Philadelphia Flyers: 6 Reasons They Will Be Better Than the Pittsburgh Penguins

Almost every season, the battle for the NHL's Atlantic Division seems to go through the state of Pennsylvania. The 2011-12 season figures to be no different, with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins each loaded with talent and looking to capture another Stanley Cup.

Which Pennsylvania team will reign supreme in the Atlantic battle royale? Here are six reasons it could be the underdog Flyers.

6. Youth

There is little question that the Flyers possess some of the most talented young players in the NHL, including top prospects Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier. Both Schenn and Couturier have been dominant at every level of their professional careers, and there is no reason to believe that will change in the NHL. 

Both are exceptionally gifted two-way players with elite skill sets. Both are physical forwards capable of winning puck battles in the corners and dropping the gloves with opponents. Both are projected to develop into All-Stars at the NHL level. 

The Penguins, for their part, don't have an answer to the Flyers' level of young talent. If Schenn and Couturier can continue along their projected development curves, they could be difference makers in the Atlantic Division. 

5. Defense

Despite the Flyers' offseason makeover, the defense remains similar to what it was last season. The change is the departure of veteran Sean O'Donnell in favor of Erik Gustafsson, Oskars Bartulis and Andreas Lilja. 

Many around the league forget the level and depth of talent on the Flyers blue line, but this is a group that—on paper—is as good as any other in the league. While the health of franchise defenseman Chris Pronger is still in question, all signs continue to be positive. Braydon Coburn and Matt Carle will be playing for new contracts. And there is not a team in the league that wouldn't like to add Andrej Meszaros or Kimmo Timonen to their defense corps. 

The Penguins quite simply do not have the same level of talent on the blue line as the Flyers. If the old adage "defense wins championships" holds true, it should be the Flyers, not the Penguins, celebrating an Atlantic Division title.

4. Max Talbot

One of the unsung heroes of the second half of the Penguins' 2010-2011 season was Max Talbot, the do-it-all forward on the ice and the team's glue-guy off the ice. 

Talbot is the sort of player that rarely shows up in the box score but almost always has a profound impact on the outcome of the game. He's a world-class penalty killer, a clutch playmaker and a phenomenal defensive player. The Penguins will certainly miss Talbot's gritty, energetic play. They'll miss his on-ice leadership and his locker room presence. They'll miss his defensive prowess and penalty-killing ability. 

Unfortunately for the Penguins, their loss is the Flyers' gain. In the end, it may well be Talbot's play and presence that is the difference between the Penguins and the Flyers in the Atlantic.

3. The New Acquisitions

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a relatively quiet offseason, with only one notable acquisition: talented but oft-injured winger Steve Sullivan. 

The Flyers, on the other hand, turned over more than half of their roster. They traded away franchise cornerstones Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, allowed talented wingers Ville Leino and Nickolai Zherdev to walk and said good-bye to veterans Brian Boucher, Darroll Powe and Sean O'Donnell. 

In their place, the Flyers added a number of talented players, including former first-round picks Jakub Voracek, Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier and future Hall of Famer Jaromir Jagr. 

The new additions should give the Flyers a new look and a more physical team, which could provide an advantage over the Penguins.

2. The Goaltenders

The Philadelphia Flyers have won four playoff series over the past two seasons. Those two Flyers teams were backstopped by netminders Brian Boucher, Michael Leighton and Sergei Bobrovsky. Imagine how much more those teams could have achieved with a legitimate No. 1 between the pipes. 

In June, the Flyers acquired the rights to former Vezina finalist and Stanley Cup champion Ilya Bryzgalov—a player almost universally acknowledged as a top-10 NHL netminder. The team now boasts one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL, with the aforementioned Bryzgalov joining über-talented youngster Sergei Bobrovsky. 

The Flyers believe they have finally found the answer between the pipes in Bryzgalov, and they may well be correct. The Russian netminder has been one of the best in the NHL over the past two seasons, putting up stellar numbers (137 games played, 0.921 save percentage, 2.381 goals-against average) while playing behind a mediocre Coyotes team.

Adding an established star like Bryzgalov to a defense as deep and talented as the one in Philadelphia can only mean good things for the Flyers, which is bad for the Penguins in 2011-12. 

The Penguins will return otherworldly talented but maddeningly inconsistent Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes. At least on paper, the Flyers finally have the advantage between the pipes. 

1. The Health of Sidney Crosby

While I'm aware the Penguins were able to make the playoffs without superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin last season, I do not believe they'll be able to do it again. It's one thing for a team to rally around an injured player and elevate its level of play down the stretch; it's quite another for a team to play a full season without its best player. 

Few around the NHL realize just how pivotal Crosby's early-season play was to the Penguins' playoff realities. Had Crosby not played some of the best hockey the league has seen since the early '90s, the Penguins would have had a .500 team, not a 49-win juggernaut. 

If the Penguins are forced to play without Crosby for a full 82 games, the results will not be as positive as they were last season.