Paul Holmgren

The Flyers released their postseason injury report Saturday, and it included three players who recently had surgery, and two players who will have operations this week, according to general manager Paul Holmgren. Star center Claude Giroux, who had said Scott Hartnell took some of his playoff faceoffs to give him some work, had surgery on both wrists. The 24-year-old Giroux had surgery on his right wrist to repair torn cartilage, and on his left wrist to remove bone spurs. Recovery time is six weeks.

The hard-partying ways of Flyers captain Mike Richards and center Jeff Carter played a major role in the organization's decision to trade both players in June, say two Flyers who played with the pair last season. Carter was sent to the Columbus Blue Jackets for free agent forward Jakub Voracek and first- and third-round picks in the draft, and Richards was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn. The two unnamed players said that the Flyers front office was disappointed in Carter and Richards' longstanding party lifestyle and that teammates were concerned about the pair's drinking.

The Flyers have hired Paul Holmgren to scout other NHL teams, general manager Bob Clarke said yesterday. Clarke also indicated that Bill Barber, who stepped down as director of pro scouting to replace Jay Leach as head coach of the minor-league Hershey Bears, had the inside track to become coach of the Flyers' expansion American Hockey League team next season. Holmgren, fired as head coach of the Hartford Whalers on Nov. 6, was head coach of the Flyers from 1988 to '91, and served as an assistant to Mike Keenan before taking over.

Stalemate. That's the best way to describe the state of negotiations between the Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs on a potential trade of Eric Lindros' rights. Yesterday, players, coaches, and even Maple Leafs owner Steve Stavro railed over what they said had become such a huge distraction that it was hurting the struggling Leafs, who have been fighting for a playoff berth but are falling in the Eastern Conference standings. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Flyers management and scouts met for what they said was a routine meeting and went home in the early afternoon without hearing from the Leafs.

For all his good work in the last two-plus seasons, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren deserves a mulligan. If managing a hockey team is described in golf terms, Holmgren has been under par on most of the courses he has played since assuming his duties on Nov. 11, 2006. But, backed against the $56.7 million salary cap because of his previous moves, he scored a triple-bogey recently. First, he tried to clear cap space by sneaking popular veterans Glen Metropolit and Ossi Vaananen through waivers.

The Flyers' search for a new general manager won't stop at the door of Colin Campbell. The club announced yesterday that Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations and chief disciplinarian, had declined to be a candidate for the job. "Colin Campbell and I have been friends for a very long time, and we both have worked closely together on the NHL's competition committee," club chairman Ed Snider said in a statement.? "When Bob Clarke announced his resignation on Oct. 22, I contacted Colin and we had a discussion about the general manager position," Snider said.

Losing to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference finals, the Flyers realized, in the words of coach John Stevens, that they have to "close the gap" between themselves and others. Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said yesterday that he wants to see what the Penguins do in the Stanley Cup Finals and in their bid to re-sign 12 unrestricted free agents this summer. Pittsburgh will look very different next fall. The gap between the Penguins and Flyers could shrink between July 1, when free agency begins, and early October, when the season starts.

There is a downside to the Flyers' surprising playoff run: They get a lousy position in the first round of Friday's NHL draft. Nevertheless, the club is hoping the player it drafts will make a mark down the road. The Flyers will select 27th overall, and before you start thinking that pickings are slim at that position, consider this: Jimmy Watson, Pelle Lindbergh, Ron Hextall, Rick Tocchet, Chris Therien and Vinny Prospal were among the Flyers selected much later than 27th.

It is logical for the average Flyers fan to see the team huddled deep in the basement of the NHL standings and conclude that it is going to be quite a while before the Flyers become a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. Paul Holmgren doesn't think so. He's convinced the two-year contract extension through the 2008-09 season that he received yesterday, when the Flyers officially committed to him as their general manager, is long enough to prove his point. "I think it can be one year," Holmgren said yesterday.

AFTER A SEASON and a half, the Flyers fired Phantoms coach Joe Paterson on Tuesday. It comes after Adirondack's best single-season AHL record (37-35-4) since the franchise moved there from Philadelphia in 2009. "As an organization, we feel the Phantoms need a new voice moving forward," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. "We feel a new direction is needed at this time. " Paterson, a former Flyer, was named the Phantoms' head coach on Dec. 20, 2010. He posted a combined record of 62-55-8 in 125 games.

The Flyers fired Phantoms head coach Joe Paterson on Tuesday after a season and a half on the job, even after he produced the team's best single-season American Hockey League record (37-35-4) this past season since the team moved to Adirondack in 2009. "As an organization, we feel the Phantoms need a new voice moving forward," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. Paterson, a former Flyer, was named the Phantoms' head coach on Dec. 20, 2010. He posted a combined record of 62-55-8 in 125 games behind the bench.

AFTER A SEASON and a half, the Flyers fired Phantoms coach Joe Paterson on Tuesday. It comes after Adirondack's best single-season AHL record (37-35-4) since the franchise moved there from Philadelphia in 2009. "As an organization, we feel the Phantoms need a new voice moving forward," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said in a statement. "We feel a new direction is needed at this time. " Paterson, a former Flyer, was named the Phantoms' head coach on Dec. 20, 2010. He posted a combined record of 62-55-8 in 125 games.

The Flyers released their postseason injury report Saturday, and it included three players who recently had surgery, and two players who will have operations this week, according to general manager Paul Holmgren. Star center Claude Giroux, who had said Scott Hartnell took some of his playoff faceoffs to give him some work, had surgery on both wrists. The 24-year-old Giroux had surgery on his right wrist to repair torn cartilage, and on his left wrist to remove bone spurs. Recovery time is six weeks.

The Flyers want goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to perform like Martin Brodeur, not Martin Lawrence. Like Jimmy Howard, not Jimmy Fallon. Like Jonathan Quick, not Jonathan Winters. That was the gist of a comment made by general manager Paul Holmgren the other day. "His job is to stop pucks and help us win games," Holmgren said. "It's not Comedy Central. " Holmgren's tone was good-natured, and he was not being critical of Bryzgalov. Fact is, he enjoys the goalie's different outlook on things.

Right winger Jaromir Jagr hinted he will test the free-agent market, and general manager Paul Holmgren didn't rule out the return of captain Chris Pronger next season. Those developments highlighted the Flyers' season-ending news conference Thursday at their practice facility in Voorhees. Jagr, 40, who had a 19-goal season, was given several chances to say he wanted to return to the Flyers. He did not bite. It appears he will test the free-agent market on July 1. "Hopefully, we are going to find some team where I can play," said Jagr, who earned $3.3 million this season.

It is not a pretty snapshot. The new-look Flyers fell apart in astonishing fashion in the second round of the playoffs. Meanwhile, the jettisoned cornerstones of the old-look Flyers are preparing for the Western Conference finals as members of the Los Angeles Kings. It is hard to look at that picture without concluding that Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren took a gamble and lost when he radically remade the team last summer. But this snapshot is not the complete picture, because the complete picture is not available yet. Even if Mike Richards and Jeff Carter skate with the Stanley Cup this year, the picture will not be complete.

JAROMIR JAGR sauntered into the Flyers' sullen dressing room on Thursday afternoon and bit his tongue. Despite glowing remarks about Philadelphia, the Flyers and his teammates - saying that this year was the most fun he's had playing, including winning back-to-back Stanley Cups with Pittsburgh in the early 1990s - Jagr would not make any promises as to his status for next season. Jagr, 40, wants to play in the NHL. He just doesn't know if it will be in Philadelphia. "I want to play somewhere where I know teams will want me to," Jagr said.

CAN THE FLYERS' system, as currently constructed, win a Stanley Cup? On the surface, the question seems easily dismissed. Peter Laviolette won a Stanley Cup in Carolina and went to the finals with a Flyers team only two seasons ago, using a pair of journeyman goalies, no less. And yet the way it has ended for him over the last two springs - his offensive-minded men bottled up haplessly in their own end by healthy, defensive-minded teams in Boston and New Jersey - has created not merely seeds of doubt, but weeds of it. And so, as they packed their bags up Thursday at Skate Zone, this was the overriding discussion: Did a team that dispatched the Stanley Cup-favorite Penguins with 30 goals in their first-round matchup, and had a week to rest and recharge, simply get outplayed by a sixth-seeded Devils team that had to rally just to push past Florida in seven games the previous series?

MATT CARLE kept his head down, carrying a bag of ice to melt away pain from a lingering, undisclosed injury. Tuesday night's Game 5 could have been Carle's last game in a Flyers uniform. Carle, 27, one of the Flyers' most steady and underrated defensemen, finished off his 4-year, $13.75 million deal this spring. He is set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Due to salary-cap tagging restraints, restricting teams from exceeding this year's cap figure before next year's number is announced, the Flyers cannot possibly sign Carle before July 1. That means Carle's team, with Denver-based agent Kurt Overhardt, will be able to field offers from all 29 other teams when the clock strikes noon on the first day of July.

The Philadelphia Flyers hold "The Meeting" every spring, and this was the one in 2006. The team employs more than a dozen scouts, scattered in outposts around the globe. Their task is both simple and simply daunting: to identify kids who will grow up to look good in orange and black. In the weeks before the NHL draft, the scouts gather to assemble and sift through a list of these kids. Arguments are had. Voices are raised. It is the scouts' business, after all, and their passions are being tested, their reputations on the line.