Defense wins championships. Well, maybe that’s why the Flyers have not won a Stanley Cup since 1975.
Defense is well-known as the Flyers’ weakest position. They have struggled to get good defensemen since their establishment in 1967. They have never drafted a star defenseman.
Luca Sbisa will hopefully change that in a couple of years, but he will be in the WHL for a year or two. So instead, I shall do a defensive preview of the team to show you what is in store this year:
Top Three Defensemen (in no particular order)
Kimmo Timonen, 33, $6.333 million
Timonen was acquired in the brilliant trade of the first-round pick from the Forsberg trade back to Nashville. Timonen has been everything the Flyers had hoped and more. He was an All-Star last year, and clearly the best defenseman on the Flyers’ roster.
Part of Philly's downfall in last year's playoffs was because of the hole left when Timonen went out with a blood clot in his foot. His stellar defense is better than anyone can imagine, and his great offense makes him an unbelievable two-way threat.
Braydon Coburn, 23, $1.3 million
The deal he signed last year will look like a bargain by the end of this season. Coburn is going to be the next amazing defenseman in this organization, and the Zhitnik trade to get Coburn to Philly will soon be known as one of the best trades in team history.
Coburn is fast, has an amazing shot, and can play stellar defense, as he led the Flyers’ defensemen in plus/minus this past season with a plus-17 rating.
Unknown
This is how bad the defense corps is for the Flyers. They only have two elite defensemen in my mind.
Surprise of the Year
Ossi Vaananen, 27, $1 million
Don’t get me wrong. Vaananen is not going to get 40 or more points this year. But I think the Flyers are going to be pleasantly surprised when they bring him up for a few games, both with his energy and speed.
His puck-handling ability will help him earn a spot on this team throughout the entire season.
On the Downhill
Derian Hatcher, 36, $3.5 million
I could rant about Hatcher for hours and days, but I will simply say this—he is past his prime, and for the defense he brings in his own zone, he hurts more than he helps.
Those two goals he scores each year, and the few plays he breaks up, do not make up for the many goals scored because opposing players know they can just skate around him with ease. Send him to the AHL.
Statistical Predictions
Player GP G A P +/- PIM
Kimmo Timonen 78 13 37 50 12 46
Braydon Coburn 80 16 32 48 23 84
Randy Jones 70 7 23 30 2 48
Steve Eminger 78 5 7 12 1 24
Ossi Vaananen 42 2 5 8 2 32
Lasse Kukkonen 42 1 5 6 4 28
Derian Hatcher 72 1 3 4 -14 52
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