10 days til the regular season, and hockey returns to the Wachovia Center tonight. Get. Pumped. Some Flyers news and notes to start your Tuesday off right…
NEWS
- Simon Gagne will be in the lineup this evening as the Flyers host the Red Wings. It will be his first game since suffering a groin injury at Team Canada’s camp in late August.
- In case you missed it, yesterday was the first cut day at training camp and the team sent 29 players packing. Among them was veteran Mark Bell, who was in camp on a try out basis. 19 of the 29 players were sent to the Phantoms, including Andreas Nodl, Jonathan Matsumoto, Kevin Marshall, and Marc-Andre Bourdon. Notable players staying with the Flyers for the time being are Blair Betts, James van Riemsdyk, David Laliberte, Lukas Kaspar, Jason Ward, and Krys Kolanos. [Courier-Post]
- The Phantoms open traning camp tomorrow in Glens Falls, New York at 10 AM. Joining the 19 players sent down by the Flyers yesterday will be players from Wheeling and Kalamazoo of the ECHL. Camp is open to the public, you know, in case you happen to be in the neighborhood. [Glens Falls Post Star]
- New Daily News beat writer Frank Seravalli has a brand-spankin’ new blog over at philly.com called Frequent Flyers. Seravalli has been doing a nice job so far — go ahead and give him a read. [Frequent Flyers]
- Players in Phoenix are apparently restless over the ongoing situation there, and the consensus seems to be that they want out of town. When you look at the economics and the conditions they play in, it’s easy to see their point of view. [Edmonton Journal]
- Versus and DirectTV continue talks, but the propaganda continues and you probably shouldn’t get your hopes up. Also, NHL Center Ice isn’t available on Time Warner Cable right now, but don’t panic just yet. [Multichannel News] [Twitter] [Puck Daddy]
COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS
- Is John Stevens not cracking the whip hard enough? Are the discipline problems going to carry over into the regular season? [Flying P Blog]
- Patrick Maroon is happy to have made it past the first round of cuts thus far, but is a spot with the Flyers this season really possible for the second year pro? [Daily News]
- Evgeni Malkin is afraid of Chris Pronger‘s big bad attitude, and that “maybe he’ll be a bit more careful playing against Philadelphia” now. The Pronger guy is paying off already. [Clockwork Orange]
- Steve Downie is kicking ass (figuratively, not literally, believe it or not) at Lightning camp and one national writer is taking notice. [Sports Illustrated]
