The Flyers haven’t played a game in almost a month, and besides a few relatively minor surgeries to Mike Richards, Randy Jones, and Danny Briere, nothing has happened regarding the team.
Like, literally nothing. It’s boring. But, given that there are only four teams still playing, the Flyers are actually in an enviable position. Of course, we’d like them to still be chasing the Cup — but things could be a lot worse.
For example, we could be the Phoenix Coyotes. They declared bankruptcy and are in a fight for their lives with potential buyers who would love nothing less than to move them to Canada, thousands of miles away from the desert of Arizona. The Flyers are not struggling financially — how could they be, recession or not, when they’re owned by Comcast — and are in absolutely no danger of moving out of town. It would take a perfect storm of absolute hell for our team to be taken away, and given that passionate hockey fans (no matter how many of them exist) could be losing their favorite team, we should be grateful our team is so stable.
Of course, if you asked an Islanders fan twenty years ago if their team would ever move away from Long Island, they would’ve laughed in your face. But arenas get old and teams get bad, and new arena projects are delayed, and delayed, and delayed, and that’s when fans stop showing up and the team must threaten relocation. The threat of that scenario coming to fruition is growing larger and larger everyday in Islander Country, and here’s to hoping that the Isles get the same happy ending that Pittsburgh received a few years back.
We should also be grateful that the Flyers are not a terrible team without much of an immediate future to look forward to. The Avalanche are looking pretty dim right now, as are the Maple Leafs and Thrashers. Meanwhile, the Flyers have an excellent chance at winning the Cup next year. Legitimately. Oh, and some of our best players aren’t a flight risk. Florida’s best player, Jay Bouwmeester, probably won’t be there next year thanks to lovely free agency. One of the Rangers top goal scorers, Nikolai Zherdev, is considering jumping to Russia to play in the KHL next season. Washington’s Viktor Kozlov could join him.
Let’s face it, the Flyers didn’t look like a Cup-winning team this season. They have the talent and they gave us a lot of reason for excitement, and they very well could still be playing. But they aren’t, and that’s not a total shock either. In Boston and San Jose, they really are totally shocked that their teams aren’t still playing right now. Considering the seasons those teams had and the disappointment they currently sit with, I like our position much more at this juncture.
Boston, too, has more injuries than they can deal with. Phil Kessel, David Krejci, Andrew Ference, and Chuck Kobasew are all injured. They are all relatively serious, too. Considering Mike Richards is really the only key Flyer player undergoing serious offseason surgery, we’re lucky.
The Flyers have their problems, sure. They’re on the golf course right now while hockey is still being played, so problems are evident. News is at a minimum, and yeah, that’s boring. But take it with ease — it could be worse.
