More rain is undoubtedly on the way, with Hurricane Irene set to pass through the Delaware Valley this weekend. Somehow, Rittenhouse Square - where Bryzgalov has been staying - reminds him of home. Perhaps, it resembles Moscow's Red Square?
"It's a beautiful park there," Bryzgalov said. "The people have been very friendly. There are lots of good restaurants right there. I like it a lot here."
Bryzgalov, 31, already promises to be one of the most entertaining voices in the Flyers' suddenly different locker room. You never know what might come out of his mouth. At one point, when putting on his Flyers jersey for the first time in front of cameras, he coughed and said, "I've got to stop smoking!" Yet he is known for abstaining from alcohol, which he professes on his Twitter feed.
Nonetheless, Bryzgalov said his teammates and the Flyers organization have been much more welcoming than the weather.
He has skated in a few on-ice sessions with the likes of Danny Briere, Kimmo Timonen and new Flyer Max Talbot. One of Bryzgalov's old teammates from Anaheim, Chris Pronger, has been lingering around the Skate Zone as he continues his rehab from offseason back and hand surgeries.
"I see lots of talent in the guys, lots of talent and lots of passion to play hockey and to win," Bryzgalov said at his introductory press conference yesterday. "It's a team with a rich history. The team has always had the highest goal in front of them: to win the Stanley Cup. That's what it's all about: winning. That's all that matters."
Bryzgalov said he is willing to play as much in the Flyers' net as he is asked by coach Peter Laviolette. He has not played in fewer than 65 games in any of the last three seasons, all spent in Phoenix.
"It all depends how they decide, the coaches and management, how much I need to play," Bryzgalov said. "If they need me to play over 70 games, I will play 70 games. If they want me to play 50 games, I will play 50 games."
Paul Holmgren said the coaching staff will manage Bryzgalov's workload accordingly once the season starts, but added that if Bryzgalov appears fresh and is playing well, he could start more than 60 games this season.
"That's what we brought him in for," Holmgren said.
Bryzgalov admitted that it takes a juggling act of managing practice time and game time throughout the season in order to stay fresh for the playoffs.
"When you feel a little bit exhausted, tired physically and mentally, and you feel like you need to take a break, you have to take a break," he said.
"Because it's tough to practice every day and play almost every game. You're going to be exhausted. You've got to take a break once in a while."
Bryzgalov has not yet met all of his teammates. He has not been introduced to fellow Russian and new partner Sergei Bobrovsky. Bryzgalov has not worked with goaltending coach Jeff Reese. And he said he knows he cannot yet get lunch delivered to the locker room until training camp starts - a staple of the hockey season.
But he does know that he doesn't need a lot to transition from Phoenix to Philly - even if it does look like Russia.
"We're all hockey people," Bryzgalov said. "We know why we're here. We know what we have to do."
Slap shots
Paul Holmgren said Chris Pronger will visit with a back specialist in New York City today, hopefully to be cleared to begin weight training for the first time since his offseason surgery . . . Holmgren also said that defenseman Andrej Meszaros is fully healed from his May wrist surgery . . . Training camp begins on Sept. 17 and the Flyers will have 3 days to prep before their first preseason test on Sept. 20 in Toronto. Holmgren said he expects a lot of young players in the lineup during the Flyers' first four exhibition games, with four games in four nights and three of them on the road.
For more news and analysis,
read Frank Seravalli's blog, Frequent Flyers, at
www.philly.com/FrequentFlyers. Follow him on Twitter at
http://twitter.com/DNFlyers.
