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Poll: Will the Flyers make the playoffs?

on November 29, 2016 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

on November 29, 2016 at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Elsa

This post is part of Flyers Day on PHT...

The Philadelphia Flyers missed the playoffs by seven points last season, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that their future looks bright.

Many experts believe that they have the best group of prospects in the NHL. This summer, they added Nolan Patrick to the fold by selecting him second overall in the 2017 Entry Draft. If Patrick could stay healthy, he could provide the Flyers with a nice offensive boost next season.

Philadelphia can use all the help they can get up front, as they ranked 20th in goals for in 2016-17. The most disappointing Flyer in terms of offensive production had to be Claude Giroux. The captain managed to put up a respectable 58 points in 82 games, but he only found the back of the net 14 times (his lowest total since he scored 13 goals in 48 games during the lockout shortened season in 2012-13).

They have other quality forwards on the roster. Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek are still around, Travis Konecny has a year under his belt, but there are some serious question marks surrounding the supporting cast.

Brayden Schenn, who finished second on the team in goals with 25, was traded to St. Louis in the off-season. The Flyers received a package that included Jori Lehtera, who had struggles of his own last year. Lehtera, Valtteri Filppula, Matt Read and the rest of the forwards will have to step up.

On defense, they’re blessed with some talented options. Shayne Gostisbehere struggled in his second year, but still managed to put up 39 points. If he can play like he did during his rookie campaign, that will help his team tremendously.

Ivan Provorov, who played his first full season last year, was impressive. The 20-year-old had 30 points in 82 games, and he should be even better now that he’s going into his second year.

Andrew MacDonald, Radko Gudas and Brandon Manning are also expected to round out the blue line in 2017-18.

Youngsters like Samuel Morin, Travis Sanheim, Philippe Myers and Robert Hagg are all close to contributing with the big club in the near future.

Between the pipes, they went out and signed Michal Neuvirth to an extension and they added Brian Elliott in free agency. That still doesn’t give them a clear number one goalie, so it’s difficult to see envision how that’ll all work out. We’ll see where Anthony Stolarz fits into the equation.

Last season, the Capitals, Penguins, Blue Jackets grabbed the top three spots in the Metropolitan Division, while the Rangers and Maple Leafs earned the Wild Card spots. The Islanders and Lightning both finished ahead of the Flyers in the race for the final playoff spots in the East.

If the Flyers do earn s postseason berth, it’ll be interesting to see which one of those teams won’t be qualifying for playoffs.

Will Philadelphia make the playoffs? You can have your say by voting in the poll below. Also, feel free to leave your opinion in the comments section.

[polldaddy poll=9814929]