The Triangle

Issue date: 10/12/07 Section: Sports

Simon Gagne, playing on a line with Danny Briere and Mike Knuble, will need to be a key contributer if the Flyers wish to make the playoffs this season. In three games this year, Gagne has recorded six points.

With the Phillies now finished for the year and the Eagles seemingly destined for mediocrity, it is time to turn our attention to the other major sports teams. However, last season both the Sixers and Flyers floundered and the Sixers have not shown much improvement, so that only leaves one team to get excited about.

I am going out on a tiny limb by saying the Flyers definitely will improve over last season. OK, so that statement meant nothing, but even still, the Flyers would seem like an unlikely team to get optimistic about. The team managed only 56 points in 2006-07, 11 worse than any other NHL team. A record that poor does not even seem possible in a city where it's either Stanley Cup or bust.

Hopefully all the off-the-ice fireworks ended when Ken Hitchcock was fired and Bob Clarke resigned. The Flyers made some big-name acquisitions this off-season. Danny Briere has been grabbing all the headlines, but Paul Holmgren also acquired veteran defensemen Jason Smith and Kimmo Timonen to help shore up the worst defense in the league. All of this has raised expectations among Flyers fans to incredible highs, especially since Philadelphia does not have a winning team to root for now.

However, the buzz around these players is eerily similar to the excitement generated for the Flyers' signings before the 2005-06 season when the team picked up Peter Forsberg and defensemen Mike Rathje and Derian Hatcher. We all know how that ended. The team limped into the playoffs as a 5-seed, blowing the division title in the final days of the season, and they were bounced in six games by the Buffalo Sabres. In 2006-07, Forsberg was hurt from the outset and was in Nashville by season's end. Rathje was on the shelf by the end of November, but it did not matter by then anyway.

This will be a big year for head coach John Stevens. The team has gone through more than their share of growing pains last year and in his first full season, a marginal improvement will not cut it. Granted, the city should hold off on believing the Flyers need to win the cup this year, but a playoff season with a strong showing in the first round is not too much to ask for.

Continued...

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