For the third time in the last four seasons the Flyers have failed to advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And for the second year in a row, they’ve been ousted by the Pittsburgh Penguins. All the pieces seem to be in place for the Flyers - and to be fair, they were much more competitive against the Pens this season than last - but they’re golfing now and the Pens are moving on. What does this team need to get over the hump?

Ok, so they don’t suck. But there is a lot of trepidation that they will duplicate their 10 game winless streak from last year coming out of the All-Star break.

What is the most encouraging aspect of the Flyers’ early season success? If you say the quick gelling of all of the new additions, the early dominance at home, or the clear #1 status and play of Martin Biron, you wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. But as far as the continued success of the Flyers goes, the most important development we’ve seen this season is the emergence of Mike Richards as a team leader.