To All the Boosh Haters...

2.33 GAA, .917 SV%, 7-1-1 in last nine starts.

2.57 GAA, .915 SV%, 4-3-2 in last nine starts.

Without looking them up, whose stats are Brian Boucher's and whose are Sergei Bobrovsky's?

The first set of stats belong to the much maligned Boucher and the second to the often heralded Bobrovsky. But even after seeing the stats and watching him play, many still doubt the fact that Boosh can be a legitimate starting goaltender for the Flyers.

Boosh has better GAA (goals against average) than all of the following netminders: Jimmy Howard (DET), Carey Price (MTL), Jonas Hiller (ANA), Roberto Luongo (VAN), Cam Ward (CAR), Heinrik Lundqvist (NYR), Miikka Kiprusoff (CGY), Kari Lehtonen (DAL), Jaroslav Halak (STL), Thomas Vokoun (FLA), Corey Crawford (CHI), Anders Lindback (NSH), Antero Niittymaki (SJS), Michal Neuvirth (WAS), Niklas Backstrom (MIN), Ilya Bryzgalov (PHX), Dwyane Roloson (NYI), J.S. Giguere (TOR), Pascal Leclaire (OTT) and Johan Hedberg (NJD).

It is well known that coach Peter Laviolette plays the hot players and particularly the hot goalie. He did it last year when the recently waived Michael Leighton got on a streak and again last season when Boucher got hot. In the Carolina Hurricanes' 2005 Stanley Cup Championship season, Martin Gerber started 60 games for Laviolette's team. But who won the Con Smythe trophy that year? A man who played only 28 games for the Canes and began the season in the AHL--Cam Ward.

Look back to last season's Stanley Cup Champions, the Chicago Blackhawks. Their starting goaltender is no longer with the team and is now the backup to Antero Niittymaki in San Jose, Antti Niemi. Niemi got hot last year and rode the streak all the way to a Cup.

It doesn't matter who your goaltender is or what he has done before, as long as he is playing well now and during the playoffs, that's all that matters. Rarely in any other sport does the phrase "What have you done for me lately?" ring as true as it does with NHL goalies.

Many forget that Bobrovsky has only played a maximum of 35 games in one season in his hockey career. He's already at 26 games this season and fatigue may be setting in. So, for now, Brian Boucher is the Flyers' starting goaltender and if he continues to play well, and Laviolette is still the coach, plan on seeing Boosh between the pipes until further notice.

Guerin Released

In a conference call this afternoon Flyers GM Paul Holmgren announced that Bill Guerin had been released from his tryout contract and will obviously not be playing in Philadelphia this season. Predictions are that Andreas Nodl will take Guerin's supposed spot on the roster.

Paul Holmgren said dollars weren't a factor in Guerin's departure. "We just didn't see him helping us," Holmgren said. "It had nothing to do with salary. If we felt he could have helped, we would have done something."

So what Holmgren is saying here is that the Flyers could have fit Guerin under the salary cap without a problem. It was more of the fact that the 39-year-old couldn't help a Flyers team who was within a game of winning the Stanley Cup last year. Philadelphia would much rather have 23-year-old Andreas Nodl on the team; a guy who in 48 career NHL games has an astonishing one goal and five points. He did score 18 goals in 40 games twice with St. Cloud State of the WCHA, so that's good to know.

The fact that Guerin has scored 20+ goals in four straight seasons and 10 out of the last 11 and the Flyers decided he couldn't help them is mind-boggling. Guerin could have been a tremendous addition to the Flyers' power play too, as opposed to Nodl who will see primarily 4th line minutes and not even get a sniff of special teams play.

There are people who said Guerin did nothing in the preseason to show he deserved a place on this team. Really? What did Chris Pronger do this preseason to show he deserved a spot on the team? Nothing. He didn't play. But Pronger has showed his worth for an entire career and throughout the 2009/2010 season, right? Well so did Bill Guerin. Some may forget, but he was the piece that brought the Penguins the Stanley Cup in 2009 after they lost it the previous season.

I hope the Flyers know something I don't here because from what I have seen so far, this releasing makes little sense. Guerin was very good on a terrible Islanders team, and has won two Cups. The guy knows how to play.

Bobrovsky named the Flyers' No. 2
With the Flyers sending Johan Backlund down to the Phantoms, this means rookie netminder Sergei Bobrovsky will be the backup to Brian Boucher in the NHL.

Now I already posted as to why Bobrovsky should spend an entire season in the AHL so I won't rehash that. In the conference call Holmgren said, "There's a chance he plays one of the first two games. I think he's played good."

I just feel that with Sergei up with the big club he won't get as many games to get used to the NHL-sized rink and NHL-skilled players. In the AHL he could play everyday and if it takes him time to warm up to the smaller rink, then so be it. Who cares if the Phantoms lose (especially now that they're no longer in Philadelphia). But when Bobrovsky has a bad game with the Flyers, it all gets magnified. A loss in the NHL is much bigger than in the AHL.

We'll have to wait and see how long Michael Leighton is out before we see how long Bobrovsky is up with the Flyers. I just hope that when Leighton does come back it is Sergei who is sent down for the added experience in the minors, not Boucher.

Leights Out & Lappy Feeling Wacky

Leights Out
Well what many had suspected has been confirmed.

When Paul Holmgren and Peter Laviolette gave the so-called prognosis on Michael Leighton of "He'll be out until Thursday," nearly every Flyers beat writer as well as me believed there was more to this injury that the Flyers originally led on.

It's nearly the same situation with how the Flyers disclosed the Ray Emery. Here's an article from Broad Street Hockey comparing the two.

They say Leighton is out a month, but it's up for debate as to how long that month ends up being. So right now, the Flyers goaltenders are Brian Boucher and Sergei Bobrovsky with Johan Backlund's recovery from offseason surgery just about over. Backlund may start one of the Flyers' preseason games this weekend.

So with the limited golies on the Flyers roster, should they pursue another man between the pipes? Well considering the Flyers cap situation and the lack of inexpensive goalies on the market, that's really not an option. Any netminder available (Manny Legace and José Théodore are a few names that pop up) will either be too expensive or too, well, crappy.

So by the time the season starts, the Flyers goalie situation should go like this: Boucher the starter, Backlund the backup and Bobrovsky starter with the Phantoms.

Obviously there will be people who want Bobrovsky to be the starter with the big club. But with the incredible amount of buzz surrounding Bobrovsky, the Flyers would be crazy to start him in the pros this early. He has played a total of five periods in an NHL-sized rink and has never played more than 40 games in a season. If the Flyers want Bobrovsky to be as good as they think he's going to be, they're going to give him all the work he needs down in the AHL for a season.

Lappy Feeling Wacky 
And then there's the Laperriere injury.

What can you really say, the guy had concussion symptoms and wanted to play in the Finals so bad that he decided to play through them to help his team win.

It's rarely understated how important Laperriere is to the Flyers penalty kill, but this does make a little more room for other players to make the Flyers roster.

Holmgren and Laviolette won't say it but this probably means Guerin will most definitely be on the team and Darroll Powe will take Laperriere's spot on the 4th line and more importantly, on the penalty kill.

I just hope this isn't a Keith Primeau-type situation, but we'll have to wait to find out.