After his team enjoyed one of the best turnaround seasons in NHL history, John Stevens, coach of the Philadelphia Flyers, will have his toughest decision ahead of him thus far once training camp gets underway.
Stevens, entering his second full season behind the Flyers bench, will have to select which defenders will make up his opening-day defensive corps.
Last season in the conference finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins exposed the Flyers' inability to move the puck, whether with breakout passes or by skating it out of trouble. Paul Holmgren was very vocal heading into the summer about the need to fill this gap.
But lack of cap space and some uncertainty about existing contracts all but eliminated the Flyers' chances to upgrade their defense with a big-name unrestricted free-agent signing. Instead, Holmgren tinkered with possible solutions by making minor deals or acquiring players he hopes can evolve into the players the Flyers require.
One of the positives for Flyer fans is that with Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, and even Randy Jones, the Flyers can make do nicely with a defenseman who can simply move the puck and skate well.
The Flyers are not doomed because they were unable to add a Norris Trophy-type defender. Philadelphia's puck movement will be much improved if they can find one or two defensemen that can skate and pass the puck better than Jason Smith and Derien Hatcher—as these were the two prime examples of Philadelphia's inability to start the offensive attack from the back-end.
Over the course of the summer, Holmgren acquired Steve Eminger from Washington and Danny Syvret, a skilled offensive defenseman in junior hockey, from the Edmonton Oilers' organization.
Ossi Vaananen was signed as a UFA after spending last season in Sweden. Tim Ramholt was acquired in a minor deal with the Calgary Flames. Luca Sbisa was drafted with the Flyers' first pick, 19th overall—but he will more than likely return to his junior team. Finally, Bryan Berard was signed to a professional tryout contract late in the summer.
Once training camp begins, the Flyers will have the following defensemen, all vying for one of six spots on defense:
Kimmo Timonen
The top defenseman on the team.
Braydon Coburn
Had a terrific first full NHL season. Should solidify his spot as the number-two man.
Randy Jones
Like Coburn, Jones enjoyed a solid season and was rewarded with a new contract. Should get an opportunity to be the number-three defenseman.
Derien Hatcher
More than likely, it appears Hatcher will spend most of the season on long-term injured reserve with his chronic knee problems.
Ryan Parent
Spent most of last season with the Phantoms. Called up during the end of the season and stuck, even getting some in ice time in the playoffs. Acquitted himself nicely—although at times looked a tad overwhelmed. Should get solid chance to be a regular on the team this season.
Lasse Kukkonen
12 comments Last one added 10 months ago — Leave a Comment
TopShelf Jerseys 10 months ago
"Six Man Mystery In Philadelphia"
Isn't this a Hardy Boys Mystery? LOL
Great read Nelson Your articles are always quite insightful.
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Thanks Adam.
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Andrew Mason 10 months ago
Great article! Adding Berard into training camp is going to be a huge challenge for lasse and parent to stay with the Flyers and play.
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Andrew I think you are right about Berard's arrival making life difficult for Parent and Lasse. But I think the Flyers are ready to make Parent a regular and I think Ossi will be the demise of Lasse. I'm a big fan of Kukks I think he really has the game to be a top 6 regular Dman he just needs to find that right team.
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Andrew Mason 10 months ago
well there's no doubt they want Parent to be a regular as evidenced by the end of the year where he played a ton. between him and lasse one of them were going to be the sixth defenseman but now its hard to tell what is going to happen. Ossi is on only a one year contract and so is eminger so I feel they will start Parent in the AHL and then call him up in case of injury. Then if either do not perform then Parent will be on the flyers roster. Then in my opinon they should trade lasse.
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Alan Bass 10 months ago
I'm glad that YOU noticed our defense is not so bad. We really have some great guys on the team, and they are going to go well together. I think a third line of Vanaanen and Kukkonen would be a great Finnish pairing.
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Alan, I have long been a Flyers fan and I'm not sure what it is about that franchise but whenever they are considered one of the top teams in the league their weakness is always greatly exaggerated. I'm sure you recall the 90s when no one that wore the pads for Orange, Black and White was good enough to win a cup.....it's seems this edition will have to answer constant questions about the 6 guys that are supposed to keep the puck outta the net.
Personally I think Kimmo, Cobie, Jonesy, Eminger, Berard and Vaananen are a solid six.
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Andrew I can surely see Kukks being dealt at some point. Again this would have to be if Ossi was playing well enough for the Flyers to think it would be worth the cap space to extend his contract which is one season as you noted. Eminger is a guy I think Holmgren really likes and he may only have 1 year remaining on his contract but I suspect Philly fully expects him to be the #4 man. I have watched him play since he was 17 years old and he has a lot to offer the Flyers' defensive unit.
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ZZeke 10 months ago
Nelson, planning such as this must always consider Salary Cap implications.
It's expected that Hatcher would join Rathje on the LTIR List. This removes Hatcher's 3.5 M from the Flyers' Cap. With the 22-man roster including 5 RWs and 7 defencemen, GM Holmgren is under the Cap by only 0.763 M.
The ideal Cap space is 1.5 M. Last season the Flyers used 1.5 M in Cap space with call-ups. In 2006-07 the Flyers used 2.4 M in Cap space with call-ups.
There is no Cap space to carry 8 defencemen.
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Thanks ZZeke. I was unaware of that. Could you not carry as many Dmen as you like as long 22 man roster? Again I think at this point Hatcher is a non-factor....he will most assuredly be on LTIR so not only is his money available for time being his spot is as well.
However if the Flyers were able to only carry 7 Dmen on their roster I would opt for Kukks to be the odd man out and play with the Phantoms until a trade could be made. I think Vaananen is an upgrade on Lasse at this point.
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Fred Nyquen 10 months ago
Doesn't it seem like Randy Jones is always on the ice when the opponent scores? Everyone says how solid he is, but he seems to make the most mistakes just behind Kukonen and Hatcher....
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Nelson Santos 10 months ago
Not sure I noticed that Fred. I happen to like Jones and think he has developed just as the Flyers had hoped in his first two seasons. Considering his +8 rating last year he has improved defensively. In my humble opinion the biggest issue for the Flyers' competent Dmen was that they were paired with completely INCOMPETENT partners. Anyone that has to suffer playing with Hatcher who looks like he is skating in quick sand is going to have a very difficult night, as well as being pair with Jason Smith who just might be the NHL's worst defensemen when he has "control" of the puck.
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