The Philadelphia Flyers legal staff has all been fired for overlooking some of the fine print in the rules and regulations of the OTHL. Specifically the limitations that a goaltender can only play 72 games per season. As a result Vesa Toskala has been hit by a season-ending suspension. With no preparation for this eventuality the Flyers' playoff-hopes looks dead in the water. Barring a medium-sized miracle from Curtis Sanford/Reinhard Divis or a bunch of losing streaks to the Bolts, Habs and Thrashers for the remainder of the season it looks likely that the Flyers could miss out on a trip to the playoffs.
Vesa Toskala "I had no knowledge of this particular rule. I may have felt a bit of fatigue recently, but I think I could have played on and still been helpful to the team. I'll try to support whoever the coach decides to go with."
GM Siemsen "Yep, this came as a surprise to us. Obviously if the Flyers' legal department had informed us of this rule we would have made significantly different decisions at the trade deadline - at a minimum we would have found a way to hold on to Jocelyn Thibault to help us into the playoffs. With Toskala out we have to rely on Reinhard Divis ... he's played solid for the Phantoms so we hope he can do enough".
"We made several changes at the deadline but those have only had a negative effect so far. We believe we made some good changes adding a bit of depth and quality to the team ... but it appears that the changes we made instead disrupted the team chemistry. 2 points in 5 games is a clear indication. We have no choice now. All we can do is let the 20 players out on the ice and hope they can find some chemistry before it's too late."