Sports: The Flyers Hope For A Playoff Season

By Pete Henry

The Flyers did not make the playoffs last season.  They had some good stretches but they were not consistent in terms of scoring goals.  In addition, the club was very poor on the road.  If they are going to be a playoff team this season, those things need to change. 

Brian Elliot and Michael Neuvirth will battle it out to see who will get the most starts in goal.

Elliot was signed as a free agent.  He played in Calgary last season, starting 45 games.  Elliot posted a 2.55 gaa with a .910 save percentage. 

Neuvirth struggled last year.  His goals-against-average was 2.82.  Moreover, his save percentage was .891.  Those are not playoff goaltender type numbers.  Furthermore, Neuvirth let in many more soft goals than he did in the 2015-16 season. 

Claude Giroux will turn 30 this season.  The time for this team to win with him as a key ingredient is now.  Giroux is still a good player but he is not the player we have seen in the past.  He only scored 14 goals last year.  It was the first time in 4 seasons that he failed to score at least 20 goals.  Giroux is struggling to score against some of the more physical defensemen in the league. 

Wayne Simmonds scored 31 goals last year.  It was the second season in a row that he scored over 30 goals.  Simmonds is arguably the most important player on this team.  His energy on both ends of the ice is key to the club winning games. 

Jakub Voracek scored 20 goals last season and tallied 41 assists.  With the type of player Voracek is you would like to see him get at least 50 assists a season, especially the way he is paid. 

Head coach Dave Hakstol flipped Voracek back and forth from the top line to the second line.  He will likely do the same this season, depending on how the Czech native plays.  Hakstol was not always happy with Jake’s effort on the defensive end as his plus/minus was -24. 

Travis Konecny did some nice things in his rookie campaign.  The Ontario native shows a lot of grit.  He is not afraid to mix it up despite his bantam size at 5-10, 175 lb.  Konecny is extremely fast and transitions from defense to offense in a flash.  Moreover, he works hard in the defensive end.  Konecny takes good angles to the puck and is quick to jump into passing lanes.

Konecny should see a lot more ice time with the trading of Brayden Schenn to St. Louis.   He has a chance to be a mainstay on the top line if his play warrants it.  Konecny was really strong for the Flyers at the end of last season. 

Sean Couturier remains one of the best defensive forwards in hockey.  When he is out with an injury, he is sorely missed.  Couturier takes pride in his defense.  He has still not taken the next step from an offensive standpoint.  The Arizona native scored a ton in juniors but he has not scored more than 15 goals in the NHL. 

Valtteri Filppula gave the squad a real shot in the arm when he came over from Tampa Bay.  The team would like to see him score 12 to 15 goals.  The Finland native is a candidate to center the third line.  The organization likes his attention to detail and the fact that he plays robustly on both ends of the ice.  The Flyers feel that Filppula is a good player for the younger players to emulate. 

Shayne Gostisbehere suffered a sophomore slump in his second season.  The young defenseman was dazzling in his rookie year.  Gostisbehere was anything but last season.  He seemed to lack the explosion that we saw in his first year.  Ghost scored 17 goals his rookie year, while lighting the lamp only 7 times in 2016-17.  

Moreover, Gostisbehere was poor on the defensive end.  Hakstol made him a healthy scratch on more than one occasion in order to light a fire under his young defenseman.  Gostisbehere’s plus/minus was well below par at -21.  That is not acceptable for a defenseman with his kind of talent.  The organization is looking for Ghost to rebound this season in a big way.  

Ivan Provorov has a chance to be a terrific defenseman in time.  He does a good job of mirroring his man in the defensive zone.  The Russian native has a good shot from the point.  Provorov is a smooth skater who handles the puck well.  He is already the team’s best player on the blue line. 

There are opportunities for some young defensemen to make the big club if they play well enough.  If the Flyers are going to make the playoffs this season, they will need to improve offensively and defensively as they finished in the bottom half of the league last season in both categories.