Frank Seravalli @DNFlyers - https://twitter.com/DNFlyers/status/294493020794023936
Flyers terminating Hovinen's contract (after clearing waivers) could mean a move is coming. Team is at 50 contract limit w/ Scott Laughton.
Doesn't mean a deal is coming. He was terrible and wants to go back to europe. Adios
Bill Meltzer @billmeltzer
Organization had been very unhappy w/ Hovinen. They perceived work ethic issues ("doesn't compete") and half-hearted effort to adapt game.
There were loud whispers that Hovinen quit trying to work his way up after bad preseason + being sent to Trenton.Wasn't a question of talent
Seravalli is pretty stupid about everything when it comes to player movement and such
Another way to put it might be he loves overdramatic hype like most media and knows it'll only help his career if his sensationalist tweets appear on message boards. (also not jumping down OP's throat)
Both are still FA's but Moore just lost his wife after battle with cancer so I am not sure he is looking to get back on ice anytime soon
Why would you want to sign a C? Flyers problem is the D not C
I think your 1st round pick looks pretty comfortable at NHL level
For obvious reasons:
When you have to pick two out of Laughton, Talbot, Fedotenko and Wellwood to play center like tonight and the only one who actually has some talent playing the role is the rookie, you know that all depth is gone. And on top of it noone except for G can win >0.5 of his faceoffs.
good, hope they look to sign sunshine. i've seen him play a couple times through some online streams and based on his numbers i think he could be a back-up in the NHL now. flyers need one starting next yr. hope they see him as a solution.
It took a while for him to break through as a starter in Finland, so he's had his fill of being pushed to the back of the queue. He came to North America to play in the AHL and then challenge for a spot in the NHL. The ECHL is a low-level league, so anything but a conditioning assignment there is a slap in the face to most Euro goalies. Teams in the ECHL roll only three lines and the systems are below par. Hovinen expected to move up in his career, but he actually moved down as the ECHL is skill wise on level with Mestis (second tier of Finnish hockey) and tactically less sophisticated. What's worse, he wasn't even playing that much.
You have to wonder what the Flyers management thought it was doing. When you sign a Euro goalie, the options are NHL, AHL, or send the goalie back to Europe. Sending a guy to be a backup in the ECHL is just stupid. They treated him like he was a kid fresh out of the juniors. I can't say I'm surprised though. I never understood why Hovinen signed for the Flyers to begin with. It must've been his only NHL offer or his agent doesn't have his finger on the pulse. The Flyers is one of the very last organizations I'd advise my European AHL-level goalie to sign for. Don't get me wrong, the Flyers in itself is a great NHL club, but the way the hockey ops are run, it's ruthless and volatile. When it comes to goalies, there just doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason in how goalies are used and developed in the organization.
kudos to the scout that recomended him over Sunshine
They probably felt that since Leighton played well for a short period of time that a large goalie is the answer even if he didn't have anything else to give and would develop into something more than the sum of his parts. It just goes to show that the Flyers have a real difficult time finding, drafting/signing/trading, and developing goalies properly. Let's just hope that they do things right with Stolarz, that is if it isn't too late already.
