Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers announced they signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto to a one-year, $1.3 million contract last week to replace Kimmo Timonen, who is out indefinitely with blood clots in his lungs and body.

Del Zotto is only 24 years old. So the question becomes, is the Stouffville, Ontario, native gong to spend one season in "The City of Brotherly Love," or does the potential exist for him to be part of the team's plans beyond 2014-15?

The short answer is that it obviously depends on how well he plays this season with the Flyers and how well he fits in with coach Craig Berube's system. But what are the deciding factors at play here?

MDZ has already put up some impressive numbers during his brief NHL career. As a rookie, Del Zotto scored nine goals and 37 points for the New York Rangers in 2009-10, including 12 points in his first 14 NHL games. He was named the league's top rookie for October 2009. Two years later, he scored 10 goals and 41 points, both career highs. He was also a plus-20 that season and added 10 more points in 20 playoff games.

Since then, however, his progress has faltered and his game has regressed. Del Zotto started last season with the Rangers but got off to a slow start and saw his playing time diminish. He appeared in 42 games and scored just 11 points for the Rangers and occasionally found himself a healthy scratch. Eventually, the Rangers traded Del Zotto to the Nashville Predators for veteran defenseman Kevin Klein.

The change of scenery didn't help Del Zotto. In Nashville, he played in 25 games and scored just one goal and five points. The Predators did not offer him a contract for 2014-15 even though they could have held on to his rights because he was only eligible to become a restricted free agent. He went unclaimed until the Flyers came calling last week after Timonen's health issues became apparent.

Predators general manager David Poile was not impressed with what he saw in Del Zotto. "It was a good try," Poile told Josh Cooper of The Tennessean when asked about the trade. "The disappointing part is Del Zotto is a good player, but right now he's miscast."

Inconsistency was a major factor. According to Larry Brooks of The New York Post, who covered the defenseman during his time on Broadway, Del Zotto earned a reputation as being "difficult to coach" and "not only when he's defending in his own end." It seemed neither John Tortorella nor Alain Vigneault could get the young defenseman back on track during the past two seasons.

For Del Zotto, confidence had a lot to do with his disappointing performance last season. "It's a confidence game," Del Zotto told Frank Seravalli of The Philadelphia Daily News. "If you don't believe in yourself to make the plays that you need to as an offensive player, it's tough to go on from there. I really didn't get much ice time after the first week of the season."

With Timonen's departure, the Flyers had a need for an offensive-minded defenseman, and Del Zotto had the most upside of the available free agents. Del Zotto realizes the offensive ability on the Philadelphia roster. "I think that's where I can step in, move the puck up to a lot of those forwards that can make plays and being able to join the rush and help out and contribute offensively," Del Zotto told Seravalli. "I'm just happy to be another piece of the puzzle."

The young blueliner realizes how vital this season is for his future. "This offseason is the most motivated I've ever been to get back and prove people wrong - and get back to where I was before," Del Zotto told The Philadelphia Inquirer's Sam Carchidi. "I'm excited to join Philadelphia - a great team and a great opportunity for me."

This will be a do-or-die season for MDZ in Philadelphia. If he returns to his previous form and scores 35-40 points while providing some speed and mobility to the Flyers' lineup, he could become part of the team's future beyond next season. If not, the Flyers will not re-sign him and his transition from highly touted rookie to NHL journeyman will be complete.

Shayne Gostisbehere is the Philadelphia Flyers' most NHL-ready prospect right now after winning the NCAA Championship with Union College a few months ago.

He was named the Frozen Four's Most Outstanding Player and signed an entry-level contract with Philadelphia shortly thereafter.

After playing in the final two games of the Adirondack Phantoms' season, Gostisbehere will be looking to make a big push this summer to climb his way into the NHL.

He is exactly the kind of player that Philadelphia needs. He's a tremendous skater and has great offensive ability.

His puck handling is phenomenal, he's got a good shot and he's extremely creative leading the rush from the back. Those are all components largely missing from the Flyers' blue line right now.

But with no major trades involving defensemen for Philadelphia occurring this past offseason, there is still a major glut at the NHL level.

Nicklas Grossmann, Luke Schenn, and Andrew MacDonald aren't very good, but are all signed to sizable deals and won't easily be released.

Braydon Coburn and Mark Streit are quality players who can help anchor a defense, but they aren't working with much talent around them.

Everyone was happy when veteran Kimmo Timonen announced he would return on a one-year, $2 million deal, even though that essentially locked Gostisbehere out of a potential starting spot.

However, Timonen is back home in Finland dealing with blood clots in both his leg and lungs, according to USA Today. That's a scary and severe health issue, and we are all hoping for his safe recovery.

But as Mike Sielski of Philly.com stated, the Flyers must now deal with the very real possibility of losing their best defenseman and a big leader of the entire organization. Timonen is 39 years old, and retirement could now be on the horizon for the 15-year veteran.

That leaves the Flyers with five core defensemen: Coburn, Grossmann, Streit, Schenn and MacDonald. Other than being a dreadful core, there's the obvious fact that a new spot is now available.

On August 5, the Flyers announced that they had signed defenseman Michael Del Zotto, a 24-year-old former 20th overall draft pick of the New York Rangers.

The problem is that Del Zotto stinks now. He broke out as a rookie in 2009-10 but has never gotten back to that level since. 

He was traded during this past season from the New York to Nashville and was a only a borderline NHL-level player. There is a reason he was still on the market in August.

By adding Del Zotto, the Flyers now have four third-pairing-caliber defensemen on their roster. Coburn and Streit are both second-pairing quality, and there are obviously no elite No. 1 guys on the team.

How does Gostisbehere fit into all this? 

If the Flyers had not signed Del Zotto, I would have given the rookie a 90 percent chance of making the opening day roster as the team's sixth defenseman. The Flyers also signed veteran Nick Schultz this past offseason, but he's more of a depth guy and likely would not have blocked Gostisbehere's ascension.

But now the addition of Del Zotto muddies things up a little. He's an offensive player with a big slap shot and has some (highly questionable) potential to quarterback the second-line power play.

He's at least going to be able to hold his own as a bottom-pairing guy, and Ron Hextall probably feels safer bringing in someone with experience to at least compete for a job.

But if we are being realistic, Del Zotto isn't going to make any major impact on the team, and I would prefer giving Gostisbehere a full shot to cement himself.

As Kevin Christmann of BroadStreetHockey discussed a few weeks ago, the Flyers have had a lot of struggles developing their defensemen, and maybe bringing up Gostisbehere so soon would stunt his development.

But he is only three years younger than Del Zotto and competed against quality competition in college for the past three seasons while also playing in the World Junior Championships for Team USA.

As it stands now, here are the potential pairings for the Flyers: Coburn-Streit, MacDonald-Grossmann, and Schenn-Del Zotto.

If you're a Flyers fan and that doesn't make you cry, then you need to read those names again.

Substituting Gostisbehere for Del Zotto would not only be an upgrade from a playing standpoint (in my opinion), but it would also give Flyers fans at least some hope and excitement for the future.

But if I'm making a real prediction, I think those lines I listed above will be how Hextall and coach Craig Berube start things off for 2014-15. 

I see Gostisbehere being the first call-up if an injury occurs mid-season, and he could earn some extra playing time while a guy like Del Zotto or Schenn is a healthy scratch.

But if you're not convinced about Gostisbehere, just watch this highlight tape and then you'll join me in calling for him to be a starter on opening night.

It was a day of change on the blue line for the Philadelphia Flyers.

In the morning came the unfortunate news that veteran defenceman Kimmo Timonen had suffered a significant health problem:

Suddenly down a key defenceman for an indeterminate length of time, the Flyers moved quickly to add an insurance policy in the event that Timonen is unable to play in 2014-15, signing offensive rearguard Michael Del Zotto:

Assuming Timonen isn’t going to be available next season, where does that situation leave Philadelphia on the back end?

Timonen had been likely to assume a top-four role with the Flyers, presumably in partnership with Braydon Coburn on Philly’s top pairing; the two have spent most of the past five seasons together and have good results. But as Del Zotto assumes Timonen’s spot on the roster, it isn’t likely that he’ll also step into the Finnish rearguard’s role at even strength.

Del Zotto, at his best, was a second-pairing even-strength defenceman with the Rangers. In 2013-14, his ice time fell and he slipped to the third pairing, which is also where he played in Nashville. Until he proves otherwise, he’s likely bound for a similar role in Philadelphia.

Del Zotto’s most probable partner is right-shooting Luke Schenn, who as a big, physical stay-at-home type, would seem a logical match for the freewheeling ex-Ranger. Nick Schultz, who can play either side of the ice, will probably start as the team’s No. 7, but he could supplant Del Zotto for a role in the top six.

Moving up the depth chart, there are a number of possible top-four arrangements, but the likeliest would seem to be a top pairing consisting of Coburn and newcomer Andrew MacDonald and a second unit featuring Mark Streit and Nicklas Grossmann.

Streit and Grossmann were regular partners last season, and the Flyers felt strongly enough about MacDonald to sign him to a six-year extension worth $30 million in April, which suggests that they feel he can log heavy minutes at evens (he led the team in even-strength time on ice after being acquired from the Islanders).

Where Del Zotto will help is on the power play, where Timonen was the Flyers’ No. 1 defensive option, averaging 3:25 per night during the 2013-14 season. Streit and Del Zotto will probably take over the primary defensive duties on the man advantage, with MacDonald also seeing time in those situations.

The loss of Timonen on the penalty kill (he played 3:24 per game) may be more difficult to recover from. With a full training camp under his belt, MacDonald should join Coburn as one of the chief defensive pillars of the group, with Schenn and Grossmann supporting. Philadelphia hasn’t trusted Streit on the PK much at all, so the No. 5 role may fall to Del Zotto, who was given spot duty by the Rangers during his time in New York.    

It’s not a bad unit, if the Flyers are right about MacDonald being able to shoulder a heavy load. The problem is the Flyers probably aren’t right about that.

MacDonald’s a rarity in the NHL in that he’s a highly regarded player that the analytics emphatically don’t like (there aren’t that many of these; MacDonald and Jack Johnson are probably the best known). Fortunately for people interested in why this dichotomy exists, MacDonald was dealt to Philadelphia, home to one of the best groups of statistical bloggers on the Internet.

Eric Tulsky’s zone entries project makes it pretty clear where MacDonald’s principle problem lies: He’s bad in the neutral zone. Tulsky found that opponents were most likely to transition from the neutral zone to the Flyers’ end on MacDonald’s side of the ice and further, that MacDonald struggled with both A) preventing the opposition entry and B) preventing the opposition from entering the zone with possession of the puck.

That’s unfortunate. SB Nation’s Kevin Christmann notes that MacDonald is an exceptional player once the puck makes it to the Philadelphia zone, providing strong coverage that was “a welcome addition to a Flyers blue line that all too often ‘puck watches’ and loses sight of their responsibility.” Unfortunately, as Christmann further explains, that isn’t enough to overcome the frequency with which MacDonald allows the opposition to gain the zone with possession. The end result is a good zone player with terrible shot metrics and even worse scoring chance numbers.

MacDonald’s presence, barring a structural shift in his game, should be enough to keep the top pairing from performing all that well. The second pairing of Streit and Grossmann is only middling, while the third pairing relies on two still-young players who were handed great responsibility early in their respective careers and ultimately proved incapable of shouldering it. The group is rounded out by Schultz, who was thoroughly mediocre during his time in Edmonton.

Philadelphia’s blue line wasn’t very good on Monday. It got worse on Tuesday.

Jonathan Willis covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter for more of his work.

Statistics courtesy of NHL.com and Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com. Salary information via CapGeek.com.