With the trade deadline and all that it represents creeping up on him, general manager Paul Holmgren offered a brief evaluation of the Flyers.
"I like our team," Holmgren said. "I still do."
Holmgren was announcing a trade - draft picks for Dallas defenseman Nicklas Grossman - that will not satisfy fans hungering for Luke Schenn or Rick Nash. He wasn't ruling out a bigger, more exciting deal, but he seemed to be tamping down expectations at the same time.
It would be nice if the GM could pull a difference-making defenseman out of his sleeve, but Holmgren deserves a little bit of slack. After all, the man did remake the entire personality and style of his team with some fearless wheeling and dealing over the summer.
Those decisions, with one important exception, look very good right now. The additions - Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn, Max Talbot, Jaromir Jagr - are having better years than the subtractions. Mike Richards has 14 goals and 14 assists, and a plus-1 rating, for the Kings. Jeff Carter has 12 goals, nine assists, and a minus-9 in Columbus. Ville Leino, who signed as a free agent with Buffalo, brought his four goals and 11 assists back to the Wells Fargo Center Thursday night.
It isn't totally fair to judge those guys based on a half season with unfamiliar teammates. Maybe they will bounce back and become franchise-type players. But Holmgren went for the big do-over here and his moves really do look good so far.
The one important exception, of course, is goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov. He has had a peculiar first season here, to put it gently. He has been open, perhaps too open, about his mental adjustment to playing for this franchise in this city. And he has been up and down, literally and in terms of results, on the ice.
Coming off a bout with the flu, Bryzgalov got off to the worst possible start. He gave up two goals in the first 10 minutes against the Sabres. Even though he had no chance on the first, the red warning lights in your head immediately began flashing.
But Bryzgalov was solid the rest of the way. Meanwhile, Simmonds led the Flyers on a seven-goal binge and an easy, feel-good win. Not bad, considering that Simmonds got hit in the mouth with a puck during warm-ups. He had to wear an unfamiliar shield, but he still posted up in the rough area in front of the net and created two goals off rebounds.
