Test Post: Panaccio: Hartnell and Berube Not Speaking

Somewhere in southern California, two former Flyers are laughing their asses off.

CSN beat writer extraordinaire Tim Panaccio, presumably distressed about having to spend yet another offseason watching his former BFFs Mike Richards and Jeff Carter chase the Stanley Cup, is once again chasing assistant captains out of Philadelphia.

Panaccio, if you'll recall, doesn't have the greatest track record when it comes to player rapport. Timmy's knack for stirring the shit eventually helped uncover the "Dry Island" scandal that rocked the Jersey Shore and Center City a few years back while simultaneously engaging in a twitter war with Richards, who accused Panaccio of writing "articles that are nowhere close to true".

So far, there are no reports suggesting Craig Berube revived Dry Island during the Flyers' series with the Rangers, but if he did, Scott Hartnell missed the memo.

In fact, Hartnell may have missed a couple of Berube's memos, because according to Panaccio, the two are not speaking to one another.

The displaced redhead of the famed "Ginger Line" is apparently dying his beard somewhere in the depths of Berube's shitlist. Panaccio's latest piece of tabloid fare, published yesterday on csnphilly.com, suggests Hartnell is furious about being demoted to the fourth line and forced to play with Vincent Lecavalier, perhaps the only Flyer more overpaid than himself.

Hartnell took to his twitter to dispel the rumors:

"not true at all BUCKO"

Direct hit! Panaccio, likely infuriated with being referred to by his childhood nickname, responded almost immediately.

"believe what you want"

Bucko has truly upped his game since running Richie and Carts out of town. He's using twitter's informal language and complete lack of grammar to his advantage, all the while keeping his defensively vague tone intact. His casualness suggests he's a reporter with nothing to lose, and he won't let silly journalistic trends like citations and attributed quotes stand in his way.

Whether or not there is any actual merit to Panaccio's claim is irrelevant. What matters is that he now has a story to run with while his former nemeses chase another cup in Los Angeles.

This is the stuff trade fodder is made of, folks. Strap in and prepare yourselves for daily trade "rumors" involving Hartnell, Shea Weber, Dustin Byfuglien, and the third Schenn brother you didn't know existed. It's going to be a summer of "silence that speaks volumes" from Berube, Homer, and co.

Tim Panaccio is here for you every step of the way, or at least every other day, assuming he doesn't decide to have Sarah Baicker run Buzzfeed-style lists about Ray Emery and Cal Heeter instead.

Do us all a favor, BUCKO, and have some of your Russian Mob buddies plant some coke on Andrew MacDonald so we're not stuck with six more years of porous defensive end turnovers.

Panaccio, by the way, still has yet to confirm or deny his suspected involvement with the Russian Mafia. Silence speaks volumes.

Future Los Angeles King Scott Hartnell could not be reached for comment.