Will the Flyers make the playoffs next year?

[Les Averman]

Yes because:
1. Berube will be fired,
2. Couturier will improve,
3. Schenn will improve
4. signing offseason free agent

No because:
1. Lecavalier will only be older and therefore worse next season,
2. Umberger will be older and therefore worse next season,
3. Streit will not only be older but may be injured at some point next season,
4. Giroux or Voracek may have an injury that causes them to miss some time,
5. MDZ might regress after signing a contract extension,
6. With the exception of perhaps Cousins, the Flyers prospects, including Laughton, have not yet proved their ready at the AHL level,
7. Mason is less spectacular
8. Some of their peers should be much better next season, such as Carolina who suffered alot because Jordan Staal was injured, such as Columbus which also suffered with alot of injuries including Ryan Murray, and such as Florida which is clearly and up and coming team.

Although firing Berube will help alot, I think the fact that even with Giroux, Streit and Voracek not missing any significant time and Streit, Mason and Voracek having a great season suggests to me that the Flyers will be unlikely to make the playoffs next season.

I know you're just speculating but I can't stand when people take potential injuries into consideration. Streit hasn't missed more than 8 games in a year since 2005, Giroux has never missed more than 5 games, and Voracek has never missed more than 4. Those are not realistic things to take into consideration. Mason is the only person you can realistically have any injury concerns over given his "situation."

Do I think we'll make the playoffs? I think we'll be slightly better off than this year, and I think we'll end up anywhere from 5th to 10th in the East next year. Provided that we get a new coach, get rid of one or two bad contracts (Vinny, RJ), cut some dead weight (Grossman, Rino) and some of the young guys continue to progress (Schenn, Couts, Laughton) we can definitely be a playoff team.

That being said, we're going to need Couts and Laughton to both take that next step. I think there's a good chance Schenn is gone for legitimate top 6 winger help, and based on our draft position, it's not unrealistic to think we'll have a couple of new players on the roster (between the draft and the defensive corps). There should be some a pretty new look to the team, so it's hard to say, but you can't count the group out with G, V, Simmer, and Mase, especially if a new coaching staff can bring some consistency to the special teams.

 

[achdumeingute]

The defensive prospects are not helping next year...and we don't want to push them to. People should just stop expecting this.

Our season this year RELIED on guys (14, 10) hitting the next level, that didn't happen. 14 is improved, 10 has had a good week, but I'm still skeptical. Neither player has had the offensive breakout we needed to be viable.

Even if we had cap space, there is no #1 D to spend money on.

Next year, we are a 7-8 at best. Hopefully, 3 years from now we are making significant noise.

 

[YEM]

With G,Simmonds,Voracek and Mason its unbelievable that they didn't make the playoffs this year.

those are 4 players
reality is that they have gaping holes all over the lineup

I doubt they make it next year
teams that [should be] better than them without question next season:
TB
NYR
NYI
MTL
PITT

so they sneak in/overachieve if so...

 

[BillDineen]

There are scenarios in which they will make the playoffs, but with no real chance of winning the cup. They could still win the draft lottery after all, but realistically it is another rebuilding year.

One of the young d will be on the team, with others to follow the season after. I think patience is key with the d as well as waiting out Vinny, Umberger and AMac until they can be bought out. Next year's draft is also very strong at the top, so another bad year might be better in the long run.

 

[Curufinwe]

I think you'll be waiting the rest of this decade for a MacDonald buyout, and Vinny's buyout cap hit is too expensive in the short term. Umberger makes sense, particularly next year since the buyout would only be $1.6m in 16-17 and $1.5m in 17-18.

http://war-on-ice.com/captools.html

 

[beetee15]

with a new coach 100% yes. Flyers currently are 10 points out of a playoff spot, lets just say Chief is responsible for 5 losses "even though its way more than that", plus 3x3 OT might get implemented "we suck at shootouts" and with the awful defense and coaching the flyers are still a decent team right now. Also 10/14 will be another year older, 28/93 will still be a top 10 scoring threat and for the love of god if hextall could move a Dman and lets say Morin makes the team out of camp "he was close this year". Also the PK will improve like it has towards the end of the season, you know how many wins the flyers could of had if they killed off a few Power plays?!.. i say yes. BUT new coach needed.

 

[Beef Invictus]

I don't know yet. We don't know who the next coach will be, or of they'll be an improvement on Berube. The D will stop be problematic, too.

 

[beetee15]

I don't know yet. We don't know who the next coach will be, or of they'll be an improvement on Berube. The D will stop be problematic, too.

hes gotta go, for the exception of 93 who went on diet who has gotten any better under chief? I feel like thats the final question owners/gms ask before they fire a coach. "has his players improved since he's been here?" the answer is no

 

[BernieParent]

with a new coach 100% yes. Flyers currently are 10 points out of a playoff spot, lets just say Chief is responsible for 5 losses "even though its way more than that", plus 3x3 OT might get implemented "we suck at shootouts" and with the awful defense and coaching the flyers are still a decent team right now. Also 10/14 will be another year older, 28/93 will still be a top 10 scoring threat and for the love of god if hextall could move a Dman and lets say Morin makes the team out of camp "he was close this year". Also the PK will improve like it has towards the end of the season, you know how many wins the flyers could of had if they killed off a few Power plays?!.. i say yes. BUT new coach needed.

Very good comment about the potential move to reduce SOs. This in itself could result in an additional 3-6 points next season. Plus, if they bring in a coach who actually makes SOs a (relative) priority to practice and evaluates some of the other potential shooters (MDZ, Bellemare) even mediocrity is a big step up.

Plus, there are a few "addition by subtraction" moves that Hextall will hopefully be able to execute.

Finally, there's the anomaly of Mason playing top-5 goal yet carries a 14-15-10 record. That could go either (or both) way, that Mason's play regresses a bit and/or the Flyers win more while he is playing. In other words, if Mason keeps up this year's level of play, we could arguably expect more wins for him. If he regresses, I'd think his record wouldn't get much worse, as they would only lose by more.

All said, I'm leaning towards optimism that the Flyers could snatch a wild-card berth.

 

[Dirty but Good]

Yea there are way too many uncertainties right now.

Hextall would need to work his magic but there's no doubt it's possible.

 

[chupanibre]

Not sure but I really doubt it.

We'll still be stuck with the same old ugly contracts, and our D will still be abysmal.
Also we can't be 100% certain that BSchenn or Couts improve, we can only hope.

We'll just have to see how much the same roster situation + different coach works out.

 

[Rebels57]

Yes.

Berube is the only reason we aren't a playoff team right now and that is with our weak top 6 defense.

I have to assume he is not re-signed and we bring in a competent one.

Umberger or Lecavalier are moved to a cap floor team in the summer. The other is the 13th forward next year.

Cousins and Laughton make the team out of camp.

Grossmann or L. Schenn are traded this summer.

Morin makes team out of camp.

Schenn/Raffl-Giroux-Voracek
Raffl/Schenn-Couturier-Simmonds
Cousins-Laughton-Read
VandeVelde-Bellemare-White

Laughton and Cousins emergence should allow Couturier to get more opportunities offensively. I like Read on that line to add veteran presence, plus I think it's time to split up Coots and Read.

Schultz-Streit
MDZ-Gudas
Morin-MacDonald

Could see Morin flip-flopping with Schultz before long and then Ghost replacing AMac not long after.

Looks like a playoff team to me but not a contender yet.

That said, still would like to see the Schenn brothers packaged for an upgrade at LW..especially with the addition of Gudas making Schenn redundant and Morin likely replacing Coburn. Schenn becomes the odd man out so why not use him as a bargaining chip with his brother to get a better quality LW from a team that needs a young C and D depth?

 

[Flyerfan4life]

without Berube and just a few minor changes i feel this team can be a 5-6 team easily...

 

[Rebels57]

without Berube and just a few minor changes i feel this team can be a 5-6 team easily...

Somewhere between 6 and 8 is how I feel they should have finished this year. If not for the PK collapse and the shootout woes, we would be there right now even with Berube. Kind of sad to think about.

 

[Laveuglette]

Yes, they will. If we didn't have an horrible PK, we'd be in a playoffs spot already. I'm pretty sure Hextall will do his best to fix it this summer. We could get a couple of trades/FA to make our team better, etc. I expect Couturier to break out next year too.

 

[YEM]

Berube is the only reason we aren't a playoff team right now and that is with our weak top 6 defense.

without Berube and just a few minor changes i feel this team can be a 5-6 team easily...

Somewhere between 6 and 8 is how I feel they should have finished this year.

Yes, they will. If we didn't have an horrible PK, we'd be in a playoffs spot already.

I think youse guys are underestimating the competition in both the division and the East overall...

 

[JustJim]

No they won't , if massive changes aren't made.

This team, at it's present state, will not be able to climb out of the cellar in their division next season.
Berube and the entire coaching staff will need to be sacked, and Ron Hextall will need to hire from outside the usual alumni circle that they are currently using.
Hextall will not have a bunch of FA money, so they won't be very active in the FA market. The draft is very, very important for this team. It'll be a richly talented group of players for them to draft, so their scouts will be very busy.
With the possible exception of a few of the forwards on this current Flyers team, I sort of hope for Ron Hextall to deal away the under-achievers who are dragging down this team.
Snider always wants them to make the playoffs, so I'm sure he'll approve the changes Hextall wishes to make.

 

[El Emperor]

I honestly think, even based on this season, they could make the playoffs, IF, like many here are saying, that Berube isn't the coach. While the team does have a lot of dead weight, there is enough talent to make it to a wild card spot, but inconsistent play and boneheaded coaching decisions has cost this team many points in the standings.

The insistence of playing Rinaldo so much is evidence enough this coach doesn't know what he is doing. Pretty obvious why the Flyers played well during Rinaldo's suspension, right?

 

[GKJ]

The insistence of playing Rinaldo so much is evidence enough this coach doesn't know what he is doing. Pretty obvious why the Flyers played well during Rinaldo's suspension, right?

Well, as Big Zac would say, they won that game where he crushed Letang, so who knows what would have happened if he didn't do what he did.

It's simply still too far out to even guess, have to let the off-season play out and see who stays and who goes not only here, but with division rivals, and more notably Washington and the Rangers, because the Penguins and Islanders aren't going anywhere for a while.

 

[Rebels57]

I think youse guys are underestimating the competition in both the division and the East overall...

Not at all. If our PK was better and had an even .500 shootout record, we would be in the playoffs. It's as simple as that.

Then again, we still wouldnt be contenders and might not have traded Coburn and Timonen for all of those picks and could have been delusional enough to extend Berube.

Thank god for our PK and shootout woes.

 

[Cardds*]

I really haven't thought about the possibility of the Flyers making the postseason next year, but I've become content with Hextall rebuilding this team and hopefully it will pay off eventually.

One thing I do hope for next year though is for Berube to get fired.

 

[Newest sens fan]

I really doubt the team changes much at all next year. The D prospects joining the team is a long shot, especially with the resigning of Schultz and inevitable resigning of MDZ. The way Hextall has dealt with our prospects I bet he wants a full AHL year out of Morin and Ghost, Hagg hasn't proved much at all at the AHL level either. Streit, Schultz, MacDonald, MDZ will most likely be on the team next year, along with Grossmann& Schenn (until the TDL hopefully). Maybe after the TDL we can see Morin/Ghost.

 

[renberg]

I really doubt the team changes much at all next year. The D prospects joining the team is a long shot, especially with the resigning of Schultz and inevitable resigning of MDZ. The way Hextall has dealt with our prospects I bet he wants a full AHL year out of Morin and Ghost, Hagg hasn't proved much at all at the AHL level either. Streit, Schultz, MacDonald, MDZ will most likely be on the team next year, along with Grossmann& Schenn (until the TDL hopefully). Maybe after the TDL we can see Morin/Ghost.

Streit, Schultz, MDZ, AMac and Gudas will start the season with Philly for sure. Whether Grossmann and LSchenn do remains to be seen. Both will be on the end year of their contracts at $3.5 and $3.6 respectfully and neither of them is worth that money. The probably are trade targets.
Hextall has to make changes in the lineup. We all have seen what this bunch can do. I can't see the fans supporting a repeat. Perhaps removing Berube is enough but I doubt it. Some forwards will have to be moved as well.

 

[BernieParent]

I'm not as certain as some that Gudas is resigned. It would make sense, with him being an RFA, but I could see it going either way.

 

[Curufinwe]

He's an RFA after 15-16, so they get to see him play a full season before deciding on whether to sign him to an extension.