With the NHL regular season starting, we find a Flyers team with big expectations. They contain a solid core of young players, have two new goaltenders, and have acquired one of the premier defenseman in the league in Chris Pronger.
Newly acquired Flyers defenseman Chris Pronger blasts a slapshot. (Photo provided by NBC Sports)
Sounds like a team poised for a championship, right?
But if you really look at the roster and the numbers, you’ll find that this is just a very good team in a league that demands greatness.
Let’s look at Pronger first. He’s been hailed as the Flyers big offseason acquisition and the player that will put them over the top.
Pronger is a 34-year-old defenseman with a physical style of play that is befitting of a Flyer.
But the numbers show that he may not be the savior he has been hailed as.
Pronger’s age is important to note because it may be a sign that his best days are behind him. However, his age is not the only number that indicates this; his stats have declined over the past few seasons.
His points per game have declined each of the past two seasons. After registering 59 points in 66 games in 2006-2007, he tallied only 43 points in 72 games in 07-08, and 48 points in 82 games in 08-09.
The most worrisome number though has to be his +/- rating, which is probably the best indicator for how good a defenseman is. In his first 13 NHL seasons, Pronger was a +154, including a +27 rating in 06-07. However in the past two seasons, Pronger is a combined -1.
Three other Flyers defensemen had higher ratings than Pronger in the same span. Randy Jones was a +16, Kimmo Timonen a +19, and Braydon Coburn a +24.
Now don’t get me wrong. I have a lot of respect for Pronger and I don’t doubt that he’s still an all-star caliber talent. But it’s important to realize that he’s at a stage in his career where he’s going to be getting worse not better, and considering that, the Flyers gave up way too much for him.
The Flyers invested a lot in Pronger having given him a seven-year $34.9 million contract extension in addition to the one year he had remaining on his current deal. But an equally large price was paid to acquire him in the first place.
Pronger was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks along with Ryan Dingle for two first round draft picks, a conditional third round pick, promising 19-year-old defenseman Luca Sbisa and 25-goal-scorer Joffrey Lupul.
This is a move that definitely makes the Flyers better this season, but anytime you trade draft picks and young talent for an older player at the back end of his career you’re going to hurt your team’s chances of long term success.
Now moving on to the forwards.
The Flyers boast a strong group of centers with all-star Jeff Carter, dynamic playmaker Daniel Briere, and team captain Mike Richards.
However, scoring depth on the wing is definitely a concern.
Having lost Lupul and Mike Knuble, who signed with Washington, the Flyers are left with only two proven goal-scoring wingers in Simon
Gagne and Scott Hartnell. They also have a rising star in Claude Giroux, and rookie James van Riemsdyk who is loaded with potential.
But potential and production are two different things. Giroux and van Riemsdyk will be elite level stars one day. But that day is still way in front of them, and right now it’s not reasonable to expect them to make up for the combined 52 goals scored by Lupul and Knuble last season.
However, the Flyers’ biggest concern this season lies between the pipes. Out are Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki; in are two equally mediocre goalies Ray Emery and Brian Boucher.
Now Boucher has actually proven to be a very capable back-up goaltender that can be an asset to a team with an established starter.
Unfortunately, this is something the Flyers don’t have which will probably force Boucher to take on a bigger role than he can handle.
Emery is a player clinging to one solid season three years ago in which he led the Ottawa Senators to the Stanley Cup finals. However, he hasn’t played to that level in the NHL since then. The following year he was booed out of town after posting a 3.13 goals against average and spent last season playing against sub-par competition in the KHL because he couldn’t make an NHL roster.
But despite all this, Emery is the guy the Flyers have chosen to be their number one goaltender. They chose him over two proven number one goaltenders in Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Nikolai Khabibulin, both of whom have won a Stanley Cup and were available this offseason.
All issues aside though, this is still a team that has a lot of talent; they may even be a shade better than they were last season.
Nevertheless, don’t expect too much of a breakout for this team in a very competitive eastern conference.
The eastern conference playoff picture should be led by Washington Capitals, Boston Bruins and the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins
Expect the Flyers to be competing for a spot right in the middle of the playoff picture along with Carolina, Toronto and New Jersey.
Contact Tim Brennan at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
