Who could reach or surpass the 20 goal mark for the Philadelphia Flyers in 2019-20?
I know this is a pretty hot take, but goals are an essential part of the game of hockey. A team obviously needs them in order to win and, as you likely already know, the Philadelphia Flyers surrendered their fair share of them this past year. The Orange and Black also scored a decent amount of tallies in 2018-19, ranking 18th among NHL teams in Goals-For. Five different Flyers players were able to hit or pass the 20-goal total during that season so, will they reach that mark again and could more be on the way in 2019-20?
The previously mentioned five skaters who netted at least 20 goals last year were Sean Couturier, James van Riemsdyk, Travis Konecny, Claude Giroux, and Jakub Voracek. I have little reason to believe they won’t reach that sum for a second straight season. It’s possible that Giroux and Voracek could see their goal-totals decrease a bit since they’re both pass-first forwards, but it hasn’t affected them in the last two-to-three years, so I don’t think that’ll bother their goal number. Couturier, JvR, and Konecny shouldn’t drop off in that department, either, and in fact, I believe those three will produce 30 goal seasons in Alain Vigneault’s system.
Two other players that may generate 20 goals are Oskar Lindblom and the newly acquired Kevin Hayes. Lindblom and Hayes were a combined four goals short of doing so in 2018-19, posting 17 and 19 tallies, respectively. Hayes has scored 20-plus goals before, though, netting 25 for the New York Rangers in 2017-18. That campaign just so happened to be Vigneault’s final year with the Rangers and Hayes could find similar success playing under the longtime NHL Head Coach in Philadelphia. There’s also an argument to be made that he’s never had linemates as talented as the potential combination of van Riemsdyk and Voracek on his left-and-right side. For those reasons, Hayes may watch his point and goal totals grow with the Flyers
As for Lindblom, I’d expect him to average a little more than 13:45 minutes of ice time next year. Possibly getting time on the third-line, penalty-kill, and second power-play unit should amount to at least 14-plus minutes, putting him on the sheet more often while giving him more opportunities to score. The soon-to-be 23-year-old Swedish winger should continue to improve as an overall player with more time in the NHL, as well, given he’s only played just over 100 games in the league so far.
With all of that being said, I think the Flyers will improve on last year’s number and have seven 20 goal scorers this upcoming season. This should help them get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, as long as the defense and goaltending hold up their ends of the bargain.