Philadelphia Flyers

Philadelphia Flyers

Team Depth Chart of NHL Prospects
Strengths
  • Good overall depth among goaltenders and defensemen
  • Solid group of forward prospects; depth at Right Wing
Weaknesses
  • No sure-fire starting goaltenders
  • Few potential top-pairing defensemen
  • Organization needs to improve offensive depth at center

About Prospect Scores and Probability

Prospect Criteria

Legend of Players' Leagues
Pro
Playing in N.A. Pro (NHL, AHL, ECHL, etc.)
CHL
Playing in CHL (OHL, QMJHL, WHL)
NCAA
Playing in NCAA
Europe
Playing in Europe
Junior
Playing in Junior 'A' (USHL, BCHL, AJHL, etc.)
N/A
Not Categorized Yet

Goaltenders

 League Prosp. talent Prob. of success
1. Anthony Stolarz NCAA 7.0 C
2. Cal Heeter Pro 6.5 D

Right Wing

 League Prosp. talent Prob. of success
1. Jason Akeson Pro 7.0 D
2. Petr Straka Pro 6.5 C
3. Shane Harper Pro 6.5 D
4. Matt Mangene Pro 6.0 C
5. Michael Parks NCAA 6.0 C
6. Brandon Alderson CHL 6.0 C
7. Petr Placek NCAA 6.0 D
8. Derek Mathers CHL 5.5 D

Left Wing

 League Prosp. talent Prob. of success
1. Marcel Noebels Pro 6.5 C
2. Taylor Leier CHL 6.5 C
3. Andrew Johnston Pro 6.5 D
4. Eric Wellwood Pro 6.0 B
5. Tye McGinn Pro 6.0 B
6. Andrew Rowe Pro 6.0 C

Centers

 League Prosp. talent Prob. of success
1. Scott Laughton CHL 7.0 B
2. Nick Cousins CHL 7.0 C
3. Mitch Wahl Pro 6.5 C
4. Kyle Flanagan Pro 6.5 C
5. Tyler Brown Pro 5.5 C
6. Ben Holmstrom Pro 5.0 B

Defensemen

 League Prosp. talent Prob. of success
1. Erik Gustafsson Pro 7.0 B
2. Brandon Manning Pro 7.0 C
3. Shayne Gostisbehere NCAA 7.0 C
4. Marc-Andre Bourdon Pro 6.5 C
5. Oliver Lauridsen Pro 6.5 C
6. Mark Alt Pro 6.5 C
7. Matt Konan Pro 6.5 D
8. Blake Kessel Pro 6.5 D
9. Tyler Hostetter Pro 6.5 D
10. Nicholas Luukko NCAA 6.0 C
11. Colin Suellentrop CHL 6.0 C
12. Valeri Vasiliev Europe 6.0 C
13. Fredrik Larsson Europe 6.0 C
14. Reece Willcox NCAA 6.0 D
15. Cullen Eddy Pro 6.0 D

Vaclav Pletka: Having A Breakout Year

by Bill Meltzer
on
Vaclav Pletka is by no means a bluechip NHL prospect, nor is he the type of player that one usually associates with the Flyers system. The type of players that the Flyers are drawn to, whether they are North American or European are big, strong players with grit. Well, that’s not Vaclav Pletka. He’s not big. He’s not physical. And although, he’s been improving his all-around game, Pletka is neither a defensive stalwart nor a regular combatant in the trench wars that occur down low in the zone. Moreover, there are questions over whether he is well suited to the game on the smaller North American rink. Nevertheless, the Flyers 7th round pick in the 1999 entry draft (#208 overall) is one of the more intriguing “sleeper” prospects in the NHL. What Vaclav Pletka has to offer is something that no team in the goal-starved NHL can afford to dismiss without taking a closer look; namely, soft hands, a quick shot release, and good ice vision.
Read more»

Updated Flyers Prospect Report

by Bill Meltzer
on

Stepping Up:

* The two best prospects in the Flyers system continue to be goaltenders
Maxime Oullet and Antero Niittymäki. The strong play of both youngsters
pretty much cancels out any loss of organizational goaltending depth
suffered when Jean-Marc Pelletier was traded to Carolina in the Keith
Primeau deal.

Oullet, coming off a spectacular World Junior Championships, continues to
be the best goaltender in the Quebec League. Oullet is now being widely
hyped around the hockey world as a potential franchise goalie. Arguably,
he’s the best goalie in junior hockey today, although the Finley contigent
might dispute that. The buzz around Oullet coming off the WJC is not quite
equal to the hype that surrounded Roberto Luongo but it’s arguably on par
with the excitement created by Marc Denis and Martin Biron as they
progressed at the junior ranks.

Niittymäki, selected the best goaltender in the Finnish Elite League during
the first half of the season, faltered a tad at the World Juniors
(particularly in Finland’s game against Russia) and ended up splitting time
in goal with Devils draftee Ari Ahonen. It’s also true that Niittymäki’s
teammates did not play all that well in front of him in some of their key
games. However,
Niittymäki has bounced back strong upon the resumption of league play.The
rookie continues to rank #1 or #2 in most goaltending categories in the Read more»

Flyers Goalie of the Future Race

by pbadmin
on

The strength of the Flyers farm system unquestionably lies in its goaltending prospects. The Flyers currently boast four fine young goaltending prospects: Brian Boucher, Jean-Marc Pelletier, Maxime Ouellet, and Antero Niittymäki. With the goalies in the Flyers system currently staggered between the NHL (Boucher), the AHL (Pelletier), the QMJHL (Ouellet), and the Finnish Elites (Niittymäki), the organization can afford to evaluate each player’s progress separately and, due to their staggered draft years, also have different time-tables for each player. But in the near future, perhaps as soon as the end of this season, the team may have to make a firm decision on whom among Boucher, Pelletier, Ouellet, and Niittymäki will ultimately be the team’s long-term starter of the future and which one(s) will be trade bait to fill in some of the other areas where the team needs both short-term and long-term help. In addition to the aforementioned goaltenders, the Flyers also have minor league veteran Neil Little, ECHL goalie Bujar Amidovsky, Färjestad BK (Swedish Elites) backup goaltender Per-Ragnar Bergqvist, and Medicine Hat Tigers goaltender Cam Ondrik in the system. None of the latter goalies is a serious NHL prospect, however (although Little still has a core of supporters in Philadelphia who believe that he deserves a shot as an NHL backup).
A quick review follows to update the recent happenings with each of the four top candidates:

Brian Boucher (Flyers) Read more»

Flyers top 10

by pbadmin
on

It is Time for the Flyers to Produce from Within
A HF’s look at the prospects in Philadelphia by John A. D’Amico

Losing in the first round of the NHL playoffs in consecutive years is bad enough. But doing it while spending enough money to dwarf the gross national product of a small European country makes it that much worse. Flyers GM Bobby Clarke has tried to build a winner by buying the priciest free agents that the sport had to offer. Unfortunately for Clarke, a bloated price tag does not assure success. And unfortunately for the Flyers season ticketholders, (after taking the gaspipe in back to back playoff years), all they have to show for their ticket buying dollar is a rather substantial price hike for their seats.

A concerted effort to build from within is now a priority for Clarke and it looks as though he does have some nice talent on the way up. This crop of prospects could be the best group that the Flyers have had stabled since the early eighties when Hextall, Tocchet, Zezel and Smith danced their way on to Broad Street to carry the team to two NHL Finals later in the decade.
Read more»

European Flyers by the numbers – (Part 7 of 7)

by Bill Meltzer
on

Part 7: Euro Draft Statistical Breakdown
Times have certainly changed in the NHL over the last quarter century. It is now truly a global league. Locker rooms commonly feature players from seven different countries and there are a smattering of players from several other lands. European talent scouting has become more crucial than ever as the league has continued to expand and more and more European-born players have come to be selected in the early phases of the NHL draft. Today, many European fans follow the NHL with equal or greater passion than they do the leagues in their own country. NHL hockey has become a global entity. So have the Philadelphia Flyers, sometimes blazing trails at the forefront, sometimes being dragged kicking and screaming.
Appendix: European Flyers by the numbers

Through 1998-99, there have been 28 European-born players who have worn a Flyers uniform, not including players who dressed only in pre-season games, such as Toni Porkka and Vladislav Boulin. Here is a county-by country breakdown:

Sweden (10)
Mikael Andersson
Bo Berglund
Pelle Eklund
Thomas Eriksson
Patrik Juhlin
Pelle Lindbergh
Mikael Renberg
Magnus Roupé
Kjell Samuelsson
Tommy Söderström

Czech Repubic [or Czech portion of former Czechoslovakia] (8)
Josef Beranek
Miroslav Dvorak
Martin Hostak
Frantisek Kucera
Jiri Latal
Vaclav Prospal
Petr Svoboda
Roman Vopat

Russia (7) Read more»

Top Prospects

  1. Scott Laughton
  2. Erik Gustafsson
  3. Nick Cousins
  4. Shayne Gostisbehere
  5. Anthony Stolarz
  6. Tye McGinn
  7. Eric Wellwood
  8. Brandon Manning
  9. Marcel Noebels
  10. Kyle Flanagan
  1. Marc-Andre Bourdon
  2. Ben Holmstrom
  3. Oliver Lauridsen
  4. Jason Akeson
  5. Mark Alt
  6. Taylor Leier
  7. Brandon Alderson
  8. Michael Parks
  9. Valeri Vasiliev
  10. Fredrik Larsson

Notable Prospects

  1. Tyler Brown
  2. Cullen Eddy
  3. Shane Harper
  4. Cal Heeter
  5. Tyler Hostetter
  6. Andrew Johnston
  7. Blake Kessel
  8. Matt Konan
  1. Nicholas Luukko
  2. Matt Mangene
  3. Derek Mathers
  4. Petr Placek
  5. Andrew Rowe
  6. Petr Straka
  7. Colin Suellentrop
  8. Mitch Wahl
  9. Reece Willcox
HF Boards