NHL Season Preview: Philadelphia Flyers

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: A pair of ex-Islanders and no one else who is very exciting; Arron Asham, Bryan Berard, Ossi Vaananen, Glen Metropolit. Unlike last year, the Flyers did not make a big splash this summer, mainly due to cap concerns.

Who's Out: Salary dumps galore; RJ Umberger, Vaclav Prospal (who was a rental), Jim Dowd, Jaroslav Modry, Jason Smith.

What's Changed: Not a whole lot. The Flyers are basically returning the same team that finished sixth in the conference with 95 points a year ago minus RJ Umberger and his 50 points. Jeff Carter, Joffrey Lupul and Randy Jones all received contract extensions to push this team closer to the cap than any other in the NHL, according to NHLNumbers.com. But hey, at least Derian Hatcher's $3.5 mil will only count for one more year!

This team is basically going to stay the way it is for this season unless they unload some money. When they locked up $37 million on six players, you could could kind of see all this coming. Not that they're a bad team -- not at all -- the Flyers just happen to be locked into their current roster for the time being.

Who's on the Hook: I'm not really sure that there is anyone on the hook in Philly. This is a young team that made a lot of moves last summer and reaped the benefits. They're going back out there with about the same team this year and may have improved a bit with another year under the belt of some of their younger players. Honestly, if anyone is on the hook here, it's me for writing such a short preview.

Where They'll Finish: Continuing with the theme of similarities, I would predict a similar result for a similar team. It's going to be a highly competitive Atlantic Division again this year so that doesn't make the going any easier. They should make the playoffs, but it's going to be close. They're looking at finish between sixth and ninth in my book.

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NHL Preview 2008

Washington Capitals
Alex Ovechkin will need to be a valuable franchise asset on and off the ice to get the season going for the Capitals.

Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

Tampa Bay Lightning
The Lighting have Barry Melrose as their coach, the No. 1 pick from the summer's entry draft, and countless other boosts to their franchise.

Doug Benc, Getty Images

Carolina Hurricanes
Injuries have plagued this team last season and it looks like the story will be the same this season. The Hurricanes luck will have to improve for them to have a successful season.

Gerry Broome, AP

Atlanta Thrashers
Atlanta finished the 2007-08 season 22nd in the league in goals scored and also gave up the most goals in the NHL. Obviously, things have to change for this struggling team.

Dave Reginek, Getty Images

Florida Panthers
Armed with a new coach, the Panthers will have to improve from last season, as they allowed the second-most shots on goal and finished 20th in goals scored.

Eliot J. Schechter, Getty Images

Buffalo Sabres
The Sabres have missed the playoffs the last two seasons despite being in the Conference Finals for two straight years prior, the biggest challenge for this team is re-building the chemistry that they had a few years ago.

Dave Reginek, Getty Images

Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens are hoping that a couple minor tweaks and the experience of last year's run will combine to make this year's team all the more dangerous.

Richard Wolowicz, Getty Images

Boston Bruins
A big boost for this team will be a healthy Patrice Bergeron..

Andre Ringuette, Getty Images

Toronto Maple Leafs
If they can get a few goals to go in, Toronto is probably not nearly as bad as advertised. Making the playoffs is quite unlikely, but they certainly have bad company in the Eastern Conference.

Dave Sandford, Getty Images

Ottowa Senators
The Senators have a big question mark at defense and Jason Smith is wearing the target on his back.

Bjorn Larsson Rosvall, SCANPIX / AP