ARE THE FLYERS MAKING THE PLAYOFFS?

Today marks the beginnings of another NHL season. The Flyers find themselves full of young, up-and-coming talent and coach Dave Hakstol should be ready to roll in his third year behind the bench in the NHL. There’s a lot to look forward to with this year’s squad.

Nolan Patrick, for starters. It’s been years since a player with his hype has worn the orange and black. Ivan Provorov is the real deal. He’s only 20 and is by far the Flyers best defenseman. Will he become a Norris Trophy contender in his second year? There’s Konecny, Morin, Sanheim and other players to watch develop. Granted, MacDonald is still here, but let’s not focus on that.

With all the excitement entering the NHL season, what is a realistic expectation for this years Flyers squad? Is it the playoffs? 45 wins?

To put the season in perspective, we looked at what some of the “experts” thought about the Flyers going into the season.

Vegas has the win total listed at 38 wins at -130. The -130 is a good sign. Vegas thinks it’s more likely than not that the Flyers exceed 38 wins so you have to risk $130 to win $100.

How about point totals? The book I use currently has the point total at 90.5 for the Flyers and the over at -125 while under is -105. Again, Vegas is leaning towards the Flyers exceeding 90.5 points.

Nice. Vegas seems to think the Flyers will be right around .500 this year. That’s decent for a young, developing squad.

How about the Playoffs?

YAHOO’S Puck Daddy does not have the Flyers making the Playoffs. He has Columbus and the Rangers as the wildcards.

CBS SPORTSNET does not have the Flyers making the Playoffs.

TSN does not have the Flyers making the Playoffs, but they do think Couturier will have a 50 point season.

NHL.com had their 17 staff writers pick their Playoff predictions. One writer, Rob Vollman, has the Flyers making the Playoffs as a wildcard with Carolina.

The Hockey News has the Flyers finishing 6th in the Metropolitan and missing the Playoffs.

The Flyers will be in the playoff hunt, but most likely miss in a deep Metropolitan Division. Goaltending will still be an issue and probably the team’s undoing in the end. (THN)

That pretty much sums up every NHL 2017 prediction we could find. The overwhelming majority do not see the Flyers making the Playoffs, but should improve from last year. And, you know what we say about those predictions in Philly….F*CK’EM!

This is gonna be a fun year. Maintain realistic expectations of a borderline Playoff team and enjoy the kids developing. They’re still a year away from being legit, but stranger things have happen. TRUST THE HEXY.