Comcastsportsnet.com recently sat down with Sixers’ GM Ed Stefanski, which you can find here. I am not going to rehash the entire interview here, but I did want to delve into the possible moves the Sixers could make after July 1st, the date the free agent market opens up.

During his interview Stefanski identified several areas where the Sixers will look to improve, including getting better in the half court.

“We got a little better as the season went on. We executed a little better. But there’s not doubt the staff can sit down, and we can do more things in order to execute better in the half court,” said Stefanski. “We know that’s a priority. And also, to help the staff, we could bring in a guy who can play with his back to the basket and maybe get a double-team once in a while. That may not be as easy to get, but if we get that, that will help our staff. But I know our staff is good enough …

After watching Friday’s Flyers loss to the Penguins, one player came to mind mind.  Kimmo Timonen.

If you live under a rock, and don’t know, Timonen is out for the Penguins series, and quite possibly the Stanley Cup (should the Flyers make it), with a blood clot in his ankle.  Timonen was hit in the ankle by a Andrei Markov shot in Game 4 against the Canadiens, developing a clot.

Timonen is hands down the Flyers best defenseman.   He’s stong on the power-play, strong on the penalty-killing, and even better at shadowing the opponents superstar.  He did in outstanding job holding Alex Ovechkin in the Capitals series, and a did the same with Alexei Kovalev in the series with the Habs.

If you watched the Flyers Friday night the defense looked confused.  There was no presence out there to shut down Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.  As a result the two players combine for three goals and one assist.

If the Flyers expect to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, a defenseman needs to step up and …