The Philadelphia Flyers are enjoying another successful season. They entered last weekend atop the National Hockey League’s Atlantic Division with a 28-11-5 record, and lead the Eastern Conference with 61 points.
With the NHL All-Star Game approaching, the Flyers seem likely to make another deep run in the NHL playoffs, and hopefully, another return trip to the Stanley Cup finals.
Keeping an ever vigilant eye on his former team is one of the best analysts in the game today—former Flyer and 18-year NHL veteran Rick Tocchet, who currently works as an analyst on Flyers Postgame Live on Comcast SportsNet.
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If anyone knows the Flyers, it’s Tocchet, who passed his opinions on his former team after a on Saturday at Havertown’ s .
The only Flyer to make the All-Star game was right winger Claude Giroux, with fellow winger Danny Briere getting snubbed. That doesn’t matter as much as a team that seems destined to create more magic this spring, especially with the emergence of NHL rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky.
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“I like the Flyers, I really do, I feel they have an advantage over a lot of team in the NHL right now with their depth and their consistency,” said Tocchet, one of the most astute observers of the game today. “This is the kind of team that can deep into the playoffs, with everything they have, their coaching staff. They have a fine balance.”
While some may view the Flyers 2010 Stanley Cup appearance as a bit of a fluke (which included coming back from an improbable 3-0 deficit to Boston in the best-of-seven Eastern semifinals), with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals getting upset, Tocchet had a different spin.
“You can only play the teams in front of you, and if Pittsburgh and Washington got knocked out last year, the Flyers had to beat the teams that beat them—and the Flyers reached the Stanley Cup by beating some good teams,” Tocchet said. “The Flyers right now are playing with a fire and they believe in each other. A big factor is their depth, and I really believe the Flyers have the best third line in hockey today. That’s the biggest difference.
“Look at Chicago and what they did last year in winning the Stanley Cup. They have three strong lines, including their third line. With their goaltending and defense, the Flyers are strong again and should make another deep run in the playoffs. I think the fans, the coaching staff, the players on this team would be highly disappointed if they didn’t.”
As for Crosby’s Penguins and Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals …
“Believe me, this team isn’t scared of Pittsburgh and Washington,” Tocchet said. “Those are great teams, and great players, but the Flyers and their coaching staff won’t back from them.”
And for a second there, you could almost swear No. 22 was in orange and black again, with that familiar cut on the bridge of his nose.
“The Flyers are a team that could go far, they have the talent, depth and coaching staff to do it,” Tocchet said.
