The Flyers turn around last season was nothing short of amazing. Going from dead last the season before to the final 4 last Spring was a great ride. The question is can they repeat that performance and move even further along and get to the Stanley Cup Finals?
The answer is a definite maybe.
The Flyers are now playoff tested which is a big help. Goaltender Marty Biron has proven that he can consistently win the BIG game in the playoff. He personally was the difference in several games in which the Flyers were significantly outplayed. This is what championship goalies can do for a team. Steal a game.
The offense is led by new team Captain Mike Richards who starting his third full season with the Flyers. Danny Briere, Mike Knuble, Jeff Carter and Joffrey Lupal will add the scoring punch. The big question is can Simon Gagne go a full season and into the playoffs following is concussion last season. As Simon goes so goes the Flyers. If he is healthy the Flyers first two lines are hard to match up against. Who do opposing teams send their best checking lines against? The 3rd and 4th lines will be the difference makers, if they can average a goal a game their offense will be at the top of the league.
Defense wins Stanley Cups!
The injuries to Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn in the Eastern Conference finals and subsequent quick exit against Pittsburgh signaled to Coach Holmgren he needed to add more depth on his blue line. While the Flyers lost Smith, they did add Steve Eminger and Ossi Vaananen to a group that includes Ryan Parent, Randy Jones, Lasse Kukkonen and veteran Derian Hatcher.
The Flyers made huge strides defensively last season but still want to get better after finishing 18th in goals-against (2.77 per game). Look for Holmgren to take a good look at how his blue-line corps plays in the first half; if he's not satisfied, he'll make another move before the trade deadline.
The Flyer’s Penalty kill was 10th in the league with 13 shorthanded goals. This will need to improve if the Flyers expect to go further in the playoffs.
As stated; defense wins Cups. The Flyers have the offense and the question is can they consistently play team defense. The answer should be yes.
The only problem is that the Flyers are in the same conference as the Pittsburgh Penguins. These guys are scary good. Now loaded with Stanley Cup experience the guys who are still too young to drink legally will be even better than last year.
2008-09 Prediction: The Flyers add 10 points to their regular season total from last year. They will repeat their run through the playoffs but will probably run into some problems going down the PA turnpike. Still the Flyers will be better, they will compete and with a lucky break or two they could go all the way to the Cup.
