Snider reiterates belief Flyers will make playoffs
Flyers chairman Ed Snider dropped by his team's training camp Saturday in Voorhees and reiterated what he told The Inquirer recently: He thinks his team - which most pundits predict will struggle mightily - will make major strides.
Flyers chairman Ed Snider dropped by his team's training camp Saturday in Voorhees and reiterated what he told The Inquirer recently: He thinks his team - which most pundits predict will struggle mightily - will make major strides.
"Quite frankly, I'm looking for big things," Snider said during a news conference. "I think we're going to turn things around. I think we're going to be a playoff team this year."
Michael Raffl agreed.
"Everybody in here believes we're a playoff team and that we can do something good in the playoffs," the left winger said after practice. "We just have to be consistent from game to game."
Snider said the Flyers underachieved last season, when they finished 33-31-18 - and, inexplicably, lost their last 12 games (0-7-5) against non-playoff teams.
"That same team last year that did not make the playoffs, made the playoffs the year before," he said. "It's not like they're chopped liver. We have a good team. We have some good stars with [Claude] Giroux and [Jake] Voracek. We have second-level guys that are getting older and more mature - [Sean] Couturier and [Wayne] Simmonds. I expect a lot from these players."
"This team is too good not to make the playoffs two years in a row," Voracek said.
Snider said the additions of defensemen Radko Gudas and Evgeni Medvedev will make the defense "solid. I think better than it's been in years."
Snider, who believes backup Michal Neuvirth will bolster the goaltending, said he was miffed by the Flyers' penalty-killing problems last year and by the team's poor road record (10-20-11).
"Those things are going to be corrected. I'm confident," Snider said. "It's not going to occur again."
Just get into the playoffs this season, Snider said, "and gosh knows what happens then."
Rookies square off. Nick Cousins' line stood out in a scrimmage between Flyers prospects Saturday morning at the Skate Zone.
Cousins centered speedy wingers Taylor Leier and Aaron Palushaj. Leier, a left winger, battled through injuries while playing last season with the Phantoms, while Palushaj signed as a free agent in May after playing in Russia's KHL for a season, collecting 21 points in 53 games.
"It was a good experience to try another league," said Palushaj, 26, who has played with three NHL teams. "I think I benefited from it. I think my game was fine-tuned over there."
This is the second straight year that the Flyers' veterans and rookies have had separate sessions at the start of camp. In past years, they had usually been together.
Palushaj admitted he was hoping to go head-to-head with some vets.
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. I definitely am," he said. "Can't really do anything about it. You have to respect the coach's decision. I think that doesn't reflect my chances of making the team. You have to play well when you get out there. If I play one or two exhibition games, do what I can to show everybody what I can do."
New coach Dave Hakstol said that it was good for the veterans to be together "to get some work done," and that there could be "a bit of a mix" of the groups in the coming days.
OT in preseason. The Flyers will play three NHL-mandated overtime games in the preseason - Tuesday against the visiting Rangers, Friday against the visiting Islanders (a 6 p.m. start to accommodate the pope's visit), and Sept. 30 at New Jersey.
The teams will use the new three-on-three OT format in those games, regardless of the score at the end of regulation.
Breakaways. Veterans will be on the ice Sunday at 9:45 a.m., followed by the rookies at 1 p.m. . . . Hakstol said trainer Jim McCrossin was handling some of the duties performed by strength and conditioning coach Ryan Podell, who took a similar job with the Portland Trail Blazers.
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