Well, I don't really know if it has been posted already, but this is the Yahoo sport offseason Power Ranking and the Flyers are 5th!!! http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=AmDm...o&type=lgns

PENS are # 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crosby's STILL A BABY!!!

13th is in the 1st half!

That's not a bad assessment.

Then this list has no credibility.

Right! Pens should be #2!!!!!!!!!!!

hahahahah dallas put up more a fight then the pens did, rank 3 is where they stay.

Dallas is a heck of a lot better then Pittsburgh.

I don't think the Penguins will even be top 5 at the end of the season.

From your lips to God's ears friend!

Bwahahaha Isles

i like the way you think. let's hope

yahoo knows as much hockey as bettman does

Nah, I think 13 is a good spot for them.



That's true.

Flyers are listed as 5th but what's better is that they're the 2nd best team in the East. Personally, I don't mind being right behind Pittsburgh during the season. It'll be much more intimidating for them that way... keep them nervously checking in the rear view mirror all the time.

Then, it'll be thrilling when Philly passes them at the end of the year.

Agreed I don't think their much of a team their more of each player worries about themselves

what a joke
whys Tampa so low?
whys Toronto so high?

yay,the preds are 18th.nothing is wrong with the owmership,expect for the whole boots thing,but he only owned 27% of the preds and they do not have trouble recruiting,the preds have great propsects(sorry can't spell that word) comming up.next years free agent list will alot better.david polie is not one of those gms who overpays players.i am a little sad,the owners promised the preds fans that they would make a big splash for a big time player at the trade deadline.never happened.

I also think Phoenix and Chicago are too low too and Dallas, Minnesota, and Colorado are too high. Ok, wait, I don't agree with half of these ratings....

+1

the pens took a major hit. their Hossa experiment was a complete and utter failure. they lost some great young talent and have been forced to fill holes with players THAT THE ISLANDERS DIDN'T WANT. they gave away some good players basically for the Prince of Whales trophy and Pascal Dupis. EPIC FAIL.

The writer's from San Francisco. You know, the sports capital of the world. I wouldn't put too much stock in his opinions.

I woudl have to agree the Leafs do suck , Tampa because they have no Defence????

This rankings are meaningless, to be honest anything can happen during a season which could dramatically alter these rankings so I really don't care about them, Its nice to see the FLyers 5tyh though.

That article is complete garbage. Whoever wrote that deleted is ridiculous.

Top 5 a fair assesment.

Guys get over your Pens Hate.

Exactly. It's Yahoo, and it's one guy's opinion. No big deal.

I don't think it is Pens hate, at least I don't see them as a top 5 team going into next season for a number of reason.

Yes the Penguins did win the ECF and make it farther then any Eastern team but that team looks to have declined a decent amount on paper.

- Yes, they still have what looks to be the best core of centers in the NHL, but there wingers look extremely weak. Sykora is the only one of the roster to break 20 goals. Satan and Fedotenko are in a distant second with 16 goals each.

- There farm system is not very impressive. They didn't have any good picks this season since they traded there top 3 picks. They traded 2 good depth players and Esposito away in that trade for Hossa. Goloski is really the only player in the Penguins system who looks to have a shot at a good NHL career. My point being if your team is to suffer injuries, which is likely, they don't have good players to replace those guys or to make a decent trade.

- Penguins did not run away with the East last season they didn't even win it. While there personal looks to have declined many of the other good teams look to have stayed around the same level and many of the weaker teams look to have improved lots. I give the Penguins credit for beating the Flyers but that team is minus Hossa, Malone, and some smaller key players.

The Flyers will have Timonen and Coburn back from injury. Gagne will return and if he is back to healthy that is a huge player. We lost Umberger but he will be replaced by Giroux most likely who is one of the better prospects in the NHL.

There is Montreal a team who beat the Penguins in points, they added Tanguay and some toughness in Laraque.

The Devils only finished 3 points behind Pittsburgh and they pretty much kept the exact same roster.

Capitals lost Huet, added Theodore so there goalie situation seems fine. They did barely make the playoffs but remember they had a horrible start. If they play like they did when the coach changed they are easily a top team.

- Since the lockout the teams who have lost the cup have not been nearly as good the next season.

I could go on. Sure the Penguins may come out and manage to win the conference but as of now they don't look like a scary team in my opinion.

I would have to agree with basically everything you said, the Pens lost a lot of prospects, and by Tampa's situation we all know you can't win with the "big 3" so In my opinion the Pens are somewhere between 5 and 10. Although the Devils got better adding Brian Rolston.

I AM worried about da Pens this year!

no sundin = no 10th place finish


i know tampa has no D, but they should be alot higher than they are

Pens lost a lot of prospects.. really?!?!?!

They gave up Colby and EC -- big deal, both were 3rd line players. EC had a good shot and was key in penalty shots. Colby is easily replaced by the likes of Dupuis imo.

Esposito -- I think hes out of hockey .. it was a risky pick at 20th overall (i believe), but his upside was high .. clearly, he fell to 20 for a reason, and it shows. Losing him is not a big deal.

(Its Goligoski btw)

Without Hossa and Malone, the personnel may be a bit weaker, but Fedotenko can step in to replace Malone to some degree (Malone cashed in b/c of 71, why cant Ruslan). Satan will, to an extent, replace Hossa. Of course, Hossa's backchecking wont be replaced, but offensively, Satan will score at least 25-30 goals if healthy, minimum. Playing alongside Sid, Hossa had hundreds of chances in the postseason. Hossa put up a great amount of pts, but he could have easily had another 5-8 goals and 10 more pts .. its not that Hossa created it all on his own (except the goal in game 3 v Philly)

edit: dont forget, without Umberger the Flyers likely dont go to the ECF

I'm not defending any of the team moves -- I clearly dont think the Pens should be 1, I think the Sharks should be 2 in place of Dallas, but regardless, I think the Pens have to be the top ranked team in the east, at least at the moment. Things can change, perhaps in the Habs aquire a Mats Sundin, or if Giroux/Gagne prove to be huge additions to the Flyguys, etc. For the time being, the Pens may have fallen a rung down, but the Flyers/Habs haven't done much to climb the ladder either -- and I think the Rangers fall off a bit this year, unless they add some guys to score -- when you take your best scorers from a team that struggled to score, Lundqvist will need to post many shutouts to get the Ws

Completely agree, some of those rankings make no sense at all.

The Penguins lost the few prospects they had. There farm system was not a very good one to begin with but anything they had is basically gone. As far as scouting reports go besides Goligoski (my mistake on spelling I didn't feel like looking it up) is the only guy who is expected to be a valuable NHL player. Everyone else unless they turn out to be gems aren't expected to go any higher then line 3 guys. Basically my point being the Penguins farm system is one of the weaker ones in the NHL. In the end you traded Armstrong, Christensen, Esposito, and a 1st rounder for Dupuis. Armstrong and Christensen may not have been great NHL players but they were solid ones if you still had them they would be cheap effecting players and you could leave a guy like Kennedy or Stone in the AHL to develop more and have them as a security in case of injury. Also having a guy like Esposito and that 1st pick along with some depth gives you something to trade in case of serious injury. There are much more productive things that could have been done.

My point being in my whole post was the Penguins did not improve they went backwards. They are still a good team but not a scary looking team. There is no way you will convince me Fedotenko and Satan are better or equal to Malone and Hossa.

The Penguins fan base always seems to have a lot of "if's" and "could have's" in there posts The Flyers could have played better "if" Kimmo didn't have a blood clot. We could have played better "if" Gagne was healthy. We could have played better "if" Coburn didn't get hit in the eye with a puck. Jeff Carter "could have" scored 35-40 goals if he didn't miss the net so much...

Umberger was great in the playoffs but on our team his season was just okay and he was a line 3 player. We have a good farm system and his replacement is more then capable of being much better.

The Flyers and Habs have not done much to climb the ladder but they didn't go down, they moved up a little. The Penguins on the other hand went down and they weren't to much higher on the ladder. The Rangers are interesting to see, they lost some key players but brought in some decent ones. They are a defense first team. I feel the talent is much more level in the East now. I see the Penguins as a good team but I feel they will not be as impressive this season as last and won't end up as a top team.

honestly, i didnt read your whole post .. but

i agree we have little prospects..we didnt lose any, just the guys that looked solid dropped off last season at WBS. Goligoski is not a bad player, but he is slightly small for a d-man .. the Pens have enough puck-moving d-men at the moment.

no what ifs here! Dupuis will replace colby. EC was an interesting guy who may be slightly missed, but hes the only real guy we lost in the deal (plus the 1st round pick). im looking forward to the season big time .. it was an eventful offseason with the many spots we had to fill, and now with Shero signing Satan and Fed's to 1 yr deals, next offseason will be fun as well, but its about time for exhibition games and practice, eh?!?

edit: now i read your whole post, hahaha .. and yes, i think there are a bunch of teams at the top. I think the Pens are the top team momentarily, and I dont see the Rangers near the top, more in the middle. And living in the Philly area a long time, I know its tough for you guys to admit to a Pittsburgh supremacy, so we can just call it close :-D! hahaha, like i predicted on the other board: I had the Pens winning the division, but the Flyguys grabbing the 4 seed .. could go either way unless the Devils step up

What fun would that be?

I see Pens over the Stars, but mostly, decent.

Just a reminder: This is the Philadelphia Flyers message board, and the Pens are a rival. Maybe your monitor is a little off and makes the orange look like gold and you forgot where you were.

ditto

Nobody knows anything about hockey. Nobody ever predicts outcomes correctly, except those rare times when you get lucky. Teams that are supposed to win the cup don't make the playoffs, teams that are supposed to be terrible win championships.

Everybody was picking Anaheim last year (BFD if you picked Detroit. That's just playing the odds).

I think Detroit will win the cup next year, but they could very well miss the playoffs. The Rangers could lead the league in scoring. You never know.

The only things you can safely predict are that the Leafs, Panthers, and LA Kings will be horribly mismanaged.

Without Umberger We don't have a shot since when does a 3rd line guy who scored 16 goals in a season decide whether we make the ECF or not? He had a good playoff run but u like colombus think hes worth alot more then he really is. He can turn invisible real fast....That being said Umberger was a fun player to watch however with Giroux coming up this year and our surplus of wingers that could all play on like the 2nd line if not for the depth of that position do we need him, no. + VanRiemsdyk is here in another year and Umberger was our oldest winger we had at the time besides Knuble who is a huge help on the power play. We are building a young group of players who can all play in this new NHl Umberger was just a casualty of the Salary Cap and a big head from all the people that overrate him. He wanted to much for what he can offer this team.

He didn't say you don't have a shot, just that you probably don't make it to the Finals, which i agree with. Without Umberger, Washingon may very well have knocked the Flyers out.

But Umberger was mainly a factor when we played the Habs.

lol no matter how many ifs ands or buts u make how does a 3rd line winger affect whether we make the ECf or not? Your telling me if you lost Talbot this year so u could sign Malkin and improved your defense significantly with it you would have no chance at making the ECF?

Yeah 918 said it, Umberger didn't do much of anything against the Caps, Briere led us against them.

Yeah, but he still had an effect on the games... and then if you made it through the Caps, the Habs series would have been rough.



An average third line winger doesn't make much of an effect. But without Talbot, the Pens lose in 5 games to teh Wings instead of 6(he got the tying goal with less than a minute left in Game 5). And in the playoffs, Umberger was no average third line winger. The average third line winger doesn't score 10 goals in 17 playoff games. When a player has that big of an impact they can affect your shot at making the ECF.

But Briere had more of an effect. RJ only had 1 goal and 1 assist and was a +0 during the Washington series.
We did make it through the Caps and we beat the Habs in 5. Maybe you're trying to say something else, but at the moment I don't know what it is.

I mean, even though he wasn't incredible statistically, he might have had a big impact on the games anyway. I don't know when the goal and assist was in the first series, but they could have been big too.

So basically you're saying that anytime a team loses a player they will do worse because the person would've had an impact?

Man R.J isnt a big loss in my mind, Claude giroux will take his place and be a better player. Yes umberger was a big apart of our team but the Flyers have so much depth at forward that someone can replace him. He scored timely goals in the playoffs but was a ghost in the other 2 seris. He in my opinion isnt worth 15 million over 4 years for having and inconsistant season and one spectacular playoff seris.

Umberger had a good playoff series but overall he isn't a great player. During the season he was only an average very replaceable player. Giroux had a much higher upside and shouldn't have much trouble topping RJ's 13 goals in the season. It is unlikely RJ ends up playing all season for the Jackets like he did against Montreal. He will probably be a 20-25 goal scorer. Solid but not great player.

Going by what you said. This guy had an impact on this game, would you say losing him was bad for us?
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ty seriously he scored 13 goals in 82 games and teh pens guys is basing his opinion off of a 6 game series that he did well in hes overated because of this and is not worth the money spent ifhe wanted to stay here he would have taken a reasonable offer but who wouldnt take a 20 mill dollar contract? for 23 goals in an entire season