Flyers
Flyers right winger Jakub Voracek has always been far more concerned with his team's record than his personal statistics. Last season, when he led the race for the Art Ross Trophy — the top scoring player in the NHL — for much of the season, he inevitably responded to questions about his own numbers by […]
Kimmo Timonen was not the type of hockey player who drew attention upon himself. He was not a flashy player or a marquee attraction, but was nevertheless an indispensible part of his teams. For his NHL career, Timonen played 1,108 regular season games (117 goals, 571 points) and 105 playoff games (four goals, 35 points) […]
There is a longstanding belief in hockey that the best time to play an elite-caliber opponent is often either very early in the regular season or else at the tail end of the campaign shortly before the playoffs begin. Early on, even the top teams may still need a little time to get various facets […]
Until this summer, Flyers goaltender Steve Mason spent most of his off-seasons playing as a forward in an Ontario ball hockey league and working out on the ice with a group of friends who play professionally in the National Hockey League and other circuits. Coming off a statistical career year in 2014-15 and having played […]
From the time Ron Hextall took over as general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, he has said that the organization will not rush players to the NHL. He repeated that mantra when the team drafted Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny with the seventh and 24th overall picks of the 2015 NHL Draft, said it again […]
The Philadelphia Flyers' marketing slogan for the 2015-16 season is "Play Boldly." If the off-season and pre-camp mantras espoused by new head coach Dave Hakstol and Ron Hextall are a reliable indicator of the messages that will be sent to the players throughout the season, expect a very heavy internal emphasis on Flyers players getting […]
The Philadelphia Flyers ticked two major items off their 2015 offseason agenda with the re-signings of Sean Couturier (six years, $25.98 million) and Jakub Voracek (eight years, $66 million) to contract extensions that kick in for the 2016-17 season. The deals pre-empt Voracek's unrestricted free agency (UFA) eligibility next summer as well as Couturier's […]
It was not all that long ago when an National Hockey League goaltender with a save percentage above 90 percent was considered to have an above-average season. In more recent years, that has crept up beyond 91 percent and 92 percent is now increasingly used as a benchmark by NHL teams. The evolution has […]
Over the course of the last few years, the Philadelphia Flyers' farm system has gone from virtually barren — the after-effects of being strip-mined of high-end draft picks in "win now" drives — to one of the main reasons for long-term optimism. In particular, the pool of defense prospects has received considerable attention and hype […]
Any time a recently hired NHL head coach steps into his new environment, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes preparation that goes on learn about the personnel on the team and ideas on how the pieces may fit together. For new Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, the process is even more intensive than for most […]
