james mirtle: The fallout begins in Philly - A hockey journalist's blog

james mirtle: The fallout begins in Philly - A hockey journalist's blog:

Clarke responded: "I think when a player says that there is truth to it, players recognize it [when a team folds] before anybody. In the sense, we were lucky our goaltending [Robert Esche] was pretty good, it could have been much worse [than 9-1].

"We'd better identify this problem and fix it; it's not just one or two players."

Very shortly, I think we could be seeing a Joe Thornton-sized deal from Clarke in an attempt to right the ship. (And we know how well that worked out for the Bruins.)

There was already speculation going on around us in San Jose about what Philly might have that the Sharks would want for a goalie.

I suggested Mike Rathje, of course, which got things thrown at me, as usual.

The Flyers have some serious problems, though, in contracts and caps. Rathje's bad back and Nittymaki's hip may well turn into blessings in disguise; when they stuff Rat on the IR for the season and when they decide to send Nittymaki off to surgery, they will get cap relief on the injured player's salaries (if I were Derian Hatcher, I'd avoid dark alleys and keep an eye out for rogue figure skaters carrying tire irons). Will that really give them what it takes to fix this?

I'm not convinced.

Rumor has it the following phone call was overheard in the Sharks executive offices the other day:

Phone: <ringtone of "another one bites the dust">

DougW: Hey, Bobby.

BobbyC: Hey, Doug. Got a question.

DougW: call back in two weeks. you're not desperate enough yet.

BobbyC: !!!!!!!! (@#%#$^#$#@$#@) !!!!!!!!!

Phone: <click>

I mean, seriously. Look at the Flyer roster. Look at the Flyer farm system. You tell me. What can they give the Sharks to get Toskala (we won't even think about Nabokov, because they'll never make that cap number; me, I still prefer to keep Toskala over Nabokov, but I admit it's a close call).

I don't see it.

I don't see it even given that the Flyers have done us a couple of favors recently:

First, they signed Rathje to one of those contracts that made ANY possible "you didn't re-sign the guy" controversies go away. The anti-Rathje side of sharks fans were happy to see him go. Even the most rabid Rathje fan takes one look at the deal Clarke gave him and offers to drive him to the airport. I will happily put myself in that category: Mike, thanks for everything, your contribution to the team was simply never appreciated by some -- but man, enjoy that contract, and invest it wisely, because nobody else will ever give you money like that ever again, and I would have complained if the Sharks had gone halfway into that contract to sign you. Especially in the new NHL.

Then, they gave us a decent value for Niko Dimotrakos, who they just gave up on and waived off to the AHL. I remember seeing Niko play in the Frozen Four in Anaheim and being massively impressed; I was thrilled when he was drafted by the Sharks out of Maine, I was thrilled when he made the team, because he's a real character guy that I felt was future captain material. It just turns out he's a bit small and a bit soft for the NHL, and he just never developed the way I expected. The Sharks decided to give up on him and give him a fresh start; he didn't really do much more in Philly. That's too bad, he's a great guy. It just looks to me like he ended up being a great AHL guy. He might well make some team a great veteran captain somewhere -- it just won't be in the NHL. (sigh).

If you look at the Flyer's roster, it's full of these kind of "favors" -- Nolan baumgartner, Petr Nedved, Randy (I am not luc) robitaille, Derian Hatcher.

My question here is simple: isn't it time that -- personal loyalty or no -- Flyer's owner Ed Snyder take a hard look at Bobby Clarke and consider bringing in a new GM? I don't suggest firiing Clarke, but maybe it's time to bump him upstairs and make him more of a figurehead?