The Philadelphia Flyers are coming off of a disappointing season where they failed to make the playoffs, but Flyers coach Peter Laviolette feels there are reasons to be upbeat about the franchise.
After all, they’ve had an eventful summer that involved adding forward Vincent Lecavalier, defenseman Mark Streit, and goaltender Ray Emery.
Lecavalier never turned into the consistent superstar that the Tampa Bay Lightning were hoping for, but the 33-year-old has been relieved of the expectations that came with his now bought out 11-year, $85 million contract. Now attention can be drawn more towards what he actually is: A well above average forward that scored at least 20 goals in 12 straight campaigns before the shortened season.
Meanwhile, Streit, 35, is a top-notch offensive defenseman that’s particularly dangerous with the man advantage.
Still, Laviolette has an addition reason for likely both of them.
“We pick up a real talented, experienced guy who can help with leadership,” Laviolette told the Flyers’ website. “That’s one of the nice things about our pick ups this summer is we added two guys who were captains of their teams before coming here and that should be a big help to our young group.”
Adding Emery was also big for Laviolette, given that he’s been a fan of the 30-year-old goaltender for quite a while.
“I remember before I was hired here, I was working for TSN in Canada and I was watching Emery play (for the Flyers) and I really liked him,” Laviolette said. “I was making a pitch for him on television to be added to the Canadian Olympic team because I thought he was playing so well at the time.
“As a matter of fact, the last game he played for the Flyers was in Calgary in 2010 and he won 3-0 and was phenomenal in the game. The next day, the news turned on him (with his injury).”
Emery had avascular necrosis, but he eventually managed to return. After excelling last season as the Chicago Blackhawks’ backup goaltender, he’ll compete for the starting job with Steve Mason.
That goaltending tandem is one of the things Laviolette is excited about going forward. As big as the additions of Streit and Lecavalier are, it might be Emery with his one-year, $1.65 million contract that steals the spotlight.