-It was exciting to see all the new faces and what their contributions would be to the Flyers. With more than half a dozen skaters suiting up for the Flyers for the first time, we almost needed a scorecard to keep up with the action. Of the newcomers, I was most impressed with Matt Read, Wayne Simmonds and, of course, Jaromir Jagr. Read didn't get a ton of ice time but he did play some on the penalty kill and was aggressive. Simmonds picked up a few penalties but he will quickly become a Flyers fan favorite.
-Jagr and Claude Giroux are going to be fun to watch this year. The two playmakers worked together for their first of many goals tonight and had several quality chances throughout the night. Giroux could easily get 40 goals playing with a motivated Jagr.
-No, it wasn't that elusive shutout the Flyers have been looking for, but Ilya Bryzgalov looked solid in net. While he only had to face 23 shots, Bryzgalov stayed sharp and buckled down after giving up the first period goal. It's way too early to tell if he is a significant upgrade in net but that was as good a start as you can ask for.
-Waaaaay too many penalties for the Flyers. It's an issue that has plagued this club since their inception but the Flyers continue to give their opponents too many power play opportunities. Maybe they just wanted to test out their PK?
-I'm not a big fan of Zac Rinaldo. At all. I like Jody Shelley better and that's really saying something.
At the very least, this should be a very interesting season for the Flyers with all the new players in the lineup. While I still have some worries about where the offense is going to come from (besides the top line), their defense and goaltending should keep them in most games.
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