PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Flyers should serve as a warning to anyone who thinks that achieving some success with talented young players is a platform for greater team success in the future.
Four years ago, after getting younger and deeper by trading away stars Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, the Flyers had one of the best collections of young forwards in the National Hockey League when they won 47 games, amassed 103 points and won a playoff round in the Eastern Conference.
That high-scoring team featured Claude Giroux, already a star at age 24, as well as Wayne Simmonds, 23, Jakub Voracek, 22, Brayden Schenn, 20, and Sean Couturier, 19.