Flyers Season Preview 2010-2011

Just mere months ago, the Flyers rode a magical playoff run all the way through the Stanley Cup Finals where they finally fell to the Blackhawks. With the season less than 48 hours away, the orange and black return with a revamped defense and plenty of questions in what, again, will be a very tough division in the NHL.

The New Fly Guys
The NHL offseason is known for being a very active one. Trades and free agency is frequent as teams attempt to make it under the salary cap. The Flyers had been very active this summer especially on the defensive side and they have built up their blue-liners quite well.

Newcomers like Sean O'Donnell, Matt Walker, and Andrej Mezaros all bring veteran leadership, size, and toughness to the back line and will definitely compliment the strong core of defencemen already in place in Pronger, Timonen, Coburn and Carle.

Perhaps Mezaros is the most intriguing new addition. Before having two disappointing seasons with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Mezaros was an active scoring defencemen who tallied over 35 points in three seasons with the Ottawa Senators. Flyers brass definitely seem to expect big things from the Czech player.

As far as the offense is concerned, losing a guy like Simon Gagne is tough. But, the Flyers did add flashy winger Nikolay Zherdev and enforcer Jody Shelley. Zherdev spent last season playing in Russia but is a former first round pick who never realized his potential with Columbus nor New York.

The winger has looked strong this preseason with Scotty Hartnell as a line mate and it will be interesting to see if Zherdev's preseason efforts carry over into the regular season.

Playoff Hangover?
Many experts predict the teams that go deep in the Stanley Cup playoffs seem to have poor years in the following season. There may be some truth to that, but in the Flyers case, the question will be if this team is capable of playing the way they did in the playoffs last year.

The Flyers were a very mediocre team all last season. They squeezed in to the playoffs in the last game of the season, but then never looked back. The real story of this season will be the performances of the playoff heroes. Can Ville Leino, Scotty Hartnell, Danny Briere and Claude Giroux all come back and have effective and productive seasons. Obviously Giroux is a rising star but questions remain for the other three. Is Briere past his prime? Is Leino legit? Does Scotty Hartnell need a haircut finally?

It might be time, Scotty.

The Flyers also relied on stellar goaltending during the playoff push. Leighton is our starter but is hurt with a bulging disc in his back. Brian Boucher will be the starter for at least October. Still, Flyers management is confident that the defencemen will be the key to whoever they play in front of, whether it is Boucher or Leighton.

My Ultimate Prediction
I think the Flyers will have a legitimate shot at the division, but yet fall just short. With the Penguins and Devils, it is a very tough Atlantic. I predict a 4th or 5th seed for the playoffs however. And I think with the Flyers defence, it can be a somewhat deep run into the playoffs. To play for the cup again would be something, but I think the Flyers may falter in the Conference finals.

I'm very excited to see the young talent on this team as Richards, Carter, Giroux, van Riemsdyk and the addition of Zherdev provides a lot of young, quick scorers to this team. Still, questions across the depth chart and early season injuries raise some concerns as the Flyers move into the regular season.

Still, this team could be full of surprises as they were last season. To get you pumped, courtesy of the 2009-2010 Flyers: