2009-2010 Philadelphia Flyers Preview

The Broad Street Bullies are back! In a city that is inexplicably renowned for its ‘Brotherly Love’, you will find no such kindness from its hockey team. The Flyers fit the city’s personality: Tough, hard-working and ready to punch you in the face. With a plethora of talent on hand and a boisterous fanbase behind them, can the Flyers muscle their way to the Stanley Cup?

Looking Back at 2008-2009

Philly had a strong year, finishing with a 44-27-11 record and earning the East’s 5 th seed. The Flyers boasted four 30 goal scorers and were one of the five highest scoring teams in the NHL! Unfortunately, they faced off against archrival Pittsburgh in the first round and were eliminated by the eventual Stanley Cup Champions after a brutal 6 game series.

The Offseason

The Flyers made a big splash this offseason, overhauling their goaltending situation and bringing in a lot of physicality. Marty Biron and Antero Niittymaki have been replaced by Brian Boucher and Ray Emery in net amidst concerns surrounding the consistency of the previous keepers. Both Boucher and Emery have a lot of NHL experience but each has their own individual questions to answer before being anointed a starter in the league.

But the bigger splash was the acquisition of the NHL’s most intimidating defenseman, Chris Pronger. The Flyers paid a hefty price, sending a package that including scorer Joffrey Lupul to earn his rights, but when their primary rivals in the East have offense talents like Ovechkin, Malkin and Crosby at their disposal, Philly simply needed a major shutdown defender. Pronger is downright nasty and will slow the aforementioned opposing superstars.

There were other smaller changes as well. Mike Knuble, Andrew Alberts and Lasse Kukkonen are all gone and in their place are Ian Laperierre, Krys Kolanos and Lukas Kaspar. The Flyers’ depth moves trended younger and tougher and Laperierre especially is the type of player that coaches covet for his hustle and grit.

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2009-2010 Outlook

Philadelphia has some serious scoring on hand. Captain Mike Richards is one of the league’s best all-around players and he scored 80 points last year. Along with Richards is breakout star Jeff Carter, whose career-high 46 goals and 84 points paced the team. Both are All-Star caliber players and are among the NHL’s most dangerous. But it gets better: Simon Gagne and Scott Hartnell also scored 30 times last year, giving Philly a very deep set of elite talent! Then consider that the Flyers can expect full seasons from Claude Giroux and Daniel Briere and this unit of forwards appears to be one of the best in the NHL. Expect another very high scoring season for the Flyers.

The defense, already quite strong, will be downright dangerous this year with the addition of Pronger, who contributes very well offensively on top of his lethal defending. Acquiring Pronger to join with Braydon Coburn, Kimmo Timmonen and Matt Carle now gives Philadelphia two exceptional pairings that have the potential to eat up a ton of ice time. Pronger has the ability to play 30 minutes per game and the Flyers will likely take advantage. This is a great group of defensemen.

The real question comes in goal, where neither Emery nor Boucher started in the NHL last season. Emery couldn’t find employment in the league and ended up in Russia thanks to the fact that his talent on the ice is matched by his inability to keep his head on straight. While he’s undoubtedly the more talented of the two keepers, he’s a ticking time bomb and Philly might need help in goal at some point during the year. Boucher is a solid keeper but you’d find few people that aren’t related to him that believe he’s a starting goalie on a Stanley Cup winner. There’s no question that this is the biggest concern on the team.

PREDICTION: Goaltending concerns aside, there’s also no question that Philadelphia is one of the most talented teams in the National Hockey League. They’re fast and mean and are going to be very motivated after watching bitter rival Pittsburgh hoist the Cup at their expense last year. Adding Pronger only makes them better and even questions in goal shouldn’t prevent them from a good seed going into the playoffs. Philadelphia is my pick to finish 2nd in the Atlantic Division behind the Penguins.

They’re also on my short list of Stanley Cup contenders, but with an asterisk: Philadelphia is going to have to upgrade their goaltending situation if they want to win the Cup. I know Ray Emery took the Senators to the finals three years ago but he’s a wild card and hasn’t had consistent success on the ice since that playoff run. Meanwhile, Boucher is consistently good but isn’t really an elite goalie. Rule of thumb in the NHL: You have to have a great goalie to win the Cup and I don’t think that the Flyers have one right now. Thus, I’m picking Philadelphia to be upset in the first round by New Jersey because of their goaltending. However, my expectations for this team could change dramatically if they upgrade the position during the season because the skaters are as good as any in hockey.

By Matt Baxendall
DFN Sports & ProHockey-fans.com Staff Writer

Feel your team is underrated? Tell Matt Baxendell why at matt.baxendell@gmail.com

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