State of the Flyers....Defense

Today in "State of the Flyers" I'll take a look at the Flyers other 5 defensemen not named Pronger. Why did I dedicate an entire post to Chris mother fucking Pronger? Because he's Chris mother fucking Pronger thats why!!

Kimmo Timonen- One of the most underappreciated and underrated players in the entire league. Maybe because he dosent do anything spectacular, he just does everything really really well: hes a shut down d-man, can QB the power play, block shots, and pretty much everything thats needed out of a defensemen. I look for him to continue to play well and be underappreciated, especially due to the addition of Mr. Pronger

Braydon Coburn- He has improved each season that he's worn the orange & black, and he needs to keep doing that because its a contract year for the young fella. I look for him to have a breakout year thanks to another year alongside Kimmo and with Pronger's guidance, however, as with Kimmo, it may go largely un-noticed with all the big guns on this team

Ryan Parent- Another young d-man, another contract year. Ryan was the top prospect in the Predators system when they shipped him to Philly in the Peter Forsberg trade. He hasnt blossomed into the top line d-man yet, but I think that's largely to due having Kimmo & Coburn in front of him, and now with Pronger added to the "D" I think it will be hard for Ryan to really stand out and make people notice him, but I think he will show enough to earn a contract extension sometime this year. However, if he dosent impress enough, dont be surprised if Homer lets him go (therefore not spending more $$ on an extension) and give one of the young guys in our system a shot (Marshall/Boudron, still on rookie salaries) Just something to keep an eye on

Matt Carle- Yes I understand he is very overpaid and isnt helping our cap situation any. In the grand scheme of things were paying our 5th best defensemen over $3 million a year, but dont forget, he's young (24) but there wont be as much expected of him this season with Matt likely being a 3rd line D-man, but with the help of Kimmo & Pronger, dont be surprised if Carle breaks out this year. And for all you Carle haters out there, I simply ask you this....would you rather have Carle on this team, or the 2 guys we traded to get him, Steve Emenger & Steve Downie?......I rest my case

Randy Jones- The only nice thing I can say is that his $3 million dollar salary comes of the books after this season! One assumes that his money will go towards the extensions of Coburn & Parent. In case you havent realized yet, Im not a huge Jones fan, but trying to look at this whole team optimistically, if he can stay healthy this season, he will be a serviceable 5th/6th defensemen

Next up-Gagne/Carter/Hartnell