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Nice assist by Berggren...

Primeau always wanted to be a top 2 center even though there were these guys by the name of Yzerman, and Fedorov who were clearly better than him. At least Bowman was able to ship him off to Hartford as part of a package for Shanahan - a true LW power forward.

Me: "Meh, I don't really buy the TSN hype, I don't think it's the Leafs year (again)" Torontonian: "STOP! You've violated the law. Pay the court a fine or serve your sentence. Your stolen goods are now forfeit."

I would feel like more of an intellectual with names like Giroux, Couturier, and Gostisbehere on the roster... Perhaps I will play le hockey? Write my memoir in the cafe? Enjoy a cigarette in the moonlight? Alas, I do not know. Time is so fleeting and the grave so near. C'est la vie. When did the Flyers become a buncha soft frenchie nerds? The Wings are like the biggest boom or bust franchise of all time. Production line era greatness --> 30 years of dead wings ---> The glorious streak era ---> Whatever you wanna call this current dump heap. We really don't do mediocrity well, unless you wanna count the end of the streak I'm not ready to call Hart a stud yet after 30 games, cause I hope he's not. If that's the case I think that club is a definite dark horse. If not this year, soon.

Looked around a little bit and Flyers-fans seems pretty hyped about the guy. The Flyers have been trying to win for a bunch of years. Wouldn't mind them winning ECF. I never wish another team a cup though..

Of course, this is all IMPOSSIBLE. No way players can play center AND winger. I learned that from kip.

This is good. 1.5 years of Ovi goals stripped already.

Speed is generally a more valuable asset to a winger than a center in most NHL systems. For instance, look how much more AA uses his speed as a winger. Very few centers consistently get breakaways, wingers do pretty regularly. AA certainly had more breakaway goals off the wing. Look at some of the better Wings centers just in recent memory. None of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Glendening, or Nielsen are especially fast. Filppula is probably the best skating center we have had in the modern era until Larkin came along. And that's just our team. None of Toews, Getzlaf, Spezza, Malkin, Tavares, Thornton, Johansen, or Pavelski seem to have suffered as a result of not being especially fast skaters. And all of that is a little beside the point because Rasmussen is actually a pretty good skater, especially for his size. I think his skating is probably roughly as good as a many of the non Wings mentioned above. Hardly a liability.

I think the Flyers are in a very nice spot all of the sudden besides goaltending. But Hart was a high ranked goalie in his draft year. He could pop off and be a darkhorse goalie. He was ok for them as a 20 year old last year... Imagine if Patrick, Sanheim, and Provorov decide to go off this season. Suddenly they'd be one of the deeper skating groups in the entire league I would think. They've got room to shed people if they want to too, because they have plenty of good prospects lying in wait: Rubstov, Laberge, Matt Strome, Ratcliffe, Frost, O'brien, Farabee. Not sure which ones are eligible to play when, but Philly has been quietly stacking a lot of decent talent.

Big fan of the fact that both Blashill and Yzerman see Rasmussen as a center long term. Gives me a lot more confidence in our depth at that position. He's a unique player because he can essentially to slotted in as a "shutdown center" but because of his powerplay ability he's still gonna score 20 goals a season. And even without him on the wing we have Mantha, Bert, AA, Zadina, Berggren, Mastrosimone, Svech, Grewe, and Hirose as options for top 9 wingers. Allows for a lot more versatility in next year's draft too.