Hockey is close. The Flyers are back in town, and speculation about which lines players will end up on is already abounding.
Let's put that aside for now and check in with the current projected roster and see where they fall on the Flyers' all-time scoring list, and maybe guess how much they can move up.
Noel Acciari and Simon Benoit - 0 Points
They're new. Right now, they're barely Flyers. With a fourth liner and a seventh defender, any points they score are gravy.
David Jirieck and Jett Luchenko - 0 Points
Both are in make-or-break years for their NHL careers. Luchenko has heat as Flyers draft picks pile up behind him, and he hasn't set the world on fire in any league he's played in. He hasn't looked bad in the limited NHL action, but he hasn't stood out at all.
Jirieck is on his third team and has struggled to live up to the promise of being drafted sixth overall. He's penciled into the lineup as an everyday player early this season, and a hot start will really help.
Hunter Mcdonald - 1 Point, 539th All Time
He looked pretty good in his one and only NHL game so far. It'll take some injuries for him to get more, but he's officially on the radar.
Oliver Bonk - 2 Points, 538th All Time
He's basically in the same boat as McDonald, except that he's at least one rung higher on the ladder. A first-round pick and the son of an NHLer, Bonk has a cachet that will get him time sooner rather than later.
Alex Bump - 9 Points, 370th All Time
Bump's nine points in 17 games were, for lack of a better term, a nice bump for the Flyers during their stretch run last season.
While Porter Martone will get all the attention as the rookie of the year candidate, Bump will be avoiding top-line matchups and scrutiny across the league. If he avoids injury and maintains regular ice time, he should end up with at least 30 or 40 points this season.
With a few hot weeks, he could be somewhere in Jaromir Jagr's range with 54 total points at 161st all-time.
Porter Martone - 10 Points, 356th All Time
Martone has 10 points in nine regular-season games to start his career, and maybe even the most negative Flyers fans grumble, "He's alright".
Now, with a full offseason of NHL training and an 84-game slate in front of him, how high can Martone really reach? Michkov's 63 points? Mikael Renberg's 82-point rookie record season?
If we're conservative and say 50 points, he could land just between Vinny Lecaviler and Dainus Zubrus.
Carl Grundstrom - 13 Points, 327th All Time
In his first season as a Flyer, Grundstrom shot out of the gate after a mid-season call-up. His 13 points (9 goals, 4 assists) tie him with Alexi Zhitnik, of all people, on the Flyers' all-time list.
Grundstrom's ability to move up the list will be hampered unless there is a rash of injuries. If the Flyers do run into injury trouble, though, look for Grundstrom to add some bottom-six punch to the lineup.
Nikita Grebenkin - 14 Points, 319th All Time
Last season, Grebenkin was a player who looked like he was on the verge of breaking out, and then something happened. Whether it was a change in linemates or the injury, Grebenkin couldn't turn the page.
A year wiser and signed to a new contract, Grebenkin is still hard to place in the lineup. He could play on any line, but probably shouldn't be getting top-six minutes at the moment. Could he end up on PP2? It's possible, but it won't be easy.
Assuming he can equal his point total from the previous year, he'll pull even with Ron Hextall,
Denver Barkey - 17 Points, 296th All Time
After looking pretty good in his opening season, Barkey might end up being the most interesting player to watch this season.
Barkey could be looking at a position change, playing center instead of wing. His lineup mobility could help him move around and open up unique possibilities in the Flyers' lineup, but it's clear that he'll be a fixture on the bottom six at the very least.
If we say 25 points is a reasonable goal, that puts him right around Valtteri Filppula territory.
Christian Dvorak - 51 Points, 166th All Time
A really big jump up to Dvorak. He had a career year last season, and signed a nice extentsion to boot.
The question he'll have to answer is: has he reached his ceiling? In all likelihood, he has, but reaching it again doesn't seem out of the realm of possibility. There is a good chance he'll be playing with a talented youngster in Martone or Michkov, and if they perform to expectations, Dvorak should be in line to push past his career high by a few points.
Frankly, as long as he's still in the ballpark, it's a good year for Dvorak. And that would put him in the Joffrey Lupul conversation.
Jamie Drysdale - 57 Points, 153rd All Time
Drysdale jumped on the career year trend, but he also showed out on the defensive side of the puck. Now that he's playing more than 20 minutes a night and, at 24, is a full-fledged pro, we should see even more from him.
He could pass Chris Pronger's career Flyers numbers based on that pace.
Nick Seeler - 60 Points, 147th All Time
We've reached the spot on the list where you pause and think, " That guy is in the top 150?
Nick Seeler isn't going to see many offensive zone starts or power-play time, but he's going to get 10 to 15 points almost by accident and spend the rest of his ice time trying to make life miserable for the other team. He doesn't have to score at all to do his job, but every point is gravy.
Another 10 points put him right next to Larry Goodenough, whose name is just ridiculous enough that you'll never forget it.
Trevor Zegras - 67 Points, 141st All Time
The first season for Trevor Zegras with the Flyers was a great one. He reached career highs in points and goals, while seeming to shake off whatever demons were plaguing him in Anaheim, and showed that he might have a clutch gene hidden in his play.
At 25, he should be squarely in his prime and should have even more of a ceiling. If he cuts down his penalty minutes and uses his new weapon in Martone well, Zegras could easily push for 70 points and unseat Morgan Frost on the all-time list.
Rasmus Ristolainen - 73 Points, 132nd All Time
That guy we keep trying to trade is moving up the all time list pretty rapidly.
Ristolainen has had injury issues, trade rumors, lineup promotions, and demotions. Still, he's just ended up on the ice and is relatively productive. He's coming off his best stretch of hockey as a Flyer, and going into the year healthy could be a game-changer for Ristolainen.
If he plays a full season, 30 points should be a cakewalk. That cozies him up to Bill Clement. However, can we really guarantee that he'll last the full year?
Tyson Foerster - 100 Points, 103rd All Time
Foerster has been pretty productive since joining the league, but last season looked like his true breakout year until he got hurt.
With the rest of the team looking like they advanced, the Flyers will be plugging in a healthy Foerster, who scored 17 points in 29 games. With players evolving around him, power-play time is pretty much assured if Foerster doesn't get lost in the shuffle around adding Bump and Martone to the top six.
His first 50-point season should be incoming, letting him pass Kim Johnsson and Michael Handzus.
Cam York - 103 Points, 102nd All Time
Now, York hasn't quite lived up to his offensive expectations. Then he seemed to be in Tortorella's doghouse, and when he got a new coach, we assumed it'd get better.
He hasn't quite made the jump we expected, but the longer his career goes on, the more we should expect. His mid-20's should be when he plays his best hockey. However, we won't look for that big offensive bump, and instead focus on York's evolving two-way game.
Then maybe he can catch Ed Van Imp.
Matvei Michkov -114 Points 96th All-Time
Our first crack at the top-100, and the center of Flyers X controversy, is Matvei Michkov. He's a frighteningly efficient scorer who hasn't yet adapted to the North American game enough for his coaches to give him full trust, but many think he is talented.
A lot will be made of his losing 30 pounds this offseason, but it's clear he can play; the team around him is getting better, and he's committed to being a top-tier NHLer. After this season, he should end up somewhere past Jeremy Roenick and has the potential to be a top-10 member, maybe even a top-5 one day.
Noah Cates - 149 Points, 73rd All Time
One of the players who has evolved the most on the Flyers roster is Noah Cates. He's gone from an energetic, useful bottom-sixer to a reliable scorer who can also take on the toughest defensive assignments.
With Bobby Brink gone, who exactly will Cates play with? He's shown great chemistry with Foerster, but that partnership might be over.
He might do more, but he should be pretty comfortable in the 40-point range. That'll knock Matt Read down a peg or two.
Owen Tippett - 203 Points, 50th All Time
We've reached the top 50! Tippett is making his way up the list with pretty good consistency, and more names will drop this year, but how many?
Now it's redundant to say "this is the year" for the fourth year in a row, but Tippett has true 30-30 potential, and with the Flyers getting even a bit more from Martone, Foerster, Bump, and more, it could be the extra edge a player like Tippett needs to get those extra few points.
A healthy season will see Tippett taking aim at Scott Laughton's career marks in the 260s.
Travis Sanheim - 250 Points, 41st All Time
So it isn't just that Sanheim is getting shockingly high up on the list; he's 4th all-time among Flyers defensemen. To think that he's been around that long and managed to be offensively sound will stop you in your tracks for a moment.
He does everything on the back end for the Flyers, but interestingly, last year was his lowest shot-on-goal output while being his highest goal-scoring season. If he's figured something out and takes some more shots, then maybe he can make it back across the 40-point threshold for the second time in his career.
We could see him pass his general manager, Daniel Briere, with another decent season.
Travis Konecny - 544 Points, 13th All Time
It'd be unfair to call Konecny the little engine that could, but if he keeps stringing together 60- and 70-point seasons (he's had 4 in a row), he's going to end up in the top 10 in Flyers scoring.
Konecny should be at the end of his prime, but any decline should be covered by the amount of talent and youth around him, keeping him in line with what he's been doing, and putting him just past Jakub Voracek.
Sean Couturier - 579 Points, 12th All Time
The captain and active points leader, Couturier, isn't an offensive force, but seems to have found a new life in the bottom six.
The offensive pressure is off; he's a defensive specialist whose 30 to 40 points a year will help, but are no longer essential to the team. With Noel Acciari down there to help back him up, they can be even more dangerous.
He'll also have Rod Brind'Amour and Jakub Vorachek in his sights as well.
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