Because their offseason will last a lot longer than their last regular season did, the Flyers socially trumpted the signing of two players Friday, left wing Michael Raffl and defenseman Maxim Lamarche.
You know, because signing two guys targeted to play in Glens Falls, N.Y. is big hockey news around here these days.
First the particulars: Raffl, a 24-year-old winger that clocks in at 6-0 and 192 on skates, just scored 24 goals and 46 points in his second season with Leskands IF in Leskand, Sweden. It was his second season with that team, except for one thing: Leskands IF is in a league that's a step below the Swedish Elite League. So how big a jump would it be to the AHL, much less to an NHL training camp this fall?
We'll see.
As for Lamarche, he can move and has size (6-3, 218), and so impressed a few years back that he went undrafted as a teen. He went through one season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at a minus-40 and wound up playing four seasons in that junior league. He did have better numbers this season, scoring nine goals 43 points in 55 games and going a plus-31 for a team called Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
Major playoff team in that Major Junior league ... even if the name sounds more like an intriguing cologne than it does a hockey team.
Now, as for real Twitter-worthy Philly hockey news, however, there's this from the Flyers' account:
NEWS ALERT!!!!! RESULTS ARE IN FOR BEST MASON SAVE! Find out the winning save here...
Yeah, well, that's exciting. And why is it big news?
Because there's no one interested in finding out what the biggest save of the season was for a guy named Ilya Bryzgalov, that's why.
Hey, maybe I missed it, I don't know.
But with every passing offseason day, there seems to be another reason to be excited for the Flyers' near future. Not because they're signing minor league players ... but because they seem to be on a slow, steady course for sending the distracting goaltender they pay ultra-major league money to on his way out of town.
Amnesty season starts in less than a month, Flyers fans.

Flyers forward Jake Voracek is a lucky guy after escaping from a car crash in his native Czech Republic apparently unscathed.
According to a Czech media report Voracek heavily damaged the front end of his Ferrari when he attempted to pass a Mercedes trash truck and the truck turned left in front of him. Voracek was unable to stop his vehicle in time to avoid an accident.
In a statement released today, Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said: “I spoke with Jake this morning. He was involved in a car accident in the Czech Republic. Although his car did suffer damage, there were no injuries. Jake is fine.”
According to the Czech reports Voracek was tabbed for speeding though no alcohol was thought to be involved in the incident.