The 2016-17 Philadelphia Flyers are looking to build on their 2015-16 campaign which saw them reach the playoffs with a 41-27-14 record. They played the fierce Washington Capitals in round one and gave the Presidents’ Trophy recipients a bit of a scare, taking the series to six games.
The team is riddled with talent in both its forward core and blue line. Claude Giroux captains a team that wants to show that 2015-16 was just the beginning, and second year defenceman and Calder finalist, Shayne Gostisbehere, will ensure that if the forwards can get the puck in the net, the opposition will not.
Lost in this all, check out Shayne Gostisbehere deke the skates off Luke Schenn pic.twitter.com/RmbfUavUaB
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) October 16, 2016
Leading Roles
Claude Giroux has played all 576 games of his career in a Flyers uniform and has consistently been a twenty-goal scorer for the organzation. He has blossomed into one of the leagues’ top players and will be the key to a postseason berth for the Flyers. Wayne Simmonds is his counterpart, and is playing in his sixth season in Philadelphia. He began his career with the Los Angeles Kings but didn’t seem to be much of a threat, in terms of point production. For some players a change of scenery is all they need, and with Simmonds that holds true. He has had three fifty-plus point seasons in a row for the Flyers and will look to do the same in the 2016-17 season. If you were to add in a third player to name the ‘three headed monster’ in Philadelphia, insert Jakob Voracek. Like Simmonds, this is his sixth season with the Flyers and if he returns to his 2014-15 form, where he registered 81 points, this trio may combine for well over 200 points this season.
Supporting Cast
Sean Couturier has played all six seasons of his career in a Flyers uniform, and during that time he has been a more than reliable addition to their forward group. He may not be a big points guy, like the aforementioned group, but since the 2013-14 has consistently put up nearly forty-point campaigns.
Rookie Travis Konecny is off to a nice start in his NHL career with three assists in his first two games. The Flyers drafted him 24th overall in 2015 and he looks to be a key piece to their future. Michael Raffl is another player in the forward group that will produce in a similar way to Couturier. He won’t light up the score sheet but will play hard and give a small scoring pop on the third or fourth line and finish with right around thirty points.
Matt Read winds up the supporting cast in Philadelphia, and in his sixth season with the Flyers will look to build on his past success. He has has two forty-point seasons with the club and could very well reach that level again.
The Defence
Start your blue line with assistant captain Mark Streit and a blossoming star in Shayne Gostisbehere and you have more than a solid foundation to build on. This is Streit’s fourth season in Philadelphia and although injuries plagued him a bit in 2015-16 he has registered over 300 assists in his career and in the 2014-15 season tallied a solid 43. Gostisbehere put the league on notice last season, and in 64 games recorded 46 points. No too shabby for a player taken in the third round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. He will be the cornerstone of the Flyers defence well into the future and could see his name in Norris Trophy talks down the road if he builds on the success he found in his rookie season.
Brandon Manning is another young defenceman in the Flyers organization that has yet to play 100 NHL games. In 56 games last season he registered seven points, in two this year he already has three. He won’t jump from seven to seventy in one season, but playing behind Streit and Gostisbehere may give him the chance to quietly have a thirty-point season. The Flyers have also dressed their seventh overall pick in 2015, Ivan Provorov, in the first two games of the 2016-17 season. Their blue line is young, that is obvious, and a lack of experience may be a downfall, but this group will push each other to be better and will grow as a group and team chemistry is a vital component for playoff-ready teams.
Goaltending
This area gets overlooked on the 2016-17 Philadelphia Flyers squad. This is mainly due to the fact that they are a playoff team without a clear number one. Steve Mason joined the Flyers half way through the 2012-13 season and has been a reliable netminder for them ever since. He started 53 games last season and maintained a respectable 2.51 GAA and a slightly above average SV% of .918. Is it time to hand the starting gig over to Michal Neuvirth though? Signs are starting to point to a resounding yes. The 27-year old joined the Flyers last season as the back up to Neuvirth, but in the 29 games he started had a 2.27 GAA, a very sound number for a relatively decent sample size. Despite it not being a large difference it looks as if Neuvirth is ready to take on a larger role for his team and these two could easily split time this season, without a clear number one ever being named. There are much worse problems to have in this league.
As expected, Michal Neuvirth starts for the Flyers. https://t.co/VNX2Z34kBV
— Daily Faceoff – Fantasy (@DFOFantasy) October 18, 2016
The talent is there, the drive is there, and the 2016-17 playoffs are within reach for the Philadelphia Flyers. Multiple scoring threats, a young defence ready to prove themselves, and two goalies with starting talent. Those ingredients will combine to make one tasty playoff run. Look for the Flyers to make their way into the postseason, and could very well make a run deep into the Eastern Conference bracket.
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