Philadelphia Flyers Flying High in Watered-Down Atlantic Division

The Philadelphia Flyers, one season removed from their conference finals appearance, and two years removed from their franchise's worst collapse, find themselves as one of a few elite teams poised to make a serious push for the 2008-09 Stanley Cup.

Their 23-11-9 record can be attributed to the outstanding performance of some select Flyers.

What else could be said before we even mention Jeff Carter and his league-leading 29 goals, nicely filling the hole left by an injured Daniel Briere, who is averaging a point per game—nine in nine.

Furthermore, the Flyers boast a lineup that contributed seven 20-goal scorers to the NHL's elite last year, and at the halfway point six Flyers have 14 goals or more: the aforementioned Carter (29), Gagne (18), Richards (16), Knuble (16), Hartnell (16), and Lupul (14).

There were certainly questions on the back end after the Flyers lost their vibrant captain Smith to free agency, but Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn, along with a host of solid young defencemen, have been holding down the fort.

Perhaps most noteworthy is Matt Carle, who after being traded from Tampa has held his own as a regular on the blue line. However, Andrew Alberts, acquired from Boston, and Ossi Vaananen, acquired from overseas, have been bruisers when in the spotlight as well.

The Flyer defenceman with probably the most upside besides Coburn could be the puck-moving Luca Sbisa, who is often seen carrying the puck up the ice weaving in and out of criss-crossed opponents. Kukkonen and Jones have split time due to injury, and both look good enough to keep Ryan Parent with the Flyers' AHL affiliate Phantoms.

There's no shortage of talent between the pipes. Starter Martin Biron has earned the job after a solid playoff push last year, along with a solid enough start this year to hold down the number one job. While both his save percentage (.906) and goals against average (2.84) are worse than backup Antero Niittymaki (.913) and (2.62), this could be attributed to Niittymaki's development rather then Biron's regression.

As for the biggest surprises? I'd have to point right to Scottie Hartnell; this guy goes from throwing his glove in a desperation play that almost cost the Flyers the game on a subsequent penalty shot to scoring two hat tricks in five games. Additionally, any Flyer fan would agree that a healthy Gagne, however productive, is a pleasant sight and is reason enough for optimism moving forward. 

Clutch players are something to behold in sport in and of itself, and no one's been more clutch this year then Philly's own Jeff Carter, who has six—count them, six—game winners.

Everyone knows that going deep in the playoffs requires depth at all positions and four lines that can dominate and get the job done, so who are the Flyers' depth players this year?

The first grinder who should be mentioned is Aaron Asham, insofar as he is the only current Flyer with a Stanley Cup. However, the Flyers also have the pleasant option of leaning on Scottie Upshall and Glen Metropolit, who combined have added 25 points to the lethal Flyers lineup.

But the real question is, what should Flyer fans be most surprised about? It's nothing within the team—this team is built to be a winner, and quick too.

Rather, the Flyers should be surprised how watered down the Atlantic Division is this year, with the Penguins struggling, the Rangers, who can do nothing right but mope about not acquiring Mats Sundin, and the Brodeur-less Devils, who despite staying competitive must have their wonders whether or not Brodeur can step into midseason form when they need him to.