The netminder, who has been out of the NHL and playing in the Russian league because of his own bad behavior, managed to stop all 28 shots that he faced and helped the Philadelphia Flyers secure a 2-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.

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Emery definitely sent a message in his debut with the Flyers by posting his ninth career shutout.  Looks like history repeated itself since the last three times that Emery has faced the Canes, he’s been able to completely shut them down.

Between the solid goaltending and newly acquired Flyers defenceman, Chris Pronger, Carolina really didn’t stand a chance.  Eric Staal did score a goal in the first but it was disallowed after it was ruled that Andrew Alberts had used a hand pass.  Tough break.

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Daniel Briere was limited to just 29 games in 2008-2009 due to injury so I’m sure he’s hoping to have a big season and I think it’s entirely possible.  Plus, if he ends up on a line with Claude Giroux and Simon Gagné they could be pretty effective. 

The first thing that concerns me is that two of their 25-goal scorers from last season are gone (Joffrey Lupul and Mike Knuble) but the Giroux/Briere/Gagné could help fill that hole (that is, of course, as long as the injury that sent Gagné home early from the Olympic orientation camp isn’t too serious).

The other thing that has me worried is the fact that they’ve taken on Ray Emery.  Before you get all pissy, hear me out.  I think Emery is a great goaltender and has shown a huge amount of potential but he’s also acted bat-shit crazy in the past so this is really one of those toss ups.

Emery has either learned his lesson and is ready to work hard or he’s just faking it long enough to get back into the NHL.  He will be backed up by Brian Boucher, who did a decent job in the number two spot for the San Jose Sharks last year.

image: TSN

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image: TSN

Emery was a real rising star when he seemed to just lose his mind.  He helped the Ottawa Senators make it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals and then it all went to hell.  He was late for practices, had violent outbursts on the ice and was apparently no better out on the road.  I wasn’t surprised at all when the Sens gave him the boot and no one else seemed to want to touch him.  It’s sad when Sean Avery can get picked up quicker and he’s a complete a-hole.

When talking about his past with the Senators, Emery said:  ”Little distractions take away from the team and there were definitely little distractions around.  I realize that now, so hopefully that’s in the past. I (just) have to make sure I’m a good teammate and keep my nose clean and stay out of trouble.  I didn’t realize how much I liked the game.  It’s not that exciting not being at the highest level I can play at.”

Ummm?  “I didn’t realize how much I liked the game”????  Seriously?  Okay, first of all, why the heck did he start playing if he didn’t know how much he liked hockey and second of all, why isn’t he saying that he LOVES the game?  I don’t want to hear “I like hockey” out of an NHL player’s mouth.  I want to hear that they breathe, bleed and sweat hockey. I want to find out that their kids, or their future kids, all have jerseys and are born with a hockey stick in their hands and that the basement of their home is painted in their team’s colors.  I don’t want to hear “I didn’t realize how much I liked the game.”

Okay, maybe I’m overanalyzing his comment.  I just want to see a completely different attitude on the ice because, seriously, the Flyers aren’t the Senators.  There are some Philly players who won’t hesitate to kick his ass in the locker room if he gets out of line and I’m happy about that.  I’m also glad to hear that Emery hasn’t lost his passion.  He said:  ”I’m a fiery guy. ‘That’s not going to change and I don’t want it to.”

Let’s hope he can direct that energy into something positive this time.

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The Philadelphia Flyers have offered the goaltender a one-year contract but the financial terms were not disclosed.  Of the deal, GM Paul Holmgren said: “We are extremely excited and happy to have entered into this agreement with Ray.  We believe Ray is a good, young goalie that has a unique blend of size, competitiveness and athleticism.”

That is certainly all true.  The unfortunate part is that Emery let that “uniqueness” go to his head.  He did have something to say about his move to Philadelphia: “I’m excited to be able to get a chance to play with a team that’s a contender and I’m grateful for the opportunity that’s being given.  I think I have the ability to play consistent. I’m athletic, but I try to rely on a system and make things as simple as possible.”

I hope Emery truly does realize what an amazing opportunity this is since I know that a lot of teams didn’t want to give him a chance.  He’s only 26 and this could be a major career-changing move (for the better) so I’d love to seem him take advantage of this and turn things around.  Next season just got a little more interesting…

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“We have internal discussions about many players and their potential availability, including Ray Emery,” Holmgren said. “I have spoken to his agent a few times about Ray as well. Any further speculation about this would be very premature.”

Still, this is potentially HUGE news.  I really had all but written off the former Ottawa Senators netminder – not because he wasn’t good enough but because he couldn’t seem to get control over his personal problems (for which he did take some responsibility).  It was sad to me because he really has a lot of potential and even backstopped the Sens all the way to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final.

Unfortunately, things really started to fall apart after that (and, yes, his ego seemed to play a huge role in that) and he ended up playing for Moscow’s Mytishchi Atlanta in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League this season (though he did accuse the team of taking money from him).

Emery is 71-40-14 with a 2.71 goals-against average and eight shutouts in 134 NHL games and could fit in nicely with the Flyers (if he could behave) since both of their goaltender, Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki, will become free agents this summer.

I would be happy to see Emery make a return to the NHL as long as he’s ready.  As is the case with Sean Avery, I feel that a player’s personal issues can really ruin an otherwise excellent career so I hope that Emery gets himself back on track because the jury is still out on Avery.

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Apparently, he’s claiming that Mytishchi Atlant has been using the wrong exchange rate on his $2 million salary and says that the difference in pay is about 33% less than what it should be.  He hasn’t shown up since the KHL break last week so Mytishchi Atlant is threatening to take legal action. 

Despite what I said about “Rayzor” a couple days ago, I’m disappointed to hear this news.  He was having a good season with the team and has an impressive record – 20-6-0, 2.00 GAA and a .930 save percentage.  Unfortunately, he’s also had his share of troubles since, just last month, he “got into a shoving match with a team trainer who was trying to make him wear a hat.”  Wow…

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He’s expected to start skating early next week but it will be interesting to see if any teams are willing to give him a chance.  More likely than not, he’s going to go down to the AHL for a bit (even then, I’m not sure anyone wants him) and try to work his way back into the NHL.

He is still technically associated with the Dallas Stars but I highly doubt he’ll be rejoining their roster after the hockey club made it clear that they don’t want to have anything to do with him.

If he doesn’t clear re-entry waivers, maybe he can look up Ray Emery and they can hang out.

image: TSN

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