if Hart pulls off a strong season and the rookies perform to a middle six rate, I can see this team making the east conference finals quite easily. I'd say this is the first year they are better than Pittsburgh and potentially even washington in the metro. Does anyone else share this opinion?

I like this. I hope they give the young kids a real shot at both making the team. This top 9 would be a legit threat. Thumbs Up!

Top 4 team in their division, you are correct

If by top 4 you mean 4th or 5th in your division, then yes!

Please let me know which teams (in the east) you think will be better. Of course much of this success relies on three rookies making immediate impact. I also think Frost is the best rookie with immediate impact (not potential, I know there are better rookies overall in the league)

Same question I posed to coga.

Tampa, Boston, Washington, Toronto. Those are 4 teams that are better than Philly in the East
Hart is the x-factor, show me a good team and I will show you a good goalie, as the old saying goes.

they also have a weird coaching staff, Alain Vigneault, Yeo and Therrien...this either could be brilliant or a dumpster fire

Easily

I literally have an entire thread with my full league season projections. Feel free to have a look there.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/1414520

I mean that still makes this a top 5 team in the east. Tampa, Boston and Toronto are all in the same division as well, so in a playoff scenario that puts one team between PHI and the 3rd round on paper. Washington doesn't have as much depth as last year either, so I believe it would be a close series if it did happen, at least in my opinion.

you said 4 teams, I listed 4 teams that are clear cut top of the East. The Devils are now super interesting with Hughes, Subban, Gusev. Florida now with Bob in net....there are a bunch of middle tier teams that look good on paper but have question marks, I think the Flyers are 1 of then. Could be a division winner or could be near the bottom, and for them its based on Goaltending being for real and their coaching staff not being a civil war. I wouldnt be shocked either way.

For the record thats how I see the Avs in their own division, could win it or could be 5th in it, all based on their goaltending being for real

I definitely see effort in that thread. I can't doubt that. My argument, starting by quoting your analysis on the Flyers: "PHI - 96P: I still think that the young pieces this team has will propel them to success but they downgraded their Dcore and signed some BAD deals."

- Yes, they did sign some pretty bad deals. Haye's contract should be a million less and Elliot is overpaid as well.
---Even though they are bad deals, the cap room they had allowed these to be forgivable at least for now. The flyers lacked a second line center last year, and now they have one, as well as Frost who probably can push Patrick to the wing. It's a bad deal but it still improves the team (Training camp reports show that there has been good chemistry from Hayes with both JVR and Voracek, though admittedly training camp results are near-meaningless.

-I don't think the D core is worse, in fact I'd say it's one of the most improved over last year.
--- Myers is a top-4 capable defenseman that I think will surprise people this year. Niskanen might be beyond his prime years and on a bad looking contract, but he is an upgrade defensively to Gudas. This team's d-core struggled defensively despite having decent offensive output. Niskanen and Braun as mostly defensive defensemen pair perfectly with the offensively inclined Provorov and Ghost. I would take this defense over the previous year's any day of the week.

-People also greatly undervalue Frost and Farabee.
---Frost is a real deal and Farabee is making some impressive motions to the league. I can see Frost getting between 30 and 40 points depending on his usage and farabee between 20-35. Considering the forward depth of this team they can be moved around anywhere for most production.

I can agree that washington can be rated ahead of this team because the top nine and goaltending is still better. Carolina might also make a decent argument. However I still can't see NJ and PIT being better.

I am Biased, (and so are you obviously), but I think Canes are still better than this philly team.

We fundamentally disagree on Niskanen and Braun then. Neither are good anymore, especially for what nisk is paid. I won't repeat my arguments but I outlined them in the trade threads on cf if you care enough to find them.

I like Hart alot and I think he is going to be great but he actually stopped less puck than was expected of him last year. I think he gives them slightly above replacement level goaltending this year (which is a huge upgrade over what Philly had to be clear). Either way I see a young and developing but currently mediocre team duking it out in a Thunderdome of a division where other teams pros outweigh Phillys..

It's not even like I'm saying they won't do well, I have them 1 win out of a playoff berth which is to say they will be in the wildcard hunt right to the end. I just like what jersey did more this off season and I will never ever bet against Sid until he proves we should.

Carolina has a better defensive core (and if they keep Faulk the ratio is hugely in favor of you)
Their offense is about the same I'd say, assuming 30 point seasons from both of these flyers rookies.
Nino-Aho-teuvo = Giroux-Cout-Konecny
Dzingel-Staal-Svech = Farabee-Hayes-Voracek
Haula-Necas-McGinn < JVR-Frost-Patrick
I'd say your fourth line is better.

Goaltending is really what it comes down to. Mrazek is shaky but has potential to reproduce last year's playoff values. Hart's performance also can't be predicted.
Carolina has some leverage in that they can trade Faulk for a top 6 forward.
These teams are pretty equal and really come down to the better goalie.

The Flyers are a middle of the pack team in the Eastern conference. NO WAY they're top 4

in no particular order list of teams currently better than this flyers squad: boston, toronto, florida, tampa, washington, carolina, devils (if they stay healthy). About even with columbus, rangers, and penguins. I think islanders took a significant step back getting varlomov and losing lehner.