CAUTION: Big time Rant by a Philadelphia Flyers Fan ahead. Proceed with the article at your own risk!
I think I’ve held my tongue long enough, and quite frankly this has been a long time coming. Luckily, thanks to PHLSportsNation and FlyersNation, I am one of the very few Flyers fans who have a platform in which I can express my thoughts and feelings about my beloved Philadelphia Flyers and the rest of the NHL.
Now, the NHL just broke the camel’s back and as the famous Rock band, Twisted Sister said: WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT (ANYMORE)!
So, what exactly am I talking about? Well, as you may or may not have seen the NHL and the NHL Network have been having a Top-20 List for players they feel are at the top of every position, and a Top-10 List for goalies.
A couple of days ago they asked the NHL Universe (NHL fans) who they thought were the “Top 10 Goalies” in the NHL right now.
The voting came back and as you can see the hockey world thinks that Carter Hart is currently the 4th best goalie in the NHL right now. The fans think that Hart, right now at 22 years of age is only behind Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck, and Cary Price, who is Hart’s hero and whom Carter Hart clearly outplayed and eliminated in this past season’s NHL Playoffs. Now, there may be an argument to be made that he should not be fourth, and he should be sixth, or seventh or maybe even third. Doesn’t matter, the point is he should clearly be in the top 10.
Well, the VERY NEXT DAY, the NHL and NHL Network came out with THEIR Top 10 Goalies List, and would you like to venture as to who is clearly missing from this list? If you said Carter Hart of the Philadelphia Flyers then you’d be absolutely correct! Not only did they add Ben Bishop, who wasn’t in the Fans Top 10 List, but they put him in at FOURTH!! Would any hockey fan out there, ANY AT ALL, feel comfortable going into a 7-game playoff series with Bishop as your starter? Yeah, I didn’t think so.
They also added John Gibson to the list at seventh. I mean Gibson has played well in the REGULAR SEASON, but seventh-best? Quick, a show of hands, how many of you think that ANY General Manager in the NHL would rather have Gibson over Hart? Anyone? Anyone at all? Ahh… nothing but the sound of crickets. I see. It’s very telling, isn’t it?
Disappointed? BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE
When the NHL and the NHL Network asked the NHL Universe/fans about the top wingers in the NHL right now, and the fans voted Travis Konecny and Claude Giroux as the tenth and eleventh best wingers respectively. Yet when the NHL came out with THEIR Top-20 List of NHL Wingers, Travis Konecny was nowhere to be found on that list and Claude Giroux was dropped to eighteenth.
Just curious, any of you think that ANY GM would rather have J.T. Miller over Konecny? REALLY? Okay then.
BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE.
Let’s do the same exercise with NHL Defensemen. The NHL Universe/fans voted Ivan “Drago” Provorov the fifteenth best NHL Defenseman right now, and as much of a travesty as that is, the NHL didn’t have Provorov on THEIR Top-20 List AT ALL!! But you know who they did have in their top-20?
Amongst others: Morgan Rielly and old man Drew Doughty and his splendid Plus/Minus of MINUS (-) 16. Take a look at this list. There are at least 8-12 defensemen on this list that I WOULD NOT take over Provorov!!
Hey NHL: PROVY NOT EVEN ON THIS LIST!! WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU GUYS SMOKIN’ WHEN YOU PUT THIS LIST TOGETHER??!
AND LASTLY.
The Top-20 Centers: The NHL Universe/fans voted Flyers Sean Couturier, the reigning Selke Trophy Champion, the VERY BEST faceoff man in the NHL, the center who ranks third in even-strength total points in the last 3 season, as the ninth-best Center in the NHL, while teammate Kevin Hayes was voted the sixth-best Center in the NHL… Ahhh…remember when the NHL “Experts” said that the Flyers WAYYYYY overpaid for Hayes? Yeah, me neither.
Well the NHL and all their “Experts” and I use that term loosely, dropped Couturier to 18th on their list, and completely REMOVED Hayes from the list altogether.
I’m at a loss…. Can’t help but scratch my head at the injustice here.
Now I know that it’s the offseason and perhaps the NHL and NHL Network are grasping at straws, trying to fill its airtime with these types of lists and polls, etc. but hey, how about making them realistic?
Yeah, yeah, I know, the NHL loves that we talk about these lists and scrutinize them, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD: MAKE THEM REALISTIC! What an absolute joke!
Who’s doing these for you, Mike Milbury? What kind of nonsense is this? Hey Philadelphia Flyers: The NHL clearly hates you and will use every opportunity to try and put you down!! You REALLY wanna piss them off? Use this and go out and WIN the 2020-21 Stanley Cup! It will tear them apart! It will eat at their soul! They will go through an entire year with acid indigestion because of you!
Let’s finish what we started in 2019-20 and LET’S DO IT!
As for you NHL “Experts” (Pffffttt): Eat my shorts!
Featured Image: PhiladelphiaInquirer.com/FrankGunn
