Realistic Expectations/Predictions

[DrinkFightFlyers]

With one month until training camp breaks, let's see some realistic expectations and predictions for the individual players on this team.

Giroux - 90+ points, Hart trophy finalist
Voracek - 25 goals, 60ish points
Schenn - "breakout" year, but people will still be upset. 55-65 points
Simmonds - scapegoat of the team, 20 or so goal, not as prominent in the offense as he was last year
VL - another scapegoat, battles injuries all year
Read - about the same last year, solid defense, chips in with timely goals
Couturier - step forward offensively, but nothing monumental 45-50 points
Raffl - about the same as last year
Laughton - makes the team and sticks all year, nothing crazy, solid 4th line center
Rinaldo - splits time with Ryan White, scapegoated
Ryan White - splits time with Rinaldo, plays ok
PEB - makes the team but fails to impress, ultimately winds up in AHL or back in Europe
Umberger - Plays well, puts up around 50 points. Doesn't replace Hartnell's goals but plays a better all around game so as to make the Hartnell trade look like a good move (or at the very least, not a bad one)
Rinaldo - Hart trophy finalist, 50 goals in 50 games

Coburn - Continues solid defense, offense continues to leave something to be desired
Schenn - has a great year, is our best defender, actually gets credit for it too
Streit - production slows, is the scapegoat of the defense
AMac - nothing special, nothing bad.
MDZ - plays well enough to get another contract, but nothing crazy, solid bottom pair guy
Grossmann - continues to struggle with injuries, is ultimately waived or traded for peanuts

Mason - saves the day a lot, puts up good numbers
Emery - "meh"

Flyers make it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth.

EDIT: Also Jason Akeson eventually replaces PEB, probably november-december, plays ok but ultimately does not have a future in the NHL (at least not in Philly)

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[Beef Invictus]

Giroux - 90 or more points, Hart trophy finalist
Voracek - 25 goals, 60ish points
Schenn - Hates Freedom
Simmonds - 30 goals, who knows how many assists.
VL - Scapegoat, injured at some point, effective until that happens. A better year, but who knows how much better...and "better than last year" isn't exactly great. He scored 20 goals, yes. But was often a disruptive presence...we'll see where he plays
Read - about the same last year, solid defense, chips in with timely goals
Couturier - Takes Timonen's mantle as God of Hockey.
Raffl - Sure is Raffly
Laughton - Yep, 4th line C, starts being eased into the roster.
Rinaldo - Horrible, with any luck last year in league
Ryan White - Barely ever plays
PEB - AHL or 4th line
Umberger - Completes Couturier line and helps make them a consistent 3 player line, instead of 2 guys and a slob.
Rinaldo - I hate you

Coburn - 20 great games, 30 alright games, 20 awful games. Overall, continues to be in over his head leading a top sorta pairing.
Schenn - Better year than last year, following the Luke Curve. Is important this year. Most of HF will still believe he's an AHL players anyways.
Streit - Same as last year, production increases with 1st PP time.
AMac - Disappointment for half the season, adequate for half the season.
MDZ - Stays in the league or doesn't, no idea.
Grossmann - Stays in the league or doesn't, no idea; either way, I don't think he has much future on Hextall's team.

Mason - saves the day a lot, puts up good numbers
Emery - Some solid games, lots of AHHHHHH games.

Flyers make it into the playoffs by the skin of their teeth, or they miss the playoffs, win the lottery and get McDavid.

 

[Halladay]

pain.

 

[Beef Invictus]

pain.

Eye of the tiger, Rock. Eye of the tiger.

 

[Random Forest]

Giroux - PPG season. People say it's a down year, but he's still the motor that runs this team. The drop will be the result of natural variance and a PP that struggles to gel early in the year.
Voracek - 70-75 points, 30 goal season and leading goal scorer. Takes a step forward, and some fans will suggest he may even be better than Giroux (though it will still remain crazy talk)
Schenn - Gets his spot on the top line but not immediately. When he's there, he goes on a tear and puts up between 25-30g with 60ish points. People start to like him. He also is one of the only bright spots of the PP1 unit early in the year.

Couturier - Starts off real slow, but gets hot somewhere midway through the season and maintains a decent pace until the end. Finishes with 45-50 points.
Read - Same as Couturier. Slow start, but picks it up when the lines get jumbled in November/December, and maintains reasonable production throughout. Finishes with 40 points.
Simmonds - Scapegoated for a while. His PP production drops off, and he is somewhat exposed. Has a down year in terms of production, but still does a decent amount of stuff to finish in the good books by the end. Has just under 50 points to end the year.

Lecavalier - Actually bounces back and remains healthy for quite a while. People are very pleased with him, but he gets injured in February but manages to come back hot down the stretch. Plays 64 games and has 45 points.
Raffl - Gets bounced around the lineup a lot, but does admirably, though goes through stretches of poor play where fans get annoyed. Develops some more offensive ability, but fans ignore it because he seems very disengaged and sloppy at times. Hits 30 points.
Umberger - Makes us satisfied with the Hartnell deal, but still frustrated at his deteriorating ability at times. Becomes a solid warrior and fits well in Berube's system. Puts up 45 points thanks to taking Simmonds's spot on PP1 for a little while when he's cold.

Bellemarre - A guy that the fans fall in love with, but Berube never gives a fair chance to. Becomes the new Gustafsson. He's a healthy scratch for most of the year making many of us pull our hair out. Has 20ish points despite playing around 50 games.
White - Does a similar as Hall last year, but he becomes one of Berube's favorites and placed in roles he can't handle which makes fans hate him even though it's not his fault. Not a lot of production.
Rinaldo - Will play too much, get more top nine time than he should even dream of getting. Will perform better than last year and even bury a handful of goals, but will still be a bad hockey player.

Laughton - Makes the team out of camp with a monster of a preseason. Impresses everyone with his steadiness, though he does nothing spectacular. Gets top nine time when injuries hit Lecavalier, and Laughton does very well, but is ultimately relegated back to the fourth line upon VL's return.


Coburn - Steady year. Fans will start to appreciate him more. He actually hits 25 points despite missing a handful of games.
Streit - Takes a step back and doesn't duplicate Timonen's effectiveness on the PP and chemistry with Giroux. Eventually loses the spot to Gostisbehere. We get frustrated with him, but his 5v5 offensive numbers still look good, and he finishes the season with his reputation still in tact but not where it is now. Finishes just at or just under 40 points.

MacDonald - Comes out of the gate on fire, and we all start to love him. His game takes a turn for the worse a couple months in, and we're all hating him by the end, but he won't be quite as bad as his detractors will suggest. 25 point finish.
Grossmann - Steady. Not nearly as bad as he was last year, but nothing good either. Does his job quietly but opinions will be mixed.

Del Zotto - Gets PP1 time when Streit flops there. MDZ fares no better. Does an okay job at 5v5 with extremely sheltered minutes, and is a catalyst for some offense, but he is very inconsistent and fans will hate him for it.
LSchenn - He will be good to start the year, but will be traded by Christmas, and we will actually like the return (a 2015 1st from a contending team in need of a PKer).

Gostisbehere - Kills it in the AHL in October. Gets spotty NHL action for minor injuries early in the season and looks ****ing awesome. Is sent back, but then gets a permanent spot when LSchenn is traded, and becomes a second-pairing fixture the rest of the way alongside Grossmann. He eventually gets the PP1 job and runs with it. Has a year very similar to pre-Norris Subban and hits 30 points in only 61 games.
Schultz - Hardly sees action. Gets more involved late in the season when injuries pile up, but he's never in the lineup with consistency.


Mason - Has a very, very strong season even better than the one he just had. Becomes a major pillar for the team's success.
Emery - Not quite as bad as last year, but still not close to good.


Fairly optimistic. I think the team will exceed many people's expectations and finish comfortably in the playoffs and second in the division (to the Rangers!). The team will be led by the top line which shows lots of chemistry and Mason who will be the backbone of our success and earn back lots of praise around the league.

Ghost will be the biggest surprise, and fans will adore him by the end of the year. His emergence will be a big mid-season boost.

I also get the feeling that a struggling PP1 unit will be a major theme for the first half of the year.

 

[Appleyard]

100points, 3rd in the Met, 5th in the Conference.

Giroux (30G-65A-95P)
Voracek (25G-42A-67P)
Simmonds (30G-26A-56P)
Schenn (26G-27A-53P)
Couturier (17G-33A-50P)
Lecavalier (23G-25A-48P)
Read (21G-22A-43P)
Umberger (18G-20A-38P)
Raffl (10G-16A-26P)
Bellemere (10G-15A-25P)
White (3G-4A-7P)
Rinaldo (2G-2A-4P)

Defence:

Streit (12G-36A-48P)
Coburn (4G-15A-20P)
MacDonald (4G-20A-24P)
Grossmann (1G-10A-11P)
Schenn (3G-17A-20P)
Del Zotto (6G-26A-32P)

Goalies:

Mason (64GS-37W-19L-8OT-.919SV%-2.47GAA-5SO)
Emery: (17GS-8W-7L-2OT-.902SV%-2.95GAA-1SO)

That is assuming our starting 20 starting players played every game... so more an 82 game pace really!

 

[CutOnDime97]

Mason plays well and proves himself as a good starter.
Umberger is better than Hartnell.
Laughton impresses.
Lecavalier isn't that bad.

Emery sucks.
MacDonald sucks.

Flyers are in the hunt for last playoff spot.

 

[Legion of Gloom]

Flyers finish 9th

Giroux 25 Goas - 57 Assists

 

[Garbage Goal]

We win the Cup.

On a serious note I think Umberger proves to be a quality depth player sort of Read-lite in terms of his versatility. Proves that change of scenery can help, especially from Columbus a la Voracek and Mason. Also proves that Hartnell is a bit overrated since we get to finally see how this team fares with special teams when Hartnell is switched with someone decently desciplined.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

Giroux - 28 goals, 64 assists.

Voracek -24 goals, 37 assists

Schenn -22 goals, 21 assists

Simmonds - 27 goals, 20 assists

VL - 20 goals, 23 assists. if hes healthy.

Couturier - 14 goals, 20 assists. still elite defensively

Read--22 goals, 20 assists.

Raffl - 11 goals, 12 assists

Laughton - 10 goals, 14 assists

Umberger - 18 goals, 20 assists

Rinaldo 1 goal, 3 assists, 3 suspensions and DFF will still defend him like hes the greatest 4th liner in the history of hockey.

Ryan White 3 goals, 3 assists

PEB - 2 goals, 5 assists. don't really have a feel for him.


Coburn -5 goals, 11 assists. going to love him some nights. other nights hes going to make me want to break things.

Schenn - See Coburn.

Streit - same numbers as last year. solid year

AMac - meh. im going to hate him. so yeah

MDZ - if he uses the KISS way of doing things he will be fine. if he doesn't hey its a 1 year deal.

Grossmann - going to be a long frustrating season with him in the lineup.

Mason - plays up to his new contract. hopefully everyone remembers that craptastic defense in front of him
Emery - everyone will hate him until he jumps a backup goalie in a game they are down 8-2 and everyone will love him. sadly.


If they get in they get in its as a 7 or 8. but this team cannot afford any key injuries this year. If Mason goes down for a long stretch they are in the lottery for the top pick.

 

[Garbage Goal]

We're a team that, when healthy should be making the playoffs and can say it with confidence (key word is should). Part of that is the huge disbalance between conferences, but still. We really can't afford injuries though. It was like that last season too, but we were actually very healthy last season. Lecavalier stuff, Downie stuff, and Mason was out for a bit right at the end of the season. Need the same kind of injury luck minus Mason getting injured. Giroux or Mason alone would sink this roster on paper if either went down with injury.

 

[OzFlyers]

Brayden or Bust??

 

[sobrien]

100points, 3rd in the Met, 5th in the Conference.

Giroux (30G-65A-95P)
Voracek (25G-42A-67P)
Simmonds (30G-26A-56P)
Schenn (26G-27A-53P)
Couturier (17G-33A-50P)
Lecavalier (23G-25A-48P)
Read (21G-22A-43P)
Umberger (18G-20A-38P)
Raffl (10G-16A-26P)
Bellemere (10G-15A-25P)
White (3G-4A-7P)
Rinaldo (2G-2A-4P)

Defence:

Streit (12G-36A-48P)
Coburn (4G-15A-20P)
MacDonald (4G-20A-24P)
Grossmann (1G-10A-11P)
Schenn (3G-17A-20P)
Del Zotto (6G-26A-32P)

Goalies:

Mason (64GS-37W-19L-8OT-.919SV%-2.47GAA-5SO)
Emery: (17GS-8W-7L-2OT-.902SV%-2.95GAA-1SO)

That is assuming our starting 20 starting players played every game... so more an 82 game pace really!

100 points only gets us 3rd in the metro? Holy crap! The division was poor last year and almost all the teams in it got worse! (I believe only NYR and CBJ improved on paper)

 

[ilovetheflyers8]

PEB will be a good 4th liner and when put together PEB-White-Raffl will be pretty great for a 4th line but they'll rarely ever play together.

Lecavalier does better than last season.

 

[Appleyard]

100 points only gets us 3rd in the metro? Holy crap! The division was poor last year and almost all the teams in it got worse! (I believe only NYR and CBJ improved on paper)

I was going off ~:

Boston: 110
Pittsburgh: 108
Montreal: 102
NYR: 101
Philly: 100

I think as a team we are pretty even with NYR but our SO woes will push us just behind them.

~100 points should be 4th or 5th in the conference.

 

[kelmitchell]

I think we finish in the middle of the pack getting the 14th pick injuries kill us, mason goes down for extended period of time emery does what emery does and Coburn gets hurt while giroux puts up 85 points and hits the 30 goal mark along with vorachek and with the key injuries we struggle defensively

 

[dats81]

Brayden Schenn will have a breakout season getting close to or end up with slightly above 50 points but still won't meet expectations since he will still slump for extended periods here and there.

Lecavalier leads all Flyers in goals scored by mid season, later cools down before getting hurt and being shut down for injury concerns for the playoffs.

Laughton does not make the team out of camp, plays well in the AHL although never close to or above PPG pace. Gets called up mid season and sticks.

Akeson has a strong pre-season but Berube scratches him once the season starts and uses him sparringly.

Raffl has a career year until he goes down on a blindsight hit and misses 20 games with a concussion. Bellemare turns out to be a solid bottom-6 winger but for some reason Berube doesn't like him and plays Ryan White and Rinaldo instead of him every other night.

Streit takes over as the head of defense, good for 50 points, but runs out of gas in the second half of the season. Invisible in the playoffs.

Wayne Simmonds can't repeat his recent success and struggles to score 20 goals this season ... it remains unclear whether it's the PP that takes a bump because of his play or he can't get hot because the PP is slumping most of the time.

MacDonald plays the toughest minutes but does not get on the scoreboard enough which is why he will be the scapegoat.

Luke Schenn has a solid year but is still overpaid and plays the easiest competition.

DelZotto has his ups and downs but plays ok for most of the year, gets re-signed to a two-year deal.

Hägg emerges as the Phantoms #1D and gets called up ahead of Gostisbehere who has a solid season offensively but struggles with his positioning and defensive play.

Mason repeats his success and finishes as a solid middle of the pack starting goaltender statswise.

The rest stays the same. Flyers make the playoffs but are standing pat at the trade deadline. Without improvements they fail to make a big splash...

 

[sobrien]

I was going off ~:

Boston: 110
Pittsburgh: 108
Montreal: 102
NYR: 101
Philly: 100

I think as a team we are pretty even with NYR but our SO woes will push us just behind them.

~100 points should be 4th or 5th in the conference.

That I can understand. Now we'll getting paled in the Main Board Metro prediction thread (mainly because of Mason per the usual).

I'll make my player by player predictions in a couple days, but I feel like our offense will suffer a bit unless a couple guys improve mightily from last season.

 

[DrinkFightFlyers]

I think this is the year Lundqvist goes down with a serious injury. Dude has been so healthy he is bound to suffer some kind of ailment. Not wishing harm on him or anything, but I could see him sinking that ship.

 

[BackToTheBrierePatch]

I was going off ~:

Boston: 110
Pittsburgh: 108
Montreal: 102
NYR: 101
Philly: 100

I think as a team we are pretty even with NYR but our SO woes will push us just behind them.

~100 points should be 4th or 5th in the conference.

I like your optimism but I am not seeing it. I think we may be a tick down from last season point wise. think this team has too many question marks to get to the 4th or 5th seed. I hope I am wrong and you are right tho.

 

[Striiker]

I'm no so sure that we'll be down any points from last season. Last seasons point total was lower than it should've been because of the horrible start. Obviously I'm not saying that the start doesn't count and should be completely ignored, but they were pretty consistent the rest of the year and if that consistently had started in the beginning of the year they would've broken 100 points.

This year I think the defense is fairly even to what it was last year, there's a drop from Timonen to Del Zotto but also a step up from Meszaros/Gill/Gustafsson to MacDonald.

I see the offense being roughly the same as last year or possibly even better depending on the progression of Couturier, Schenn, and Raffl. I also think that the 4th line will be significantly better than last year, especially if Bellemare can be a pleasant surprise. We're also losing Hartnells penalty minutes and, if we have any luck, Rinaldos too.

Mason will hopefully be the same and Emery will likely be terrible.

 

[The Rage Kage]

If Umberger can hover around .5 ppg and couturier and schenn can get at least 10 more goals/points combined we will pretty much be replacing hartnells production with less penalties and better defensive awareness, which is good. I think as long as mason doesn't implode were good for at least 90 points.

And for defensemen

Macdonald-Coburn < Timonen-Coburn
Grossman-Streit > Mezaros-Streit
Del Zotto-Schenn >= Grossman-Schenn

We may not have as good of a top pairing, but our bottom four is better, if we could replace grossman it would make things even better

 

[TheLegendkiller]

The main boards do not give our team enough credit. I don't see us being worse than Carolina, NJ, Isles, Capitals, or Columbus.

 

[Striiker]

The main boards do not give our team enough credit. I don't see us being worse than Carolina, NJ, Isles, Capitals, or Columbus.

I'd be surprised if the Flyers are worse than any of those teams. The people on the main boards don't know enough to make real judgments so they just talk out of their *****.

 

[The Rage Kage]

They act like mason has only played well for 40 games or something. They don't realize his great play with the flyers has lasted over 70 games, spanning an offseason, through injuries, and into the playoffs. It's not like he was only good for one stretch of a season. Now I realize he may not keep it up, but to act like its a fluke and he's guaranteed to revert back to Blue Jackets mason is just ignorant (and annoying)