ASS News » They havent won the division title since 2009

With the NHL regular season right around the corner, TSN.ca profiles each team leading up to puck drop. Next up are the Philadelphia Flyers, hoping they have enough to at least maintain last years playoff position. Catch up on their summer moves and the issues they face this season, as well as Craig Buttons analysis of their top prospect and an analytical breakdown by TSNs Scott Cullen. Division: Metropolitan GM: Ron Hextall Head Coach: Craig Berube 2013-14: 42-30-10 (3rd in Metropolitan) Playoffs: Lost in conference quarter-finals Goals For: 233 (8th) Goals Against: 227 (20th) Powerplay: 19.7% (8th) Penalty Kill: 84.8% (7th) That Was Then: Losing seven of your first eight games is never a desirable way to begin a season, but thata€?s the reality the Flyers made for themselves in 2013-14. The losing streak, which extended to nine of the teama€?s first 12 games, set off a trend that unfolded for the entirety of the campaign. The start cost Peter Laviolette his coaching job (after just three games!), with Philly handing Craig Berube the reins on an interim basis on Oct. 7. The former grinder was eventually able to turn the team around, but the shift was not instantaneous. It took until after Christmas for the Flyers to get their first handle on playoff position and that turnaround was largely thanks to two factors. The first was that the Metropolitan Division was not very competitive in the early-going, with the third spot in the division taking fewer points to get hold of than the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference. The second was Claude Giroux playing out of his mind in December and continuing his hot play throughout the second half. The Flyers captaina€?s nine-game point streak began in Chicago and wasna€?t snapped until New Yeara€?s Eve, including six multi-point games over the span. The Olympic break provided an opportunity for a lot of the Flyersa€? top talent to get a breather with its Canadian core a€“ including Giroux a€“ left out of the nationa€?s Sochi plans. Philly finished strong, securing points in 16 of its final 22 that amazingly includes a stretch that saw them lose six of seven. Finishing third in the Metropolitan, the Flyers earned a first-round date with the team theya€?d battled in the standings for much of the spring: the New York Rangers. The team suffered an untimely injury, though, in their final meeting of the season with their intrastate rivals from Pittsburgh as netminder Steve Mason sustained an upper body injury on Apr. 12. The injury a€“ which Mason later revealed was a concussion a€“ kept him off the ice for the first three games of the first round. He came back with the team in a 1-2 hole but despite holding the Rangers to two goals or less in three of the four games he played, the Flyers were sent packing in seven. Scott Cullens Analytics Predators 2013-14 Stats by Quarter Games GPG GAA SH% SV% SAF% PTS% 1-20 2.00 2.45 6.1% .940 49.3% .450 21-41 3.00 2.90 8.3% .915 50.0% .619 42-62 3.24 3.10 9.3% .909 47.0% .619 63-82 3.10 2.60 8.2% .927 51.6% .600 NHL AVG 2.67 2.67 7.8 .922 50.0% .562 Key: GPG= goals per game, GAA= goals-against per game, SH%= even-strength shooting percentage, SV%= even-strength save percentage, SAF%= score-adjusted Fenwick percentage (differential of shot attempts faced vs. shot attempts, excluding blocked shots, adjusted for game score), PTS%= percentage of available points. Analysis: Games 1-20: Couldnt score early, with Giroux starting slow, and great goaltending wasnt enough. Games 21-41: Goaltending regressed, but shooting was on the mark, improving record. Games 42-62: Poor possession and goaltending were both offset by high-percentage shooting, . Games 63-82: Best goaltending and possession stretch of the year. Key 2014 Additions: D Michael del Zotto, F Andrew Gordon, C Blair Jones, D Nick Schultz, F Zack Stortini, F R.J. Umberger, F Ryan White Key 2014 Subtractions: F Scott Hartnell, F Steve Downie, F Tyle McGinn This Is Now: The Flyers brought in a familiar face to take charge of the roster, bringing in their last great netminder and one of the gamea€?s most sought-after executives in Ron Hextall as general manager. Luckily for Hextall, there was not a lot of heavy lifting to be done in terms of shaping the roster. The forwards were a balanced group, with seven scoring 20 or more in 2013-14, including first-timer Brayden Schenn and nearly-old-timer Vincent Lecavalier. Hextall moved one of those seven out in his biggest off-season move, trading popular vet and one of the gamea€?s best combinations of grit and skill in Scott Hartnell to Columbus to reacquire R.J. Umberger, who broke into the NHL with Philly in 2005. The Flyers now have a couple years to work with the existing roster, since the majority of the current club has at least two years contract remaining, highlighted by the eight-year extension Giroux signed in the middle of last season. Six years may have been a long term to give Andrew MacDonald, but the team got an up-close look at him down the stretch and seems to have liked what it saw. With Kimmo Timonen out indefinitely, there will be some pressure on MacDonald, along with veterans Braydon Coburn and Mark Streit, to handle big minutes on the Flyers blue line. Hextall also rolled the dice on a low-risk addition, signing Michael del Zotto to a $1.3 million free agent deal in hopes that the 24-year-old can regain the form that had many projecting him as an elite offensive blue liner earlier in his career. DEPTH CHART Forwards Left Wing Centre Right Wing Brayden Schenn Claude Giroux Jakub Voracek Matt Read Sean Couturier Wayne Simmonds Michael Raffl Vincent Lecavalier R.J. Umberger Jason Akeson Pierre-Edouard Bellemare Zac Rinaldo Jay Rosehill Blair Jones Petr Straka Taylor Leier Scott Laughton Ryan White Defence Left Right Andrew MacDonald Braydon Coburn Mark Streit Nicklas Grossman Michael Del Zotto Luke Schenn Nick Schultz Samuel Morin Kimmo Timonen Shayne Gostisbehere Goaltenders Steve Mason Ray Emery Anthony Stolarz Craigs List TSN Director of Scouting Craig Buttons Top Prospect: Scott Laughton If there is a prototypical Flyer center, surely Scott would meet all the criteria. Flyer great Bob Clarke to current star Claude Giroux, embody requisite qualities of skill, fire and an indomitable will to win. Scott has no less of these qualities. Hes an excellent playmaker and his vision and anticipation allows him to be dangerous with the puck. He plays in the guts of the action, is not deterred in any way and he will do whatever is necessary to help the team win regardless if it may stretch the boundaries of the rules. A player Flyers fans will come to love. Fantasy - Cullens Player to Watch - Vincent Lecavalier This may qualify as wishful thinking, considering that Lecavalier is a 34-year-old coming off a season that was his least productive, on a points-per-game basis, since he was an 18-year-old rookie. Its not typical to get bounce-back years in a players mid-thirties, and Lecavaliers underlying numbers have been headed in the wrong direction for a while, but there is room in the Philadelphia lineup for Lecavalier to play a supporting offensive role. Given his contract, that may not be the ideal, but better to find a way to get 20-plus goals out of Lecavalier while using him in favourable matchups, in the hopes of trying to recapture some value. Leroy Sane Jersey . Phoenix got injured centre Emeka Okafor and a top-12-protected first-round draft pick in 2014 -- giving the rebuilding Suns potentially four choices in the opening round. The Suns also sent guards Kendall Marshall, Shannon Brown and Malcolm Lee to Washington so the deal will work financially. Raheem Sterling Jersey . His team rose to the occasion Sunday with a 3-1 victory over Sweden in the bronze-medal game. "The sting from yesterday is not something we hid from or pretend didnt happen," Dineen said. http://www.authenticmanchestercityshop.com/Authentic-Jason-Denayer-Manchester-City-Jersey/ . Lawrie was hit on the hand by Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto in the second inning of Sundays 4-3 loss to the Reds. Sergio Aguero Jersey . Now he has a complete game. Scherzer tossed a three-hitter in his 179th career start for his first complete game and Victor Martinez hit his 16th homer to lead the Detroit Tigers a 4-0 win over the Chicago White Sox. Bernardo Silva Jersey . Malone will become an unrestricted free-agent and as per the collective bargaining agreement, the Lightning will be responsible for two-thirds of the remainder of his contract over twice the length of the rest of the deal. VANCOUVER -- Daniel Sedin ended his longest pointless skid in a decade with a bang Friday night. He scored a goal and assisted on two by his twin brother Henrik as the Vancouver Canucks thumped the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-2. Daniel Sedins points were his first in seven games and helped the Canucks get their offence going after they suffered from a goal drought during a five-game losing skid. He had not had a similar six-game pointless streak since 2002-03. "Six games feels like forever," said Daniel Sedin. "its about the process, but in the end its about scoring." The Canucks (12-8-4)are fifth in the Pacific Division, while the Blue Jackets (8-12-3) lost for the fifth time in seven outings, good for seventh in the Metropolitan. Vancouvers goal total Friday matched its output during the losing skid. "It does a lot for the confidence for a lot of guys and for the team knowing we can score," said Daniel Sedin. Alex Edler, Zack Kassian, and Jeremy Welsh, with his first career NHL goal, also scored for the Canucks. Matt Calvert -- on the Blue Jackets first shot of the game -- and Artem Anisimov replied for the Blue Jackets. Columbus saw its fortunes change quickly after Daniel Sedin scored with 16 seconds left in the first period. "They scored first. We were pretty upbeat, but the tying goal was key," said Daniel Sedin. "Coming in here (to the dressing room) with a tie instead of being down was huge, especially where we were as a team. From that moment on, I thought we played really well." Kassian, Henrik Sedin and Edler iced the victory in the second by scoring two minutes and 10 seconds apart. Henrik Sedin and Edler scored just 16 seconds apart. "It happened fast," said Columbus coach Todd Richards. "They do a really good job of forcing you and pressuring you, and I think the first period kind of carried over into the second and then they were able to finish, and a couple of quick goals against a good team like that is tough to recover from." During their losing skid, the Canucks were held to one goal in four games and only managed two in the other. "We didnt play a terrible game, but we lost the game in a couple minutes there in the second period," said Columbus deffenceman Jack Johnson.dddddddddddd In a bid to get more scoring, Canucks coach John Tortorella split up the Sedins at times, and played them together at others. The moves worked as Vancouver outshot Columbus by a wide margin in the first 19 minutes and were finally rewarded with Daniels goal in the closing seconds of the first period. "Its a relief to get a win and to get rewarded with the forechecking that I thought was pretty good tonight," said Tortorella. The Canucks responded well after an embarrassing 3-2 loss to the lowly Florida Panthers three nights earlier. But Tortorella and Henrik Sedin contended that the only difference from recent outings was the fact the puck went in more often. "I dont think we played a whole lot better tonight than we have in the past three games, apart from the Florida game maybe," said Henrik Sedin. "But in the end, we got the goals people are standing and talking about a nice win instead of losing 2-1. Thats a huge difference for us." Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo only had to make 14 saves as Vancouver outshot Columbus 35-16. "I dont know what to tell you guys," Luongo said about letting in the first shot. "I knew it was going to be that type of game, they are not a team that throws a lot of pucks a the net. Unfortunately they scored right away, so thats even tougher to stay in the game and battle. But we did a good job, We got some goals and it was easier to relax after that." Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky recorded 29 saves in a losing cause, while the Canucks were blanked on five power plays and Columbus was denied on four man-advantage opportunities that generated few chances. "Its nice to win a game where you dont have to go down to the wire and grind one out," said Luongo. Notes: Bobrovsky stopped Jannik Hansen on a penalty shot in the third period after Fedor Tyutin pulled him down on a breakaway. a Both teams entered the game with no players on a scoring streak. a Unproductive Canucks winger David Booth was scratched for the second straight game. a Columbus centre Brandon Dubinsky was sent home due to a foot injury and missed his second consecutive game. Second-leading scorer James Wisniewski sat out with the flu. 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