NHL Predictions: 5 Reasons Retooled Philadelphia Flyers Will Hoist Stanley Cup

When the Philadelphia Flyers season ended in May, the team knew that there were questions that needed to be answered before next year.

One of the biggest questions was would who would be in net? Rookie Sergei Bobrovsky started the year on such a high note that the front office, as well as the city of Philadelphia, believed their goaltending issues had finally come to an end.

However, the young Russian struggled over the course of the season, and the Flyers shifted between him and Brian Boucher throughout the season.

General manager Paul Holmgren was done answering questions on who was the team's number one goalie and was determined to find a solution.

Even if that meant trading away two of the team's better players in Jeff Carter and Mike Richards.

The Flyers acquired the rights to Phoenix Coyotes' goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov, and the 31-year-old was asking for a hefty chunk of change.

In order to sign Bryzgalov and stay under the salary cap, the team traded Carter to Columbus and Richards to Los Angeles.

Holmgren wasn't done raising eyebrows there, as the team signed 39-year old Jaromir Jagr to a one-year deal during free agency.

Even though the Flyers shook up their core, the team is still ranked in the top five among the league and are still a Stanley Cup contender.

1) Finally Have a Vezina-Caliber Goaltender

Last season, the Flyers put a Stanley-Cup caliber team on the ice night in and night out.

Philadelphia got out to an early lead atop the Eastern Conference standings and did not lose the number one spot until late in the season.

However, once again, the Flyers were disappointed by the one issue that has circled the team since the days of Ron Hextall: goaltending.

The team jumped back and forth between rookie Sergei Bobrovsky and veteran Brian Boucher throughout the season and the playoffs, never settling on a clear number one.

Now the days of wondering who is the top goalie in Philly have finally come to an end with the signing of Ilya Bryzgalov.

The Flyers finally have a goalie that they can lean on when times are tough, and "Bryz" has shown that he can handle it, having stood on his head several times while in Phoenix.

Bryzgalov was one of the main reasons that the Coyotes made it to the playoffs last season.

However, Bryzgalov couldn't do it all in the postseason, as he struggled in the team's first round debacle against the Detroit Red Wings.

Now with a great group of defenders in front of him as well as talented scorers up front, Bryzgalov's playoff numbers should improve, which is good since the Flyers expect the Russian netminder to show that he was worth the hefty nine year, $51 million contract he signed.

With his signing, the Flyers have acquired a goalie with last season numbers well above the league average in wins (36), shutouts (seven), and save percentage (.921). 

Hopefully the Flyers goaltending search has finally ended, at least for the next nine years.

2) Acquired and Drafted Top Prospects

Even though the Flyers said goodbye to both Carter and Richards through trades, it's not like they came out of it empty handed.

From the Carter deal, the Flyers got the eighth overall pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets. With that pick, the Flyers selected Sean Courturier,  who is 6'4", has great vision, and plays a solid two-way game.

Courturier was one of the top ranked players in the draft and could start contributing as soon as next season.

The Flyers also received 22-year-old winger Jakub Voracek from the Blue Jackets in the Carter deal.

Voracek is a skilled winger, but unfortunately struggled last year with his stamina and poor conditioning. However, the Slovak winger is determined to work on his conditioning and has been working in Montreal during the offseason.

The Flyers should get Voracek on a whole other level come next season.  

From the Richards deal, the Flyers received two more young talents in Wayne Simmonds and Brayden Schenn. 

At only 22 years old, Simmonds has three seasons under his belt, including a career year in 2009-2010, where he registered 16 goals, 24 assists, and an astounding +/- rating of +22.

According to GM Paul Holmgren, Simmonds is a "rough and tumble, rugged winger" who has a tremendous "upside in offensive production."  The sky is the limit for Simmonds.

The Flyers may have hit the jackpot of future talent in Schenn. Although he does not have a full season under his belt, the 19-year-old Canadian has piled up the awards in international play.

During this year's World Junior Championships, Schenn was awarded a player of the game award against the Czech Republic and received the World Junior Best Forward and Most Valuable Player awards.

The future is bright for Schenn, as well as the Flyers.

3) Flyers Have Become More of a Team with Departures

When Peter Laviolette was hired by the Flyers in December 2009, he asked players to commit to a program known as "Dry Island."

Laviolette was asking players to pledge to refrain from drinking for one month and to put their jersey number on a board in the locker room to show their commitment to the program.

Not every player chose to put their number on the board, two of them being Mike Richards and Jeff Carter.

These two were considered the stars of their team and a lot of the younger prospects looked up to them. When they see that their mentors are choosing to stick with their lifestyle, they may have developed an "if they aren't doing it why should I?" attitude, which could have caused a split in the locker room between coach and players.

Even though GM Paul Holmgren stated that Richards and Carter's extracurricular activities were not the reason for the two being traded and to consider that was "preposterous," not having the two of them in the locker room will undoubtedly cause more players to commit to the island.

Yes, the Flyers lost two very talented players in Richards and Carter, but they have finally eliminated the nucleus of the "bad boy" lifestyle and the team is going to be better because of it.

Having a better control of the team's nightlife will make the team stronger on and off the ice.

4) Finally Have a Clear Leader of the Team

With the captain spot now open with Richards departure, the spot will most likely go to Chris Pronger.

Other than his talent on the ice, one of the reasons the Flyers traded for Chris Pronger in 2009 was because of his leadership. 

According to Anthony SanFilipo of the Daily Local News, Pronger was brought in to "bring a style of leadership to a team that needed a kick in the rear end to get over that hump and win the Stanley Cup."

However, when Pronger arrived, the team already had it's captain in Richards and Pronger didn't want to step on anyone's toes before even starting.

Pronger let Richards run the show and may have had to bite his tongue from time to time in able to keep the team together:

"Sure, Pronger was vocal. Sure he was a larger-than-life leader," SanFilipo wrote. 

"But, he never went so far as to usurp Richards’ duties as captain. He let Mike be Mike and do what he did the way he wanted to do it."

It was clear that Pronger was not in favor of the different ways Richards chose to present himself.

Whether it was the partying or the answering the media's questions with one word answers when he wanted to show his displeasure with them, Pronger wanted nothing to do with it.

Now that Richards is in Los Angeles, all of the talk and rumors are official: this is now Pronger's team.

No longer will there be a power struggle in the Flyers locker room, and having a clear-cut leader is exactly what the team needs to get themselves over the hump and win their first Stanley Cup in 36 years.

5) Even Without Carter and Richards, the Team's Still Full of Talent

Yes, the Flyers traded away two 30 goal-caliber players in Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, but there is still a lot of talent in Philadelphia.

They still have their veteran leaders in Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timmonen, Daniel Briere, and now Jaromir Jagr, as well as talented youth in James van Riemsdyk, Claude Giroux, and newly acquired Jakub Voracek and Brayden Schenn.

This team can still compete with the best teams in the league, and now they finally have a talented goaltender in net with Bryzgalov.

The Flyers are one of the rare teams that could deal away top talent in Richards and Carter and still be a top contender to raise the cup.

However, there will be a lot of pressure on the new-look Flyers, as the city of Philadelphia is tired of waiting for their next Stanley Cup parade.

With two of the team's top scorers no longer on the team, the pressure will be on youngsters Giroux and van Riemsdyk to step up and handle the load, and according to John Kresier of NHL.com, JVR is ready for the challenge:

"With the departures of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, he figures to emerge as one of the Flyers' go-to players up front," Kreiser stated.

"He appears to have the maturity and confidence to go with his physical gifts, and the Flyers are expecting him to grow into the latest in their line of dominant power forwards."

The pressure will also be on returning Jaromir Jagr, who has not played an NHL game since 2008.

If the 39-year-old former captain can prove he's still got it late in his career, watch for the Flyers to be among the top teams in the East for quite some time.

It should be an interesting year for the new-look Flyers.