Meltzer’s Musings: Fedotenko; Which D Stay or Go?

AGENT DENIES FEDOTENKO-TO-KHL REPORTS

Yesterday, there were several reports in the Russian media that Ruslan Fedotenko has signed a three-year deal with Ukraine-based KHL team Donbass Donetsk. The Ukrainian forward played for Donbass during the NHL lockout, centering the club's top line.

Fedotenko's NHL agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted a denial of the reports later in the day: "There is no truth

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Meltzer’s Musings: Which Forwards Stay? Who Goes ? PLUS Draft Thoughts

Over the next few days, my blogs will look at which Flyers players are likely to stay on the team next year, which ones are likely not to be back and which ones are on the fence. There can always be surprises, especially after a season in which the team missed the playoffs. However, most of the selections are pretty easy to peg in terms of probability.

In the first installment, I took thumbnail

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Meltzer’s Musings: Thoughts and Notes from Clean-Out Day

Clean out day at the Skate Zone in Voorhees came way too early this year. After 48 games of hockey in a season shortened by a needless lockout, the Flyers are going home for the summer. There will be many tough decisions to come and many veteran departures during the offseason.

Over the remainder of this week, I will look at some of these issues in detail.

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BUILDING BLOCKS FOR 20

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Meltzer’s Musings: Season Finale, Time to Look Ahead

There are only two possible ways that an NHL team's season can end with a win: winning the Stanley Cup or missing the playoffs but winning the final game of the regular season. Unfortunately, the 2013 Philadelphia Flyers did it the undesirable latter way.

Last night, the Flyers closed out their disappointing 2013 season with a 2-1 road win over the Ottawa Senators. The victory pushed the Flye

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Flyers Gameday: 4/27/13 @ Senators

PREVIEW 8:45 AM EDT

In the final game of their 2013 season, the Philadelphia Flyers (22-22-3) will try to push their record above .500 for the first time in the entire 48-game schedule. They are on the road tonight, taking on an Ottawa Senators (24-16-6) club that needs to win in order to jump over the New York Islanders and clinch the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. The game sta

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Meltzer’s Musings: Bittersweet Home Finale

In a normal 82-game season, the Flyers would still have 35 games left to play at a comparable point in the schedule. The talk right now might be about how the club, devastated by injuries, has pulled together after a terrible start and numerous winnable games that ended up in regulation losses.

There would still be many ongoing concerns about the club's glaring weaknesses. Eveb so, there would

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Flyers Gameday: 4/25/13 vs. Islanders PLUS Team Award Predictions

PREVIEW 5:15 AM EDT

In the penultimate game and final home match of their 2013 season, the Philadelphia Flyers (21-22-3) host the playoff-bound New York Islanders (24-16-6) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7:00 p.m. and will broadcast locally on CSN Philadelphia.

This is the fourth and final meeting between the teams this season. On Presidents' Day, the Flyers laid a 7-0 road sm

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Meltzer’s Musings: Honoring Boston, Beating the Bruins

For all the negative attention that gets focused by the national media on Philadelphia sports fans, the local Flyers denizens have shown many times over the years that beneath the tough exterior are people with big hearts who understand when life transcends sports.

The "booing Santa Claus" and "cheering when Michael Irvin (or other fill-in-the-blank opposing players) got injured" stories get re

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Flyers Gameday: 4/23/13 vs. Bruins

PREVIEW 8:00 AM EDT

With three games overall and two home matches remaining before they take an early summer vacation, the Philadelphia Flyers (20-22-3) host the Northeast Division leading Boston Bruins (27-12-5) at the Wells Fargo Center. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. and will broadcast nationally on NBC Sports Network.

This is the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and t

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Meltzer’s Musings: Bryzgalov, Hartnell, Wellwood

When the Flyers sort through the rubble of their disappointing 2013 season and begin to plan their roster for next year, there will be some difficult decisions to make. The buyout writing seems to be on the wall for Danny Briere. The team also has to decide whether to exercise a second compliance buyout this summer or wait until the summer of 2014.

The second potential amnesty target that alwa

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