NHL Preview 2019-20: Philadelphia Flyers

(This year again, I will twin-post with my Collectibles Blog and write about a player who is related to my Preview post here. Today, it's the Philadelphia Flyers' future #1 defenseman, Ivan Provorov).

GM: Chuck Fletcher (since 2018). 5/10
Coach: Alain Vigneault (since 2019). 8.5/10

2018-19 record: 37-37-8, 82 points (6th in the Metropolitan Division, 11th in the Eastern Conference).
Playoffs: Did not qualify.

Departures: Jori Lehtera (RW), Cam Talbot (G), Andrew MacDonald (D), Radko Gudas (D), Wayne Simmonds (RW), Michal Neuvirth (G), Anthony Stolarz (G), Phil Varone (LW).

Arrivals: Matt Niskanen (D), Justin Braun (D), Kevin Hayes (C), Tyler Pitlick (LW), Kurtis Gabriel (RW), Nate Prosser (D), Vigneault (head coach), Michel Therrien (assistant-coach), Mike Yeo (assistant-coach).

Top forwards: Claude Giroux (75-95 points), Jakub Voracek (65-85 points), Kevin Hayes (40-45 points), Sean Couturier (75-85 points), Nolan Patrick (40-50 points), Travis Konecky (30-45 points), James Van Riemsdyk (45-55 points, 30-35 goals), Tyler Pitlick (10-20 points).

Must-improve forwards: Simmonds is a very good hockey player who plays hard. There is no reason why he can't reach the 50- or even the 60-point mark.

Top defensemen: Shayne Gostisbehere (45-55 points), Ivan Provorov (35-45 points), Travis Sanheim (15-25 points), Matt Niskanen (10-20 points), Robert Hagg (20 points), Justin Braun (10 points).

Goalies: Brian Elliott (77/100), Carter Hart (85/100).

Top rookies: Oskar Lindblom (23 years old, LW), Philippe Myers (22, D), Morgan Frost (20, C, first-round pick in 2017), Cameron York (18, D, first-round pick in 2019), German Rubtsov (21, C, first-round pick in 2016), Joel Farabee (19, LW, first-round pick in 2018), Jay O'Brien (19, C, first-round pick in 2018).

Analysis:
Former GM Ron Hextall built a vetitable arsenal on the blue line stacked with a roster of blue-chip prospects (Gostisbehere, Provorov, Hagg, Patrick, Samuel Morin, Sanheim) and a goalie who ad a breakout year in 2018-19, two or three years ahead of schedule... and a month after Hextall himself was dismissed, seemingly for having stuck with head coach Dave Hackstol for too long. And that's saying nothing of the star-driven elite veteran forward core (Giroux, Voracek, JVR, Couturier).

New GM Fletcher has already begun setting the team's cap aflame with the free agent signing of Hayes - projected to be a second-line centre at best - to a first-line salary, $7.1M per season for seven years.

So the questions bears asking: Who are the Philadelphia Flyers?

They used to be the Broad Street Bullies, winning Stanley Cups in thew 1970s and bullying their way to Finals in the 1980s and 1990s, and even again almost accidentally in 2010.


Nowadays, they are a skill-based team that has alternated playoff-bound and non-postseason seasons for the past eight years; by that metric, they're in this year, barring a sophomore slump to young Carter Hart, perhaps the most important piece of the team at just 21 years old.

Prediction: 4th in the Metropolitan Division, 16th in the NHL.