Philadelphia Flyers 2014-15 Season Primer

The Philadelphia Flyers are next up in our Metro division season primers. The Flyers are hoping to get off to a faster start this season.

Use the below Tabs to view Flyers info for this upcoming season, as well as some numbers from last year.

2013-14 record: 42-30-10, 94 points
Where they finished: 3^rd in the Metropolitan; 6^th in the East; 13^th in the NHL; lost 4-3 in the first round of playoffs to the Rangers

Player Salaries: $76,846,190 (24)
Cap Payroll: $73,936,429
Bonuses: $1,500,000
Cap Space: -$4,936,429
Forwards: $37,150,000 (13)
Defensemen: $31,341,429 (9)
Goalies: $5,100,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek.com

In: Andrew Gordon RW, Blair Jones C/W, Michael Del Zotto D, Nick Schultz D, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare LW, R.J. Umberger LW/RW, Rob Zepp G, Ron Hextall GM , Zack Stortini RW

Out: Adam Hall RW/C, Ben Holmstrom C, Bruno Gervais D, Kris Newbury C/LW, Scott Hartnell LW, Steve Downie RW, Tye McGinn LW

2014-15 Team Outlook:

The 2013-14 season saw Philly start the year with captain Claude Giroux struggling to the point of minor trade speculation, but ended much better.

For one, Giroux finished the season with 28 goals and 86 points in 82 games, and second, the Flyers nearly beat the eventual Eastern Conference champions New York Rangers, in the first round of the playoffs, losing by a score of 2-1 in game seven.

The offseason has been fairly quiet in terms of player movement, with the biggest move of the offseason for the Flyers coming in the front office. Former general manager Paul Holmgren was promoted to team president, and new GM Ron Hextall was promoted from assistant general manager to fill the vacant spot.

It didn’t take Hextall long to make his stamp on the line-up, trading former all-star winger Scott Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for a familiar face in R.J. Umberger.

On offense the Flyers top line will once again feature at centre Giroux and on the wing Jakub Voracek, with Umberger or possibly Michael Raffl on the other wing. The second-line will likely see Brayden Schenn in the middle with wingers Wayne Simmonds and one of Umberger or Matt Read. The bottom-six will see Sean Couturier at the pivot on the third-line with wingers Umberger, Read and/or  Raffl. Vincent Lecavalier could fit in on the wing somewhere or he could even centre the fourth-line. Other fourth-line candidates include Ryan White, Jason Akeson, Jay Rosehill, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare and Zac Rinaldo. Other forwards with shots at making the team are veterans Blair Jones, Chris VandeVelde, and Andrew Gordon, along with prospects Scott Laughton, Petr Straka, and Nick Cousins. Laughton will likely get the longest look of any player, as he is the team’s top offensive prospect who already possesses NHL skill and size at the age of 20.

Defensively, the Flyers have a massive amount of NHL quality depth. The back-end has given the Flyers trouble in recent years, hence why the team keeps drafting, trading for, and signing defenseman after defenseman, hoping to find a combination that works. Although Chris Pronger is still listed as an active player and counts against the cap listed above, his career is all but over and he will be added to the LTIR which will see his $4.9 million salary disappear off the books. On top of Pronger, defenseman Kimmo Timonen was recently diagnosed with blood clots in his lower right leg and both his lungs, meaning he is likely out for an extended period of time as well. As it stands right now the Flyers defense should have a top four of  Andrew MacDonald, Mark Streit, Braydon Coburn and Luke Schenn. Newcomer Michael Del Zotto (signed just hours after it was announced Timonen would be missing significant time) could be slotted along side defensive-defenseman Nicklas Grossmann on the third-pairing. The seventh defenseman will undoubtably be former Blue Jacket Nick Schultz, while prospects Mark Alt, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg, Samuel Morin, and Travis Sanheim will try to force GM Hextall into keeping them around.

In net the Flyers will use the same tandem as last year, with Steve Mason as starter, backed up by Ray Emery. The combo provided enough support last year for the Flyers to win some games, with Mason doing most of the work. Mason appeared in 61 games to Emery’s 28, posting a 2.50 goals against average and a .917 save percentage to Emery’s 2.96 and .903

Philly has the offensive firepower to be a contender out of the East this season. On paper the team looks fairly deep, although we’ve been fooled by their “on paper” defensive depth in the past. Starting goalie Steve Mason needs to take another step forward this year if the Flyers truly want to make some noise during the playoffs; and yes, they will make the playoffs. If Mason can fully return to the form he showed the league during his rookie season, combined with the defense holding up, and Giroux leading a stellar offense, this team could be easily find themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals in 2014-15.

Written by Greg Stamper, who can be found on twitter @g_stamp91.

The depth chart listed below was taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30. (posted before Timonen went down with the blood clot and Del Zotto’s signing)

FORWARDS
Michael Raffl – Claude Giroux – Jakub Voracek
Jason Akeson – Brayden Schenn – Wayne Simmonds
R.J. Umberger – Sean Couturier – Matt Read
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare – Vincent Lecavalier – Zac Rinaldo
Jay Rosehill

DEFENSEMEN
Kimmo Timonen – Braydon Coburn
Andrew MacDonald – Luke Schenn
Nicklas Grossmann – Mark Streit
Nick Schultz

GOALTENDERS
Steve Mason
Ray Emery

A look at the Philadelphia Flyers top prospects heading into this season. Each source may use different classifications as to if a player is deemed a prospect or has graduated on from a prospect.

* Dobber Prospects – Prospects based on relevance in a fantasy-hockey keeper league, not actual talent on the ice.

Philadelphia Flyers Draft History from the past five years

Performance and Usage Charts for the Philadelphia Flyers from last season, from Extra Skater.