After a disappointing Year 2, what will the offseason have in store for the Philadelphia Flyers? Let's find out!
First off, despite dominating most of the year, our AHL team lost 4 in a row and 8 of the last 10 to miss out on the playoffs, so not a good year all around for the franchise. The future arrived in Tampa Bay as the Lighting blitzed through the eastern conference playoffs, dropping only one game along the way. In the west, it came down to the Wild and last year's runners-up, the Anaheim Ducks. The Wild swept the Ducks, and took the Lighting all the way to seven before just falling short. The award winners were crowned just afterwards, here's the list.
Stanley Cup: Tampa Bay Lighting
Presidents' Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
Maurice Richard: Alecander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Art Ross: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Ted Lindsay: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburg Penguins
Frank J. Selke: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Bill Masterton: Andrej Sekera, Carolina Hurricanes
William M. Jennings: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburg Penguins
Vezina: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Conn Smythe: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Calder: Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks
Lady Byng: Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
James Norris: P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens
Hart: Sidney Crrosby, Pittsburg Penguins
(Side note: Interestingly enough, the Lightning were the other candidate for a GM mode on this blog, they made a clear statement that I should have chose them).
I took a look at Mike Hoffman, last year's Calder winner, and discovered that he put up 57 points and a plus 10, so I might look at him this offseason. I also took a look at Teuvo Teravainen, this year's Calder winner, and the Finnish playmaker put up an insane 71 points and a plus 16, and has a huge upside at 21 years old with 4 1/2 red star potential. He managed all of this despite playing mostly second or third line minutes, an incredible accomplishment that puts him on my radar.
In terms of retirements, we didn't lose anybody, which was expected, since we are a young team looking to become younger. Around the league, four of the great retired as Pavel Datsyuk, Jarome Iginla, Nicklas Kronwall and Zdeno Chara all moved on from hockey.
We came into the draft with three first round picks, a second, two thirds, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh. Our first round pick was the very first pick in the draft, offering us the ability to draft a potential superstar. The other two picks were twentieth and later. Here are our draft picks.
First Round: Logan Brown, center, 18 years old, 55 overall, 4 1/2 yellow star potential
First Round: Dustin Perillat, defensemen, 19 years old, 64 overall, 4 yellow star potential
First Round: Evan Weinger, right winger, 19 years old, 64 overall, 4 yellow star potential
Second Round: Adam Mascherin, center, 18 years old, 54 overall, 4 yellow star potential
Third Round: Aaron Boyd, left winger, 19 years old, 55 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Third Round: Riley Bruce, defensemen, 18 years old, 63 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Fourth Round: Johnny Corneil, center, 18 years old, 65 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Fifth Round: Jacob Busch, right winger, 19 years old, 69 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Sixth Round: Tyler Sensky, defensemen, 19 years old, 58 overall, 3 1/2 red star potential
Seventh Round: Campbell Pickard, left winger, 18 years old, 59 overall, 3 1/2 red star potential
Most of our picks look very good. I'm happy with Logan Brown as our up and coming star, and hopefully he will start affecting the series within a couple of years.
Here's a list of the resignings, with two way contracts excluded.
Resigned:
Jakub Voracek, 4 years, 5.74 million dollars(annual)
Sean Couturier, 1 year, 1.84
Sami Vatanen, 3 years, 3.8
Jack Campbell, 2 years, 1.155
Did Not Resign:
Michael Raffl, 27 years old, 82 overall
The only player I let walk to free agency was Michael Raffl, who I mentioned in my season stats notes that I had pretty much given up on. There wasn't much I wanted in free agency, but some superstars such as Dan Hamhuis and David Backes were available. I considered both, but stayed the course and signed some lesser free agents.
We signed:
Alex Killorn, two-way center, 26 years old, 84 overall, 3 years, 3.41 million dollars
Andrey Makarov,hybrid goalie, 23 years old, 81 overall, 1 year, 1.2 million dollars
Small spending, but we signed two fairly good players. Killorn brings decent third line checking and playoff experience, coming from the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Makarov is a former top prospect who has fallen off, but is only 23 years old and will be a decent backup to Jack Campbell.
I hit the trade market, looking to improve the team both for now and for the future. The first move I made was unloading Andrew McDonald's contract to the Carolina Hurricanes for two third round picks, which was fine because McDonald was definitely expendable. The next move was filling that first line left wing spot, which I wasn't quite comfortable with Mikkael Boedker filling, given that he was 26 and not performing well. The player I wanted was Andre Burakovsky, one of the best rising stars in the game. I traded Washington Mikkel Boedker, Scott Laughton, Stephen Templeton and the two picks I got from Carolina for Andre Burakovsky and Brooks Laich, who was included to make the salaries work. Laughton was a fringe player since the Killorn signing, and Templeton was a draft pick from last year who was too raw to be considered useful, especially at 20 years old. This trade was a signal of intent, that we are ready to make moves to put ourselves in a very good position for years to come.
After the trades and the offseason progression, here is what the lines look like.
Forwards
Burakovsky(83)-Giroux(90)-Voracek(90)
Duclair(82)-Couturier(85)-Forsberg(86)
Laich(84)-Killorn(84)-Fehr(82)
Rinaldo(78)-Backlund(83)-Tyrell(78)
Defensemen
Del Zotto(86)-Vatanen(85)
Gotisbehere(83)-Hagg(83)
Wotherspoon(79)-Michalek(81)
Goalies
Campbell(85)
Makarov(83)
Andre Burakovsky, by the way, is 21 years old with 4 green star potential, so a pretty high ceiling. By trading Laughton and Templeton, I dipped into my prospect pool, but I feel that neither player will be a huge hit.
By trading for Burakovsky and drafting Logan Brown, the future is starting to become clearer here in Philly. I'm more excited for this season then I have been so far, and hopefully the team will start to pull its self out of the cellar. We should definitely start to become more competitive know, and there is a tremendous upside for most of the players. In the first post of Year 3, I will include a prospect watch, so you can see just who the up and comers in the Flyers organization are. Until then, stay safe and I will see you see. Ciao!
-Henry
First off, despite dominating most of the year, our AHL team lost 4 in a row and 8 of the last 10 to miss out on the playoffs, so not a good year all around for the franchise. The future arrived in Tampa Bay as the Lighting blitzed through the eastern conference playoffs, dropping only one game along the way. In the west, it came down to the Wild and last year's runners-up, the Anaheim Ducks. The Wild swept the Ducks, and took the Lighting all the way to seven before just falling short. The award winners were crowned just afterwards, here's the list.
Stanley Cup: Tampa Bay Lighting
Presidents' Trophy: Detroit Red Wings
Maurice Richard: Alecander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Art Ross: Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Ted Lindsay: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburg Penguins
Frank J. Selke: Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings
Bill Masterton: Andrej Sekera, Carolina Hurricanes
William M. Jennings: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburg Penguins
Vezina: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens
Conn Smythe: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning
Calder: Teuvo Teravainen, Chicago Blackhawks
Lady Byng: Zach Parise, Minnesota Wild
James Norris: P.K. Subban, Montreal Canadiens
Hart: Sidney Crrosby, Pittsburg Penguins
(Side note: Interestingly enough, the Lightning were the other candidate for a GM mode on this blog, they made a clear statement that I should have chose them).
I took a look at Mike Hoffman, last year's Calder winner, and discovered that he put up 57 points and a plus 10, so I might look at him this offseason. I also took a look at Teuvo Teravainen, this year's Calder winner, and the Finnish playmaker put up an insane 71 points and a plus 16, and has a huge upside at 21 years old with 4 1/2 red star potential. He managed all of this despite playing mostly second or third line minutes, an incredible accomplishment that puts him on my radar.
In terms of retirements, we didn't lose anybody, which was expected, since we are a young team looking to become younger. Around the league, four of the great retired as Pavel Datsyuk, Jarome Iginla, Nicklas Kronwall and Zdeno Chara all moved on from hockey.
We came into the draft with three first round picks, a second, two thirds, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh. Our first round pick was the very first pick in the draft, offering us the ability to draft a potential superstar. The other two picks were twentieth and later. Here are our draft picks.
First Round: Logan Brown, center, 18 years old, 55 overall, 4 1/2 yellow star potential
First Round: Dustin Perillat, defensemen, 19 years old, 64 overall, 4 yellow star potential
First Round: Evan Weinger, right winger, 19 years old, 64 overall, 4 yellow star potential
Second Round: Adam Mascherin, center, 18 years old, 54 overall, 4 yellow star potential
Third Round: Aaron Boyd, left winger, 19 years old, 55 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Third Round: Riley Bruce, defensemen, 18 years old, 63 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Fourth Round: Johnny Corneil, center, 18 years old, 65 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Fifth Round: Jacob Busch, right winger, 19 years old, 69 overall, 3 1/2 yellow star potential
Sixth Round: Tyler Sensky, defensemen, 19 years old, 58 overall, 3 1/2 red star potential
Seventh Round: Campbell Pickard, left winger, 18 years old, 59 overall, 3 1/2 red star potential
Most of our picks look very good. I'm happy with Logan Brown as our up and coming star, and hopefully he will start affecting the series within a couple of years.
Here's a list of the resignings, with two way contracts excluded.
Resigned:
Jakub Voracek, 4 years, 5.74 million dollars(annual)
Sean Couturier, 1 year, 1.84
Sami Vatanen, 3 years, 3.8
Jack Campbell, 2 years, 1.155
Did Not Resign:
Michael Raffl, 27 years old, 82 overall
The only player I let walk to free agency was Michael Raffl, who I mentioned in my season stats notes that I had pretty much given up on. There wasn't much I wanted in free agency, but some superstars such as Dan Hamhuis and David Backes were available. I considered both, but stayed the course and signed some lesser free agents.
We signed:
Alex Killorn, two-way center, 26 years old, 84 overall, 3 years, 3.41 million dollars
Andrey Makarov,hybrid goalie, 23 years old, 81 overall, 1 year, 1.2 million dollars
Small spending, but we signed two fairly good players. Killorn brings decent third line checking and playoff experience, coming from the Stanley Cup Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. Makarov is a former top prospect who has fallen off, but is only 23 years old and will be a decent backup to Jack Campbell.
I hit the trade market, looking to improve the team both for now and for the future. The first move I made was unloading Andrew McDonald's contract to the Carolina Hurricanes for two third round picks, which was fine because McDonald was definitely expendable. The next move was filling that first line left wing spot, which I wasn't quite comfortable with Mikkael Boedker filling, given that he was 26 and not performing well. The player I wanted was Andre Burakovsky, one of the best rising stars in the game. I traded Washington Mikkel Boedker, Scott Laughton, Stephen Templeton and the two picks I got from Carolina for Andre Burakovsky and Brooks Laich, who was included to make the salaries work. Laughton was a fringe player since the Killorn signing, and Templeton was a draft pick from last year who was too raw to be considered useful, especially at 20 years old. This trade was a signal of intent, that we are ready to make moves to put ourselves in a very good position for years to come.
After the trades and the offseason progression, here is what the lines look like.
Forwards
Burakovsky(83)-Giroux(90)-Voracek(90)
Duclair(82)-Couturier(85)-Forsberg(86)
Laich(84)-Killorn(84)-Fehr(82)
Rinaldo(78)-Backlund(83)-Tyrell(78)
Defensemen
Del Zotto(86)-Vatanen(85)
Gotisbehere(83)-Hagg(83)
Wotherspoon(79)-Michalek(81)
Goalies
Campbell(85)
Makarov(83)
Andre Burakovsky, by the way, is 21 years old with 4 green star potential, so a pretty high ceiling. By trading Laughton and Templeton, I dipped into my prospect pool, but I feel that neither player will be a huge hit.
By trading for Burakovsky and drafting Logan Brown, the future is starting to become clearer here in Philly. I'm more excited for this season then I have been so far, and hopefully the team will start to pull its self out of the cellar. We should definitely start to become more competitive know, and there is a tremendous upside for most of the players. In the first post of Year 3, I will include a prospect watch, so you can see just who the up and comers in the Flyers organization are. Until then, stay safe and I will see you see. Ciao!
-Henry
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