Quiet Off Season For Flyers

So far, this off season has been extremely disappointing for the Philadelphia Flyers.  They lost out on Ryan Suter, Zach Parise, and Shea Webber.  They also traded away backup goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and forward JVR.

It seems like Paul Holmgren and the Flyers front office are simply content with this young nucleus. Heading into next season, the Flyers will be relying on young guys like Sean Couterier, Brayden Schenn, and Matt Read to have strong sophomore campaigns.

I really like the young core of players that the Flyers have, but the Flyers didn't win the Stanley Cup last year, and it just seems like they haven't taken the necessary steps to get better.  I realize that they have definitely tried.  The offer sheet they put together for Shea Weber was impressive, and I thought it was a done deal.  But still I think the Flyers are lacking in the defensive department and they have a lot of work to do between now and the start of the season.

All though I'm overall not too happy with the Flyers off season, I am happy with some of the moves they made.

First off, signing Jake Voracek to a new contract was a great move.  Voracek is a great young player with a ton of speed and is a big part of the future of this team.  The Flyers agreed upon a 4 year 17 million dollar contract with the young forward.

I also liked the contract extension given to head coach Peter Laviolette.  The extension will keep Laviolette as head coach through the 2014-2015 season.  Lavy is an amazing coach and I'm glad he will be around to lead this young team into the future.

Overall I think the Flyers are still one or two moves away from being completely ready for the upcoming season.  Tim Panaccio of csnphilly.com seems to believe that Holmgren possibly has a few moves left up his sleeve:

"Given Holmgren was willing to trade with Nashville to secure Weber, there’s nothing to prevent him from contacting, say, San Jose and inquiring about either Dan Boyle, who would have to waive his no-trade or Douglas Murray, who will be the top unrestricted free agent defenseman next season.  Holmgren could also call Montreal about restricted free agent P.K. Subban. The Habs made a two-year offer to Subban this week, but he hasn't yet accepted it."

With a possible lockout looming, the Flyers certainly have time on their side as they gear up for the 2012-2013 season.