Cheers, jeers and pushes

So this weekend the Flyers played their all important 11th game of the season, which means its time for the customary 11th game look back at what has transpired so far. Now I know, you're probably saying to yourself: "if I read one more of these '11th Game Lookbacks' I've going to hit myself in the head with a brick 11 times.

To that I say: I feel your pain but I must do this. It's my pretend job and it's the 11th game of the year. What kind of blogger would I be if I ignored this milestone? Not a very good one is the answer to that rhetorical question.

Now, I figured that the best way to handle this situation would be to hand out cheers, jeers and pushes to the three most deserving players in each category.

Three Cheers

Matt Carle

In his second year with the Flyers, Matt Carle has gone from the guy that we traded Steve Downie for to we got THIS guy for just Steve Downie? Really?!?! Carle is tied for the team lead in points with 12, leads the team with 10 assists and is among the league leading defensemen in each category. What a difference playing with Chris Pronger can make. In fact, I seriously considered putting Pronger in here solely for what he's done to Carle. I mean Pronger has been real good so far, but Carle looks like a different player.

James van Riemsdyk

JVR went from being a darkhorse candidate to make the team out of camp to the team's third leading scorer despite missing two games with a head injury. JVR has certainly lived up to his second overall draft selection thus far and, even better, he hasn't beaten any cabbies up over 10 cents yet, so in a way he has been even better then #1 pick Patrick Kane. As good as the offensive numbers are, van Riemsdyk is currently rated a +4 and has only taken two penalties thus far. Good defense, good discipline AND good offense at only 20 years old? My god. Could be something real special going on here...

Ray Emery

Ah yes. The much maligned Ray Emery. The man who once was paid a hundred bucks to eat a cockroach. The man who blazed down Ottawa's freeways like his tailpipe was on fire. The man who was banished to the depths of Russia, only to emerge and play pretty darn good hockey. Who would have thought? Emery's numbers haven't been spectacular (6-3-1, 2.46 GAA, .915 SV%, 1 SO) but they have been real solid. Considering he spent all of last year playing against inferior (Sorry KHL) competition, I'd say that Razor has adapted pretty well to coming back to the big leagues. And I expect him to get even better as the season progresses.

Three Jeers

Brian Boucher

Emery's backup has been less than spectacular thus far. Granted he's only had one start (0-1-0, 4.00 GAA, .860 SV%) but he had an even worse preseason. As much as I've enjoyed watching Emery, I don't think he can pull a Marty Brodeur and start 79 games this year. Emery's going to need some help and the Flyers are going to need to be able to trust Boucher against teams that don't play in Toronto or Long Island... knock on wood.

Simon Gagne

One goal and four assists through nine games isn't going to cut it from a former 40+ goal scorer. And now he's hurt and on long term injured reserve. Great. I love Simon but this season has been a bust thus far. Hopefully he gets himself healthy and tears it up in the second half.

Braydon Coburn

Until Saturday's two goal explosion vs. the Hurricanes, the highlight of Coburn's season had been the goal he put in his own net against the Penguins. His -8 rating got him bumped off of the second defensive pairing, but an injury to Ryan Parent seems to have helped him get his old job back. Maybe the two goals and the almost demotion will wake up a guy who was once relied on to shut down Alex Ovechkin.

Three Pushes

Claude Giroux

Giroux may be enduring a bit of a sophomore slump as far as his point totals are concerned (one goal, four assists) but he has shown flashes of the player that he was in last year's playoffs. He still makes the same dazzling moves and unbelievable passes, the only difference is that this year they haven't been showing up on the score board. As long as he keeps playing the way that he is, the stats will come around. Giroux is simply too talented for them not to.

Danny Briere

Briere had a solid camp and started the year looking better then he had in a long time, then he hit a wall. Now he's hurt. Five goals and two assists aren't terrible numbers, and prior to the injury, Briere looked great, but he seemed to have been bitten by the same bug that got Giroux. Plays well but doesn't end up on the score sheet.

Kimmo Timonen

To be fair, this hasn't entirely been Kimmo's fault. It's sort of hard to get tagged for a minus rating when your defensive partner puts the puck into his own net, as Braydon Coburn did. It's also hard to get tagged for more minus ratings because your defensive partner can't seem to keep his head on straight in his own end. Again, see Coburn. The problem is that Kimmo is a top tier NHL defenseman and he is currently sitting a -8. Not pretty. Kimmo has been inconsistent, possibly as a result of Pronger stepping in as the team's top defender. Whatever is going on for Kimmo, he'll sort it out. You don't play all those years in Nashville without learning a thing or two about dealing with hardship after all.

So there you have it. Feel free to share your own rankings as you see fit. Please do! I need some comments. Heck, if you think my list is garbage tell me. I'm open to criticism. Sure, I'll definitely cry if you say my list is garbage, but I'm still open to criticism. I just don't take it well...