The Flyers certainly went down swinging like the pendulum that eventually caused the clock to strike midnight on a play-off run for the ages. While it will survive in Philadelphia folklore for the time being, the 2010 play-offs came up one OT goal short of immortal.
Hey, there's always next year. So in that spirit let's look at what we may have learned, and what questions still remain about the Flyer's upcoming off-season.
The Goaltender Situation
The only thing certain is that Brian Boucher's contract runs through next season. However what does GM Paul Holmgren do about the starting goalie?
Michael Leighton saved the season. He was a great story, being rescued from the trash pile to right the Flyer's ship that was about to capsize. He put up post season numbers that rivaled Bernie Parent. However as we saw in the finals, Michael Leighton isn't Bernie Parent. He's Michael Leighton. He falls in the same category as many who have tended the crease in orange and black before him. He is better than the career minor leaguer that he was. He could probably compete for a starting NHL goaltender gig, but he isn't a Stanley Cup caliber player. That is exactly what this team needs right now, and is arguably the thing standing between them and lifting the hardware today. I'm not pinning the losses on Leighton. There were defensive breakdowns that left him out to dry. Nevertheless, championship goalies bail their team out of defensive breakdowns. They come up with the saves on shorthanded breakaways. To win it all, the goaltender needs to stand on his head a couple of times and he didn't do that. Antti Niemi did, and that was the difference.
I believe that Ray Emery is that championship caliber goalie. On the other hand, he is having surgery to ensure that he can walk without a limp for the rest of his life, so we'll leave that where it is.
The ideal solution would be to find a young, franchise goalie. Since it seems the Flyers don't have a draft pick for another 9 years, they're going to have to poach talent from other organizations. There are 2 on my list:
Josh Harding - 25 year old from the Minnesota Wild. He is a restricted free-agent this year, and resigning him is in question due to the huge contract the Wild gave to Nik Backstrom. He is one of the good guys of the NHL, changes the design of his mask twice a year, and lays claim to one of the nastiest saves of the season. He got hurt on that play, but missed little time and came back true to form.
Jonathan Bernier - 21 years old currently tearing up the AHL with the Manchester Monarchs, the LA Kings affiliate. He was the 11th overall pick in the 2006 draft but is being blocked by US Olympian Jonathan Quick. He only has 7 NHL starts, but went 3-0 this season with 1 shutout, a 1.3 GAA and a .957 Save%. He is still under contract so will cost the Flyers talent already on the roster. It is being heard that the Kings are interested in veteran forward talent, so that keeps Claude Giroux, Jeff Carter and James Van Riemsdyke off of the proposal.
Mike Richards is the Captain of This Team
We've all heard the criticism. He is too young. He's too immature. He parties too much. Pronger should be wearing "the C." Mike Richards grew into that heavy "C" on his chest in the play-offs this year. We'll all remember how he held a meeting after their 5-1 Game 3 loss in Montreal, then backed it up with a strong Game 4 and a legacy building Game 5. Richards doesn't always bark at his teammates, but even the veterans like Laperriere, who came into his own folk lore this season, look up to the way he plays. His Finals left something to be desired, but look for that to be a chip on his shoulder next season.
Danny Briere is Worth His Contract as Long as the Flyers make the Play-offs
Danny boy catches a lot of flak in Philly. His numbers during the regular season do not reflect the huge contract he signed in 2007. He's been injured, hasn't replicated the 95 point season he had his last year in Buffalo, and with the emergence of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter at center, his 8 year, 52 million dollar contract comes off as non-essential.
However it seems that once we hit Game 82, Briere turns it up to 11. This past play-off is not an aberration, where he scored 12 goals and added 18 assists, good for the most points in the play-offs. He tallied 4 points in the only 6 play-off games against Pittsburgh last season. In his first season in Philadelphia, Briere posted 16 points in 17 post season games, and his final two seasons in Buffalo, he put up 15 in 16 and 19 in 18 games. His Conn Smythe worthy 30 point performance this year also set the franchise record for points in a single play-offs, surpassing the Guffaw himself, Brian Propp, who scored 28 points in the 1987 finals loss to Edmonton.
Danny Briere has proven his worth in veteran leadership, mentoring young star Claude Giroux, and his play-off performances are proving to be invaluable. Briere was on his way out before his game 82 shoot-out goal, now it looks like he'll definitely be back.
Will the Real Scott Hartnell Please Stand Up?
What got into Sideshow Scott the past few weeks? I'm tempted to say that even Scotty doesn't know. We do know that Hartnell went through a list of "off ice issues" this year, some of them true, some of them ridiculous. Word was that he finally put it all behind him after his game 3 benching in the Boston series. From that point on we saw the Scott Hartnell that put up 30 and 30 last season. He was a menace on the fore check, he parked himself in front of the crease and caused havoc, and for the first time all year, didn't act like the puck had C4 attached to it every time he had it on his stick. He was much more patient, had his head up, and looked to make place instead of just throwing it any which way so he was no longer responsible.
Scotty was another one who looked to have his bags packed and in Holmgren's car, who was eagerly waiting to drive him to Philly International to get him out of town. His future is not as clear as Briere's though he does still have that no-trade clause. Hopefully 2009/10 was an outlier for Hartnell.
Who is Ville Leino, and what have you done with Ole-Kristian Tollefsen?
What a pleasant surprise this guy turned out to be. What looked like a ho-hum deal before the trade deadline, and it was at the time, Leino by far had the biggest impact on his new team than any other player dealt during the year. Had he been given the opportunity to play all year, we could be tossing his name into the Rookie of the Year discussion, which is deceiving since he is a 28 year old former star of the SM-Liiga Finnish Elite League. We saw in the finals his creativity and vision that are right there with Giroux and Briere. He is signed through the end of next year at a whopping $800,000.
The Defense
Braydon Coburn is a restricted free agent next year and so is the remaining piece of the Peter Forsberg trade, Ryan Parent. (Timonen and Hartnell are indirect results of that trade as well.)
Coburn probably earned himself a new contract after being dubbed one of the "Big 4" along with Chris Pronger, Matt Carle, and Kimmo Timonen. Parent on the other hand has been injured and inconsistent. Lukas Krajicek is free to walk July 1 so it leaves the Flyers with some holes. Does Holmgren bring everyone back, or is it time to see if Adirondack's Kevin Marshall is ready for the big time?
The Flyers came so close to completing their Cinderella run this year. Luckily for us, they've put themselves in a good position to be a favorite going into next year as well.
