I’ve gone back and forth on Peter Laviolette and whether he should remain the Flyers head coach for next season and beyond. For one, he’s infuriated me with his handling of Sean Couturier. How is a 20 year-old, who’s exceptional defensively but also has obvious offensive skills, supposed to properly develop with limited ice time and bottom-six grinders/fringe NHLers/bums flanking him on the wings? It’s not a coincidence that the Flyers went on their only winning streak of the season a few weeks ago when Couturier was getting substantial minutes with the top-six. Is there something going on behind the scenes with Laviolette and Couturier that’s influencing this bewildering allotment of ice time? Checking Couturier’s game log, the line of demarcation for the major dip in ice time is the end of February. In his first 20 games, Couturier played under 16:21 just three times. In his 20 games since, he has eclipsed 16:21 a grand total of ZERO times. Granted, there are three examples of 16:09, 16:17 and 16:16 (the latter two coming in the two most recent games). But still, you understand my point. So, what’s the explanation? Young players are going to make mistakes, and Sean hasn’t been perfect this season, but what about letting him play through those struggles? Especially once injuries started to mount. I don’t get it, nobody does. Well, except for those closest to the team (maybe), and I guess we’re supposed to give them the benefit of the doubt. Or something.

This dumpster fire of a strike-shortened season is certainly not all on Laviolette, as Paul Holmgren shares a healthy portion of the blame for his faulty roster construction and lack of viable Plan B — save for trading for Luke Schenn — after the Parise/Suter/Weber attempts didn’t work out. I don’t think Laviolette was equipped with a roster that catered to his preferred style of play, seeing as how something like one, perhaps two of the regular defensemen who started out the season on the roster could competently skate the puck out of his own zone. But isn’t part of being a good coach the ability to adjust to your personnel? Yes, Paul Holmgren gave something resembling an endorsement, if you want to call it that, of Laviolette yesterday when asked about the coach’s job security, but if you put any stock in that answer (and plenty of media lackeys did), I have a bridge to sell you. If you pay attention to the rumblings and rumors, the organization feels Laviolette has lost the locker room and that the team lacks structure and discipline. What I want to know: Did the team NOT lack structure and discipline last season? The Penguins were foolish and played right into the Flyers’ hands, but everyone remembers the embarrassing collapse against the Devils, right? Remember, this is a team that still can’t beat defensively-responsible teams that play smart hockey and effectively suffocate the neutral zone while taking away the forwards’ space to operate. It’s the reason Laviolette’s Flyers teams the past two seasons haven’t been able to beat the Devils or Rangers (5-21-1 and counting). Hell, last month they beat the Bruins for what, just the second time since the epic 2010 playoff series? Is it personnel? Is it coaching? As is typically the case, the answer is “both” and/or “somewhere in the middle.” Verdict: While I’ve soured on Laviolette this season, I don’t think it’s completely ill-advised to give him into next season to right the ship. If the Flyers are still sputtering and rudderless with similar plaguing issues in January/February, he’ll be fired and, for better or worse, Terry Murray will likely get the chance to replace him.

Tonight’s game is against the Rangers, which means it’s pretty much an automatic loss. Steve Mason will get the start and make his home debut.

Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USPRESSWIRE

Peter Laviolette is one of the most passionate coaches in the NHL. Philadelphia Flyers fans love that about their head coach.

They also love the fact that he is not going anywhere anytime soon.

The Flyers announced Wednesday morning that they have agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Laviolette. While the exact contract details haven’t been confirmed just yet, sources are saying it is a 2 year extension, which will keep Lavy in Philadelphia until at least the 2014-2015 season.

General manager Paul Holmgren is pretty excited himself.

“We are thrilled to have Peter continue his work with our group as we push to compete for a Stanley Cup. Peter has done a terrific job for us and is very deserving of this extension.”

No arguments here, Homer!

Peter Laviolette has led the Flyers to back-to-back 47 win seasons and maintains a record of 122-73-26. Since hiring him, the Orange and Black have the third-most wins in the entire Eastern Conference, behind only Pittsburgh and Washington.

Clearly something is clicking with Laviolette, and the fans soon hope to have a parade down Broad Street.

-Follow me on Twitter! @Pfeiifey

Eric Hartline-US PRESSWIRE

There was a lot of speculation today about the Flyers apparent trade offer for Bobby Ryan. What it is or if it’s real is left up for debate, but I know that some of the rumors “reported” were just preposterous. I don’t see how the Flyers could trade Scott Laughton or Andrej Meszaros in a Ryan deal. Youth and defensemen are just about the hottest commodities in the NHL today. A scoring winger would be nice and he will produce as he is a proven 30 goal scorer, but to give up youth and a defensemen for him is not getting fair value in the trade. A great scoring winger from Columbus just got traded for a couple of fourth liners. Read and Bourdon plus a pick or two and maybe a prospect would be fair value especially when considering we should have the upper hand because it’s well known that he wants to come here and that the Ducks have shopped him. He would be a great addition and a huge power forward upgrade from JVR, but he is not worth a kings ransom. We just attempted to add a franchise type defensemen and failed so why would we then proceed to trade any NHL defensemen from our roster? It wouldn’t make any sense. If we get Ryan it won’t be roster shaking trade.

Are we finally getting over the missed Weber signing…no? It’s going to sting for a while. Unfortunately things just got worse when it comes to looking way ahead at next year’s free agent crop. Tobias Enstrom signed  a 5 year contract extension today with the Winnipeg Jets worth $28.75 million. Cap hit for the deal is $5.75 million per year. Enstrom is a superior puck moving defensemen and a great set up guy. He passes the puck brilliantly and is in the prime of his career. He surpassed the 50 point mark twice in his young five year stint in the league. Last season alone he missed six weeks due to a broken collarbone and came back and had 33 points in 62 games. Far from career totals, but after breaking your collarbone your not right for the rest of the season. He still averaged close to a half point per game and ended up second in team scoring amongst defensemen. He is a true offensive defensemen, but he is no Mike Green. He is a responsible defender. You won’t catch him on 2 on 1′s down the other end of the ice, but he’s got a big shot and great hockey sense. He came at a great price too especially when compared to defensemen in his cap hit range. For example Matt Carle’s new contract has a cap hit of $5.5 million per year. Wouldn’t you pay around $250,000 more dollars for Enstrom? His free agency value would no doubt be higher then that, but it wouldn’t break the $7 million mark. If he can be had in a trade before that contract expires I have no doubt the Flyers would consider it.

As reported earlier today by various media outlets and Broadstreetbuzz.com it looks like Lavy is on the verge of an extension. A well deserved pay day for the bench boss. He has been, believe it or not, a fan favorite here. Coaches and GM’s alike do not usually see eye to eye with the fans. Some more famously then others. Lavy’s hard working and never say die attitude fits the personality of this city perfectly. HBO helped us get a better glimpse of Lavy and that is really when the city fell in love with him. Everybody in the city used the word jam at least 100 times after that series. He also coached one of only three teams to come back from an 0-3 deficit in a playoff series. The man knows how to motivate and can get (or force) his players to get the job done. I believe he is the coach we need to win a championship. He’s a major piece to the puzzle.

On the Semin signing I don’t believe he can still command a salary of $7 million a year. He is a player who has shown flashes of being great. Pure goal scorer type. The problem is that a lot of times he disappears. No goals. No assists. Not hits. No shots. -3. It is widely known that his work ethic has been questioned. He is a $7 million question mark. The Canes overall though have had a nice offseason. They will be better with or without Semin’s help. If Semin does show up though Canes could actually be a force.

-John LaMarra

Twitter – @popesnipes77

E-Mail – lamarrajunior@yahoo.com