Philadelphia Flyers:
FORWARDS (13): Jason Akeson, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Sean Couturier, Claude Giroux, Blair Jones, Vincent Lecavalier, Michael Raffl, Matt Read, Zac Rinaldo, Brayden Schenn, Wayne Simmonds, R.J. Umberger, Jakub Voracek.
DEFENSEMEN (7): Braydon Coburn, Michael Del Zotto, Nicklas Grossmann, Andrew MacDonald, Luke Schenn, Nick Schultz, Mark Streit.
GOALTENDERS (2): Ray Emery, Steve Mason.
INJURED: Ryan White, Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen.
The Flyers potent offense returns for the most part this season as top scores Claude Giroux, Jakub Voracek, and Wayne Simmonds all return. The biggest difference offensively for the Flyers is the addition of R.J Umberger who replaces Scott Hartnell from the offseason trade that brought Umberger back to Philadelphia.
Defense will be a major concern for the Flyers, who lost Kimmo Timonen indefinitely due to blood clots. The Flyers will have to rely on veterans Braydon Coburn, Luke Schenn, Mark Streit and Nicklas Grossman. Newcomers include former New York Ranger, Michael Del Zotto.
Steve Mason will be the Flyers starting goalie this season after tying a career high in wins with 33 last season and having a goals allowed average of 2.50. Net under Ray Emery will backup Mason as he did last season.
Lehigh Valley Phantoms:
FORWARDS (13): Brandon Alderson, Nick Cousins, Austin Fyten, Andrew Gordon, Kevin Goumas, Brett Hextall, Scott Laughton, Taylor Leier, Darroll Powe, Jay Rosehill, Zack Stortini, Petr Straka, Chris VandeVelde.
DEFENSEMAN (7) :Mark Alt, Steven Delisle, Shayne Gostisbehere, Robert Hagg, Oliver Lauridsen, Brandon Manning and Jesper Pettersson.
GOALIES (2): Anthony Stolarz, Rob Zepp
The Phantoms roster has a few high profiled prospects on it this season. Forwards Scott Laughton and Nick Cousins are the prospects that are featured on the offensive side of the puck. Laughton, a first round pick in 2012 had an outstanding season in the juniors last season, scoring at almost a point per game clip.
Defensively, Shayne Gostisbehere and Robert Hagg are the Flyers top two defensive prospects arguably. Hagg, 19 is old enough to be playing juniors but decided to come over to the states last season after playing most of the season in Sweden. Gostisbehere played for Union College last season, having an impressive season which ended in a MVP honor in the Frozen Four in which Union won. As much as a defensive prospect Gostisbehere is, he is also revered for his speed and offensive talent that he showed throughout his collegiate career and this years’ preseason.
Anthony Stolarz is the Flyers’ top netminder prospect this season. Throughout his career, Stolarz has been inconsistent going on both hot and cold streaks for lengthy amount of times. Stolarz will hope to become consistent in the net this season while playing for the Phantoms.
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