Lupul inks Four Year Contract Extension

The Flyers have signed Joffrey Lupul to a four year contract, that'll probably be worth about 4.25 million a year. The article says financial terms were undisclosed, but 4.25 was the rumor several days beforehand.

Websites like TSN were reporting this as early as Friday, and I guess the Flyers just wanted to wait until the weekend was out to make an official announcement. Lupul is a very good sniper when healthy, and a lot of fans are breathing a sigh of relief as that potential cap number is a lot lower than it could've been. However, I still have to question how we plan on building a team with so many high-priced forwards.

Inexcusable

I know I wrote a big paragraph on how the Leafs have been playing well lately, but they're not that good. This is a team that's 13th in the conference. They're not physical. They literally played a period without hitting. Explain to me how a tough team like the Flyers get outplayed by them? Frankly, they were lucky to ever be leading the game, much less by three goals at one point. I'm glad they salvaged a point.

Tonight, things need to be different. The Flyers need to come out and dictate the action tonight. Something a lot of people observed last night was that the Flyers were waiting for things to come to them. That shouldn't be the case against Toronto. The Flyers are more physical than they are and typically bring a lot more energy to the ice. In front of the home fans, they need to make up for last night's awful collapse. No more getting outshot 55-25. That's embarrassing. Hit them hard and often and make them forget about the playoffs.

Antero Niittymaki should be in goal tonight. Biron was busy last night, and Niitty needs to get a little work, right? Joffrey Lupul is supposed to be back in the lineup tonight. He should spark the Flyers offensively and help get the goal scoring back to the level it was prior to Gagne going out and Lupul and Richards going down.

He's Back

The AP reports that Joffrey Lupul will suit up tomorrow.

He'll be replacing Upshall in the lineup, who sprained his ankle against Washington. He's had some problems with that lately; he hurt his ankle and missed a bit of time earlier this year, and he suffered a leg injury the night before against Atlanta.

Joffrey Lupul is a great player. He's missed a lot of time, but fans can't forget how hot he was before he was injured. He's a great goal scorer that doesn't completely kill you on both ends of the ice. He'll add yet another weapon to the lethal power play, which is going to reach ridiculous levels if Forsberg chooses to return to the Flyers.

The only thing left to decide is how to arrange the lines. The article says that Mike Richards will be centering Gagne and Lupul, but where does that leave Briere? We've had a tough time getting linemates for him this season. Knuble didn't work with him. Gagne apparently doesn't anymore. Who does that leave you with?

Hopefully Joffrey is not putting himself at risk by coming back so soon. You have to figure doctors wouldn't clear him to play if he wasn't absolutely ready, considering his serious injury. However, with the reputation this organization has with rushing guys back, you never know.