Philadelphia Flyers

39-33-10, 88 pts / 212GF(t-20th)/231GA(19th)

Cap room (Per CapFriendly as of 8/8/17): $3.3 million - 22/23 NHL contracts

Brought in/back:

• 6/23/17 Nolan Patrick - 2nd pick in NHL Draft
• 7/1/17 Brian Elliott - 2 yr / $5.5 mil
• 7/1/17 Mike Vecchione - 2 yr / $1.8 mil
• 6/29/17 Jordan Weal - 2 yr / $3.5 mil
• 6/23/17 Jori Lehtera - Trade w/ STL

Moved on:

• Brayden Schenn - Trade w/ STL
• Michael Del Zotto - VAN, 2 yr / $6 mil
• Steve Mason - WIN, 2 yr / $8.2 mil
• Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - Expansion Draft
• Nick Cousins - Trade w/ ARI

Projected Line-up:

Forward:

Travis Konecny - Claude Giroux - Jake Voracek

Oskar Lindblom - Sean Couturier - Wayne Simmonds

Valtteri Filppula - Nolan Patrick - Jordan Weal

Jori Lehtera - Mike Vecchione - Dale Weise

(Michael Raffl- Scott Laughton - Matt Read)

Defense:

Ivan Provorov - Andrew MacDonald

Robert Hagg - Shayne Gostisbehere

Travis Sanheim - Radko Gudas

(Brandon Manning - Samuel Morin)

Goalie:

Brian Elliott

Michal Neuvirth

Dark Horse:

The Flyers greatest strength in the prospect pool is their depth at defense, which is a great way to start. The only problem is having too many of the same thing. As the roster is currently assembled, the Flyers have 7 left-handed defenseman and one right-handed defenseman that are NHL ready. Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg, and Travis Sanheim are three young NHL ready defenseman who all play a different style and are ready to get more extended roles with the team. Of the three, Sanheim could put up the most points. Robert Hagg is their Olli Maatta, and Samuel Morin is a monster listed at 6’7 and just turned 22 last month.

Problem for Philly is that Ghost has the most talent, Provorov is a center-piece, MacDonald is just there, and Radko is the only right-handed shot, so that leaves the rest to sort itself out, which can’t be an easy thing to do. Mike Babcock would resign, or get promoted to front office or something if this were his team. I’m not saying it can’t work, it just complicates things.

This “problem” could work out perfectly for the real dark horse candidate that people should get familiar with. His name is Philippe Myers and he’s finally ready to play for the Flyers. He was an undrafted free agent, but has grown tremendously since the Flyers signed him before he exploded onto the scene. The best thing he has going for him is that he’s right-handed, so he sticks out in all the right ways for a balanced line-up. Don’t be surprised if they don’t have the right-handed “Ghost” right under their wings with Myers.

Too Early Expectations:

As much as it pains me to say it, Ron Hextall is doing a pretty fine job in Philadelphia since he took over three years ago. He still hasn’t quite put it all together just yet, but just to remind everyone, the Flyers went from 13th in the draft to 2nd! That’s quite a leap, and the Flyers scored big with Nolan Patrick. With the platoon of young defenseman, Hextall could potentially swing for the fences on a trade involving a few of them to land a winger and defenseman that the Flyers are desperately needing. If Hextall manages to do just that, the Flyers could be a very dangerous team.

Which brings me to the goaltending situation... I think that Brian Elliott was a great addition, and Neuvirth is one of the more underrated goalies in the league. They could be a pretty good, under the radar, goalie tandem and the Flyers could make the playoffs with the current roster they have now. However, inconsistent team play and below average goaltending cost the Flyers their chance at the playoffs last year. If the defense doesn’t mesh right to start the year, it could just as easily be a repeat of last season. On the other hand, if Hextall plays his cards right, the Flyers could turn into a real powerhouse, and built around defense which sounds pretty worrisome as a Pens fan.

Keep up with the rest of the Division:

• Penguins
• Capitals
• Blue Jackets
• Rangers
• Islanders
• Hurricanes
• Devils