from Tim Panaccio of CSNPhilly,

How did the Flyers’ chief nemeses do?

Let’s start with Pittsburgh, which won the No. 1 seed in the conference last season.

GM Ray Shero rolled the dice at the trade deadline, and none of the deals that brought him Jarome Iginla, Douglas Murray and Brenden Morrow panned out, as the Boston Bruins vanquished them in four games in the Eastern Conference Finals.

Shero’s biggest concern was how to re-sign Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Pascal Dupuis. Remarkably, he found a way to do it and still went out and got the best free agent stay-at-home defenseman on the market in Rob Scuderi, who was a vital part of the Pens’ 2009 Cup club. The Pens also had a couple of minor signings, but they kept their core nucleus together while also improving.

Obviously, the Penguins again will be the favorite in the East this season, especially after the losses Boston suffered in free agency -- not the least of which was the departure of Nathan Horton to laid-back and lowly Columbus -- and the trade of Tyler Seguin.

There was much anticipation that the Rangers would use a compliance buyout on Brad Richards, which would have posed an interesting dilemma for the Flyers, because Holmgren had great interest in Richards before new Rangers coach Alain Vigneault nixed the buyout in June.

Richards or Lecavalier? Who do you think the Flyers would have chosen if that had been the offering?

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