Pool Outlook for Philadelphia

For the Philadelphia Flyers, there was a lot of good to come out of this season, especially in the scoring department. They had some big breakouts by players, they had some stunning returns from injury and they really learned a lot more about themselves. Unfortunately, their run through the regular season could not be duplicated through the first round of the playoffs, but they were matched up to a good Penguins team. By no means was this season a failure, it was more of a building block season for the seasons coming afterwards.

The best Flyers player in the hockey pool this year was one of the Flyers' biggest breakouts in Jeff Carter. Carter finished the year with 46 goals and 38 assists in all 82 GP and quickly made a name for himself as a bonafide goal scorer. Needless to say, his stock went through the roof when he started to come close to the 50-goal mark, but he couldn't quite reach that beloved plateau. Nevertheless, he showed that he can come really close and be that player soon. Thanks to his big year, Carter's pool rank jumped from 117th to 18th in a matter of one season, making him considerable for a first round pick.

Also having a great season up front for the Flyers was their captain, Mike Richards, who finished with 30 goals and 50 assists in 79 GP, just better than a point-per-game average. He managed to move up the pool rankings slightly, going up from 34th to 25th this season. A large pool could see him going up very high in the draft. Simon Gagne had a remarkable season, coming back from his concussion problems of a season previous. Gagne not only came back, but came back as good as he's ever been, especially in pool rankings. Gagne finished with 34 goals and 40 assists in 79 GP to rank him 37th in the league. Scott Hartnell and Joffrey Lupul both hit or surpassed the 50-point mark, which makes them very reasonable candidates for your pool team next season.

It wasn't a very easy year for the Flyers defenders in 2009, as the top three blueliners all showed some down years in the pool rankings, but they weren't too bad. Kimmo Timonen finished on top with 43 points in 77 GP, Braydon Coburn's first full season in Philly had 28 points in 80 GP and Matt Carle's first season in Philly saw 26 points in 76 GP. Those are three quality defenders for your pool team and there should be no reason why you don't pick them for next season and you can also look towards Ryan Parent and Luca Sbisa, who both debuted in the regular season with some off-and-on action.

The Flyers were relatively fortunate when it came to their goaltending, as they had two good goalies, Martin Biron, the starter, and Antero Niittymaki, to take starts when Biron wasn't playing so well. Biron finished with 29 wins, 2 shutouts and 4 assists for 66 pool points, while Niittymaki still picked up 15 wins, 1 shutout and 1 assist for 33 pool points. Biron is a quality starter, but if he doesn't have as many starts like he's been known to do, his overall value does remain lower than some of the other starters. In 2009, he ranked 15th among goalies, which would only be middle of the pack among starters. Good, but not stellar. Pick him accordingly.

2010 Season Outlook
The Flyers found a lot of good young talent in their ranks in 2009 and there is a good chance that a lot of those players will be dressed for the team again, as the team has looked after their youth really well and are only poised to add more talent before long. The question is, what about their goaltending?

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Jeff Carter	Kimmo Timonen
Mike Richards	Braydon Coburn
Simon Gagne	Matt Carle
Scott Hartnell	Randy Jones
Joffrey Lupul
Claude Giroux
Daniel Briere
Aaron Asham
Daniel Carcillo
Darroll Powe
Riley Cote

I had a hard time deciding whether or not to include Luca Sbisa or Ryan Parent on the team list, but I have excluded them for now, since they didn't play more than half the year. Anyways, the team is pretty well taken care of in the skating positions, despite the exclusions and the 15 players listed come at an approximate cap value of $48.2 million.

When you start talking about free agents in Philadelphia, you have to start with the UFAs, as they have a few important players heading to market this summer, unless they decide to cut them off at the pass. Martin Biron and Antero Niittymaki are both due up, leaving the goaltending in limbo, while Mike Knuble makes his way to the free agent pool.

There isn't much pressing when it comes to RFAs for the Flyers, really no player that won't be receiving a two-way contract and spending a lot of time in the minors. Expect the Flyers to use the remainder of their cap space on new UFAs to help fill the crease... and the rest of the roster.

Well, I do like to rave about the two young defenders, Sbisa and Parent, but the Flyers are also boasting a good forward in James Van Riemsdyk. A top pick in 2007, Van Riemsdyk carries a lot of size and offensive prowess and he is expected to make a big push for a spot up front for the Flyers next season. Otherwise, there isn't really a lot of up & coming talent, especially in net, where they possibly need a bit more.

The Flyers are going to be factory of good pool points in the coming years and next year should be especially good. Carter, Richards, Gagne, Hartnell, Lupul, Timonen, Carle and Coburn are all quality players who will likely be taken pretty early for their positions and rightly so. If you want to jump on the Flyers bandwagon next season, you may want to increase their value in your rankings for next season. If they wisely spend their money with the goaltending (either the same faces or a reasonable pair of substitutes), they should be able win a lot of games as well. How can you not like them?