There are a lot of factors that could lead to a Stanley Cup Championship for the Flyers but there's one that stands out the most. Young forwards. The Flyers top player, Claude Giroux, is only 24-years-old. He has a long career ahead of him. He's a guy who will help the team in any way. He had 65 assists this previous season. He was second in the NHL in that department, 2 assists behind Vancouver Canucks forward, Henrik Sedin. To go along with his 65 assists, he scored 28 goals. Not a lot of goals but 93 points is still pretty amazing to me. He was 3rd in the league in points behind Steven Stamkos (107), and Evgeni Malkin (109). They also have 19-year-old Sean Couturier and 21-year-old Brayden Schenn. Those are two guys with an "A" potiential. They both showed signs of a very strong future. Brayden had 18 points in 54 games played. Couturier had 27 points in 77 games. They also have Matt Read. he was a rookie at 26-years-old. He lead all rookies in goals with 24. He's definitely a guy who will continue to put up numbers for us. There are two more players who seem a little underrated to me. 23-year-old Jakub Voráček and 24-year-old Wayne Simmonds. Both of them were aquired after a big offseason in 2011.Voráček came to the Flyers in the Jeff Carter to the Blue Jacks deal and Wayne Simmonds came to the Flyers in the Mike Richards to the Kings deal. Voráček scored 18 goals, and had 31 assists last season. He also scored the overtime goal in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. That goal made him a lot more popular with Flyers fans. Simmonds was tied in 2nd in goals with Claude Giroux for the Flyers last season, scoring 28. Along with the 28 goals, Simmonds had 21 assists adding up to 49 points total. One other factor is goaltending. Ilya Bryzgalov will be the starter in net this season, who had was streaky last season. I think it will be kind of a bounce-back year for him, which will have a big impact on how the Flyers upcoming season goes. All-in-all the Flyers young offense along with the more verteran players such as Scott Hartnell, who scored 37 goals last season, leading the Flyers in goals, will be a great combo. They also have other skilled, more veteran forwards, like Max Talbot, Ruslan Fedtenko, and Danny Briere. If the defense plays well, the goaltenders play well, and the offense plays to their potential, the Flyers are a serious threat and have a very high change of winning a Stanley Cup Championship within the next two years and more to come.
