Entering the 2006 draft, the Flyers, who held the 22nd overall pick were hoping to grab Trenton New Jersey’s Bobby Sanguinetti. At pick 21, the New York Rangers took Sanguinetti, which reportedly sent the Flyers draft table into a panic.

They had no doubts that Sanguinetti would be there for them at pick #22. So flustered were the Flyers, that is when Clarke went to the podium to announce their selection.

He actually forgot Giroux’s name and embarrassingly had to turn around to his assistants and whisper to them, “what was his name again?”

Needless to say, no one will forget Giroux’s name anymore.

After being drafted by Philadelphia, Giroux spent two more years with his Canadian junior team, the Gatineau Olympiques putting up 86 goals and 132 assists in 118 games.

Heading into the 2008-09 season, it was clear that Giroux was ready for the NHL. Many thought he had a solid chance to make the Flyers roster out of training camp.

However, still recovering from offseason tonsilitis, Giroux wasn’t in the best of shape and wasn’t quite ready for the big show. He was sent to the AHL and  showed that what he was able to do in juniors, he would be able to do at the professional level.

In 33 games with the Phantoms, Giroux posted 17 goals and 34 points. When Flyer forward Danny Briere went down with a groin injury, the opened for Giroux. He seized his opportunity.

Playing in 42 games for the Flyers, he scored 9 goals and 18 assists, playing mostly 3rd line minutes.

Giroux was so impressive, that when Briere was healthy enough to return to the lineup, the Flyers decided not to send Giroux back to the Phantoms. Instead, they chose to put two players on waivers and trade another to make the salary cap space to accommodate having both Briere and Giroux in the lineup.

During the playoffs that season, Giroux was by far the Flyers best player. In six games he had two goals and five points, highlighted by a “Gordie Howe hat trick” (goal, assist & fight) in a game-3 win.

Coming off his impressive rookie campaign, a big second year jump was expected for #28.

He suffered through the proverbial ”sophomore slump” coming up short of many’s expectations scoring only 16 goals and 47 points.

It wasn’t until last season’s magical Cinderella run to the Stanley Cup Finals that the phenom of Giroux began to grow.

At many times throughout the postseason, Giroux took control of the game with his superior stick-handling ability and outstanding vision on the ice. Playing primarily on a line with fellow youngster and rookie James van Riemsdyk and Aaron Asham, Giroux scored 12 goals and 14 assists in 23 games.

The apex coming during overtime of game-3 of the Finals when Giroux tipped a shot from Matt Carle past Blackhawks goalie Antti Niemi to win the game and put the Flyers back in the series.

Two years ago, Flyers radio color analyst Chris Therien said that Giroux has the potential to be a “top 5 player in the entire league. He’s got that much raw skill.”

Giroux may not be a top-5 player in the league just yet, but he is certainly headed in the right direction. It’s hard to argue that through the first month of this season, he has been the Flyers Most Valuable Player.

The 22 year-old out of Hearst Ontario, Canada has the unique ability to control the tempo of the game, score at will, and can use his unique skill set to set-up highlight-reel goals for his teammates.

Watching Giroux work his magic on the ice, reminds a lot of people of a young Peter Forsberg. Those comparisons beginning to look spot on. Giroux is only 22 years old, he has not even come close to hitting his prime and  what’s almost as impressive as his on ice abilities, is his “team first” mentality.”

Anytime a player performs that way, one who tries and show up every game, it does nothing but spread throughout the rest of the room. 

The Flyers have a lot of elite players and whatever his role is, he’s always ready to take it on. This team has been successful in the past because guys know their roles.

Providing that the Flyers can sign ’G’ long term, he will develop into one of the cornerstones of a franchise on the cusp of breaking through and winning a championship as well as progressing his way into the short list of ” one of the best players in the league.”

“The procedure, a partial discectomy, will be performed by Dr. Alex Vacarro,” said Flyers GM Paul Holmgren Friday afternoon.

This news isn’t as catastrophic as it may seem, seeing as rookie Sergei Bobrovsky was stellar last night in Pittsburgh, stopping 29 of 31 shots in a 3-2 win. It looks like Coach Laviolette will stick with the hot hand in net tomorrow night against St Louis, although nothing has been confirmed yet.

Leighton said the injury has progressively gotten worse since the end of the Stanley Cup Finals in June.

“I kind of dealt with it a little bit in playoffs last year,” Leighton stated. “It wasn’t bothering me when I was playing, it was just more of an off-ice thing, when I was stretching it was stiff. I did deal with it in the summer. 
 
“I got some tests done and it wasn’t very severe in the summer. All through training camp it was still there, but it didn’t bother me on the ice so I just kind of worked through it. I was told to do exercises and work through it.”

Todays news puts more pressure on the young Russian to continue to come up big, with Leighton out for a couple of months, all the goaltending will fall on “Bob” and Brian Boucher.

In other injury news coming out of last nights game, Claude Giroux underwent X-Rays on his ankle after taking a shot off of it during the game. He was said to be favoring it in the locker room after the game, but word is, he is skating today and should be ready to go for tomorrow night. Stay tuned.

Claude Giroux scores a third period shorthanded goal, beating the Penguins' Marc-Andre Fleury. Photo/Getty

The 2010-11 NHL Season started off with a surprise for the Flyers, in net was not incumbent backup Brian Boucher who was expected to hold down the fort while Michael Leighton was out with lower back problems. But instead Coach Peter Laviolette decided to roll the dice and go with the 22-year old Russian phenom Sergei Bobrovsky.

 
With a line that was at 9-22-3 – with a sub-3.00 goals-against average for Novokvznetsk of Russia’s KHL last season, Bobrobsky became the youngest goalie to start a Flyers opener  since Ron Hextall. However, the coach was not wrong in his choice to play the kid.

He backed up the decision by stopping 29 of the Pens 31 shots with his only two mistakes coming on plays where even the best goalie may not have made the save. It’s far too early to proclaim him the savior of the Flyers goaltending woes, but for a first even starter in the NHL it was quite impressive.

The Consol Energy Arena opened its doors tonight to a crowd of over 18,289 and it was loud. This was able to be heard over a TV set from the WIP studios, which means the energy in the building was prime to start off the season. The capacity crowd may have left disappointed, but any hockey fan will tell you that this was a great drama for the NHL.

 
It was a quiet first period from the scoring end with both goalies active early. Bobrovsky stopped 15 shots from the Pens whereas Marc-Andre Fleury blocked 9 shots from the Flyers respectively.

The scoring opened up in the second period with Danny Briere getting his first of the year from Mike Richards’ pass at 2:51 of the second period only 6 seconds after Deryk Engelland went off for hooking. Later in the period, Blair Betts made it 2-0 on the power play after grabbing the rebound from a Darroll Powe shot.
It was the 3rd period that had the most action of the game. It started just 44 seconds in when Tyler Kennedy got his first of the season from Paul Martin and Kris Letang. Claude Giroux helped regain the Flyers’ two-goal lead at 4:55 by stealing Letang’s pass, which was intended for Paul Martin, then beating Marc-Andre Fleury on a breakaway after a pretty video-game esq move.

Just 19 seconds later, youngster Alex Goligoski scored Pittsburgh’s first power-play of the year to make it 3-2. With less than two minutes in the game the Flyers were called for hooking, which put the Pens on the power play. The Flyers were able to kill it off and escape with a 3-2 victory and are now able to find themselves atop the Atlantic Division, and up one game on the Pens in the season series.
The Flyers now have the day off and will travel to St. Louis to faceoff against the Blues Saturday Night at 8pm. That game can be found on CSN for TV and Sports Radio 610WIP on your radio dial.

Notes: Flyers D Chris Pronger (knee surgery) missed his first regular-season game in three seasons. The Flyers won only their fourth in their last 13 against Pittsburgh. The Penguins played before their 167th consecutive home sellout.

Flyers rookie netminder, Sergei Bobrovsky, stunned the Pens 3-2 to notch his first career NHL victory. Photo/Getty

This is why I love sports, you just never know what’s going to happen. Thursday night, the Flyers traveled to Pittsburgh to battle with their fiercest rival.

The orange and black started rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky against arguably the best team in the east. Common sense would say that the Pens would have their way with us, but as the saying goes, “that’s why they play the game”

“Bob” stopped 29 of 31 shots as the Flyers spoiled the opening of the new Consol Energy Center with a 3-2 win. What impressed me most was the quality of shots that Bobrovsky stopped. There were numerous “edge of your seat” type saves that showed why coach Peter Laviolette trusted the young Russian with the season opening start.

It wasnt all Bobrovsky though. The defense (playing without Chris Pronger) played great, holding the dynamic duo of Crosby and Malkin to zero points and clearing the puck away from the crease of Bobrovsky on several occasions.

Danny Briere, Claude Giroux, & Blair Betts netted the three Flyer goals

3 stars of the game:

1-Sergei Bovrovsky- What else can you say? His 1st regular season start in North America & he played with the calm of a 10 year vet. He proved the doubters (myself included) wrong

2-The entire Flyers defense All the excuses were built-in; no Pronger, rookie goalie, facing Crosby and Malkin on the road, but they stood tall as a collective group, helping the orange & black to a very impressive opening win.

3-Claude Giroux- He scored the eventual game winning goal short-handed on a steal from Paul Martin, then he made Pens goalie Marc Andre Fleury look silly with a move that you usually only see in a video game. He reminds me a lot of what Peter Forsberg was in his prime.

The season couldn’t have started any better for the Flyers. They’ll try to keep the momentum going Saturday night against St Louis. Continue to check in at “Faceoff with Chris” on PhilaPhans for all your Flyers related news.

At 36-years old, it is widely believed that “Lappy” has played his last NHL game. If you look up “Flyers hockey” in the dictionary, you’ll likely find a picture of Laperriere. He stood for everything that the Flyers are all about; grit, heart, determination, desire, and guts.

Dont believe me?

Go back to the day after Thanksgiving last year, Lappy takes a slapshot right to the mouth from about 15 feet away. He lost several teeth that required over 50 stitches. Something as gruesome as that would take most players out several games, he missed a little over a period. In game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against New Jersey, Lappy took an even worse shot to the face from nearly point-blank range. He bled all over the place and he initially thought he lost his eye. Luckily that wasnt the case.

That vicious shot resulted in a severe concussion and a brain contusion, which in Lehman’s terms means he bruised his brain. Let that sink in for a second….a bruised brain.

In a testament to how much a chance to raise Lord Stanley’s Cup means to hockey players and to further prove how tough Lappy is, he was back about a month later throwing his body in front of shots against Montreal and Chicago. Thus helping the Flyers get within two wins of the cup.
It turns out however that Laperriere lied to the Flyers about his condition improving. He didn’t do this for self praise, he did it to help the team. He did it to help his team win the ultimate prize. Which is what he’s done everywhere he’s been in his career. He’s the ultimate ‘be nothing but a team guy.’

Unfortunately, the symptoms one gets after suffering a concussion haven’t gone away, just ask Keith Primeau. It’s likely we’ve seen the last of Laperriere in and orange and black sweater. He gave his heart, soul, blood, and teeth to the great game of hockey for over 15 years.

If this is indeed the end of Lappy’s career, he will always be a Flyer in the heart of soul of every fan who bleeds orange and black throughout every hockey season. Get well soon Lappy. You may have only been a Flyer for one season, but I think I speak for fans everywhere when I say, you are a Flyer for life!!

Prediction: New Jersey, Pittsburgh, and The Flyers all should hit the 100 point mark this season. As much as it pains me to say it, look for the Penguins to come out on top of the Atlantic while both the Devils and Flyers fall into the playoff picture as well.

Moving onto the Northeast, it was the only division in the NHL that had 4-out of its-5 teams make the playoffs, which in my mind won’t happen again this year at all. This division will be lucky to have two teams qualify for the postseason. The Sabers and Canadiens are the most likely two to have a chance at Lord Stanley’s cup while the Bruins ( with out Marc Savard for a good bit of time), Maple Leafs (while they still grow into a good team), and the Sens (who played way over their head last year ) will find it very hard in the new look east to contend for a playoff spot.

Prediction: If Ryan Miller’s team in fron tof him can hold up during the season, look for the Sabers to be the clear-cut winner here, but don’t count the new look Habs out either. Ultimately they will come out on top of the Northeast and be a very feared team to play in the playoffs!

On to the Southeast, which maybe the most interesting one to look at and watch all season. It’s filled with one of the best players on the planet in Alex Ovechkin, a young team stacked with unknown talent in the Thrashers, and a team that acquired a Philadelphia favorite in Simon Gagne. Besides the Atlantic, I believe that this will be the division to watch and maybe the most entertaining in the entire NHL.

Prediction: The Caps are the clear cut favorite to win this division far and away. While I believe that they will do as planned and capture the Southeast title, it will not be an easy of a task that they would have liked it to be. Both the Thrashers and Lightning will provide a bigger challenge than most people think and are two teams to keep an eye on all year.
OVERALL:

1. Pittsburgh
2. Washington
3. Buffalo
4. FLYERS
5. Devils
6. Montreal
7. Tampa Bay
8 Atlanta

Photo/Getty

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how Bill Guerin made all the sense in the world for the Flyers. In theory, I was right. unfortunately for Mr. Guerin, he was released from his tryout contract Monday afternoon, meaning that if he plays in the NHL this season it wont be for the Flyers.

Honestly this doesn’t come as much of a surprise to me. After watching Guerin this preseason, he simply didn’t look very good. You can’t question what intangibles he would have brought to the team, but it’s not all about those intangible in the NHL. One has to prove that he can still do it on the ice and on this level.

So despite Nikolay Zherdev giving up #9 for him and the team including him on CSN’s “Meet the Flyers” program, he will not be in uniform when the Flyers open the season in Pittsburgh Thursday night.

Andreas Nodl earned the roster spot that was thought to go to Guerin. I really like the move. Nodl is a very underrated player and is very good on the penalty kill, which is important with the recent loss of Ian Laperriere due to concussion symptoms.

It’s likely that Nodl will spend many nights as the “13th forward” (meaning he’ll be a healthy scratch) but having him available will help out the 3rd/4th line and the penalty kill.

In other news today, goaltender Johan Backlund was placed on waivers. If he clears, he will head up to Adirondack to play for the Phantoms. This means rookie Sergei Bobrovsky will be the backup to starter Brian Boucher to start the year.

The Flyers opening night roster is now set, the puck drops Thursday night in Pittsburgh, we’re all excited, lets buckle up and enjoy the ride!!!

Photo/Getty

Brian Boucher once again comes into another predicament he didn’t expect to happen, this quickly anyway. Boucher will open the Flyers season as the club’s number one netminder due to a back injury to initial starter, Michael Leighton.

For Boucher, 33, it’s another chance to prove he’s still a number one option for a team who might need him more often than they originally thought.

“I feel like I’ve had a good camp,” Boucher said after Friday’s 3-1 win over the Islanders. “Your goal is to make sure when the regular season starts, you feel really good about your game. And I think that’s where I’m at right now.”

Boucher, who’s had an impressive training camp, knows how quickly a goalie can be the center of a team’s success to being back on the bench being a backup. With the preseason over, Boucher can look back at his three wins and smile, because of the fact pucks were sticking to him instead of screaming behind him into the net.

With Leighton out for approximately one month, Boucher will play a huge role in how successful the Flyers will be once Leighton is ready to return to action. Boucher is now healthy and should see a lot of time in net with Sergei Bobrovsky filling in here and there.

“I feel more comfortable this year,” said Boucher.  “You know the guys. Even though I’ve been here before there’s all new guys so it’s a different situation.  But this year I feel more comfortable knowing the guys and after what we accomplished last year we should feel good about ourselves.

“I’m healthy and I was banged up a bit last year but now I feel really good.  When you feel real good it translates into your play.”

A healthy Boucher was impressive throughout the preseason where pucks seemed to stick to his pads. Long and bouncing rebounds were scarce, which bodes well for a goaltender like Boucher, who isn’t the quickest of men at his position.

Bobrovsky, 22, will begin the season as the backup to Boosh, and according to GM Paul Holmgren Monday afternoon, he will see some game action as early as one of the first three games. Boucher plans on playing mentor to the young Russian phenom, who has played really well since given the opportunity for more playing time with the injury to Johan Backlund.

“I think I deserve all the credit,” Boucher said jokingly about Bobrovsky.

“No, he’s been great. He’s quick, agile, energetic, and is very excited to be at the rink everyday and that becomes contagious. The Flyers should be proud that they have depth in goal.”

Whether or not Leighton comes back healthy and effective is still a question, however, one thing is for certain in the mind of Boucher, don’t take anything for granted and just show up to the rink everyday to prepare and find ways to help this team win hockey games.

The Flyers will begin their quest to return to the Stanley Cup Thursday when they open the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new Consol Energy Center at 7pm.

Tonight, I will be trying something new on Faceoff with Chris. I want to hold a LIVE chat from the Wells Fargo Center Press box with all my readers and fans of the orange and black. Click the link below to attend the chat.

Starting at 7pm, just click onto the chat room and begin chatting away. Ask questions ONLY regarding the NHL and the Flyers. I control what gets posted for the rest to see.

SO, tonight at 7pm, come join me on ‘Cover It Live’ Flyers vs. Sabres chat!

See you all there.

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Photo/Getty

There are some things you can guarantee in Philadelphia sports; Eagles fans will continue to hate Donovan McNabb, the Phillies will catch fire every September, and most of all, the Flyers will always have goaltender issues. After the news  yesterday that Michael Leighton will miss a month with a bulging disc in his back, the Flyers are back in a goaltending quagmire.

I’m one of the many who are on the Leighton bandwagon, I feel that, especially with our upgraded defense, he is more than capable of taking us back to the finals. Now, i’ve followed the Flyers for a long time and we’ve seen numerous “minor” injuries to key players be downplayed. It turned out they were much more severe than the front office wanted you to believe.

You can go back to the Eric Lindros saga of the late 90′s, to the multiple Simon Gagne groin issues, Peter Forsberg’s continual foot problems, Danny Briere’s groin injury in the 08-09 season, and Ray Emery’s “minor” hip strain last season. Each of these injuries ended up being ones that either kept the player out for the majority of the season or they came back (perhaps too soon) only to re-injured themselves where the team’s performance suffered.

Leighton’s injury reminds me way too much of the other injuries I just mentioned. My gut feeling is that we’ll be without him for more than a month, or perhaps he wont ever be 100% healthy this season.

However, if the prognosis on Leighton is accurate and he is indeed back in a month, the Flyers should be fine. Brian Boucher is more than capable of holding down the fort for a few weeks. But as I said earlier I have a bad feeling that we wont have Leighton for a while, if at all. If that’s the case, Boucher will be number one on the depth chart.

“Boosh” is a good goalie, but nothing more than that. I’m just not sure if I fully trust him to be a full-time 55-60 game starter in the NHL, especially for a championship caliber team. Behind Boucher, there is Johan Backlund, who won 21 games for the Phantoms last season posting a 2.79 goals against average. 

Biran Boucher is up to the challenge to fill the void of the injured Michael Leighton. Photo/DelcoTimes

Backlund has a grand total of 40 minutes of NHL experience, coming late last season against the Penguins, a game in which he allowed two goals in two periods, he looked pretty good. But you can’t base anything on 40 minutes of action.

Then there is rookie Sergei Bobrovsky.

Signed out of Russia in May, “Bob” has looked pretty good thus far in camp & in preseason games, but let’s not get too excited, he has never played in North America before. As I said, he’s looked good in preseason, but he’s playing against a majority of guys who will only play in the AHL this year. He needs some seasoning in the minors before I’m comfortable seeing him playing significant minutes for the orange and black.

If indeed goaltending becomes the Achilles heel for this team, all the Paul Holmgren haters will be back in full force. The names we heard over the Summer will be regurgitated again; Evgeni Nabakov, Marty Turco, and Dan Ellis or Chris Mason who would have been slightly cheaper than Leighton.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but lets just hope that another great Flyers team on paper doesn’t get brought down by goaltending issues.