Are the Philadelphia Flyers in Trouble Long-Term?

Heading into tonight’s action against the Nashville Predators, the Philadelphia Flyers were 6-3-1 in their past ten games—not bad, but perhaps not good enough to hold onto the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference—especially when you consider the Montreal Canadiens are on a five game winning streak of their own.

Current struggles aside, many fans of the Orange and Black see a team that has a chance at long-term success and perhaps even a Stanley Cup victory.

Like most fans, the Flyers faithful tend to look at their team with rose-colored glasses, seeing only the positives and not dealing with the true reality.

The honest truth about the Flyers is this—for as many positives there are negatives and those negatives may very well get compounded come next season.

According to nhlnumbers.com, Heading into the 2010-11 season the Flyers will have a total of $48,610,000 committed to 16 players. That means the Flyers will need to be very savvy this offseason if they intend on being able to sign enough talent to round out their 24-man roster.

One of the Flyers most pressing issues next season will be what to do with their goaltending situation, or lack thereof. Philadelphia’s two most consistent goaltenders (Ray Emery and Michael Leighton) are both free agents next season. With Emery’s health still unclear and most NHL scouts and GM’s still not being sold on Leighton as a number one goalie, the Flyers are in a bit of a pickle here and there are not a lot of answers available via free agency either.

The Flyers have just over $18 million committed to defensemen Kimmo Timonen, Chris Pronger and Matt Carle. Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent and Danny Syvret will all be Restricted Free Agents next season, all of them with questionable futures at best.

Little used Lukas Krajicek and the injured Mike Rathje will be Unrestricted Free Agents, both of whom are not likely to be back for another run with the Flyers.

To say the Flyers will have to be frugal when it comes to their defense next season is an understatement. Bargain basement shopping will likely be the reality for the Flyers, that is unless they are able to trade the likes of Timonen, a trade that would receive as much applause as it would apprehension.

At Forward, the Flyers are pretty much set. Depth players Daniel Carcillo (RFA), Arron Asham (UFA), Darroll Powe (UFA) and little used Mika Pyorala (UFA) are the only players that will be in need of new contracts with Carcillo and Powe the most likely returnees.

The thing about the forwards is this, they have been inconsistent and injury riddled, which has effected their offensive output, which, at times, has been nonexistent.

To think the Flyers would keep things status-quo up front may be unwise. This group has never appeared to be firing on all cylinders at any point this season, change needs to happen, where they trim the fat is anyone guess at this point.

Add it all up and the Flyers will be in desperate need of a real number one goalie (again), will need to address their forwards and will have to find four defensemen on the cheap.

This summers free agent frenzy will be extremely competitive for talent. The fact is, the pickings are slim and teams are libel to overpay for borderline talent at just about every position. Translation: don’t expect the Flyers to do any quality shopping this off-season, we are talking Walmart here, not Neiman Marcus—quantity, not quality.

Sitting over the Flyers like an albatross next season are the horrific contracts of both Daniel Briere ($7 million) and Simon Gagne ($5.25 million). Briere has had a decent season thus far, registering 24 goals and 44 points, but he’s hardly worth $7 million, not with those numbers. Similarly, Gagne has posted 13 goals and 33 points through 44 games this season. Injuries aside, he’s simply not worth the $5.25 million price tag he comes with.

Big contracts are always tough to deal, big contracts for players that have a history of injury are even tougher. That said, as long as the Calgary Flames, New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens are in business there is always a possibility these players could be moved.

At the end of the day, Flyers fans can expect this team to be in tough to attract free agents, especially if they can’t get their goaltending situation figured out. Don’t be fooled into thinking big change is coming, you’re libel to be let down.

Fans of the Orange and Black will be in it for the long-haul, trouble is, the Flyers may be on the outside looking in on the playoffs for the long-haul too, something Flyers fans will not be appreciative of.

Until next time,

Peace!