2016-17 Season Preview: Philadelphia Flyers
With just days remaining before the NHL gets back to playing meaningful games, Pro Hockey Rumors is starting to wrap up their Season Preview series. This evening we move on to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Last Season: 41 – 27 – 14, 96 points, fifth in the Metro. Lost to Washington in round one of the playoffs.
Cap Space: $40.834K (According to Cap Friendly)
Key Additions: RW Dale Weise (free agent – Chicago); C Boyd Gordon (free agent – Arizona); Roman Lyubimov (free agent – KHL)
Key Departures: C Sam Gagner (free agent – Columbus); C Ryan White (free agent – Arizona); D Evgeny Medvedev (free agent – KHL); C R.J. Umberger (buyout – unsigned)
[Related: Flyers Depth Chart]
Players to Watch: Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth. Philadelphia should be just fine up front with Claude Giroux (67 points), Jakub Voracek (55 points), Brayden Schenn (26 goals, 59 points) and Wayne Simmonds (32 goals, 60 points) leading the way offensively. The Flyers boast a tremendous crop of young blue liners led by Shayne Gostisbehere, who is set to be joined this season by 19-year-old Ivan Provorov. Not far behind is Robert Hagg and Samuel Morin. The key for the Flyers will be to once again get quality goaltending out of Mason and Neuvirth.
Last season when the Flyers surprised some by making the postseason, Mason and Neuvirth combined to stop 91.7% of shots against which was good enough to tie them with two other teams for fifth best in the NHL. The Flyers also allowed 2.56 goals-per-game, a rate bested by 11 clubs in the league. The goaltending was indeed good last season and it was a big reason why the Flyers made it to the playoffs.
The questions is: can they again be that good or better? Since joining Philadelphia, Mason, a former Calder Trophy winner, has stopped 92.2% of the shots he has faced. But that rate is inflated by a 92.8 save percentage in 2014-15. If we remove that season, Mason has a 91.9% save percentage with the Flyers, which is still a solid number.
The bigger question is Neuvirth, who prior to 2015-16 had never recorded a save percentage better than 91.4% in any season in which he appeared in more than 13 games. Over the last three seasons, Mason has started 161 games for the Flyers, which means in all probability Neuvirth will get close to 30 starts. The Flyers need Neuvirth to be at least league-average in those starts to give them a good chance to contend in the highly competitive Metro Division.
Key Storylines: Can the Flyers take the next step? They improved by 12 points over their 2014-15 season total and while it’s not likely they’ll experience another double-figure leap in points, the next step in their progression is passing some of the teams that finished above them . This past season the Flyers finished 8th in the conference, grabbing the second wild card spot and a guaranteed reservation with the regular season’s best team, the Washington Capitals, in the playoffs. Earning a higher playoff seed and a playoff series win would constitute a successful campaign.
It wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world if the Flyers took a marginal step back. They still have a ton of young talent getting closer to the NHL and with Mark Streit ($5.25MM AAV) and Michael Del Zotto ($3.875MM AAV) both set for free agency, the Flyers might have a little bit of money to spend next summer, assuming they rely on prospects to fill those openings. Then again, Gostisbehere is likely going to eat up much of that available cash on his next deal, presuming he has another productive campaign in 2016-17.
GM Ron Hextall and head coach Dave Hakstol have the Flyers on the right track. Hextall has extricated the club from some, not all, but some of their onerous contractual obligations. At the same time the franchise has added a lot of young talent to the organization that will begin to bear fruit as soon as this season.
Hextall: No Plans To Extend Philly’s Goalies Currently
The Philadelphia Flyers find themselves in an interesting situation with their goaltenders heading into the season as both Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth are eligible for unrestricted free agency following 2016-17. Despite that, GM Ron Hextall has no plans to negotiate a new deal with either netminder at this time, reports Dave Isaac of the Courier-Post. When asked what the plan is, Hextall noted that there isn’t one in place at the moment:
“They’re both very good goalies. They both proved it last year. They both should be in their prime/entering their prime. We’re excited about both of them and essentially don’t have a fixed plan moving forward. We’re just going to play this season and see how things go.”
Mason is entering his fifth season with the team and will earn $4.1MM this year. He has been Philadelphia’s #1 goalie for each of the last three seasons, playing at least 51 games in each. He posted a 23-19-10 record last season with a 2.51 GAA and a .918 SV% but struggled in the playoffs, going 0-3 with a 4.09 GAA and just a .852 SV%.
As for Neuvirth, he’s heading into his second year with the Flyers on a much cheaper deal, one that carries a $1.75MM salary and a $1.625MM cap hit for 2016-17. Towards the back half of last season, he started to earn more starts, eventually finishing with 32 appearances with a better GAA (2.27) and SV% (.924) than Mason. He also put up three fantastic starts in the postseason, going 2-1 with a 0.67 GAA and a .981 SV% against Washington after taking over from Mason mid-series. If he has a repeat season, he should be in line for a nice raise.
In the system, the Flyers have a pair of quality youngsters in Anthony Stolarz and Alex Lyon but neither are ready to take on a #1 load in the NHL as soon as 2017-18. As a result, it would seem likely that Hextall will look to eventually seek a new deal with at least one of Mason or Neuvirth unless he wants to try his luck next offseason with a UFA market that could feature Ben Bishop, Ryan Miller, and Brian Elliott, among others.