Poll: Do the Flyers make the Finals in the next 4 years?

[Ghosts Beer]

Doubtful. The East is loaded. They’ll need Hart & Patrick to become stars.

 

[BigToe]

You guys are setting yourselves up for disappointment.

 

[PhillyWings]

No because too much will go wrong.

 

[Psuhockey]

I am confident that they will be in the finals in 4 years because of the numbers in the prospect pool match up to what they need to get there.

They have multiple high quality centers. They only need one to be exceptional. They have multiple high quality goalies. They only need one to be exceptional. They have multiple quality defenders, although I think they could use another elite prospect in there. With Provorov and Ghost, they only need another to develop.

There would have to be a ton of busts and no surprises for the prospect pool to bomb out. And there window matches perfectly with what’s going on league wide. Tampa will kill itself with cap trouble in a few years. Same with Toronto now. Washington and Pittsburgh will be on the decline. Whom do the Flyers have to compete in the east with who will be ascending at the same time?

 

[NYCFlyer]

Doubtful. The East is loaded. They’ll need Hart & Patrick to become stars.

I don't think its doubtful but I agree that the keys are Provorov Patrick and Hart. We need to continue to build around them.

 

[deadhead]

You need two top lines, four defensemen, solid role players and a hot goalie.
The 2020-21 team will have all that in spades, and a lot of high value trade bait.
And that team will have numerous players entering their peak years:
Couts (28), TK (23), Patrick (22), Frost (21), Lindblom (24), Ratcliffe (22), Allison (23), Laczynski (23), Vorobyev (24), Rubtsov (23), Farabee (20), O'Brien (20)
Ghost (27), Provorov (24), Sanheim (24), Myers (24), Gudas (29), Morin (25), Friedman (25), Hagg (25), Hogberg (21), Ginning (21)
Hart (23), Sandstrom (25), Lyon (28)

Anything you get from Giroux (33), Voracek (31), JVR (31) is a bonus.
They're the veteran guys a lot of Cup teams traded for/signed as FAs - we already have them.

Not every prospect will pan out, but when you have so many top prospects, you're gonna to run out four talented lines.

 

[Ghosts Beer]

I don't think its doubtful but I agree that the keys are Provorov Patrick and Hart. We need to continue to build around them.

I guess it depends on how one interprets “doubtful.”

Gun to my head, I’d say the Flyers fail to make the Cup finals in each of the next four seasons.

Not impossible they will, but there are tons of unknowns. Patrick has played one NHL season with 30 points. Hart has never played an NHL game. Giroux is in his 30s. The East is loaded. Only 1 team makes it from the conference each season. So I’d say there are a lot of questions.

 

[Jtown]

I guess it depends on how one interprets “doubtful.”

Gun to my head, I’d say the Flyers fail to make the Cup finals in each of the next four seasons.

Not impossible they will, but there are tons of unknowns. Patrick has played one NHL season with 30 points. Hart has never played an NHL game. Giroux is in his 30s. The East is loaded. Only 1 team makes it from the conference each season. So I’d say there are a lot of questions.

tampa off the top of my head is the onlly team that i think is loaded.

you have boston, pitt, and caps who are on the decline.

 

[Embiid]

It's gonna be 5......

 

[GapToothedWonder]

Didn't we all say we would be contenders about 3-5 years ago? Yikes

No I don't think anybody in 2013 was saying we would be a contender now.

 

[kelmitchell]

Depends on who our coach is imo, because hakstol is not the answer

 

[catbellysqueezer]

I think we are a couple generations away.

 

[SanBlom]

It's gonna be 5......

My thoughts exactly....we need to work out this Goalie thing and hopefully Carter will be exactly what we thought in 5 years.

 

[Embiid]

Last 3 cup appearances (since I started following the Flyers around 85-86)

1986-87
1996-97
2009-2010

We are on track for another decade + for our next appearance. 11-12 years sounds about right....may have been another 10 if it wasn't for the Holmgren housecleaning that was required.

*caveat....David Hakstooge

 

[Ghosts Beer]

tampa off the top of my head is the onlly team that i think is loaded.

you have boston, pitt, and caps who are on the decline.

Toronto is loaded. Pitt may be declining, but still formidable.Tampa, you mentioned. Buffalo & Carolina are close to the Flyers & could pass them. They both have probable young superstars to replace Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin.

The Flyers will have to win on structure & good goaltending. Devils’ esque. So let’s hope Hart, Sandstrom, or Ustimenko is a superstar, & play a lot of good D & counter.

 

[duffy9748]

The playoff structure should benefit us moving forward. In 20-21 and 21-22, most of the Flyers team will be entering, in, or just exiting their prime.

Pittsburgh and Washington should both have taken a few steps back by then. The leaders of both those teams are getting into their mid 30’s and will have a lot of mileage on them after the next 2 seasons. We should surpass them.

Rangers and Islanders will both be in that phase where we’ve been the last 2-3 years. They’ll be adding young pieces to their team but won’t be a threat yet.

Columbus, Carolina, and NJ should all be attempting to go for it at the same time we are. If Hart hits, I think we’re in the best shape out of the four teams. All 4 teams will be deep up front, but I think the Flyers have the best mix going forward. Carolina and Columbus both have similar defense cores as the Flyers. What sets us apart is our prospect pool. We have the assets and cap flexibility to go out and add 1-2 high end players while keeping the majority of the roster intact. Columbus and Carolina have to make several big decisions over the next 1-3 years.

They should have a shot at coming out of the Metro bracket the next 4 years. Especially starting in 19-20. The Atlantic will have much tougher competition in Tampa, Toronto, Boston, Buffalo, and Florida.

When looking past this four year window, it’ll be important to lock up Provorov, Patrick, and Konecny to the longest term possible. If you could get 2 or 3 of them to sign for 8 years at 5-7 million, there will be an opportunity to build very strong teams again at the end of those contracts.

So really go for it in 19-20, 20-21, 21-22 and then when you have to resign Couturier and Ghost to raises over the next 2 years, you can start to introduce prospects to the team to offset any cap casualties. You’d have 3-4 years to make another all-in run with Patrick, Konecny, and Provorov in their prime and on team friendly contracts.

 

[renberg]

A lot of depends on Hart and Sandstrom. If either one of them, or both, become dependable then, with the rest of the talent that is on the roster, the team will be a force in the league for several years.

 

[achdumeingute]

Do The Flyers make the Finals in the next 4 years?

this is such a goofy question. Its really about being in position to be a contender or not. The Caps, as an example have been one of the best teams in the NHL for a number of years, and for a number of years they didn't advance.

NSH was IMO, the best team this year, and they didnt get out of the 2nd round.

By the next 4 years, yes this team should be capable of reaching the finals.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Went with yes even with being a bit of a pessimist. Its all about match ups.
You need skill and luck to get to the Final. See 2010 when we had 2 terrible goalies and still was within 1 goal of game 7 of the Final.

 

[Tripod]

It's just REALLY hard to make the cup finals.

In the last 5 years, only 1 team has done it more than once....Pitt. And in those last 5 years, few would have expected the NYR or Vegas to make it there.

So good teams often don't make it...Washington the best example considering how long it took to finally get there. Anaheim has had a great team for years but has not gotten there in over a decade.

Sometimes, it's just about matchups, luck and injuries.

 

[Bob Clarke Fan Club]

An expansion team just made the finals and was a dominant team in the West. Flyers will make playoffs for next 4 seasons and reach finals in 2019-2020. Obviously guessing, but there isn't a team in the East without some warts.

 

[StarterHart]

My initial thought was that it depends on whether Hak is still here or not, but then i remembered that even Disco Dan has a cup. Enough talent can overcome bad coaching. I voted yes.

 

[tictactoe]

Toronto is loaded. Pitt may be declining, but still formidable.Tampa, you mentioned. Buffalo & Carolina are close to the Flyers & could pass them. They both have probable young superstars to replace Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin.

The Flyers will have to win on structure & good goaltending. Devils’ esque. So let’s hope Hart, Sandstrom, or Ustimenko is a superstar, & play a lot of good D & counter.

Where are we going to get that? GM strongly believes in current coaching.

 

[LegionOfDoom91]

 

[Striiker]

Went with yes even with being a bit of a pessimist. Its all about match ups.
You need skill and luck to get to the Final. See 2010 when we had 2 terrible goalies and still was within 1 goal of game 7 of the Final.

100%

You need a good team, but luck plays a massive role too. Both in-game and also with how the other series pan out.