Phightins

Haha yeah, you didn't miss much. Game was over 10 minutes in. The Couturier play looked awful at first. Slap shot right off his ear/upper neck area. In the minute or two that he was down on the ice, I thought it would look really ugly when he eventually got up. He was actually able to get up and skate off on basically his own power, but he was clearly concussed.

Couturier "not making the road trip" according to Holmgren. Down to one natural center, and Schenn and Giroux are not close to returning. Is Max Talbot really going to be centering the Hartnell/Jagr line? Ugh.

An absolutely miserable game comes to an end. Worse than the 6-0 score is the fact that the concussion count is up to 4. Four very good players too. This is getting ridiculous.

For what it's worth, EKS thinks Blanks and Guzman will be traded.

I think they had Blanks in LF for a while last year also. Seems like a pretty big risk to move a guy that isn't a natural OFer to LF in one of the biggest OFs in the league. Have to think at least 1 or 2 of those guys will be traded, even if they can get Blanks or Alonso to work in LF.

Not sure I can remember a worse game. And to think it's only 2/3 over...

Yep, as soon as the Padres find new homes for Rizzo, Blanks, and Guzman. But too much of something is never bad. Very interested to see what they do though.

Kyle Turris to Ottawa. About time.

And now Couturier goes down. Clearly concussed. Don't think it's possible for a worse 20 minutes of hockey.

Mat Latos to the Reds for Yonder Alonso, Yasmani Grandal, Edinson Volquez, and Brad Boxberger. My goodness that is a lot. But I like it for both teams.

Less than 10 minutes in and my sports afternoon is already shot. [expletive] Boston.

J-Roll is back. 3 years.

Martin fired.

I am dreading the inevitable Holmgren overreaction trade in response to the Pronger news. I am praying that the Flyers just stand pat. A top defenseman to fill Pronger's shoes would obviously be nice, but this team has no assets anywhere other than on the NHL roster. No prospects, very few attractive draft picks. Any trade would have to include guys who are already NHL contributors (i.e. Couturier, Read, Schenn, JvR). No thank you. Please resist the urge, Homer.

Michael Cuddyer is about to sign a 3 year, $31M contract with the Rockies. Great for Cuddyer, probably bad for the Rockies.

Yep, it's official. Really sucks. I am legitimately wondering if he will ever play again.

Pronger done for season. Terrible. Hopefully we will get better news on Giroux.

24/7 was awesome! Can't wait til next week.

That was fantastic. Jake Voracek is really good.

Phillies sign Dontrelle Willis. 1 year, $1M. Low risk, high reward. Interested to see how he can do as a LOOGY.

I am happy for John Stevens. Would be really cool if the Kings go on a hot streak, and they remove the "interim" tag from his title. I think he is a hell of a coach who got a pretty undeserved bad rap here in Philly.

Absolutely dreadful news about G. "Out indefinitely" are the two worst words a sports fan can here. The good news is that Couturier will finally get a chance to play with some real players. The bad news is pretty obvious. Our two best players are injured, and likely will be for a significant time. Interested to see what the lineup looks like tonight. I expect the power play to be horrid without Giroux AND Pronger.

Makes sense, he doesn't fit on the roster at all, with all of the other bigs returning, plus Vucevic. Honestly, good riddance.

I am reading nothing but good things from writers, coaches, and players about how training camp has gone so far. Not sure if it means much, but it is making me very optimistic. Supposedly everyone showed up ready to play, is in shape, etc. I also feel like the shortened offseason may benefit teams with good depth, such as the Sixers. At least at the beginning of the season. We'll see though. Also, the Marreese Speights trade chatter is picking up. Denver is supposedly interested. Have figured all along that Speights was on the way out. Now with Spencer Hawes and Tony Battie signed, and Nik Vucevic drafted, don't really see how Speights fits on the roster. I expect Speights will be gone within the next few days.

Ben Francisco traded to Toronto for minor league LOOGY Frank Gailey. Figured it was coming...don't really see where Francisco fits in on this bench anymore. From what I am reading, he may get regular at-bats in Toronto. He's a decent hitter when he gets regular time, and that is something he did not get here last season and certainly wouldn't be getting in 2012. I know absolutely nothing about Gailey, except that he is 26 years old and only has about 50 double-A innings to his name. So he likely sucks. But he is from Philly!