Prediction for the 2017-2018 Flyers season

     I respect people who make predictions and put their opinions out there, it's about confidence in your thoughts and making yourself vulnerable to being wrong... Or just not caring. So as someone who wants to do the things I respect in others, I'm going to make predictions with about 50 or do days till the season starts. I'll make some educated guesses. Heeeere were go:




     My prediction is they're gonna start the season strong. Ghost, Giroux, Voracek and Elliott all have a lot to prove, Simmonds is a beast and will continue his dominance and our defense is already greatly improved from a few seasons ago. Whoever we end up with on the blue line will help a lot and I am very hopeful that Patrick will boost the offense, even just with his enthusiasm alone. I remember when Giroux came to the team, he tried crazy things that only rookies try and it really made the team believe they could do a lot more than they thought. That kind of energy is so contagious and that leads to my next prediction...

     Claude Giroux. Captain Giroux.

Franchise guy. Girouxvy. He has been injury prone, humbled by his own inability to perform and he's been stuck on a team that relied on him to be the spine of this entire city. One thing I have seen in him is making him angry starts his engines, when Yzerman left him off the team Canada roster a few seasons ago in the Olympics, he went on an insane on the score sheet. I believe he is embarrassed by the last 2 seasons of his own play and that has lit a fire under him.

I'm predicting a 27 goal, 70 point season from the captain. I also think Voracek has the same embarrassment but I don't know how that affects him so I'll say he will have a better season than last year but I don't know by how much.


     On to the rookies and second year guys:

Provorov will only get better and once we can unchain the anchor stuck to him, I think he'll rise even higher. Ghost has said he feels a lot better and is energized for this coming season so I expect something big from him both offensively and defensively. Konecny has a chance to be the player he was in minors, I see his point totals rise anywhere between 15 and 25 points. I also expect and hope for his hockey IQ to be noticeably better.

The rookies are inexperienced in the NHL but most of them should shake off that fairly early, I can't get to specific in positions since I don't even know who will make the team. At this point anyone of them could not make it just because there's not enough room for all of them.

     I am honestly not hopeful about our goal trending tandem, Neuvirth is injury prone and not a long term starter the way Mason is and Elliott is not a 60 game goalie. I don't see either of them being spectacular if even one thing goes wrong for the team, I have a tremendous about of respect for Neuvy but if Elliott gets hurt I don't see him being able to handle a full time work load. There is a silver lining here though, flyers fans. If either falter the Phantoms goalie has future All star potential. Anthony Stolarz to the rescue... Right?

     And finally the team, my prediction is between 94 and 98 points and that last would card slot. And as much as I hate to say it, another first round exit. Obviously, they could all get hit at the right time and steal a series or two and I hope that happens but I am not holding my breath. This team will be an elite force very soon, but sometimes that elite status only comes after feeling the string of loss.

     So here are my predictions, feel free to let me know what you think and let's hope the season goes even better than expected!