Philadelphia Flyers

The Philadelphia Flyers are nothing if not interesting during the offseason.

Keeping with their penchant for big summer trades, on Monday, the Flyers dealt left wing Scott Hartnell to the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for R.J. Umberger, a former Flyer who brings more versatility to the lineup than Hartnell.

The #Flyers have traded Mike Richards & Jeff Carter ('11), James vanRiemsdyk ('12) and now Scott Hartnell on June 23 (h/t @BroadStHockey).

— FOX Sports Live (@FOXSportsLive) June 23, 2014

Umberger also brings fewer goals and less offensive ability, so this is quite the perplexing deal on the surface.

Hartnell and Umberger are both 32 years old. Their cap hits are nearly identical—Hartnell's is $4.75 million, while Umberger's is $4.6 million—although Umberger's contract expires in 2016-17, while Hartnell's deal runs through 2019. According to Elliotte Friedman of Hockey Night in Canada, neither team retained any salary.

Hartnell had to waive a no-trade clause to go to Columbus; Umberger had a limited no-trade clause that clearly didn't include Philadelphia on a list of teams to which he would not accept a deal.

If the superficial reasons for the Flyers making this trade are not obvious, one must delve deeper.

This is a deal that appears to be less about what the Flyers are receiving in return and more about how it affects the players already on their roster.

New general manager Ron Hextall said he views Umberger as a wing, although how he is deployed is up to coach Craig Berube. Hextall said he likes Umberger's ability to play either top-six or bottom-six minutes and the fact he brings more speed to the lineup than Hartnell.

Hexy said "No. 1 thing was we wanted to get quicker up front"

— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchCSN) June 23, 2014

Likes the fact he can play up or down in the lineup

— Tim Panaccio (@tpanotchCSN) June 23, 2014

Those descriptors of Umberger can't be applied to Vinny Lecavalier, who was a massive disappointment in the first year of a five-year, $22.5 million contract. Lecavalier looked slow, was unable to play a 200-foot game and was relegated to the fourth line near the end of the regular season and playoffs. It's possible Berube feels Lecavalier's value is best maximized by having him on the left wing as opposed to centering a line with Zac Rinaldo and Adam Hall.

If there's one area the Flyers are loaded, it's on the wings. Jakub Voracek, Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and Matt Read are all excellent, while restricted free agent Jason Akeson acquitted himself well during the postseason. If Berube feels that Lecavalier can't be a second-line center and has to be placed on the wing, that leaves no room for Hartnell.

"R.J. is a versatile guy who can play all positions," Berube said in a press release. "He's a good penalty killer who skates well. He's a veteran who has been around a long time and knows how to play the game properly. He'll be used in a lot of different areas. I think with our team it is nice to have a real versatile guy like him."

Berube can choose to go with Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Umberger down the middle. That's not a bad trio if Umberger can deliver.

That's the real question in this deal: Can Umberger deliver?

There's no real comparison between Umberger and Hartnell when it comes to any available metric. Extra Skater broke down the two players in terms of their possession numbers, and Hartnell is light years ahead of Umberger in every category. Hartnell dipped to 20 goals last season after scoring 37 two years ago, while Umberger scored 18 but got there with his best shooting percentage (13.2) in seven seasons.

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Minutes	Corsi
Vinny Lecavalier	20	17	37	15:11	45.3
R.J. Umberger	18	16	34	16:10	46.4

Hartnell is a better player than Umberger, no question about it. But if it turns out Giroux was the driving force behind Hartnell's numbers, it's not quite as lopsided a deal as it seems.

Umberger is probably better than Lecavalier right now. The same Extra Skater breakdown shows Umberger was possessing things more consistently than Lecavalier last season. If the Flyers felt they had a glut of wings and Lecavalier could no longer play the middle, dealing a wing for an upgrade at center that includes a contract that expires two years sooner than the one they had originally makes some sense.

The Blue Jackets dealt a player who was a candidate for a buyout and received a player who could score 30 goals for them. It's easy to see why GM Jarmo Kekalainen was probably trembling with excitement as he reported the deal to the NHL and why Flyers fans are upset about parting with a valuable asset in exchange for someone who may have been available for less money in a week.

Umberger potentially gives Philadelphia a better third center, more flexibility and a less prohibitive contract.

The logic for the Flyers is more muddled, but it's there. 

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.

All statistics via NHL.com.

The Philadelphia Flyers made a smart move when they re-signed defenseman Kimmo Timonen to a one-year deal worth $2 million plus incentives.

Sure, Timonen is 39 and clearly past his prime. He may not have the speed he once had and can’t control the tempo of games like he did a few years ago, but he remains an experienced and reliable player who can contribute on the power play and log some important minutes under the right circumstances.

Last season, Timonen scored six goals and 35 points in 77 games and had a plus-five rating. He added one assist in seven playoff games.

Timonen wasn’t sure if he wanted to retire after last season or return for one more NHL campaign. He took some time after the playoffs ended before making his decision.

“Time goes by and you watch these games and watch the playoffs and start working out, you get the feeling that, 'I don't think it's time to retire,’” he told Frank Seravalli of the Philadelphia Daily News.

In addition, the veteran defenseman told Seravalli he is confident that the Flyers have a bright future:

I like our chances. It's still a young team; it gets better every year. The biggest thing is, I still want to win. The Stanley Cup is still there, which I haven't won. There's a lot of things I've been thinking about the last few weeks, and it came down to I still want to do it.

Despite the fact that Timonen is not the player he was a few years ago, he remains the best defenseman the Flyers have on their present roster.

The veteran native of Finland won the Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team’s top blueliner last season. That’s the third straight year he’s won the award and the fifth time overall.

Timonen’s family also encouraged him to continue playing. “It wasn't the money," Timonen told Sam Carchidi of the Philadelphia Inquirer. "Probably the biggest thing is my family really likes it here. They were on board, saying you've got to play one more year and go for it."

For general manager Ron Hextall, keeping Timonen around on a cap-friendly deal was an easy decision.

"He's still a very effective player," Hextall told Seravalli. "He's maybe not 25 years old anymore, but he's a real smart player. Based on what I saw this season, he can help us."

Keeping Timonen around for one more year upgrades the Flyers defense. It means the team won't have to rush prospects like Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg and Shayne Gostisbehere to the NHL. Hextall can let them mature in the AHL and call them up when they’re truly ready for prime time.

Hextall still needs to improve his team’s defense before the start of the 2014-15 season.

However, adding Timonen is a step in the right direction for the Flyers, who get back an experienced veteran without losing much valuable cap space.

On Wednesday, the Philadelphia Flyers announced forward Sean Couturier recently had successful abdominal surgery. The expected recovery time is between five and six weeks. That means the club's best penalty-killing forward should be ready to participate fully once training camp gets underway in September.

That's important to the Flyers because there are very few players on the Philadelphia roster who can fill Couturier's role quite as well as the 21-year-old Phoenix native.

Couturier is part of the Flyers' top checking line and is one of the best young defensive forwards in the league.

Former NHL player Doug Risebrough, now a scout for the New York Rangers, is impressed by what he's seen Couturier do. He told Sam Carchidi of The Philadelphia Inquirer, "He's pretty young and it [defensive play] seems to come naturally and he knows how to position himself."

Risebrough was also impressed with how Couturier uses his strength. He told Carchidi, "It doesn't really show all the time because it's not a stat, but in stick battles, some of that is a component of strength, and in his case he's only going to get stronger."

Couturier knows the importance of his defensive play. "I try to take pride in my defense and shutting down opposite lines," Couturier explained to Carchidi. "I think as a line, we need to focus on defense first, and try to create some offense off the other team's line trying to cheat."

In addition to his checking-line duties, Couturier is one of the league's best penalty-killers. He averaged 3:25 of ice time per game when the Flyers were shorthanded this season, which was the seventh-highest total in the league. He also led Philadelphia with five shorthanded points.

Offensively, Couturier's game is improving. This year, his third NHL season, he tied a career-high with 13 goals while setting new personal marks with 26 assists and 39 points.

Apparently, Couturier played through this injury during much of the season. "I think there was a point in January where he was checked," former general manager Paul Holmgren told NHL.com on May 2, just after the Flyers were eliminated from the playoffs. "But it was never at the point where we had to do anything other than maintenance."

It seemed to have finally caught up with Couturier during the playoffs, when he was held without a point in seven games against the Rangers. He also took three minor penalties in that series.

Would a healthy Couturier made a difference against the Rangers? We'll never know for sure. But the Flyers definitely need their top defensive forward ready for the start of the new season in the fall. With a six-week recovery time, that should not be a problem for Couturier or the Flyers.

Paul Holmgren is no longer the general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers, and Philly fans everywhere should be thankful for that.

Yes, he got them to the Stanley Cup in the 2009-10 season. He also got very good deals in the blockbuster trades of Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the Flyers' two best players at the time.

But the Flyers haven't even reached the Eastern Conference Finals since, and their future is hardly glowing at this point. There are several reasons for that, but the most important one is that Holmgren handed out big deals like they were nothing.

Now, new GM Ron Hextall and the Flyers are sitting on some big contracts that could hamper the team for years. While Claude Giroux's megadeal is the biggest on the squad, that was a necessary move.

Before we delve into the pile of bad contracts, let's pick out perhaps the worst of the bunch: the nine-year, $51 million deal given to Ilya Bryzgalov on June 23, 2011.

Bryzgalov was so bad that the Flyers will pay him $23 million over the next 14 years to not play for Philadelphia, per the rules of the compliance buyout system.

So now let's look at the current hole that Holmgren dug Philadelphia into. There are really four bad deals which deserve criticism.

On April 15, Holmgren inked newly acquired Andrew MacDonald to a six-year, $30 million deal.

This past offseason, Mark Streit signed a four-year, $21 million deal at the age of 35. Around the same time last offseason, 33-year-old Vincent Lecavlier signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract.

And in addition to all those, Scott Hartnell signed a six-year, $28.5 million deal in August of 2012. Let's let all those big numbers digest for a second.

For all of you keeping score at home, that's $102 million. 

Am I saying that they are all bad players? Certainly not. Am I saying that none of these players deserve a place on the Flyers' roster? Again, not at all. 

The Flyers could use all of these players in their roles. The problem is that, collectively, they are getting paid way more than they are worth.

Let's start off with the very worst contract, MacDonald's. He was brought over for second- and third-round picks from the New York Islanders, which was a waste of assets to begin with.

MacDonald, frankly, wasn't very good in New York. He was the Islanders' top defenseman, but that isn't saying much. In the spring, Hockey Prospectus discussed just how overplayed MacDonald was, and how there was not a lot of evidence that things would get better either.

Broad Street Hockey has a recap of MacDonald's season here, but here are a few highlights: 

What Eric found was that MacDonald was the worst on the team in all three areas among the regulars. He was targeted the most at 47.6 percent, he allowed carry-ins the most often at 78.1 percent and he broke up the fewest rushes at 4.7 percent.

Okay, well, there's gotta be some room for optimism, right?

He wasn't good in New York. He wasn't good when he got here. He wasn't deserving of that contract extension. Now the Flyers continue to have a silly amount of money committed to their defenseman, and it may not even include Timonen. It appears as if MacDonald is going to have play a bigger role next season, and I'm just not convinced he's capable of turning it around.

Well, at least there are other guys in that bracket who are overpaid, right?

Whether you like what you've seen from MacDonald or not, he now has a similar contract to guys like Paul Martin, Alexander Edler, Keith Yandle, Niklas Kronwall, Jay Bouwmeester and James Wisniewski.

Moving on.

Streit is not a bad player at all, and his offensive contributions (44 points) were huge. He also didn't miss a single game. 

But for any 35-year-old to be signed to a four-year extension worth over $5 million per year, they have to be a pretty special player, and Streit just isn't that.

He was pretty sheltered, starting 53.6 percent of faceoffs in the offensive zone, and playing against pretty weak competition (per Super Shot Search). 

Streit's value is in his speed and puck-moving ability, as he is not very strong defensively. That speed only figures to whittle away in the coming years, and he'll likely be worth just a fraction of his salary in the last two seasons of his deal as he approaches 40 years of age.

Lecavalier's contract is actually even worse than Streit's. At 33 years old, Lecavalier cashed in with a five-year deal worth $4.5 per season.

Despite being extremely sheltered with 58.9 percent of offensive zone faceoffs taken, Lecavalier was an absolute disaster possession-wise, and he continued his five-year-long (not including the lockout-shortened season) scoring decrease with a mere 37 points in 69 games

I'll defer again to Broad Street Hockey's excellent post-season player evaluations with regard to Lecavalier. Let's take a look:

Lecavalier was downright brutal for most of the year, and was a major drag on every line he played...the first 59 games of the season show that every single player that has shared over 83 5-on-5 minutes with Lecavalier gets a higher percentage of shot attempts when he's not on the ice with them. Every single player.

Then in the playoffs, Lecavalier was relegated pretty much full-time to the fourth line, and barely made any impact at all, averaging just 10 minutes and 41 seconds of ice time per game and scoring only two points.

Now, the Flyers have to figure out what to do with him for four more years.

Finally, we get to Hartnell's contract, which is a bit more complex. At the time, there were some people (like Sam Carchidi and Justin Bourne, among others) who really considered it a great deal. 

At the time, Travis Hughes discussed how Hartnell would likely be worth the money in the first two years of the deal, which is still pretty debatable now. He was awful in the 2012-13 season (before the extension kicked in) and mediocre in 2013-14.

Looking forward, it is shaping up to be a rough four seasons with regard to that contract. Going back to Broad Street Hockey, we can see how productive Hartnell would have to be in order to have a shot at living up to the remainder of the deal.

Basically, it's a long shot that this deal will turn out to be a good one for the Flyers. 

All of these contracts add up to a whopping $102 million in total cap hits. So, let's do something depressing and see what other four-player combinations the Flyers could have put together for that type of money.

Using cap hit comparables, we can see just how bad these deals are put together.

Would you prefer a combination of Ryan McDonagh (six years, $4.7 million), Duncan Keith (13 years, $5.53 million), Max Pacioretty (six years, $4.5 million) and Andrew Ladd (five years, $4.4 million)?

Maybe Edler (six years, $5 million), Bouwmeester (five years, $5.4 million), David Backes (five years, $4.5 million) and Brad Marchand (four years, $4.5 million) sounds better?

Or just as the final dagger, what about Keith Yandle (five years, $5.25 million), Niklas Kronwall (seven years, $4.75 million), James Neal (six years, $5 million) and Loui Eriksson (six years, $4.25 million)?

There are plenty of others that prove these contracts are terrible, not that the comparisons are even all that necessary to come to that conclusion.

Watching these guys play and looking at their statistics already provide more than enough evidence that Holmgren overpaid them. 

And sure, some of them might have been for "market value," but Holmgren was smart enough to let guys like Matt Carle and Ville Leino walk and get overpaid, so why couldn't he stick to that?

As it is, these four guys are all still at the very beginning of their deals. The Flyers could try to use their regular buyouts (not the compliance ones) on Lecavalier, or try to move him or Hartnell (who has a no-movement clause), but they all seem unlikely.

MacDonald's deal is really going to hurt. It could very well get to the point where they are forced to trade him for nothing and retain some of his salary in the coming years, because it's unlikely that he'll ever come close to living up to his deal.

Basically, apart from other teams somehow agreeing to take these contracts off the Flyers' hands and absolving them of their mistakes, Hextall has just two options.

One is to try and counter-balance these contracts with giving rookies big minutes. Shayne Gostisbehere, Samuel Morin, Robert Hagg and Scott Laughton are all candidates there.

The biggest problem with that, of course, is relying on rookies too heavily can mean bad things for both the team's current record and the players' future development.

The second solution is to continue trying to find bargains out of nowhere (a la Matt Read). T.J. Brennan is one option, but by definition, these deals are really hard to come by.

If you have any brilliant ideas, please call Mr. Hextall and let him know.

If not, see you in three years when Hartnell is 35, Lecavalier is 37, MacDonald is 30, Streit is 39 and the Flyers still haven't won the Stanley Cup. Maybe Gostisbehere will be an All-Star by then. 

Figures courtesy of capgeek.com

The Philadelphia Flyers are in dire need of a legitimate first-line winger to play alongside Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek next season. Most everyone can agree on that.

But people cannot agree on how they should go about fixing it. Personally, I had voiced my opinion that the Flyers could go after Thomas Vanek or, more realistically, Matt Moulson in free agency.

I'll admit it—I was dead wrong. 

After doing some homework and accepting that the Flyers will likely not shed enough cap space to make room for either of those guys, I realized the solution to the problem has been right in front of us all along.

It may seem a bit optimistic, but Matt Read is a legitimate first-line talent.

Read's path to the NHL was strange. He started late at Bemidji State University, where he stayed for four years, before signing with the Flyers and making his pro debut at the ripe age of 25.

Because of his odd beginning, and also probably due to his low-key personality and non-flashy style of play, Read has flown very far under the radar during his first three NHL seasons.

He led all rookies in goals in 2011-12, yet somehow wasn't even a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Despite continuing to be very productive in the two years since then, Read's name is virtually unknown to non-Flyers fans, while the player himself remains pretty underappreciated by Philly fans as well.

For Philadelphia fans, a big part of why he gets overlooked is because people do not realize just how productive he is.

Read does everything: He can be an offense-first scorer, a forechecking nightmare and a defensive standout. He contributes on both the power play and penalty kill with great effectiveness.

This past season, he and Sean Couturier played nearly every single even-strength minute together, and they really developed a great chemistry.

Oddly enough, despite his consistent offensive production, it seems that fans really began to notice him this past year in his defense-first role alongside Couturier.

They excelled in 5v5 play but also on the penalty kill. Let's take a little closer look at what made Read so good this year.

He's an unbelievable skater, and despite being only average in size, he is strong and works his butt off every shift. There are also some flashes of great vision and anticipation on offense as well.

Read is willing to do the little things. He chases down pucks, uses his stick effectively and works along the boards when needed.

He played against the second-best competition of any forward on the team (after Sean Couturier) and the third-highest percentage of defensive zone faceoffs (after Couturier and Adam Hall). 

For all the—very deserved—praise heaped on Couturier this year, he and Read had practically identical defensive zone faceoff starts and quality of competition, yet Read still scored one more point in seven less games.

Read also averaged over three minutes of ice time on the penalty kill this past year, fourth most on the entire squad, while also contributing 1:35 per game on the power play.

However, despite all these positives, comparing him solely to other Flyers' players may actually be doing Read a disservice. Just last week, Charlie O'Connor over at Broad Street Hockey discussed how effective Read has been.

It's worth revisiting Read's success in the context of moving him to the top line, so let's push it a little further and look at him against the rest of the league. I think you might be pretty surprised.

Goals/60 is a pretty easy metric to understand: how many goals a player would score in 60 minutes of play. Now let's take a look at that (via Hockey Abstract) for the 2013-14 season, along with some of the aforementioned metrics.

First off, yes, Read finished in the Top 25 in the entire NHL for goals/60, which is extremely impressive on its own.

But then you also look at how his playing time compared against the other 24 top guys. Read played by far the best competition and took the most defensive zone draws as well. That is seriously incredible.

Just take a look at some of the other names in there—Hossa, Ovechkin, Kessel, Pavelski, Benn, Sharp, Perry, Getzlaf, Bergeron, Iginla, Skinner, Statsny, Seguin, Ryan—we're talking superstar players.

Think it's just a one-year fluke? How about if we expand it for Read's entire three-year NHL career, which Bob Roberts kindly did for us in this chart.

Still the same story: Read finishes in the Top 25 and is the most defensive player in the group. And you can add in some other names like Malkin, Neal, Tavares, Couture Toews, Kessel, Gaborik and Nash.

While he may not belong quite in that category of player, Read has gotten some international recognition recently, playing on Team Canada for the IIHF World Championships for the second consecutive year. He tallied five points in eight games.

What if we expand it out even more in order to prove that Read isn't just a goal scorer but a complete offensive player as well? As O'Connor pointed out, the winger's points/60 over the past three years are just a notch below elite.

Rank	Name	Points/60
45	Andrew Ladd	2.04
46	Marian Gaborik	2.03
47	Rick Nash	2.02
48	Anze Kopitar	2.02
49	Benoit Pouliot	2.02
50	Evander Kane	2.00
51	Logan Couture	2.00
52	Jaromir Jagr	1.98
53	James van Riemsdyk	1.98
54	Pierre Parenteau	1.98
55	Matt Read	1.97
56	Daniel Sedin	1.97

At 55th in the NHL over his first three years in the league, tied with Daniel Sedin, there's a lot to be optimistic about here with Read.

What do these statistics mean in a nutshell? Read is a really good winger, and he has played extremely well in the roles given to him over the past three seasons.

But he's never really gotten first-line time for any substantial period. That ought to change next year.

There is, of course, some risk in switching up a good thing. Read and Couturier were nothing short of spectacular together this season, and some people won't want to split them up.

At the same time, if things go haywire, Craig Berube can just move Read back to the third line with Couturier and fill in Scott Hartnell or Wayne Simmonds on the first. It's obviously not a permanent thing, but Read deserves the chance.

As a forward, he really can do it all: He's got a great shot, moves the puck well and is responsible at both ends of the ice. His speed would allow him to keep up with Giroux and Voracek.

He could also take a little defensive responsibility off Giroux and allow the top line to play tougher minutes if need be.

It's not a totally novel idea—Mr. O'Connor brought up these possibilities in his recap of Read's season. But it needs to be discussed more in lieu of other options.

Would Read be a better option than Vanek or Moulson? Is he preferable to Hartnell or Simmonds? By these metrics, absolutely. Considering Read also has a bargain of a deal at $3.625 million, he looks even better compared to the two UFAs.

Vanek will probably command twice that money on the open market, while Moulson could be in the $5-million range. 

When you look at it, Vanek may actually be the worst option. Yes he scores in bunches, but his defensive and possession numbers are pretty weak.

He takes so many offensive zone faceoffs and still has negative relative Corsi ratings. At 30, the tread on his tires also leaves some concern.

In the Eastern Conference Finals against New York, Vanek looked somewhat sluggish and disinterested defensively. He was moved twice during the season, but he still had the chance to get to the Cup Final, something he has never done in his nine-year career.

Moulson is also 30 years old, but he is not quite the lethal playmaker that Vanek is. He's got much better possession numbers than Vanek, however, and he is the better two-way player. 

But his advanced metrics still pale in comparison to Read's. In fact, even if you take the salaries away from it, I still would take Read over Moulson. Vanek's offensive output is hard to come by, but his defense is pretty woeful and he costs twice as much as Read.

Hartnell proved this past season that he really is not a top-line winger. His skating is just woeful, and he went a season-spanning 35+ consecutive games without an assist.

On the other hand, Simmonds is a bit more intriguing. He scored in bunches this season and would be a big, physical presence on the boards and in front of the net. Very few players in the NHL are as good as Simmonds at cleaning up rebounds.

But, in my opinion, there should be more of an emphasis on speed and creativity when looking for a winger next to ultra-skilled guys like Giroux and Voracek. Simmonds is really a perfect fit alongside Brayden Schenn as a second-line player. 

Read really checks all the boxes, and he does so at a team-friendly price.

The 27-year-old's career trajectory has certainly been unorthodox, but right now he's in his prime and playing the best hockey of his career. He's got the athleticism to play against anybody, and he has the production to prove he belongs.

There's no reason to think that he won't continue his ascension into 2014-15. In fact, if his confidence keeps growing, the sky is the limit for Read.

The bottom line here is that the Flyers don't have much cap space, and Vanek and Moulson aren't good enough to justify Philly moving contracts around to try and make room for one of them when Read is waiting in the wings.

I'm all in on Read as Philadelphia's top-line winger, regardless of the other options out there.

There's no way to sugarcoat it: the Philadelphia Flyers' weak link is their defense, and it has been for some time now. 

Let's take a look back on how the Flyers defensemen did in the 2013-14 NHL season. Andrej Meszaros and Erik Gustafsson are no longer with the team, so they are not included here, nor is Hal Gill, who only played in six regular-season contests.

That leaves Kimmo Timonen, Braydon Coburn, Mark Streit, Luke Schenn, Nicklas Grossmann and Andrew MacDonald as the players being reviewed and evaluated here. 

Those six players are the core guys moving forward, although there is a chance Timonen retires. Shayne Gostisbehere is the prospect most likely to get a shot with the big club next year.

But as it stands, Timonen, Coburn, Streit, Schenn, Grossmann and MacDonald are what Craig Berube has to work with. And for the most part, they're just not good enough.

First, let's look at age. Timonen is 38, Coburn is 29, Streit is 36, Schenn is 24, Grossmann is 29 and MacDonald is 27. 

That's not a young defense, and it shows on the ice. The group as a whole is way too slow to be successful in today's NHL.

Schenn and Grossmann are incredibly lead-footed. MacDonald and Timonen are very average skaters. Coburn is fast in the open ice but is not agile at all. Streit still has some speed, but his age will catch up to him soon.

Streit was also the leading scorer from the blue line this year with a respectable 44 points, followed by Timonen with 35, which is the least he's had in a full season since the 2000-01 campaign when he played for Nashville.

The rest of the defense put up absolutely putrid numbers. Despite playing in all 82 games, Coburn generated just 17 points. Grossmann managed a measly one goal and 13 assists in 78 games while Schenn fared even worse with 12 points in 79 games. MacDonald registered four assists and no goals in his 19 games as a Flyer.

It doesn't take an expert to realize that those types of numbers are not good. Let's take a look at some other metrics and see what they turn up.

Coburn deserves a lot of credit for leading the entire team with an average of 22:26 of ice time per game this season. He shouldered a heavy load, and his numbers are probably worse off because of that.

MacDonald, Timonen, Grossmann and Streit all had their ATOI register in the relatively common 19:00-22:00 range. But Schenn was used sparingly with an ATOI of just 16:34.

The advanced metrics paint an odd and somewhat troubling picture for the Flyers. The most concerning player is Schenn, by far.

He will always (fairly or not) be compared to the player he was traded for (James van Riemsdyk), and he's making a decent amount of money at $3.6 million through 2016. Both of those things cast Schenn in a negative light, but even looking at things objectively reveals some major problems.

Despite having such limited ice time, he still had a stinker of a year. He played against the worst competition of any regular player (defense or forward) with a competition rating of minus-0.732.

He was also extremely sheltered, starting 54.6 percent of his faceoffs in the offensive zone, with Timonen being the only defenseman to start in the offensive zone more often. This makes his lack of scoring even more inexcusable.

And finally, with all of those factors against him, Schenn still had a brutal relative Corsi rating of minus-8.2, meaning that the other team had more possession than the Flyers did while Schenn was on the ice—and by a sizable margin.

This is extremely concerning. Come up with any number of excuses you want, but there's not much to be encouraged about.

Next, we get to MacDonald, who also has some major concerns of his own. To his credit, MacDonald played a lot and against the best competition of any Flyer defenseman, and he started more (48.7 percent) of his faceoffs in the defensive zone than the offensive.

But his relative Corsi rating is just absolutely atrocious at minus-8.1. Extra Skater had his rating as the ninth-worst in the entire league.

This article from Hockey Prospectus paints a somewhat grim picture for his future. SB Nation's Lighthouse Hockey does a good job summarizing the shortcomings and frustrations surrounding MacDonald:

Yes, he blocks a lot of shots (but then by definition lacks possession too much). Yes, he plays hard on his man in the defensive zone (but then gives up too much space over the blueline). Yes, he put up points (but was hardly the key cog to the power play). Yes, he's a loyal, solid character (but financially that is only worth so much, which is to say not a lot).

Yet the Flyers still gave him an astounding six-year, $30 million contract a couple months ago. Suffice to say, they will regret that for years.

Timonen and Streit actually had somewhat similar seasons. Their offensive zone percentages were 55.2 and 53.6, respectively, and their Corsi relatives (13.9, 4.1) and quality of competition (minus-0.154, minus-0.272) were about what you'd expect.

They also both continued excelling at the point on the power play. Timonen had 20 power-play points, and Streit added 15. Timonen also still helped on the penalty kill, as his 3:24 of time per game was second only to Coburn.

They're just aging at this point and shouldn't have to shoulder the entirety of the offensive load out of the back. The Flyers forwards need more help than what they're getting.

Grossmann is obviously a completely defensive defenseman, starting a mere 45.4 percent of his faceoffs in the offensive zone. He played against decent competition (0.218), but his relative Corsi of minus-10.6 proves that he's hurting the team out there a lot of the time.

Sure, he's physical and blocks shots, but is that enough to overhaul his poor possession numbers and complete lack of scoring? And at a $3.5 million price tag? 

And even with his defensive style, he still was only trusted with 2:40 of ice time per game on the penalty kill, significantly less than Coburn and Timonen.

Finally, Coburn was his solid self, racking up huge minutes, playing against good competition (0.7), starting 48.4 percent of his draws in the offensive zone and still managing to put up a Corsi relative rating of 1.6. He also logged, by far, the most minutes on the penalty kill per game on the team (3:59).

Solid, actually, is probably selling Coburn short; he's a very good player, and the Flyers defense would fall apart without him. He isn't going to be a legitimate No. 1 defenseman ever, but for what he is, he's one heck of a player.

So there it is. Collectively, they make a lot of money and, frankly, do not live up to it. One could argue that Coburn ($4.5 million) earns his contract, but the rest definitely do not.

It's actually pretty simple: There is a huge need for more possession, offensive production and speed on the blue line.

Paul Holmgren's inability to build a defense is the biggest reason why he is no longer the general manager. The trades for Schenn and Grossmann were bad, Streit's contract is too hefty, and MacDonald's deal is flat-out horrendous. 

Maybe new GM Ron Hextall has something up his sleeve. He better because as it is, this defense will not be able to carry the Flyers deep into the playoffs in the near future.

*Stats taken from somekindofninja.com and NHL.com