What exactly is a 100% healthy Flyers roster capable of? It’s a question I’ve been talking to a lot of hardcore Flyers fans about lately, and I think I can shed some light on this. I think it’s fair to say we had two players playing at 100% of their capabilities for most of the past season, those being Simon Gagne and Mike Knuble. If you add a 100% healthy Kapanen, Primeau, Handzus, Johnsson, and yes, Peter the Great, you have to wonder what is truly possible for this team.
Those first four names should speak for themselves, since we know what they’re capable of when they’re at full strength, and quite simply, its taking this team all the way to Game 7 of the Conference Finals.
Now, let’s talk about ‘him’. We now know that we haven’t seen a 100% healthy Forsberg in perhaps as many as 5 or 6 years. Given the maturation of his hockey mind during that time, I don’t think anyone has truly seen the 100% Peter Forsberg yet, and the thought is mind boggling to say the least. Playing 60 of a possible 82 games this past season, he put up 19 goals and 56 assists. Assuming optimistically, let’s say he was playing at about 75% capacity; the numbers that he is truly capable of should just blow your mind away. In my opinion, when Peter comes back on January 1st, 2007, he will finally be able to prove both his true 100% game, and that he is the missing link that can finally bring a championship to our Flyers.
So, for now, it’s just a dream. However, this dream is far closer than it seems. If the Flyers can make that right off-season moves(link), and avoid the decimating injury bug that has caused them so many problems over the past many years, it’s not a stretch to consider this Flyers team a serious Cup contender in 2007.