Chris Pronger: Master of his Domain

Chris Pronger makes everyone around him better.

In two seasons before Pronger joined the Flyers, his defensive partner Matt Carle had a few up-and-down years. In his first year with the Flyers, Carle had four goals and 20 assists and was  +2. In the year before that with both the Sharks and Lightning, Carle had a total of three goals and 13 assists and was a -7.

But once he got paired with the tree trunk of a player in Pronger, Carle's statistics shot up. Last season, Carle had six goals and 29 assists and was a career-best +19. And as of today, Carle is on pace for 31 points and a +30. These kind of improvements don't simply come with working harder in the weight room. It's all about chemistry and trust.

When Matt Carle finds himself in a sticky situation on the ice, he knows he has Pronger to back him up to get out of it. If he needs to get rid of the puck, he knows he has Pronger to bail him out. If Carle makes a risky play on offense, he knows he can because he has Pronger back on D to give him support. Pronger not only has confidence in himself, but he breeds confidence in other players on the ice, and that;s something very few players are able to do.

Even coming off of off-season knee surgery, Pronger still has the ability to settle down every play on the ice. He makes sure that nothing get's out of hand, he slows down the play of defense and is more like a quarterback directing traffic than an NHL defenseman.

 Whether it be screening the goalie (legally or illegally) or mouthing off to the refs to make sure they know they got the call wrong and better not get it wrong again, Chris Pronger is the backbone of this Flyers team and gives them their on-ice (and off-ice) swagger.

Predictions and "Grade-ictions" Series

Chris Pronger

2009/2010 Regular season stats: 10G 45A +22
2010 Playoff stats: 4G 14A +5
Grade: A+

To give the team's Bobby Clarke Trophy and Barry Ashbee Trophy award winner a grade of anything less than an A+ would be a little hard to conceive. He was voted by a panel of sportscasters and sportswriters as the MVP of the 2010 Philadelphia Flyers, and he was nothing less than spectacular this year. If you followed the Flyers at all this season you'd know why he won these awards and was the biggest Norris Trophy snub of 2010.

He blocks shots, clears the crease, ties up opponents, antagonizes opponents, dishes out the puck, (steals the puck), slaps it from the point, scores game winners with 2.1 seconds left...he does it all. Nothing seems to bother "Chrissy." The Flyers are counting on that with the quality and amount of defensemen they've acquired this offseason, Pronger's minutes will decrease, thus leaving him more energy for late in the game and late in the season.

On a side note, Pronger had knee surgery this summer and says that he probably won't be ready for the beginning of training camp. But as long as he's moderately healthy for the season's opener on October 7th in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia has little to worry about.

2010/2011 Predictions: 11G 43A +27

Always Sunny in Philadelphia? Not So Much

After the first game of the Flyers' November road trip, they have been playing absolutely dreadful hockey. They are 1-6-0 since beating the Kings on November 18th (literally a day before my Flying High post) and currently have a three game losing streak. They haven't scored a goal is seven straight periods and when they get on the power play, I'm scared that the opposing team is going to get a shorthanded goal rather than being excited about the possibility of scoring. There have been glimpses of quality play this year, but the team just hasn't been consistent enough to keep it up. It's time for changes to be made.

1) Fire John Stevens and Co.
The John Stevens era has been quite a roller coaster ride. He became head coach of the team, taking over for Ken Hitchcock, during the worst season in Flyers history. During his first full season as coach, he took the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Finals where they eventually lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins. And in 2008/2009 the Flyers had a first round exit this time, courtesy once again of the Pittsburgh Penguins. And the beginning of the 2009 season hasn't gone quite as planned either. There is so much talent on this team, and for them to be 10th in the conference and playing at a level like this is unacceptable. The players know it, the coaching staff knows it and the fans know it. I just don't know if the current coaching staff is the right one to fix the team's problems. It may be that Stevens has lost control of the locker room or maybe his system (if you can call it a system) just isn't working. Or maybe it's both? A change may really jump start this team and set them in the right direction. It worked for the Pens last year, why can't it work for the Flyers too?

2) "C" is for change
I believe that if a coaching change is made, Mike Richards should be relieved of his duties as captain. He hasn't shown that he is mature enough to be the captain of an NHL team. Now, when he was officially named captain I was all for it. He shows, on the ice, that he is a leader and will do whatever it takes to will his team to victory. But there's more to being a captain than on ice performance and attitude. A lot of what it takes to be a captain is shown in the locker room. A captain should take responsibility for his team and prove to his teammates that on and off the ice, this team is his team, and no one's going to mess with that. Chris Pronger has shown this year why he was a captain of the Anaheim Ducks. He has taken responsibility for the Flyers poor play and has stated that on ice changes will be made or there may be personnel changes instead. I'm not saying to make Pronger captain right now or this season for that matter, it just may be something to think about.

If something, anything, isn't changed this team could be in for a tough season. I hope they don't need to make any changes and they can turn it around like this never happened and make me sound like an idiot. It might me a personnel change like Pronger said, but whatever it is, it needs to happen soon or this losing streak could turn into 2006/2007 really fast.

Flying High

Well it's been a long time since the last post, but school has kept me busy and extremely stressed at the same time.

The Flyers have been playing on a different level as of late. They're 12-5-1 through 18 games, not too shabby. With a 3-0 start, spirits were high, until they faced the Pens for the first time. They hit a little rut after that but have been playing basically lights-out hockey for the past 2+ weeks. Beating some top-notch teams and handling the inferior teams with ease. The rut at the beginning of the season was due to new additions and new positions.

The addition of a new netminder is always going to take some time to get used to. Every goalie is a little insane in their own respect, and it takes time for the position players to get used to their new goaltenders extent and type of insanity.

When a team adds a top-tier D-man like Chris Pronger, it takes time to get acquainted to him as well. He is in a way, like the quarterback of the team and when you get a new leader of your defense and powerplay, chemistry doesn't just happen overnight.

But the Flyers are running at full throttle now and players that weren't seen last year are making a huge impact. James vanRiemsdyk is second among NHL rookies in scoring and leads the team with 4 game-winning goals. Defenseman Matt Carle is playing out of this world right now alongside Pronger. I guess playing with a future hall of famer is going to improve anyones game. The Flyers are 10-1 with faceoff machine Blair Betts in the lineup, which just goes to show that when you win faceoffs, you aren't forced to play back on your heels. Also can't forget Ray Emery. He's been playing phenomenal between the pipes so far and shows no signs it's going to stop.

The biggest liabilities on the beginning of the year were surprisingly, Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn. Kimmo was consistently the best and most reliable defenseman for the Flyers since he's been here, and it was just a matter of time before he got back on track. It was sort of the same thing with Coburn. We had grown accustomed to his good play and seeing him struggle was sort of shocking. But not that they're both on track it must look like trying to get through a brick wall when it comes to scoring on this team.

Here's to a good west coast trip! Let's go Flyers!