Sbisa signs with the Broad Street Bullies

[Jake]

http://www.whl.ca/news/?id=10156

I doubt this influences his eventual return to the Bridge this season.

He'll get a long look and learn alot. Good stuff. ;)

[Big Torro]

You are likely right that he will return this year, but I would think a good chance he is gone next year

[grainbear]

Under article 8.7 in the NHLPA agreement for players age 18 or 19 it reads as follows During the first two season next succeding the draft at age 18 players the club has signs an spc (philadelphia) in this case must first offer him to the club from which he was claimed before it may loan him. He will get paid a minimum of $10500.00 us . The keep concept here is that after 10 games in regular season he gets 1 year of eligabilty under the contract. And thus then would move up substantially in salary. I checked the schedule for him and he could be listed for games upto October 18, 2008 when they must either keep him or return him to our team. That being said we will lose him for at least 7 games or he makes the pro team. All I can say what will be will be and Luca good luck if you stay there and great luck for us if and when you return

[Jake]

He can be "listed" for as many games as Philly chooses. What's relevant is how many games he plays.

Once he plays that 10th regular season game, he uses up a contract year. Philly will be very careful and most probably return Luca before he plays that 10th game.

[grainbear]

When i use the word listed i am talking about being on the game roster.

[Bocephus]

As a Hurricane fan I am thrilled of the success many of our players are enjoying. It would be selfish to hope they stay with us and not advance. We are a developemental league and thus our success hinges one how many we turn pro. Our success in the past 10 years has been pretty aweful. The more players getting this attention tells us the franchise is doing things right. As a fan that is something we can all take credit for. A player's developement can't happen in a city that has poor fan support. These players have succeeded because of the environment they have been provided.
Keep it up players, staff, and fans!
Also, this makes the city a more attractive place for future good players to choose.

[sbtatter]

Sbisa is going to surprise a lot of people who haven't seen him play, good player, no doubt...

[hurricaneflag7]

Good for Sbisa, wish him good luck. Saw a TSN video where one of the Insiders said that Sbisa had a good chance of making the NHL this year. So good luck Again Sbisa. clrkthj

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

Ya we all want him to do well but if Sbisa does not come back (and I am also sure Fadden won't) we are a much more average team. This will make it very hard for us "to go for it all". It will be interesting to see what direction Roy takes if this is the case. It will depend on where we are around November 30th or so. We were supposed to be built for this year and have really good 19 year old talent, but it appears we have a lot of good 16 and 17 year old talent as well. Does he try for it this year, or if we are in the middle of the pack, does he decide to just be quite good for 3 or 4 years to come, or start to look to 2 years from now and go younger?
If, and this is only hypothetical, we are quite average, we could get a ton of 16-17 year old talent with guys like Wright, Boychuk, King etc on the trading block.

[Bocephus]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252537&lid=sublink02&lpos=headlines_main
Perhaps, this is writing on the wall for Sbisa's return to the Canes.

[loudi94]

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=252537&lid=sublink02&lpos=headlines_main
Perhaps, this is writing on the wall for Sbisa's return to the Canes.
I think he's staying in Philly. Watching him tonight against the Habs and he fits right in there.

[Bocephus]

I think he's staying in Philly. Watching him tonight against the Habs and he fits right in there.
Boy, I hope you're wrong only because he can fill such an important role for us that we desperately need and I dispise Philthadelpia. :burningma

[moon]

Watching him tonight and listening to the Philly announcers it seems like Sbisa really could stay but the Flyers seem like they may want to go for it this year and want to go with a more veteran defense.

Getting him back would be huge though as the defense is already very young.

I like a defense with Wright-Sbisa-Versteeg-Yadlowski as the top 4 guys. Slot Ryckman and Sutherland in there and I think that the Canes will be just fine.

I want to see Luca making those sweet long passes to Fadden and Boychuk, not Gagne and Briere!!

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

Boy, I hope you're wrong only because he can fill such an important role for us that we desperately need and I dispise Philthadelpia. :burningma

Pfft.

Philly>>> Sh*ttsburgh

[shushu]

i would say he will be back, was just reading one article that says sbisa would give the flyers the maximum 50 pro contract alowed , and they are reaching their salary cap..with that in mind, would you want an 18teen year old kid filling that last spot................

[Bocephus]

Pfft.

Philly>>> Sh*ttsburgh
We'll find out tomorrow my friend.

[Bocephus]

i would say he will be back, was just reading one article that says sbisa would give the flyers the maximum 50 pro contract alowed , and they are reaching their salary cap..with that in mind, would you want an 18teen year old kid filling that last spot................
I caught the last 8 minutes of the Habs/Philly game and although he was on for the Lang goal which wasn't entirely his fault he look like he belonged.
It seems like it has been written as a fairytale. Gets drafted in the second round of the import draft with very little fanfare and about 15 months later he is playing in the NHL. Amazing to say the least.

[Hockey Watcher]

Ya we all want him to do well but if Sbisa does not come back (and I am also sure Fadden won't) we are a much more average team. This will make it very hard for us "to go for it all". It will be interesting to see what direction Roy takes if this is the case. It will depend on where we are around November 30th or so. We were supposed to be built for this year and have really good 19 year old talent, but it appears we have a lot of good 16 and 17 year old talent as well. Does he try for it this year, or if we are in the middle of the pack, does he decide to just be quite good for 3 or 4 years to come, or start to look to 2 years from now and go younger?
If, and this is only hypothetical, we are quite average, we could get a ton of 16-17 year old talent with guys like Wright, Boychuk, King etc on the trading block.

I hear this is suppost to be the Hurricane year but there will need to be changes in the line up. Defense needs help. To many mistakes, One defensemen playing forward don't see the footwork with him for offense or defense right now. Big but slow Not sure what that plan is. Is he going to play d or f. He is listed as a D when will we see that? Or Is he just out there to fight? 27 to many mistakes. Stevens ?

Team had alot of early injuries on the front lines. Looks like that is getting better with Braes and back. Still have not seen a lot of fire power out of the big guys. wondering about the last 2 that were brought in. Not to sound mean but one has had injuries more than playhing time the other has not impressed me considering he has whl Oil King experience. I would of preferred the young new 4th liners that went back to their midget teams. JMO

Another win today was better than nothing but work is needed for that big win

for the 20 yr old leaving i hope they find a team for him

[hurricaneflag7]

It would be nice to see him back in Lethbridge but I wouldn't mind if he stays because it is always good to see a Cane playing in the NHL. Hopefully he can get a good future in the NHL......but not with the flyers. So either way its good if he makes the NHL he'll have his dream come true because isn't that what all hockey players want. And if he comes back to Lethbridge It would make the Canes all the better team. clrkth

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

The Flyers are saying that Sbisa is thier number 4 defenceman which does not sound good for his return. Then it says they are near the Salary Cap .............. and logic says Sbisa would be their least costly defenceman. I hope for his sake they don't keep him because of Cap pressure/cost if he is not totally ready to be there. He is getting regular shifts with 18:46 ice time which is 3rd highest for thier D-men, but is minus 3 in 2 games

From NHL website:

Luca Sbisa PHI D 2 0 0 0 -3 2 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 18:46 24.0 0.0
.

Heading into Monday's game, the Flyers planned to use Kimmo Timonen and Ossi Vaananen in their first defensive pairing, Braydon Coburn and Luca Sbisa on the second pairing and Steve Eminger and Lasse Kukkonen as their fifth and sixth defensemen.

Sbisa, 18, has junior eligibility remaining, but his appearance in Saturday's season opener means the Flyers have just eight more games to decide if they're going to keep the No. 19 pick from the 2008 Entry Draft or return him to the Lethbridge Hurricanes of the Western Hockey League. Under the collective-bargaining agreement, he cannot be assigned to another professional league this year.

It's that collective-bargaining agreement that is driving all these moves by Holmgren. If Sbisa stays on the roster all season, he'll give the Flyers the maximum 50 professional contracts. The club also is near the salary cap.

[Jake]

The Flyers acquisition of Alberts certainly increases the odds he will be returned to junior.

He'll get into 8 or 9 games and they'll decide to send him down. It will be best for his long term development.

[shushu]

he cant be sent down to the ahl and with only one year of dub experiance it would be trial by fire to keep him...sending him back to mature one more year is the ticket.....this reminds me of therieu, he has a bright future in the dub but would probably benefit to play one more year for his former club............

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

Sbisa had over 20 minutes of ice time against the Penguins last night. He had the second most ice time on the PP of all Flyer's D-men. Not looking good for his return to the Canes when he appears to be one of thier top 3 or 4 D-men.

[HURRICANE'S ROCK]

Well I guess we will know about Sbisa by Halloween. The Flyers play game #9 on Oct 28 and then the biggy............game#10 on Oct 30.

[grainbear]

I as a cane`s fan can hardly wait for the `ghostly` result . Philadelphia is still not winning games in spite of playing better. This is no`t a result of them keeping him only of the team finding a way to win. For Zak I see he got about 9 minutes of game time last night . Tonight , against Aanaheim we will see what he gets, i don`t expect much more than that. The magic date for Zac is around November 4 after our BC trip. Would be nice if we had him back before that. With Luca and his date it is possible to have him flown into Vancouver for the Chilliwack game or else into Kamloops for the next game. Can we not speed up the clock .

[Jake]

Sbisa's minutes were down last night.

Here's a piece from the Flyers site.

http://flyers.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=387993&page=NewsPage&service=page

[Some_Arrogant_Jerk]

Sbisa is likely remaining in the NHL.

http://philadelphia.comcastsportsnet.com/pages/landing/?Panaccio-Sbisa-to-Stay-with-Flyers---a-h=1&blockID=16523&feedID=717

[Bocephus]

That blows for us. :(

[hitmanfan]

Wow good for Luca, that is the bestest news I heard all day. Now if Carolina would kindly call Boychuk back due to Sutter that would be super as well. vci34

[Scout]

Flyers decide to keep young defenseman
By Sam Carchidi

Inquirer Staff Writer

Eighteen-year-old defenseman Luca Sbisa will remain with the Flyers for now, general manager Paul Holmgren said last night.
Sbisa, the club's No. 1 selection in the June draft, is part of the Flyers' second defensive pair and was recently inserted on the power-play unit.

Holmgren said Sbisa was playing "beyond his years. I like the way he carries himself."

As of yesterday afternoon, the Flyers - whose defense has been ravaged by injuries - had still been thinking of sending Sbisa to junior hockey.

The team faced a deadline of sorts because after playing 10 NHL games, a player then counts on the 50-man roster. The Flyers play their ninth game tonight in Atlanta.

The Flyers and their minor-league players occupy spots on that 50-man roster. American Hockey League rules prohibit use of players under 20. If Sbisa was not playing enough with the Flyers to justify his spot on that roster, he could be sent to Lethbridge, his junior team in the Western Hockey League, but he would still count as one of the 50 players on the organization's roster.

Teams try to avoid that situation because it makes it more difficult to stock the NHL and AHL rosters throughout the season when injuries pile up.

Sbisa is still with the Flyers in part because defensemen Randy Jones and Ryan Parent are injured and might be absent through December.

Aside from concerns about roster rules, the Flyers also want to make sure Sbisa is playing a lot somewhere so he develops to his potential.

They were debating whether on-the-job training in the NHL was best for his development, and they didn't know if he could physically withstand a long, grueling regular season, plus playoffs.

"It's safe to say he'll be here a while longer," Holmgren said last night.

"With a young kid, you worry about an 82-game season," coach John Stevens said earlier in the day, before Holmgren spoke of the decision. "Is he ready for the rigors of the NHL full time? [Does he have] the intensity level, the mental toughness it takes to play through the year? Can he physically hold up as an 18-year-old to play an 82-game schedule at this level? He hasn't shown us any signs yet that he can't, but that would be the concern.

"You want to make sure you're doing the right thing for him and the right thing for us."

Asked if he felt he belonged in the NHL now, Sbisa said: "If I play with confidence and play my game, yeah, I think I can handle the NHL. I have to play more consistently. Obviously, you're going to make a couple of mistakes. It's pretty tough mentally, but I think right now I can see me playing in the NHL."

Sbisa will turn 19 on Jan. 30. He realizes he might not be done with the long bus trips of the WHL.

"I'll be disappointed, but it's not a step back for me," Sbisa said of potentially returning to junior hockey. "I can gain a lot of experience and come back next year with more confidence, but my first goal is to stay here."

Sbisa has made believers of his teammates.

"For a kid who comes into training camp with basically no expectations, he shows a lot about his maturity level to step it up the way he has," goalie Martin Biron said. "It shows a lot about his understanding of the game and his ability to adjust to different situations."

Sbisa has averaged 18 minutes, 11 seconds per game. He has two assists and is a minus-4 in the plus-minus rankings. He has had some defensive lapses, but was particularly effective in the weekend sweep of the Devils.

"I think we're making progress defensively, and that progress is with the guys that are here and working well together - and Luca is a big part of it," Biron said. "It's not for us to decide if he stays. We all want all the guys to stay here."

Ossi Vaananen has been Sbisa's defensive partner.

"He's only 18, but you don't notice that; he plays with such confidence," Vaananen said. "And every day he's getting better.

"The really good thing is he likes to talk a lot. We talk on the bench and on the ice about different kinds of plays and what we're going to do, and he wants to learn. I'm not saying I'm a great teacher, but I like to talk, too, and when you talk with your partner, you get on the same page and it makes the plays easier."



Scout