Season Review: Philadelphia Flyers

Now that the season's over, we will be concluding our season reviews and getting ready for the draft and upcoming off-season.

Now the Eastern Conference Champions and runners-up in the Stanley Cup Finals: The Philadelphia Flyers.

Season expectations: The Flyers were sick of all the attention in Pennsylvania going to the Pittsburgh Penguins and rightfully so; they had an excellent squad that was severely underrated in comparison to their cross-state rivals. They boasted a group of excellent forwards in Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Daniel Briere, and Simon Gagne. Throw in a blueline that boasted Kimmo Timmonen, Matt Carle, and the great Chris Pronger (who was acquired from Anaheim via trade) and the team looked like one that was a solid cup contender. There were some questions in the crease and to remedy that, the team brought on Ray Emery, a young and aggressive goaltender, to be their starter while Brian Boucher was re-acquired to back him up. Some other teams could be playoff performers but for the Flyers, it was going to be Cup or bust.

My prediction: I predicted that the Flyers would be first in the Atlantic Division and second overall in the standings.

The truth: Thanks to a shootout victory against the New York Rangers, the team finished third in the division and seventh in the conference. They managed to make their way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the champion Chicago Blackhawks in six games.

What went right?: GM Paul Holmgren made some great moves and put his team in a great position to succeed. When the team was headed in the wrong direction mid-season, he relieved former coach John Stevens from duty and replaced him with Peter Laviolette. From there, the team righted the ship and made an unbelievable rush to the finals thanks to a change in leadership. This was a strong and excellent move for them.

The Chris Pronger trade paid great dividends to the club, as he was able to supply the team with an excellent defensive presence and solid veteran leadership. He may have been a little curt with Richards at times but sometimes tough love is an effective way to get a team captain to man up. That shouldn't take away from the other talent on the blueline, as Timmonen, Carle, and Braydon Coyburn had solid campaigns for Philadelphia this season.

Offensively speaking, Ville Leino was acquired from Detroit and went on to form a very successful line with Briere and Scott Hartnell, whom were among the most prolific forwards in the playoffs. Laviolette was was also successful in integrating tough guys Ian Lapierriere, Arron Asham, and Dan Carcillo into the line up to complement talented forwards like Richards, Carter, Gagne, and Claude Giroux to give the team sound scoring-by-committee while keeping the opposition afraid. James van Riemsdyk was having a successful rookie campaign until he started to run out of gas toward the end of the season; I expect that he'll avoid the sophomore slump because he already hit his wall.

But what was most remarkable was the goaltending situation. Emery was average (no more, no less) but capable until he went down with injury. Michael Leighton was acquired via waivers from the Carolina Hurricanes to back up Brian Boucher until the Flyers resolved their goaltender concerns. When Boucher went down with injury, Leighton was given the keys and ran with it, going 16-5-2 with a 2.48 GAA and a .918 save percentage before going down with injury himself. Boucher went into the playoffs and propelled the Flyers through their series against New Jersey and into their series against Boston until Leighton returned carried the mail into the Stanley Cup Finals. For two goaltenders who're considered backups, they platooned well and properly challenged each other without it being a distraction.

What went wrong?: As valiant as the goaltending duo were, they simply didn't have enough of "the stuff" to push the Flyers over the edge. There was something about Boucher's game that didn't give Laviolette the confidence to put him in through the finals (maybe something about allowing 3 goals on 14 shots in Game 5) which lead to Leighton becoming ineffective at the absolute worst time. While his teammates will hardly blame the goaltending, the Patrick Kane goal was one of those that simply should have been stopped when the sport's most prestigious trophy is on the line. I do give the guy credit though and I hope he secures a good deal somewhere; one that includes a NTC.

To the goaltenders credit, it is a truth that the team in front of them ran out of gas as the series went on. While the team wasn't necessarily starved offensively, the team's forwards didn't necessarily do as well in their own zone as their defenders did. That could be a problem with the system, but when you consider that the St. Louis Blues, Calgary Flames, and Anaheim Ducks all did statistically better than they did, when you play in a weak conference, you can't expect to be adequately prepared when going with the best of another.

So what's next?: The team has $48.61M committed to salaries next season and will need to get another goaltender, qualify their defensive RFAs while getting another defenseman, and look to qualify their RFA depth forwards while rounding out their depth forwards (like making the decision as to whether or not Asham will be coming back.) They could build from within but a well-executed trade may make the difference between merely making the playoffs versus winning it all next season. The nucleus of talent is there so with the exception of finding/developing a dynamic goaltender, they just need compliments as opposed to building blocks to go forward.