out a deal days after the team said they were set to sell at the deadline. In the end, the Flyers only managed to trade Patrick Brown and Zack MacEwen, two fringe players who didn’t get much in return.

Flyers’ Ivan Provorov declined to wear pregame Pride Night jerseys, citing religious beliefs

Ivan Provorov skipped Flyers pregame warmups, which featured Pride Night jerseys.

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov did not participate in the team’s pregame warmup skate on Tuesday, citing his religious beliefs as the team wore Pride Night jerseys in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Ahead of Tuesday’s matchup against the Anaheim Ducks, the Flyers wore black sweaters with rainbow lettering and numbering for the team’s Pride Night celebrations. Provorov was not involved in the team’s pregame warmups, as noted by Flyers beat writers, but did return to play in the game. The Flyers then switched back to their regular alternate jerseys to play against the Ducks.

After the game, the Flyers released a statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

In the team’s postgame media availability, head coach John Tortorella stated that Provorov declined to participate in warmups due to his religious beliefs. Tortorella also stated he did not consider scratching Provorov for missing warmups.

When asked by the media, Provorov said “I respect everyone, I respect everybody’s choices. My choice is to stay true to myself and my religion.”

The Flyers bested the Ducks 5-2 on Tuesday. Provorov was held without a point in 23 minutes of ice time.

John Tortorella gave a brutally honest summary of the Flyers first period effort in ESPN interview

“We suck!”

Hockey fans know that John Tortorella is not one to mince words.

Tortorella is now back in the NHL head coaching world as the bench boss of the Philadelphia Flyers after giving up his post as an analyst on ESPN. The Flyers have had an up and down start to the 2022-23 season, which began quite well but the team has since lost five of its last seven games, with Philadelphia’s last three losses in a row coming by three or more goals.

So, it’s safe to say that perpetual grump Tortorella — who once criticized Connor McDavid for the star’s complaints about in-game officiating — is not taking the Flyers recent slump well.

On Tuesday, the Flyers left the first period against Tortorella’s former team, the Columbus Blue Jackets, down 1-0. After the goal, ESPN remotely checked in with Tortorella for a bench interview and the head coach was hilariously curt in his feelings about the Flyers effort so far.

Now that is the most John Tortorella answer possible! A perfect response from one of the NHL’s most quotable personalities in the game.

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The Flyers’ unnecessary trade for noted bigot Tony DeAngelo is a cowardly, disappointing move

The Flyers have completely lost the plot with their trade for terrible human Tony DeAngelo.

The Philadelphia Flyers are currently the biggest disappointment in hockey.

On Friday, before the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, the Flyers traded for defenseman Tony DeAngelo of the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for three draft picks over the next three years. The Flyers then reportedly extended DeAngelo to the tune of a two-year, $10 million contract to lock down the defenseman through the 2024-25 season.

There are more details to this trade, but they don’t matter. What matters is that the Flyers have traded for — then extended — a noted, outspoken bigot and a toxic human being.

There’s a long history of receipts detailing DeAngelo’s putrid behavior on and off the ice. This extends well back into his junior career, where he was suspended twice for violating the OHL’s policy covering “homophobic, racist, and sexist language”. DeAngelo has also been suspended twice for abuse of officials, once verbal and once physical.

On Twitter, DeAngelo’s conservative views came to light as he denied the severity of COVID-19 during the pandemic. He is also a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, even going so far as to deactivate and move to Parler in a temper tantrum when the former president was banned.

Oh, and the impetus for DeAngelo’s falling out with the Rangers that surprisingly put him on waivers in 2021? He was reportedly involved in an altercation with Alexandar Georgiev where the goaltender punched DeAngelo in the face in the tunnel leading to the locker room after a loss. DeAngelo reportedly started the incident after a miscommunication between the two led to Sidney Crosby’s game-winning overtime goal.

Despite this mountain of evidence pointing toward DeAngelo’s noxious personality and petulant temperament, the Flyers traded three draft picks for a player that is, at best, a mediocre defenseman and a terrible human being.

The worst part? Flyers general manger Chuck Fletcher believes the team did its “due diligence” in looking into DeAngelo’s background and how he’d fit with the team going forward.

Those right there are the words of a hockey team that’s completely lost the plot. The Flyers aren’t the first team to be a true disappointment to its fanbase in recent years, but this move truly is the last straw.

You know, the Flyers used to be a paragon franchise in the NHL. Definitely not one of virtue, if their Broad Street Bullies moniker is anything to go by, but the Flyers brand used to mean something. It meant unyielding focus in the face of adversity. It meant passion and grit. Blood, sweat, and tears. “No one likes us, we don’t care” is the motto of Philadelphia sports fans, after all.

But now, all I see in this Flyers franchise is cowardice. This is a franchise clinging to a bygone era of hockey and wishing it were 1975 again. No amount of wishing will turn back the clock and return the Flyers to the powerhouse they once were.

All of this just to win a few extra hockey games? Is toting around DeAngelo’s pestilential baggage — spreading filth in his wake — worth it in the hope he can help the Flyers return to their former glory? Fletcher and the Flyers front office think so, and it’s a crying shame.

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Gritty tweets that the NHL draft lottery is rigged after the Flyers drop down a spot

Gritty has spoken!

I think Gritty speaks for all Philadelphia Flyers fans here after the NHL draft lottery.

Tuesday marked the NHL’s draft lottery, when the lottery balls decide the fate of where the teams pick for the upcoming entry draft. This year, the Montreal Canadiens will have the No. 1 overall pick after coming into the day with the best odds. And yet, there was one surprise in the mix with the New Jersey Devils jumping from fifth to draft at the No. 2 spot.

As the Devils jumped up, the Flyers dropped down, with the team’s fourth-best odds not enough to get them into a top spot as Philadelphia slid to No. 5 overall thanks to New Jersey winning the second spot. And Gritty was having none of it.

Gritty has officially spoken, folks! The NHL draft lottery was legitimately, absolutely, 100 percent rigged. You heard it here first!

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A look at the history the Raptors are up against with their 3-0 comeback attempt against the 76ers

The Raptors are trying to join a pretty exclusive club across sports

The Toronto Raptors are trying to make a little bit of NBA history by becoming the first team in the league to ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. A game 6 win tonight would go a long way for them.

But there’s so much history available to us that says this just will not happen. We’ve seen this so many times.

Teams have taken a 3-0 lead 145 times in the history of the NBA, per Land of Basketball. Obviously, those teams have gone on to win the series each and every time. Only 3 of those games have made it to a Game 7.

So, clearly, the Raptors are facing an uphill battle. But, the thing is, a 3-0 comeback is bound to happen at some point.

If the Raptors were to pull that off, they’d be the 6th team in the history of the major North American sports leagues

Claude Giroux is playing his first game with the Florida Panthers and it’s super weird

This is going to take some getting used to.

It’s going to take some time to get used to Claude Giroux in a Florida Panthers sweater.

Thursday night was Giroux’s first game with the Panthers after being traded to Florida before the 2022 NHL trade deadline. The former Philadelphia Flyers captain had an emotional week leading up to the deadline, culminating in his 1,000th career NHL game with the team in what was partly a celebration and partly a farewell tour.

Now, a new leaf has been turned and Giroux has taken to the ice with the Panthers in an official game capacity. And folks I have to say, it’s really really weird!

Yeah, this hurts me.

Not only that, Giroux and former Flyers defenseman Robert Hagg teamed up to assist on Aleksander Barkov’s opening goal just a minute into the game for their first points in a Panthers’ sweater.

Here’s how the hockey world — and Flyers fans in particular — reacted to Giroux’s first game with the Panthers.

2022 NHL trade deadline winners and losers

Monday’s trade deadline was a busy one.

The 2022 NHL trade deadline has officially come and gone. On a day that saw nearly 30 deals made — at the time of this writing, anyway — it was quite the chaotic afternoon, even though there were very few blockbusters made.

This year’s trade deadline certainly was much more active than the 2021 deadline, which saw fewer than 20 deals made on deadline day, so it’s fair to say the day went by quite fast. Even with over half of the league capped out, nearly every single team made some sort of trade or deal by Monday’s 3 p.m. deadline. And hey, in a flat salary cap world, that’s not too bad!

Now that the rush has died down, let’s take a look at the big picture! Here are our winners and losers from a busy 2022 NHL trade deadline.

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Flyers, fans celebrate Claude Giroux’s 1,000th career game in emotional ceremony before trade deadline

Claude Giroux’s 1,000th NHL game was an emotional affair.

Claude Giroux has hit a milestone not many NHL players hit: playing 1,000 games all with the same team.

Thursday marked Giroux’s 1,000th career NHL game, all coming with the Philadelphia Flyers. The career milestone also comes just days ahead of the 2022 NHL trade deadline, in which Giroux’s name has been talked about heavily as a candidate to move to a contending team.

So you see, it’s been quite an emotional time for Flyers fans recently, leading up to Thursday’s ceremony honoring Giroux’s time with the team while also feeling very much like a farewell party. As the longest-running captain in Flyers history, it’s no surprise that the team went all out to honor Giroux’s run with the team.

Given that it could very well be Giroux’s last game in a Flyers uniform, Thursday’s pre-game ceremony was quite the emotional affair for all involved. Here are all the best moments from the Flyers’ celebrations and from the fans honoring their long-time captain.

Claude Giroux’s likely final days as captain of the Flyers are a tour de force of emotions

Claude Giroux’s getting a well-deserved farewell tour in Philly.

Claude Giroux is set to get quite the poetic ending as captain of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Thursday will mark Giroux’s 1,000th career NHL game, with all one thousand coming with the Flyers. Then, almost certainly, Giroux will be traded ahead of Monday’s NHL trade deadline to a Stanley Cup contender.

Giroux’s name has been in trade rumors for some time now, an unfortunate and unnecessary consequence of the Flyers’ inability to build a contending team over the last decade. At age 34, Giroux is in the last year of his eight-year, $66.2 million deal that’s seen him through as the longest-tenured captain in team history. Due to his upcoming expiring contract and excellent hockey acumen, Giroux enters the trade deadline as the biggest name on the market for a contending team.

Thursday night’s game against the Nashville Predators is set to be an emotional one for Giroux, the team, and Flyers fans in what will be one part celebration, one part farewell tour. Even before the main event, emotions were running high over the last week during team practices and on the Flyers’ social media as everyone in Philadelphia started to come to grips with the sad reality.