1. Philadelphia Flyers
REGARDLESS OF HOW THE NHL's labor negotiations turn out, the Flyers are one of the few teams that barely will be affected. They're a money machine compared to most other franchises, which is why they confidently re-signed captain Keith Primeau in June to a four-year, $17 million deal.
Primeau was a revelation in the postseason, easily Philadelphia's best and most intense player. No one bought more into coach Ken Hitchcock's system over the last two years, and Primeau was rewarded for it.
"For our organization, Keith is the most important player on our club," GM Bob Clarke insisted. "He's our leader. Before we could go forward with other signings, we felt we had to get Keith signed."
Even with that move, going forward is problematic for the Flyers. They are a much better defensive team than when Hitchcock took over in 2002. They are deeper. Their goalkeeping woes appear solved with Robert Esche, who was a standout for much of Philly's three playoff series.
But there is a growing feeling around the NHL that the Flyers missed their chance, as currently constructed. Many of their veterans either are near the end of or past their primes, or have become injury prone. While John LeClair, Tony Amonte, Eric Desjardins, Vladimir Malakhov and, most significantly, Jeremy Roenick remained factors, their impact figures to decline soon. Perhaps rapidly.
For the Flyers to win the Cup for the first time in more than three decades, they must extract another strong season from that core group. And they need continued development by Simon Gagne, Branko Radivojevic, Joni Pitkanen and Radovan Somik. Plus more solid work from Kim Johnsson, now their best defenseman; Alex Zhamnov, a key addition last spring; Michal Handzus; Sami Kapanen; Marcus Ragnarsson; and recent pickups Mark Knuble and Turner Stevenson.
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