by Brian Capobianco

            Even though the Flyers have had the shortest off-season in the NHL, it has felt like a lifetime since Patrick Kane scored his infamous goal during overtime in Game 6, ending the Flyers improbable run through the playoffs. But that long wait has come to an end as the 2010-2011 NHL Season is finally upon us. The expectations are high for the Flyers, not just because the Fly Guys are reigning Eastern Conference Champions, but also because the Flyers are the only cup contender in the league that has improved their line up. Taking a look at the Flyers roster shows a team that can match up with any team in the NHL.

FORWARDS

Last year during the regular season the Flyers offense had a noticeable lack of “pop”. Many were talking about how star players were underperforming and supposed breakout players were not quick to develop. It doesn’t look like that’s going to be the case this season. The Flyers are stacked with players, and more importantly the chemistry on the top three lines appears to be the best on a Flyers team in years.

The top line is going to be Captain Mike Richards at center, with Jeff Carter and Daniel Carcillo on the wings. This year is going to be a pivotal year for Jeff Carter. He is in a contract year and is trying to make up for a poor post season last year. But if the preseason was any indication, he is in line to have a big year.  Despite the fact this line puts the Flyers top two offensive threats on the same line, this crew might underwhelm Flyers fans this year. Richards and Carter do not have good chemistry as line mates, and have always worked better when they can be the focal point of different lines. The pairing didn’t work in the Cup Finals, even with the addition of the team’s next top producer, the departed Simon Gagne. Adding Carcillo to the line, I believe, is a mistake. Carcillo doesn’t have the speed or puck handling capabilities to keep up with Richards and Carter and more importantly, the top lines from other teams. In addition he doesn’t have the discipline and focus to keep him from committing penalties against players who have a better skill set than he does. Watch for a possible move during the season, not Carcillo to another team, but down to another line, possibly moving Andreas Nodl, the breakout star from training camp, up to the top line.

Another strong line, and possibly the crew that will lead the team in points this season, is Claude Giroux centering, with Nikolai Zherdev at right wing and James van Riemsdyk at left wing. This line has been on fire for the entire preseason, producing at least one goal a game whenever the line was together. It helps that each player on the line has something to prove. Claude Giroux is in a contract year, Zherdev is trying to prove that he not only belongs in the NHL but deserves a big money contract, and JVR is trying to prove that he deserved to be the second overall pick back in 2007. Recent history is in favor of JVR having a big season. The top draft pick from a few years ago, Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos, only scored 11 more points in his rookie year than JVR scored his rookie year. In Stamkos’ sophomore season he lead the league in goals and finished with 95 points. I’m not saying that JVR is going to turn into a 90 point scorer this year, but young players typically have their breakout season in their second year.

Another line looking at a big year is the line centered by Daniel Briere, with Scott Hartnell and Ville Leino on the wings. This line was the Flyers leading point producer in the playoffs last year, even though they were only together for three series. Daniel Briere is a superstar who has the potential to score 80 or more points in a season. Hartnell is looking to bounce back from a poor year on the ice (allegedly due to personal problems), but in the playoffs Hartnell came back to life on the line with Briere and Leino. Leino is the most intriguing player on the line; Leino averaged more than a point per game in the playoffs, scoring more points in that single postseason than his entire regular season career. This scoring anomaly is probably due to the fact Leino was usually stuck on the fourth line, the checking line, where he was relegated to less than 8 minutes of ice time a game with a group of players who aren’t really out on the ice to score goals. Once Leino got onto a line with more talented players he showed off the skills that made him the MVP of the Finnish hockey league in 2008. Leino is the most creative player on the roster, which should make him one of the team’s most exciting and productive players.

The fourth line will be up in the air for most of the year, but this is to be expected from a fourth line. Blair Betts and Darroll Powe will probably switch off centering duties for the year, while Andreas, Jody Shelly, Ian Laperriere (when he gets back), and a cornucopia of rookies and AHLers will rotate on the wings.

DEFENSE

One of the biggest knocks against the Flyers during the Cup Finals was that their defense was not deep enough. The Flyers management took that message to heart, and now going into the 2010-2011 season the Flyers have undoubtedly the top defensive crew in the league. Each defenseman on the team has been on the top defensive pair somewhere in the league before coming to the Flyers, and most of them would step onto the top defensive pairing for any team in the league today. The pairs are still up in the air, and could remain up in the air for the beginning of the season, but regardless of the pairings, the Flyers will have amazing pairs. Possible pairings include:

Chris Pronger and Sean O’Donnell: The two were pairs in Anaheim when the Ducks won the Cup, and I have no doubt that Pronger played a part in getting O’Donnell to Philly this year.

 Chris Pronger and Matt Carle: The top defensive pairing from last year would still be one of the top pairings in the league if they took the ice together again this year.

Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn: The Flyers second pair last year, but probably would have been the top pair if they weren’t sitting behind the one time MVP in Pronger. They had great chemistry together last year.

Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros: Timonen is one of the elite small defenseman in the league and Meszaros has the speed and size to step into and possibly exceed Coburn on a pairing with Kimmo.

Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle: Two great young defenseman, hopefully the next dynamic “big guy, little guy” pairing the Flyers are fond of.

Andrej Meszaros and Sean O’Donnell: Sticking the two new guys together doesn’t happen often, but the pairings of Timonen and Coburn as well as Pronger and Carle worked so well together that it isn’t impossible to think that Laviolette wouldn’t want to break up those pairings.

Also be on the look out for Oskars Bartulis this year. Bartulis had a solid showing in limited play in the Cup Finals. He is also the only big defensive prospect the Flyers still have. Bartulis could step up and fill Sean O’Donnell’s position sporadically over the course of the year, this not only benefits Bartulis, but O’Donnell who at 38 will need to take breaks so he can be in top form for the playoffs.

GOALTENDING

The question on everyone’s mind this offseason was “what are the Flyers going to do about their goaltending?”. The Flyers did what I thought they should have done, re-sign Michael Leighton, and nothing much else. If a pair of goaltenders like Mike Leighton and Brian Boucher can get you to the Stanley Cup, they’ve earned the chance to try and do it again. Leighton has never had the chance to be a starter in the league, not even last year when he was essentially holding down the fort for Ray Emery and Boucher to get back from injury. Leighton has the unfortunate knock that he gave up a bad goal that lost the Flyers the Stanley Cup. That makes it easy to forget he wasn’t having a bad Stanley Cup Finals, and it becomes easier to forget that Leighton was lights out against Montreal and Boston. If Leighton didn’t show up big against Boston coming off an injury, the Flyers would never have had the opportunity to win the Cup. Even with Leighton sidelined with an injury for the first month of the season, Boucher is more than capable of being an effective everyday starter, as he showed last year. The most interesting story coming out of preseason and training camp is that of Sergei Bobrovsky, the 22 year old Russian who is getting his first shot at North American hockey this year. Bobrovsky is the third goalie, which means he will play with the Phantoms in Glenn Falls, NY, this year, but we will hopefully get to see him once or twice in the first month of the season as he backs up Boucher. Bobrovsky could end up being the Flyers starting goalie a few years down the road, and if he performs as well as he did in the preseason we could be looking at the next great Flyers goalie.

WHO WILL LEAD THE TEAM IN POINTS?

Nikolai Zherdev. Zherdev was selected by the Blue Jackets in the 2003 Draft, BEFORE Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Someone thought he had the potential to be better than both of the Flyers superstars, but he got bogged down in the hockey abyss that is Columbus, and then was sent to the New York Rangers where he had no help. Now in Philly he has an abundance of help. His line mates Claude Giroux and JVR are the best passers on the team. Giroux can draw defenders to him, leaving Zherdev wide open, and JVR is the best natural passer the Flyers have had since Peter Forsberg. Zherdev has the added incentive that he has what most players don’t, a second chance at NHL stardom. He spent a year in exile in the KHL and now wants to be back in the show. Determination + talented line mates = big results.

WHO’S GOING TO BE THE BREAKOUT STAR?

James van Riemsdyk. Much like Zherdev, he has the added benefit of being on a great line with great chemistry. I’ve already mentioned how the sophomore year is the usually the breakout year for young talent, so expect big things from the youngster from Middletown, NJ.

WHO’S GOING TO BE THE UNSUNG HERO?

Andrej Meszaros. Not only is Meszaros a strong defensive acquisition, a combination of speed, size and strength, but he is a strong power play option as well. Meszaros quarterbacked Tampa Bay’s top power play unit, a unit that featured two 90 point scorers. Meszaros will most likely quarterback the Fly Guys second power play unit, meaning the Flyers can roll out two of the top power play units in the league.

HOW WILL THE FLYERS FINISH?

Don’t expect the Flyers to finish 1^st at the end of the regular season. They still have to deal with the Washington Capitals, and they are a team built for the playoffs. That being said, I think the Flyers can win the Atlantic Division. If you look behind names like Kovalchuk and Brodeur in New Jersey, as well as Crosby and Malkin in Pittsburgh, you will see a house of cards. Both teams lack the depth the Flyers have, and while I think they will win the division, they could still fall short. They do have a knack for hitting a losing streak in the middle of the year, but when it counts in the playoffs the Flyers can roll over the Penguins and Devils with relative ease.

So will they bring home the Cup? I have to be honest, I’m a Flyers fan. I’m always going to be optimistic about my team. That being said, I don’t think any team has a better chance of winning the Cup than the Flyers. The team has superstars, depth and strong coaching with Peter Laviolette, who has taken two different teams to the Cup Finals in five years. They have experience, and now they have the hunger. Nothing motivates a team like falling just short. Again, I’m a fan, and I’m optimistic, but this is the best chance the Flyers have had at the Cup in a long time.