When the puck drops tomorrow on the Wells Fargo ice, it will mark the beginning of a season that is filled with questions for the Flyers. They will face the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had their season debut Tuesday night in Montreal where they defeated the Canadiens 4-3.

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Philadelphia - October 2, 2013 - When the puck drops tomorrow on the Wells Fargo ice, it will mark the beginning of a season that is filled with questions for the Flyers. They will face the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had their season debut Tuesday night in Montreal where they defeated the Canadiens 4-3.

The Flyers are plenty familiar with the Leafs, having played them twice in the preseason(winning one in a shootout and losing the other in regulation). The Leafs play a physical brand of hockey, shown by the fact that there were five fights in their intense rivalry game against the Habs on Tuesday. Expect Jay Rosehill to dress, likely ahead of Adam Hall to supply some pugilism along with Zac Rinaldo. The Leafs’ lines Tuesday night were:

JVR-Bozak-Kessel
Lupul-Kadri-Kulemin
Raymond-Bolland-Bodie
Ashton-McClement-Orr

Gunnarson-Phaneuf
Gardiner-Franson
Fraser-Ranger
Rielly

Reimer

Coming off a game last night, it is possible that Jonathan Bernier gets his first regular season start as a Leaf. The Flyers’ starter will not be named until Wednesday morning according to coach Peter Laviolette. On September 29th, the Flyers practiced with the following lines:

Hartnell-Giroux-B. Schenn Read-Lecavalier-Simmonds Talbot-Couturier-Hall Rinaldo-Laughton-Rosehill

Timonen-Coburn Streit-L. Schenn Grossmann-Meszaros Gustafsson-Gill

Voracek did not practice, but is expected to be ready to suit up for the home opener. The most likely scenario is he slots into his spot next to Giroux as the first line right wing, and Schenn shifts to the third line to replace Hall, or slides into a second line wing spot, and one of Read or Simmonds moves to the third line.

The Flyers finished the preseason with a 1-5-1 record. Normally, I wouldn’t put any stock into preseason results, but when the team looked as poor as the Flyers did, it is a cause for concern. Little seemed to go right for them, and they appeared to be out of sync, lacking continuity and chemistry. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt until I see the entire team together for a few games, but they haven’t done anything to inspire confidence.

The Flyers signed defenseman Hal Gill to a one year, $700,000 contract. It’s a move that I don’t particularly understand. Mobility is already a serious problem for this defense, and Gill is slower than every other defenseman on the roster. It appears he won the spot as the 8th defenseman ahead of Bruno Gervais, who was waived and remains with the Phantoms. I see Gervais as a better option because he brings better mobility and puck-moving, something the defense is already lacking. With 8 defensemen on the NHL roster now and both Oliver Lauridsen and Bruno Gervais in the AHL, the Flyers have 10 capable NHL defensemen.

Here are 20 measurable predictions I have for this season:

1. The Flyers have a top 3 power play for the second straight year. There were third last year, and with the additions of Streit and Lecavalier, the second unit should be even more potent.

2. With the addition of Lecavalier and another year of maturity for the young centers, the Flyers go from 23rd last year to a top 15 unit in terms of faceoff percentage.

3. The Flyers are a bottom 10 team in terms of ES GF/GA.

4. Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek prove to be one of the best center-wing combos in the league, totaling over 150 points between the two of them.

5. Neither Emery or Mason takes command of the starting job, with a 55:45 split occurring in either direction.

6. Sean Couturier’s shooting percentage returns to normal after an abnormal year at 5.3%, and he pots at least 20 goals.

7. Scott Laughton does not stand out, and is returned to Oshawa after 9 games to save a year on his contract and allow him to develop offensively.

8. Wayne Simmonds has more goals, power play goals, and penalty minutes than Scott Hartnell, cementing his role as the first PP unit net man.

9. One of the 8 defensemen listed above is traded before the end of October.

10. Zac Rinaldo is not suspended for the entire season despite receiving multiple game misconducts for hard, but clean upon review hits.

11. A goalie other than Emery or Mason starts at least ten games for the Flyers.

12. Vincent Lecavalier will score over 65 points, with over 25 coming on the power play.

13. No Flyers player, coach, or front office member is a finalist for an NHL award.

14. The Flyers struggle against a hard two-man forecheck, and win less than three of eight combined games against the Devils and Rangers.

15. Kimmo Timonen and Mark Streit both finish in the top 20 of points among defensemen.

16. Sean Couturier outscores Brayden Schenn.

17. Emery and Mason will both finish with goals-against-averages above 2.50 and save percentages below .920.

18. Erik Gustafsson plays himself into the starting six, skating in at least 60 games.

19. Scott Hartnell scores fewer than 50 points.

20. The Flyers miss the playoffs, finishing 10th in the Eastern Conference.