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Fan Poll: Grading The Flyers’ Offseason

By Gus Richardson

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It’s August pretty much, which means theres about another miserable month and a half without hockey in our lives. Yet, for the most part the Flyers are pretty set to go for the next season. Thus, lets start thinking about how well this offseason turned out for them.

The Draft

The Flyers had quite a draft. They drafted great defensive and offensive prospects in the first round, and replenished the goalie prospect pool with some talented guys. Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny, the 7th and 24th overall picks respectively, have projection ceilings of stars, which is very exciting considering the Flyers haven’t had many prospects to drool over in recent years.

Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Ivan Provorov poses for a photo with team executives after being selected as the number seven overall pick to the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Provorov could make an impact this year, while Konecny next year. It will be interesting to see what happens in camp, because there could be some surprises from last years draft picks- but don’t count on it.

Konecny wont be ready this year, but another really good year in the Juniors could lead to an early roster spot next season as there could be spots open.

Felix Sandstrom and Matej Tomek are the goalies they chose to replenish the pool. Hopefully this can give Anthony Stolarz a little kick in the butt to try harder, because Steve Mason won’t be around forever. Tomek, in my opinon, is the best prospect of the bunch; however, another couple seasons for all the young goalie prospects will be needed to see what they really have.

Grade: A+

Free Agency

The Flyers didn’t have many options here in terms of bringing in new guys, but they did all they needed to. They signed the veteran russian defenseman Yvgeni Medvedev, who is a smooth skating, mobile defenseman. He could be a solid defenseman for the Flyers, and if Provorov makes the team he will have a solid countryman to look up to.

The Flyers also signed Michael Neuvirth to backup Mason, which is a very solid signing and a huge improvement over Ray Emery. Look for him to take some games away from Mason to give him rest, and hopefully he will still provide wins for the Flyers.

On top of all that, the Flyguys handled business with their own players and extended the contracts of Sean Couturier and Jake Voracek. This locks up these premier players, and would avoid them from possibly overspending if they went to free agency.

Grade: A+

Trades

The Flyers made a couple trades this offseason. They moved Grossman and Pronger(his contract) for Sam Gagner, who is a skilled winger that will most likely play on the second line. This is great news, since all it did was shed cap and bring in a talented player than can hopefully thrive in Coach Hakstol’s system.

The trade to move Zac Rinaldo to Boston for a 3rd Rounder in 2017 was a work of magic as well.

Grade: A

Overall Grade: A+

Its hard to fault anything the Flyers did this offseason, especially with the lack of cap. I think they improved for this upcoming season, and made enough wiggle room for the future to let their younger stars come up and have money for free agents. Its an exciting time to be a Flyers fan, as they are seemingly on the up and up. It is only a matter of time before all those young top defensive prospects make it up, and then we will have ourselves a team.

What do you think?

Next: Player Profile - Travis Konecny

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