The only team that can say its run in the playoffs was more magical than the Canadiens are the Philadelphia Flyers. I know, the Chicago Blackhawks will say that their run was more magical than the two of them because they won the Cup, but they were expected to be there...just work with me on this one, ok? :-)
Anyways...despite all the positive energy that should come with an appearance in the Stanley Cup finals, there’s always concern that the disappointment of losing and the grind of playing a much longer season than the rest of the conference will come back to haunt the Flyers, but that may not be the case this time around. The Flyers were very active in the off-season to not only tinker with the lineup, but to bolster it so that they can set themselves up for another run at making the finals.
The biggest change and improvement for the club was on defence. Throughout the playoffs last season, the Flyers were exposed as a team that had 4 great defensemen in Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn, but their bottom pairing was exposed over and over again and really hurt their team’s chances.
The Flyers made sure that it wouldn’t be a problem this year by adding Andrej Meszaros from Tampa Bay and former Stanley Cup champion Sean O’Donnell as their third pairing. These 6 men could very well represent the best defense corps in the NHL and will certainly help to shield a goaltending tandem that still has a lot to prove.
Since we brought up the goaltending, we might as well talk about them now. Many believed that the Flyers were also going to bolster their line-up by finding a goaltender that everyone could have full confidence in. Instead, they decided to stick with Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher. Both helped in getting the Flyers as far as they did, but how long can the magic continue between the two of them?
The forward group is also very talented and could be even better because of a couple of additions and a couple of guys that emerged during the playoff run. The additions include Nikolai Zherdev and Bill Guerin (if he’s offered a contract). Zherdev doesn’t fit the mold of a typical Flyers player, but they can use someone that is as naturally gifted as Zherdev since Mike Richards was the team’s leading scorer with 62 points. Guerin can bring a veteran presence and some depth just in case of injury.
The two players to watch out for in camp are the guys that emerged during the playoff run. Ville Leino and Claude Giroux were tied for third in team playoff scoring last season, so the future is now for the two youngsters. If they can continue the kind of pace that they showed in the playoffs, it might be enough to put this team over the top and make them a true winner.