Philadelphia Flyers 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

Philadelphia Flyers 2017 Season Preview

Claude Giroux is captain of a Philadelphia Flyer team that has a lot of talent. Can Giroux lead the Flyers to the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs?

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 8/25/2017.

Philadelphia Flyers Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Travis Konecny	Left Wing	70	5-foot-10-inches	175-pounds	11	17	28
Claude Giroux	Center	81	5-foot-11-inches	185-pounds	14	44	58
Jakub Voracek	Right Wing	82	6-foot-2-inches	212-pounds	20	41	61

Philadelphia Flyers Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Valtteri Filppula	Left Wing	79	6-foot-0-inches	196-pounds	12	30	42
Nolan Patrick	Center	33	6-foot-3-inches	198-pounds	20	26	46
Wayne Simmons	Right Wing	82	6-foot-2-inches	183-pounds	31	23	54

Philadelphia Flyers Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Michael Raffl	Left Wing	52	6-foot-0-inches	205-pounds	8	3	11
Sean Couturier	Center	66	6-foot-3-inches	211-pounds	14	20	34
Matt Read	Right Wing	63	5-foot-10-inches	185-pounds	10	9	19

Philadelphia Flyers Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Jordan Weal	Left Wing	23	5-foot-10-inches	179-pounds	8	4	12
Jori Lehtera	Center	64	6-foot-2-inches	212-pounds	7	15	22
Dale Weise	Right Wing	64	6-foot-2-inches	206-pounds	8	7	15

Philadelphia Flyers Forwards Review: Philadelphia has two excellent lines of forwards. I feel like this offensive group has a chance to be special with four outstanding lines of forwards. Three of Philadelphia's centers Giroux, Patrick, and Couturier can win 55 percent of their face offs with Lehtera winning 49 percent of his face offs last season. This is a team that will control the puck offensively and with their combination of wingers I expect them to mix things up.

Nolan Patrick had over 100 points at age 16 when healthy before entering his draft year last season. Claude Giroux, Nolan Patrick, and Sean Couturier are all capable of posting monster seasons. Giroux is capable of posting 60 points, Patrick is capable of posting 50 points this year, and Couturier is capable of posting 40 points for the Flyers in 2017-2018.

Travis Konecny has made huge progress. He will be a line 1 left winger with Giroux at center and Jakub Voracek at right wing. Wayne Simmons will be on the second line and his veteran presence will help out rookie Nolan Patrick.

Philadelphia ranked 21st in goals scored. Philadelphia finished 14th on the power play. I believe Philadelphia has enough talent to improve in both of those categories this season.

Philadelphia Flyers Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Ivan Provorov	Line 1	82	6-foot-1-inches	201-pounds	6	24	30
Radko Gudas	Line 1	67	6-foot-0-inches	204-pounds	6	17	23
Shayne Gostisbehere	Line 2	76	5-foot-11-inches	180-pounds	7	32	39
Samuel Morin	Line 2	1	6-foot-6-inches	202-pounds	0	0	0
Andrew MacDonald	Line 3	73	6-foot-1-inches	204-pounds	2	16	18
Robert Hagg	Line 3	1	6-foot-2-inches	204-pounds	0	0	0

Philadelphia Flyers Defensemen Review Philadelphia has their best defense since they lost the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals to the Chicago Blackhawks. I really believe the Flyers have three potent lines on the blue line. Ivan Provorov and Radko Gudas are both two-way defenders that can contribute on both offense and defense with Philadelphia's top line.

Shayne Gostisbehere is an offensive defenseman. Samuel Morin is a defensive defenseman that went in the first round of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The 6-6 227 lb defenseman lost 25 lbs to get down to 202 lbs. He's faster and more explosive as a skater thanks to losing that weight. Morin compliments Gostibehere well on the second line.

Andrew MacDonald played next to Provorov on the first line last year. With him being in his thirties, I expect Philadelphia to demote him to the third line. Robert Hagg, Philadelphia's 2013 second round pick is expected to make the NHL with Morin. Hagg is a defensive defenseman while MacDonald is more of an offensive defenseman.

The Flyers ranked 19th in goals allowed and 21st in penalty killing in 2016-2017. Philadelphia should improve in both of these categories with their defensive additions this season.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Brian Elliott	Philadelphia Flyers	48	26-18-3	2 Shutouts	.910	2.55 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Michal Neuvirth	Philadelphia Flyers	24	11-11-1	0 Shutouts	.891	2.82 GAA

Philadelphia Flyers Goaltender Review I really like the Brian Elliott addition. He's a good starter for the Flyers since Neuvirth is a backup at best. I think one of Philadelphia's goalies that they took in the 2016 NHL Draft will eventually replace Neuvirth.

Philadelphia Flyers Prospect Pool: Philadelphia has one of the best prospect pools in the entire NHL. This team has guys at center, defense, and goalie in their system that they are waiting to develop and bring up.

Scott Laughton is the one big prospect on at center still in the AHL. The 2012 first round pick still hasn't cracked the Flyers' main roster yet.

Travis Sanheim was Philadelphia's 2014 first round pick. He's on the brink of being called up to Philadelphia and may make their roster as early as next season.

Philadelphia drafted two goalies in the third round of the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. First they selected Felix Sandstrom from Brynas IF. Sandstrom seems like a quality keeper and was my sleeper among the Scandinavian prospects from Sweden and Finland in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft. Later in the third round the Flyers added Matej Tomek from the Topeka RoadRunners. Tomek was projected to go before Sandstrom so for the Flyers to get both of those goalies to develop was simply outstanding on their end.

Philadelphia Flyers 2017-2018 Prediction

The Flyers are a team that appears to be very complete at forward, defense, and goalie when healthy. As long as everyone stays healthy, I can see this team getting to the opening round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs as either the third best team in the Metropolitan Division or a wild card. I have my doubts about them beating a team like Washington or Pittsburgh, but the talent to get to the opening round of the playoffs is there. All I will say is this team is much better than the one Hakstol took over when he led the Flyers to the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs where the Flyers lost to Washington in the opening round.