NHL philadelphia Flyers

Heading into Friday's NHL draft, all eyes were on Ottawa's Dany Heatley and Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier when it came to potential blockbuster trades. When all was said and done, the first domino to fall was Anaheim sending defenseman Chris Pronger to Philadelphia for Joffrey Lupol, Luca Sbisa, and two first-round picks.

Now that, my friends, is a blockbuster.

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It's not always a bad thing when a television network has too much influence over a sports league's schedule. Sometimes, doing things for the sake of ratings is good.

However, I'm pretty sure most hockey fans would agree it is not a good idea to pander to a television network when that network wants to avoid the two-time Hart Trophy winner. That appears to be what the NHL has done for NBC, and it involves the league's signature regular-season event, the Winter Classic.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.

Heading into the offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers have, roughly, $42 million committed to 11 players for the 2009-10 season, and none of those players happen to be a goaltender. That's because the team's two-headed monster from this past season, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, is eligible for unrestricted free agency, and there's really not a long-term solution banging down the door in the pipeline to the NHL.

Put it all together, and it leads to the news we heard on Wednesday that the team is interested in signing free agent goalie Ray Emery this offseason.

If Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk is going to claim his second straight Selke Trophy as the league's best defensive forward, he's going to have to overcome two excellent players in Philadelphia's Mike Richards and Vancouver's Ryan Kesler.

Regarded as one of the top defensive players in the game, Datsyuk finished second with 89 takeaways, trailing only Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin, who finished with 94. It's the first time in two years that Datsyuk has not led the league in that category, while he was also credited with 33 blocked shots and won over 56 percent of his faceoffs.

After getting shutout on home ice Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins appeared to be in some serious trouble on Saturday afternoon as they spotted the Philadelphia Flyers a three-goal lead early in the second period.

Five unanswered goals, and a couple of key saves by Marc-Andre Fleury later, the Penguins escaped Philadelphia with a 5-3 win, eliminating the Flyers in six games to advance to the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

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The fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins arrived at Mellon Arena on Thursday night in hopes that their team, owners of a three-games-to-one series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers, could end their first round series with a win and become the second team in the conference to advance to the next round.

The crowd came dressed right for sure, as the locals, in a nod to the disenfranchised fans of Manitoba, came dressed for a "Winnipeg White Out" -- Pittsburgh style.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, the Flyers were having none of it. After surviving a first period where they were outshot by the Penguins, 15-5, the Flyers shifted into a workmanlike style of playoff hockey that stifled Pittsburgh offensively and erased their power play once again. Toss in a solid, if unspectacular performance from Philadelphia goalie Martin Biron (28 saves), and it all added up to a neat 3-0 victory for the Flyers that extended the series, forcing the Penguins to travel back to Philadelphia for a Game 6.

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After struggling on Sunday, Marc-Andre Fleury rebounded with a sensational performance on Tuesday night, stopping 44-of-45 shots in Pittsburgh's 3-1 against Philadelphia in game 4 of its Eastern Conference Quarterfinal.

No question about it, the Penguins' 24-year-old netminder was their best player, standing on his head much of the game, giving them an opportunity to win. The Flyers were consistently swarming the front of the net -- and firing shots from every possible angle on each of their eight power plays -- as Fleury was there every single time to make the stops.

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When the Pittsburgh Penguins needed a big save on Friday night, Marc-Andre Fleury was there to make it. When they needed a big save in Sunday's 6-3 loss in Philadelphia -- or any save, for that matter -- they didn't get it. Actually, they didn't get much of anything from any player, with the lone exception of Evgeni Malkin, as the Philadelphia Flyers thoroughly dominated game 3, setting the stage for what could be an epic game 4 on Tuesday night.

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Forget for one second, if you can, that Bill Guerin scored a pair of goals -- including the game-winner in overtime -- in Pittsburgh's 3-2 win over Philadelphia on Friday night. The biggest moment of this game, and the highlight of this game, was without question Marc-Andre Fleury's ridiculous save on Jeff Carter midway through the third period.

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