Just my luck that as soon as I leave to spend a few days in the desert on a horse with no name, key members of the Flyers Rat Pack resumed their blog-worthy behavior.
In reverse order of the title, the most fun story to hit my inbox this week is Joffrey Lupul's brief appearance on the VH1 celeb-reality show "Sober House." If you haven't seen this gleeful trainwreck of fallen stars, it's the follow-up to Dr. Drew's "Celebrity Rehab," which was noteworthy for Steven Adler's drug-addled rambles, Special Agent Angelo Pappas' constant altered—yet not chemically—state, and the holy-shit hotness of a model turned addict (shocking twist!) named Amber Smith.
As related by the Puck Father, from whom we jacked the above pic, Smith went to a party with another hockey player named Kip Brennan, and the storyline is that once he abandoned her (remember, hockey players can do whatever they want and women will still love them), the old urges kicked in for Amber. She hit up the booze, and made the casual acquintence of one Mr. Joffrey Lupul, the swift opportunist who swooped in when Brennan was off doing god knows what. Apparently Amber still left with her date, but give Loops an gold star for the effort.
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Here's a video of the segment.
Not to be outdone, Scottie Upshall's apparently in a relationship with a looker by the name of Melanie Collins, a tidbit we learned from the site Busted Coverage. The two spent the All-Star Break vacationing in the Virgin Islands. That's her on the right. Well done, sir.
Next up, Wyshynski also posted a great interview with the NHL's leading scorer, Evgeni Malkin of the Pens. One of the questions PD's Russian correspondent asked pertained to the survey ESPN.com recently conducted, in which Philly was said to have the most disruptive fans:
Not long ago ESPN had a survey where 24% of players surveyed said that the Philadelphia Flyers have the most disruptive fans. Have you ever been, even a little, afraid of Flyers fans?
News
I
agree with the players [who named Flyers fans]. I can't say that I am
afraid of them though. Although I do remember one game in Philadelphia
last year when we had popcorn thrown to our bench by Flyers' fans,
other garbage. Thank god there were no bottles thrown. And their fans
also jump on the glass behind the bench, or behind the glass. People
don't behave that good there. I have never seen anything like this
anywhere. And this survey showed that other players noticed it too. I
am surprised by those fans. But I understand that they are just
supporting their team.
Geno apparently missed Lupul getting hit by a pizza box after scoring the back-breaking game winner in Washington, as well as a fan throwing a plastic beer bottle at Jeff Carter after the game. But yeah, that stuff only happens in Philly.
Do you just see them as being strange? Or do they unsettle you or put you under pressure in any way?
No,
they don't put me under pressure. It's just not very nice when there is
popcorn thrown on the bench, and it doesn't feel good to go out and
play hockey after such things. No pressure, but such things are not
enjoyable and are unfounded.
Listen everyone. Let's try to knock it off with the tomfoolery behind the bench. It's not very nice to play hockey amidst such conditions for the Malkins of the world.
All joking aside, Malkin's an amazing talent who is great for the sport, and Puck Daddy really put together an interesting and in-depth Q&A here. Head over to Yahoo for the rest of the interview, which also discusses the effects of the hit Mike Richards put on Geno in last season's conference finals, perceptions of Sidney Crosby, and the $1,000 Malkin put the board to motivate his teammates.
What Would Bouwmeester Cost?
Finally (via The Fourth Period) the Ottawa Sun quotes league sources as saying the Flyers remain interested in beefing up their blue line by adding Jay Bouwmeester of the Panthers. The price would obviously be high, and the sources referenced a possible package of James vanRiemsdyk and Scott Hartnell, again mentioning Paul Holmgren's displeasure over JVR's play at World Juniors. That'd be a hell of a price to pay for J-Bo, who becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, but any deal for him would likely involve at least one of the Flyers' many talented forwards. They simply won't have room for everyone, and they're looking thinner every day on defense. How would you react to that trade, were it to go down?