Take a Good Look, Because this Is the Last Time You're Going to See These

So the Flyers brass proved me wrong and released Bryan Berard today. I'm fairly sure he still has what it takes to play in the NHL. Don't be surprised to see him facing off against the Flyers at some point this season. In a less surprising move the Flyers also released Jim Dowd. It's highly improbable that he'll get picked up by anyone except gay rapist James Franco, but who knows.

So the Flyers have narrowed the roster down to 12 forwards, at least on their website. And it sounds like that, from out of no where, Princeton grad Darrel Powe might be the 13th forward. He played a decent game and even killed a penalty in Saturday's loss to the Devils. Who knew. Claude Giroux had 2 assists over the weekend as the Phantoms dropped two games to Norfolk. He also got into a fight according to my sources - I'd be interested to see that one. It's good to see him getting on the scoresheet. Maybe all he needs is a little AHL confidence boost before he gets the 20 goals he owes me and the rest of the Flyers fans.

With the release of Berard it looks like the defense is going to consist of Kimmo, Braydon, LLRJ, Ossi, Eminger, Kukky, and Parent. Both LLRJ and Parent are nursing injuries and in a double surprise move Luca Sbisa and NHL vet Danny Syvret are still up with the club. The Flyers can keep Sbisa for 10 regular season games before they would have to sign him to an NHL contract and not just an entry level contract. He's already missed 7 games with Lethbridge. Who knows what's going to happen. If neither LLRJ nor Parent are ready to go on Saturday I could see Sbisa in the lineup over Syvret. I could have seen Berard over both but as every GM in the league will tell you it all comes down to numbers. But I'm guessing LLRJ will be ready to knock the Rangers of their horse that is high on Saturday night and Sbisa will be sent down later this week.