A Little Off this Offseason?

After an abbrievate offseason, the Philadelphia Flyers begin their relentless pursuit to defend their Eastern Conference Championship. After ending on a sour note last season compliments of Patrick Kane, Philly will look to start off on a good foot by beating their interstate rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Transactions

If you have been following the Flyers these past few monthes then you have experience a bevy of emotions. If you haven't here is what you have missed:

• Gagne traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Matt Walker.
• Flyers trade for Tampa Lightning defenseman Andrej Meszaros.
• Free Agency saw the Flyers sign forwards Jody Shelley and Nik Zherdev, and defenseman Sean O'Donnell.
• Flyers were also able to re-sign Mike Leighton, Braydon Coburn, Johan Backlund, Darroll Powe, and Dan Carcillo.
• Defenseman Ryan Parent was traded back to the Nashville Predators in exchange for the right to UFA defenseman Dan Hamuis. (Hamhuis later signed with Vancouver, Parent was later trade to Vancouver.)
• Unrestricted Free Agent, forward Arron Asham signed with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Injuries

What seems to be becoming a theme with this Flyers team, injuries, took their toll this offseason. Whether left over from last season or new suffered. Here's a look at the Flyers injury report:

• Chris Pronger has surgery on his foot, injury suffered in Game 1 of Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. His status is up in the air for the season opener.
• Dan Carcillo was held out of the Stanley Cup Finals partially due to a sports hernia suffered earlier in the season. He has been skating without any problems all month.
• Ville Leino underwent hip surgery this offseason. He was limited through out most of training camp, but had played in the preseason and looks ready to go for Game 1.
• Johan Backlund also underwent hip surgery, a problem he re-injured in his only start with the Flyers last march. He played 1 preseason game and did not look ready. Expect to see him be a scratch for the first few weeks of the season.
• Blair Betts suffered a shoulder injury versus the Hawks in the Finals. He played the rest of the series, however he had surgery to repair his shoulder this offseason. Reports came out he was going to miss the first month of the season, but he played without any setbacks in 2 preseason games and looks ready for the season.
• Michael Leighton re-injured his back in the Flyers 2nd preseason game, an injury orginally suffered during his offseason workouts. Leighton will miss the first month of the season.
• After skating in training camp Ian Laperriere is now out indefinately. Lappy suffered the injury after he went down to the ice to block a shot and was hit in the eye with the puck during the Flyers first round playoff matchup with the Devils.

Headlines

The Flyers entered the pre-season with a few question marks, however, they left with many more. Here are some headlines from the Flyers 2010-2011 preseason:

Entering, Michael Leighton was your top goalie, two games in he's out. This left Brian Boucher and rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky to fight over the starting job. Johan Backlund entered the running late after returning from a hip injury, but may have played himself out of a spot in half a preseason game giving up 7 goals. The Flyers will look to go with Sergei Bobrovsky and Brian Boucher.

Gagne is going to be tough to replace, right? Nik Zherdev showed Flyers fans otherwise. He led the Flyers in scoring with 5 goals this preseason. It is preseason, but Nik Zherdev has been a consistent offensive force game in and game out, something he was previosu rediculed for not being able to do. Whether Zherdev gets 1st line time or 3rd line time, he has proven he will bring his A-game each day.

The Flyers drastically improved their already impressive defensive corps. The Flyers added Andrej Meszaros, a 6'2" defensive defenseman through a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning minutes before the Free Agent period started. Then proceed to sign former cup winner with Pronger on the ducks, defenseman Sean O'Donnell. Matt Walker was acquired later in July from the Lightning through the Simon Gagne trade. Add those to Matt Carle, Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, and Oskars Bartulis and the Flyers have one of the deepest, if not the deepest, defensive corps in the league.

Season Outlook

The Flyers will open up tonight at Consol Energy Center, the new arena of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Their home-opener will be on October 11th versus the Colorado Avalanche. (Full Schedule)

After going to the Cup Finals the Flyers will be looking for another chance to fight for Lord Stanley. However they will have to get passed a revamped Eastern Conference. Combine that with the toughest divsion in hockey, the Atlantic Division, and the Flyers will have to keep the pedal to the metal all year. Just like last season, this team is made for the playoffs. Expect this team to get back to the playoffs and bring hunger and talent together to scratch and tear their way to another Stanley Cup Finals.

As always:

LETS GO FLYERS!