Posts Tagged ‘philadelphia flyers’

Philadelphia Flyers Stanley Cup Odds 2010-2011

November 3rd, 2010 by Derek S | Comments Off | Filed in NHL Betting

The Philadelphia Flyers experienced one of the most dramatic seasons any team could go through last season. Pegged as a Stanley Cup contender to start the season the Flyers would stumble through most of the 2009-2010 season. Every time the team looked to turn things around, a losing streak would send them crashing back down. Philadelphia would need a shout-out victory over the New York Rangers to make the playoffs by 1 point. Once the playoffs began the Flyers became the team that everyone expected to start the season, riding the unproven goaltending tandem of Brian Boucher and Michael Leighton all the way to the cup finals. While Philadelphia would eventually lose in 6 games to the Chicago Blackhawks, they seemed to have laid all the problems they encountered during the regular season behind them.

Philadelphia will once again look to be the favorites in the Atlantic Division, they definitely have the talent and it’s hard to believe they will struggle as much as they did last year. Their main rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguin’s, need to find some offensive depth behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The New Jersey Devils will have to settle their cap issue as well as deal with the enigmatic Ilya Kovalchuk, not to mention the uncertainty of how much longer they can push goaltender Martin Brodeur at age 38. The New York Rangers look to once again be on the bubble and will have to battle for a playoff spot, and finally the New York Islanders have some good young talent but are still a few years away from contending.

Up front the Flyers are as deep as any team in the NHL. While many players saw decreases in their production last year Philadelphia still finished 8th in goals for, with 232. With several players capable of a point per game pace and a solid supporting cast they should easily rank in the top 5 this year. Mike Richards has solidified himself as one of the premier two-way talents in the game, and with 31 goals last year certainly proved a capable team leader. Jeff Carter and Daniel Briere struggled but still scored 33 and 26 goals respectively, both should bounce back and battle Richards for the team lead in points.

Youngsters Claude Giroux and James Van Riemsdyk proved productive last year and could produce more this year. Scott Hartnell is perhaps the best mix of toughness and skill in the league today having scored more than 20 goals and posted 100 plus penalty minutes every season since 2005/06, and after scoring only 14 times last year should be able to surpass 20 again this year. The final pieces could be highly skilled wingers Nikolai Zherdev and Ville Leino. Zherdev had 39 points in 52 games playing in the KHL last year and had two 20 goal season in the NHL before leaving, while Leino failed to impress during the regular season with only 11 points in 55 games he exploded for 21 points in 19 playoff games. Blair Betts and Daniel Powe are solid role players and Jody Shelly and Dan Carcillo can provide plenty of toughness. Carcillo is also capable of supplying some offense from the bottom lines.

Defensively the Flyers are just as deep as they are on offensive. Chris Pronger remains a dominate force in the NHL even at age 36. Offensively Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Andrei Meszaros will all help take the heat of Pronger. Timonen saw his points total dip below 40 for the first time since the 2000/01 season so he should also be a good candidate to bounce back, Carle can be a solid two-way defender and posted 35 points in 80 games last year, and Meszaros , who struggled the last two years in Tampa Bay had previously had three straight 30 plus point seasons in Ottawa. Defensively Braydon Coburn can play a shut down role and veterans Sean O’Donnell and Matt Walker are both solid in their own zone and provide plenty of toughness.

After years of needing a top tier goaltender the Flyers brought Ray Emery back from Russia last year on a one-year tryout. After an up and down start to the season that saw him win 16 games in 29 starts and post a .905 save percentage the Emery experiment ended Febuary 1st after suffering a groin injury. He had just returned after missing 17 games due to an earlier injury. The Flyers turned to back up Brian Boucher and then long time minor leaguer Michael Leighton. After the tandem did well enough to get them to the finals Philadelphia will once again turn the reigns over to them as they start the season with Leighton as the starter. If he falters they will turn to Boucher, and as the Flyers proved last year they just need them to play steady, as the offense should give them plenty of goals to work with.

It certainly looks like it could be a return to the finals for Philadelphia as the depth is among the best in the league both among the forwards and defenseman. Once again everything will ride on goaltending and if Michael Leighton can show he’s finally ready for the big time after spending several season toiling in the AHL. They definitely have the firepower and the toughness to go all the way, they just need decent goaltending. But then doesn’t everybody.

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Pens Take It All – What's Next?

June 13th, 2009 by Brent | 1 Comment | Filed in NHL News, Opinion

First things first, congratulations to captain Sidney Crosby and his Penguins for winning the 2009 Stanley Cup. Well done, guys, you put on quite a show. It was a hard fought series, right until the final seconds when goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury had to dive across the crease to rob Detroit captain Niklas Lidstrom of a sure goal. Wondering what Fleury was thinking when all that was happening? Take a look:

Now while Pittsburgh soaks up the next few days, you can guess what the other 29 teams will be thinking about. Next season, starting with the Draft, then the opening day of free agency. You can tell that’s what they’re thinking about just by looking at some of the stories that have been reported in the past few days.

Lets start with the Flyers and their goaltending situation. Earlier this week the Flyers announced the signing of Ray Emery to a one-year $1.5 million contract. Many see it as a low-risk, high-reward kind of deal. I think any time you deal with Ray Emery, the situation is high risk. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, but he has the capability of bringing down a team from the inside. What’s the best scenario? He has a stellar year, the Flyers go far in the playoffs riding his play, and he asks for major bucks in the off season, or leaves the team. That being said, this is Emery’s second chance at an NHL career, so to speak. He blew his first chance in Ottawa, so you can bet he won’t want to screw up his second chance in Philly. I really hope he stays on his best behaviour and succeeds, I really do. Then today we are hit with another shocker. Darren Dreger of TSN reports that the Flyers are interested in bringing Robert Esche back! He had a stellar year playing in the KHL, posting a 1.87 goals against average and .912 save percentage. If that report turns out to be true, you can kiss Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki’s butts goodbye.

But then we’re forced to wonder, is a Emery-Esche tandem that much of an upgrade over a Biron-Niittymaki tandem? Is it even an upgrade at all? Sure they save a few bucks under the cap, but is it really worth taking such a risk with your goaltending situation? Only time will tell.

Then there was the Score’s report of Pronger being traded to LA for Jack Johnson and the 5th overall pick in this year’s draft. I saw that as soon as I turned on my TV and sat back, thought about it for a second, then muttered “What the hell is Los Angeles thinking??” Sure, lets trade away the 5th overall pick (Who I have as Magnus Paajarvi-Svensson in the Everything Hockey mock draft) and Jack Johnson, a former 3rd overall pick, for an older Chris Pronger, who has 1 year left on his contract and makes just over 4 million dollars more than Johnson. I really really hope LA has some kind of plan for this, like signing him to an extension and naming him captain or something. Seems to me like they could have just kept Rob Blake, a much cheaper leader.

I said that 29 teams will be thinking of next season already, but one team has a very unique situation. The Phoenix Coyotes aren’t just worried about their product on the ice, they are also worried about where the ice they will skate on will be located. Let me begin by saying I am a completely biased Hamiltonian. I have refrained from writing about the deal because of my bias. I would thouroughly enjoy having an NHL team in this city, as would hundreds of other people I know, but especially me seeing as how it would open all sorts of doors for jobs, especially in the media. So when you make the argument about how moving the team out of Phoenix will take away hundreds of jobs, think of all the jobs it would open up, especially to people like me! We all know what’s happening in terms of the court preceedings and so-on, so I won’t bore you with that. I just want you to know that the fan support for an NHL team in Hamilton is very real. The team will be immensly popular, and the area is a hockey gold mine. Oh…and Jim Balsillie for Prime Minister!

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