Sports Wrap... TAKE TWO

Now that I've gotten all of that basketball talk out of the way, we get to the good stuff: HOCKEY! I was getting exciting as the beginning of free agency loomed on July 1st and it certainly did not disappoint.

Having already completed a trade with Nashville for the rights to sign Kimmo Timonen, a number one defenseman, and Scott Hartnell, Paul Holmgren continued to work his magic by signing Daniel Briere. While it's pretty obvious that the Flyers definitely overpaid Briere, he should be a key acquisition for the Flyers. Pencil him in as the center of the Flyers top line with Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble and you've got a pretty potent #1 scoring line.

And as if signing Briere wasn't enough, Holmgren pulls the trigger on a trade, sending Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson to the Oilers for Joffrey Lupel and defenseman Jason Smith. Pure genius.

So with all of this revamping of the Flyers, they have now added three former Captains and a lot of young talent can blossom into some really special players. Dare I say that they are a playoff team now? I'm going to go out on a limb and say if everyone stays healthy and some of the young guys like Jeff Carter and Mike Richards step up, then indeed the Flyers will be a playoff team and definitely a force to be reckoned with.

While everything seems to be looking up for the Flyers, a shadow was cast over Philadelphia with the Rangers signing both Scott Gomez and Chris Drury to lucrative deals. The Rangers now have at least two elite scoring lines and a goalie who can be lights out frequently and who is only starting to hit his prime. The question that lingers for the Rangers regards their depth and also their blue liners. But I think that they can dominate with just the two scoring lines if need be.

The Penguins are also a scary good team that the Flyers will have to face eight times next season. They weren't big suitors in free agency, but they didn't necessarily need to be. They've got a great core of young players who are only going to get better and of course there's always that bastard Sidney Crosby. The Penguins weak link will continue to be Mark-Andre Fleury who tends to be inconsistent.

As for the other two teams in the division, the Devils and the Islanders, stick a fork in both of them because they're done; the Islanders more so than the Devils. That's right I'm saying it. The Devils have already lost Brian Rafalski and Scott Gomez to free agency. So unless the Devils pull off some kind of blockbuster trade, they will not be making the playoffs this year. Of course Brodeur will continue to keep them in a lot of games and they'll continue to have a stingy defense, but I don't think they have enough scoring for when Brodeur is off. So like I said, they'll compete but they will not be making the playoffs this year.

I'm thinking I might even do an abbreviated season preview right around when the season starts. Should be interesting.