Flyers offseason part 1

PHILADELPHIA, Pa – With the Stanley Cup playoffs officially over, the Philadelphia Flyers must now look forward to the off-season that fortunately for the team have fewer questions than answers this time around. Upper management, AKA, General Manager Paul Holmgren and his scouting staff, must evaluate what the team needs are in order to improve upon a season that came within two wins of winning the Stanley Cup.

Some people will look at Michael Leighton’s performance in the Cup finals and say that the greatest team need is for a new goaltender. After further review, that may or may not be the case. The Chicago Blackhawks outshot the Flyers in most of the games and did not win face-offs in most of them as well. That has nothing to do with goaltending the last time I checked. Another glaring issue that has been repeated in these pages is that the Flyers do not build their teams through the NHL Entry Draft. I dare you to pick a team that has won the Cup in the past 20 years that has no less than one third of their roster that was not drafted by the team. Building through the draft means three things: Youth, speed, and staying under the salary cap. I know that the cap has not been around in the past 20 years but building a team through the draft has not changed. In fact, because of the cap, building through the draft is more essential than ever before. The Flyers have to take the draft more seriously, but playoff runs like this past season and two seasons ago once again have the Flyers thinking the status quo, which is to spend money in order to win a cup. It is these runs that give the Flyers a false sense of security that they are doing the right thing in order to win the cup. The truth is, until they realize that the draft is how you build a team, the Flyers will always be a good team, but never good enough to win a cup. And yes, I’m taking bets that I am right on that one.
           
Let’s take a look at what the Flyers should or should not do, not only regarding free agency but in the upcoming draft as well. (All stats are regular season numbers)
           
          Offense: 8^th
          Defense: 15^th
          Face-offs: 13^th
          Power Play: 3^rd
          Penalty Kill: 11^th
          Penalties: 29^th
           
Free Agents
          RFA: Dan Carcillo, Darroll Powe, Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent, Danny Syvret UFA: Aaron Asham, Mike Pyorala, Lukas Krajicek, Michael Leighton.
           
The Forwards The Flyers had two players with over 30 goals, one with over 20, and seven players with more than 10. They had three players with over 100 penalty minutes and one with over 200 (Carcillo). With the salary cap going up to $56.8 million, the Flyers have some wiggle room but not much to play with. The Flyers have always prided themselves on being strong down the middle of the ice. Well, it looks as though the Flyers may have to part with some of that depth in order to improve the team not only for the present but for the future as well. On left wing, Gagne has one more year left to go on his contract and the Flyers would love to sign him to an extension but without knowing what the cap will look like come next season that will be put on hold. Even still, it is no secret that the Montreal Canadiens would love nothing more than to make Gagne an offer he can’t refuse should Gagne make it to free agency next summer. Scott Hartnell is a penalty machine but as shown in the finals that when motivated he can play extremely well. That’s the part that gives the team fits and I’m not talking about their opponents. The Flyers wanted to move Hartnell at the trade deadline but not only does he have a no trade clause they couldn’t find a taker on someone who under achieved during the regular season. His cap hit is $4.2 so the Flyers would love to get out from under it but he only scored 14 goals during the season. He is under contract for three more seasons but his salary does come down after next season even if his cap hit stays the same. James Van Riemsdyk, aka, JVR, will improve next season provided he’s on a line with players who have skill. They didn’t draft him second overall to be a third or fourth liner.
           
Carcillo is the question mark. He is not in a position to command much so the Flyers can do what they wish salary wise. As an RFA no one goes after RFA’s in this business so unless he turns down the Flyers offer he should be back but the question is, why bring someone back that doesn’t play for you in the finals and has a control issue?
           
The surprised of the playoffs was Ville Leino who set a team record for points in the playoffs by a “rookie”, which is odd since he is 26. Carcillo and Hartnell will suffer monetarily because if Leino turns out to not be a fluke the Flyers will have to give Leino a contract extension and a raise that will affect one or both players.
           
At center, the cupboard is full with Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, Blair Betts, Powe, and possibly Claude Giroux. Sorry to my esteemed colleagues who cover the team but Giroux is not a center. He is a right winger, always has been, always will be. Don’t expect Powe to be resigned. The top four centers should be Carter, Briere, Richards, and Betts. The Flyers had six players win over 50 percent of their face-offs, two of them were wingers (Ville Leino and David Laliberte) and one of them only played in three playoff games (Jared Ross). The only two regular centers who played in the playoffs that won over 50 percent were Carter and Betts.
           
Briere was the Flyers best player in the playoffs not named Chris Pronger. Richards struggled for the most part but he was still a key part of their success. Betts is a solid fourth line center who can win face-offs.   Carter had a great season until he hurt his foot. He is their best player when he’s in a groove and can garner the most in a trade. Briere’s contract is too great and he has a NTC (No trade clause), Richards isn’t going anywhere and Betts is staying as well.
           
On right wing, Briere can play the wing but is a natural center and will most likely move back to center especially if there is a trade. Claude Giroux isn’t going anywhere; Ian Laperriere is signed through next season. In order to save some money Aaron Asham might not be resigned in order to bring up either Laliberte or Andreas Nodl.
           
Defense
           
Chris Pronger proved his worth all season long. That said he will turn 36 this year and unless the Flyers add a defenseman who can help elevate some of Pronger’s minutes so he can be ready for the playoffs is a must. Kimmo Timonen is the team’s second best defenseman but like Pronger he will turn 36 this year. Coburn’s stock has fallen since he came over from Atlanta. He was a negative six in the regular season and a negative two in the playoffs. Still the Flyers must find a way to resign him. The Flyers have the hammer and should only sign him to a two year contract.
           
Matt Carle was solid on the blueline but still needs to get better defensively. He has shown flashes of an offensive game and needs to assert himself more on that part of this game.
           
That leaves room for the 5^th and 6^th defenseman to step up their games. Ryan Parent was a virtual no show in the playoffs as was Krajicek who will most likely not be resigned. The jury is still out on Parent but he is injury prone and has been since coming over from Nashville. Oskars Bartulis was solid whenever he got in the lineup and will be given a good shot to make the roster come training camp.
           
Goaltending
 
Brian Boucher looked like his career could have been over due to poor play for the most part of the season until late in the year when he turned back the clock and played very well. Still he is a backup at best and not the answer in net. Leighton is the big question in net, but the Flyers should remember had it not been for Leighton they don’t even make the playoffs much less reach the cup finals.
           
Top prospects The Flyers don’t have any blue chip prospects waiting in the wings. Oddly enough their top prospects are goaltenders but no one stands out as a goaltender of the future. Joacim Eriksson, Jacob De Serres, and Nicola Riopel top the list but all of them are a year or two away from making their mark.
           
Three defensive prospects are close to making an impact on the roster in Kevin Marshall, Marc-Andre Bourdon, and Joonas Lehtivuori will all be given a shot to make the team in training camp with Marshall the front runner. Of the forward Eric Wellwood turned some heads with his play with the Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires but he needs at least one year of the AHL or ECHL in order to make his mark on the roster in the future.
         
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Lewis.Bleiman@prohockeynews.com