This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on this collectibles blog and my personal one, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.
Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being underway, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.
Key Exits: Emil Andrea (D), Garnet Hathaway (RW), Samuel Ersson (G), Philip Tomasino (RW), Noah Juulsen (D), Luke Glendening (C), Rodrigo Abols (C), Lane Pederson (C), Adam Ginning (D), Garrett Wilson (LW), Anthony Richard (C)
Key Arrivals: Joseph Woll (G), Simon Benoît (D), Zach Aston-Reese (C), Noel Acciari (C), Jack Stunicka (C), Nolan Foote (LW)
Top prospects: Porter Martone (RW, 19), Jack Nesbitt (C, 19), Yegor Zavragin (G, 21), Oliver Bonk (D, 21), Jett Luchenko (C, 20), Alex Bump (LW, 22)
Philadelphia Flyers General Manager Daniel Brière is undergoing a full rebuild: he must identify which players are assets that can be traded to acquire someone else that fills a need, which ones to keep as the next core to build around, who is good for team culture, and which players would represent additions by subtraction - all while aiming for a contention window that may or may not be clear to him at this time.
What makes their odds look good:
At 29 years of age, goaltender Dan Vladar is in his prime; he will keep the team close even in games where they don't belong and may even stick around to back up whoever will be anointed to lead them to contention in a few years (he may even be that guy). Martone looks like the kind of cornerstone that is a sure bet. Captain Sean Couturier is entering the twilight of his career, but his two-way hockey IQ can still be valuable in a bottom-six role; Travis Sanheim is an elite defenseman. Let's hope for their sake that their development team is excellent, however, because they have swung big in recent drafts (Luchenko, Matvei Michkov) on players who are high-rish/high-reward.
Question marks:
Jamie Drysdale and Trevor Zegras also strike me as big bets; how long before Team President Keith Jones starts thinking Brière has a gambling issue? Is tough coach Rick Tocchet the ideal guy to have behind the bench on a team that seems to be built on potential skill more than on will?
Outlook:
Look: I want to believe. I love bold bets and bold moves like an offer sheet that throws another team's cap into Hell and sending the entire continent's hockey media into a panic. And while I'm not sold on Zegras, Michkov, Luchenko and a few others, I do believe in Vladar, Couturier, Sanheim, Martone and the leadership of Travis Konecny. And I love a team that beats the Pittsburgh Penguins in the playoffs.
Prediction:
4th in the Metropolitan Division.
Apart from Bobby Clarke (1973-79, plus 1983-84) and Claude Giroux (2013-22) whose reign each lasted nearly a decade, the Flyers tend to not keep their captains for many seasons. Ron Sutter suited up for the team from the 1982-83 season until he was traded to the St. Louis Blues ahead of the 1991-92 season, but he was only captain from 1989-91, with Bill Barber (1981-83), Clarke again (1983-84), and Dave Poulin (1984-89) holding the title before him.
Sutter was at his most productive in Philadelphia, with both of his 20-goal seasons and six of seven 45-point seasons coming with the Flyers (and the other one in St. Louis). Added perk: he played with twin brother Rich with both teams. Despite doing well with the Blues, he was only with them for two and a half seasons, before getting traded with Bob Bassen and Garth Butcher to the Québec Nordiques for Denis Chassé and Steve Duchesne, and he was flipped to the New York Islanders with a first-rounder (that ironically became Brett Lindros, Eric's brother), for Uwe Krupp and the 1994 first-rounder that became Wade Belak, Krupp being a key piece for the Colorado Avalanche in their first Stanley Cup run in 1995-96.
The rest of Sutter's career was spent as a bottom-six player, with the Boston Bruins (1995-96), San Jose Sharks (1996-2000) and Calgary Flames (21 games in 2000-01). To me however, he'll mostl y be remembered as a Flyer or a Blue. Here he is sporting the Flyers' orange (away) uniform on card #232 from O-Pee-Chee's 1991-92 O-Pee-Chee collection, signed in blue sharpie:
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