It's been 119 days since Patrick Kane's goal won the Stanley Cup for the Chicago Blackhawks. One hundred nineteen long days.

We sweated out the month of July waiting on news of the Ilya Kovalchuk contract.

We sat through the dog days of August ... waiting on news of Ilya Kovalchuk's contract rejection.

We barely entered September, and finally the Summer of Kovalchuk ended.

Now, after all that, we've arrived here, one day before the 2010-11 season begins. Hockey is back and our lives can get back to normal. NHL Center Ice or GameCenter Live has been ordered. Our summer jersey purchases have come in the mail. And our Saturday night will now involve Ron MacLean and a crazy old man who wears suits that match your grandma's shower curtain.

As we sit a day before the puck drops for real, we have 11 questions we want answers to as the season goes on.

After the jump, 11 burning questions puckheads are asking.

In 2008, the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Ottawa Senators in Sweden. In January of 2009, the Detroit Red Wings played the Chicago Blackhawks at Wrigley Field in the Winter Classic. Last fall, the Chicago Blackhawks traveled to Helsinki and swept the two-game series with the Florida Panthers, while in January, the Philadelphia Flyers lost in overtime to the Boston Bruins at Fenway Park.

That's two years in a row a team that began their season in Europe played all the way until June, and three straight seasons the road team in the NHL's annual outdoor game made the finals. Had the 2007 Premiere Games participants Los Angeles Kings or Anaheim Ducks met the Penguins in the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals, then this little quirky streak would could happen for a fourth consecutive season.

So if the Premiere-Winter Classic combo is to happen again, then the Washington Capitals will meet the Columbus Blue Jackets, Minnesota Wild, San Jose Sharks or Phoenix Coyotes in the 2011 finals. And going by the finals outcome for the three visiting Classic teams, the Capitals will lose.

2. Forget about the regular season: What will the Washington Capitals do in the playoffs?

The Washington Capitals have reached the point in their current state that the regular season is just a warm-up for April, May and June.

They've dominated the Southeast Division three years in a row and look to add a fourth straight division title to their mantle this year. High expectations now lay on the shoulders of the team; and after last year's disappointing playoff exit it really is a "Stanley Cup or bust" year.

Washington has its core players like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green locked up for a while, so they'll certainly continue to be competitive in the future. But with so much talent up and down the roster, there will come a point when, if there's still no Cup to show, change will be inevitable -- whether that's on the ice, behind the bench or in the manager's box.

3. Will Colin Campbell again be consistent in his inconsistency in handing out supplemental discipline?

Three things hockey fans will continue to be enraged about this season: Crosby/Ovechkin coverage, VERSUS and whether or not a suspension was justified, along with the length of the punishment.

The infamous "Wheel of Justice" has caused hockey fans to throw up their arms when a dangerous hit or play occurs during a game. It used to be easy to spot as a suspension. That ability no longer exists. From the excuses of players not being prior offenders, and getting off scot-free, to similar plays resulting in different (if any) punishment, we just don't know what to expect anymore when a player gets hit from behind or gets kneed or even takes a shoulder or elbow to the head.

Gary Bettman praised Campbell this week saying he believes the NHL's czar of discipline does an "extraordinary good job". An extraordinary good job spinning a wheel can best be displayed here:

4. Who will end up the long-term starting goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers?

A year ago, the Flyers were a popular Stanley Cup pick. Sure enough, they took the Chicago Blackhawks to six games, but with Michael Leighton as their goaltender -- not the man who was slated to be in net when everyone made their predictions, Ray Emery.

The goaltender question has been hovering around the Flyers organization since Bill Clement took his shirt off for OFF! commercials and the days of Ron Hextall. But despite that, Philadelphia has been one of the NHL's more consistent teams in that span. After a five-year playoff drought in the early 1990's, the Flyers qualified for the postseason 14 of the last 15 years, including two Stanley Cup Finals appearances in 1997 and 2010, and more often than not, they've gotten out of the first round.

So, of course because their goaltending corps heading into this season lists names like "Michael Leighton," "Brian Boucher," "Johan Backlund" and potentially "Sergei Bobrovsky" because GM Paul Holmgren didn't go out and grab a "name" netminder like Tomas Vokoun, Marty Turco, Antti Niemi, or bring back Martin Biron, the never-ending joke about their crease issues will continue ... until a Cup is raised in June.

5. Smaller pads for some goaltenders = more goals?

Goalies will now be wearing pads that are proportional to their body size. The more athletic the position has come, the more the playing field has been leveled between tall and short goalies. Goals won't necessarily increase to dramatic levels, but no longer will shorter goaltenders be able to wear longer pads that cover more space between their legs than taller netminders.

6. How big will the television ratings be for the Winter Classic on NBC?

Love it or hate it, you knew that at some point, the Winter Classic would eventually feature Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. It was inevitable when the two began their meteoric rise and the Jan. 1 outdoor game began drawing huge ratings. Now, with the NHL's television deal expiring after this season, the league is putting all of its chips in and banking on a mega-rating thanks to their two young stars. And they'll get it. Easily.

Even before the NHL and HBO announced the "24/7" show, the game would attract the casual and non-hockey fans because of its uniqueness and, especially this year, star power. Now that there will be a four-week cable show bringing viewers inside the lives of the players on and off the ice, the buzz will be off the charts in late December. Who knows how huge the ratings will be for the Dec. 23 matchup between the two?

The 2011 Winter Classic falls on a Saturday afternoon. A perfect time for those to not only nurse their hangovers from the night before, but add to them throughout the weekend. Jan. 1 isn't what it used to be for college football, as hockey is beginning to own the day; and what better way to stamp your arrival than by bringing the superstar draw.

Which brings us to ...

7. How much of the uniqueness of the outdoor game will be taken away due to the addition of the Heritage Classic?

Outdoor hockey games are all the rage these days. Whether it's the minor leagues, college hockey, European hockey or games in baseball stadiums, football stadiums, or even glaciers, everyone wants to host an outdoor game. It was only a matter of time before the NHL's outdoor game expanded outside of NBC and America and into Canada.

There's always been the fear that expanding the outdoor game will knock some of the shine off of what's now become an NHL tradition of the Jan. 1 game. Now that Montreal and Calgary will be meeting in February, is it too much of a good thing or, since Canadian teams are finally involved, just right? Considering the Winter and Heritage classics are spread out, it may not be as terrible as many believe.

With the rise of the outdoor game on every level of hockey, the "wow, that's a cool idea" thought is long gone. The outdoor game is now about presentation, how it looks in HD, how much cash it'll bring in, and the stadium experience for the fan. Two a year, involving different teams consistently, with one focusing on the six Canadian clubs could keep the games interesting and appealing to not just the casual fan, but the hardcore hockey fan, the league's most important demographic.

8. Is the Norris Trophy Drew Doughty's to lose?

We've been so programmed over the years to make Detroit Red Wings blue liner Nicklas Lidstrom the de facto Norris winner heading into the season. With Zdeno Chara and Duncan Keith knocking Lidstrom from his throne, the field is now wide open on who will be named the NHL's best defenseman.

After exceeding expectations with the Los Angeles Kings last season, Drew Doughty is the consensus favorite to be that next best defenseman in the league. A finalist for the Norris in June, Doughty will be able to build off of a breakout year that saw him score 13 times and log 25 minutes a night for the Kings. Factor in the two weeks he spent surrounded by experienced, veteran makeup of Team Canada during their gold medal run and Doughty, still just 20 years old, is poised to become the second-youngest Norris winner behind Bobby Orr.

But there'll be plenty of competition with Keith, Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara, Mike Green, Chris Pronger and Tyler Myers among the notable names that will likely be contention.

9. Jaroslav Halak is a Blue. Carey Price remains a Canadien. Which Pierre Gauthier decision will prove to be the right one?

The biggest question last spring in Montreal was which goaltender would survive the summer. Just before the NHL draft in June, the question was answered when the Canadiens dealt Jaroslav Halak to the St. Louis Blues and eventually re-signed Carey Price to a two-year extension. Halak would ink a four-year deal a few weeks after being traded.

Pierre Gauthier took over for Bob Gainey as Habs GM last February and his first big decision in charge might also become his most important. The pressure on Price playing in Montreal has already affected him at times and while he's still young and has some maturing to do, the littlest of mistakes will be enlarged under the microscope of the Montreal fans and media.

Halak now leaves Jacques Martin's system, from which both he and the Canadiens benefited. He'll also have a younger defense in front of him, but a pretty good one that was ranked 11th in the NHL last season. Should Halak falter, the Blues can also rely on Ty Conklin to fill in. Should Carey Price struggle, it's, well, Alex Auld time.

10. Will the Phoenix Coyotes fall back to earth this season?

Sure, maybe Ryan Lambert and Five for Howling's Travis Hair were the only two that had the Coyotes pegged as a playoff team last season, but who would have thought they'd shatter franchise records (thanks loser point!) en route to a 50-win, 107-point season? There's no way they match or surpass that number this year, right?

Phoenix lost their top shutdown defender in Zbynek Michalek, but added Ray Whitney to help the offense. Ilya Bryzgalov was Hart Trophy worthy with 42 wins and compiled eight shutouts. They'll bring back Scottie Upshall who was on his way to a career year before tearing his ACL in January. Wojtek Wolski and Lee Stempniak helped the team take 28 points out of a possible 36 after they were acquired at the trade deadline.

A lot went right for the Coyotes since last spring and Year 2 under head coach Dave Tippett could ensure that the career years had by many last year on the roster won't prove to be flashes in the pan.

11. Finally, what percentage of television viewers will suffer eye damage while watching Coach's Corner on Hockey Night in Canada in 3D?

If these fine fashions displayed by Don Cherry weren't damaging enough to your retinas, imagine them in 3D.

Oh, the horror!

Cherry suit pics provided by the wonderful people at Don Cherry Jacket Watch who are doing the Lord's work.

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

By this time next week, the new NHL season will have been underway for a few days. And that's really good news, isn't it?

Over the next couple days, just about every major, minor and inconsequential sports outlet will roll out its predictions for the upcoming season. The experts at ESPN will inevitably predict that the Rangers are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. It will be the 30th year they will have done so.

TSN will say that a Canadian team is, in fact, the odds-on favorite to win it all, before conceding that, OK, maybe half of the other 24 teams in the league have a chance of being better than the worst Canadian squad (Ottawa).

Then Sportsline or somebody will predict the Wild will win the President's Trophy because they haven't seen a hockey game in, like, six years.

I'm not interested in those things. Where everyone ends up at the end of the season isn't as fun as everyone getting his or her feelings hurt along the way.

Here are 20 bold predictions about the 2010-11 NHL season ...

(Coming Up: Brian Campbell injured for Chicago; Bobby Ryan vs. Drew Doughty; Ron Wilson admires Detroit's manliness; Alexei Yashin haunts the NHL; when Moen mauled Gudbrandson; why Cammalleri could be in clear for Niederreiter slash; Schenn wrestles an Aforgator; Theo goes Wild; Blues coach butchers Muppet; latest on Loophole Lou; and a spear gets a gold star.)

2. Ilya Kovalchuk leads the league in power-play goals and actually stays on the right wing for a considerable portion of the season. He and Zach Parise will also make Travis Zajac a fantasy hockey superstar.

3. The Rangers will make the playoffs this year.

4. Olli Jokinen might actually not make any Flames fans cry this year. Not that he'll score 60 points or anything like that to earn his contract, but he won't be actively terrible.

5. Carey Price's house won't need to be under 24-hour surveillance because he'll actually play well and no one will hate him.

6. Taylor Hall will actually beat out Tyler Seguin for the Calder. But the Oilers will be last in the West again this year.

7. Brad Richards will go and put up yet another 90-plus point season and everyone will still act like he's overpaid.

8. The Blues will sneak into the last postseason spot out West this season, not entirely because of Jaroslav Halak, but rather because all those kids will take a big step forward.

9. Rick Nash will continue to be awesome, with at least 40 goals, and no one in Columbus will care because the team is still going to stink.

10. Ryan Miller plays a one-man show in Buffalo for 70-something games and the Sabres still miss the playoffs.

11. The Tampa Bay Lightning power play will be the best in the East.

12. Evgeni Malkin will round back into form this season. Something like 35 goals and 95 points.

13. The Red Wings win the Central this season as heavy losses for the Blackhawks do more damage than people expected.

14. Ilya Bryzgalov will win the Vezina.

15. In a shocking bout of consistency, the Flyers will only dress six different goalies this season.

16. Dustin Byfuglien will be a total disaster at the Atlanta blue line and get moved back to forward well before January.

17. The Florida Panthers will be the worst team in the league.

18. Jussi Jokinen will fall back to earth with a resounding thud. That 60-point season was a crazy fluke.

19. Anze Kopitar becomes widely recognized around the league as a superstar, as people tune into more Kings games to get an eyeful of Drew Doughty.

20. Antti Niemi will do no better for the Sharks than Evgeni Nabokov ever did.

OK, have a good season.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: An actual, real-life question posed by the OC Register's Ducks blog -- Would you rather have Bobby Ryan or Drew Doughty? At last check, votes were, somehow, 125 to 109 in Doughty's favor. In a poll with 234 voters, it should be 234-0. One guy who goes by "Pacific Ocean" is particularly adamant about this.

Atlanta Thrashers: Not a good preseason for new coach Craig Ramsay's boys. Six games, no wins. And for a team that focuses on defense, allowing 18 goals is probably the opposite of good. Though maybe they should be more troubled by their only having scored 10 themselves.

Boston Bruins: At one point in Saturday's exhibition with an Elite League all-star team of sorts, the Bruins were down 1-0. Then they scored three times in 45 seconds. And that was the end of that. Watch the below video for lots of talk from PERSON OF ACTUAL IRISH DESCENT Shawn Thornton.

Buffalo Sabres: Farewell and adieu to Zach Kassian. Now you have to go try and win a third consecutive Memorial Cup. Deal with it.

Calgary Flames: Fantasy owners everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief since Rene Bourque's injury, of which we never quite learned the full nature, has healed and he played Sunday night in Calgary's final exhibition game. That leaves only David Moss, Ales Kotalik, Matt Stajan and Daymond Langkow on the "out indefinitely" list to start the season.

Carolina Hurricanes: Later Monday the 'Canes will play SKA St. Petersburg, which features the great Alexei Yashin! Best part of this article? "Yashin, 36, starred for the Ottawa Senators and New York Islanders..." Starred!

Chicago Blackhawks: Brian Campbell's out four to five weeks, leaving the Blackhawks scrambling to find another defenseman who is woefully overpaid.

Colorado Avalanche: Among the Avs' latest cuts was Ryan Stoa, who lost his job because three rookies were more impressive than him in camp. Not good news for a guy with a season of pro experience, including 12 games in the NHL, already under his belt.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Nikita Filatov is officially in Columbus' top six. Weird, I thought he wasn't even good enough to be on the team last year, eh Hitchcock?

Dallas Stars: Kari Lehtonen had a false-alarm groin issue that nearly held him out of practice, but he's fine now. And luckily he's been upgraded to "elite level" by Mike Heika, though there's no word what that's based on. He's missed 150 games since 2005-06, to groin, ankle, back and "upper body" injuries. Enjoy, Stars fans!

Detroit Red Wings: Ron Wilson called the Red Wings a "real man's team," which is why the Leafs, who spent most of the game standing on a chair and shrieking because Dion Phaneuf thought he saw a mouse, got clobbered 7-3 on Friday. Meanwhile, Henrik Zetterberg lifted heavy things.

Edmonton Oilers: Theo Peckham, Richard Petiot and Shawn Belle all played for a job Sunday night in the Oilers' final preseason game. Liam Reddox had to sweat it out from the press box. Word on demotions should come Monday, but seriously, I don't care how bad the Oilers are, Liam Reddox shouldn't be on an NHL roster.

Florida Panthers: Watch now as Erik Gudbrandson gets punched in the face rather hard by Travis Moen.

Los Angeles Kings: Jonathan Quick is somehow still the starter in L.A., and Jonathan Bernier will back him up. Remind me again which one had the save percentage of .907 last year.

Minnesota Wild: The Wild signed Jose Theodore since Josh Harding's done for forever. Not a terrible insurance pickup, eh?

Montreal Canadiens: Habs Inside Out says hey, whoa, wait a minute you guys, Mike Cammalleri only slashed the buhjeezus outta Nino Niederreiter because he got clobbered by a blindside hit. So that's why he might escape without suspension: because two wrongs make a right.

Nashville Predators: The Preds want to score more goals than they did last season (a paltry 225). Look at that roster and please tell me where they get even 230 goals. They're gonna white-knuckle their way to another easy playoff berth, and isn't it more exciting that way?

New Jersey Devils: Good news Devs fans! That concussion Bryce Salvador has might just save Lou's ass when it comes to that whole salary cap issue. How very CONVENIENT that a team that needs $2.9 million in cap space sees an injury to a player making exactly that much. Yes, very CONVENIENT indeed! Somewhere, Lou is rubbing his hands together maniacally, saying "Yes, YESSSSSSSSS."

New York Islanders: Speaking of Alex Yashin as I was earlier, the Islanders are still using his buyout to stay above the cap floor, but that's not circumventing the spirit of the salary cap at all, no siree bob.

New York Rangers: It seems Rangers fans are a bit divided on whether the final round of cuts was a good or bad thing. Witness consecutive posts on Blueshirt Banter extolling how horrible the decisions were, and then praising them for their judiciousness. (You can also consider this part to be my undying and bottomless lament for underestimating the Dolans' desire to waste money by sending Wade Redden to the AHL, so you morons can feel free to stop chirping me. Get over it.)

Ottawa Senators: David Hale actually made the Ottawa roster, if you can believe it. It will be a fun exercise to see how long he can go without scoring. My bet: all season.

Philadelphia Flyers: Prospect Zac Rinaldo is like the perfect Flyer. Friday night he had four penalties (three of which were in the third period) and almost started a brawl during warm-ups. That's awesome.

Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes have three players from the Czech Republic on their roster, and their trip to Prague is going to be like the freakin' Beatles landing at Idlewild. So much press for Petr Prucha, who I guess is like Ringo.

Pittsburgh Penguins: "Eric Godard expands his role," says the headline. Basically Dan Bylmsa thinks Godard brings more to the team than the ability to punch other tough guys in the face, which is why he's averaging like 4:08 of ice time a night in his two years with the Pens and hasn't gotten into one of the team's 37 playoff games.

San Jose Sharks: Andreas Lilja is making the trip to Europe to (maybe) play with the Sharks, but he still doesn't have a contract. Gotta think if they're lugging him over to Sweden they're gonna sign him, yeah?

St. Louis Blues: No wonder Bourne calls Davis Payne the best coach he ever had: the guy went to a Jedi master for a motivational quote. "I think it was Yoda who said, ‘You either do or do not ... there's no try,'" he said. Come on dawg, get the line right at least.

Tampa Bay Lightning: They're lovin' Guy Boucher in Tampa. Seriously, it looks like Yzerman picked a real winner.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Luke Schenn was not freakin' happy about this Justin Abdelkader hit.

Couple of southpaw bombs right there.

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks released Brendan Morrison, who apparently won't be waiting too long for the phone to ring. There's a line around the block for his services. Funny story, though, Peter Schaeffer, of all people, is still with the club on his pro tryout.

Washington Capitals: Well, it couldn't last forever. In the Caps' last preseason game this year, they finally had their run of five straight wins ended by Nashville. Said Bruce Boudreau, "There's a lot of good system stuff that we really did bad out there. There will be great video for Tuesday."

Gold Star Award

That Derek Boogaard cup check on Chris Neil made me laugh for a while. That's worth $1.6 million right there.

Minus of the Weekend

It's gotta go to the Flyers' disastrous goaltending. Johan Backlund and Sergei Bobrovsky combined to allow nine goals on 35 shots. Yikes.

Perfect HFBoards trade proposal of the week

User PuckInTheNet would like to help ... someone?

Toronto gets

Dustin Penner

3rd rounder

Edmonton gets

Carl Gunnarson

What do you make of THAT?

Signoff

Excuse me, do these effectively hide my thunder?

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can email him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Colorful characters, revered championships, staged fights ... the rink shares plenty with the squared circle. So here at Puck Daddy, we've decided to preview the 2010-11 NHL season with the help of old-school wrestling icons, images and lingo. It's a slobber-knocker, Mean Gene ...

Last Season (41-35-6, 88 points; third in the Atlantic; seventh in the Eastern Conference)

How many times were the Flyers left for dead last season?

When John Stevens was fired 25 games into the season and the Flyers were out of a postseason spot? When Ray Emery's season ended on Feb. 1 due to injury? When a playoff spot came down to an overtime shootout against the New York Rangers because the Flyers couldn't close the deal in Game No. 81? When the team went down 0-3 to the Boston Bruins in the conference semifinals? When the team went down 0-2 against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Finals?

(See: Flyers Eulogy)

Patrick Kane's shot through Michael Leighton's five-hole in Game 6 of the Finals ended the Flyers' unpredictable run at the Stanley Cup. It was a remarkable season, which led to an eventful offseason.

Can the Flyers make it back to the final round and finish what they started last season?

Simon Gagne was the longest-tenured Flyer (since 2000), but was a cap casualty in July when he was traded with a fourth-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning for defenseman Matt Walker and a fourth-round pick.

Defenseman Ryan Parent was traded to Nashville, who originally drafted him, for the rights to Dan Hamhuis, whose rights were then traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who then lost him to Vancouver as a free agent. Wow, what a hassle.

Arron Asham left for a 1-year deal with the Penguins. Ray Emery, Lukas Krakicek and Danny Syvert were all unsigned. Riley Cote abruptly retired to become a minor league coach.

New Additions

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros was a surprise acquisition from the Lightning for a second-round pick. Fellow D-man Sean O'Donnell came over from the Kings for toughness, as did Walker in the Gagne trade. Jody Shelley was signed to be the designated enforcer and add minutes down the lineup.

The most off-the-wall move? Bringing Nikolai Zherdev back from the KHL on a 1-year deal, a bargain gamble.

Wrestler That Best Personifies the Team

The rule-breaking, trash-talking bad ass who wins on his terms (and as his body falls apart). If you think the Flyers are the Stone Cold Steve Austin of hockey gimme a 'hell yeah.'

Forwards

Mike Richards topped 30 goals for the second straight season, although his overall point total fell by 18. He's a captain that leads by example, and is one of the best two-way players in the NHL. And if you don't believe us, there's a creepy turtle who lives between the benches who will agree.

Richards played with Gagne for most of the postseason, along with Jeff Carter and Daniel Carcillo before his scratching. Carter scored 33 goals in 74 games after his star-making 46-goal season in the previous year. This only helped him become catnip for trade rumors.

Who was the Flyers' leading scorer in the playoffs? Danny Briere, an absolute revelation for his toughness in a 30-points-in-23-games performance. He also led the team with four game-winning goals. Also dynamic in the playoffs: Claude Giroux, who is going to be counted on heavily this season to pick up Gagne's points; and Ville Leino, who scored 21 points in 19 playoff games, each of them a tiny little dagger in a Red Wings fan's eye.

Scott Hartnell had to deal with a load of off-ice drama (fact or fiction) and struggled in the regular season. In the playoffs, he regained the form that led to his 30-goal season in 2008-09. He played with Carter and Briere for most of last season.

Blair Betts in a vital grunt, especially on the kill. Same can be said for Ian Laperriere, although he also generates headlines like this. James van Riemsdyk could have a breakout year, and has played with Zherdev in the preseason. Jody Shelley can still toss bombs, as Colton Orr would tell you if he could remember them:

Defense

Pronger may not have been the best player on the ice every game of the postseason, but damn if he wasn't the most valuable. He ate up ice time and shut down opponents. He led by example and took the heat off his teammates by becoming a media focal point. It was quintessential Pronger: What other player can vie for the Conn Smythe while getting called out in an opponents' Cup celebration, getting his sexuality questioned in the celebratory locker room and having a major metropolitan newspaper place him in a dress?

Pronger is healing up knee injury to start the season, and there's no doubt some wear on those (soon to be) 36-year-old legs. Luckily, the Flyers have one of the deepest blue lines in the conference to share the regular-season burden.

Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn struggled at times last season but remain a solid pairing; Timonen had 39 points last season, with 19 on the power play.

Matt Carle was Pronger's frequent defensive partner last season, but the addition of Pronger's old blue line-mate Sean O'Donnell could affect that. The acquisition of Andrej Meszaros gives the Flyers a 25-year-old puck-mover who still hasn't matched the 39 points he scored as a rookie. Oskars Bartulis played 53 games last season for Philly and was a minus-12. He and Matt Walker are battling for the seventh defenseman spot.

Goaltending

The Flyers currently have four goaltenders vying for time: Michael Leighton, who backstopped the team through its Eastern Conference semifinal rally through Game 6 of the Finals; Brian Boucher, the steady veteran keeper whose injury led to Leighton's run; Johan Backlund, the 29-year-old Swede who played mostly in the AHL last season; and Sergei Bobrovsky, whose raw talent has some labeling him the team's next franchise goalie.

Leighton hasn't started more than 33 games in the regular season, but started 13 playoff games while posting a 2.46 GAA ... even if his Finals performance wasn't all that strong. The Flyers signed him for two years; will he emerge from camp as the starter? Can Bobrovsky earn the backup role? There's as much promise here as there is doubt this group can be solid for 82 games.

Match We'd Pay To Watch

The ultimate grudge match: Ian Laperriere vs. cue cards:

Breakout Player

James van Riemsdyk had 19 points in the first two months of the season, but finished the season with 35. Playoff experience and increased responsibilities (playing up with Jeff Carter, for example) this season could have JVR known for more than being the pride of Middletown, NJ and this ridiculous goal.

Potential Flop

Could it be anyone but Zherdev? It's only a 1-year, $2 million deal, but Zherdev can disappear for stretches during the season. Said Danny Briere of his new teammate: "We know he's very skilled and a dangerous player. Hopefully, he gets on board with the system here and the leadership we have." Hopefully.

Finishing Move

Claude Giroux should throw a few thousand more moves into his next shootout attempt.

Special Teams

The Flyers were third in the NHL in power-play efficiency (21.5 percent). They'll have to replace Simon Gagne's 19 points on the man advantage. They were 11th in the League with a penalty-killing efficiency of 83 percent.

Coach/GM

Peter Laviolette coached through a ton of adversity, from injuries to personality clashes, and managed to lead the Flyers two within two victories of the Stanley Cup. His system fit the talent on the roster, his temperament was what the team needed. In his second year with the Hurricanes, they won the Stanley Cup. Just sayin'.

Paul Holmgren made the bold decision to acquire Chris Pronger and the daft decision to sign him to a retirement contract that will still count against the cap when he retires. Which is to say that for every shrewd move, there's a frustrating one for Flyers fans. There's no denying Holmgren's impact last season in acquiring everyone from Pronger to Ian Laperriere to Ville Leino; will this summer's moves have the same positive impact? Which is to say: Gagne for Walker?

2010-11 Preseason Report Card:

Forwards: B
Defense: A-
Goaltending: C-
Special Teams: A-
Coaching: B+
Management: B

Main Event or Dark Match? (Prediction)

The Flyers are a playoff team with a shot at the division title, as their gritty collection of forwards and a stout defense covers for below average goaltending. Provided their key forwards can remain healthy.

Entrance Music for 2010-11 Season

The 2010-11 Philadelphia Flyers: The next degeneration of the Broad Street Bullies. And if you're not down with that, we've got two words for you: Penguins fan.

There's probably no greater motivation in hockey for a championship-starved team than shouldering the disappointment of a city while watching your opponents pop champagne and talk trash on the very home ice those fans treat as sacrosanct.

Which is to say the Philadelphia Flyers will be plenty motivated next season. But so will 14 other teams in the Eastern Conference.

An honest evaluation of the Flyers' postseason, one week after they were eliminated: They were a talented team that rediscovered themselves through a coaching change and dealing with injury adversities. They outworked opponents in a terribly weak conference draw. They captured some lightning in a bottle, gave the Chicago Blackhawks a hell of a run but simply didn't have enough offense, goaltending or stamina to outlast them for the Cup.

The stamina issue is a product of having more comebacks than Travolta during their playoff run; but the offensive and goaltending issues are self-inflicted, and how general manager Paul Holmgren addresses them will determine whether this Flyers team can repeat the Pittsburgh Penguins' feat of going from bridesmaid to bouquet tosser in the span of two postseasons.

Or continue a larger trend of post-finals hangovers for franchises.

Coming up, the four key questions the Flyers must answer in the offseason about their roster.

Johan Backlund signed a two-year deal with the Flyers this week, and they now have the 28-year-old NHL newbie and veteran Brian Boucher under contract. Michael Leighton, who surrendered that awful game-winner to Patrick Kane in Game 6 but also led the Flyers' march to the finals, is an unrestricted free agent. So is Ray Emery. Guess which one is more likely to return to the Flyers?

The real issue: Can any of these guys carry the Flyers to the Stanley Cup? There are cases to be made for them; but there are also other options.

Tomas Vokoun appears off the table for now, as the Florida Panthers have committed to him being the keeper for their young team.

Carey Price or Jaroslav Halak? Both are restricted, both would either cost a hefty offer sheet or significant assets going back to Montreal. But it can be argued that either would be an upgrade over the current crop.

Here's how Chuck Gormley of the Courier Post sees it:

Really, it comes down to this: Do you re-sign Michael Leighton at about $2 million and let him challenge Johan Backlund for the starting job? Or do you let Leighton walk and give up a player like Carter to land a prospect you can groom into your No. 1 goalie for the next 10 years? It appears highly unlikely the Flyers will go the free-agent route with a goalie, simply because it would be cost-prohibitive.

It's a difficult decision between the pipes, because the Flyers won the conference and nearly won the Cup without a big name in goal.

2. What to do with Jeff Carter?

If there was one player who took the brunt of criticism from Flyers fans in the finals, it was Carter, who returned from injury and was a frustrating non-factor on most nights.

The team is loaded at center and he's an ill fit on the wing. He's on the last year of a contract with a $5 million cap hit that doesn't have a no-trade clause like other tradeable assets (Hartnell, Briere) have.

He's the odd-man out, and he's got a ton of value. You hate trading an incredible offensive talent in his mid-20s ... but you'll love what he can bring back in a trade, and not having to pay him the following summer (or watching him leave).

3. Can the scoring depth keep improving?

Every time Dan Carcillo contributed the odd goal or Arron Asham used his one move on a goalie, the fact that the Flyers had a few too many bruisers in their lineup became a non-factor. But when you have two incredibly talented third-line scorers like Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk, a bruiser doesn't do them justice.

From Broad Street Hockey:

As JVR continues to get better, he'll make Giroux a move effective player. Arron Asham has nice hands, but I think we can agree that he's wasting Giroux's talents a bit — or, you could say that Asham looked better than he actually is because of Giroux's talents. If you put a winger with some touch on that wing, though, you make Giroux a much better player and you improve the production from that line.

Indeed. It's not exactly a bumper crop for any position in this summer's free agency, but there could be a cheap veteran solution for that wing man.

4. Finally, who are the fifth and sixth defensemen?

Here's Peter Laviolette on the what might be the third-pairing next season:

Q: Ryan Parent a couple years ago was knocking on the door of the top four (defensemen), and it seems like the last couple years the injuries have been a problem with him. Do you still see an upside there?

"Everybody knows he was out and he came back. This is an important summer for Ryan. He's still a young defenseman trying to figure out that position in the National Hockey League against some of the greatest players in the world that you see night-in and night-out. It's a difficult role, a difficult job, and there's a lot of learning that goes on there. I think if he has a good, strong summer of working out, conditioning and preparing himself for training camp, there's definitely room for improvement and there's upside for him. We're looking forward to that."

Q: How about Oskars Bartulis?

"Same thing. They're a little bit different in their game, but I feel the same about Oskars, that he's got to come in in excellent shape, get stronger. He's going to be another year older and the experience of a good year, his first year in the NHL, and be able to build on that. Hopefully he'll come in a little wiser, a little stronger, and compete for one of those top six spots."

Parent's restricted, so he'll be back. Lucas Krajicek is unrestricted, so there's a question mark. The issue: Do you need to find a veteran blue-liner to improve on Krajicek and play with Bartulis, or can two young players exist on the third pairing?

GM Paul Holmgren has said that he's happy with what the Flyers have here, despite them being invisible in the finals.

For the Flyers, the goaltending conundrum is the essential question, and could answer what they do about Carter going forward. They have a legit excuse not to do anything dramatic between the pipes, which is that Leighton and Boucher led them to the Cup Finals. But in the end, there wasn't a fan in Wachovia Center who watched that Kane goal and was pleased with the Flyers' goaltending, was there?

This team is built to contend next season. A few tweaks, and it could be for the Cup again.

No. 1 Star: Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

The Wings' rookie netminder had only won three of 10 shootouts this season, but he stopped 10 of the Nashville Predators' 11 chances in the skills competition to go along with 33 saves in Detroit's 1-0 victory. The Wings are now just a point behind Nashville for the fifth seed. The Preds' Pekka Rinne was also credited with a shutout, making 38 saves. Niklas Kronwall had the game-winner in his first career shootout try.

No. 2 Star: Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

Marleau had a four-point night to lead the Sharks over the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2, and maintain their division and conference leads. He had three assists and an unassisted goal in the second period, his 42nd of the season. He now has 80 points, the second time in his career he's reached that number.

No. 3 Star: Johan Hedberg, Atlanta Thrashers

The Thrash refuse to die, as Hedberg stopped 34 shots in Atlanta's 4-0 whitewash of the Carolina Hurricanes. Rich Peverley and Evgeny Artyukhin scored 57 seconds apart in the second. The Thrashers remain two points in back of the Bruins and are now two points in back of the Philadelphia Flyers as well.

Honorable mention: Derek Roy had a hat trick, including two power-play goals, in the Buffalo Sabres' 7-1 rout of the Tampa Bay Lightning, clinching a playoff berth for the first time since 2007. ... Sidney Crosby had three assists and Ruslan Fedotenko had a goal and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins overpowered the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-1. ... Martin Brodeur made 25 saves and Dainius Zubrus scored a key second-period goal as the New Jersey Devils clinched a playoff spot and defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-2. ... John Tavares made a nice pass on an odd-man rush and Josh Bailey beat Mathieu Garon at 2:58 of overtime, giving the New York Islanders a season sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets with a 4-3 win. ... Rookie defenseman Erik Karlsson had three assists and Daniel Alfredsson scored his 20th as the Ottawa Senators topped the Florida Panthers, 3-2. Alfredsson now has at least 20 goals in 10 straight seasons. ... Brad Richards had two goals and an assist as the Dallas Stars knocked off the Los Angeles Kings, 4-1. ... Nikolai Kulemin scored the OT winner and Jonas Gustavsson (36 saves) outplayed Henrik Lundqvist (29 saves) as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated the New York Rangers, 3-2. ... Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for the shutout in the Boston Bruins' 5-0 domination of the Calgary Flames. ... Finally, congrats to the Phoenix Coyotes, who knocked off the Colorado Avalanche, 6-2, to clinch their first playoff berth since 2002 -- in front of 17,188 at Jobing.com Arena, no less.

Did you know? With two assists, Henrik Sedin now has 101 points on the season for the Vancouver Canucks.

Dishonorable mention: Miikka Kiprusoff was pulled after surrendering five goals, but center Craig Conroy was the goat of the game in the Flames' embarrassing loss. The veteran had a pair of holding calls converted into Boston power-play goals, and then had Patrice Bergeron bounce a puck off his skate for another goal. ... Kyle Cumiskey and Adam Foote were both a minus-3 for the Avs. ... Flyers rookie goalie Johan Backlund was forced out of the game with an injury after stopping 22 of 24 shots; Brian Boucher gave up two goals on seven shots. ... Finally, Antero Niittymaki's three goals on six shots might have been the ugliest thing in Tampa's loss to Buffalo, were it not for this Vincent Lecavalier spear on Tim Kennedy that earned him a major and a game misconduct:

Ah, to live in the moment.

With the Boston Bruins up 4-0 on the Carolina Hurricanes Saturday night, Jack Edwards commented that everyone that had broken their ankles jumping off the Bruins bandwagon would now be pulling their hamstrings climbing back on.

He, of course, exhibited great glee in taking his told-ya-so moral high ground while smugly noting that last year's Boston Bruins -- ya know, the ones that won the East!!! -- also started the season at 1-1.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Another Bruins team that started the season 1-1: The 2006-07 side that finished with 76 points. The point being that, shocking though it may be, the first two games of an 82-game schedule aren't necessarily an indicator of future success or failure.

Case in point: Alexander Ovechkin. I think even he would admit that his pace through two games, in which he's scored 3-3-6, is a little hard to maintain. Not that he wouldn't love to finish the year with 123-123-246, it just seems unreasonable. Brooks Laich, similarly, is unlikely to finish in a four-way tie for the Rocket Richard with Ovie, Wojtek Wolski and Patrick Marleau.

(Coming up: An incredibly bloody Lucic fight in Boston; the shakeup in Ottawa; a player is hurt again in Carolina; Gagner brawls Conroy off the face-off; Khabi blows it in Edmonton; a tough cap situation in Philly; a space cadet in Phoenix; Ron Artest: Puckhead; and no one besides Craig Anderson shows up in Colorado.)

The first few games of the season always feature freakish statistical outliers. Josh Gorges and Adam Pardy of all people lead the NHL in shooting percentage at 1.000. Through two games, Jay Bouwmeester has played 59:12 to lead the league in ice time (actually, they're not very likely to rein that in), but Joe Corvo is next at 57:45, nearly two and a half minutes per game more than Chris Pronger. Sorry Columbus fans, RJ Umberger's not going to finish with 82 shorties.

Antti Niemi and Ray Emery probably won't keep the shutout streaks alive for the rest of the season, and it seems likely that Craig Anderson's league-leading win total will eventually fall to goalies that are actually on good teams. And along those same lines, Colorado's stranglehold on the first seed in the West will almost certainly weaken in the coming week or so, and Martin Brodeur's stay on the second page the NHL's of goals-against average stat tracker can't be long for this world.

So please, everyone, let's be serious here. There's no reason to think we're looking at a Caps/Blues Cup Final because they're at the top of the standings on Oct. 5 and the Red Wings won't be dead last.

Let's let the rest of the season go and see how everything shakes out.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Ryan Getzlaf knows he gets to fly under the radar because he's on the Ducks (pun only partly intended). No one in LA, outside of a small group, really cares about the team, so he basically gets to be a top-5 forward in the league without answering a million tough questions every night. Sid Crosby probably envies him.

Atlanta Thrashers: The Thrashers decided they wanted to get some youth in the mix when it came to leadership, so they gave an A to 19-year-old Zach Bogosian. He's the youngest player in the league with a letter on the front of his jersey, beating Kyle Okposo and Jonathan Toews by a couple years.

Boston Bruins: One of these days, Milan Lucic will stop giving me a reason to put one of his fights in this section. This is not one of those days.

Buffalo Sabres: Nervous fans, fear not: The Sabres loss to the Habs on Saturday wasn't their fault. It was the salary cap's. Don't you feel better about it now?

Calgary Flames: Craig Conroy got in a fight (I know) against Sam Gagner (I know!), but jeez he went down easy.

It was the 38-year-old Conroy's third fight ever. One time he fought Jarome Iginla. True story.

Carolina Hurricanes: Big surprise: Erik Cole is hurt. Broken bone in his left leg. Out four to six weeks. Please try to contain your shock and dismay.

Chicago Blackhawks: Gotta hand it to the NHL for sticking with a failed idea (sound familiar?). Despite disappointing attendance and it being a general waste of time, former Chicago resident and the senior VP of NHL International Ken Yaffe says the league will continue to start the season in Europe.

Colorado Avalanche: Of all the places you'd think only 13,416 would show up, I bet you wouldn't have picked Colorado. The economy and all that, I understand, but that's still an awful small number to see the hometown boys play a pretty good team like Vancouver, especially given how well the Avs had played on Thursday.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Rostislav Klesla, the only original Blue Jacket still with the team, signed a big four-year, $11.9 million extension. That's a pretty decent cap hit for him.

Dallas Stars: After getting speared in the chest on Saturday, Mike Modano might not be good to go Tuesday against Edmonton. He'll get an MRI today.

Detroit Red Wings: The Detroit media is already piling on backup Jimmy Howard, whose play was less than desirable against the Blues. Not that he doesn't deserve it.

Edmonton Oilers: Last year the Oilers won just 18 games at home. And now they say they'll improve on that. They did not, however, get off to the best start by clawing their way back into a tight game with Calgary before blowing it inside a minute to go (more on that later).

Florida Panthers: Hey, look who finally signed Dominic Moore. I'm sorta surprised it took this long for someone to jump on him.

Los Angeles Kings: If you didn't see the Kings/Coyotes game Saturday night, you missed a whopper. The Kings hit four posts, Ron Artest professed his love for the sport of hockey (he and Mike Milbury could give enforcers some pointers on crowd control), and Drew Doughty had an absolutely horrific night despite picking up a goal and an assist. I guess one out of 82 ain't so bad.

Minnesota Wild: Somewhat interestingly, it turns out Jacques Lemaire was nearly fired midseason last year. After a real bad December, they decided to wait until early January to do it, but by then the Wild had started demolishing teams, so the issue was dropped. Kinda explains why he just quit at the end of the year though, doesn't it?

Montreal Canadiens: Ryan O'Byrne? Out six weeks. Glen Metropolit? Also out, iffy for tomorrow night against Calgary but at least he made the trip. Andrei Markov? Out too, as I'm sure you've heard. This has been a productive two games for the Canadiens, yessir.

Nashville Predators: Dan Ellis made a big play in the Preds' win on Saturday, wiring a perfect tape-to-tape pass to James Neal, who is, unfortunately, not on his team. Neal scored no problem, but Ellis at least got to joke about it since his team snuck away with a win. Quipped Ellis: "I thought I had a chance to score there."

New Jersey Devils: Almost nothing went right for the Devs on Saturday. They got crushed by Philly, they looked bad doing it, too many guys took long shifts and they just weren't disciplined. It got so bad that Jacques Lemaire had to bench Andrew Peters for mouthing off to the refs. Not how you want to start a season for sure.

New York Islanders: B.D. Gallof put up an excellent and lengthy post yesterday, positing that perhaps the whole Lighthouse Project kerfuffle was manufactured by Charles Wang as a means of getting the fans on his side, even though his intention has always been to move the team at the earliest convenience. Pro-Project signs were even given out to the fans by team management. What a disaster.

New York Rangers: Congratulations to Michael Del Zotto, who scored his first NHL goal on Saturday with his family in the building. Nothing else of note happened in Rangerland, and whether that's a good or bad thing is up to you.

Ottawa Senators: The Sens changed up their lines after their ugly opening-game loss to Atlanta. I don't know what this reminds me of more: rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic or the Hindenburg.

Philadelphia Flyers: You know your team is used to catching a beating salary-wise when fan blogs are actively breaking down the cap hits of two guys that didn't play a game and were sent down to the AHL. So for those wondering at home, the twin terror of Johan Backlund and Marc-Andre Bourdon's cap hits totaled roughly $23,500, or .04 percent of the Flyers' total cap space. Dodged a bullet there.

Phoenix Coyotes: The key to Scotty Upshall's success is apparently kineticism. "I'm a guy, you got to keep the legs moving or I'm a space cadet out there," he said. "I love going hard, finishing checks, going to the net hard, and that was the key." The good news for him is the whole team will be moving next season. *rimshot* Okay, I'll see myself out.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Sidney Crosby's off to a hell of a start, eh? Two goals and an assist in two games, playing pretty well in his own end, and dominating the dot to the tune of 62.5 percent while taking more than a third of his team's draws. That's a captain, right there.

San Jose Sharks: Isn't two games into the season a little early to be busting out the headline "Top line finally starts scoring?" You mean it took them more than one game to get that Heatley guy 100 percent up to snuff with his brand new linemates, team, conference and time zone? PREPOSTEROUS I SAY!

St. Louis Blues: St. Louis Game Time with a pair of great photos of the sports pages of Aftonbladet. After St. Louis' Friday win, the headlines screamed "Here [Paul Kariya] ruins the party." After Saturday's, it called the weekend "The Swede Fiasco." Handing the Wings their lunch like that has got to feel awesome for Blues fans.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The other day Greg made a joke about the Lightning having too many defensemen (he did, I swear!). Well who's laughing now, Wyshynski? Kurtis Foster is out for a week or so. They had this ace up their sleeve all along.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Chemmy from Pension Plan Puppets suggested this strange thing get a nod this morning. I assume that, because I didn't understand a second of it apart from "Damien Cox hates the Maple Leafs," at least Leafs fans will enjoy it. So please do. We need more bewildering things in the hockey blogosphere.

Vancouver Canucks: Now this is a scary prospect: In addition to signing Andrew Raycroft, the Canucks also attempted to bring Dan Cloutier back for a tryout during camp. And the first comment on that post was a real winner. Said NLK, "Luongo is no better then Cloutier ..." He went on after that, you see, but I couldn't finish reading it because I was lying on the floor laughing hysterically for 45 minutes.

Washington Capitals: Ted Leonsis got a bit contentious (from the look of things) in a conversation about the 2014 Olympics. I don't know why we're talking so much about them this year, but whatever.

Play of the Weekend

This was a straight-up heist by Ray Emery on Saturday.

Think the Flyers are happy they yanked him outta Russia right now?

Gold Star Award

With all due respect to each and every one of the seven players that racked up three points on Saturday, I think I have to go with Craig Anderson for this one. He made 35 saves to swipe a shutout against a division rival that should have creamed the Avs.

(Not pictured: the Ice Girl he's probably ogling.)

Minus of the Weekend

Dear Nikolai Khabibulin, this is not how you make a good first impression:

The Oil are about to go into overtime with their hated rival in their home opener, and that's the game-winning goal inside a minute to go? Yikes. (Not to say I didn't actually laugh out loud at this turn of events on Saturday night, mind you.)

Perfect HFBoards trade proposal of the week

Silverback91 knows that it's the small trades that make champions. Have a gander at this blockbuster:

Burke likes having a lot of toughness and grit on his team so:

to Tor:

Darcy Hordichuk

to Van:

7th round pick

this saves the Canucks 275k in cap space as Tanner Glass can easily replace Hordichuk.

Mmm, that sounds good. I'll have that.

Signoff

So long.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness pretty much every day over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Currently sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers have had a relatively quiet, but successful season.

(Have any Flyers been suspended at all this season? Somewhere inside the NHL offices in New York, Gary Bettman is patting himself on the back after his talking-to of the team after last season's suspension party on Broad Street.)

Keep in mind that looking at the standings today, it might seem as if the Flyers are battling for that fourth spot at first glance; but they also have a couple of games in hand over the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Rangers, and Carolina Hurricanes, the teams chasing them.

With the way that goaltender Martin Biron has been playing of late (6-3 in his last nine starts, despite last night's loss to the Florida Panthers) and a now-finally healthy Daniel (sorry, Danny) Briere back in the lineup, that's enough to have the New Jersey Devils at least be looking over their shoulders a bit, should they slip up in the final nine games of the season.

Are the Flyers the best dark-horse contender in the Eastern Conference?

The return of Briere has now made an already deep Flyers lineup deeper and comes at the perfect time of the season as he told ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun:

"That's been my focus, especially since the last surgery in January, my focus has been on the stretch drive and the playoffs," said Briere, who is in the second season of an eight-year deal. "The best part of the season is still ahead of me."

[...]

"We have three very dangerous scoring lines that can hurt you at any given time," Briere said. "With my comeback and the emergence of [rookie] Claude Giroux, it makes us a little more complete."

More complete, and with added firepower to the NHL's seventh highest scoring team.

With their deep lineup, the key cog in the Flyers playoff run will again be goaltender Biron. After years of playing the backup role in Buffalo, Biron is finally emerging as a solid No. 1 and experiencing the playoffs for the first time last season, he's again a contender for this year's annual "hot playoff goalie."

After dispatching the Washington Capitals in a first-round, seven-game series and then upsetting the number one seed Montreal Canadiens, Biron's gas tank ran out as Philadelphia was blown away by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Final. With a year's playoff experience and an improved defense corps, including a healthy Kimmo Timonen, who's to say that the Flyers can't make a run again? This time though, not so surprisingly.

The 31-year old Biron will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, so you know he wants a raise from his current $3.5 million/year deal.

With the Flyers signing 27-year old Swedish goaltender Johan Backlund yesterday, it's Biron's crease to earn in the long-term -- if his play down the stretch can show the Philadelphia brass he's worthy of the investment.