Before the season, as usual, we will analyze the off-season of the Philadelphia Flyers and evaluate the team’s prospects.
Signed: g. Cal Petersen (LA Kings), d. Marc Staal (Florida), d. Sean Walker (LA Kings), d. Victor Mete (Toronto), f. Garnet Hathaway (Boston), f. Ryan Pehling (Pittsburgh)
Left: d. Ivan Provorov (Columbus), d. Tony DeAngelo (Carolina), d. Justin Brown (Germany), f. Kevin Hayes (St. Louis), f. Brendan Lemieux (Carolina), f. James van Riemsdyk (Boston), nf. Kiefer Bellows* (Carolina)
📌 Last season: a third year without a playoff appearance (14th in the conference), a dip in the rebuilding process and a change in general manager
📌 Changes over the summer: moderate – a “sellout” mode run by a novice GM (Daniel Briere)
In the offseason, Briere and the Flyers front office made the expected giveaway of valuable (and not-so-valuable) assets. Mostly experienced players who didn’t want to wait out a protracted rebuild at the bottom of the table left. In the end, it didn’t come out too skillfully and profitably, but they collected their bonuses in the form of high draft picks.
In the summer, the Flyers failed to strengthen any of the positions at all, but no such task was set now, and all of the gone players were replaced with role players or experienced age players like defenseman Marc Staal.
It is assumed that the overall situation under John Tortorella will not be spoiled by the rookies.
Philadelphia selected forward Matvei Michkov with the No. 7 overall pick in the draft, who won’t be NHL-ready and approach the NHL until a couple years from now, presumably by the end of the club’s difficult rebuilding process.
📌 Goal for the season: beat the competition for the last spot and prepare for the draft if Tortorella’s motivator doesn’t get in the way
📌 League status for today: airplane in steep dive (new series)
📌 Forecast: steady stay at the bottom and continued rebuilding
Philadelphia’s current roster is probably the weakest in terms of player selection, if not in the entire league, then in the East.
The only pleasant event for fans will be the return of center Sean Couturier (30 years old) and wing Cam Atkinson (34 years old). Both experienced forwards missed the previous season entirely due to injuries and long recovery, but are ready to return, having already participated in preseason games.
📌 Bold prediction: the East’s top contender for the No. 1 pick in the draft
