The play of Wayne Simmonds next season will quietly be one the key elements that determine if the Flyers will compete for a top spot in the Eastern Conference after all the moves they have made since the end of the 2011 playoffs. Now that Simmonds has a two-year, $1.75 M per season contract in hand, discussion can shift from the contract negotiations to his likely role on the team.

For the Flyers to be successful next season, they are going to need Simmonds to take the next step in his development. He's not only going to have to help make the Flyers a tougher team to play against by adding a combination of tenacity and speed, but I think he's also going to face the task of trying to become a 20-25 goal, 45-plus point scorer.

In my opinion, it would not be all that big of a jump to get that range. Of Simmonds' 30 combined goals the last two seasons, 29 have been at even strength. He also had a 40-point season in his second NHL season (he saw fill-in time on the first line that year) despite a pretty big point drought late in the season.

Personally, I would like to see Simmonds get the opportunity to compete with Scott Hartnell for power play time. The Flyers still lack a proven power forward who can regularly collect goals on deflections and rebounds in close. James van Riemsdyk is getting there, but still overrelies at times on being strictly a finesse player. Hartnell is sporadic, prone to offensive zone penalties and tends to experience at least one yearly goal-scoring slump that drags on for close to a full month. So it would be nice if Simmonds can work himself into the power play mix as well as helping to kill penalties and playing effectively on the third line.

Simmonds is the one player who can be written into the third-line opening lineup in ink rather than pencil. Highly touted Brayden Schenn has the inside track to the third-line center spot right now, but he's also a rookie. The other third-line wing spot is currently slated to go either to Andreas Nodl or Max Talbot.

If the Flyers' restructured forward corps is to become tougher to play against than last year's unit, Simmonds is going to need to be one of the players who is constantly winning board battles, creating opposition turnovers, playing effectively on the penalty kill, chipping in timely offense and helping to stabilize a line centered by a rookie (possibly even Sean Couturier with Schenn moved to a wing).

If people are wondering why the Simmonds contract negotiations took a little longer than some of the others, look at how demanding and complicated his role is going to be -- likely without the benefit of eye-popping point totals to "prove" his value. All in all, I think the Flyers ended up getting him at a reasonable price for the next two seasons.

*****

The Flyers have not yet officially announced the signing of former Dallas Stars first-round draft pick Jason Bacashihua, but there is reportedly a two-way deal in place for the 28-year-old netminder (conflicting reports identified Phoenix as the club, but is apparently the Flyers).

Here's what's interesting about the reported Bacashihua signing: The club already has two veteran goalies (Michael Leighton and Johan Backlund) who are likely tabbed for duty with the Phantoms. Bacashihua has not played a game in the NHL since 2006-07 and has since bounced around the AHL.

Once Maxime Talbot's revised contract is approved by the NHL, the Flyers will be at 49 contracts. Signing Bacashihua would put them at the maximum 50, which would then necessitate roster subtractions if the Flyers were to wish to sign Couturier to an entry-level contract, add another free agent signing or otherwise add another player.

Undoubtedly, the Flyers would like to move out at least one of their goalies other than Ilya Bryzgalov. If Sergei Bobrovsky is traded, a backup spot would open on the NHL roster -- mostly likely for Leighton. If the Flyers can somehow find a taker for Leighton or else waive and loan Backlund for the season to a European club, there would be a spot in Adirondack for Bacashihua.

The Flyers are also reportedly one of the teams courting former collegiate offensive defenseman Blake Kessel. If the club is able to sign him, there would need to a space on the 50-man roster.

*****

I will not be posting a blog tomorrow, as I will be traveling for much of the morning. I will be back with a new Musings on Sunday.

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