Top 10 Best Flyers
10) Joel Farabee – Joel Farabee this season has impressed in spurts. In the first game of the season, he came away with four points which included a goal. Farabee then hit a little bit of a wall, not registering a point until potting a goal in the last game against the Devils.
Farabee has a lot of developing still to do, given that he’s still only 20-years old. The ceiling is high for Farabee, and hopefully, he can continue to produce at a high level this season.
9) Carter Hart – Carter Hart is finally the goaltender that was promised, but he isn’t going to be perfect. The season started great for Hart picking up two wins against Pittsburgh and saving plenty of shots coming from Pittsburgh’s strong offensive stars. Then it spiraled for Hart, giving up four goals and being pulled against the Sabres, and letting up four plus to the Bruins in back to back games.
Yes Hart is still a great goaltender, and the defense in front of him might be part of the problem, but he hasn’t reached that gear we saw against Montreal last postseason yet this year. Hopefully, he turns it around and finds that gear again.
8) Nolan Patrick – Honestly, there was little to no expectation of Patrick to be playing this well given all the talk surrounding him last season. He has come back and performed like he never took an entire season off.
Scoring two goals in seven games, playing well defensively, having to fill in more for the loss of Sean Couturier, and just staying healthy in general are all things that have impressed me about how Patrick has played this season. Again, another young player with a very very high ceiling.
7) Claude Giroux – Claude Giroux is one of the most underappreciated players in not only Philadelphia, but across the NHL, and he is putting together another quietly great season. Through seven games, Giroux already has six assists and has been a huge part of the penalty kill.
He is definitely not the player he once was, as everyone regresses with age, but he is still one of the best players on this Flyers team and contributes a lot in the areas that don’t show up on the stat sheet.
6) Jakub Voracek – Voracek is another one of those under-appreciated Philadelphia athletes. Voracek gets a lot of criticism for his lack of shooting, but if you look at his game, his passing is his strongest asset. He is one of the best passers in the NHL, and his assist totals this year are showing that.
This season, he’s tied for the lead in points on the Flyers, putting up eight points on one goal and seven assists, and is tied for fourth in assists in the entire league. Voracek using his great passing ability to set up goals early this season is why the Flyers are performing as well as they have on the scoreboard.