Philadelphia Flyers new goalie Ilya Bryzgalov highly optimistic about next season –NHL News Update
Former Phoenix Coyotes veteran goalie, Ilya Bryzgalov, landed it big when he signed on with Philadelphia Flyers to a monstrous nine-year, $51 million contract after becoming a free agent on June 23, but Flyers also have high hopes vested in the Russian defender,
who also hopes to exceed expectations when the new season kicks off in October.
Bryzgalov, without a doubt in his mind, is hoping to repeat a mixture of the Martin Biron season which Flyers had during 2007-2008, in which he won 30 games and another by John Vanbiesbrouck in 1998-1999, in which the goalie was a 60 game starter.
All might seem easy enough for the talents and abilities of Bryzgalov, but he is not thinking of meeting them, he is all for exceeding them by leaps and bounds.
"When you play a lot, you feel confident about your game", Bryzgalov said. "If they need me to play 70 games, I'll play 70. If they need me to play 50, I'll play 50. So it all depends on the coach and management … whatever they need".
Looking at his past record, it is not hard to see Bryzgalov truly is a man of his words. The Togliatti, Russia native, was brought on to Phoenix Coyotes during the 2007-2008 season in a trade with Anaheim Ducks. Since then, he has nearly played the whole
season for the team and during the 2009-2010 season, won 42 games out of 69.
Paul Holmgren, Philadelphia general manager, is still yet to decide on who will be Philadelphia’s number one for their upcoming season.
"We'll see how it goes", Holmgren said. "His track record speaks for itself … he plays 60 or above. I don't know if we need him to play that many, but we'll see. If he's playing good and looks fresh, then that's what we brought him in for".
Ilya Bryzgalov will be competing with Philadelphia Flyers already talented goalie line-up during next month’s training camp for a spot as the teams’ primary, go-to goalie. It will certainly be interesting to see how he does during that time frame.
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