Choosing my favorite Flyer for 08-09

Sure, the Flyers have an important decision to make regarding this year's captain, but what about me? Now that Gator is gone, who will be my favorite Flyer? Ultimately, the decision will be a gut reaction, based on performance on the ice during camp or the first few games, but let's take a look at some of the likely candidates.

To begin the process, we can eliminate an entire category of player: all the forwards. I'm just not a forward kind of gal. My previous favorite players have included Martin Grenier, Michael Leighton, Lars Jonsson, and Jason Smith. So we have to go with a goalie or a d-man. I like Marty and Nitty, but favorites they are not.

Okay, so that leaves the d-men. Let's take a closer look:

Kimmo Timonen: super talented and quite cute, but doesn't meet my minimum height requirements.

Ryan Parent: meets height requirements and is able to grow a Gator beard, but he might be too cute. All the other girls will have him on their list.

Hatcher: um, no.

Randy Jones: too pretty.

Kukkonen: too blond.

Ossi Vaananen: Haven't seen him in action yet, but since he is Finnish and I don't have a thing for Finns, he is probably out.

Okay, so that just leaves Eminger and Coburn. Both are tall, though Coburn is taller, so that gives him a slight advantage in my book.

Coburn has the potential for heroics on the ice, plus we know he is tough since he took that puck to the eye....very Gator like of him. He cleans up great, which you would know if you turn to page 40 of the 07/08 Flyers Pictorial Yearbook.

.................huh? what? oh sorry, I couldn't stop looking at his picture.

Plus, Nicole took some pics of him last week at the Cote Carnival that got me to thinking he might be the one...

I can't find any decent pictures of Eminger, and I haven't seen him play that much, so for now I don't have much info to go o.

So Eminger, the battle is yours to win.

I'm kind of excited about Eminger!

Eminger does not look excited at all though...probably the Caps uniform!

Ya know, it's strange, but I hardly ever read news about the Flyers. I usually just read blogs. But I've been reading news the past few days, hence the more newsy focus over here. Anyhow, all that aside, I gotta say I am pretty excited about Eminger after reading what he had to say to the press.

You can read the full interview/articles here and here. They are good, I promise.

Basically, it sounds like the Caps were deep on d-men, and just kinda didn't need him. He was a healthy scratch most of the year and never really got to develop. He also didn't get much feedback on what he needed to improve.

From Chuck Gormley at the Courier Post:

Eminger said he simply wants to establish his identity as an NHL defenseman. In Washington, Eminger said he was asked to be a defensive defenseman under Cassidy, an offensive defenseman under Glen Hanlon, and he didn't play much at all under Bruce Boudreau, who replaced Hanlon early last season as Capitals coach and used Eminger in just 20 regular season games.

"I'm not a one dimensional offensive guy," Eminger said. "There were a lot of different signals, and that led to not having my own identity. I think a player should be his own player.

"The frustrating thing is I really didn't know what the reason was (for being benched). I was pretty much a depth player and at 23 or 24 years old, I didn't think I was a depth player. I knew I wasn't a depth player."

Okay, so it sounds like we just need to define his role and play him in 82 games. I think we can do that. He sounds like he has a good attitude, and that can go a long way:

“I was really honored to be traded for a first-round pick,'' the 6-2, 217-pound Eminger said. “Now everything is up to me. I have to prove myself. I'm looking ahead to the challenge.''

Sounds good to me!