From Ed Barkowitz, at the Skate Zone today ...
The Flyers benefited from the development of their young players late in the regular season and into the postseason. Coach John Stevens is counting on two of his youngsters to maintain themselves physically during the offseason. If so, they will be even more important components by the time next training camp rolls around.
"That’s going to be up to them," Stevens said Tuesday from the team's practice facility in Voorhees. "We love what we see out of our young players. They’ve got great team values. They’re very competitive and they have a skill level that should allow them to be NHL players. Whether that happens next year or not is going to be up to them.
"This is a critical summer for our team and certainly for our young players. We asked for a big commitment last year and it needs to be an even bigger commitment this year. For guys like Steve Downie and Ryan Parent, their preparation over the summer is critical. They are going to be given every opportunity next year to earn a spot on our team."
Rich Hofmann has been at the Daily News since 1980. He previously blogged the Eagles' postseason run in 2006. 
Ed Barkowitz was the first Philadelphia Newspaper journalist to write a blog, starting back in 2002.
Comments (4)
With today's Salary Cap you almost have to have great young players with low Salaries. I'd be very surprised if they diddn't make the team.
Posted by flyler | May 20, 2008 6:10 PM
It's interesting, of all the playoff teams, the Capitals have the most room to add players.
Penguins are in trouble, The Flyers are close to the top. Montreal may go after Hossa...
The Capitals could be real scary once they sign everyone, and add a D man and get Nylander and Clark back.
Posted by Upside for next year? | May 20, 2008 7:09 PM
Yeah, The Caps look scary. There's plenty of room to work around Ovie. They need a goalie though. Emery has been mentioned. I could see Conklin going there too.
Posted by c | May 20, 2008 8:06 PM
It stands to reason that the Flyers will have to improve in order to return to the conference finals and that Parent and Downie have to step up if that is to happen.
The other things that need to happen are getting Jones and Carter signed. I don't expect Giroux to be on the big club, even though he lit it up in junior hockey this season, so signing Umberger is actually pretty important in terms of keeping up with their conference rivals. They need some luck on the Hatcher front in order to get Umberger signed and to sign a decent replacement for Jason Smith.
Posted by terp | May 20, 2008 9:29 PM