Philadelphia Flyers' Six-Man Mystery

Lasse was often the odd man out on defense. He has a great attitude, and plays his heart out when he gets a chance.  He runs around a little defensively, but will use any part of his body to block shots—and in the new NHL, that is a huge asset.

Steve Eminger

Acquired from Washington on draft day for the Flyers' first-round pick. That alone means he'll be a regular. Showed signs that he belongs in the NHL with the Capitals, but became the odd man out when Bruce Boudreau took over as head coach.

Ossi Vaananen

Ossi is a tough defender to play against. Plays with an edge, and also blocks a lot of shots. May make fellow countryman Kukkonen expendable.

Danny Syvret

Syvret was a slick offensive defenseman in juniors. He'll need to play lights out in preseason to avoid playing for the Phantoms come October 4.

Bryan Berard

Berard has bounced around from team to team, mostly due to his nearly career-ending eye injury. He manages to put up decent offensive numbers each season, and can skate and pass the puck well.

Michael Ratchuk

Played very well with the Phantoms last season, especially in the playoffs. Like Syvret, would need to light it up all preseason long to stick with the big club.

Tim Ramholt

A minor-league deal with Calgary brought Ramholt over. This is more of a depth acquisition for the Phantoms.

If I'm John Stevens, this is how I would play this scenario out. First, I would start the season with eight defensemen on the roster, dressing six a game with two in the press box.

The reasoning I would give for my decision would be that I'm a firm believer that competition breeds excellence. When you have a bunch of defenders all vying for the same spots without much separating them, the best way to nail down a decision is to move the bottom four on the depth chart in and out of the lineup, rating their performances as the season progresses. I do not believe Philadelphia will truly be able to confidently select their six out of training camp.

Here are the eight defenseman I would select to start the season—Timonen, Coburn, Jones, Eminger, Vaananen, Berard, Parent, and Kukkonen.  The latter four would be shuffled in and out of the line up as seen fit.

Defensive pairings would look as such:

Timonen-Vaananen

Vaananen is a stay-at-home defenseman in the truest sense of the word. His style and aggressiveness would allow Timonen to join the play more often.

This was an aspect of Timonen's game that I found was lacking compared to watching him play in Nashville. It didn't appear he trusted any of his partners enough last season to really play his offensive game.

Coburn-Jones

This would be Philadelphia's hybrid pairing. Both players like to join the rush, and sometimes lead it. Coburn learned a lot about making sure he was covering his partner's back last year, after being paired with the slow-footed Hatcher for most of the season.

Berard-Eminger

This pairing gives the Flyers a little bit of everything. Eminger has skill, but also plays a gritty game. Berard would provide puck movement, and with his abilities and patience with the puck, he would make Eminger's life a little easier.

Lasse Kukkonen would serve as a replacement for Vaananen. Their games are very similar in style, and it would be rather pointless to have both of them in the lineup at once.

The Flyers need to be very careful with the development of Ryan Parent. He should come up to the big club, but only play in maybe 55 or 60 games, to slowly but surely guide his development. He shows very good signs of becoming a solid, steady, defensive rear-guard. Parent could be slotted in the lineup in place of either Berard or Eminger.

It's a defensive group John Stevens will have to tinker with as he goes along, closely monitoring individual and group performances.

All in all, I believe Philadelphia has a group of eight defensemen who can come together and prove to be not nearly as weak as the lack of marquee names makes them appear to the experts.

I get the sense right now that the Flyers defensive corps is viewed as Timonen, Coburn, and a bunch of other guys. However, if you scan the other Eastern Conference teams, you'll find Philadelphia's group is as formidable as any.

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