FLYERS LOOK FORWARD TO SEASON'S START

FLYERS 2008-09 HBMHL PREVIEW



PHILADELPHIA, PA- With the start of the season just days away the Flyers wrapped up a promising camp. On their home ice the summer, they posted a 7-3-0 record, but the Flyers really wanted to see how the chemistry of the top line would develop. Dany Heatley-Mike Richards-Patrick Sharp combined for 17 goals, 24 assists, & 41 points in those 10 games. Let's take a look at the team:

LOSSES FROM LAST YEAR:

Marc-Andre Bergeron (traded), Dany Markov (signed in Europe), Erik Cole (traded), R.J Umberger (traded), Jeff O'Neill (retired), Ryan Potulny (traded), Alexander Picard (traded), Denis Seidenberg (sold), Michal Handzus (traded), Daniel Tjarnqvist (retired), & Branko Radivojevic (Free Agency).

ACQUISITIONS THIS SEASON:

Jason Blake (trade), Sergei Brylin (waivers), Steve Downie (draft), David Jones (draft), Randy Jones (trade), Tyler Kennedy (trade), Andreas Lilja (free agent), Dean McAmmond (trade), Brian Pothier (free agent), Denis Tolpeko (draft), Scottie Upshall (trade), 1st season eligible: Jeremy Colliton & Ryan Parent.

GOALTENDING:

This area is much improved over last season. Number 1 goalie, J.S. Giguere (NHL: 2.12GA & .923 SV) had a solid camp, 6-1 with a 2.20 GA & .923SV in 8 games. He should improve on his 2.62 GA from last year, especially with an improved Defense in front of him. Antero Niittymaki (NHL: 2.91, .907) is much improved over his prior year (NHL 3.39, .894). The Flyers expect to see Nitty play about 25 games this season. His stats were a bit inflated for camp, he played in 3 games but one bad outing in 2 periods did some damage to his numbers...best kept unsaid! This past week the Flyers claimed goaltending prospect Dan LaCosta off waivers & assigned him to the minors. He will be ineligible this season, but the Flyers believe that he will be a HBMHL caliber goalie in the future.



DEFENSE:

The Flyers believe that they have improved in this area, however they come into the season without their top 3 +/- guys from last season: Marc-Andre Bergeron (+15), Dany Markov (+15), & Denis Seidenberg (+8 in 30gms) and have no 4-rated d-men. This year's top line is slated to be Braydon Coburn (NHL: 9-27-36, 5ppg) & Michal Rozsival (NHL: 13-25-38, 6PP) both are 3 rated D even & short. The 2nd pairing looks to be new comers Randy Jones (NHL: 5-26-31) & Andreas Lilja (NHL: 2-10-12) bothe solid all-around 3's. The 3rd pairing will be Lasse Kukkonen (1-4-5) & Mike Commodore (3-11-14) both are 2's but 3's on the PK. Commodore out played Lilja in camp & if he continues to do so, will jump into the 2nd pairing. Additional D: Bret Hedican (2-15-17 in 66gm) will try to play his way into the lineup. Rookie Ryan Parent (0-0-0 in 22 gms) will play mostly in the minors but may see some action to cover injuries, he was a +3 in 3 pre-season games. Brian Pothier (5-9-14 in 38GM) was a FA pick up this season. He will see plenty of time, but a sore shoulder will limit him this year. Will be a big help on the offensive end for the defense. Nate Guenin (2gm) will be designated to his junior team.



OFFENSE:

The Flyers should be a potent offensive force this year with a strong first line & consistent scorers beyond. One big problem will be Simon Gagne being out with a concussion sustained in preseason. He will be out until Block 6. As stated above, Heatley (41-41-82) - Richards (28-47-75) - Sharp (36-26-62), should be an explosive line & the Flyers are hoping that the other lines will produce in helping to keep this line together. Although the remaining lines are not quite set in stone, the 2nd line at press time is set as Jeff Carter (29-24-53) centering for Slava Kozlov (17-24-41) & Antti Meittinen (15-19-34). The 3rd line may have Brooks Laich (21-16-37) between Scottie Upshall (14-16-30) & Jason Blake (15-37-52) & the 4th line of Dean McAmmond (9-13-22) between rookie Tyler Kennedy (10-9-19) & Mark Recchi (14-34-48).

Veteran Jim Dowd (5-5-10), who may be entering his final season, should see his share of playing time. Sergei Brylin (6-10-16 82gm) was picked up to help fill voids at all forward positions. Rookie Steve Downie (6-6-12 32gm) leads the remaining forwards, all who are young: Jeremy Colliton (0-0-0 16gm), Draft pick David Jones (2-4-6 27gm) who played well in the preseason, Stefan Ruzicka (1-3-4 14gm), & Denis Tolpeko (1-5-6 26gm). Designated to the Junior Leagues are two blue chip prospects, Claude Giroux & Chris Bourque (son of Ray). The Flyers are weak in the area of depth here, but believe that these young players will blossom in the minors & hope to make an even stronger impact next season.


SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Flyers Power Play should be one of the strongest in the league. Coach Keith Jones has said that he wants to keep the Richards line together with the man advantage with Coburn & Rozsival on the blueline. They will go with Laich-Carter-Meittinen as the 2nd line having Randy Jones & Recchi quarterbacking.

If the preseason is any indication of how the season will go, the Penalty Killing units will be a lot busier than the PP units. In 10 games, the Flyers had 31 man-advantages, while their opponents had 49. The big thing that the PK will have do to is not skate their way into giving their opponent the big scoring chance. The Flyers have 13 players with a 3 SH D-rating, and 4 players with a SK14, 1 with a 12, 1 with a 10, & 3 lower but with (1)'s, including McAmmond's 8(3). Eight players have the ability to skate out of the zone for breakaway scoring chances.


OUTLOOK:

Expect to see the Flyers in the race for their division & a home ice spot for the playoffs. Coach Jones was disappointed in the team's lack of goal scoring at the end of the season & the team's poor play at home in the playoffs. A poor start could be critical. The first block has them playing 8 games out of conference & 2 games with the Bruins. They were 13-9-0 against the Northwest last season & 4-4 against the Bruins.