Around the NHL in 30 Days – Philadelphia Flyers

The Broad Street Bullies take the spotlight in FanSided’s Around the NHL in 30 Days. Eugene Markman has written an excellent season preview for his Flyers at the Broad Street Buzz blog. I know that we Shark fans might have been surprised at how much GM Doug Wilson shook up our lineup, but can you imagine what it’s like to be a Flyers fan? If we call what Doug Wilson has done a “shakeup”, then we must call what Flyers GM Paul Holmgren did a “complete overhaul.”

Think about what went down in Philly this offseason. They traded away their 26 year old captain Mike Richards, whom looked to be a Flyer for life. Then they traded highly skilled Jeff Carter, whom also looked like a Flyer for life. Then the club said goodbye to a bunch of other Flyers and welcomed in bunch of new players, perhaps the most important being goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. This move is suppose to remedy the the Flyers’ goaltending issues that plagued them since Ron Hextall retired.

Here is a snippet of what lead writer Eugene Markman has to say:

"Scoring will be a bit harder to come by. Giroux and Briere are now the top centers, and behind them, we don’t know what else we have. In addition, the Flyers expect JVR to play like the monster that he was in the playoffs last year. We’ll have to wait and see how well the new guys and the youth infusion mesh."

Let’s now check out the Sharks and Flyers lone meeting last year:

The one meeting between these 2 teams last year was a real barn-burner! The Sharks ended up winning 5-4 in a shootout, with Logan Couture getting the game winner. Interesting to note that Antero Nittymaki was in goal for the Sharks, which makes sense since he was a former Flyer. He definitely got the best of his former team on this occasion.

The Flyers are an interesting team this year. Will all of the changes pay off for this team, or will they fail to mesh and struggle? This has to be one of the more interesting and noteworthy stories to be following this year in the NHL, besides the Crosby comeback. I know that I’ll be watching to see if newly crowned captain Chris Pronger can stay healthy enough to lead his team deep into the playoffs once more.

Check back tomorrow for more of FanSided’s Around the NHL in 30 Days.

Follow Blades of Teal on Twitter @bladesofteal21 and @bladesofteal

and Facebook – Blades of Teal