Don’t look now, but the Philadelphia Flyers have the feel of a team that is built for the playoffs. As it stands today, the Flyers sit in the 5th spot in the East. But that’s only part of their story.
The Flyers are getting healthy at the right time. Joffrey Lupul has made it back to their everyday line-up, just as Randy Jones has made it back to their blueline. Danny Briere had surgery earlier this month and is on track to return to the line up in late-February. When he comes back– watch out Eastern Conference.
Young and talented seems to be the theme
The striking thing about the Flyers lineup is the amazing depth that management has been able to assemble. When fully healthy, they have 3 lines that are all capable of exploding on any given night. Danny Briere is a star, Jeff Carter is one of the leading goal scorers and Mike Richards is one of the best young leaders in the NHL. Surrounding these 3 great centers are guys like Mike Knuble, Scott Hartnell and Scottie Upshall who can both agitate the opposition as well as put the puck in the net. Their gritty style is the perfect compliment to snipers like Joffrey Lupul, Claude Giroux and a healthy Simon Gagne. And these are just the forwards!
The back-end features the top pairing of Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn who seem like they could play 30 minutes a game. Randy Jones has finally returned to the line-up and seems like a great compliment to newcomer Matt Carle (who was basically stolen from Tampa Bay). Adding to the newcomer theme, 19 year old rookie Luca Sbisa has shown that he belongs in the NHL with his poise and above average skating ability. When the organization finally realizes they should recall Ryan Parent from the Phantoms, they’ll have 6 defensemen capable of playing 20 minutes per game without giving the fans a collective heart-attack. By the way, giving Ryan Parent a shot with the big club would also get rid of Andrew Alberts– so it would kill 2 birds with one stone!
The Flyers have a fast, talented group of forwards that can play the rough style of hockey that always comes to the forefront in the playoffs. The defensive core of players are all mobile, play with poise and can play below the circles when called upon. As it stands today, they wouldn’t even have home-ice in the 1st round. But watch out, this dark horse has all the qualities of a team that would advance in the playoffs.
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Sbisa was sent back to his Junior team today. Since he’s played over 10 games, the Flyers lose a year on his entry level contract. Besides the misuse of his contract, he’s been sitting in the press box while other, less talented (read: Alberts) defensemen play in his place.
Such a stupid move on so many levels.
http://flyers.nhl.com/team/app?articleid=407362&page=NewsPage&service=page