phrustrated philly phan

The Flyers officially opened camp on Friday to prepare for the upcoming season. The Flyers have been one of the top teams in the NHL for 10 years, but have not been able to bring home a Stanley Cup recently. After an embarrassing loss in the playoffs to the Buffalo Sabres, the Flyers recognized a need to increase the speed of their defense. The following is a summary of some of the issues in training camp and later their will be a season preview.

• Peter Forsberg is the new captain taking over for Keith Primeau, who retired. This is the first time Forsberg, generally considered the worlds best player, will be a captain. He will have additional responsibilities of being the go between Ken Hitchcock and the players. It will be hard to replace Primeau's leadership but Forsberg is a logical choice to succeed him.
• Hitchcock's contract will be up after the year and their has not been an extension. Hitchcock has said that once the season starts he does not want to discuss an extension because it will create a distraction. Hitchcock has been the best Flyer's coach in recent history so hopefully Bobby Clarke will get an extension done during training camp and not let this linger into the season and next offseason.
• The Flyers also have numerous players coming off surgery. Most notably is Peter Forsberg but Simon Gagne, Derian Hatcher, Mike Rathje, and Sami Kapanen are all coming off surgery. How these players perform will have a huge impact on the season.
• The Flyers have a host of new players in training camp. They include Kyle Calder, Geoff Sanderson, Randy Robitaille, Nolan Baumgartner, Matt Cullen, and Marty Murray. There are no game breakers or superstars in there but there are players that can contribute to the Flyers and make the team better.
• The Flyers have also lost some stalwarts including Eric Desjardins and Keith Primeau (retirement), Donald Brashear, Kim Johnsson, Michael Handzus, and Chris Therien.
• Hitchcock has a new addition to his coaching staff. The Phantom's head coach, John Stevens, has been promoted to an assistant for the Flyers.
• The biggest question, in my opinion, is concerning the goaltenders. Is it Robert Eshe and Antero Nittymaki or vice versa. Both goalies are good but neither has really set himself up as the number one. I really like Nittymaki's potential but one of them will need to step up during training camp and the beginning of the season and become a true number one goalie

The Phillies Stretch Run

Cole Hamels was dazzling again yesterday against the Houston Astros. Check out Swing and Miss for a good summary of Ryan Howard's robbed home run and the ace that Cole Hamels is becoming. This is very exciting. The Phillies are 1 1/2 games out of the wild card, Ryan Howard is chasing history, Chase Utley gives 110% everyday, Rollins and Victorino have been great catalyst at the top of the lineup, and Cole Hamels is developing into a dominant pitcher. If the Phillies make the playoffs, I would like to see Hamels start game one. He is cool and confident and would believe that he could win the game no matter who he is facing. I would follow him with Jon Lieber, Brett Myers and Jamie Moyer in the rotation. Should be fun for the last two weeks.