State of the Flyers...Goalies

Next up in the "State of the Flyers" are the goaltenders. For many reasons (I think mostly salary) both goalies from last year are gone. Nitty will be in Tampa, and Biron will be in a crowded situation with the Isles. Leaving us with a new tandem between the pipes. Highly controversial Ray Emery is projected to be the starter, with former and once again current Flyer Brian Boucher as his backup.

When I first heard rumors of Razor coming to this team I was against it 1 million percent, I thought this guy would be terrible in the locker room and single handedly destruct this team the way Sean Avery did to the Stars last year. But the more I thought about it, I am feeling really good about having Emery on the team, for a couple reasons. Primarily, he has no choice but to behave himself both on and off the ice, after he was bought out by Ottawa early in the 2007 season, not 1 of the 29 other teams wanted him, and he was forced to go to Russia to play, if thats not a wake up call, I dont know what is. Luckily for him, the Flyers were willing to take a chance, and Im sure Emery knows, if he screws up in any way, he will never see a NHL rink again, he's not just playing for the Flyers this year, he's playing for his career. Another reason I was initially against the Emery signing, was the lack of leadership we had in our locker room last year and the presumed inability to deal with the possible Emery sideshow, as I just mentioned I dont think Emery will cause any problems, but if he does, I have no doubt that Pronger and Lappy will take care of it.

As for Razor's backup......they're not booing, they're saying "Booooooosh!!" Boosh was one of my favorite Flyers from the early 2000's. As a 23 year old, he took the Fly Guys to within 1 game of the finals (fucking Devils!) since then, Boosh has bounced around to Phoenix, Calgary, Columbus, & San Jose. Im really not sure how this guys hasnt gotten a full time starters job somewhere. Over the last decade, in the games that he has played he has looked decent including a league record 332 minute shutout streak while with the Coyotes.

Obviously this team needs Emery to be the Emery from 2006/07 when he backstopped Ottawa to the finals, but if for whatever reason he misses significant time, I feel pretty comfortable with Boosh between the pipes as well. With the improvements to the defense made this off-season, the goaltenders wont be asked to win games, they will just be asked not to lose it.

Next up...Chris Pronger