30 teams in 30 days: Philadelphia Flyers
Finished: 5th eastern conference
Playoffs: Lost to Pittsburgh in 1st round
Leading scorers: Jeff Carter 84, Mike Richards 80, Simon Gagne 74, Scott Hartnell 60
Who did they add?: Chris Pronger, Brian Boucher, Ray Emery, Ian Laperierre, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen
Who did they lose?: Joffrey Lupul, Luca Sbisa, Mike Knuble, Antero Niittymaki, Martin Biron, Andrew Alberts
Overview: One of the most well-rounded teams in hockey, the Philadelphia Flyers look poised for a Cup in the near future, only a few seasons removed from a horrible last place finish. They quickly put that season in the past, and proceeded to make the playoffs for 3 years running. Although all those berths have been followed up by quick exits, things are still looking quite nice for the Flyers. One of the deepest forward groups in the NHL is led by Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and the seemingly resurrected Simon Gagne, who came back from injury and surprised a lot of people by scoring 74 points last season. They aren’t exactly as tough as they were back in the Broad Street Bullies days, but they can still knock you around, as well as get pucks to back of the net. The defense is deep as well, with two 34 year olds, Chris Pronger and Kimmo Timonen at the helm. Both are proven winners, and can handle big minutes while moving the puck well and shutting down the opposition. Rounding out the top 6 are Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Ryan Parent, Brayden Coburn and Matt Carle. The goaltending is the one thing that hasn’t really been consistent for Philly in recent years, so they went out and changed it completely. Taking over for Niittymaki and Biron (who both had stellar numbers last year, actually) are Brian Boucher and none other than Ray Emery. Boucher performed admirably as a backup to Evgeni Nabokov for the San Jose Sharks last season, and Emery beat up his trainer in the KHL, but yes, he can still play goalie. It remains to be seen if one of them can step up as the starter for the Flyers, who will need their goaltending to be really consistent if they are to make a big run. If the goaltending is consistent, then they should be able to make the playoffs and perhaps make a run at the cup, but it could take 1 or 2 years before their young guys develop fully and are able to add the already deep Flyers.
Winners or losers?: The Flyers are winners this season. Already a good team, they added Chris Pronger to their defense, making it more formidable.
