Hello S-1-1-0! I rarely write offtopic posts, but holy tits God, sometimes it happens!!! Today NHL lockout is ended (although tentatively, but in any way)!!!!!!1111oneone

Abstract

I missed real hockey (KHL is not a sort of good hockey) and this year lockout was very disappointing. Now we have shortened season (48-50) games and it is much better than nothing.

As per recent news, a new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) is signed for another 10 years. The season may start at January 15 (for 50-game season) or 19 (for 48-game season). Salary cap for this season remains the same ($70,2 million) and for the next season it is set to $64,3 million.

Though, some details need to be sorted out. For example, NHL players participation at Olympics in Sochi is still under the question. Also, Garry Bettman and Donald Fehr are still on their positions. They should be fired as new CBA is completely signed.

Each team is equipped with two compliance buyouts (contract amnesty) and it is one of the most interesting part (from the fan perspective) in the new agreement. This means that teams can buyout 2 contracts (even if they have NTC or NMC clauses) without hitting them in salary cap. I want to discuss about my opinions, who can be the subject of buyout in Philadelphia Flyers.

Buyout options in Flyers

1) Ilya “Mr.Universe” Bryzgalov ($5,7 million)

Last few seasons Flyers had very bad situation with goaltending. As the result, Flyers acquired Ilya Bryzgalov from Phoenix last season. His game was about above average and he looks like as the first candidate for buyout. However, I doubt that he is this bad as he looks. And this is why:

Last season we lost our best defenseman (and captain) Chris Pronger who played in pair with Matt “Turnover” Carle. While they together looked solid, Carle showed us his dark side — constant turnovers. I couldn’t imagine that it is possible to make so many turnovers each game. Hopefully, Turnover Machine was traded to Tampa.

Although, we have other good defensemen (Coburn, Timonen, Meszaros) they looked lost. Almost no one cared about shot blocking. Also too frequently I saw situations when no one cleared the puck in front of Bryz. As the result, too many allowed goals after rebounds. The defense become really pathetic nearly before Winter Classic. Thanks to Holmgren who acquired Nick Grossmann from Dallas and Pavel Kubina. While Grossmann was solid improvement, Kubina was disappointing. But the defense line didn’t improved in overall. Timonen looked tired and Coburn wasn’t so solid. 3rd line sometimes was a real joke with Lillja, Bourdon and Gustavsson. The best evidence of this statement was 1st round of conference quarterfinals against Pittsburgh where both teams scored 56 goals in 6 games (about 10 goals in game). Everyone understands, that the main problem was defense and less Bryzgalov. I always told this and supported Bryz entire season. Also he was the only who played well against Devils in conference semifinals. He really should think less about the universe while staying in net.

On the other hand there is a question: who will stay in net if we buyout Bryz’s contract? Leighton is not ready to become a Nr.1 and there are no other goalies on the market (no UFAs, no RFAs). In any way, this season sorts things out.

2) Danny Briere ($6,5 million)

Briere after 2010-2011 (he scored 34 goals) and only 16 goals last season and he is the top-paid player. He didn’t made any sense except only few games. Since, salary cap will be decreased for about 6 millions next season, it is important to get rid of underperforming players with high salaries. If Holmgren still has ideas about getting Shea Weber, then Briere is the second candidate for buyout.

On the other hand, Briere played in Germany (along with Giroux) and showed very impressive results. but Germany’s DEL and NHL are on different levels, so Danny’s results aren’t surprising.

Cup chances

Besides our defense, we have very good and talented team with young guys Claude “Giroux, Brayden Schenn, Sean Couturier, Matt Read. we Still have one of the greatest Hertnelldown Machine — Scott Hartnell. I like this guy and how he plays.

But our great offense may be irrelevant if Bryz and all blueliners don’t perform. Flyers coach Peter Laviolette has a lot of work too. He has to clear some things about defense, othewrise there are no chances. While many fans complain about Lavy, I think, he must stay in Philly.

If Bryz will be confident and defense solid, Flyers may be a strong cup contender in this shortened season.

And the last note

I’m almost ready to publish new PowerShell PKI module with few new commands, fixed bugs and improved underlying APIs. The code is finished, but I’m struggling with Cmdlet Help Editor, because it is broken and I can’t edit help content for module commands. Currently I’m trying to write my own help editor and I expect to release new version before February. Stay fresh and:

Let’s Go Flyers!!!!!!!