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Flyers Gameday: 4/29/22 vs. OTT; Flyers Award Predictions |
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Game 82 Preview: Flyers vs. Senators
The curtain will fall on what has been a highly disappointing 2021-22 season for the Philadelphia Flyers after interim head coach Mike Yeo's team (25-45-11) host D.J. Smith's Ottawa Senators (32-42-7) at the Wells Fargo Center on Friday night. Game time at the Wells Fargo Center is 7:00 p.m. EDT (NBCSP, 97.5 The Fanatic).
Prior to Friday's game, the Flyers will present their annual team awards.
This is the third and final meeting of the season between the Flyers and Senators. The Flyers are 1-1-0 against Ottawa this season, with the home team prevailing in the two games. The Flyers skated to a 4-3 overtime home win on Dec. 18 and a 3-1 road loss on March 18.
The Flyers did not practice on Thursday. They will hold a morning skate on Friday at the Wells Fargo Center. Projected lines below are based on last game's starting lineup and are subject to change.
FLYERS
25 James van Riemsdyk- 13 Kevin Hayes - 11 Travis Konecny
49 Noah Cates - 21 Scott Laughton - 46 Bobby Brink
86 Joel Farabee - 48 Morgan Frost - 74 Owen Tippett
23 Oskar Lindblom -44 Nate Thompson - 17 Zack MacEwen
9 Ivan Provorov - 47 Ronnie Attard
84 Linus Högberg - 6 Travis Sanheim
3 Keith Yandle - 54 Egor Zamula
35 Martin Jones
[32 Felix Sandström]
SENATORS
7 Brady Tkachuk - 9 Josh Norris - 19 Drake Batherson
10 Alex Formenton - 18 Tim Stützle - 17 Adam Gaudette
45 Parker Kelly - 27 Dylan Gambrell - 16 Austin Watson
71 Chris Tierney - 47 Mark Kastelic - 49 Scott Sabourin
72 Thomas Chabot - 23 Travis Hamonic
26 Erik Brannström - 2 Artem Zub
5 Nick Holden - 22 Nikita Zaitsev
31 Anton Forsberg
32 Filip Gustavsson
With 61 points, the Flyers enter the finale as the 29th-place team in the 32-team NHL. If the Flyers defeat the Senators and the Devils (63 points) lose in regulation to the Detroit Red Wings, the Flyers will finish 28th by virtue of a regulation wins tiebreaker. If the Devils gain even one point against the Detroit Red Wings (25th place) on Friday, the Devils will finish 28th regardless of what the Flyers do.
It's also still mathematically possible that Seattle could drop the Flyers into 30th place. This would occur if the Kraken win both of their final two games and the Flyers (by any means) loss to the Senators
The only bright side to the Flyers' lowly status: They currently have the fourth-highest odds of landing the first overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft (likely Kingston Frontenacs' center Shane Wright). At present, the Flyers cannot pick any lower than 5th overall.
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Flyers Team Award Predictions
Not since the all-time franchise worst campaign in 2006-07 has the Flyers annual team awards collectively felt as hollow as it does this season. Even back in 2006-07, Simon Gagne's 41-goal season made him the clear-cut choice for the Bobby Clarke Trophy as team MVP. This year, the choices are harder. Under very tough team circumstances, Travis Sanheim has had the best all-around season of his NHL career and is the clear-cut favorite to win his first Barry Ashbee Trophy as the team's top defenseman in 2021-22.
Full disclosure: I have a vote in the Bobby Clarke Trophy and Barrry Ashbee Trophy. I do not know how anyone else voted. I do not have a vote in the Yanick Dupre Memorial Award (voted on by the Philadelphia chapter of the PHWA), the Pelle Lindbergh Memorial Trophy (voted on by the Flyers players themselves) or the Gene Hart Memorial Award (voted on by the members of the official Flyers Fan Club). Likewise, I have no prior knowledge of this year's winners.
My predicted winners are as follows:
Bobby Clarke Trophy: Cam Atkinson
Barry Ashbee Trophy: Travis Sanheim
Yanick Dupre Memorial ("Class Guy"): Atkinson
Pelle Lindbergh Memorial (Most improved): Sanheim
Gene Hart Memorial (Heart, dedication, work ethic): Zack MacEwen
Philadelphia Flyers Blogger •NHL.com • 
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