Mark Bell

Looking to impress after burning bridges and underachieving in his last few NHL stops; Bell needs to continue his agressive style of play in order to make a contribution to the Flyers. Bell has offensive talent but needs to play an upbeat game for it to shine. Bell will look for a spot on the roster when camp breaks and then hope to work hard and crack the top few lines.

Bell spent the summer of 2008 doing time for a drunk driving conviction in California. He says he's dry and committed to making amends AND getting his career back on track. At minimum, he's a physical force who'll deliver PIMs. If he can work his way up the depth chart and deliver points, his goon value goes up. Otherwise, do not draft.

Bell has always had talent. And suggestions are he's always had something else, too; something that came back to haunt him late one night last year on a California highway. His pre-season "issue" flattened his debut with the Sharks and he never got to his feet. He was included in the Vesa Toskala trade as a San Jose dump -- take Bell or you don't get Toskala. Simple as that. He says he's clean and that's great news -- he is one of only a small handful of power guys in the NHL who can get at least 50 points AND 100 PIMs. But just before training camp, he pleaded no contest to the charges laid after last year's accident and he'll go to jail after this season. Will his talent come through this year? Or will the weight of his conviction hang around his neck the way the crime did last season. We're not all that confident -- he's a HUGE risk.

He found a way to get 25-23-48 in Chicago last year despite all the messy things going on around him, and now he’s on a winning club skating with Jonathan Cheechoo and Joe Thornton. Cha-ching. If Bell can merely win half of the battles in the corner and center the puck accordingly, he’ll fall into 60-70 points without much difficulty. Here’s another winger who drills anything and everything – if you’re sitting on the glass in San Jose this winter, you’re going to witness some jarring collisions.

While Arnason and Ruutu are ahead of him at center, Bell could still see more playing time this season and also see some time on the left wing, and more ice time will mean more points. In his third full season in the NHL in 2003-04, he had career highs on the offensive end with 21 goals and 24 assists (45 points). He ranked third on the team in scoring with 45 points and assists with 24. During the lockout, he played in 25 regular season games with Trondheim IK (Norway), registering 27 points (10-17-27), a plus-5 rating and 87 penalty minutes. Also for Trondheim he played in 11 playoff games while recording 12 points (6-6-12), a plus-2 rating and 44 penalty minutes.