Do the Flyers make the Playoffs in 2017-18?

[StevensCakeBakerBacker]

I'm in the 81-100 camp. This team isn't far off from being a real deep post-season threat, playoffs should almost be a lock for 17/18.

I think the young guys pushing to make a career for themselves is going to have a great impact on the vets. Flyers hockey is gonna be fun again, I feel it in my bones.

 

[Garbage Goal]

Don't like putting a percentage on it, but yeah we should. Always injuries to us or other teams that can happen when you're considering variables. When I look at this tentative roster though, so long as Elliott, Konecny, Lindblom, and possibly Morin/Hagg perform to expectations then I think we should be one. Lots of ifs there though considering there's no sure thing though. However, how well Patrick does or does not perform doesn't concern me as much as those listed above as we have the center depth for him to not be as big a worry to our playoffs hopes as one of the aforementioned underperforming would.

I'm extremely confident in all those players though, minus Elliott. I'm actually most worried about Hakstol and his player usage. If he does stuff like keeping Konecny and the like off the ice in OT, utilizing an extremely odd goalie rotation, or overusing our worst players then, yeah, I begin to doubt the playoffs a lot more. Almost all the problem childs are gone now and we actually look to have a pretty promising and deep roster as compared to last season, so we'll see.

 

[Tripod]

We should have a better team, but we are also in the toughest division so it might not translate to the playoffs.

Beating teams like the Devils would be a good start instead of pissing away points to lesser teams. I want us to be one of those teams that opponents hate playing against again.

 

[Random Forest]

Well, there aren't any solid facts showing they will excel at the NHL level.

If nothing good happens, then everything will be bad. You're right.

 

[deadhead]

Hakstol knows how to get a young team rolling, he did it every year in college - and part of that is pacing, part of that is keeping their focus. This is what he was hired to coach, not a bunch of washed up scrubs.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

Hakstol knows how to get a young team rolling, he did it every year in college - and part of that is pacing, part of that is keeping their focus. This is what he was hired to coach, not a bunch of washed up scrubs.

I don't mean to rain on your mushroom fugue, but he did that in college and we have no idea (yet) whether he is capable of doing that in the NHL. We have already seen that his collegiate use of goaltender rotation (or lack thereof) is stupid in the NHL (which all of us with any sense knew beforehand). The NHL has an entirely different pace than college. You are extrapolating and generalizing and hallucinating. Again.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Sure looks bad when you look at everything in the most pessimistic way possible.

isnt that what Flyer fans do? haha

 

[Rebels57]

I don't mean to rain on your mushroom fugue, but he did that in college and we have no idea (yet) whether he is capable of doing that in the NHL. We have already seen that his collegiate use of goaltender rotation (or lack thereof) is stupid in the NHL (which all of us with any sense knew beforehand). The NHL has an entirely different pace than college. You are extrapolating and generalizing and hallucinating. Again.

Only 1 out of 50 deadhead posts make even a shred of sense. That wasnt one of them.

 

[Striiker]

isnt that what Flyer fans do? haha

Nahhhhh, check this optimism!

100%. I'll bet an organ on it.

They were 7 points out of a playoff spot, which is a decent gap, but that stretch of play from New Years to the beginning of March was unsustainably horrible. It's not crazy to say that with a more normal stretch of play, even if they were in a more normal slump, they might make the playoffs.

Now also consider that, if our roster predictions are right, the forward and defensive core will be significantly improved from last year. There's a lot of "I hopes", but none of them are big stretches... all are either likely or at least possible. For example, Giroux/Voracek/Ghost bouncing back, Lindblom/Konecny/Patrick making an impact, a better 2nd PP unit, more consistent goaltending, a more experienced Provobot, Morin/Hagg/Sanheim being better than Streit/MDZ/Schultz, that piece of human waste Mnng not playing, and the bottom 6 (and specifically 4th line) no longer being a glaring horrific weakness.

If even half of those come to fruition, the team will be far better than last year. The only real issue is Weal.



Also, going by our current make/miss playoffs pattern, this is a "make" year.

 

[Flyerfan4life]

Hakstol knows how to get a young team rolling, he did it every year in college - and part of that is pacing, part of that is keeping their focus. This is what he was hired to coach, not a bunch of washed up scrubs.

ummm you do know Hakslogic was never able to win the BIG game even at the college level.. he has certainly shown no infication he can do so at the NHL level..

i find it hilarous that UND won the championship the very season AFTER Haks left... while he could never do it in all the years he was there...

 

[lancer247]

If there penalty kill was just middle of the pack they probably make the playoffs last year. Subtracting PEB and VV and replacing them with any of Lehtera, Raffl, G would be an upgrade. Plus, replacing Streit, MDZ, Manning with guys that can win puck battles and close out space will help.

Coots - Simmonds
G/Patrick/Flip - Raffl/Lehtera/Read
Laughton/ Vecc - Raffl/Lehtera/Read

Morin Gudas
Provy McD/Hagg

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

There was a lot that went wrong last year. Some issues which have been apparent for a while now & some new ones as well. The ten game winning streak made the season look a lot better on the surface than it actually was. Hopefully we don't see anything like that next year & I don't really expect that even if the Flyers just miss out on the playoffs again.

 

[phil162888]

We should have a better team, but we are also in the toughest division so it might not translate to the playoffs.

Beating teams like the Devils would be a good start instead of pissing away points to lesser teams. I want us to be one of those teams that opponents hate playing against again.

This is the bottom line! Were in the toughest division by far.

Things I like.... (1) were due every 8 yrs or so we go on a run(2) Our forward group should be really strong this year (3) Young D could really light a fire under this team

Things I don't like ... Flyers are coming into the season with two huge ? (1) in Goal (2) Behind the bench. Historically that leads to disaster but lets prey things turn around (3) Their defense will be inexperienced and they could be too dependent on Macdonald (which is a huge problem).

Hakstol needs to prove that Hexy was right in hiring him. He's been given a long leash so the team knows that Hexy backs his guy. The players are going to let Hextall know the first 20 games in if their moving in the right direction.

 

[NYCFlyer]

This is the bottom line! Were in the toughest division by far.

Things I like.... (1) were due every 8 yrs or so we go on a run(2) Our forward group should be really strong this year (3) Young D could really light a fire under this team

Things I don't like ... Flyers are coming into the season with two huge ? (1) in Goal (2) Behind the bench. Historically that leads to disaster but lets prey things turn around (3) Their defense will be inexperienced and they could be too dependent on Macdonald (which is a huge problem).

Hakstol needs to prove that Hexy was right in hiring him. He's been given a long leash so the team knows that Hexy backs his guy. The players are going to let Hextall know the first 20 games in if their moving in the right direction.

The schedule to Thanksgiving is pretty tough ...add that to the rookies being counted on in key roles and I would be very pleased at .500 at 20 games. Maybe it's just me but I also see a little bit of a slow skating team with only a couple of plus skating forwards. (D is much better). Curious to see it that has any impact.

 

[Psuhockey]

The schedule to Thanksgiving is pretty tough ...add that to the rookies being counted on in key roles and I would be very pleased at .500 at 20 games..

There are still huge question marks about the defense. The rookies are talented but still rookies and MacDonald will still likely be on the 1st pair getting the second most minutes. If the goalies don't bail them out early, they could be put into a large hole to start the season.

This season hinges on Hagg, Morin, and or Sanheim. How fast they adapt to the speed of the NHL will make or break the year.

 

[Captain Dave Poulin]

There are still huge question marks about the defense.

The other way to look at that, though, is that we have a known quantity in some of the D men coming back, as well as the ones who left, and we know that they were shambolic - AMac, MDZ, Mnnng, Schultz, Streit - these guys were varying degrees of shocking for the past several seasons. So for all the rookie mistakes we expect to see back there out of the kids, are those mistakes collectively really going to make us any worse or cost us in any way compared to what we have been dealing with? I am not convinced that they will.

 

[YEM]

poll results pretty interesting, confidence levels varying
I was less than 50% but I am really confident that they'll be better than last season

 

[Rebels57]

There are still huge question marks about the defense. The rookies are talented but still rookies and MacDonald will still likely be on the 1st pair getting the second most minutes. If the goalies don't bail them out early, they could be put into a large hole to start the season.

This season hinges on Hagg, Morin, and or Sanheim. How fast they adapt to the speed of the NHL will make or break the year.

Is there any reason that the 17-18 Flyers defense can't perform as well as the 13-14 Ducks defense, which was led by a 21 year old Cam Fowler in his 4th year, 19 year old Hampus Lindholm in his rookie year, and 22 year old Sami Vatanen in his rookie year?

That Ducks team went to the 2nd round in the Playoffs and then to the 3rd round the following season.

We also don't know that MacDonald will be pigeon-holed into the same role. Hopefully a summer of reflection for Hakstol knocks some sense into him. Having Morin, Sanheim or Hagg step up and play really well early could allow Gudas or even one of them to be paired with Provorov.

 

[deadhead]

People are way too conservative about the young defensemen.
They're not 19 or 20, they're 22-23 years old this season.

Top draft picks usually start by 19-20. Most defensemen start by ages 21-22, a few, mostly later round picks marinate in college and/or the AHL for 2-3 seasons and start by 24.

Defensemen reach 90% of peak performance by age 24.

Yes, we'll have a young defense, but not that young.
Our youngest defenseman will also be our best defenseman.
Gudas 27, Ghost 25, Hagg 23, Sanheim and Morin 22 (this season).

Next season Friedman will be 23 and Myers 22.

It's not like Hextall is rushing these guys to the NHL.

 

[Patrick Division]

I'm in the 41-60% line of thinking. I think the Flyers, as of right now, are likely to be fighting for one of the two wildcard teams. I think the additions of Patrick, Lindblom, two of Morin/Sanheim/Hagg, a full season of Filppula, and increased usage of Konecny make them significantly better. Assuming they get mediocre goaltender, they should be in the mix.

This is exactly how I feel. Plus I expect Provorov to be better and Ghost to be better. 41-60. But leaning towards 60.

 

[04' hockey]

If Sanheim and Morin step up and play well the Flyers will be in good shape make the playoffs.....I'm a little more worried about Morin tho', he has to come in and just play a good D and NOT worry too much about fighting, I'm not so sure he's that good at it and he just has to concentrate on defense. We'll know a lot more about how much they've matured since last year and how they adjust and play in the Flyers system.....nothing else matters

 

[Flyotes]

61-80 is pretty optimistic considering all that can go wrong during a season.

 

[TheKingPin]

I agree the D isn't the biggest concern. I think Hak is. He had one promising and one horrible year. A system can really derail a team. Hopefully the new coaching hires pull things in the right direction.

I think they have an above 85% chance in making it.

 

[Hakroach]

Voted 0-20. As far as I can see, the Flyers have not improved from last year, maybe they have even regressed a little. Losing Schenn is going to hurt. Lindblom and co. are promising, but they are still rookies. One cannot expect too much from rookies. Teams that were behind us in the standings last year have improved.

I would wager the Flyers will finish around 10-12 this season.

 

[Striiker]

If that's what you can see then I'd recommend finding an optometrist.