The club unveiled new jerseys Wednesday to be worn as alternates for the upcoming season, which feature gold accents and numbers to commemorate a half-century of Flyers hockey.
The internet, as one might expect in 2016, did not react kindly:
After being traded to the Arizona Coyotes prior to free agency, the pending UFA signed a long-term deal with the club soon after, and he believes he can provide valuable puck-moving from the blue line.
"I'm here to play hockey the way I know how to play it - moving the puck, playing solid defense, and helping the offense," Goligoski told the team's official site. "There's a lot of parts of my game that can help."
Goligoski recently arrived in the desert, and has been participating in informal skates with some of his new teammates, including Shane Doan. He spoke highly of the Arizona captain.
"I'm just getting to know him in my short time here, (but) he seems like an awesome guy," Goligoski said. "He's a lot of fun out there. He obviously enjoys the game and he's out there smiling every day and that's infectious. It's good for this group."
As a member of the Dallas Stars last season, Goligoski was a key contributor to the team qualifying for the playoffs and advancing to the second round. The veteran defenseman believes the Coyotes aren't far from reaching that level, and is confident in the possibility of playoff contention.
"I think they took a huge step last year and I think we're here to build on that and I think I can help there," Goligoski said. "From what I've seen so far, and I've talked to guys, everyone is really motivated and there's just kind of a good vibe around the team right now. It's exciting.
"For me, I did my homework a little bit, too, with the prospects coming up and what guys are here right now, and everything I heard and everything that I looked into, it seemed like a great fit."
Team Europe, the melting pot from non-hockey-mad nations on the other side of the pond, has more questions than answers in advance of the World Cup of Hockey's rebirth.
With chemistry between players from previous stints with club and country virtually non-existent, we attempt to piece together lines, pairings, and units for Ralph Krueger's assorted roster.
Forwards
With an abundance of right wingers, Team Europe's top three centers and lefties fall into place with dominant two-way center Anze Kopitar pairing with new rival Mikkel Boedker on the top line.
Marian Hossa will be a stabilizing force on the second line playing with two talented attacking players in Leon Draisaitl and Tomas Tatar, while Frans Nielsen centers two diminishing top-six players on the third unit.
LW
C
RW
Mikkel Boedker
Anze Kopitar
Mats Zuccarello
Tomas Tatar
Leon Draisaitl
Marian Hossa
Thomas Vanek
Frans Nielsen
Marian Gaborik
Nino Niederreiter
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare
Jannik Hansen
Tobias Rieder
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare plays down the middle on a checking line with goal-scoring capability on the wing in Nino Niederreiter and Jannik Hansen.
Defensemen
With a ratio that would cause Mike Babcock to break into cold sweats, Team Europe will carry seven left-shot defensemen and zero right-handers.
Roman Josi and Mark Streit form a solid puck-moving pair, while Boston Bruins teammates Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg will punch up in a shutdown role.
LD
RD
Roman Josi
Mark Streit
Zdeno Chara
Dennis Seidenberg
Christian Ehrhoff
Andrej Sekera
Luca Sbisa
Goaltenders
It has to be considered anyone's crease in advance to puck drop, with three solid, yet unspectacular options.
Expect the open competition pre-tournament between Frederik Andersen, Jaroslav Halak, and Thomas Greiss to spill into the contest.
G
Frederik Andersen
Jaroslav Halak
Thomas Greiss
Power Play
Team Europe shouldn't deviate far from their even-strength framework when on the man advantage. Europe's first line consists of five players who were among the league leaders in power-play time. And Nielsen joins a free-flowing and highly skilled four-man second unit anchored by Chara.
Unit
LW
C
RW
LD
RD
1
Mikkel Boedker
Anze Kopitar
Mats Zuccarello
Roman Josi
Mark Streit
2
Tomas Tatar
Leon Draisaitl
Marian Hossa
Frans Nielsen
Zdeno Chara
Penalty Kill
Europe has a consummate first unit, and a sound second pair of forwards, but will have to tax Josi and Chara while playing a man down as there is a dramatic fall in capability when it comes to their secondary defenders.
The Philadelphia Flyers winger recorded himself at a Bruce Springsteen concert Tuesday, and offered his rendition, though missing some key lyrics, to the classic "Born to Run."
@jachobe haha at least you got the born to run part!!
Everything on Ryan Callahan's recovery schedule is going according to plan.
The Tampa Bay Lightning winger underwent hip surgery in June - forcing his removal from Team USA's World Cup roster - and is "on schedule" to return by mid-November, his initial timeline, reports Joe Smith of the Tampa Bay Times.
That said, expectations at this point aren't sure fire.
"It's such a long estimated timetable that there's obviously variation in there," Callahan said. "Some guys come back a little bit earlier than that, some guys it's five months. If it's before then, then great."
Last season, Callahan scored 10 goals and 18 assists in 73 games, chipping in four points in 16 playoff contests.
That would have to be the most appropriate way to describe many of the talented international players representing Team Europe at the upcoming World Cup of Hockey. Because while Anze Kopitar, Roman Josi, Mats Zuccarello, and others that hail from nations normally overmatched in best-on-best competition have been thrown a bone, they ought to still be considered underdogs.
Here are three questions facing Team Europe:
Wherein lies the motivation?
For the most part, players taking part in the NHL's international showcase can glance down at the crest on their sweaters to be reminded of precisely why they're in Toronto, and not soaking up the final rays of summer.
For Team Europe, though, that glance may only produce more wonder.
Patriotism is what makes elite talents put forth maximal effort in competition in the absence of compensation. Can we expect players thrown together by largely arbitrary means - who don't share a flag, anthem, or impetus - to meet that same standard?
Who starts in goal?
Team Europe has three netminders proven capable (in spurts) of providing the elite goaltending required at best-on-best competitions, but no truly obvious candidate to run with the starter's role.
Frederik Andersen and Jaroslav Halak have near-identical numbers through ebbs and flows of their last three seasons, sporting unspectacular but solid .919 and .918 save percentages, respectively.
However, it's Halak's backup in New York - and the presumptive third-string goaltender for Europe - who's coming off the best statistical NHL campaign of the three options in net. Thomas Greiss' .925 save percentage was the third-highest among those with more than 40 appearances. He also backstopped the New York Islanders to their first playoff-series win in 23 years while Halak nursed a lower-body injury.
Can this team gel?
It won't be easy on the Southampton F.C. chair.
When the well-traveled Ralph Krueger returns to coach NHL players for the first time since being fired by the Edmonton Oilers three seasons ago, he won't have the luxury of leaning on an existing rapport among members of the Team Europe roster. Of the 20 skaters who hail from 10 different countries, only Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg on the back end and Kopitar and Marian Gaborik up front have played together long enough to build lasting chemistry.
With nations choosing players in the past based solely on familiarity with one another, and with little time for introductions, having virtually no existing chemistry puts Team Europe at a considerable disadvantage.
If you weren't aware, yes, Jaromir Jagr is still the most interesting man alive.
The Florida Panthers forward further proved as much by being the sole model for Klenoty Aurum Jewellery's - a store in his native Czech Republic - 2017 calendar.
If Jagr, I mean the calendar, is something you would like to get your hands on, you'll have to make the trip to the Czech Republic, as the calendar is only available in stores or online locally.
