This upcoming season for the Philadelphia Flyers is being touted by most people, including me, to be a rebuilding year. However, I will be predicting breakout seasons from the young core. It is expected to be a season of impending doom spanning from a weak defensive core, a season long goalie debate, fans calling for the coach’s head on a silver platter and not much star power.
The three players, who are also some of my favorite potential stars to rise from these concerns, are Sean Couturier, Brayden Schenn and Matt Read.
Brayden Schenn: Schenn is poised and ready for a breakout season and that is exactly what I think number 10 will achieve. His quick hands and ability to not give up will propel him forward into a wonderful season. His hockey sense and his competence to see the ice is magnificent. Those skills are key factors for a breakout season. His speed is average at best, but he and Peter Laviolette are improving that every day at practice. He is exactly what the city and Broad Street itself loves: an exciting playmaker who wouldn’t blame teammates or others for his mistakes. He can also be responsible defensively, emphasis on responsibility. He really shouldn’t have the pressure of getting the puck into the zone, but the pressure should be on his ability to get the puck into the net.
Sean Couturier: Sean is also ready for a breakout season, coming off of a dismal 42 game season last year. Number 14 was sub par last year, but this year his name will be in the headlines of The Philadelphia Daily News consistently. Couturier will have to work extremely hard to get to the top of the bar of expectations that has been raised. If his work ethic slips, his statistics will go with it. Couturier is not the type of player to slack off. He is the type to be putting in extra practice hours, lifting weights and taking shots.
Matt Read: The Flyers have recently signed Read to a four year contract extension worth approximately 14.5 million dollars. Read, who had 11 goals and 24 points last year will now be under a Flyer long term. The contract will put 3,625,000 dollars in Read’s pocket each year. I firmly believe that the perfect fit to wear the Orange and Black will break out and score 30 goals. It is a very bold prediction but I am very confident in his potential. I also believe he will outscore Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek.
I will be held to these predictions all season long and I am perfectly okay with that. Matt Read could turn out to be an overpaid bust or a top young player. It is very unpredictable, but it’s the Flyers so what would do you expect? Will they lead the Flyers to the Stanley Cup? Probably not. They could have a breakout year or an even worse year than last year. Let’s just hope we can have a good playoff run and let all other variables settle everything out.
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