By Antoine Mathieu, Staff Writer, All Habs Hockey Magazine

QUEBEC CITY, QC. — In today’s article, I reveal a team that has given me doubts about their success this season given a very an unfortunate event.

2014-15 EASTERN CONFERENCE predicted standings

1. Tampa Bay Lightning
2. Columbus Blue Jackets
3. Boston Bruins
4. Pittsburgh Penguins
5. New York Rangers
6. Montreal Canadiens
7. New Jersey Devils
8. Washington Capitals
9. Toronto Maple Leafs
10. Philadelphia Flyers

2013-’14 summary: Philadelphia Flyers

Regular season record of 42 – 30 – 10, 94 points,  6th East, lost in the first round of the playoffs in seven games.

The Flyers made changes in the front office this summer but the most important was appointing Ron Hextall as general manager. Unlike his predecessor, Paul Holmgren, Hextall didn’t really make a splash in the off-season. Hextall traded veteran Scott Hartnell for a former Flyer in R.J. Umberger, then signed Ryan White and Michael Del Zotto to inexpensive one-year deals. I think his decision to maintain the status quo on defense will cost his team a playoff spot next season.

Considering how competitive the Metropolitan division is, I think that will leave the Flyers as the odd man out for the playoffs. They must face five teams (the Blue Jackets, the Penguins, the Rangers, the Devils and the Capitals) who I feel are better on paper and they have to play them on 21 different occasions! That’s a more than a quarter of an NHL season, I don’t have to tell you how crucial those games will be for those teams.

Before the unfortunate news that Kimmo Timonen has blood clots in his lungs and in his leg, I had the Flyers in the final wild card spot. However, I think the loss of Timonen (who may have to retire similarly to Tomas Vokoun) will hurt the team big time. Their defense was already average and losing arguably their top defender certainly won’t help. The Flyers still have Mark Streit who can fill in the void created by the loss of the Finnish defenseman but Streit himself isn’t getting any younger. He’ll turn 37 in December and I don’t think it’s ideal for him to be playing more minutes.

Philadelphia added Andrew MacDonald last season but I’m still not sold on him. He’s shown the ability to log a lot of minutes but at what cost? It’s not like he’s Ryan Suter and an established number one defenseman. When you’re running around in your own end and can’t prevent other teams from entering your zone, you’re not doing your job as a defenseman. I think the Flyers will deeply regret the contract that they gave him last season ($30 millions for six years.)

Braydon Coburn is a great defender and does a remarkable job at shutting down other team’s top players but I wouldn’t exactly consider him a top pairing defenseman. In my books, he’s a solid number three who plays around 20 minutes a game. Unfortunately in Philadelphia, that’s not the case for the Saskatchewan native. Before the acquisition of MacDonald, Coburn was playing well above that (around 23 to 25 minutes a game.)

The Flyers signed defenceman Michael Del Zotto who somewhat patches the hole created by Timonen’s health problems. Del Zotto was once highly touted among NHL fans and many people ranked him at the same level of P.K. Subban, funny how that turned out.  Del Zotto experienced a tough year: he had rough start with the Rangers under Alain Vigneault, which lead to him being dealt to the Nashville Predators. He didn’t really stand out with the Preds and wasn’t tendered his expensive qualifying offer which made him an unrestricted free agent.

It took some ill-fated news for Del Zotto to finally find work with a team. I don’t think he’s a brutal fit with the Flyers but his defensive flaws will be exposed with that defense of theirs. Based on reports from Rangers and Predator fans, Del Zotto has regressed and doesn’t really have any qualities that make him a reliable NHL’er. His breakout passes are inconsistent: he’ll occasionally land a beautiful outlet pass to a streaking winger in the neutral zone but he is prone to icing the puck by missing his pass by a good couple feet.

Del Zotto’s biggest problem can be found between the ears. His game is too inconsistent to be given top minutes. He doesn’t have the defensive awareness or the tools physically (skating, size and strength) to be efficient in his own end. He’s shown flashes of brilliance with the Rangers (rookie season and two years ago when Marc Staal got hurt) but he’s regressed ever since. The fact that Barry Trotz decided to play Victor Bartley over him down the stretch says a lot about Del Zotto’s down fall. He’s labeled as an offensive defenseman but the results simply aren’t there, I wouldn’t be surprised if he turns into the next Chris Campoli.

The Flyers have a ton of depth in terms of mid/bottom pairing defensemen. Nicklas Grossmann is a pretty useful defenseman for the elements he brings (solid penalty-killer and defensive defenseman.) He has to be paired with a mobile puck mover (perhaps Del Zotto) because otherwise his lack of foot speed and inability to move the puck can be totally be exposed by other teams. The Flyers also brought in Nick Schultz on a one-year deal, who should be a more reliable option than Hal Gill last season as the seventh defenseman on the roster.

Luke Schenn is pretty unpredictable: he had a good season during the lockout year but was simply terrible at the start of last year. He turned the corner around during the playoffs but which version of Schenn will we see next season? He simply might be a defenseman who shines in the playoffs with the lack of proper officiating à la Hal Gill. Schenn who will turn 25 years old at the start of this season is still young for a defender but this could be the year that determines what type of defenseman he is: bottom pairing one or a top four one?

The management’s decision to stay put on defense will hurt one player in particular: Steve Mason. I’m still perplexed on whether or not Mason has the ability to be a starter in the NHL. It seemed like his Calder trophy was a fluke but he put up some great numbers with the Flyers last season. Unfortunately for him, the porous defense in front of him might make him look bad, at least statistically speaking. Tons of fans will be ready to declare Mason a failure without taking in consideration that many goalies would be exposed behind that defense…The Oakville native will play a big part on whether or not the Flyers will make the playoffs.

With that being said, sometimes your best defense is your offense. The Flyers probably have the deepest group offensively in the Eastern conference. Last season, they had seven 20 goal scorers! In comparison, the Chicago Blackhawks only had five! That shows the kind of offensive juggernaut that the Flyers are. The scary thing is that their core is just entering their prime. Claude Giroux (26 years old), Jakub Voracek (24 years old), Wayne Simmonds (25 years old), Brayden Schenn (22 years old), Matt Read (28 years old) and Sean Couturier (21 years old).

It’s crazy to think that it took 15 games for Giroux to get his first goal and he finished the season with 28! Both Giroux and Voracek both started off the year slowly but they picked things up around the second half of the season (in Giroux’s case: 68 points in his last 56 games and for Voracek: 50 points in his last 56 games.) The scoring slumps of this offensive pair definitely coincided with the Flyers’ brutal start last season (just one win in their first eight games and a record of 3-8 during the month of October.) These two will have two get going from the get-go for the Flyers to have a good season.

Many fans have Brayden Schenn taking Scott Hartnell’s spot on the first line with Voracek and Giroux. If that is the case, I expect a HUGE season from the younger Schenn brother. I wouldn’t be surprised if he cracks the 25 goal plateau and gets 60 points. The Saskatoon native will complement these two pretty well because of his physicality and his knack to go to the net.

The Flyers have some excellent role players in R.J. Umberger, Michael Raffl, Sean Couturier and Matt Read. Umberger and Read should be able to bring around 20 goals each. Raffl has shown the ability to play anywhere in the line-up and bring value as a responsible two way player who can win battles along the boards. Couturier is still young but he’s emerging as one of the league’s top defensive forwards. If he can turn into a modern version John Madden, the Flyers will be set for the future with Scott Laughton coming up.

Quick facts about Philadelphia:

• The Flyers were 20^th in the league for goals against last season. Considering the loss of Timonen, I expect them to finish even lower in this ranking.
• I’m curious to see what role Vinny Lecavalier will have next season: he still has four more years on his contract and considering his age and his past with injuries, his contract isn’t going to get any better.
• Philadelphia was the second most penalized team in the league last season. Zac Rinaldo certainly didn’t help with his 153 PIM and 29 minor penalties. The Flyers will have to be more disciplined next season.