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Voracek, Simmonds were silver linings in bad Flyers season

Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds

Jakub Voracek #93 of the Philadelphia Flyers (L) celebrates his first period powerplay goal along with Wayne Simmonds #17 (R) against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center on March 13, 2013 in Newark, New Jersey. (March 12, 2013 - Source: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America)

Although the 2013 campaign is one that the Philadelphia Flyers will be eager to put behind them, it wasn’t completely devoid of positives. Through the hardships, some players were able to step up and two of the most prominent examples of that were forwards Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek.

The Flyers acquired Voracek from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the summer of 2011 as part of the Jeff Carter deal and he posted 49 points in his debut season with Philadelphia. He got off to an unremarkable start in 2013, but he eventually developed some on-ice chemistry with Claude Giroux.

Voracek heated up in February and never looked back, scoring a career-high 22 goals and 46 points in 48 games. He also fired 129 shots at the net, which would have been on pace for a career-high had 2013 been a normal 82-game campaign and found the back of the net a remarkable 17.1% of the time.

The 24-year-old is likely to start the new season on the Flyers’ top line. Whether or not he can come close to replicating that level of success remains to be seen, but he’s locked up for another three years with an annual cap hit of $4.25 million and has the potential to make that price look like a steal.

Like Voracek, Simmonds is a young forward that Philadelphia acquired in the summer of 2011, this time in the Mike Richards trade with the Los Angeles Kings. Simmonds already set new career-highs in 2011-12 with 28 goals and 49 points in 82 games. Still, he was even better last season from a points per game perspective with 15 goals and 17 assists in 45 games.

Simmonds plays with a physical edge and it’s that blend of grit and skill that makes him so valuable to Philadelphia. He turned 25 on Monday and is looking forward to a long career with the Flyers. He’ll be starting his six-year, $23.85 million contract in 2013-14.

Philadelphia is certainly a team with areas of concern, but its offense is strong and should remain so for years to come. Simmonds and Voracek are two of the reasons why.